D．was first used in US government letters

24．Roosevelt's plan to simplify English spelling ________.

A．failed in the end

B．proved quite successful

C．won wide support

D．influenced English greatly

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　B

Insects are usually quite small, some of which may be an inch or two long. But scientists now surmise that creatures like these were once very large. Recently, they have found fossils (化石) of huge cockroaches, which are bugs (虫子) with six legs that are still around today. However, they say that they still need more evidence.

A few years ago, scientists found the fossils of a claw (爪子) in Germany. It was found in a place that was once an area of land covered by water. They thought that the claw belonged to a sea scorpion (海蝎). Then they put it together in the shape of the body. They were amazed at its size.

How big was it? It was really big. The claw was a foot and a half long. That would make the bug eight feet long! That is the size of a small car. It is bigger than the tallest of men. Scientists were very excited to have found the fossil of the largest bug ever known.

Imagine a large bug walking across your kitchen floor! Imagine watching the bug drink water from a pool! That would be very frightening.

Humans were never in danger from this bug. The sea scorpion lived 400 million years ago. Fish lived on Earth then, but dinosaurs did not. The sea scorpion lived about 150 million years before dinosaurs.

Huge sea scorpions lived for many years. They had no enemies until fish began to grow large teeth. Then fish began eating them. Finally, huge sea scorpions died out. Fortunately, at least one sea scorpion left a claw behind but it became as hard as stone. Then one day it was discovered, and this is the claw that the scientists found.

Now scientists believe that more bugs from long ago were also very large, even though these creatures are small today. Only more fossil discoveries will tell.

25．According to the text, the scientists in Germany ________.

A．found the fossils of many huge bugs

B．found out where bugs lived long ago

C．found the fossils of a sea scorpion's claw

D．found out that bugs lived before humans

26．How does the author describe the size of the sea scorpion in Paragraph 3?

A．By comparing it with a car and a man.

B．By showing the food it ate every day.

C．By explaining how it got so big as years passed by.

D．By describing when things happened in a certain order.