阅读下面的短文,文章中有5处空白,文章后有6组文字,请根据文章的内容选择5组文字,将其分别放回文章原有位置,以恢复文章原貌。 That a person could live in the modern world without synthetic substances is probably possible, but whoever tried to do it would soon miss many common things. (46) Just imagine how many varieties of plastics there are. They can be harder than wood or .softer than rubber. They can even be made resistant to fire, water and electricity. Whoever visits the world’s market places will find that plastics are being made and used everywhere. Plastic articles can be produced at a rather low cost. The machines for molding them are not large or heavy. Most of the products can be stored and transported easily. (47) . As a matter of fact, many kinds of materials for clothing have plastics in them. They are made of plastic fibres and are known by special names such as nylon or dacron. Clothing made of plastic fibres has certain advantages over that of natural fibres like cotton, wool, or silk. (48) . (49) The earliest variety of plastics was called "celluloid". It appeared on market over a hundred years ago. In 1912, an American scientist presented to the world a hard plastic material known as "bakelite". The 1940’s saw a faster development of plastics. An even larger variety of plastic materials came into practical use. Now plastics find wide application not only in our daily life, but also in engineering. The Germans have manufactured a car which is almost completely made of plastics. The famous British engine builders have produced an aeroplane engine made mostly of plastics. It is really true that plastics are for everyone. And the fact that the total volume of plastics in use is on the increase suggests that more and better plastics will be made in the near future. (50) . A. Besides plastic pens, combs and tooth brushes, he would be without many kinds of cloth as well as some necessary parts for radios and television sets. B. The history of plastics is longer than you might expect. C. That’s why factories for making them can be found in many countries. D. The former is lighter in weight, easier to wash and dry, keeps in shape much longer and does not wear out so quickly. E. It is not likely that plastic fibers will compelely take the place of natural fibers. F. Perhaps we could call it the Plastic Age.
Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank. Women often (1) that dating is like a cattle (2) , and a paper just published in Biology Letters by Thomas Pollet and Daniel Nettle of Newcastle University, in England, suggests they are (3) . They have little cause for complaint, however, because the paper also suggests that in this particular market, it is (4) who are the buyers. Mr. Pollet and Dr. Nettle were looking for (5) to support the contention that women choose men of (6) status and resources, as well as good looks. That may sound common sense, but it was often (7) by social scientists until a group of researchers who called themselves evolutionary psychologists started investigating the matter two decades ago. Since then, a series of experiments in laboratories have supported the contention. But as all zoologists know, (8) can only tell you so much. Eventually, you have to look at (9) populations. And that is what Mr. Pollet and Dr. Nettle have done. They have examined data from the 19t0 census of the United States of America and discovered that marriage is, indeed, a market. Moreover, as in any market, a (10) of buyers means the sellers have to have particularly attractive goods on (11) if they are to make the exchange. The advantage of picking 1910 was that America had not yet settled down, demographically speaking. Though the long-colonized eastern states had a sex (12) of one man to one woman, or thereabouts, in the rest of the country the old adage "go west, young man" had resulted in a (13) of males. Mr. Pollet and Dr Nettle were thus able to see just how picky women are, (14) the chance. (15) looking at the whole census, the two researchers relied on a sample of one person in 250. They then (16) the men in the sample a socioeconomic status score between zero and 96, on a scale drawn up in 1950 (which was as close to 1910 as they could get). They showed that in states where the sexes were equal in number, 56% of low status men were married by the age of 30, (17) 60% of high status men were. Even in this case, then, there are women who would prefer to remain (18) rather than marry a deadbeat. When there were 110 men for every 100 women (as, for example, in Arizona), the women got really (19) . In that case only 24% of low-status men were married by 30 compared with 46% of high-status men. As the men went west, then, so did their (20) opportunities.
A. pattern
B. structure
C. ratio
D. map