American scientists have developed the first material that repairs itself. The material is a form of plastic that has been engineered to fill breaks in its surface.
Plastics are used today in everything. Scientists wanted to find a way to make objects made of plastic last longer. The researchers hope their new discovery can be used to make objects that are difficult or impossible to replace.
The surface of plastic objects breaks over time. Very small breaks develop every time a plastic object is used. The researchers wanted to find out how to stop plastic from developing small breaks that weaken and destroy it. They found the answer in the chemical structure of plastic itself. The research team found a way to make plastic that contains very small balloons filled with monomer(单体) liquid. When the new plastic cracks, the monomer liquid is let out and flows into the crack. Thus the break is repaired. The repaired plastic has seventy-five percent of the strength of undamaged plastic.
The new self-repairing plastic is not yet ready for production. But it has several possible uses. One could be in space vehicles where parts cannot be repaired or replaced. Another possible use might be in bridges. And it could be used in people, to replace bone joints that have become broken or damaged.The passage mainly talks about_______ .
| A．plastic that repairs itself |
| B．the chemical structure of plastic |
| C．permanent material invented |
| D．small balloons that makes plastic stronger |
We know from the passage that the repair is done as_______.
| A．the cracked plastic parts are changed |
| B．the plastic cracks |
| C．the liquid is put into the plastic cracks |
| D．the plastic is made |
The scientist are planning to use the new material in space vehicles, bridges and people because________.
| A．the plastic parts in them are required to last longer |
| B．they want to experiment in these places first |
| C．the new material cannot be used elsewhere |
| D．the plastic parts in them are easily broken or damaged |
A few months before I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.
As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special position. My parents were complementary instructors：Mom taught me the words, and Dad taught me to obey them. But the stranger... He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies(喜剧).
If I wanted to know anything about politics，history or science，he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.
I now know that my early concepts about relationship were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom blamed...and NEVER asked to leave.
More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended(融合) right in but is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you were to walk into my parent's room today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name?
We just call him...“TV”.
He has a younger sister now. We call her “Computer”.When the stranger came to live with our family, he was ________.
| A．ignored by the children |
| B．driven away for no reason |
| C．abandoned because it was too noisy |
| D．accepted by every family member |
The stranger can do all the following things EXCEPT that he can ________.
| A．tell us some funny stories | B．reject our proposals(提议) |
| C．influence the children's character | D．predict the future |
The underlined word “spellbound” in Paragraph 2 most probably means ________.
| A．concentrated | B．puzzled |
| C．fascinated | D．astonished |
What can we learn from the last three paragraphs of the passage?
| A．The computer is more advanced and has gained greater popularity. |
| B．Old as he is，we like the stranger best. |
| C．The TV set is out of fashion and often breaks down. |
| D．We decide to throw the TV set away immediately. |
As soon as I saw her, I understood I was in trouble. The tiny 10-year-old girl was staring at me with that specific facial expression which probably only dentists have to enjoy all day long!
Whatever question I asked, whatever activity I suggested, her reaction was pretty much the same — she was frozen with horror. She was sent to our private language school after having been the worst in English at her key school with a pretty strict ELT syllabus(教学大纲), with her peers teasing her for her mistakes in English. Moreover, her state school teacher called her name. To make things worse, she was under pressure from her family for getting bad marks in English. She was definitely expecting me to carry on the same way with her.
I have to admit that I had been staring at her with probably the same expression for a while before eventually she handed in an absolutely incredible composition which I had previously asked the class to write. It was written in perfect handwriting, was full of clever ideas and had correct paragraphing. The girl got her first excellent mark in English, and I praised her generously and from then on I started using her writing skills to support the others. Before doing an oral retelling of a story, she wrote it down. Before presenting her oral project, she was allowed to do the same thing. The day she first put up her hand to orally answer my question addressed to the class I was incredibly happy.
She taught me how to approach withdrawn students — find the skill which they can excel at, in her case writing, and help the student use it to develop other skills!
| A．in a language training center |
| B．in a private language school |
| C．in a state school |
| D．in a key public school |
| A．incredibly dull | B．hard to cope with |
| C．far too lovely | D．pretty confident |
| A．she had some special skills |
| B．she was good at writing poems |
| C．she felt very uncomfortable at her previous school |
| D．she is poor at her pronunciation |
Charlton Heston was born in 1923 in Evanston, Illinois. Charlton Heston discovered his interest in acting while performing in plays at his high school. He later spent two years studying theater at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. But he left college to join the Army Air Forces during World War Two.
After the war, he found small roles in the theater as well as in television shows. His performance in a television version of the book Jane Eyre caught the attention of the Hollywood producer Cecil B. De Mille who later asked Heston to play the role of Moses in his movie The Ten Commandments which came out in 1956.This role made Heston famous and defined(明确) his career as a hero and leader. His face and body represented strength and heroism in many different roles. He played cowboys, soldiers and athletes.
The 1959 movie Ben Hur made Charlton Heston an even bigger star. Ben Hur won eleven Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Charlton Heston. Heston starred in many adventure movies during the 1960s. In the 1970s, Heston appeared in popular disaster movies like Earthquake, Skyjacked and Airport 1975.
Charlton Heston was also very active in the movie industry. He worked to help set up the American Film Institute. In 1977 he was honored for his service in the industry. He received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1997 he was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor. And, in 2003, President Bush gave Charlton Heston a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
In 2000, Charlton Heston issued a statement announcing that he had an Alzheimer’s disease. He died in 2008 at his home in Beverly Hills, California.
| A．Heroes. | B．Cowboys. | C．Soldiers. | D．Athletes. |
| A．Jane Eyre. | B．Earthquake. |
| C．Ben Hur. | D．The Ten Commandments. |
| A．He began to show his talent in Ben Hur. |
| B．He used to be a soldier. |
| C．He was once awarded by Kennedy. |
| D．He won eleven Academy Awards. |
| A．How Charlton Heston became famous. |
| B．How Charlton Heston began his career. |
| C．Who made Charlton Heston a popular star. |
| D．Who made Charlton Heston win so many awards. |
To be sure, only children experienced some things differently from those with sisters and brothers. Many feel more pressure to succeed. In the absence of brothers and sisters, only children also tend to look more exclusively to their parents as role models.
In India, 10-year-old Saviraj Sankpal founded a support group for the tiny minority of only children. Among other things, the group does volunteer work to counter the myth that they are not responsible. “People think we’re treated too kindly and ruined,” says Sankpal, a computer engineering student. “But I’d like to remind them how lonely it can get.”
Most only children, however, say they wish for sisters or brothers only when it comes to caring for aging, unhealthy parents. Britain’s David Emerson, coauthor of the book The Only Child, says that such a person bears a terrible burden in having to make all the decisions alone. Emerson knows from experience: After his father died, he chose to move his elderly mother from their family home, where she was vulnerable(易受攻击的) to house breakers, to a new one with more security. “The move was quite hard on her, and she might feel that I pushed her into it,” he says. “After all, I am left with that responsibility.”
In the future, more and more only children will likely face similar choices. With working mothers increasingly the rule, many families are finding they simply don’t have the time, money or energy to have more than one child. As only children become common, perhaps the world will realize that the charge made against them is unjust.
| A．critical | B．objective | C．hostile | D．unjust |
| A．find a support group for their only children |
| B．do volunteer work to help their only children |
| C．let their only children make all the decision alone |
| D．set good examples for their only children |
| A．is the only one who cares about her |
| B．doesn’t want to leave her alone |
| C．wants to share the responsibility with her |
| D．is worried about her safety |
| A．spend all her time and money on her only child |
| B．be responsible for bringing up her only child |
| C．have and bring up only one child |
| D．devote all her energy to her job |
Norah has a cottage on a cliff above a big bay. In winter it could be very nasty because of strong winds and sea spray. In fact, when a gale was blowing, Norah and her husband got used to sleeping in a small room downstairs, because their bedroom upstairs, which faced the gales, had a very big window, and they were afraid that an extra violent gust might break it and blow pieces of broken glass over them.
Also, the salt spray from the sea put an end to many of the colorful plants Norah planted in the garden. She tried putting up a fence to protect them, but the wind just hit it, went up over the top and then down the other side, so in the end she filled the garden with trees and bushes that liked salt.
But most of the summer Norah enjoyed her cottage and garden very much. At weekends she could sit out-of-doors in the sun, looking at the beautiful view, with interesting ships and boats passing by, and she could very easily cycle down to the sea for a swim.
Now, Norah and her husband had plenty of friends and relations. In the summer most of them used to come to enjoy the beautiful place, and in the end it really became quite annoying for Norah and her husband. When they were at home, they found friends and relations arriving, expecting to be given unlimited drinks and meals, and to sit in the sun for hours, talking as if Norah and her husband had nothing else to do but entertain and listen to them.
This went on for several years. Norah did not wish to appear rude by refusing to let her friends and relations in, but on the other hand, she was getting tired every summer.
Then one day Norah was complaining about this to her hairdresser while she was doing her hair. “You’re disturbed by too many uninvited guests, are you?” said the hairdresser. “Why don’t you try my way of escaping?”
“What’s that?” asked Norah.
“Well,” the hairdresser answered, “when the bell rings, I put on my coat and take my shopping bag. If it’s someone I don’t want to see, I say innocently, ‘I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go out. But…’”
| A．wastes produced by some birds living near the sea |
| B．great waves caused by strong wind |
| C．plants floating on the surface of the sea |
| D．very small drops of sea water sent through the air by something |
| A．a lot of friends came to visit them in winter |
| B．few friends came to visit them in winter. |
| C．Friends came to visit them only for drinks and meals |
| D．Norah was a good cook |
| A．A Good Place of Enjoying the Sea |
| B．A Warm-hearted Couple |
| C．A Clever Way of Escaping |
| D．A Visit to Norah |
| A．If I am tired, I say, ‘Sorry, can you come next time?’ |
| B．If it’s someone I like to see, I say, ‘How lucky! I’ve just come in!’ |
| C．If it’s someone I like to see, I say, ‘How happy to see you! I was going shopping, but now I’ve changed my mind.’ |
| D．If it is fine that day, I say, ‘I am tired, but I’ll show you around the place, anyhow.’ |