The meal he served to the guests was rather ______. A: scanty B: dull C: dingy D: lifeless

Confucius considered, “nature was not a lifeless mechanism separate from humans; instead, it was the great world of life and the process of ________ of life.”

Deserts are known for being _____and lifeless, but they are also quite striking and beautiful, especially when seen from above.（ ） A: deadly B: hot C: sandy D: desolate

Apparently the author of the passage A: is unfamiliar with sculptural terms. B: relies too heavily on other art critics. C: researches her subject matter before writing. D: finds Leodas' work mundane and lifeless.

What should spring be like? What does "a silent spring" mean A: Spring should be throbbing with life, full of birdsong. "A silent spring" means a lifeless spring. B: Spring should be a busy ploughing season. "A silent spring" means people get lazy and stop working.

Through burial and ancestral worship rituals, people can learn that ___________. A: Nature is lifeless so it will never die B: Individual’s life can be everlasting by joining nature. C: They should be grateful to their parents for giving them lives. D: Individual’s lifespan is short, so they should enjoy life as much as possible.

9. Through burial and ancestral worship rituals, people can learn that________. A: A. nature is lifeless so it will never die B: B. individual’s life can be everlasting by joining nature C: C. they should be grateful to their parents for giving them lives D: D. Individual’s lifespan is short, so they should enjoy life as much as possible

Textbooks represent an 11 billion dollar industry, up from $8 billion in 2014. Textbook publisher Pearson is the largest publisher—of any kind—in the world. It costs about $1 million to create a new textbook. A freshman textbook will have dozens of contributors, from subject-matter experts through graphic and layout artists to expert reviewers and classroom testers. Textbook publishers connect professors, instructors and students in ways that alternatives, such as Open E-Textbooks and Open Educational Resources, simply do not. This connection happens not only by means of collaborative development, review and testing, but also at conferences where faculty regularly decide on their textbooks and curricula for the coming year. It is true that textbook publishers have recently reported losses, largely due to students renting or buying used print textbooks. But this can be chalked up to the exorbitant cost of their books—which has increased over 1,000 percent since 1977. A reshuffling of the textbook industry may well be in order. But this does not mean the end of the textbook itself. While they may not be as dynamic as an iPad, textbooks are not passive or lifeless. For example, over the centuries, they have simulated dialogue in a number of ways. From 1800 to the present day, textbooks have done this by posing questions for students to answer inductively. That means students are asked to use their individual experience to come up with answers to general questions. Today’s psychology texts, for example, ask: “How much of your personality do you think you inherited?” while ones in physics say: “How can you predict where the ball you tossed will land?” Experts observe that “textbooks come in layers, something like an onion.” For the active learner, engaging with a textbook can be an interactive experience: Readers proceed at their own pace. They “customize” their books by engaging with different layers and linkages. Highlighting, Post-It notes, dog-ears and other techniques allow for further customization that students value in print books over digital forms of books.