Nancy Bright and her husband John had been working overtime and saving for a long time so that they could pay the advance for Nancy s dream house. Today was the day that they had enough money in hand to make a down payment on the house. But the real estate(房地产)agent informed them that she had received another offer for the house. Although the other offer was slightly less than that of Nancy and John s, that person with the new offer was willing to pay the whole amount at once. The owner,in urgent need of money,wanted to accept the second offer. Nancy and John looked at each other with disappointed looks. They walked back home feeling very low about having lost the house. Soon they recovered and involved themselves into their daily lives,though once in a while Nancy would sink into a mild depression over losing the house. One day Nancy woke up in the morning feeling even lower than usual. She kept feeling sick, even lost interest in her routine coffee. She put all these symptoms down to the stress of working hard and losing her dream house. A week passed and she seemed to get worse. John was worried and insisted on taking her to the doctor. The doctor, after taking a few tests, informed them with a huge smile that Nancy was two months pregnant! John and Nancy were overjoyed but also worried about not having their own house before the baby was born. One evening Nancy wandered into the street where her dream house was,and as she passed by it,she was surprised to see that there were notices stuck on all the houses. On closer examination she found that the notices were for all the residents to move out of the houses as they were building a highway and the whole row of houses needed to be pulled down. Nancy suddenly realized that not getting her dream house had beena blessing in disguise. She thanked God and decided to be happy with the blessings she had and started looking forward to the birth of her child.

Why did Nancy and her husband lose their dream house?

For this part, you are supposed to write an essay in English in 100 ~ 120 words based on the following informations. Remember to write it clearly.你(Li Yuan)收到朋友Xiao Ming的e-mail，他在邮件中谈及买车计划。请在回信中说明你对买车的看法，内容包括： 私家车的好处(如舒适、便捷等)； 私家车的弊端(如交通拥挤、环境污染、停车困难等)； 你的建议。Dear Xiao Ming，

Where does Humphrey get the inspiration for his idea?

Which of the following is true of Nicholas Humphrey?

How does Tetsuro Matsuzawa explain Ayumu s performance in the game?

What is the theme of this passage?

Whatever you do,dont challenge a chimpanzee named Ayumu to a number memory game. In 2007, Ayumu became famous for his lightning speed at a game that goes like this: A player views a computer screen where the numbers 1 through 9 appear briefly at once and then turn to white squares. The player then taps the squares where the numbers had been,in order from 1 to 9. People can do it. But no human competitor has ever completed the game faster or more accurately than Ayumu the chimp. For almost five years Ayumu remains undefeated. Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey of Darwin College at Cambridge University in England now thinks he knows the secret behind the chimp s ability. Humphrey suspects Ayumu s brain may have a condition that allows the chimp to see numbers as colors. This would mean that Ayumu may see a color glow after the number disappears. Then,instead of remembering the numbers,he remembers a sequence of colors, each associated with a number. The condition that Humphrey believes Ayumu may have is called synesthesia. Humans with synesthesia may associate numbers and letters with colors. For example,a person may see the number "5"as the color blue. Until now,scientists had assumed only humans could have synesthesia. Humphrey found the inspiration for his idea at a 2011 scientific conference. There, he heard a presentation about Ayumu s memory abilities and another talk about synesthesia. He then put the two ideas together. Not everyone is convinced that Humphrey is correct. Primatologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa of the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University in Japan has spent decades studying the amazing memories of chimpanzees, including Ayumu. He maintains that chimps simply have faster memory recall than people.

What is Ayumu famous for?

Why did Robby go back to the hot dog seller?

Which word best describes the homeless man?

It was a beautiful day for sightseeing around downtown Portland. We were on our day off and out for some fun. The weather was perfect for a picnic,so when lunch time came,we set our sights on a small park in town. Since we all had different tastes,we decided to split up,get what each of us wanted, and meet back on the grass in a few minutes. When my friends Robby headed for a hot dog stand, I decided to keep her company. We watched the seller put together the perfect hot dog,just the way Robby wanted it. But when she took out her money to pay him,the man surprised us. "It looks a bit smaller on the cool side, "he said, "so never mind paying me. This will be my freebie of the day. " We said our thanks,joined our friends in the park,and dug into our food. But as we talked and ate,I noticed a man sitting alone nearby,looking at us. I could tell that he hadn t showered for days. Another homeless person,I thought,like all the others you see in cities. I didn t pay much more attention than that. We finished eating and decided to head -off for more sightseeing. But when Robby and I went to the garbage can to throw away my lunch bag, I heard a strong voice, " There isn t any food in that bag,is there?" It was the man who had been watching us. I didn t know what to say. "No,I ate it already. " "Oh,"was his only answer, with no shame in his voice at all. He was obviously hungry, couldn t bear to see anything thrown away, and was used to asking this question. I felt bad for the man,but I didnt know what I could do. That s when Robby said, "I’ll be right back. Please wait for me a minute," and ran off. I watched curiously as she went across to the hot dog stand. Then I realized what she was doing. She bought a hot dog,crossed back to the garbage can,and gave the hungry man the food. When she came back to us, Robby said simply," I was just passing on the kindness that someone gave to me. "

Why did the seller offer Robby a free hot dog?

What does "Pharoah s Revenge" probably refer to in the last paragraph?