Did you ever wonder how some of your favorite foods, products or toys came about? Believe it or not, they may have been an accident, or a failure of some other intention. Below, we found three mistakes we’re thankful for turned out to be what they are.
1. Most historians hold that the Chinese invented fireworks in the 9th century when they discovered how to make gunpowder. Story has it that a Chinese cook accidentally mixed together what were then considered common kitchen items and noticed they burnt. When put tightly(紧紧地）in a bamboo tube(管子and lit, it blew up.
2. In May of 1886, a law led John Pemberton, a pharmacist(药剂师), to rewrite the formula(配方) for “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca”, his popular headache treatment. Containing sugar instead of wine as a sweetener, the outcome became something for Coke, which was later mixed with carbonated(碳酸) water. His bookkeeper suggested the name Coca-Cola because he thought the two C’s would look good together, which is how what we call Coca-Cola, a world-wide drink came into being.
3. During World WarⅡ, scientists at the University of Birmingham invented the magnetron(磁控管)—an important heat-producing part of the microwave oven. While working for Raytheon Corporation after the war, the American engineer Percy Spencer was testing the magnetron when a chocolate bar in his pocket melted. He went on to test other foods including popcorn kernels(仁), and found it to be a much more efficient way to cook. In 1947 Raytheon came out with the first restaurant microwave oven, which was six feet tall and weighed 750 lbs.The underlined phrase “ blew up” might mean _______ in Chinese.
| A．爆炸 | B．膨胀 | C．升华 | D．蒸发 |
Percy Spencer found the microwave efficient in cooking when he was ________.
| A．looking for a way to melt his chocolate |
| B．trying to know tow a magnetron could cook |
| C．working to know how the magnetron works |
| D．asked to invent a restaurant microwave oven |
The right time order of the three inventions should be ________.
| A．fireworks, the microwave and Coca-cola |
| B．fireworks, Coca-cola and the microwave |
| C．Coca-cola, fireworks and the microwave |
| D．the microwave, Coca-cola and the fireworks |
What can we learn from the above invention stories?
| A．Experiments makes great inventors of our time. |
| B．Nothing is impossible if one tries each day. |
| C．Inventors come out of hard work at any time. |
| D．A small incident may lead to a great invention. |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．What great inventions they are! |
| B．Inventions from Three Countries. |
| C．Stories of Accidental Inventions. |
| D．The Human Inventions of time. |
阅读下文并回答问题。
Some things can carry messages ,for example ,a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus to take ．Signs on the door tell you where to go in or out ．Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time ?
People can communicate in many other ways ．An artist can use his drawing to tell about beautiful mountains ,about the blue sea and many other things ．Books are writtten to tell you about all the wonderful things in the world and also about people and their ideas．
Books ,magazines ．TVs ,radios and films all help us to communicate with others ．They all help us to know what is going on in the world and what other people are thinking about ．What can help you if you want to know which bus to take ?
_____________________________________________________________________Can people communicate in many other ways ?
_____________________________________________________________________What can help us to communicate with others ?
_____________________________________________________________________
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
D
I’ve been working in a school for more than twenty years ．Many parents often ask me ,“How can you teach your child good study skills ? How can he or she get the homework done as quickly as possible ? ”Here are some tips :
1．If the child is as young as nine or ten ,ask him or her to prepare a small notebook to write down the homework given by his or her teachers ．By developing this habit ,he or she will learn to be much more responsible （负责的）．
2．Find a good place to study ．This should be a quiet place that is free from everything but study things ．No games ,radios ,or televisions ．Once you have decided on a place to study ,this should be the only place where your child does his or her homework and studies ．There should also be a very specific time for homework to be done ．Usually ,homework should be done as soon as the child gets home from school ．This also goes for the kids who take part in afterschool activities ．Of course ,it is a good idea to allow the child to have a healthy snack before the work begins ．
3．Also remember that it is the child’s duty to do his or her homework ．Some children give up easily and go to Mom and Dad for help when they have a problem ．Try to let them solve it first ．By doing this ,they will get a sense of success from overcoming problems ．In this way we help them to help themselves ．Asking the kids to keep a notebook to remember their homework will make them________．
| A．remember more |
| B．learn more |
| C．more responsible |
| D．more interested in studying |
What does the underlined word “overcoming”mean in the passage ?
| A．Forgetting |
| B．Leaving |
| C．Realizing |
| D．Beating |
According to the passage ,the children should________ when they have trouble with their homework ．
| A．ask their parents for help |
| B．try to solve the problems by themselves |
| C．wait for their teachers’ help |
| D．put it away and have a snack |
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
C
QQ is one of the most popular chat tools among teenagers ．We regard it as an important chat tool in our daily life because it has some advantages ．
First, we can make lots of e-friends on QQ．It is easy to find the person who has the same interest as us ,and we can talk with him or her happily ．Second ,we can also join a QQ group to find the information we need ．For example ,if we want to learn English well ,we can choose a group with many English lovers in it ．Third ,we can also play games with our friends on QQ and always have fun ．
QQ brings us a lot of benefits （益处）,but it can also cause some problems ．It’s dangerous to tell strangers on QQ our real personal information like telephone numbers , addresses and ID numbers ．If we spend too much time chatting online ,it won’t be good for our study and health ．QQ is a kind of__________．
| A．game |
| B．chat tool |
| C．book |
| D．TV program |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage ?
| A．We can get lots of information on QQ． |
| B．We can make friends on QQ ． |
| C．We can get everything on QQ ． |
| D．We can play things with friends on QQ ． |
Sometimes QQ may bring us some__________ if we don’t use it well ．
| A．problems |
| B．benefits |
| C．interests |
| D．fun |
QQ will be good for us if__________．
| A．we spend too much time chatting online ． |
| B．we get some useful information we need ． |
| C．we tell some strangers about our real telephone number ． |
| D．we tell some strangers about our real address and ID number ． |
If we want to learn English well ,we can__________．
| A．do shopping on QQ ． |
| B．always chat in Chinese on QQ ． |
| C．play games with our friends on QQ ． |
| D．join a QQ group with many English lovers in it ． |
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
B
You want to know about my staying in America ,right ? Well ,to tell you the truth ,it is really an eye-opening experience to study here ．
In China ,I had English classes five times a week since fifth grade ．However ,I didn’t know how different textbook English could be from everyday English until I came to Hotchkiss School ,Connecticut ．
When I first studied English ,I was told to say ,“I am fine”when people say“How are you ?”But in the US ,I found that people say ,“I am good ”or“I’m tired”．
One day , someone greeted me with “What’s up ?”It made me confused ．I thought for a moment and then smiled because I didn’t know what to say ．
Since then ,I have discovered more and more differences between Chinese and US cultures ．
To my surprise ,US girls spend a lot of time in the burning sun to get a tan（晒黑）．However , in China ,girls try every possible way to get their skin（皮肤） paler（白皙的） , or“whiter”．
I was also surprised by how hardworking US students are ．
In China ,schoolwork is almost everything ,so we study hard and that’s it ．But here ,a “good ”student gets good grades ,does a lot for the public and plays sports or music ．
The kids here are so talented（有才能的） ,I am starting to be sorry that I gave up playing the piano at an early age and that I have never thought about sports ．According to the writer ,textbook English is_________ everyday English ．
| A．quite different from |
| B．the same as |
| C．more difficult than |
| D．easier than |
A good US student spends his/her time_________．
| A．only in doing homework |
| B．only on sports or music |
| C．only in working for the public |
| D．on studies ,sports or music and public work |
Which of the following is NOT true ?
| A．The writer is now in US ． |
| B．American girls love to have white skin ． |
| C．US students are talented and hard working． |
| D．The writer regrets （后悔）that he gave up playing the piano ． |
Which is the best title for the passage ?
| A．My Own Travel in the US |
| B．My Studying in the US |
| C．My Opinion about the US |
| D．My Friends in the US ． |
阅读理解（共5小题）
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
A
At school many things happen to us ．We may feel excited when we have success in a school play．We may feel sorry if we lose an important game ．We want to keep the memory for the rest of our lives ．
How to keep the memory ?Our English teacher ,Miss Wang ,has taught us a good way of remembering things to make our own yearbook ．What is a yearbook ? A yearbook is a kind of book which is used to keep the memory of exciting moments ．It’s usually made at the end of the year ．
Last December ,we began to make our yearbook ．First we chose the persons who had done something special ,then some students interviewed them ,some wrote down their stories ,others took photos of them ．Every one in our class had something to do ．Finally our teacher helped us to put the things together ．We had our first yearbook ．
All of us put a lot of love into making the yearbook ．It is so wonderful that not only the students but also our parents and teachers will remember the special time forever ．When we have success in a school play ,we may feel__________．
| A．sorry |
| B．angry |
| C．excited |
| D．happy |
Miss Wang’s good way of remembering thing is to__________．
| A．buy a new book |
| B．write down stories |
| C．make a yearbook |
| D．make friends |
Usually a yearbook is made in__________．
| A．January |
| B．May |
| C．December |
| D．March |