The wheel was one of man’s first inventions and yet it has also proved one of the most useful. So wide and varied are the uses of the wheels, in machines and vehicles of all kinds, that it is difficult to imagine what the world would be like without them. It is surprising to hear it said, therefore, that the wheel’s importance will perhaps be greatly reduced by the end of the century by an invention so new as to be still unnamed.
The invention is a machine the floats above any surface on a cushion of air. The cushion is formed when air is blown into this saucer, the machine rises to a height that may vary from a few inches to a few feet.
Industry is already using one form of the inversion to deal with heavy loads. It can lift them. with ease and since there are no wheels, and therefore no friction , they can be put into motion with the touch of a finger.
The new invention, however , is having a great effect on transport, Not only does it make expensive road systems unnecessary, but it enables vehicles to travel well over land or water. This unique to reach most destinations has given rise to the prediction that wheeled vehicles may be uncommon at the end the century as aeroplanes were at the beginning.
1. The first paragraph tells us that______.
A. the wheel was man’s earliest invention.
B. the wheel’s usefulness has yet to be proved.
C. wide wheels have a variety of important uses.
D. a new invention may make wheels less important.
2. The phrase “with the touch of a finger” in the third paragraph means______.
A. without difficulty B. by electricity .
C. without friction D. by hand.
3. The passage tells us that the new invention __________.
A. is more important for industry than for transport.
B. will one day be used instead of aeroplanes.
C. makes it possible to travel without using roads.
D. will replace wheeled vehicles using roads.
4. According to the passage, the new invention _______.
A. will soon get a name B. can go almost anywhere
C. is lighter than air D. was uncommon a century ago
There are plenty of creams etc on the market that help you look younger, but today, Dr Oz is going to show how some people are actually living longer.
“We are going to talk about extreme life extension,” he says. “I am talking in details about allowing us to go into our second century of life with the energy that you have when you are a young person.”
Owing to advances in technology and research on how diet affect the aging process, Dr Oz says it might be possible for some people to live to see their 120th birthdays.
There’s one man in Oprah’s audience who Dr Oz says may become the first man in history to live to be 150 years old. Joe Cordell is one of thousands around the world who believe they’ve found the key to an extreme long life --- calorie restriction leads to a longer, healthier life.
At 59 Joe weighs 130 pounds. He may not look like a person who needs to count calories, but as part of his life extension program, he inspects every mouth of food that passes through his system.
Every day for the past seven years, Joe has limited himself to about 1,950 calories.
He believes that by eating less and restricting his caloric intake, he will trigger a genetic switch that slows the aging process.
Joe doesn’t take away himself of food. Instead, the then 52-year-old father filled up on natural fruits, vegetables and lean proteins(瘦蛋白) that were packed with necessary vitamins and nutrients. “Whenever you are thinking about calorie restriction, you should continually think about getting the most nutritional amount per calorie,” Joe says.
In keeping with this principle, Joe starts every morning with three apples…but he only eats the peels. “Most of the fiber is in the peel, and more importantly, most of the nutrients are in the peel,” he says.
“It is important to eat some nuts with breakfast so that you do take in some fat, some healthy fats,” he says. “I think it helps the absorption of the nutrients, and it is very filling.”
For lunch, Joe usually eats a large salad, loaded with vegetables. At dinnertime, he and his family enjoy lean meat or fish and more vegetables.
When Joe started practicing calorie restriction, he weighed 175 pounds. Since then, he has lost 45 pounds, and he says he hasn’t had a cold in seven years. Though he is in his “golden years”, researchers studying Joe say he has the body of a 20-year-old athlete. According to Joe, the appropriate fat intake may help ______?
| A．people lose weight |
| B．feel always full |
| C．the absorption of the nutrients |
| D．people to live longer |
What can we learn about Joe since he started the calorie restriction program?
| A．Joe counts the amount of every meal |
| B．Joe has never had a cold |
| C．Joe eats three apples every morning |
| D．Joe has a large salad with vegetables for dinner |
The underlined word “trigger” in paragraph 7 can probably be replaced by ______.
| A．turn on | B．break down | C．take up | D．cut off |
According to the passage, the extreme life extension refers to _______.
| A．living very long even sick |
| B．how to make people lead a happy life |
| C．living long and having a healthy body |
| D．how to arrange our foods every day |
Many cities in the world are benefiting from the night activities of a group of people who call themselves guerrilla (游击队) gardeners. Armed with trowels, spades and a van full of flowers and plants, guerrilla gardeners turn abandoned urban land into a blaze of color. In city centre locations where there was mud, weeds and empty plastic bottles, residents often wake up to find that the wasted area has been transformed overnight with brightly-colored bedding plants.
In most British cities, local governments and police turn a blind eye to the effort of the gardeners, whose activities are always carried out under cover of nightfall. And so far, there has been nothing but praise from the astonished and delighted local residents when they find their neighborhood transformed in such a striking fashion.
Not only do the guerrilla gardeners beautify neglected places, they also return regularly to water the plants and weed the flower beds. They also make sure that at least some of the plants they bring are evergreens, which means that the area doesn’t look depressing in the winter months.
The first guerrilla gardener in London was Richard Reynolds, whose day job is at an advertising agency. Mr. Reynolds, a graduate of Oxford University, began his efforts two years ago when he moved to a flat in a tower block in South London. From his balcony, he could see several empty concrete pots, placed by the local governments to contain plants but never used. He went out after midnight and filled the pots with plants, and then planted more flowers in the path leading to the entrance to the block.
He then set up a website to explain his plan and called upon more gardeners to join him. Cash donations flooded in and, more importantly, volunteers rushed to be part of the campaign. Within six months, there were five hundred people in London prepared to come out at very short notice to restore neglected parts of the urban landscape. There are now unofficial but carefully-organized groups in many cities in Britain and North America and there is also a website where would-be urban gardeners can find out the location of the next expedition.These guerrilla gardeners do their work ______.
| A．at the request of the government |
| B．nearby their house |
| C．often in return for others’ help |
| D．out of their own free will |
Richard Reynolds decided to fill the pots with plants in order to ______.
| A．plant more flowers in the path |
| B．beautify the neighborhood |
| C．attract attention for his ad agency |
| D．make the plants a feast for his eyes |
The guerrilla gardeners often return to their night working places with the purpose of ______.
| A．looking after these plants |
| B．enjoying these beautiful flowers |
| C．helping plants live through winter months |
| D．changing the varieties of the plants |
It can be inferred from the text that these guerrilla gardeners ______.
| A．are mainly from the United Kingdom |
| B．will later get well paid |
| C．are still not accepted by the local government |
| D．become more and more organized |
Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard, some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out. 90% of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting. But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it. One study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting. Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for ten to fifteen minutes a day, and then other teachers who basically teach it for sixty to seventy minutes a day － which really is pretty much for handwriting.
Many adults remember learning that way － by copying letters over and over again. Today’s thinking is that short periods of practice are better. Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself. Instead, they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas. After all, that is why we write.
Handwriting involves two skills. One is legibility, which means forming the letters so they can be read. The other is fluency － writing without having to think about it. Fluency continues to develop up until high school.
But not everyone masters these skills. Teachers commonly report that about one fourth of their kids have poor handwriting. Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs.
But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school, especially in the early years. American children traditionally first learn to print, and then to write in cursive, which connects the letters. But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board, which administers the SAT college admission test. More than 75% of students choose to print their essay on the test rather than write in cursive.We can infer from the first paragraph that ______.
| A．teachers spend little time in teaching handwriting. |
| B．most teachers attach importance to teaching handwriting. |
| C．handwriting teaching is not commonly required. |
| D．most teachers are at a loss how to teach handwriting |
Which of the following about traditional handwriting in the USA is NOT true?
| A．The students are taught by practicing a long period. |
| B．Printing is taught in preference to writing in cursive. |
| C．Handwriting is taught for its own sake. |
| D．Two skills get involved in handwriting. |
Some American people consider handwriting not important any more because ______.
| A．all the American children learn to print first |
| B．about 1/4 of the students choose to print their essay on the test |
| C．it is unnecessary to use handwriting in the age of keyboard |
| D．computers and voice recognition programs are widely used |
______ may serve as the best title for the passage.
| A．Handwriting: fascinating in keyboard age |
| B．Right or wrong: the death of handwriting |
| C．Two skills involved in handwriting |
| D．Handwriting lessons on the way out |
For the past two years, 8-year-old Harli Jordean from Stoke Newington, London, has been selling marbles(弹珠). His successful marble company, Marble King, sells all things marble-related － from affordable tubs of the glass playthings to significantly expensive items like Duke of York solitaire tables － sourced, purchased and processed by the mini-CEO himself.
“I like having my own company. I like being the boss,” Harli told the Mirror.
With profits now in the thousands, “the world’s youngest CEO” has had to get his mother and older brothers to help him meet the growing demand.
Harli launched Marble King after swapping marbles at school led to schoolchildren consuming his marble collection. Yes, he literally “lost his marbles.” Harli and his mother, Tina, turned to the Internet to find replacements.
Harli saw an empty space online: the marbles he wanted were hard to find. Within months, Harli had his own marble-selling website － and orders started pouring in.
Tina says her son's attachment to marbles started when he was just 6.
“His attachment became so passionate that we started calling him the Marble King — so when he wanted to set up a website it was the natural name for it,” she told The Sun.
“I never thought it would become so popular － we are struggling to cope with the number of orders at times.”
The 8-year-old boy has his sights set on expanding his business and launching his own brand of marbles.
“Sometimes his ideas are so grand we have to scale them back a bit. But his dream is still to own Britain's biggest marble shop and open stores around the world,” Tina told The Daily Mail.
“At the moment he is annoying me by creating his own Marble King marbles － so that could well be the next step for him.”Harli’s Marble Company became popular as soon as he launched it because ______.
| A．it was run by “the world’s youngest CEO” |
| B．it filled the gap of online marble trade |
| C．Harli was fascinated with marble collection |
| D．Harli met the growing demand of the customers |
How many mass media are mentioned in the passage?
| A．One | B．Two | C．Three | D．Four |
The underlined expression “scale them back” is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．hold them down | B．carry them out |
| C．set them aside | D．clear them away |
What message do the last two paragraphs carry?
| A．Conflicts often occur between Harli Jordean and his family. |
| B．Harli’s mother and brothers are worried about Marble King’s future. |
| C．Marble King marbles will surely attract more fans around the world. |
| D．The “Marble King” has great ambition for his Marble King company. |
根据短文内容，从下框的A~F选项中选出能概括每一段主题的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余项。
| A. Smiling builds up confidence. B. Smiling changes mood. C. Smiling helps stay positive. D. Smiling defeats diseases. E. Smiling attracts people F. Smiling relieves stress |
Like a flower with a pleasant scent, your smile can draw people close enough to see inside you. That’s Smile Power. A smile has the power to radiate the qualities that make you beautiful on the inside - kindness, friendship, honesty, respect, patience, and self-control. So please give smiles away like flowers. Let your smile be an invitation for others to get to know the great person behind the smile. Then let people see that your smile doesn’t stop at your mouth. It goes all the way to your heart. On the other hand, we are drawn to people who smile and we want to know a smiling person and figure out what is so good. Frowns, scowls and grimaces all push people away -- but a smile draws them in.
Next time you are feeling down, try putting on a smile. There’s a good chance you mood will change for the better. Smiling can trick the body into helping you to have a good feelings. So smile is a good state of mind, you have a smile, then you will have a better feelings. So when you are smiling you lighten up the room, change the moods of others, and make things happier.
The muscles we use to smile lift the face, making a person appear younger. Don’t go for a face lift, just try smiling your way through the day -- you’ll look younger. Then you will feel better and have more confident, thus are more likely to be promoted, and more likely to be approached. Put on a smile at meetings and appointments and people will react to you differently because of your confidence.
Stress can really show up in our faces. Smiling helps to prevent us from looking tired, worn down, and overwhelmed. When you are stressed, take time to put on a smile. This is because when you smile, there is a measurable reduction in your blood pressure. You can sit for a few minutes, take a reading. Then smile for a minute and take another reading while still smiling. You will be happy to see your stress disappears quickly.
Now try to think of something negative without losing the smile. It’s hard. When we smile our body is sending the rest of us a message that "Life is Good!" Stay away from depression, stress and worry by smiling. So smile is a positive state of mind, every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing and then other people will also answer your smile.