How could we tell time if there were no watches or clocks anywhere in the world?
The sun is probably the world’s first “clock”, except in the far north, where the Eskimos(爱斯基摩人) live. There, it’s dark most of the winter, and light most of the summer. But in most of the world, people have used the sun as a clock. Even today, if you don’t have a clock, you can still know that when the sun shines, it’s day and when it’s dark, it’s night. The sun can also tell you if it’s morning, noon, or afternoon.
Some people live near the sea from the tides. In the daytime, for about six hours, water rises higher and higher on the beach. And then it goes down and down for about six hours. The same thing happens again at night. There are two high tides and two low tides every 24 hours. Seamen on the ship learn how to tell time by looking at the moon and the stars. The whole sky is their clock.
In some places in the world the wind comes up at about the same time every day or changes direction or stops blowing. In these places the wind can be the clock.
A sand clock is an even better clock. If you had fine dry sand in a glass shaped like the one in the picture, you would have what is called an hourglass. The sand in the hourglass goes from the top part to the bottom in exactly one hour. When the hourglass is turned over, the sand will take another hour to go back again From the passage we can know there are _______ways to tell time besides the clock and watch.
| A．3 | B．4 | C．5 | D．7 |
. The Eskimos in the far north can’t use the sun for a clock because________
| A．they know very little about the sun |
| B．the sun there never goes down in winter |
| C．it’s too cold for them to go out to watch the sun |
| D．it has long dark winters and long light summers |
. What does the underlined word “tides” mean in the passage?
| A．洋流 | B．潮汐 | C．海啸 | D．波浪 |
In which page of newspaper can you probably read this passage?
| A．News | B．Science | C．Advertisement | D．Sports |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Different Ways to Tell Time | B．How the Clock Was Invented |
| C．The Development of the Clock | D．A Useful Machine to Tell Time |
It is very important for us students to learn to use dictionaries. Try to find the answers to the questions in this dictionary extract（摘要）. 
We can find these explainations（解释）in _________ dictionary.
A. an English-English B. a Chinese-English C. an English-ChineseIf you try to find a word similar to “proud”, you can look up the word “______”.
A. pleasure B. pride C.personIf you have a bad cold, you will ______ according to the extract.
A. feel proud of yourself B. lose your voice C.encourage your parentsThe word “encourage” is a (an)______.
A. adjective B. noun C. verbIn the sentence “Your parents may △ you from smoking”, △ stands for _____ according to the extract.
A. proud B. voice C. discourage
One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, “Look! There’s a horseshoe. Pick it up and put it in your bag.” Thomas said, “It isn’t worth the trouble.” His father said nothing but picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the pennies he bought some grapes.
It was very hot, and there wasn’t a house or a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on. At this time, his father dropped a grape on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another grape and once again, his son picked it up and put it in his mouth.
And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the grapes and the son picked them up. When Thomas had eaten up all the grapes, his father said to him, “My dear son, if you had bent down early to pick up that horseshoe, it would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the grapes, always remember the lesson: A person who does not worry about the little things will find that he can not do the great things.”The horseshoe was picked up by______
A. the father B.the son C.nobodyThe father bought some ______ after he sold the horseshoe.
A.pennies B.grapes C.treesThomas picked up the grapes and ate them because______.
A. he was asked to B. he liked them C. he was thirstyThe father dropped the grapes one by one because he wanted ______.
A. his son to eat them all
B. to teach his son a lesson
C. to make fun of his sonFrom the passage, we can learn that______.
A. if we want to eat grapes, we must pick up a horseshoe
B. a horseshoe is so expensive that it can bring us much money
C. we should worry about small things before we do the great things
Have you seen Avatar？It’s a popular movie this year. It is three-dimensional(3D), so you may have to wear a special pair of glasses to see it. The 3D glasses make the images(图像) from the movie look like they are coming straight at you.
More and more 3D movies are coming to theaters. 3D TV sets have been produced in Japan now. Three-dimensional technology can make TV and movies more exciting. But people with eye problems may get headaches if they spend too much time watching 3D movies.
When we look at an object(物体), each eye sees it at a different angle(角度). Our eyes send the two images to our brain(大脑), and the brain puts them together. That’s how we see depth(深度). So when we watch a 3D movie, one film projector(投影机) projects a left eye image and the other projects a right eye image. 3D glasses allow us to see a different image in each eye.
There are a lot of people walking around with very less serious eye problems. Under normal situations, the brain can adjust to their eyes so they can see things normally.
But when they are watching a 3D movie, the images projected to their eyes can’t be put together by their brain. So the brain needs to work harder at reading the images. That makes it easier for these people to get headaches.
Dr John Hagan, an eye doctor in Kansas City, said some people who do not see depth normally cannot see in 3D at all.When people want to watch a three-dimensional movie, they need .
A. a ticket B. a pair of 3D glasses C. an earphoneThree-dimensional technology uses film projector(s) to project one movie at the same time.
A. one B. twoC. threeAccording to the passage, if we look at an object by only one eye, we can’t judge the excatly.
A. image B. angle C. depthWhich statement is TRUE according to the passage?
A. In the near future, people can enjoy 3D movie by watching TV at home.
B. Whenever you wear a 3D glasses, you can see objects more clearly.
C. People who have something wrong with their brain can’t read the images of 3D movie.The main idea of this passage is .
A. how to use 3D glasses to watch a 3D movie.
B. 3D glasses make the movie seem alive
C. not everybody can enjoy 3D movies.
In the past, going to a piano teacher was the only way to learn how to play the piano. You could have one lesson a week. If you didn’t have private(个人的) lessons, you could still learn piano, but you would have to learn it by yourself. This was easy for some, but very difficult for most. However, with technology as it is today, there is at last another way that you can take piano lessons. You can take an online course.
An online course can save you lots of money. If a private lesson costs 30 or 40 dollars per week, just think about how quickly that adds up. You can take a complete online course in piano by spending a small part of the money that you would pay for taking weeks of private lessons. Also, private lessons are only usually one hour per week. If you have questions during the rest of the week, or if you forget something that your teacher said, you will have to wait for your next lesson to continue your learning. However, online piano courses are quite different.
With an online piano course, you can work at your own pace(进度). You can also take as many lessons per week as you’d want, or go back and listen to your last lesson if you have forgotten anything. Most adults who want to learn how to play the piano enjoy being able to go back and listen to lessons they watched before. It can give you a good idea of what you were doing right, what you were doing wrong, and what you should be doing before the next lesson.
Of course, if you need someone to sit beside you and give you instant feedback(及时反馈) while you are playing, you are not suggested to choose an online course. But most adult learners think they can get their own type of feedback by watching the course again and again.is not mentioned in the passage to learn to play the piano.
A.Going to a piano teacher B. Asking experts for information C. Teaching oneselfGoing to a piano teacher is much morethan having an online piano course.
A. expensive B. convenient C. interestingIf you choose an online piano course, you can .
A. ask questions whenever you want
B. watch the lessons whenever you’d like
C. get some advice while you are playing the piano.Most adults like to go back and listen to the lessons again because .
A. they needn’t spend any extra money
B. they can ask some questions
C. they can know what they were doing right, what they were doing wrongHow many advantages of an online piano course have been introduced in the passage?
A. 2 B. 3 C. 4
In Britain, the first day of the month of May is known as May Day. May day marks the end of the harsh(严酷的) winter months, welcomes the beginning of Summer, and optimistically looks forward to the bright and productive months. 
For their ancestors, largely in rural areas, it was a major annual festival and was celebrated(庆祝) through out the country, especially on the first day of May with music, dancing and games.
How was May Day Celebrated in the past?
May Day began early in the morning. People went out before sunrise in order to gather flowers and plants to make their houses and villages beautiful in the belief that the vegetation spirits(神灵) would bring good luck.
A traditional May Day dance is Maypole Dancing，On May Day, people used to cut down young trees and stick them in the ground in the village to mark the arrival of summer.People danced around the tree poles in celebration of the end of winter and the start of the fine weather that would allow planting to begin. Maypoles are still a part of some
village life and on May Day the villagers dance around it.
May Day celebrations have their origins(起源) in the Roman festival of Flora, goddess(女神) of fruit and flowers, which marked the beginning of summer. So the highlight of the day was the crowning(为…加冕) of the May Queen(女皇), the human replica (模型) of Flora. By tradition she took no part in the games or dancing, but sat like a queen in a flower-decked chair to watch her 'subjects'.
Ever since 1978, for the convenience of the general public, many May Day activities have now been moved to the new May Day holiday on the first Monday of the month. This Monday is a bank holiday, a day off school and work. There are more intereting celebrations on this day.In the old days, most people in Britain made their living by .
A. fishing B. farming C. working in factoriesPeople in Britain celebrate May Day is to express their
A. pleasure and hope B. thanks and harvest C. freedom and new lifeBritain’s May Day holiday is on in 2010.
A. May 1st B. May 3rdC. May 5thWhat is not mentioned in this passage?
A. Special food. B. Special custom. C. Special activity.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Only children can take part in the Maypole Dancing.
B. The queen of the UK came to watch her “subjects”.
C. Children needn’t go to school on May Day holiday now.