In earliest times, men considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries of nature. Some ancient people believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons of the gods.
In reality, lightning is a flow of electricity formed high above the earth. A single flash of lightning 1.6 kilometres long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs .
The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752. In the same year he also built the first lightning rod (避雷针). This device protects buildings from being damaged by lightning.
Modern science has discovered that one stroke of lightning has a voltage (电压) of more than 15 million volts (伏特). A flash of lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second.
Scientists judge that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year. In the United States alone it kills an average of one person every day.
The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car. Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under tress. Also on,e should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.
With lightning, it is better to be safe than sorry.People once thought lightning came from ________.
| A．the gods | B．the earth |
| C．the sky | D．nature |
According to the passage what do you think all buildings need?
| A．Metal fences. | B．Machines. |
| C．Electricity. | D．Lightning rods |
Lightning can travel ________.
| A．as quickly as water | B．not so quickly as electricity |
| C．at very high speed | D．at very low speed |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．In the U.S about one person per day dies from lightning. |
| B．Swimming during a thunder storm is a good idea. |
| C．The Empire State Building frequently gets hit by lightning. |
| D．A closed car is the best place to be during an electrical storm. |
Henry Ford was the first person to build cars which were cheap，strong and fast．He was able to se11 millions of cars because he could produce them in large numbers at a time；that is，he made many cars of the same kind．Ford’s father hoped that his son would become a farmer，but the young man did not like the idea and he went to Detroit（底特律）where he worked as a mechanic（机械师）．By the age of 29，in 1892，he had built his first car．However，the car made in this way，the famous “ Mo
del T ” did not appear until 1908. Five years ago, Ford started his great motor car factory．This kind of car showed to be well-known that it remained unchanged for twenty year．Since Ford’s time，this way of producing cars in large numbers has become common in industry and has reduced the price of many goods which would be very expensive．Henry Ford was the man to built _____ cars．
| A．cheap and strong | B．cheap and long |
| C．fast and expensive | D．strong a nd slow |
Ford was able to sell millions of cars，because_____．
| A．he made many cars | B．his cars are many |
| C．he made lots of cars of the same kind | D．both A and B |
The young man became a mechanic，_______．
| A．which was his father’s will | B．which was against his own will |
| C．which was against his father’s will | D．which was his teacher’s will |
The “ Model T ” was very famous_____．
| A．before 1908 | B．between 1982 and 1908 |
| C．before 1892 | D．after 1908 |
Ford built his own car factory_____．
| A．in 1903 | B．in 1908 | C．in 1913 | D．in 1897 |
BC Social Report, August 14, 2010
Scandinavians may spend a lot of the winter in darkness but they are the happiest people in Europe, according to a study showed this month. Countries like Denmark and Finland scored highest on the study of happiness in Europe carried out by Cambridge University, which also found that the sunny southern countries of Italy, Portugal and Greece got the least joy out of life.
The survey entitled: "No Man is an Island" showed that countries where people enjoy time with friends and family, have trust in government and national institutions were more likely to be happy than those living in a sunny climate. The study rated respondent on their overall sense of happiness and life satisfaction on a scale of one to 10.
Danes (丹麦人)--who expressed a high level of trust in their politicians and public institutions--came top of the field at 8.3. Italians--who reported lower levels of satisfaction with their national quality of government--came last at 6.49.' "Italy, Greece, Portugal, Germany and France report the lowest levels of happiness while the Scandinavian Countries, Netherlands and Luxembourg report the highest," the study said.
Although Europeans are generally four times wealthier than their fathers and grandfathers, their levels of happiness are either equal to or lower than 40 years ago. The study also looked at factors contributing to happiness within countries and surprisingly found that an interest in politics actually increased happiness.
Lead researcher Luisa Corrado said tax cuts and throwing money at social problems appeared to have no effect on the happiness of citizens when compared with government policies which strengthened and supported wider social networks. "People are less naive ( 质朴的) than one would expect, politicians need to adapted their policies and target specific problems in specific areas," she said. According to the passage, we can know .
| A．Scandinavians are the happiest people in the world |
| B．the research is carried out by Oxford University |
| C．the people of the northern countries are much happier |
| D．Italians expressed their trust in politics and institutions |
Which of the following factors increases happiness?
| A．Interest in polities | B．Wealth | C．Health | D．Websites. |
The underlined word "scale" in the second paragraph means
| A．sense | B．life | C．report | D．range |
What's the writer's attitude to the study?
A. Subjunctive. B. Objective.C. Pessimistic. D: Optimistic.In what column may readers probably read the passage?
| A．Lifestyle. | B．Amusement. | C．Politics. | D．Health and Happiness. |
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher:. Sams (March 29,2005)
ISBN: 0672327627
Product Dimensions: 8.4x5.5x0.6 inches
OVERVIEW
This book offers straightforward practical answers when you need fast results. By working through each 10-minute lesson, you'll learn what you need to begin to use the PHP scripting language to make your websites interactive and dynamic.
REVIEW
When I first laid eyes on this book and its title, Teach Yourself PHP in 10 minutes, my first thought was that I was going to see this! So I opened it up and figured I'd look through it for ten minutes and see what would hit me. Well, 10 minutes turned into 20, 20 into 30 and 30 into a valuable resource that sits on my desk.
Not only are the lessons within brief, but they are very easy to understand, well presented and very easy to understand for the beginner. Each lesson comes with tips to point out shortcuts, cautions to help you avoid common mistakes and notes to additional infomation. This book can be used in two ways, as a reference or as a complete tutorial on PHP basics. That alone is something that is very rare in teaching type books these days.
Some of the more valuable and informative lessons will take you into the areas of:
--Strings and variables
--Processing HTML forms
--Controlling and filtering data
--User authentication
--Cookies and sessions
--Security practices
--Configuring PHP and more!!!
The book is pretty basic for experienced PHP coders, but for new or intermediate users this book is worth more than the small $19.99 CAN suggested price. Although the cover suggests it covers PHP 5.0, the coding found within also applies to PHP 4.X
CONCLUSION
This book completely surprised me with its value and does indeed teach you in ten minutes what other books claim to do in 24 hours. Full marks to author Chris Newman for this handy guide.Where can you see this short passage?
| A．In a section for ads in a website. | B．In a book shop. |
| C．In a science magazine. | D．In a fiction novel. |
What is the book about according to the passage?
| A．How to make a website interactive and dynamic. | B．How to do things in ten minutes. |
| C．How to deal with all kinds of problems. | D．How to configure PHP and more. |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To tell us something about a new book. | B．To tell us something about PHP. |
| C．To make an ad for the book to sell it. | D．To tell us how to use the book. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．You can learn all kinds of things within only ten minutes. |
| B．It is a good book only for beginners. |
| C．The book is valuable for both experienced PHP coders and beginners. |
| D．The book is more useful for new or intermediate users than the experienced PHP coders. |
What is the price of the book?
| A．$19.99 CAN. | B．US$19.99 | C．The author doesn't tell us. | D． $ 20. |
Coffee is one of the world's most widely-enjoyed drinks. Now, a new research suggests that if you drink enough coffee, it might help you avoid certain kinds of cancer.
Dr. Mia Hashibe of the University of Utah School of Medicine was interested in the connection between coffee drinking and certain cancers of the head and neck. Researchers have looked into this before, but without reaching any firm conclusions. She said, "So this finding from our new study was quite a surprise. We didn't really have any expectation of which direction it could go into."
To sort out the confusion, Hashibe and her assistants used statistical (统计学 ) techniques to, in effect, make one big study out of the earlier smaller studies. She explained, "Thanks to the earlier studies, we have a lot more power than earlier studies that looked at this. And we included 4,000 cancer patients who have cancer of the mouth and throat. And then 9,000 controls, people who do not have cancer. '
Those studies--in Europe and the United States--found that people who drank a lot of coffee were less likely to develop cancers of the mouth and throat. "We saw a protective effect for drinking more than 4 cups of coffee per day," Hashibe said. "This was the 40 percent decrease in risk. We did not see the same effect for drinking three cups or less per day."
Mia Hashibe said there was a weak connection between cancer risk and drinking coffee without caffeine. And she and her assistants found no proof that drinking tea provided the same protection as drinking Coffee. Their research is published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Hashibe says it is not clear how coffee might protect drinkers from certain cancers. "There are a few chemicals that are known to be antioxidants （抗氧化物）in coffee. So we are thinking perhaps they are playing some sort of protective role against several cancers."This passage is probably taken from __
| A．a literature book | B．a travel journal |
| C．an old directory | D．a medical magazine |
Dr. Hashibe expected nothing of her research because __
| A．it was impossible to get the desired result | B．the research was much surprising in fact |
| C．no conclusions had been reached before | D．the research team lacked faith in success |
Which of the following might have something to do with the protection against mouth cancer?
| A．Coffee without chemicals. | B．Coffee without caffeine. |
| C．Four cups of tea a day. | D．Antioxidants in coffee. |
What do we know about Dr. Mia Hashibe and her research?
| A．She knew for sure how coffee may affect drinkers. |
| B．She included 4,000 people without cancer in study. |
| C．She found an effect for three cups of coffee a day. |
| D．She based her research on several earlier studies. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Drinking Coffee May Protect Some Cancers | B．Drinking Coffee May Prevent Some Cancers |
| C．Drinking Coffee May Cure Some Caneers | D．Drinking Coffee May Cause Some Cancers |
Paul was dealing with a crisis. The new girl Linda in class really liked him a lot. Paul was not happy about it.
Paul's good friend, Sam, tried to comfort him. "What's the big deal? I think Linda is kind of cute and nice enough."
Paul glared at Sam. "Then why don't you ask her to be your girlfriend? There she is, sitting all by herself at the other end of the cafeteria. Go there and ask her to be your honey!"
"She's crazy about you, not me," Sam replied.
"Well, I don't want any girlfriend, especially not a girl like her! "Paul growled.
Sam wouldn't give up. "The only thing pesky about her is that she keeps writing you those notes ."
"I don't like notes at all!" Paul interrupted. He took another sip of milk.
"Did you notice those strange brown eyes? Why aren't they normal red or pink?"
Sam took another look at Linda. "I think her face is a lovely shade of green. And her dark green curly hair is quite pretty. Besides, she's very gentle and that's what really matters."
Paul stuck out his tongue. "I think I'm going to be sick! I'd better save my dessert for later." He crammed a small bag of Maggot Munchies into his even smaller shirt pocket. "The fact is, I have a problem. That girl is getting on my nerves! "
Sam followed Paul’s example and decided to save his dessert for later. However, he carefully placed the bag into his lunch box. "Do you have any ideas about how to solve your problem?" Tremor asked.
"I'm going to be mean and rude to her," Paul announced. "I'll call her names and make ugly faces at her."
"That's how you treat everyone," Sam reminded his friend.
Paul nodded. "It's time that Linda got to know the real Paul !" What does the underlined part "a crisis" in Paragraph 1 refer to?
| A．how to get away from Linda | B．how to win Linda over |
| C．how to get Sam's help | D．how to save money |
How did Linda feel about Paul ?
| A．She didn't like him because he was rude. | B．She was annoyed by his strange appearance. |
| C．She didn't have any strong feelings about him. | D．She fell in love with him. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Paul pretended to be rude in order to make Linda stop liking him. |
| B．Sam thought that looks were more important than personality. |
| C．Sam thought that Linda was cute. |
| D．Paul offered his dessert to Linda to make her sick. |
Sam appreciate Linda in the following aspects EXCEPT
| A．her eyes | B．her hair | C．her face | D．her character |
What is implied from this passage?
| A．Linda will be Sam's girlfriend. | B．Paul has fallen in love with another girl. |
| C．Paul and Linda are classmates. | D．Paul and Linda are colleges students. |