Humans have sewn by hand for thousands of years. It was said that the first thread was made from animal muscle and sinew (肌腱). And the earliest needles were made from bones. Since those early days, many people have been involved in the process of developing a machine that could do the same thing more quickly and with greater efficiency.
Charles Wiesenthal, who was born in Germany, designed and received a patent on a double-pointed needle that eliminated the need to turn the needle around with each stitch (缝合) in England in 1755. Other inventors of that time tried to develop a functional sewing machine, but each design had at least one serious imperfection.
Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonnier finally engineered a machine that really worked. However, he was nearly killed by a group of angry tailors when they burned down his garment factory. They feared that they would lose their jobs to the machine.
American inventor Elias Howe, born on July 9, 1819, was awarded a patent for a method of sewing that used thread from two different sources. Howe’s machine had a needle with an eye at the point, and it used the two threads to make a special stitch called a lockstitch. However, Howe faced difficulty in finding buyers for his machines in America. In frustration, he traveled to England to try to sell his invention there. When he finally returned home, he found that dozens of manufacturers were adapting his discovery for use in their own sewing machines.
Isaac Singer, another American inventor, was also a manufacturer who made improvements to the design of sewing machines. He invented an up-and-down-motion mechanism that replaced the side-to-side machines. He also developed a foot treadle (脚踏板) to power his machine. This improvement left the sewer’s hands free. Undoubtedly, it was a huge improvement of the hand-cranked machine of the past. Soon the Singer sewing machine achieved more fame than the others for it was more practical. It could be adapted to home use and it could be bought on hire-purchase. The Singer sewing machine became the first home appliance, and the Singer company became one of the first American multinationals.
However, Singer used the same method to create a lockstitch that Howe had already patented. As a result, Howe accused him of patent infringement (侵犯). Of course, Elias Howe won the court case, and Singer was ordered to pay Howe royalties (版税). In the end, Howe became a millionaire, not by manufacturing the sewing machine, but by receiving royalty payments for his invention. Barthelemy Thimonnier’s garment factory was burned down because __________.
| A．people did not know how to put out the fire |
| B．Elias Howe thought Thimonnier had stolen his invention |
| C．the sewing machines couldn’t work finally |
| D．workers who feared the loss of their jobs to a machine set fire |
Why did the court force Isaac Singer to pay Elias Howe a lifetime of royalties?
| A．Because the judge was against Singer for his unfriendly attitude. |
| B．Because Howe had already patented the lockstitch used by Singer. |
| C．Because Singer had borrowed money from Howe and never repaid it. |
| D．Because Singer and Howe had both invented the same machine. |
Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
| A．A Stitch in Time Saves Nine |
| B．The Case between Howe and Singer |
| C．Patent Laws on the Sewing Machine |
| D．The Early History of the Sewing Machine |
A new report says the number of foreign students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by three percent last year. This has been the first obvious increase since 2001.
American schools last fall had 583,000 foreign students. The record is 586,000. That was set in 2002 after many years of gains. But after that the numbers fell. The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 led to more visa (签证) requirements. Now stronger efforts are being made to get more foreign students to study in the United States.
China remained in second place in front of South Korea but behind India, which sent almost 84,000 students last fall. The number of Japanese fell sharply by nine percent, although it remained in fourth place.
There were three percent drops from Indonesia and Kenya, the only African country in the top twenty last year. But there were obvious increases from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Vietnam. The number of Saudi students more than doubled, rising to nearly eight thousand.
For a sixth year, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles had the most foreign students. Columbia University in New York was second. Other schools in the top five were New York University, the University of Illinois and Purdue University.
Unlike American students in other countries, who often choose history and language study, the leading area of study in the USA was business and management. Second was engineering.
The new report also says more than 220,000 Americans studied in other countries. That was during the 2005-2006 school year. It was a record number, and an increase of eight and a half percent from the year before. But only five percent of them stayed for a full year.
1 After 2002, the number of foreign students in the USA fell mainly because ____ .
A. Americans were worried that foreign students might attack them
B. few American universities welcomed students from abroad
C. their own countries could offer them a better education
D. it was harder for foreign students to get permission to study in the USA
2 Which of the following Asian countries has the largest number of students studying in the USA?
A. China. B. Japan. C. South Korea. D. India.
3 Which subject is the most attractive to foreign students in the USA?
A. Business and management. B. History.
C. Engineering. D. Language.
4We can learn from the passage that ____ .
A. Kenya is the only African country that has students in the USA
B. now foreign students are encouraged to study in the USA
C. the number of students studying in America always increases
D. the number of foreign students in the USA will keep increasing in the future
5 In which section of a newspaper could you most probably read this passage?
A. Culture. B. Science. C. Education. D. Business.
If you want to keep healthy, you should have good habits. What is a habit? It is something we do very often. We don’t even think when we do it. It has become a part of our lives.
“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” This is an old English saying. Do you know what it means? It means that we must go to bed early at night and get up early in the morning. If we do, we shall be healthy, rich and clever.
Is this true? Perhaps it is. We know the body must have enough sleep. Boys and girls need eight or nine hours’ sleep every day.
Some people go to bed late at night and get up late in the morning. This is a very bad habit. Then you will not think or do your work well. Of course, you can’t be healthy, wealthy or wise.
When we get up early in the morning, we can go out and do morning exercises. Exercise means doing things with the body. Walking, running jumping, swimming, and playing ball games are all exercise. If we don’t exercise, our body will become weak.
Exercise helps the blood (血液) to move around inside our body. Blood takes food to all parts of our body.
Our body also needs air to breathe. Without air, we will die. We must have lots of clean fresh air if we want to be healthy. That is why many people like to go out to do morning exercise.
1 From the passage we know that it is good for our health to ____ .
A. eat a lot B. go to bed early C. get up late D. go to bed late
2 How long should young boys and girls need to sleep a day?
A. More than ten hours B. Over eleven hours.
C. Less than seven hours. D. Eight hours or so.
3 If we want to keep healthy, we must ____ .
A. eat more food B. sleep more C. get up late D. take enough exercise
4 Which of the following habits is NOT GOOD?
A. Don’t go to bed until twelve o’clock..
B. Take a walk after supper.
C. Run in the open air early in the morning.
D. Climb hills for half an hour early in the morning.
5 Which sport is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Jumping. B. Swimming. C. Riding. D. Running.
第二部分阅读理解 (满分35分)
第一节 阅读理解下面的短文，然后根据短文内容，指出能完成所给句子或回答所提问题的最佳答案。(每小题2分)
What makes a house a home? A home is a place of companionship with people in it who love each other, who are harmonious (和谐的) and closer with one another than with those in the workplace or with classmates at school. A home is a place that’s so magnetic that it’s difficult to leave. In a home there is love, sharing and appreciation, and the members help one another.
I have seen families on the street. But if they live, sleep, talk, and eat together, they are a family, even if they are poorly off. You don’t need a roof to make a home. The truly homeless are some of the rich people who build multi-million-dollar houses and are too busy to really live in them. The truly homeless are those who have turned their home into a hotel lobby. The parents work and the children misbehave. They don’t talk and eat together every day. They rarely see each other. The truly homeless people are those with babysitters, caretakers, gardeners and maids. However, people are unaware of this, as they are too busy making money outside the home that they don’t live in. This is another way of looking at the rich and the homeless. Who is to be pitied?
Control of the computer and the Internet is also important to make a house into a home. If the computer is on all the time, the house turns into an office, even if everyone is at home. Many homes these days are just offices. Human communication has stopped. The computer eats up all the time that one should be giving to others within the home. Using the computer moderately gives us time for play and communication, not with a screen, but with other people.
1 Which of the following may serve as the best title for this passage?
A. How to make a house a home? B. What makes a house a home?
C. Who are truly homeless? D. What is a home for?
2 The purpose of the first paragraph is to tell us ____ .
A. that where there is home there is love B. how to have a happy home
C. what people think a home is D. the author’s concept of home
3 The underlined word “those” refers to ____ .
A. people who build multi-million-dollar houses
B. people who don’t spend time with the family
C. people who have lost their family members
D. homeless families living on the street in America
4Which of the following is FALSE according to the passage?
A. Computers and the Internet are important for a happy home.
B. A home is a place where you are willing to stay.
C. Sometimes it’s the rich that should be pitied.
D. Even the poorest people can have a happy home.
5 According to the passage, which is NOT mentioned as an element (要素) of a home?
A. Communication.B. Appreciation. C. Kindness. D. Companionship.
How to apply (申请) for a free mailbox (邮箱)? First you have to connect to the Internet and go to the homepage of the ICP providing free mailboxes. Then you will find an icon (图标), an agreement about the rules for using the free mailbox will appear. If you want to go, click the icon “I agree”. Then you have to fill in a form about your basic personal data, and the name and PIN (密码) of the mailbox. The PIN is the key to the mailbox. After finishing these, you will get a mailbox like this：your name @ mail server (for example：tvguide@mail.cctv.com.cn. “tvguide” is the name of the mailbox, and “mail.cctv.com.cn” is the name of the mail server.). The mailbox is separated (分隔) into two parts by a separator “@”, which is read as “at”. The former part is the name of the mailbox. The latter is the domain name (域名) of the mail server. All mails to you will be received by the server and put into your mailbox. You can read these mails on any computer on the Internet in the world, if you have the name and PIN of the mailbox.
1 If you want to send or receive an e-mail, you should first ____ .
A. apply for a mailbox B. buy a computer
C. go to the post office D. fill in a form
2 When you get a FREE mailbox, you can send an e-mail ____ .
A. by paying some money B. to anyone
C. without paying money D. anywhere
3 The mailbox’s name in the e-mail address “editor@ew.com.cn.” is ____ .
A. ew B. ew.com.cn C. com.cn D. editor
4 The writer mainly wants to tell us how to ____ in this passage.
A. send a letter by e-mailB. read the e-mail on computers in the world
C. get a free mailbox D. find out one’s e-mail address
5 We can find the similar information in the book “____”.
A. Who Moved My Cheese B. Surfing on the Internet
C. Bill Gates’ Story D. Harry Potter
Throughout history, people have been interested in knowing how languages first began, but no one knows exactly where or how this happened. However, we do know a lot about languages, the languages of today and also the languages of earlier times. There are probably about 3,000 languages in the world today. Chinese is the language with the most speakers. English, Russian and Spanish are also spoken by many millions of people. On the other hand, some languages in the world have less than one hundred speakers.
There are several important families of languages in the world. For example, most of the languages of Europe are in one large family called Indo-European. The original (最初的) language of this family was spoken about 4,500 years ago. Many of the present day languages of Europe and India are modern forms of the language of 4,500 yeas ago.
Languages are always changing. The English of today is very different from the English of 500 years ago. In time some even died out completely. About 1,000 years ago, English was a little-known relative of German spoken on one of the borders of Europe.
If a language has a large number of speakers or if it is very old, there may be differences in the way it is spoken in different areas. That is, the language may have several dialects. Chinese is a good example of dialect differences. Chinese has been spoken for thousands of years by many millions of speakers. The differences between the dialects of Chinese are so great that speakers of Chinese from some parts of China can’t understand speakers from other parts.
1 The first paragraph mainly tells us that ____ .
A. most people in the world speak Chinese
B. there are thousands of languages in the world today
C. man has much knowledge about languages
D. some people know several languages
2 According to the passage, most European and Indian languages ____ .
A. will soon die out completely B. were once a relative of English
C. are no longer spoken D. come from the same family
3 According to the passage, ____ has the most speakers.
A. Chinese B. English C. Spanish D. German
4 According to the passage, ____ seems to have changed a lot.
A. German B. English C. Spanish D. Chinese
5The underlined word dialect in the last paragraph probably means ____ .
A. a special language spoken by Chinese
B. the sign used by the Chinese people in a special area
C. the difference between the old and today’s Chinese
D. the form of a language used in one part of the country