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 |
Dear Zhang Yun,
How are you going these days? I miss you very much. I feel s these days. I need your h
. I have a good friend Mark. We often go to school and go home t
. He has a very beautiful pen. It was f
his aunt in Canada. He likes it very much. I also like it. Last Monday Mark went to play football on the playground. I took away his pen and put it in my p
. From then on, I couldn’t sleep well very night. What should I do?
Yours,
Jerry
David is 14. People call him a genius(天才), but he doesn’t like it.
At the age of eight, David went to college(大学). In 2009,when he was 11 years old, he got his first two degrees(学位) from college. Now ,he is going to graduate(毕业) from UCLA this year.
David wrote a book—We Can Do. There are 100 pages in this book. It cost David four years to finish. With this book, he wants to tell other young people how they can do as he does. He also wants to tell people that there is no genius, just hard work. He said, “You just have to work hard and you can do anything.”
When he’s not studying, David likes to do sports, such as playing football but he doesn’t like to watch TV. His television time is four hours a week and he likes Jackie Chan’s movies very much. This young boy works so hard, but he still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up.When did David get his first two degrees?
_____________________________________How long did David spend on his book?
______________________________________What does he like to do when he’s not studying?
______________________________________Does David like to watch TV?
_____________________________________Whose movies does David like?
_____________________________________
Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro(里约热内卢) will host(主办)the 2016 Summer Olympics. It will be the 31st Summer Olympics and it’s from 5th to 21st of August.Athletes(运动员)from around the world will go to Brazil for the games.
In 2009,Rio de Janeiro beat Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago to host the games. “This is great for Rio de Janeiro and for the country,”said Ferreira, a teacher.
It is also great for South America,because it will be the first Olympics in its history!
Many people around the world will go to watch the Olympics. The games are four years away,but Brazilian government is working hard to prepare for it. It is improving the sports centre(中心)for the games. Also it is making Rio de Janeiro a safer city.
The government hopes it will improve life to host the games in Brazil. About 30% of people here are poor. Because of tourism(旅游业), more than 2,000,000 people will find jobs.
“It’s going to be good for the economy(经济), good for the people,”Ferreira said. “This gives us hope that things will be better here.”The 2016 Summer Olympics will last_____.
A. two weeks
B. over two weeks
C. a monthWhen did Rio de Janeiro get the right() to host the games?
A.In 2016 B. In 2012 C. In 2009.According to the passage, the 2016Summer Olympics will be in____.
A. Europe
B. South America
C. NorthAmericaWhich of the following about Rio de Janeiro is TRUE?
A.It will be safer in 2016.
B. It’s the biggest city in Brazil.
C. There will be more sports centres in 2016.What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?
A. Most Brazilians are now living a poor life.
B. Many Brazilians will watch the Olympics.
C. Brazilians hope to have better life with the Olympics.
We drink tea every day. But more than three hundred years ago most of the people in Europe did not know anything about tea. Some people heard about it, but very few of them know what to do with it.
There is a story about an English sailor(水手) who went to countries in the east, the west and the south. Once he went to India and China. He bought some tea. One day he came home and brought the tea as a present for his mother. His mother told her friends about the present and asked them to a “tea party”. When her friends came to the “”, the old woman offered them brown tea—leaves. The old woman’s friends began to eat them. Of course, everyone didn’t like the tea—leaves.
At that time the sailor came in. He looked at the table and said, “Mother,what have you done with the tea?”
“I boiled it, as you said.”
“And what did you do with the water?”
“I threw it away, of course.”anwered the old woman.
“Now you may throw away the leaves, too,”said her son.Most of the people in Europe______.
A. drank tea every day 300 years ago
B. liked to eat the tea—leaves C. knew nothing about teaOne day the English sailor brought some tea from_____.
A.countries in the west
B. India or China
C. countries in the southThe sailor’s mother asked her friends to her house, because_____.
A. she liked to show off(炫耀)
B. she wanted to ask her friends what to do with the tea
C.she wanted to sample(品尝)the tea together with her friendsAt the “tea party”,_______.
A. nobody knew what to do with the tea
B. the woman offered her friends some dried tea
C.the woman gave her friends each a glass of tea waterWhat mistake did the old woman make?
A. She boiled the tea.
B. She did as the sailor said.
C. She poured away the water.
An English traveler found himself in a northern European country with a little money to buy the ticket for the travel back home.As he knew that it would take him only two days to get to England, he thought that he would be all right without food. So he bought a ticket and got on the ship.He closed his ears to the lunch bell.When dinner time came, he refused to go to the dining hall, saying that he was not feeling well. The next morning he didn’t go to breakfast and at lunch time he again stayed in his room. At dinner time he was so hungry that he could not stand(忍受) it any longer. “I’m going to eat,”he said, “even if they throw me into the sea.”At dinner he ate everything in front of him at the table, and waited for the coming trouble. “Bring me the bill(账单).” He said. “There isn’t any bill.”was the answer. “On the ship the money for the ticket includes(包括) meals.” The traveler was sad when he heard this.The English traveler ______.
A. didn’t take enough money with him
B. had a lot of money left
C. was travelling in EnglandOn the first day he_______.
A. forgot about meals
B. only had his breakfast
C. didn’t go to the dining hallHe didn’t go to the dining hall because_____.
A. he wasn’t hungry
B. he had no money
C. he wasn’t feeling wellThe next day he decided to ______ at last.
A. stay in his room
B. ask for the bill
C. have dinnerWhich of the following is TRUE?
A. The English traveler was on diet(节食).
B. The meals on the ship were free.
C. The meals on the ship were too expensive.