Producing money requires both artistic and technological skills. Dollar bills are made so that they are interesting to look at but very hard to copy. In total, there are sixty-five separate steps required to make a dollar bill.
The money making process begins when. a yearly order is sent by the Federal Reserve Board. That order will then be divided in half. Half will be done here in Washington, D. C.and the other half will be done in Fort Worth, Texas. Next, the Bureau orders special paper which is actually cloth since it is 75% cotton and 25% linen.
This paper is made so that it can last a long time. And, it is made with details that make it hard to copy. For example, bills contain security threads. These narrow pieces of plastic are inside the paper and run along the width of the bill. This special paper is also made with very small blue and red fibers.
Once the money is printed, guillotine cutters separate the sheets into two notes, then into individual notes. The notes are organized in "bricks," each of which contains forty one-hundred-note packages. The bricks then go to one of twelve Federal Reserve Districts, which then give the money to local banks. Ninety-five percent of the bills printed each year are used to replace money that is in circulation, or that has already been removed from circulation.
You may know that America's first president, George Washington, is pictured on the one- dollar bill. But do you know whose face is on the two, five, ten, twenty, fifty and one hundred-dollar bills? They are, in order. President Thomas Jefferson, President Abraham Lincoln, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, President Andrew Jackson, President Ulysses Grant and statesman Benjamin Franklin.
The average life span of a one-dollar bill is twenty-one months. But a ten-dollar bill lasts only about eighteen months. The one hundred-dollar bill lasts the longest, eighty-nine months. One popular question is about the two-dollar bill. This bill is not printed very often. This is because many Americans believe two-dollar bills are lucky, so they keep them. During money production, we must consider all EXCEPT that it must .
A.last a long time |
B.be hard to copy |
C.be interesting to look at |
D.be done by the president's order |
We can learn from the passage that the security threads .
A.are narrow pieces of plastic |
B.are pressed outside the bills |
C.are longer than the width of the bills |
D.are actually made of cotton and linen |
How many presidents are printed on the American money?
A.Four | B.Five | C.Six | D.Seven |
Why are the two-dollar bills not made often?
A.Because no one wants them. |
B.Because their material is a bit more expensive. |
C.Because they aren't used in America any more. |
D.Because they aren't damaged quickly like other bills. |
阅读理解
A
At three a.m., Jack Mills was sitting at the controls of the mail train. The train was made up of 13 cars. At the end of the train, 71 mailmen sat sorting the mail. Inside the second car, there were only five mailmen and 128 bags full of five-pound notes. This train had run more than 100 years without being robbed(抢劫). At three minutes past three, Mills and his helper, David Whitby, saw a yellow warning light. They slowed the train, and then stopped. Whitby went to the telephone beside the track. It was out of order. Then he saw a man moving between the second and the third cars. Before Whitby cjould give a warning, he was knocked down by two men. Mills’ cars with all the mailmen had been disconnected by the robbers. At the bridge, the bags of money were unloaded from the train and thrown into waiting trucks. One of the robbers who obviously knew the schedules(时刻表) of all the trains kept looking at his watch. At 3:45 he said, “That will have to be enough.” The robbers drove away with more than 2,500,000 pounds.
1. The robbery took place______.
A. before 3:03 B. in the early morning
C. after three o’clock in the afternoon D. after 3:45
2. The robbers_____ before the train stopped.
A. were all in the train B. forced Mills to stop the train
C. were waiting for the train to stop D. ordered Mills to go on driving
3. Why didn’t the other mailmen help the mailmen in the second car when the robbery happened?
A. Because they were busy sorting the mail.
B. Because they didn’t want to help the mailmen in the second car.
C. Because the last eleven cars were separated from the front cars.
D. Because they knew nothing about the robbery.
4. One of the robbers kept looking at his watch because________.
A. he wanted to know the exact time B. he enjoyed looking at his watch
C. he didn’t know when another train would come
D. they had to leave before another train came
5. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. The train was out of order.
B. The telephone was put out of order by the robbers
C. Whitby had an assistant driver.
D. The robbers carried the money away by truck.
(1) Mr. Brown (the motorist)
At about 9:20 p.m. on October 14th, I was driving along Market Road in the direction of Midwick. I wanted to go to Sturham to collect my wife, who had been visiting some friends. I prepared to turn into Sturham Road, which was on my right. In the distance, I saw the lights of a car moving towards me but it was a long way from me. I put out my hand to show that I was going to turn right. Then I started to turn slowly towards Sturham Road. Suddenly there was a loud noise on the passenger's (near) side of the car. I stopped the car and got out. A motorcycle had hit my car. The motorcyclist had been thrown over the car. He was injured, so I ran to a shop to phone for help.
(2) Mr. Smith (the injured motorcyclist)
On the evening of October 14th, I was going home along Market Road towards Newtown. I was riding my motorcycle. I was going slowly because some of the streetlights were out and the road was wet and slippery. Just before Sturham Road, a car suddenly drove right across my path. The driver did not flash his lights to give a warning. I could not turn in time, so I hit the side of the car. When I woke up, I was lying in a hospital in Market Road.
(3) Mr. Lee (another motorcyclist)
At about 9:10 p.m. on October 14th, I left my home in Midwick. Ten minutes later I was riding my motorcycle along Market Road. I was going to Newtown. There was a motorcycle about 40 metres in front of me. It was not going very quickly. The man on it was riding near the curb (路边) but I was near the center of the road. The motorcyclist in front of me tried to turn to his right but there was no time. He hit the car and was injured. There was no car going along in front of us or put by the road.
48.Which of these statements about the accident is probably correct?
A.Mr. Brown wrongly supposed that the lights of the two motorcycles were those of a car.
B.The lights of the car moving towards Mr. Brown made him unable to see.
C.Mr. Brown knocked down a motorcyclist on purpose.
D.The accident was caused by the carelessness of the first motorcyclist.
49.It seems probable from the statements that Mr. Brown__________.
A.gave no signal to show that he was turning right
B.did not give any signal until he was actually turning
C.failed to give a proper signal at that time
D.flashed his light to show that he was going to turn
50.We would expect to find that Mr. Brown's car was damaged on its________ side.
A.front B.leftC.rightD.driver's
Have you ever suddenly felt that someone you knew was in trouble—and was he? Have you ever dreamed something that came true later? Maybe you have ESP (超感觉知觉).
ESP stands for Extrasensory Perception. It may be called a sixth sense. It seems to let people know about events before they happen, or events that are happening some distance away.
Here's an example. A woman was ironing clothes. Suddenly she screamed, "My father is dead! I saw him sitting in the chair!" Just then, a telegram came. The woman's father died of a heart attack. He died sitting in a chair.
There are thousands of stories like this one on record. Scientists are studying them to find out what's behind these strange mental messages. Here's another example—one of hundreds of dreams that have come true.
A man dreamed he was walking along a road when a horse and carriage came by. The driver said, "There's room for one more." The man felt the driver seemed dead, so he ran away. The next day, when the man was getting on a crowded bus, the bus driver said, "There's room for one more."
Then the man saw that the driver's face was the same face he had seen in the dream. He wouldn't get on the bus. As the bus drove off, it crashed and burst into flames. Everyone was killed!
Some people say stories like these are coincidences. Others, including some scientists, say that ESP is real. From studies of ESP, we may someday learn more about the human mind.
44.According to the passage, the author believes that the sixth sense is_________.
A.in existence B.imaginative C.not real D.impossible
45.ESP lets people know___________.
A.about events before they happen
B.about events after they happen
C.about events that are happening some distance away
D.A and C
46.In the last paragraph the underlined word "coincidences" probably means ____.
A.things that may not happen
B.things that happen in a dream
C.things that must happen
D.things that happen by accident
47.This article is mainly about_________.
A.the human dreamB.the sixth sense
C.the human mind D.a crowded bus
It seems that the Englishmen just cannot live without sports of some kind. A famous French humourist once said that this is because the English insist on behaving like children all their lives. Wherever you go in this country, you will see both children and grown-ups knocking a ball about with a stick or something, as if in Britain men shall always remain boys and women girls! Still, it can never be bad to get exercise, can it?
Taking all amateur (业余) and professional sports in Britain into consideration, there can be no doubt that football is at the top of the list. It is called soccer in the United States. The game originated (起源于) in Britain and was played in the Middle Ages or even earlier, though as an organized game, or "association football", it dates only from the beginning of the 19th century.
The next is rugby, which is called "football" in the United States. It is a kind of football played by two teams of fifteen players than eleven. In rugby, an oval-shaped ball is used which can be handled as well as kicked. It is a pretty rough game.
In summer, cricket is the most popular sport. In fact, it has sometimes been called the English national game. Most foreigners find the game rather slow or even boring, but it enjoys great popularity among the British.
Tennis rates high on the list, too. It was introduced into England from France in the 15th century, but it was from England that it spread to practically every country in the world Table tennis, or "ping-pong", surely is not played on a great scale as it is in China or Japan. Basketball and volleyball were introduced into Britain during the late 19th century from America and are gaining popularity. Horse-back riding, swimming, rowing and golf all attract a lot of people.
41.The main purpose of Paragraph 1 is to tell us that the English ___________.
A.are all sports lovers B.behave like children
C.like to kick a ball around D.can remain young all their lives
42.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true about football and rugby?
A.They differ in the shape of the ball.
B.They are played by different numbers of players.
C.They both can be handled.
D.They both can be kicked.
43.The game that was never played in Britain until the late 19th century is _________.
A.basketball B.tennis C.rugbyD.football
It is true that a smile means the same thing in any language. So does laughter or crying. There are also a number of clear similarities in the way different animals show the same feeling. Dogs, tigers and humans, for example, often show their teeth when they are angry. This is probably because such behavior patterns are inherited (遗传) rather than learned.
Fear is another emotion that is shown in much the same way all over the world. In Chinese and in English literature, a phrase like “he went pale and begin to tremble (颤抖)”suggests that the man is either very afraid or he has just got a very big shock. However, “he opened his eyes wide” is used to suggest anger in Chinese whereas in English it means surprise. In Chinese surprise can be described in a phrase like “they stretched out(伸出)their tongues”! Sticking out your tongue in English is an insulting(侮辱)or expresses disgust.
Even in the same culture, people differ in ability to understand and express feelings. Experiments in America have shown that women are usually better than men at recognizing fear, anger, love and happiness on people’s faces. Disgust, contempt (蔑视) and suffering seem to be the most difficult emotions for people everywhere either to recognize or to express. Other studies show that older people usually find it easier to recognize or understand body language than younger people do. And psychologists (心理学家) such as E.G. Beier have also shown that some people often give the completely impression of how they feel. For example, they try to show love but in fact communicate dislike. Or when they want to show interest, they give the impression that they don’t care. This can happen even among close friends and members of the same family. In other words, what we think we are communicating through language, voice, face and body movements may be the exact opposite of what for people understand.
71.According to the passage, even in different cultures the most easily recognized emotion is .
A.anger B.dislike C.happiness D.surprise
72.Experiments show that easier understanding of words and gestures has something to do with your .
A.age and sex B.love and cultural differences
C.impressions about the speaker D.emotional state
73.When we communicate with people, .
A.we know exactly what they mean while they express their emotions
B.we sometimes misunderstand each other
C.we usually mislead them by expressing the opposite of our feeling
D.it seems much mere difficult to understand body language than language
74.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A.When we communicate our real emotions, we many cause misunderstanding to others.
B.Different people in different cultures may have different ways to understand one gesture.
C.Some people are likely to hide their real feelings and express them in the opposite way.
D.What we say does always mean the same thing as the gestures we make.
75.The underlined word “disgust” in Paragraph 2 probably means “ ” in this passage.
A.strong dislike B.friendliness C.love D.sickness