Do you read newspapers in modern times while we have TV and other media? The first newspaper was written by hand and put up on walls in public places. The earliest daily newspaper was started in Rome in 59 BC. In the 700s the world’s first printed newspaper was published. Europe didn’t have a regularly published newspaper until 1609, when one was started in Germany.
The first regularly published newspaper in English was printed in Amsterdam in 1620. In 1621, an English newspaper was started in London and was published once a week. The first daily English newspaper was Daily Current, which came out in March 1702.
In 1690, Benjamin Harris printed the first American newspaper in Boston. But not long after it was first published, the government stopped the paper. In 1704, John Campbell started Boston Newspaper, the first newspaper published daily in the American Colonies. By 1760, the colonies had had more than thirty daily newspapers. There are now about 1,800 daily papers in the United States.
Today, as a group, English language newspapers have the largest circulation in the world. But the largest circulation for a newspaper is that of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. It sells more than eleven million copies every year. The first regularly printed European newspaper was started ______.
| A．in Rome in 59 BC | B．in Germany in 1609 |
| C．in Amsterdam in 1620 | D．in England in 1621 |
The first daily English newspaper was started in _______.
| A．1702 | B．1760 | C．1620 | D．1621 |
What can we learn from the passage_______?
A. The earliest daily printed newspaper was started in Rome in 59 BC.
B. The first regularly published English newspaper was printed in Boston.
C. The first daily English newspaper was printed in the American Colonies.
D. The first American newspaper was stopped before 1704.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage_______?
A. Newspapers have the longest history in the United States.
B. One English language newspaper has the largest circulation in the world.
C. The first English newspaper was printed in Rome in 59 BC.
D. There are all kinds of newspapers all over the world today.What is the best title of the passage_______?
| A．History of newspapers. |
| B．History of daily newspapers. |
| C．The beginning of daily newspapers. |
| D．The beginning of newspapers. |
Passenger pigeons（旅鸽）once flew over much of the United States in unbelievable numbers. Written accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries described flocks（群）so large that they darkened the sky for hours.
It was calculated that when its population reach its highest point, there were more than 3 billion passenger pigeons – a number equal to 24 to 40 percent of the total bird population in the United States, making it perhaps the most abundant birds in the world. Even as late as 1870 when their numbers had already become smaller, a flock believed to be 1 mile wide and 320 miles (about 515 kilometers) long was seen near Cincinnati.
Sadly, the abundance of passenger pigeons may have been their undoing. Where the birds were abundant, people believed there was an ever-lasting supply and killed them by the thousands. Commercial hunters attracted them to small clearings with grain, waited until pigeons had settled to feed, then threw large nets over them, taking hundreds at a time. The birds were shipped to large cities and sold in restaurants.
By the closing decades of the 19th century, the hardwood forests where passenger pigeons nested had been damaged by Americans’ need for wood, which scattered（驱散）the flocks and forced the birds to go farther north, where cold temperatures and spring storms contributed to their decline. Soon the great flocks were gone, never to be seen again.
In 1897, the state of Michigan passed a law prohibiting the killing of passenger pigeons, but by then, no sizable flocks had been seen in the state for 10 years. The last confirmed wild pigeon in the United States was shot by a boy in Pike County, Ohio, in 1900. For a time, a few birds survived under human care. The last of them, known affectionately as Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden in September 1, 1914.In the 18th and early 19th centuries, passenger pigeons _______.
| A．were the biggest bird in the world |
| B．lived mainly in the south of America |
| C．did great harm to the natural environment |
| D．Were the largest population in the US |
The underlined word “undoing” probably refers to the pigeons’ _______.
| A．escape | B．ruin | C．liberation | D．evolution |
What was the main reason for people to kill passenger pigeons?
| A．To seek pleasure. | B．To save other birds. |
| C．To make money. | D．To protect crops. |
What can we infer about the law passed in Michigan?
| A．It was ignored by the public. | B．It was declared too late. |
| C．It was unfair. | D．It was strict. |
The Cambridge Science Festival Curiosity Challenge
Dare to Take the Curiosity Challenge!
The Cambridge Science Festival (CSF) is pleased to inform you of the sixth annual Curiosity Challenge. The challenge invites, even dares school students between the ages of 5 and 14 to create artwork or a piece of writing that shows their curiosity and how it inspires them to explore their world.
Students are being dared to draw a picture, write an article, take a photo or write a poem that shows what they are curious about. To enter the challenge, all artwork or pieces of writing should be sent to the Cambridge Science Festival, MIT Museum, 265 Mass Avenue. Cambridge 02139 by Friday, February 8th.
Students who enter the Curiosity Challenge and are selected as winners will be honored at a special ceremony during the CSF on Sunday, April 21st. Guest speaker will also present prizes to the students. Winning entries will be published in a book. Student entries will be exhibit and prizes will be given. Families of those who take part will be included in the celebration and brunch will be served.
Between March 10th and March 15th, each winner will be given the specifics of the closing ceremony and the Curiosity Challenge celebration. The program guidelines and other related information are available at: http://cambridgesciencefestival.org.Who can take in the Curiosity Challenge?
| A．School students. |
| B．Cambridge locals. |
| C．CSF winners. |
| D．MIT artists. |
When will the prize-giving ceremony be held?
| A．On February 8th. |
| B．On March 10th |
| C．On March 15th.. |
| D．On April 21st. |
What type of writing is this text?
| A．An exhibition guide. |
| B．An art show review. |
| C．An announcement. |
| D．An official report. |
People aren’t walking any more---if they can figure out a way to avoid it.
I felt superior about this matter until the other day I took my car to mail a small parcel. The journey is a matter of 281 steps. But I used the car. And I wasn’t in ay hurry, either, I had merely become one more victim of a national sickness: motorosis.
It is an illness to which I had thought myself immune(), for I was bred in the tradition of going to places on my own two legs. At that time, we regarded 25 miles as good day’s walk and the ability to cover such a distance in ten hours as sign of strength and skill. It did not occur to us that walking was a hardship. And the effect was lasting. When I was 45 years old I raced –and beat—a teenage football player the 168 steps up the Stature of Liberty.
Such enterprises today are regarded by many middle-aged persons as bad for the heart. But a well-known British physician, Sir Adolphe Abrhams, pointed out recently that hearts and bodies need proper…… is more likely to have illnesses than one who exercises regularly. And wlaking is an ideal form of exercise--- the most familiar and natural of all.
It was Henry Thoreau who showed mankind the richness of going on foot. The man walking can learn the trees, flower, insects, birds and animals, the significance of seasons, the very feel of himself as a living creature in a living world, He cannot learn in a car.
The car is a convenient means of transport, but we have made it our way of life. Many people don’t dare to approach Nature any more; to them the world they were born to enjoy is all threat. To them security is a steel river thundering on a concrete road. And much of their thinking takes place while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
I say that the green of forests is the mind’s best light. And none but the man on foot can evaluate what is basic and everlasting.What is the national sickness?
| A．Walking too much |
| B．Traveling too much |
| C．Driving cars too much |
| D．Climbing stairs too much. |
What was life like when the author was young?
| A．People usually went around on foot. |
| B．people often walked 25 miles a day |
| C．People used to climb the Statue of Liberty. |
| D．people considered a ten-j\hour walk as a hardship. |
The author mentions Henry Thoreau to prove that
| A．middle-aged people like getting back to nature |
| B．walking in nature helps enrich one’s mind |
| C．people need regular exercise to keep fit |
| D．going on foot prevents heart disease |
What is compared to “a steel river” in Paragraph6?
| A． A queue of cars |
| B．A ray of traffic light |
| C．A flash of lightning |
| D．A stream of people |
What is the author’s intention of writing this passage?
| A．To tell people to reflect more non life. |
| B．To recommend people to give up driving |
| C．To advise people to do outdoor activities |
| D．To encourage people to return to walking |
"Dad," I say one day …..take a trip. Why don't you fly and meet me?"
My father had just reired……….. His job filled his day, his thought, his life. While he woke up and took a warm shower, I screamed under a freezing waterfall Peru. While he tied a tie and put on the same Swiss watch, I rowed a boat across Lake of the Ozarks.
My father sees me drfting aimlessly, nothing to show for my 33 years but a passport full of funny stamps. He wants me to settle down, but now I want him to find an adventure.
He agrees to travel with me through the national parks. We meet four weeks later in Rapid City.
" What is our first stop?" asks my father.
"What time is it?"
"Still don't have a watch?"
Less than an hour away is Mount Rushmore. As he stares up at the four Presidents carved in granite(), his mouth and eyes open slowly, like those of little boy.
"Unbelievable," he says, "How was this done?"
A film in the information center shows sculptor Gutzon Borglum devoted 14 years to the sculpture and then left the final touches to his son.
We stare up and I ask myself, Would I ever devote my life to anything?
No directions, …… I always used to hear those words in my father's voice. Now I hear them in my own.
The next day we're at Yellowstone National Park, where we have a picnic.
"Did you ever travel with your dad? I ask.
"Only once," he says. " I never spoke much with my father. We loved each other---but never said it. Whatever he could give me, he gave."
The kast sebtebce----it's probably the same thing I's say about my father. And what I'd want my child to say about me.
In Glacier National Park, my father says, "I've never seen water so blue." I have, in several places of the world, I can keep traveling, I realize--- and maybe a regular job won't be as dull as I feared.
Weeks after our trip, I call my father.
"The photos from the trip are wonderful," he says." We have got to take another trip like that sometime.
I tell him I've learn decided to settle down, and I'm wearing a watch.
| 1． |
We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that the father.
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| 2． |
What does the author realize at Mount Rushmore?
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| 3． |
From the underlined paragraph, we can see that the author.
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| 4． |
What could be inferred about the author and his father from the end of the story?
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| 5． |
What could be the best title for the passage?
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A world-famous Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, has created the world's first long-distance signing device(装置), the LongPen.
After many tiring……from city to city, Atwood thought there must be a better way to do them . She hired some technical experts and started her own company in 2004. Together they designed the LongPen. Here's how it works: The author writes a personal message and signature on a computer tablet(手写板) using a special pen. On the receiving end, in another city, a robotic arm fitted with a regular pen signs the book. The author and fan can talk with each other via webcams(网络摄像机) and computer screens。
Work on the LongPen began in Atwood's basement(地下室). At first, they had no idea it would be as hard as it turned out to be. The device went through several versions, including one that actually had smoke coming out of it. The investing finally completed, teat runs w ere made in Ottawa, and the LongPen was officially launched at the 2006 London Book Fair. From here , Atwood conducted two transatlantic book signings of her latest book for fans in Toronto and New York City.
The LongPen produces a unique signature each time because it copies the movement of the author in real time. It has several other potential applications. It could increase credit card security and allow people to sign contracts from another province. The video exchange between signer and receiver can be recorded on DVD for proof when legal documents are used.
"It's really fun", said the owner of a bookstore, who was present for one of the test runs. "Obviously you can't shake hands with the author but there are chances for a connection that you don't get from a regular book signing..
The response to the invention has not been all favorable. Atwood has received criticism from authors who think she is trying to end book tours. But she said, "It will be possible to go to places that you never got sent to before because the publishers couldn't afford it."
| 1． |
Why did Atwood decide to invent the LongPen?
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| 2． |
How does the LongPen work?
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| 3． |
What do we know about the invention of the LongPen?
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| 4． |
How could the LongPen be used in the future?
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| 5． |
What could be inferred from Paragraphs 5 and 6?
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