In the summer of 1978 an English man named Steven was driving his tractor through a field of wheat when he discovered something strange. Some of his wheat was lying on the ground. The flattened wheat formed(形成)a circle about six meters across . Around this circle were four smaller circles of flattened wheat.
Three years later a farmer who lived nearby discovered almost the same circles in one of his fields. These circles were larger—nearly 15 meters across . That same year , another English farmer discovered three circles of flattened wheat on his land—one large circle between two small circles. During the following years, farmers in England found circles in their fields more and more often.
The circles are called “crop circles” because they usually appear in fields of wheat or corn. The wheat in the circles lies on the ground but is never broken; it keeps on growing, and the farmers can later harvest it. Farmers always discover the crop circles in the morning, so the circles probably form at night. They appear only in the months from May to September. What causes the crop circles?
At first, people thought that some kids were making them as a joke, or that farmers were making them to attract tourists.(In fact, in 1991, two men said they made the circles themselves, but many scientists don’t believe them.) People tried to copy them: They tried to make circles exactly like the ones the farmers had found. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t enter a field of wheat without leaving tracks, and they couldn’t flatten the wheat without breaking it.
Several times people reported seeing stranger objects near the fields where crop circles later appeared. Many people believe that these crop circles are the messages sent by living things from outer space(外层空间)or the marks left by their spaceships.
Scientists who have studied the crop circles try to find out what causes them. In the summer of 1990 some scientists spent three weeks in the part of England where many circles have appeared. They had all the latest high-tech equipment(最新高科技设备). The equipment—worth 1.8 million dollars—got nothing. But one night, as the scientists were watching a field, crop circles formed in the field behind them, which were quite different from the others. The scientists had neither seen nor heard anything.
When Steven discovered the crop circles on his land in 1978, he said, “It was just like something that had landed in the field from the air and gone back up again. I don’t know what to make of these things.”
Crop circles have appeared in England, Japan, the United States and Russia. Experts from all over the world have studied them, and they say what Steven said: They don’t know what to make of these things.Which picture is probably the one formed in the field behind the scientists?
“Flattened wheat” means ___________.
A.broken wheat | B.lying wheat |
C.harvested wheat | D.growing wheat |
The passage is mainly about something ___________ .
A.that is done by living things from outer space |
B.that cannot be solved but found all around the world |
C.that cannot be made clear or understood |
D.that is discovered and copied by the farmers |
阅读理解(二)
阅读下面短文,根据短文内容回答问题。
Smartphone, Poor Sight
As we all know, smartphones make our lives easier, so we can find people around us always busy on them. But have you ever thought about what they mean to our eyes?
According to a survey, many people have become near-sighted(近视)because they spend too much time on the screens. When we look at something far away, our eyes blink(眨眼)about 15 times every minute. But when we look at things closer to the face, our eyes get drier because the blinkings slow down. Another bad habit is using smartphones in dark rooms before going to sleep. Bright screens can hurt our eyes and even cause more serious eye illness.
So use your smartphones wisely, and start to protect your eyes before it’s too late!
Hold the phone at least 30cm away from your eyes when using it.
Don’t forget to blink your eyes often before they get dry.
Keep the light on when you use smartphones at night.
Take a break at least every thirty minutes and look at something far away. Then try to look at the top of your nose and repeat this several times. Why do many people use smartphones?
_______________________________________________________________________________When do your eyes get drier?
_______________________________________________________________________________Is it good to look at bright screens in dark rooms? Why or why not?
_______________________________________________________________________________How often should you take a break while using smartphones?
_______________________________________________________________________________What do you usually do to protect your eyes when using smartphones? (One way is OK.)
_______________________________________________________________________________
When I was about 12, I hated a girl. I even thought of her as an enemy. She liked to pointed out my shortcomings(缺点). Week by week her list grew: I was too thin; I was not a good student; I talked too much; I was too proud and so on. At last, I couldn’t stand her. I ran to my father.
He listened to me quietly, and then he asked, “Are the things she says true or not? Jane, didn’t you ever wonder what you are really like? Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I found that about half the things were true. I couldn’t change some of them, like being very thin, but more I could and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I got a pretty clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it. “That’s just for you,”he said. “You know better about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears angrily and feel hurt. Don’t close your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth.”
Daddy’ s advice has returned to me at many important moments.In my life,I’ve never had a better piece of advice.What was Jane like in her “enemy’s”eyes?
A. She was too shy.
B. She felt too good about herself.
C. She was of medium build.What did the father ask Jane to do?
A. Mark the true things.
B. List the girl’s shortcomings.
C. Pay no attention to the list.How did Jane feel after she made the list?
A. She felt hurt and wanted to give up.
B. She didn’t lose heart and decided to change.
C. She was happy because she could draw a picture.What does the sentence “In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.”mean?
A. She didn’t like her father’s advice.
B. Her father gave her better advice after she grew up.
C. Her father gave her the best advice in her life.What can we learn from this story?
A. It’s always good to have an enemy.
B. Everyone has shortcomings.
C. We can know better about ourselves from others.
Nowadays, more and more junior school students choose to study abroad. It is good for them? We interviewed some students. Here are some different opinions.
Li Xin: Kids now in china are less independent. Usually they can’t live along without their parents. But studying abroad is a good way to improve their self—care ability, because they cannot depend on anyone but themselves when stay abroad.
Zhou Jing: I’ve always wanted to study in the UK. I think there is a completely different culture waiting for me to learn about. Although we may learn about it from textbooks and the Internet. I still think it is much better to look and feel by ourselves.
Wu Wei: Some students want to study abroad because they don’t like the senior high school entrance exam(中考), But they need to study hard and keep a good habit. Although the exam brings students pressure, it helps. If not, some of them may relax too much and learn little.
Chen Yu: China has a long history, and I am a big fan of it. As a Chinese, I think we should learn about our history and culture first and then compare it with others. On the other hand, there are too many new things in foreign countries. Lots of students may pay more attention to them and forget about their study.Li Xin thinks kids will learn to be ______ when they study abroad.
A. independent B. careful C. lonely ______ thinks exams can push students to study hard.
A. Zhou Jing B. Wu Wei C. Chen Yu Zhou Jing is interested in ______.
A. British culture
B. English textbooks
C. Chinese historyChen Yu disagrees to study abroad because students may _______.
A. forget Chinese history
B. compare themselves with others
C. pay less attentionWhich of the following is TURE?
A. Wu Wei thinks students will learn little if there is too much pressure.
B. Zhou Jing thinks learning from textbooks is better than experiencing.
C. Chen Yu has great interest in Chinese culture and history
Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything—tutors (家庭教师), cards, special learning centers—in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic (天主教的) school.
After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread (铺开) out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.
Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mom looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity (好奇心). She went to his room and asked, “Son, what was it? Was it the nuns (修女)?”
Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, “No. ”
“Well then,” she asked again. “WHAT was it?”
Little Tommy looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed (钉) to the plus sign (加号), I knew they weren’t joking. ” Why did Tommy’s parents send him to a catholic school?
A.Because he could eat well there. |
B.Because he could earn more about nuns. |
C.Because his parents wanted him to do better in his math. |
D.Because his parents didn’t want him to learn math any more. |
Tommy’s mother felt surprised that his son _______.
A.was still the same as usual |
B.ate so much at dinner |
C.kissed her hello after school |
D.worked hard but said little |
“Hitting the books” means “_______” in Chinese.
A.用功 | B.捶书 | C.发泄 | D.振作 |
54. The last sentence in the passage shows that _______.
A.Tommy felt sorry for the mail |
B.Tommy was afraid of being nailed |
C.Tommy didn’t like the plus sign |
D.Tommy liked playing jokes on others |
From the passage, we can infer (推断) that _______.
A.teachers should be strict with their students |
B.mistaking (误解) might do good sometimes |
C.a catholic school is much better than other ones |
D.nuns are good at helping children with their math |
The word, “photography”, was first used in 1839. It comes from the Greek words that mean “to write with light”. But photography could only give peoplestatic pictures. So scientists were trying hard to find ways to make pictures that can move. They made lots of experiments, but failed again and again. It was Eadweard Muybridge who finally succeeded. He was the first photographer to try this successfully. But how did he make it? It was an interesting story.
Back in 1872, people didn’t know exactly whether all four of a horse’s hooves (蹄) left the ground at the same time when it was running. A gentleman called Leland Stanford made a bet with his friend about it. Most people believed that a horse always had one hoof on the ground, or it would fall over. But Stanford didn’t think so.
At that time, it was hard to know who could win the bet, because a horse’s legs move so fast that it is impossible to tell just by looking. So they needed a way to record the movement of a running horse. Then Stanford offered $25,000 to the famous photographer, Muybridge, to help find the answer. In the beginning, Muybridge failed to get clear images, but he didn’t give up. He continued to improve his cameras. In 1878, after many experiments, he managed to get a sequence (连续) of 12 photos. One of them clearly showed that all four of the horse’s hooves were off the ground at the same time. And when the photos moved fast, people could see a horse running.
Though is usually considered as the person who created the first movie in 1889, it was the work of Eadweard Muybridge and the bet that led to Edison’s invention.The underlined word“static”in Paragraph 1 most probably means _______.
A.pretty | B.dark | C.moving | D.still |
What did Leland Stanford make a bet with his friend about?
A.Whose horse ran faster. |
B.whether a horse would fall over while running. |
C.whether it was possible for scientists to make moving pictures. |
D.Whether a horse’s hooves all left the ground at the same time while running. |
Muybridge finally found the exact answer to the bet _______.
A.next year. | B.at the same year. |
C.after six years. | D.after seventeen years. |
Which is TRUE from the passage?
A.The word, “photography” means to make pictures that can move from the Greek words . |
B.Leland Stanford made a bet with Edison in 1872. |
C.It is very easy for Muybridgea to record the movement of a running horse. |
D.Stanford believed all four of the horse’s hooves were off the ground at the same time. |
The passage mainly tells us _______.
A.that Thomas Edison created the first movie . |
B.that Eadweard Muybridge created the first static pictures |
C.how photography helped people know more about animals |
D.how Eadweard Muybridge got pictures of motion (移动) successfully |