填空题A adults should go on learning after graduating from school B to enlarge their knowledge and learn new skills C by community colleges and public schools D only for working people E Continuing Education Classes F The Importance of a College Degree

填空题阅读下面的短文，文章中有5处空白，文章后面有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。 The Importance of Agriculture in China? The development of agriculture and the balance between food and population are China's fundamental economic problems. The classical histories praise emperors for devotion to agriculture and much of China's modern history is {{U}}(46) {{/U}} , which has been growing steadily. Today, although agriculture accounts for only a quarter of the Gross National" Product, it is still the main determinant of the standard of living and the principal occupation of at least 70 percent of population. Agriculture also {{U}}(47) {{/U}} because industry needs both agricultural raw materials and food for its work force. The failure of agriculture to supply raw material and food halted and later reversed the industrial progress of the 1950's, After 1960 new emphasis was placed on agriculture, and the slogan "Agriculture is the foundation of the economy" has remained a central Chinese economic policy ever since. {{U}} (48) {{/U}} , there is an indirect link due to the relationship between agriculture and foreign trade. Many of China's exports are {{U}}(49) {{/U}} or consumer goods based on them. Flourishing agriculture, therefore, promotes exports. It also reduces the need to spend foreign exchange on imports of grain and cotton, therefore {{U}}(50) {{/U}}.A．determines the progress of industryB．the story of the unfolding struggle to feed a peasant populationC．either agricultural raw materialsD．enlarging the capacity of the economy to import machinery and commodities for industryE. In addition to the direct links between agriculture and industryF. thus promoting both import and export

填空题 下面的短文有5处空白，短文后有6个句子，其中5个取自短文，请根据短文内容将其分别放回原有位置，以恢复文章原貌。 {{B}} Mind Those Manners on the Subway{{/B}} So, there you are, just sitting there in the subway car, enjoying that book you just bought.{{U}} (46) {{/U}}Or, the person sitting next to you takes out a nail clipper (指甲刀) and begins cutting his or her nails. Annoying? Many of us have to spend some time every day on public transportation.{{U}} (47) {{/U}}So, to make the trip more pleasant, we suggest the following: Let passengers get off the bus or subway car before you can get on.{{U}} (48) {{/U}} Stand away from the doors when they are closing. Don't talk loudly on a bus or subway. Chatting loudly with your friends can be annoying to others. {{U}} (49) {{/U}} Don't think your bags and suitcases (手提箱) deserve a seat of their own. Use a tissue whenever you cough or sneeze (打喷嚏). An uncovered sneeze can spread germs (细菌), especially in crowded places. Don't cut your nails or pick your nose on public transportation, Don't read over other people's shoulder.{{U}} (50) {{/U}}It can make people uncomfortable. They might think you're too stingy (小气的) even to buy a newspaper. Or they might think you're judging their behavior.A. Don't eat food in your car.B. Don't shout into your mobile phone on a bus or subway.C. We all know that some behaviors are simply unacceptable,D. Many people do this on subways, but it's really annoying.E. Getting off and on in an orderly manner can save time for all.F. Suddenly, you feel someone leaning over your shoulder reading along with you.

填空题Pedestrians Only 1. The concept of traffic-free shopping areas goes back a long time. During the Middle Ages, traffic-free shopping areas were built in Middle Eastern countries to allow people to shop in comfort and more importantly, safety. As far back as 2,000 years ago, road traffic was banned from central Rome during the day to allow for the tree movement of Pedestrians (行人), and was only allowed in at night when shops and markets had closed for the day. In most other cities, however, pedestrians were forced to share the streets with horses, coaches and, later, with cars and other motorised vehicles. 2. The modern, traffic-free shopping street was born in Europe in the 1960s, when both city populations and car ownership increased rapidly. Dirty gases from cars and the risks involved in crossing the road were beginning to make shopping an unpleasant and dangerous experience. Many believed the time was right for experimenting with car-free streets, and shopping areas seemed the best place to start. 3. At first, there was resistance from shopkeepers. They believed that such a move would be bad for business. They argued that people would avoid streets if they were unable to get to them in their cars. When the first streets in Europe were closed to traffic, there were even noisy demonstrations, as many shopkeepers predicted they would lose customers. 4. However, research carried out afterwards in several European cities revealed some unexpected statistics. In Munich, Cologne and Hamburg, visitors to shopping areas increased by 50 percent. On Copenhagen"s main shopping street, shopkeepers reported sales increases of 25～40 percent. Shopkeepers in Minneapolis, the USA, were so impressed when they learnt this that they even offered to pay for the construction and maintenance costs of their own traffic-free streets. 5. With the arrival of the traffic-flee shopping street, many shops, especially those selling things like clothes, food and smaller luxury items, prospered. Unfortunately, it wasn"t good news for everyone, as shops selling furniture and larger electrical appliances (电器) actually saw their sales drop. Many of these were forced to move elsewhere, away from the city centre.

填空题Smartphone Customers Up for Grab About 10 years ago I met an advertising executive in New York who explained the difficulty of advertising a new brand of deodorant(除臭剂) to consumers. "Most people never change their deodorant." I remember him saying, "They pick one brand when they are young, and stick with it for a long, long time. If it works, why switch?" 1 Once they have picked a type of phone, whether it"s Apple iOS, Google Android or something else, it"s difficult, and often expensive, to switch. Consumers become comfortable with the interface and design of the phone and the apps they have purchased on that platform. 2 That is why the race to pull in smartphone buyers is going to be especially severe over the next 18 to 24 months. 3 there are still hundreds or millions of mobile phone owners around the world who have yet to move from a standard mobile or feature phone to its smarter, more intelligent big brother: the smartphone. Yet the change is happening at a much quicker pace than technology analysts and companies originally theorized. A report issued this week by Nielsen, the market research firm, found that among Americans 4 55 percent opted for a smartphone. This is up from 34 percent a year ago. At this point, who will lead that market is not up for debate. Android has been growing at a pace no one could have imagined, even Google. The company said this week that it now activates more than 500,000 Android devices each day. Mr. Llamas said Apple, which changed the smartphone game in 2007 when it introduced the iPhone, potentially has a ceiling with consumers as its mobile phone is often more expensive than those of its competitors. Although millions of customers flock to Apple products for their beauty, simplicity and powerful brand, many can"t afford a new iPhone. This could change 5 as some analysts expect. "Right now the iPhone only comes in one flavor; it"s not like other Apple products like the iPod where there are several different sizes, shapes and prices," Mr. Llamas said. A. Although it may seem that everyone owns a smartphone these days. B. If Apple offers a less expensive model of the iPhone later this year. C. The same theory can be applied to customers who are making the switch to smartphones today. D. Who purchased a new mobile phone in the last three months. E. The smartphone race is still raging. F. If it works, why switch?

填空题Verne"s Accurate Preview of the Future Since the beginning of time, man has been interested in the moon. The Romans designed a special day to show admiration and respect to the moon. They called it "Moon-day", or "Monday", as we know it today. Later, the great mind of Leonardo da Vinci studied the moon and designed a machine to carry a human to the moon. Leonardo said that one day a great machine bird would take a person to the moon and bring great honour to the home where it was born. Four and a half centuries later, Leonardo"s idea was realized. Apollo Ⅱ took three Americans Collins, Aldrin, and Armstrong to the moon. The mission (任务) did fill the whole world with great surprise, as Leonardo had said it would. Numerous essays, articles, and books were written about man"s first moon mission. But perhaps the most interesting story was one written before the event over 100 years before. In 1865, French author Jules Verne wrote a story about the first journey to the moon. His story was very similar to the 1969 Apollo Ⅱ mission. Verne"s spacecraft also contained three men—two Americans and a Frenchman. The spacecraft was described as being almost the same size as Apollo Ⅱ. The launch (发射) site in Verne"s story was also in Florida. The spacecraft in Verne"s story was named the "Columbiad". The Apollo Ⅱ command ship was called "Columbia". His account of sending the spacecraft into the space could easily have been written about how Apollo Ⅱ was sent into the space. Verne"s story was the same as the actual event in several other respects. The speed of Verne"s spacecraft was 36,000 feet per second; Apollo"s was 35,533 feet per second. Verne"s spacecraft took 97 hours to reach the moon; Apollo"s time was 103 hours. Like Apollo"s spacemen, Verne"s spacemen took pictures of the moon"s surface, relaxed on their seats, cooked with gas, and experienced weightlessness. They too came down in the Pacific and were picked up by an American warship. What were the reasons for Jules Verne"s extreme accuracy in describing an event 100 years or more before it actually occurred? He based his writings on the laws of physics and astronomy (天文学). Nineteenth-century science and the vivid Verne"s imagination gave people an unbelievably accurate preview of one of the greatest events of the 20th century.

填空题Can Mobile Phones Cause Disease? 1 "Mobile phone killed my man," screamed one headline last year. Also came claims that an unpublished study had found that mobile phones cause memory loss. And a British newspaper devoted its front page to a picture supposedly (假定地) showing how mobile phones heat the brain. 2 For anyone who uses a mobile phone, these are worrying times. But speak to the scientists whose work is the focus of these scares and you will hear a different story. According to them, there is no evidence that mobile phones cause cancer or any other illness in people. 3 What we do have, however, are some results suggesting that mobile phones' emissions have a variety of strange effects on living tissue that can't be explained by the general radiation biology. And it's only when the questions raised by these experiments are answered that we'll be able to say for sure what mobile phones might be doing to the head. 4 One of the odd effects comes from the now famous "memory loss" study. Alan Preece and his colleagues at the University of Bristol placed a device that imitated the microwave emissions of mobile phones to the left ear of volunteers. The volunteers were just as good at recalling words and pictures they had been shown on a computer screen whether or not the device was switched on. Preece says he still can't comment on the effects of using a mobile phone for years on end. But he rules out the suggestion that mobile phones have an immediate effect on our cognitive abilities. "I'm pretty sure there is no effect on short-term memory," he says. 5 Another expert, Tattersall, remarked that his latest findings have removed fears about memory loss. One result, for instance, suggests that nerve cell synapses (突触) exposed to microwaves become more-rather than less-receptive (感受的) to undergoing changes linked to memory formation. 6 Hopefully, microwaves might turn out to be good for you. It sounds crazy, but a couple of years ago a team led by William Adey at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California, found that mice exposed to microwaves for two hours a day were less likely to develop brain tumours when given a cancer-causing chemical.

填空题 阅读下面这篇短文，短文后有2项测试任务：(1)第23～26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第2～5段每段选择1个正确的小标题；(2)第27～30题要求从所给的6个选项中选择4个正确选项，分别完成每个句子。 {{B}} Estee Lauder Died{{/B}}1 The child of Central European immigrants who created an international cosmetics (化妆品) empire and became one of the most influential women in US, has died on Saturday. Estee Lauder died at her home in Manhattan, New York City, a company spokeswoman said. She was 97.2 Born in Queens, New York in 1908, Lauder was the daughter of a Hungarian mother and a Czech father.3 Lauder began her business career by selling skincare products developed by her uncle John Schotz, a chemist; to beauty salons (美容院) and hotels. In 1930, she married Joseph Lauder who became her* partner. The company, which became known as Estee Lauder, took off after World War II.4 In 1953, the company introduced its first perfume (香水), Youth Dew, the first of a range of fragrances that has now grown to more than 70. They include: Aramis, a line of products for men, launched in 1964; and Clinique, a range of odourless (无嗅的) cosmetics, which followed in 1968.5 By the time she retired in 1995, Lauder was presiding over a multibillion-dollar enterprise, which now ranks number 349 in the Fortune 500 list of largest US companies. In 1998, she was the only woman to feature in Time magazine's selection of the 20 most important business geniuses of the last century. There were two secrets to her success: her gift for selling things and her tireless energy and determination never to accept second best.6 Even after her retirement at the age of 89, Lauder remained closely involved. Beauty, Lauder believed, was the most important thing in life.7 She wrote in her 1985 autobiography, "Estee, a Success Story": "In a perfect world, we'd all be judged on the sweetness of our souls. But in our less than perfect world, the woman who-looks pretty has a distinct advantage and, usually, the last word."

填空题Rising Tuition in the US Every Spring, US university administrators gather to discuss the next academic year's budget. They consider faculty salaries, utility costs for dormitories, new building needs and repairs to old ones. They run the numbers and conclude—it seems, inevitably-that, yet again, the cost of tuition must go up. According to the US's College Board, the price of attending a four-year private university in the US rose 8 ! percent between 1993 and 2004. (46) In 2005 and 2006, the numbers continued to rise. According to university officials, college cost increases are simply the result of balancing university checkbooks. "Tuition increases at Cedarville University are determined by our revenue needs for each year," said the university's president, Dr Bill Brown. "Student tuition pays for 78 percent of the university's operating costs. " Brown's school is a private university that enrolls about 3,100 undergrads and is consistently recognized by annual college ranking guides like US News and World Report's and The Princeton Review's. (47) Tuition at private universities is set by administration officials and then sent for approval to the school's board of trustees(董事). (48) This board oversees(监管) all of a state's public institutions. John Durham, assistant secretary to the board of trustees at East Carolina University (ECU), explains that state law says that public institutions must make their services available whenever possible to the people of the State for free. Durham said that North Carolina residents only pay 22 percent of the cost of their education. (49) State residents attending ECU pay about US $10,000 for tuition, room and board before financial aid. Amid the news about continued increases in college costs, however, there is some good news. Tuition increases have been accompanied by roughly equal increases in financial aid at almost every university. To receive financial aid, US students complete a formal application with the federal government. The federal government then decides whether an applicant is eligible(有资格的) for grants or loans. (50) A. The application is then sent to the student's university, where the school itself will decide whether free money will be given to the student and how much.B. At public universities, however, tuition increases must also be approved by a state education committee, sometimes called the board of governors.C. The school currently charges US $ 23,410 a year for tuition.D. Many American people are simply unable to pay the growing cost of food.E. That's more than double the rate of inflation.F. The state government covers the rest.

填空题Are You a Successful Leader? Almost nothing we do in this world is done in isolation. At work or at play, you will find yourself in groups, working with other people: your team at work, a meeting with colleagues, your family, a holiday with friends, a group of students working together, a day out walking in the mountains, a group of neighbours wanting to make changes. It is now recognised that being able to work successfully with other people is one of the major keys to success, partly because we need to do it so often. In almost every situation where you're in a group, you will need a skilled leader. All groups need leaders and all successful groups have good leaders. Groups without leaders or with weak leaders al- most always break down. Members of a leaderless group often begin to feel dissatisfied and frustrated. Time is wasted and the tasks are not achieved. There are often arguments and tensions between people as there is nobody to keep the goals clear. Some personalities dominate and others disappear. Often group members begin not to come to meetings in order to avoid more disharmony. Some people are natural leaders. The celebrity chef, Antonio Carluccio says, "True leaders are born and you can spot them in kitchens. "They're people who combine toughness, fairness and humour. Although a lot of people agree that there are some natural-born leaders, most people now recognise that leadership can also be taught. Our professional and experienced staff can train almost anyone how to be a successful leader. Good leaders don't make people do things in a bossy, controlling way. You can learn how to involve everyone, encouraging the whole group to work towards a common goal. Our training courses use activities and techniques to develop a range of qualities which are necessary to be a good leader. Self-confidence is vital for you to overcome your own fears about being a lead er. Successful leaders also need to be calm and intelligent. They need to be able to work out good strategies and make sound judgements under pressure. Lastly, and probably most importantly, good leaders need to be sensitive, sociable and be able to get on with a wide range of people. Good leadership is essentially the ability to influence others and good leaders allow all members of the group to contribute.A. A good leader needs a variety of qualities.B. These techniques are used to train leaders.C. Training can make good leaders.D. Most of good leaders are natural-born.E. It's important to have a good leader.F. People are in groups.

填空题Gift Giving There are many occasions(场合)for giving gifts in modern industrialized societies, such as birthdays, naming ceremonies, weddings, anniversaries, and New Year. It is common to give gifts on many of these celebrations in western cultures. In addition, special events, such as one"s first day of school or graduation from university, often require gift giving. What is happening when we give gifts? Most important, we are exchanging gifts. If someone gives me a gift for my birthday, I know that I am usually expected to give one on his or her next birthday. A gift builds up or confirms a social obligation (义务). Gifts tighten personal relationships and provide a means of communication between loved ones. People say that a gift lets the recipient (接受者) know we are thinking of them, and that we want to make the person "feel special". We want people to feel wanted, to feel part of our social or family group. We give presents to say "I"m sorry". Sometimes it is difficult for us to find a present that someone will like. Sometimes we give things that we like or would feel comfortable with. In all these cases, the gifts are sending out messages—often very expressive ones. People tend to talk about presents in a fairly loving way. A woman whose mother had died years ago described the many gifts around her house. These were gifts that her mother had given her over the years. "I appreciate these, and they mean something to me," the woman said, "because I remember the occasions they were given on, and that they were from my mother, and the relationship we"ve had." The gifts remain and keep the relationship alive in mind. This woman felt the same way about the gifts she gave to others. She hoped that the recipients would look at her gifts in years to come. Emotions (情感) like these suggest that a positive spirit still lies behind gift giving. They prove that the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss was wrong to say that modern western gift giving is highly wasteful. Studies in Canada and elsewhere have also shown that this is not the case. Each gift is unique even if so many are given. The emotional benefit for those who exchange gifts is the very reason for the tradition to continue.

填空题A．If the Gardeners' argument was soundB．because she was cleverer than other chimpsC．when she wanted to eatD．while she was at a research center in Ellensburg E Because she could use sign language to ask for fruits F while Washoe was learning sign language

填空题A) late 18th century B) equal education and employment with men C) weaker and lower in social position D) early 20th century E) her children F) the rights of voting

填空题The increase of greenhouse gases ______.

填空题下面的短文后有2项测试任务：(1)第23～30题要求从所给的6个选项中为第1～5段各其中4段选择1个最佳标题；(2)第 27～30题要求从所给的4个选项中为每个句子确定1个最佳选项。 Hurricanes (飓风) 1. Did you know that before 1950, hurricanes had no names? They were simply given numbers. The first names were simply Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc. But in 1953, females names were given because of the unpredictability (不可预知) factor of the storms. In 1979, realizing the sexist (性别歧视的) nature of such names, the lists were expanded to include both men and women. 2. Hurricanes and typhoons (台风) are the same things. If they form in the Atlantic, we call these strong storms hurricanes, from the West Indian word hurricane, meaning "big wind". And if they are Pacific storms, they are called typhoons from the Chinese taifun, meaning "great wind". To be classified as a hurricane, the storm must have maximum winds of at least 75 mph. These storms are big, many hundreds of miles in diameter. 3. Hurricanes get their power from water vapor as it gives out its stored-up energy. All water vapor gives out heat as it condenses (凝结) from a gaseous state to a liquid state over fixed points on the equator (赤道). To make a hurricane, you must have extremely wet, warm air, the kind of air that can only be found in tropical region. 4. Scientists have determined that the heat given out in the process of water condensation can be as high as 95 billion kilowatts per hour. In just one day alone, the storm can produce more energy than many industrialized nations need in an entire year! The problem is that we don't know how to make sure such great energy work for us. 5. Predicting the path of a hurricane is one of the most difficult tasks for forecasters. It moves at a typical speed of 15 mph, but not always. Some storms may race at twice this speed, then suddenly stop and remain in the same location for several days. It can be maddening (发疯的) if you live in a coastal area that may be hit. The biggest advance in early detection is continuous watch from weather satellites. With these, we an see the storms form and track them fully, from birth to death. While they can still kill people and destroy property, hurricanes will never surprise any nation again. A. A Short History of Naming Hurricanes B. Harnessing the Hurricane Energy C. Difficulty in Forecasting the Course of a Hurricane D. Huge Energy Stored in a Hurricane E. Forecasting a Hurricane Through Satellite Watching F. Different Names for the Same Things

填空题 A．sell fresh vegetables B．sell as much as possible C．offer a variety of prepared meals D．turn them into soup E．fill a gap in the market F．promote her soups

填空题A The blues is an emotional song B The officer was good for nothing C "the prisoners' songs differed from those on tapes, sung at concerts and jazz sessions" D They identified themselves with its singers E Could come close to the poor and the weak F It was sung in their native language

填空题How Did She Conquer the Americans? African-American talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is the world"s most powerful celebrity, according to Forbes magazine. 1 Winfrey, 51, draws 30 million viewers weekly in the United States. Her talk show reaches 112 countries. She earned US $225 million over the past 12 months to rank second in celebrity riches. The annual Forbes list gives most weight to annual earnings. 2 "After 21 years, her exciting chat show still rules the airwaves. It created new celebrities and hundreds of millions of dollars in profits." the magazine said. Winfrey is most popular with her popular talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show". She can always attract the superstars and let them open up to her intimate interviewing style. Last month, American actor Tom Cruise, 42, surprised fans when he celebrated his new romance with 26-year-old actress Katie Holmes. He jumped up and down, shouting "I"m in love." Only a few years ago, Cruise and his ex-wife Nicole Kidman appeared separately on the same show telling the news of their divorce 3 Winfrey"s approach appears to be simple. She is in pursuit of self-improvement and self-empowerment (自强). This has proved to be just what people, especially women, want. Winfrey often talks about her personal secrets on her show. That pulls in viewers. For example, she revealed that she had been sexually abused as a child, and has spoken freely of her struggle with her weight. Winfrey was born to a poor family in Mississippi in 1954. 4 At the age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor (主持) a news program. Her success has not just been on the screen. Her media group includes a women"s TV network and websites for women. Winfrey"s work has extended to social change. 5 She testified before the US Senate to establish a national database of dangerous child abusers. President Bill Clinton later signed "Oprah Bill" into law. A. But it also looks at the celebrity"s presence on the Internet and in the media. B. In 1991, she did a lot of work for the National Child Protection Act. C. She was not a very successful woman. D. She began broadcasting while still at high school. E. It placed Winfrey at the top of its annual ranking of the 100 people last week. F. The couple had been tight-lipped about their break-up.

填空题How Did She Conquer the Americans? African-American talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is the world"s most powerful celebrity, according to Forbes magazine. 1 Winfrey, 51, draws 30 million viewers weekly in the United States. Her talk show reaches 112 countries. She earned US $225 million over the past 12 months to rank second in celebrity riches. The annual Forbes list gives most weight to annual earnings. 2 "After 21 years, her exciting chat show still rules the airwaves. It created new celebrities and hundreds of millions of dollars in profits," the magazine said. Winfrey is most popular with her popular talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show". She can always attract the superstars and let them open up to her intimate interviewing style. Last month, American actor Tom Cruise, 42, surprised fans when he celebrated his new romance with 26-year-old actress Katie Holmes. He jumped up and down, shouting "I"m in love." Only a few years ago, Cruise and his ex-wife Nicole Kidman appeared separately on the same show telling the news of their divorce. 3 Winfrey"s approach appears to be simple. She is in pursuit of self-improvement and self- empowerment (自强). This has proved to be just what people, especially women, want. Winfrey often talks about her personal secrets on her show. That pulls in viewers. For example, she revealed that she had been sexually abused as a child, and has spoken freely of her struggle with her weight. Winfrey was born to a poor family in Mississippi in 1954. 4 At the age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor (主持) a news programme. Her success has not just been on the screen. Her media group includes a women"s TV network and websites for women. Winfrey"s work has extended to social change. 5 She testified before the US Senate to establish a national database of dangerous child abusers. President Bill Clinton later signed "Oprah Bill" into law. A. In 1991, she did a lot of work for the National Child Protection Act. B. She was not a very successful woman. C. She began broadcasting while still at high school. D. It placed Winfrey at the top of its annual ranking of the 100 people last week. E. The couple had been tight-lipped about their break-up. F. But it also looks at the celebrity"s presence on the Internet and in the media.

填空题阅读下面的短文，文章有5处空白，文章后面有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。 The Building of the Pyramids The oldest stone buildings in the world are the pyramids. {{U}}(46) {{/U}}. There are over eighty percent of them scattered along the banks of the Nile, some of which are different in shape from the true pyramids. The most famous of these are the "Step" pyramid and " Bent "pyramid. Some of the pyramids still Rook much the same as they must have done when they were built thousands of years ago. Most of the damage suffered by the others has been at the hands of men who were looking for treasure or, more often, for stone to use in modern buildings. {{U}}(47) {{/U}}. These are good reasons why they can still be seen today, but perhaps the most important is that they were planned to last forever. {{U}} (48) {{/U}}. However, there are no writings or pictures to show us how the Egyptians planned or built the pyramids themselves. {{U}}(49) {{/U}}. Nevertheless, by examining the actual pyramids and various tools which have been found, archaeologists have formed a fairly clear picture of them. One thing is certain: there must have been months of careful planning before they could begin to build. {{U}}(50) {{/U}}. You may think this would have been easy with miles and miles of empty desert around, but a pyramid could not be built just anywhere. Certain rules had to be followed, and certain problems had to be overcome. A. The dry climate of Egypt has helped to preserve the pyramids, and their very shape have made them less likely to fall into ruin. B. It is practically certain that plans were made for the building of the pyramids because the plans of other large works have fortunately been preserved. C. The first thing they had to do was to choose a suitable place D. Consequently, we are only able to guess at the methods used E. Many people were killed while building the pyramids F. They have stood for nearly 5,000 years, and it seems likely that they will continue to stand for thousands of years yet