How do people traditionally manufacture (制造) things? They usually start with a sheet of metal, wood or other material and cut, drill (钻) and shave it to create a desired shape. Sometimes, they use a mold (模具) made of metal or sand, pour liquid plastic or metal into it and let it cool to create a solid part.
Now, a completely different method is gaining popularity.
On Oct. 9, 2013, London Science Museum kicked off its new exhibition, 3-D: Printing the Future, with over 600 3-D printed objects on display, including space probes (探测器), toy dolls and even human organs – basically any product you can think of, reported Live Science.
You might find it hard to believe that an object can actually be “printed out” like a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it works. Just as a traditional printer sprays (喷洒) ink onto paper line by line, modern 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (树脂) and certain metals. The thinner each layer is – from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair – the smoother and finer the object will be. And objects always come out in one piece, sparing you the trouble of putting different parts together afterward.
For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost ￡20,000 (200,000 yuan), while now it costs only about ￡1,000, according to the BBC. In fact, 3-D printers have been around for some time, but until recently they hadn’t been very popular since few people could afford them. Last year, though, saw a big decrease in the price of 3-D printers.
However, as 3-D printing technology becomes more commonplace, it may trigger certain problems. One of them is piracy (盗版). “Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?” an expert on 3-D printing told Forbes News.
Even more frightening, the world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully fired in the US in May of this year, which means that 3-D printing could potentially give more people access to weapons.
According to the article, in the future, 3-D printing technology will probably ______.
| A．change the way people make products |
| B．be applied as widely in our daily lives as computers |
| C．forbid many countries to make purchases of weapons |
| D．take the place of normal printers and save lots of energy |
What was the big event that happened in the 3-D printing industry last year?
| A．Over 600 3-D printed objects were on display in an exhibition. |
| B．3-D printing technology came to be used in various fields. |
| C．The world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully made. |
| D．The 3-D printer became more affordable for consumers. |
What is the author’s attitude toward 3-D printing technology?
| A．Amused. | B．Objective. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Negative. |
What makes it rain? Rain falls from clouds for the same reason anything falls to Earth. The Earth's gravity pulls it. But every cloud is made of water droplets or ice crystal(冰晶). Why doesn't rain or snow fall constantly from all clouds? The droplets or ice crystals in clouds are extremely small. The effect of gravity on them is slight. Air currents move and lift droplets so that the net downward amount of water is zero, even though the droplets are moving constantly.
It can be seen that droplets and ice crystals behave somewhat like dust in the air in a beam of sunlight. To the casual observer, dust seems to act in a totally random fashion, moving about
without fixed direction. But in fact dust particles（分子） are much larger than water droplets and they finally fall. The average size of a cloud droplet is only 0.0004 inch in diameter（直径）. It is so small that it would take sixteen hours to fall half a mile in perfectly still air, and 
it
doesn't fall out of moving air at all. Only when the droplet grows to a diameter of 0.008 inch or larger can it fall from the cloud. The average raindrop contains a million times as much water as a tiny cloud droplet. The growth of a cloud droplet to a size larger eno
ugh to fall out is the cause of rain and other forms of precipitation. This important growth process is called "coalescence". Ice crystals do NOT immediately fall to Earth because.
| A．they are kept up by air currents |
| B．most of them change into steam |
| C．they combine with other chemicals in the atmosphere |
| D．their electrical charges draw them away from the earth |
The underlined word "random" in line 10 most probablymeans .
| A．unpredictable | B．strict | C．independent | D．abnormal |
What can be inferred about drops of water larger than 0.008 inch in diameter?
| A．They never occur. |
| B．They are not affected by the force of gravity. |
| C．In moving air they would fall to earth. |
| D．In still air they fall a speed of thirty-two miles per hour. |
How much bigger is the rain drop than a loud droplet?
| A．200 times bigger |
| B．1,000 times bigger |
| C．100,000 times bigger |
| D．1,000,000 times bigger |
Spring is just around the corner and it’s a time to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Here is a selection of festivals around the country that are a great excuse to get back in the spring sunshine.
ales to this part of the Pacific Ocean. Festivities include whale-watching, an arts festival and educational hands-on activities for the entire family. Prices start at $ 29 per adult and $ 19 for children. For more information, visit www.dpfestivalofwhales.com.
| A．$77 | B．$ 58 | C．$ 38 | D．$ 48 |
The underlined word “jockeys” in the second ad is closest in meaning to .
| A．judges | B．riders | C．children | D．travelers |
If you want to learn about the history of American colonial period, you can visit .
| A．Tulip Time | B．Houses and Gardens |
| C．Dana Point of the whales | D．Chandler Ostrich |
It can be concluded that .
A. All the festivals are held in March.
B. All the Festivals are concerned with animals
C. All the Festivals are held in the U.S.A.
D. All the Festivals surely interest children.
Why are so many people so afraid of failure? Quite simple because no one tells us how to fail so that failure becomes an experience that will lead to growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.
Most parents work hard at either preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards. A mother describes her child’s hastily made table as “Perfect!” even though it doesn’t stand 
still. Another way is to shift(转移)blame. If John fails science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.
The trouble with failure prevention is that they leave a child unequipped for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time and that it’s possible to enjoy 
a game even when you don’t win. A child who’s not invited to a birthday party, who doesn’t make the honour roll on the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick comfort, prize or say “It doesn’t matter.” because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment and be helped to master it.
Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts grownups and children alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask “Why did it fail? Don’t blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about inquiring. Success, which encourages repetition of old behaviour, is not nearly as good a teacher as failure. You can learn from a bad party how to give a good one, from an ill-chosen first house what to look for in a second. Even a failure that seems definitive can cause fresh thinking, a change of direction. After twelve years of studying ballet, a friend of mine applied for a professional company. She asked. That ballet master shook his head. “You will never be a dancer,” he said,” you haven’t the body for it.”
In such cases, the way to use failure is to take stock bravely asking “What have I left? What else can I do?” My friend put away her shoes and moved into dance treatment center, a field where she’s both able and useful. Failure frees one to take risks because there’s less to lose. Often there is recovery of energy — a way to find new possibilities. The first paragraph tells us ______.
| A．failure is very natural for every person |
| B．the reason why we don’t know how to fail |
| C．the reason why so many people are afraid of failure |
| D．one should be ready to face failure at any time |
How many preventions may parents use when a child fails according to the passage?
| A．only two | B．no more than three | C．less than three | D．more than three |
Which statement below does the writer support?
A．Failure is as good an experience as success. |
| B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．Failure is far from a good teacher like success. |
| D．Definitive failure gives us nothing but fresh thinking. |
We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.
| A．failure is the recovery of energy |
| B．failure makes one free to do something dangerous |
| C．failure should be forgotten in our life |
| D．failure is likely to do us good in life |
My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon t
owards evening near my parents’ tomb in the churchyard.
“Hold your noise!” came a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the tombs at the side of the church. “Keep still, you little dev
il(小鬼), or I’ll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. He seized me by the chin(下巴).
“Tell us your name!” said the man. “Quick!”
“Pip, sir.”
“Show us where you live,” said the man. “Point out the place!”
I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat in-shore among the alder-trees and pollards, a mile or more from the church.
The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.
“You young dog,” said the man, licking his lips, “what fat cheeks you ha’ got. Darn me if I couldn’t eat em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t!”
I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.
“Now then lookee here!” said the man. “Where’s your mother?”
“There, sir!” said I.
He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“There, sir!” I timidly explained, pointed to the tombstone. “That’s my mother.”
“Oh!” said he, coming back. “And is that your father alonger your mother?”
“Yes, sir,” said I; “him too; late of thisparish(教区).” The “voice” in the second paragraph came from______.
| A．the church | B．the man | C．the bank | D．the boy |
The boy probably lived _____.
| A．in the parish | B．in the valley | C．in the city | D．in the country |
We can infer from the passage _____.
| A．the boy was very calm and smart |
| B．the man hit the boy in the face |
| C．the boy would forever remember the raw afternoon |
| D．the man was very kind and considerate |
The passage is most probably adapted from________.
| A．a news report | B．a science fiction | C．a novel | D．a review |
This is the age of being busy．Many of us live in busy pl
aces and have busy lives．Even the roads are busy as we try to get from here to there．Adults are busy going to jobs and taking care of their families．Kids are busy，too，going to school and doing lots of homework after school and on weekends．
Busy isn’t bad，necessarily．If you’re not busy enough you might be bored．But if you’re too busy．you might break down．For instance，if you have a soccer game that runs late on a school night and you haven’t eaten dinner or done your homework．that’s a not—so—fun kind of busy．We wanted to know what kids thought，so we did a KidsPoll about being busy with 882 girls and boys aged 9 to 1 3．
Almost all of them said they felt stressed because they were too busy．About half said they felt this way once in a while or some of the time．But l 7％said they felt this way most of the time and 24％said they felt like this all the time! Oh dear，that’s no fun．
Only 4％of kids said they wanted less free time and l8％said they already had just the right 
am
ount．But，no big surprise，61％of kids wish they had a lot more free time．If they had more time．most would spend it hanging out or playing with friends．
Often，adults plan large parts of a kid’s day，especially during the school year．Kids can’t tell their parents they’ll be skipping school(逃学)today to get more free time!But they can tell their parents they’d like to play a game or read a book during their free time instead of watching TV．．The purpose of the first paragraph is to
A．introduce the  topic |
B．support the main idea |
| C．raise the topic sentence | D．attract the readers’ attention |
．According to the passage，the Kidspoll is done to carry out research on
| A．how kids arrange their free time | B．what kids think of being busy |
| C．how many kids felt stressed | D．what kids do with fheir study |
．According to the KidsPoll，what conclusion can we draw?
| A．91％of the kids think being busy is no fun． |
| B．22％of the kids don’t need more free time． |
| C．61％of the kids spend free time playing． |
| D．24％of the kids like the busy way． |
．From the passage，we can infer that the writer agrees kids can
A．spend their free time hanging or playing ou t |
| B．get a lot more free time from their parents |
| C．have a right amount of free time with permission |
| D．get more free time from school work sometimes |