When Babbage was working at Cambridge, a new idea occurred to him. He wanted to construct a calculating machine to work out the solutions（解法）to maths problems not only with correctness but also with a speed beyond the power of any human mind. His machine could solve problems involving（涉及）long rows of figures in one continuous operation（运算）.
In 1822 Babbage exhibited his invention and won a prize from the government. After that, he immediately started to work on a larger machine designed to solve more difficult problems. Although he received some money left by his father, the money was not enough to support his design. He wrote to the government about his plan and was given ￡2500 to start with, a sum worth much more in those days than it is now.
Babbage continued his work in London for four years. Then his health broke down, and he had to take a long holiday abroad. When he returned to London in 1828, he was at the end of his resources. Many bills remained unpaid. His chief assistant and co-workers quarreled with him and left with many expensive tools. For one year no work was done. During this period, Babbage, whose mind was always active, suddenly thought of a completely new idea for the machine. He rushed to meet the government officials to explain his new idea. But this time, they were unwilling to help him. For eight years, they refused to say whether they wanted the machine or not, and their final answer was “No.”
From 1828 to 1839, Babbage held the position of professor at Cambridge very successfully. But his greatest work was the unfinished calculating machine which stood covered in dust in his house. It was the beginning of the modern computer.
60．The machine Babbage designed would solve difficult maths problems _________.
A．in one operation with few mistakes
B．in more than one operation without any mistakes
C．in more than one operation with slight mistakes
D．in one operation without any mistakes
61．Babbage failed to continue his research work in 1828 mainly because _______.
A．he was in poor health B．he almost ran out of money
C．his co-workers argued with him D．he spent all his money on his bills
62．Babage explained his new idea to the government officials, expecting that _________.
A．they would agree to his plan B．they would pay for his new idea
C．they would support him with money D．they would exhibit his new design
63．From the passage, we can infer that __________.
A．Babbage failed to be a famous scientist at Cambridge
B．Babbage always had new ideas but gave them up easily
C．Babbage always needed support from the government officials
D．Babbage was the first designer of the modern computer
You may not pay much attention to your daily lift ride. Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it. But Lee Gray, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, the US, has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport. He is known as the “Lift Guy”．
“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette(礼仪) is sort of odd(奇怪的)，” Gray told the BBC. “They (Lifts) are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.”
We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, according to Gray, lift users unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements. He told the BBC what he had observed.
He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want—it's your own little box.
If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally(对角线地) across from each other to create distance.
When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person, it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
New entrants to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple—look down, or look at their phones.
Why are we so awkward in lifts?
“You don't have enough space，” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people, we have about an arm's length of distance between us. And that's not possible in most lifts.”
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed(解释) as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact，”she said.The main purpose of the article is to ________．
| A．remind us to enjoy ourselves in the lift |
| B．tell us some unwritten rules of lift etiquette |
| C．share an interesting but awkward lift ride |
| D．analyze what makes people feel awkward in a lift |
According to Gray, when people enter a lift, they usually ________．
| A．turn around and greet one another |
| B．look around or examine their phones |
| C．make eye contact with those in the lift |
| D．try to keep a distance from other people |
Which of the following describes how people usually stand when there are at least two people in a lift? (The point in the chart refers to one person)
A city child's summer is spent in the street in front of his home，and all through the long summer vacations I sat on the edge of the street and watched enviously the other boys on the block play baseball. I was never asked to take part even when one team had a member missing—not out of special cruelty, but because they took it for granted that I would be no good at it. They were right，of course.
I would never forget the wonderful evening when something changed. The baseball ended about eight or eight thirty when it grew dark. Then it was the custom of the boys to retire to a little stoop(门廊) that stuck out from the candy store on the corner and that somehow had become theirs. No grownup ever sat there or attempted to. There the boys would sit, mostly talking about the games played during the day and of the game to be played tomorrow. Then long silences would fall and the boys would wander off one by one. It was just after one of those long silences that my life as an outsider changed. I can no longer remember which boy it was that summer evening who broke the silence with a question；but whoever he was，I nod to him gratefully now. “ What’s in those books you're always reading？” he asked casually. “Stories,” I answered. “What kind？”asked somebody else without much interest.
Nor do I know what drove me to behave as I did，for usually I just sat there in silence，glad enough to be allowed to remain among them；but instead of answering his question，I told them for two hours the story I was reading at the moment. The book was Sister Carrie. They listened bugeyed and breathless. I must have told it well，but I think there was another and deeper reason that made them so keen an audience. Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man's entertainments，but I was offering them as well，without being aware of doing it，a new and exciting experience.
The books they themselves read were the Rover Boys or Tom Swift or G．A. Henry. I had read them too，but at thirteen I had long since left them behind. Since I was much alone I had become an enthusiastic reader and I had gone through the booksforboys series. In those days there was no reading material between children’s and grownups' books，or I could find none. I had gone right from Tom Swift and His Flying Machine to Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie. Dreiser had hit my young mind，and they listened to me tell the story with some of the wonder that I had had in reading it.
The next night and many nights thereafter，a kind of unspoken ritual(仪式) took place. As it grew dark，I would take my place in the center of the stoop and begin the evening's tale. Some nights，in order to taste my victory more completely，I cheated. I would stop at the most exciting part of a story by Jack London or Bret Harte，and without warning tell them that was as far as I had gone in the book and it would have to be continued the following evening. It was not true，of course；but I had to make certain of my newlyfound power and position. I enjoyed the long summer evenings until school began in the fall. Other words of mine have been listened to by larger and more fashionable audiences，but for that tough and athletic one that sat close on the stoop outside the candy store，I have an unreasoning love that will last forever.The writer feels grateful even now to the boy who asked the question because the boy ________.
| A．invited him to join in their game |
| B．liked the book that he was reading |
| C．broke the long silence of that summer evening |
| D．offered him an opportunity that changed his life |
According to Paragraph 3，storytelling was popular among the boys basically because ________.
| A．the story was from a children's book |
| B．listening to tales was an age-old practice |
| C．the boys had few entertainments after dark |
| D．the boys didn't read books by themselves |
Sometimes the writer stopped at the most exciting part of a story to ________.
| A．play a mean trick on the boys |
| B．experience more joy of achievement |
| C．add his own imagination to the story |
| D．help the boys understand the story better |
What is the message conveyed in the story?
| A．One can find his position in life in his own way. |
| B．Friendship is built upon respect for each other. |
| C．Reading is more important than playing games. |
| D．Adult habits are developed from childhood. |
Do you enjoy seeing the stars twinkling at night? Or do you love the ocean and sea, diving and racing with lovely dolphins? With heavy burdens on their shoulders, teenagers find it hard to pull out. Even if they are free, they prefer to occupy themselves with computer games or watching TV. How to get children away from screens is a great concern for parents. Now there is some good news for those concerned parents and teachers.
A campaign is being launched to encourage children to surrender 30 minutes of screen time a day to head for the great outdoors.
The newly formed Wild Network, a collaboration of nearly 400 organizations, is attempting to attract youngsters away from television and computer screens and into fields, woods and parks.
Organizers say it is the UK's biggest ever campaign to reconnect children with nature and outdoor play, and claim it could help improve fitness, mental alertness and general well－being.
A documentary film, Project Wild Thing, will herald the launch at more than 50 cinemas across the UK from Friday. It looks at the increasingly fragile link between children and nature.
Members of the network include the National Trust, RSPB, Play England and the NHS Sustainable Development Unit.
Andy Simpson, chairman of Wild Network, said, “The tragic truth is that kids have lost touch with nature and the outdoors in just one generation.” Time spent outdoors is down, roaming ranges have fallen drastically, activity levels are declining and the ability to identify common species has been lost.
Suggestions of how to get more time in nature include collecting conkers(七叶树果实), camping, snail racing, and observing autumn colors on trees.
From January, the network will aim to make suggestions to politicians on how government can do more to get children muddy and bright－eyed.
This is not the first time the message of fewer screens, more play has been brought up. Children in the 1980s were entreated to do the same by the BBC TV series Why Don't You, which somewhat confusingly called on its viewers to “switch off your TV set, and go to do something less boring instead”．What is the main purpose of the campaign in the UK?
| A．To save 30 minutes for watching TV programs each day. |
| B．To encourage children to play outdoors. |
| C．To see the documentary film Project Wild Thing. |
| D．To teach students how to learn more efficiently in schools. |
According to the organizers of Wild Network, there will be many advantages from the campaign EXCEPT ________．
| A．improving health conditions |
| B．keeping touch with nature |
| C．learning more about wildlife |
| D．teaching children how to make full use of their spare time |
The underlined part “to get children muddy and bright－eyed” in Paragraph 9 means “________ ”．
| A．to make children covered with mud |
| B．to urge politicians to do more things for children |
| C．to encourage children to take part in outdoor activities |
| D．to help children identify common species |
Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?
| A．A new campaign |
| B．Fewer screens, more play outdoors |
| C．A newly formed Wild Network |
| D．Children get to know wild things |
Some inventions are so useful, but seem so simple, that we wonder why no one thought of them long ago.
Post-it Notes were invented about twenty years ago by Art Fry, a scientist at 3M Company. The idea for the product came from an awful experience he often had while singing in his church choir. Fry used pieces of paper as bookmarks to mark the places in his book of songs, but these bookmarks were always falling out. Around that time, Fry heard about a new adhesive (粘合剂) that a colleague, Dr. Spence Silver, had created. This adhesive was special because it was strong enough to hold papers together, but not strong enough to tear the paper when it was removed.
A short time later, Fry realized that his new invention had even more uses than being a great bookmark. He came to this realization when he wrote a note on one of his new “bookmarks” and attached it to a report he was going to give to a colleague. Soon, co-workers were asking Fry for more of his invention so that they could use the new type of notes themselves.
Fry and some other people at 3M believed so much in the new product that they asked the company to give away thousands of the “sticky pieces of paper” for trial use. When some salespeople at 3M went to offices and showed workers just how helpful the new type of notes could be, they immediately received many orders. As more and more people discovered how useful Post-it Notes could be, the product took off.How did Dr. Spence help Art Fry?
| A．He created the Post-it Notes. |
| B．He offered the new adhesive to Art. |
| C．His adhesive made Art’s invention possible. |
| D．He often worked and discussed science with Art. |
Which of the following is a possible use of Post-it Notes?
| A．A note on a friend’s door |
| B．An ad in a newspaper. |
| C．A postcard from abroad. |
| D．An e-mail to a friend. |
Which of the following shows the proper order of the events?
a. The company gave away many “sticky pieces of paper” for people to try.
b. Dr. Spence created a new adhesive.
c. Many orders were received and the Post-it Notes became successful.
d. Fry invented Post-it Notes.
e. His colleagues began to use the new types of notes themselves.
| A．d b a e c | B．b a e d c |
| C．d e a b c | D．b d e a c |
In which column of a newspaper can we read this passage?
| A．Economy | B．Recreation |
| C．Science | D．Culture |
If you and your friends wish to share a secret, you can write it in code, and no one else will be able to read it. Codes are one way of writing in secret. Ciphers (暗码) are another. In a code each word is written as a secret code word or a code number. In a cipher each letter is changed.
Codes and ciphers have played an important role in the history of the world. Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler who defeated almost all the countries in Europe about 2,000 years ago, used a cipher when he sent secret messages to his troops. During the American Revolution, George Washington's spies used a kind of code to send his information about the enemy before his military action. In World War II, the Americans“broke”or figured out Japan's most important navy codes and got enough information to destroy a powerful Japanese fleet.
Storekeepers use codes to mark their goods. The codes show how much is paid for the goods or when they are added to the stock. Businessmen use codes to hide plans from their business enemies. Sometimes personal letters or diaries are written in code. Many people enjoy figuring out codes and ciphers simply as a hobby.
In the 16th century, codes and ciphers were very popular among scientists. They wrote messages to each other in code so that no one else would learn their secrets. Geronimo Gardano, an Italian astrologer (占星家), mathematician, and doctor, invented the trellis cipher. He took two sheets of paper and cut exactly the same holes in each one. Then he sent one sheet, which he called a trellis, to a friend and kept the other for himself. Whenever he wanted to write a message, he put his trellis over a clean sheet of paper and wrote the secret message through the holes. There he removed the trellis and filled the rest of the paper with words that would make sense. When his friend received it, he put his trellis over the writing and read the secret message.The best title of this passage would be________.
| A．Codes and ciphers |
| B．Differences between codes and ciphers |
| C．History of codes and ciphers |
| D．Inventors of codes and ciphers |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Ciphers can be broken or figured out more easily than codes. |
| B．You could read some words in Geronimo’s letter without his trellis. |
| C．The first person who ever used a cipher in history was Julius Caesar. |
| D．Fondness of using codes was the hobby of the scientists in the 1600s. |
According to Geronimo Gardano, a trellis is ________.
| A．a piece of paper with many small holes |
| B．a secret message with a lot of small holes |
| C．a letter with unreadable words and sentences |
| D．a sheet of paper with groups of Arabic figures |
It is NOT mentioned in the passage that codes and ciphers are used for the purpose of ________.
| A．military affairs |
| B．commercial secrets |
| C．scientific achievements |
| D．personal enjoyment |