ThenewSherlockHolmesfilmmighti-优题课

How do people traditionally manufacture (制造) things? They usually start with a sheet of metal, wood or other material and cut, drill (钻) and shave it to create a desired shape. Sometimes, they use a mold (模具) made of metal or sand, pour liquid plastic or metal into it and let it cool to create a solid part.
Now, a completely different method is gaining popularity.
On Oct. 9, 2013, London Science Museum kicked off its new exhibition, 3-D: Printing the Future, with over 600 3-D printed objects on display, including space probes (探测器), toy dolls and even human organs – basically any product you can think of, reported Live Science.
You might find it hard to believe that an object can actually be “printed out” like a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it works. Just as a traditional printer sprays (喷洒) ink onto paper line by line, modern 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (树脂) and certain metals. The thinner each layer is – from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair – the smoother and finer the object will be. And objects always come out in one piece, sparing you the trouble of putting different parts together afterward.
For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost ￡20,000 (200,000 yuan), while now it costs only about ￡1,000, according to the BBC. In fact, 3-D printers have been around for some time, but until recently they hadn’t been very popular since few people could afford them. Last year, though, saw a big decrease in the price of 3-D printers.
However, as 3-D printing technology becomes more commonplace, it may trigger certain problems. One of them is piracy (盗版). “Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?” an expert on 3-D printing told Forbes News.
Even more frightening, the world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully fired in the US in May of this year, which means that 3-D printing could potentially give more people access to weapons.
According to the article, in the future, 3-D printing technology will probably ______.

A．change the way people make products

B．be applied as widely in our daily lives as computers

C．forbid many countries to make purchases of weapons

D．take the place of normal printers and save lots of energy

What was the big event that happened in the 3-D printing industry last year?

A．Over 600 3-D printed objects were on display in an exhibition.

B．3-D printing technology came to be used in various fields.

C．The world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully made.

D．The 3-D printer became more affordable for consumers.

What is the author’s attitude toward 3-D printing technology?

A．Amused.	B．Objective.
C．Supportive.	D．Negative.

As prices and building costs keep rising, the ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) trend (趋势) in the U.S. continues to grow.
‘We needed furniture (家具) for our living room,’ says John Ross, ‘and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs.’ John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Rosses took a 2-week course for $280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.
Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoe making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420. ‘I was deeply upset about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course. I should be able to fix the car by myself.’
John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a ‘do-it-yourselfer’, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who don’t have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.
We can learn from the text that many newly married people ________.

A．find it hard to pay for what they need

B．have to learn to make their own furniture

C．take DIY courses run by the government

D．seldom go to a department store to buy things

John and his wife went to evening classes to learn how to ________.

A．run a DIY shop

B．make or repair things

C．save time and money

D．improve the quality (质量) of life

When the writer says that Jim has a full-time job at home, he means Jim ________.

A．keeps house and looks after his children

B．does his own car and home repairs

C．does extra work at night

D．makes shoes in his home

Jim Hatfield decided to become a do-it-yourselfer when ________.

A．he had to raise the children all by himself

B．the car repair class was not helpful

C．he could not possibly do two jobs

D．his car repairs cost too much

What would be the best title for the text?

A．the Joy of DIY

B．You Can Do It Too!

C．Welcome to Our DIY Course!

D．Ross and Hatfield: Believers in DIY

The report came to the British on May 21, 1941. The German battleship (战列舰) Bismarck, the most powerful warship in the world, was moving out into the Atlantic Ocean. Her task: to destroy the ships carrying supplies (补给) from the United States to war-torn England.
The British had feared such a task. No warship they had could match the Bismarck in speed or in firepower. The Bismarck had eight 15-inch guns and 81 smaller guns. She could move at 30 nautical miles (海里) an hour. She was believed to be unsinkable.
However, the British had to sink her. They sent out a task force headed by their best battleship Hood to hunt down the Bismarck. On May 24, the Hood found the Bismarck.
It was a meeting that the German commander Luetjens did not want to see. His orders were to destroy the British ships that were carrying supplies, but to stay away from a fight with British warships.
The battle didn’t last long. The Bismarck’s first torpedo (鱼雷) hit the Hood, which went down taking all but three of her 1,419 men with her.
But in the fight, the Bismarck was a bit damaged. Her commander decided to run for repairs to France, which had at that time been taken by the Germans. The British force followed her. However, because of the Bismarck’s speed and the heavy fog, they lost sight of her.
For two days, every British ship in the Atlantic tried to find the Bismarck, but with no success. Finally, she was sighted by a plane from Ireland. Trying to slow the Bismarck down so that their ships could catch up with her, the British fired at her from the air. The Bismarck was hit.
On the morning of May 27, the last battle was fought. Four British ships fired on the Bismarck, and she was finally sunk.
The Bismarck sailed (航行) into the Atlantic Ocean ________.

A．to sink the Hood

B．to gain control of France

C．to cut off American supplies to Britain

D．to stop British warships reaching Germany

Many people believed that the Bismarck could not be defeated because she ________.

A．was fast and powerful

B．had more men on board

C．was under Luetjens’ command

D．had bigger guns than other ships

We learn from the text that on 24 May ________.

A．the British won the battle against the Bismarck

B．the Bismarck won the battle against the British

C．the British gunfire damaged the Bismarck seriously

D．the Bismarck succeeded in keeping away from the British

Luetjens tried to sail to France in order to ________.

A．have the ship repaired	B．join the other Germans
C．get help from the French	D．get away from the British

Which of the following is the immediate cause of the sinking of the Bismarck?

A．The British air strikes.

B．The damage done by the Hood.

C．Gunfire from the British warships.

D．Luetjens’ decision to run for France.

At 9:00 Dick Spivak’s bank telephoned and said his payment was late. ‘The check is in the post,’ Dick replied quickly. At 11:45 Dick left for a 12:00 meeting across town. Arriving late, he explained that traffic had been bad. That evening, Dick’s girlfriend wore a new dress. He hated it. ‘It looks just great on you,’ he said.
Three lies in one day! Yet Dick Spivak is just an ordinary man. Each time, he told himself that sometimes the truth causes too many problems. Most of us tell much the same white lies, harmless untruths that help to save trouble. How often do we tell white lies? It depends in part on our age, education, and even where we live. According to one U.S. study, women are more truthful than men, and honesty increases as we get older.
While most people use little white lies to make life easier, the majority of Americans care about honesty in both public and personal life. They say that people today are less honest than they were ten years ago. Although it is believed that things are getting worse, lying seems to be an age-old human problem. The French philosopher (哲学家) Vauvenarges, writing in the eighteenth century, touched on the truth when he wrote, ‘All men are born truthful and die liars (说谎者).’
When the writer says ‘Dick Spivak is just an ordinary man’, he means _________.

A．it is common that people tell white lies

B．Dick could do nothing about bad traffic

C．it is common that people move their payment to a later time

D．Dick found it hard to deal with everyday problems

According to the text, most Americans _________.

A．hate white lies	B．believe white lies
C．consider others dishonest	D．value honesty

Vauvenarges’ remark suggests (暗示) that _________.

A．lying is an age-old human problem

B．dishonesty increases as people get older

C．people were dishonest in the 18th century

D．it is social conditions that make people tell lies

‘As I stood in front of the grave (墓) of President Richard Nixon, I was thinking about the time 25 years ago when this president helped bring the United States and China closer together. Young people of our two countries should help this relationship grow.’
This remark (评论) was made by a Shanghai student when speaking to his fellow students at the Nixon Library in California, U.S.A. He was one of 80 middle school students from China attending a month-long ‘Youth Summit’. The Summit was to mark the 25th anniversary (周年) of President Nixon’s journey to China, which was the turning point in China-U.S. relations.
The Youth Summit was aimed at increasing understanding and friendship between young students of the two countries through visits and discussions. Seventy-five American students were selected to visit China. They also visited the Nixon Library on July 21 before leaving for Beijing the next day. The head of the Library said he was pleased to see the American and Chinese students talking and laughing together.
One Chinese student said, ‘I didn’t find it particularly difficult to talk with Americans. We have our differences, but we have a lot in common. Dialogue is good for us.’
The words ‘Youth Summit’ in the text refer to ________.

A．visits to the Nixon Library

B．the Chinese students’ visit to the U.S.

C．a meeting discussing relations between China and the U.S.

D．activities to make the ties between the Chinese and American students stronger

The student from Shanghai thought about the time 25 years ago because it was when Nixon ________.

A．died

B．visited China

C．became U.S. president

D．started building the library in his name

The text is mainly about ________.

A．the China-U.S. relations	B．the Nixon Library
C．the youth Summit	D．President Nixon