Thomas Edison was a great American inventor. He was born to a poor family in 1847. His mother taught him at home. He often observed things carefully and he made over 1,300 inventions during his life time. He was often said to be the greatest genius(天才) of his age. There are only a few men in all of history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be happy only because someone said he was a genius. “There is no such thing as genius,” Edison said. He also said that what people called genius was mostly hard work. But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. Nature, he often said, is full of secrets. He tried to understand them; then, he tried to learn what could usefully be done with them.
Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people will do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking can give men enjoyment and pleasure.
Edison could not understand how anyone could be uninterested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what ideas he had about life. “Work, ” he answered back, “discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.Edison was______________.
| A．interested in changing people’s ideas |
| B．interested in discovering the secrets of nature |
| C．very much uninterested in nature |
| D．uninterested in making people happier by discovering the secrets of nature |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Many other people have changed Edison’s life. |
| B．Edison has changed the lives of many other people. |
| C．Only a few men in history can change other people’s lives. |
| D．Edison invented the electric light. |
The last sentence in the passage most probably implies(意指)___________.
| A．people of his time were ready to give Edison another 100 year’s work |
| B．Life is too short for Edison to invent more for human beings |
| C．Edison made 100 inventions in his life |
| D．Edison was able to live and work for 100 years |
Enjoy this Saturday!
| Films Two films will be on this Saturday afternoon at Andersen Cinema. See Life of pie at 2:30 pm. The Smurfswill be on at 4:45 pm. For more information, call 66328801. |
| International picnic Are you tired of eating the same food every day? Come to City Park this Saturday and enjoy food from all over the world. Delicious and not expensive. Noon to 5: 00 pm. |
| Concert “The only”, a popular rock band from America, will give their first concert this Saturday night, at 8:00 pm at Colden Hall. |
| Football game Nov. 16 this Saturday night (7:00 pm to 9:00 pm), is your last chance to watch the football game in our city this year. Buy your tickets at the gate of the gym. It might be cold. Don't forget to wear a sweater or a jacket. |
If you want to see the film Life of pie, you have to get to the cinema before ____.
| A．4: 45pm | B．7: 00pm | C．2: 30pm | D．5: 00pm |
At noon people can ___________ this Saturday.
| A．see a film | B．have a picnic |
| C．go to a concert | D．watch a football game |
The rock band’s first concert will be given at ___________.
| A．Andersen Cinema | B．City Park |
| C．Colden Hall | D．the gym |
Now you’ve finished three years of English study. There’s one way to demonstrate(展示) what you’ve learned－take a test!
Do you have any special methods you use to help you do better on a test? How well you do is often a matter of how well prepared you are. Here are some ways to make sure you’re at your best on test days.
Go to bed early. The night before a test is not the time to stay up watching TV. You want to be rested and wide-awake for test day.
Have a good breakfast. Test day isn’t a morning for donuts. Nor is it a time to starve(挨饿) yourself. Eat plenty of low-sugar, high-energy food to keep your brain and body working their best.
Be prepared. Make sure you have two pencils and anything else you were asked to bring.
Watch the numbers. Make sure that the number of the items(项目) on your answer sheet matches the number of the question.
Look over all the answer choices. Don’t assume(假定) that choice A is correct until you’ve checked the others. You may find a better one. And it is wrong to eliminate(排除) any choice that you can see at once. You’ll have a better chance of finding the right answer.
Check the clock. Make sure you allow yourself enough time to answer every question and go back and check your answers. Don’t spend too much time on any difficult question. Skip it and come back to it later.
Keep up with your schoolwork all year long. That’s how you get the skills you need for
taking test. Is taking a test a way to demonstrate what you’ve learned?
How many ways are mentioned in this passage?
What should you take to prepare for a test?
What do you do if you meet any difficult question?
What’s the passage mainly about?
BEING an astronaut sounds cool, doesn’t it? In space, they get to do some pretty amazing things, like floating(漂浮) in zero gravity(重力).
However, there are also plenty of things that astronauts can’t do because of their weightless environment, and that’s very sad. What’s worse, they can’t even let their sadness show, because it’s impossible to cry in zero gravity.
Of course, astronauts can still produce tears(眼泪). But crying is much more difficult in space, according to The Atlantic(大西洋月刊) in January. Without gravity, tears don’t flow(流动) down out of the eyes like they do here on Earth. This means that when you cry in space, your tears have nowhere to go — they just stick(粘) to your eyes.
In May 2011, astronaut Andrew Feustel experienced this during one of his spacewalks. “Tears,” he said, “don’t fall off of your eyes. They just stay there.”
Besides making your vision(视线) unclear, this can also cause physical pain. Back on Earth, tears are supposed to bring comfort to the eyes. But that’s not the case(情况) in space. The space environment dries out astronauts’ eyes, and when tears suddenly wet the eyes, it can cause pain rather than comfort. “My right eye is stinging(刺痛) like crazy,” Feustel told his teammate during the walk.
Since gravity doesn’t work in space, astronauts need some extra help to get rid of(除去) the tears. Feustel chose to rub his eyes against his helmet to wipe(擦) the tears away. Another choice is to just wait — “When the tears get big enough, they simply break free of the eyes and float around,” astronaut Ron Parise told The Atlantic.
There are lots of small things — things like crying — that we are so used to on Earth. We usually take them for granted until they become a problem in a totally different environment, like space. There, astronauts can’t talk to each other directly. They also can’t eat or drink in normal ways. They can’t even burp(打嗝), because there is no gravity to hold the food down in their stomach. If they do burp, they just end up throwing up(呕吐) everything in their stomach, according to the UK National Space Center.
Therefore, perhaps it’s only space explorers who can honestly say, “Gravity, you’re the best.” From Paragraphs 2 and 3, we can know that __________.
| A．astronauts are unable to feel sad in space |
| B．astronauts produce fewer tears in space |
| C．tears produced in space flow down more slowly |
| D．tears produced in space don’t flow downward |
What effect do tears have on astronauts?
| A．They cause physical pain. | B．They bring comfort to them. |
| C．They make their vision clearer. | D．They float around and cause trouble. |
The underlined phrase “take them for granted” in paragraph 7 means __________.
| A．find them important | B．consider them useless |
| C．need them during an emergency | D．fail to notice their presence |
Paragraph 7 is mainly about __________.
| A．suggestions of how astronauts can stay comfortable in space |
| B．other basic things that are difficult to do in space |
| C．why burping is impossible in space |
| D．things human can’t do without gravity |
I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to sit above the top of it. Mother sat writing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be a most wonderful thing in the world.
Years later, during her final illness, Mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk,” she said again, “ is for Elizabeth.”
I never saw her angry, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me; she showed in action. But as a young girl, I wanted to have heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter. They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was “too emotional(易动感情的)”. But she lived “on the surface(表面)”.
As years passed and I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive me.
My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace — it seemed that nothing happened. I couldn’t be sure that the letter had even got to Mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.
But the present of her desk told me, as she’d never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside — a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded(折叠) and refolded many times. It was my letter.
“In any way you choose, Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.” The passage shows that __________.
| A．Mother was cold on the surface but kind in her heart to her daughter |
| B．Mother was too serious about her daughter in words |
| C．Mother wrote to her daughter in careful words |
| D．Mother wrote to her daughter in careless words |
The word “gulf” in the passage means __________.
| A．deep understanding between the old and the young |
| B．different ideas between mother and daughter |
| C．free talks between mother and daughter |
| D．part of the sea going far in land |
What’s best title of the passage?
| A．My Letter to Mother | B．Mother and Children |
| C．My Mother’s Desk | D．Talks between Mother and me |
Being safe in your everyday life needs knowledge. If you remember the following information, your life will be much safer.
Always notice the environment around you. You shouldn’t walk alone outside. Make sure where the public phones are. If anything dangerous happens, you can find them easily.
Your bag should be carried towards the front of your body instead of putting it on your back. When a bus is full of people, it is easy enough for a thief to take away the things in the bag on your back.
If you are followed by someone you don’t know, cross the street and go to the other way, let the person understand that you know he or she is after you. Next, don’t go home at once. You are safer in the street than you are alone in your home or in a lift (电梯).
If you have to take a bus to a place far away, try to get to the stop a few minutes earlier before the bus leaves. This stops other people from studying you. On the bus, don’t sit alone. Sit behind the driver or with other people. Don’t sleep. Which of the following is NOT safe when you are out?
| A．Go home alone late at night. |
| B．Make sure where the public phones are. |
| C．Don’t get to the bus stop too early. |
| D．Always notice the environment around you. |
When you are followed by someone on your way home, you should __________ to make yourself safe.
| A．run home |
| B．turn back and walk towards him or her |
| C．find a lift and go in |
| D．cross the street and go to the other way |
What can you learn from the text?
| A．How to cross the street. |
| B．How to be safe in your everyday life. |
| C．How to use the public phones. |
| D．How to notice the environment around you. |