2010年1月自考英语（一）模拟考试题及答案

2． The skin which covers the tips of the fingers and thumbs is crossed by numerous ridges (隆 起)arranged in different patterns. This patterns are permanent from birth and remain exactly the same throughout a person's life, even when the skin becomes wrinkled and cracked as a result of old age. Such patterns are never passed on from parents to children, and no one in the world has the same patterns as anyone else. Even identical twins have different sets of fingerprints. As a result, fingerprints offer a most useful and foolproof way of identifying people. Any ridged part of the hand and the foot may be used as a means of identification, but finger impressions are usually preferred since they can be taken easily and quickly.
Fingerprints are classified in the ways: by general shapes and contours, by the finger positions of the pattern-types, and by size (o

（责任编辑：）