The idea of being able to walk on water has long interested humans greatly. Sadly, biological facts prevent us ever accomplishing such a thing without artificial aid--we simply weigh too much, and all our mass pushes down through our relatively small feet, resulting in a lot of pressure that makes us sink.
However, several types of animals can walk on water. One of the most interesting is the common basilisk. Basilicus, a lizard (蜥蜴) native to Central and South America. It can run across water for a distance of several meters, avoiding getting wet by rapidly hitting the water's surface with its feet. The lizard will take as many as 20 steps per second to keep moving forward. For humans to do this, we'd need huge feet that we could bring up to our ears in order to create adequate "hitting. “
But fortunately there is an alternative: cornflour. By adding enough of this common thickening agent to water (and it does take a lot), you can create a "non-Newtonian" liquid that doesn't behave like normal water. Now, if the surface of the water is hit hard enough, particles(微粒) in the water group together for a moment to make the surface hard. Move quickly enough and put enough force into each step, and you really can walk across the surface of an adequately thick liquid of cornflour.
Fun though all this may sound, it's still rather messy and better read about in theory than carried out in practice, if you must do it, then keep the water wings handy in case you start to sink--and take a shower afterward!Walking on water hasn't become a reality mainly because humans _______.
A.are not interested in it |
B.have biological limitations |
C.have not invented proper tools |
D.are afraid to make an attempt |
What do we know about Basilicus from the passage?
A.It is light enough to walk on water. |
B.Its huge feet enable it to stay above water. |
C.It can run across water at a certain speed. |
D.Its unique skin keeps it from getting wet in water |
What is the function of the cornflour according to the passage?
A.To create a thick liquid. |
B.To turn the water into solid. |
C.To help the liquid behave normally. |
D.To enable the water to move rapidly. |
What is the author's attitude toward the idea of humans' walking on water?
A.It is risky but beneficial. |
B.It is interesting and worth trying. |
C.It is crazy and cannot become a reality. |
D.It is impractical though theoretically possible. |
Paul was a good athlete when he was a middle school student. He liked running and jumping and won some medals at the sports meetings. So he was tall and strong. Suddenly war broke out and the young man joined the army. He was sent to the front and killed several enemy soldiers. Two years later he raturned to his home town and found a job at the police station. People had known about his bravery by then and they all liked the polite young man.
One day a few young men had drunk too much before they came in a cinema. They danced and sang there and the film couldn't be shown. Paul was ill that day and went to the hospital. When he was passing there, the young men were beating an old man. He went to stop them and they began to fight. He caught them all and sent them to the police station. Since then all the bad men in the town were afraid of the brave policeman.
It was a summer evening. The weather was hot and few people could stay indoors. Paul was on duty and sat by the telephone. Suddenly in rushed a beautiful girl with a book in her hand. She stood there, shaking in her shoes.
“What's the matter, madam? ”asked Paul.
“I wish you could protect me sir, ”answered the girl.
“Protect? ”Paul said in surprise. “For what? ”
The girl showed the book to Paul. The young man understood at once: it was a book about Ghosts(鬼)!
64. Paul won some medals because ____.
A. he was a middle school student B. he was tall and strong
C. he kept doing morning exercises D. he was good at running and jumping.
65. Paul was ____ after he joined the army.
A. a good athlete B. a brave soldier C. a polite policeman D. a brave policeman
66. Paul sent the young men to the police station because ____.
A. they made some trouble(闹事)at the cinema B. they drank much in the restaurant
C. they wouldn't see the filin D. they wanted to fight with him
67. Paul sat by the telephone that evening because ____.
A. he was waiting for an important call B. he was going to call somebody
C. he was on duty D. he wasn't afraid of hotness
Robert was born in a small town in England. His father has a farm and can supply him enough money to finish university where he's studying law. The young man studies hard and hopes to be a famous lawyer.
Last Monday their term was over. Robert said to his father on the telephone that he was going to travel in a small country during his summer holiday. His father agreed to his plan and posted some money to him. So he started four days ago. Their plane landed at the only airport of the country safely. He took a taxi and got to a hotel in the centre of the capital. He felt hungry and tired. So he had a dinner and then a good sleep. This morning he was all right and was going to visit some places of interest. He met an English visitor while he was having breakfast and the man told him to be careful of thieves.
Robert thanked the man and left. But he thought he was smart(机灵的)and strong and he decided to have a try. He brought out a piece of paper and wrote on it, “A pig has stolen my wallet(钱包)!”Then he put the note into his empty wallet. After that he put the wallet into a pocket and set off. He did all carefully and hoped to find out who would steal it.
“Everything went well, ”Robert thought to himself after he had returned to the hotel. He brought out his wallet and put his money into it again. He had a look at the note. To his surprise, it was rewritten. It said, “Your uncle has touched your wallet!”
56. Robert can study in the university because ____.
A. he wants to be a lawyer B. his father is a rich farmer
C. he's smart and strong D. he keeps his wallet well
57. Robert went to the small country to ____.
A. make fun of the thieves B. catch some thieves
C. visit the places of interest D. have a nice meal and a good sleep there
58. The English visitor thought ____.
A. there were a lot of thieves in the city B. Robert could deal with the thieves
C. it was dangerous to travel in the city D. Robert had to take good care of himself
In 1957 a doctor in Singapore noticed that hospitals were treating an unusual number of influenzalike cases. Influenza is sometimes called “flu”or a “bad cold”. He took samples from the throats of patients in his hospital and was able to find the virus(病毒)of this influenza.
There are three main types of influenza virus. The most important of these are types A and B, each of them having several sub-groups(亚群). At the hospital the doctor recognized that the outbreak was because of a virus group A, but he did not know the sub-group. He reported the outbreak to the World Health Organization in Geneva. W. H. O. published the important news together with reports of the same kind of outbreak in Hong Kong, where about 15%~20% of the population had become ill.
As soon as the London doctors received the package of throat samples, they began to test them. They found that they could reproduce themselves at a very high speed. Continuing their careful tests, the doctor checked the effect of medicine used against all the known sub-groups of type A virus. On this virus, none of them was of any use.
Having separated the virus, the two doctors now made tests on some selected seleceted animals. In a short time the usual signs of the disease appeared. These experiments showed that the new virus spread easily, but that it was not a killer. Scientists, like the general public, called it simply “Asian flu”.
72. The Asian flu mentioned in the passage ____.
A. had something to do with a virus group B
B. was reported to W. H. O in Geneva by a doctor in Hong Kong
C. broke out not only in Singapore but also in Hong Kong
D. was taken from the throats of the patients in a hospital in Singapore
73. London doctors considered ____.
A. Asian flu as a bad cold
B. there were three main types of influenza
C. it was necessary to test the other groups of virus besides group A
D. the influenza called “Asian flu”a new one
74. The Singapore doctor helped the world by ____.
A. making those with Asian flu well again B. killing the virus that caused Asian flu
C. finding the sub-group of the virus D. reporting the outbreak of Geneva
75. The Asian flu virus ____.
A. was a killer B. was very weak C. could reproduce very quickly D. died very fast
Ruben lived in a small village. There was no school there and he had to study in a school in the town. It was nearly five kilometres away from his village. His father couldn't buy a bike for him and he had to go to school on foot. He got up early in the morning. Usually he had to run there in order not to miss the first class. He kept running every day and it was helpful to him. He's strong and tall now and he ran faster than any other man in his village. He took part in several sports meetings and won some medals. The young man is proud of(以……自豪)it and always wants to have a race with others.
One day his mother was ill and his father told him to buy some medicine for headache in the town. The young man got there soon. There were many people in the chemist's shop while he was waiting there. And when his turn came, he could't find his money. An old woman hinted(暗示)a young man had stolen it. He saw the thief had already left the shop. He ran towards him quickly. The thief found it and began to run. He was happy and tried to catch up with him.
“Let's have a race and see who will run faster, ”Ruben called out behind.
Soon after that he caught up with the thief. But he didn't stop and went on running. At a crossing one of his friends asked, “What are you running for, Ruben? ”
“I'm running after(追)a thief. ”
“Where's the thief, then? ”
“He wants to show that he'll run faster than me, but he's fallen behind!”
59. Ruben had to run to school because ____.
A. he had no bike B. he hoped to win some medals
C. his village was a little far from the school D. he was afraid to be late for class
60. ____ , so he won some medals.
A. Ruben is good at running B. Ruben went to school on time
C. Ruben often took part in the sports meetings. D. Ruben likes to have a race with others
61. The phrase “a chemist's shop”in the story means ____.
A. 化工商店 B. 药店 C. 化工厂D. 制药厂
62. Ruben's money was stolen ____.
A. on his way to the town B. before he went in the shop
C. when he was waiting in the shop D. after he had left the shop
63. Ruben was happy because ____.
A. he could easily catch the thief B. he had a chance(机会)to have a race
C. he knew who had stolen his money D. he would win another medal that day
Cancer Research UK has launched an online chat forum for cancer patients to swap stories or share experiences on how to cope with such a disastrous disease.
But Cancer Chat is a forum with a difference:it has an information safety net.
This means that a Cancer Research UK team will keep a watching brief to ensure that patients are not subjected to rogue “cancer cures’’ or scientifically unreasonable information.
Anyone can have access to the messages posted on Cancer Chat but if people wish to post a message they will need to register.
And Rebekah Gibbs,a cancer patient and star e f TV’S Casualty has voiced her support for the new project.“I think Cancer Chat is a brilliant idea,’’she said.“I have written a public diary about what I went through with breast cancer and I have had such a heart-warming response from other people going through the same thing.
“The idea of a Cancer Chat forum means you can share information about treatment and side effects and you can really open up about your feelings online in a way that can be difficult when talking to close friends and family.And with Cancer Research UK.monitoring the forum people can be guaranteed the quality of information being exchanged.”
Cancer Chat will also encourage its users to check out any cancer questions on its CancerHelp UK website which is specially designed to give patients and their families 6,000 pages of up-to-date information that is easy to understand and explains a wide range of treatments for different types of cancer and give details of clinical trials.There is also a UK database of cancer clinical trials.
The award-winning website attracts around one million visitors a month and Cancer Research UK hopes that some of these visitors will also want to post comments on the Cancer Chat forum.
For those who do not have access to computers and have questions about cancer, the charity's team of cancer information nurses are available during office hours to talk over patients’ concerns on the phone.Cancer Chat is quite different from other forums in that.
A.it has the support of a famous TV actress |
B.it is a source of reliable information |
C.it provides a huge amount of cancer information |
D.it attracts a great number of visitors from all over the world each month |
The underlined word “swap’’ in the first paragraph most probably means.
A.invent | B.write | C.print | D.exchange |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A.Rebekah Gibbs has written a private diary about her breast cancer. |
B.CancerHelp UK offers information on cancer treatment and clinical trials.k+s-5#u![]() |
C.The messages posted on this forum are available to all visitors. |
D.People with no computers available can also receive help. |
Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
A.A wonderful website CancerHelp UK |
B.Come on.Turn to Cancer Research UK |
C.Online Cancer Chat with a Safety Net |
D.A Major Breakthrough in Cancer |