Dear mommy and daddy,
I write this letter to you in hopes that you should consider your method of parenting me before I arrive. I am a joyous child. I expect love and respect, order and discipline. When I arrive, I will seem very small to you. Even though I don’t look like an adult, please understand that I am a human being.
Even though I will not speak words to you, I will know you with my heart. I will feel all your feelings, absorb your thoughts. I will come to know you more than you may know yourself. Do not be misled (误导) by my silence. I am open, growing and learning more rapidly than you can imagine.
I will keep in heart all that I see, so please give me sweet music and language that tells me how much I am loved. Give me silence to rest my ears. I will absorb all that I feel, so please wrap life in love.
I am waiting patiently to be with you. I am so happy to have the opportunity to be alive. Maybe when you see me you will remember how precious life is too!
Your joyous childAccording to the letter, why did the child write this letter?
| A．Because the child wanted to apologize to its parents. |
| B．Because the child wanted the parents to consider the method of being parents. |
| C．Because the child expressed the happiness of having such parents. |
| D．Because the child wanted to show how much it understood its parents. |
According to the text, we can infer the “child” is in fact _______ .
| A．a lovely boy | B．a joyous child |
| C．an unborn baby | D．a lovely girl |
The child in the text required all the following EXCEPT that ________ .
| A．it should be looked on as a human being |
| B．it would like to be loved by its parents |
| C．it wanted to be with the parents an soon as possible |
| D．it wanted a place full of beautiful music and love language |
The letter is likely to be printed in the part of ______ in a magazine.
| A．“Baby’s world” | B．“Current news” |
| C．“Young parent center” | D．“Science and our life” |
When Frida Kahlo's paintings were on show in London, a poet described her paintings as “ a ribbon （丝带）around a bomb”. Such comments seem to suggest Kahlo had a big influence on the art world of her time. Sadly, she is actually a much bigger name today than she was during her time.
Born in 1907 in a village near Mexico City , Kahlo suffered from polio（小儿麻痹症）at the age of seven. Her spine （脊柱）became bent as she grew older. Then, in 1925, her back was broken in several places in a school-bus accident. Throughout the rest of her life, the artist had many operations, but noting was able to cure the terrible pain in her back. However, the accident had an unexpected side effect. While lying in her bed recovering, Kahlo taught herself to paint.
In 1929, she got married to Diego Rivera, another famous Mexican artist. Rivera’s strong influences on Kahlo’s style can be seen in her early works, but her later works from the 1940s, known today as her best works, show less influence from her husband.
Unfortunately, her works did not attract much attention in the 1930s and1940s, even in her home country. Her first one-woman show in Mexico was not held until 1953. For more than a decade after her death in 1954, Kahlo’s works remained largely unnoticed by the world, but in the 1970s her works began to gain international fame at last. What does the phrase “a much bigger name” in paragraph 1 most nearly mean?
| A．a far better artist | B．a much more famous person |
| C．a much stronger person | D．a far more gifted artist |
The terrible pain Kahlo suffered was caused by.
| A．back injuries | B．her bent spine | C．polio | D．the operations she had |
Kahlo’s style had become increasingly independent since the.
| A．1930s | B．1970s | C．1950s | D．1940s |
What is author’s attitude toward Kahlo?
| A．Devotion | B．Encouragement | C．Worry | D．Sympathy（同情） |
I moved to the small, busy town of Edison in New Jersey six years ago. It was during the second term of my fifth grade. My parents got new jobs and higher income, so they decided it was time to move from Woodbridge to a better, more educational town.
In the US, it is unnecessary to take a test to get into a “good” middle or high school. You just attend the school close to where you live. So, many parents will think about the quality of the local school when they decide to buy a new house. My parents did the same. We finally chose Edison mainly because of the high quality of its school.
In New Jersey, an area with a good school usually means a concentration of Asian people. There are about 300 students in our school. 55% are Asians and just under half of that are Chinese. There are so many Chinese people nearby that we even have our own Chinese school.
Edison is an old town, just like thousands of others in the United States. However, I have treated it as my hometown. That’s where I spend much of my youth, and the memories there can’t be moved anywhere else.Why did the writer’s parents move to Edison?
| A．Because they were born there. | B．Because it was a better educational town. |
| C．Because the writer began his fifth grade. | D．Because the writer didn’t need to take a test. |
How many students are from Asia in the writer’s school?
| A．About 80. | B．About 160. | C．About 220. | D．About 300. |
What does the underlined expression “a concentration of” mean in Paragraph 3?
| A．None of. | B．The whole of | C．A large number of | D．A small number of |
Why can’t the writer forget Edison?
| A．Because he regards it as his hometown. | B．Because his parents got new jobs there. |
| C．Because there are many Asians there. | D．Because it is in the state of New Jersey. |
The following diaries were written by an Australian boy named Tony. He was on holiday with his family in South Asia.
| 27 December, 2007 This morning I read an email about a boy in hospital looking for his father and I finally thought of a way to help. I took my camera to the hospital and took photos of the boy. Now I’m going to set up a website on my dad’s computer, upload the photos and add his name and information of the hospital. Hopefully it will help! |
2 January, 2008 At the end of the trip, I learned that the boy found his father! His Swedish uncle saw the email on my webpage and arranged the meeting. Is it my website that has made such a success? But at least I’ve done something. We’re returning home tomorrow but I will remember the experience and tell my friends: No matter what we are. We can think of a way to help others. |
Tony thought of the way to ______.
| A．forget the experience | B．take photos of the travelers |
| C．set up a website for the hospital | D．help the boy find his father |
______ saw the email and photos on the webpage and arranged the meeting.
| A．The boy’s uncle | B．Tony | C．Tony’s father | D．The doctor |
Tony was more likely to be ______ in South Asia.
| A．living | B．studying | C．shopping | D．traveling |
It can be learned from the diaries that ______.
| A．people are willing to set up websites |
| B．Tony’s father worked in the hospital there |
| C．people can do something to help each other |
| D．Tony went there to look for his family members |
What do butterfly wings have to do with computer screens? What do birds have to do with high speed trains?
These may sound like strange things to put together. But scientists, inventors, and designers are doing just that. They are learning from nature to create new technology.
The word biomimicry (仿生学) combines two words: biology and mimicry. So people using biomimicry try to use examples in nature to design new technology.
Biomimicry is not a new idea. People have been studying nature for hundreds of years. Leonardo DaVinci used birds as models to invent his flying machine. And when the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane, they also studied birds. In 998, Janine Benyus, a natural science writer and teacher, wrote a book about biomimicry. To develop her interest in the subject, Janine Benyus started the Biomimicry Institute.
The Biomimicry Institute is a non-profit organization. It brings together scientists, designers, inventors and many other people. It offers classes to teach people biomimicry. It provides money for people to research and test new technologies. And it wants all people, from children to adults, to think about new ways to learn from nature.
People involved with the Biomimicry Institute believe that biomimicry can help solve many of the world’s problems. Often, new technologies can harm nature, but this is not true for biomimicry. Let’s look at some examples.
Butterflies have colorful wings because light shines off them in a special way. Scientists want to copy these same ways to make light shine off computers. They hope this will make for more colorful screens.
Another example of biomimicry is the bullet train. It travels at speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour! But it had a problem: it made too much noise!
Through the observation of birds, scientists thought about a kind of bird, the kingfisher(翠鸟). The kingfisher can dive into water without making any noise because of the shape of its beak(喙). Researchers thought that if they could design the front of the train like this beak, the train would be quieter. Well, it worked!The first paragraph is written to_____.
| A．start a discussion | B．make a brief summary |
| C．introduce the topic of the text | D．test readers' knowledge on science |
Why did Janine Benyus set up the Biomimicry Institute?
| A．To honor the Wright Brothers. |
| B．To show her recent inventions. |
| C．To gather talented people for her research. |
| D．To explore the link between nature and technologies. |
We know from the text that the Biomimicry Institute _____.
| A．earns a lot by giving classes on biomimicry | B．tells people about their technologies |
| C．gives free support to scientists | D．teaches children about birds |
The author gives the two examples at the end of the text to show _______.
| A．biomimcry works harmoniously with nature | B．the fast development of modern technology |
| C．how biomimcry changes our life | D．how nature inspires scientists |
What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．Biomimicry is widely used in the world. |
| B．People copy nature to create new technologies. |
| C．The Biomimicry Institute was set up for science. |
| D．Birds play an important part in new technologies. |
The air bag is a piece of safety equipment in cars. It was first designed by John W. Hetrick in 1952. Like many inventions, he came up with the idea as a result of an event that had occurred in his life. He says:
“In the spring of 1952, my wife, my seven-year-old daughter, Joan, and I were out for a Sunday drive in our 1948 Chrysler Windsor. About three miles outside Newport we were watching for deer jumping across the road. Suddenly, there was a large rock in our path. I hit the brakes and we went into a ditch(壕沟).
“As I applied the brakes, both my wife and I threw our hands up to keep our daughter from hitting the car. There was soft mud in the ditch, so the car wasn’t damaged, and no one was hurt.”
“During the ride home I couldn’t stop thinking about the accident. I asked myself,‘Why couldn’t some object come out to stop you from striking the inside of the car?’As soon as I got home that night I drew some sketches(草图). Each evening for the following two weeks, I’d add or reduce something from the sketches.”
Hetrick applied an event he had observed while in the Navy to the design of the air bag. He was repairing a torpedo(鱼雷) which had a cloth covering. When the compressed（压缩的） air that was in the torpedo was let out, the covering was suddenly filled with air and was shot to the ceiling.
With this knowledge, he developed his design until he was able to obtain a patent on the invention on August 5, 1952. The idea was similar to the air bag designs of today. Compressed air is stored in a container and when a traffic accident occurs and the car slows down at a rapid enough rate, the air will be released into the air bag. The idea was ingenious, but Hetrick’s air bag never would have functioned properly. It was really a breakthrough, but it would require years and years of designing and testing by some top car designers before it could be used.The car accident Hetrick was involved in ________.
| A．damaged his car | B．happened in 1948 |
| C．was caused by a deer | D．caused no harm to his family |
Hetrick’s experience in the Navy________.
| A．turned out to be dangerous | B．was helpful to his invention |
| C．involved designing torpedoes | D．inspired him to design an air bag |
The underlined word “ingenious” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to _______.
| A．creative | B．ridiculous | C．crazy | D．complex |
What do we know about the air bag Hetrick designed?
| A．It came into use in the 1950s. | B．It performed perfectly in car accidents. |
| C．It prepared the way for air bags nowadays. | D．It took Hetrick about two months to develop it. |
The text is mainly about ____.
| A．the great inventor Hetrick | B．The invention of air bags |
| C．a terrible car accident | D．road safety in the 1950s |