Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that perfect portable bike would be “like a magic carpet... You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag". Then he paused: “But you'll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel."
It was a rare --- indeed unique --- occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame(框架) that split into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout's Wonderful Bag, a leather case.
Grout's aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn't that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout's day, tyres were solid, which made the business of splitting a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn't do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated tyre.
So, in a 21st-century context, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons , has developed a wheel that can be squashed(挤压)into something like a slender ellipse(椭圆 ) . Throughout, the tyre remains inflated.
Will the young Fitzsimons's folding wheel make it into production? I haven’t the foggiest idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It’s as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there's plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than £1,000 that can be knocked down so small that can be carried on a plane -- minus wheels, of course --as hand baggage.
Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie's imagination? No. But it's progress.
57. We can infer form Paragraph 1 that the Brompton folding bike____.
A. was portable B. had a folding wheel.
C. could be put in a pocket. D. looked like a magic carpet
58. We can learn from the text that the wheels of the Group Portable_______.
A. were difficult to separate. B. could be split into 6 pieces.
C. were fitted with solid tyres. D. were hard to carry on a train.
59. We can learn from the text that Fitzsimons`s invention_______.
A. kept the tyres as whole piece. B. was made into production soon.
C. left little room for improvement. D. changed our views on bag design.
60. Which of following would be best title for the text?
A. Three folding bike inventors. B. The making of a folding bike
C. Progress in folding bike design D. Ways of separating a bike wheel
The host poured the tea into the cup and placed it on the small table in front of his guests, who were a father and daughter, and the cover on the cup. Apparently thinking of something, he hurried into the inner room, leaving the thermos(热水瓶) on the table. His two guests heard a cupboard opening.
They remained sitting in the sitting room, the ten-year-old daughter looking at the flowers outside the window, the father just about to take his cup, when the crash came, right there in the sitting room. Something was hopelessly broken.
It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor. The girl looked over her shoulder, shocked, staring. It was mysterious. Neither of them touched it, not even a bit. True, it hadn’t stood steadily when their host placed in on the table, but it hadn’t fallen then.
The explosion caused the host to rush back. Gawking at the steaming floor, the host said, “It doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter!”
The father started to say something. Then he said softly, “Sorry, I touched it and it fell.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said the host.
When they left the house, the daughter said, “Daddy, did you touch it?”
“No, but it stood so close to me.”
“But you did not touch it. I saw your reflection in the window glass.”
The father laughed. “What would you give as the cause of its fall?”
“The thermos fell by itself. The floor is not smooth. Daddy, why did you say that you…”
“That won’t do, girl. It sounds more acceptable when I say I knocked it down. There are things which people accept less the more you defend. The truer the story you tell, the less true it sounds.”
The daughter was lost in silence for a while. Then she said, “Can you explain it only in this way?”
“Only in this way,” her father said. Which statement is a possible theme of this story?
| A．People should take the blame for what they didn’t do. |
| B．People rarely tell the truth. |
| C．If you defend yourself, people will believe you. |
| D．You can’t always make people believe the truth. |
The underlined phrase “Gawking at” probably means ___________.
A. staring at with anger
B. looking at curious
C, looking at in a dull way
D. glancing at hopelesslyIt can be inferred from the story that the father____________.
| A．didn’t know the host well |
| B．didn’t think the host would believe the truth |
| C．was sorry that he told the truth |
| D．felt satisfied that he didn’t tell the truh |
From the story we know that the daughter ___________ .
| A．thought her father should tell the truth |
| B．didn’t know why the thermos fell |
| C．glancing at hopelessly |
| D．looking at in a dull way |
We don’t know how different our life in the future. We can only try to imagine it.
At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day, we will be making new friends through the Internet--- even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won’t be as important as they are today--- we will feel a little lonely.
Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050. For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.
Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will be using solar-powered cars, which will be much environmentally friendly.
We could expect that the faster economic development would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. Scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.
Although we cannot predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future; we have expectation, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather sanguine about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen. The underlined word “sanguine” in the last paragraph most probably means __________.
| A．disappointed | B．surprised |
| C．curious | D．optimistic |
According to the passage, which of the following will happen in 2050?
| A．It will not be difficult for people to travel to other plants. |
| B．Our environment will be much polluted with a growing number of cars. |
| C．The way of spending holidays will be the same as that of today |
| D．The relationship between people will be more important than today. |
The third paragraph mainly tells__________.
| A．that computers will do all the things for human being |
| B．how people will use robots to do housework. |
| C．that machines like computer and robots will help people a lot. |
| D．how people will use computer to communicate with each other. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．What high technology will appear in the year 2050. |
| B．What our life will be like in the year 2050. |
| C．How people will communicate in the year 2050. |
| D．How people will travel and spend their holidays in the year 2050. |
Why do you need British Accent Training? With the growth in the number of employees from Egypt, Spain and China, organizations need to ensure that their workers are able to communicate effectively with customers and colleagues alike.
First Language Influence (FLI) can have a great effect on an employee’s accent. British Accent Training from Communicaid will help your overseas workers decrease the influence of their first language.
Whether through online training courses or face- to- face classes, Communicaid offers suitable training solutions for your organisation’s international business.
A Communicaid’s British Accent Training course will provide your workers with the ability to :
---increase their customer experience and satisfaction,
---communicate more effectively with customers and colleagues by decreasing first language influenced accent,
---strengthen relationships with customers and colleagues through more successful communication.
Course content
All Communicaid’s British Accent Training courses are designed to meet the specific needs of our clients depending on their specific situations.
Generally, a British Accent Training course includes:
---rhythm and stress patterns,
---pausing and breathing,
---relationship between spelling and pronunciation,
---accent familiarisation and listening practice.
Ways to learn
Training can be received worldwide through either face-to-face classes or one of our many online learning methods. Using a combination of published materials and those offered only by Communicaid, we design and offer programmes that will meet the need of our clients.
Our trainers
All Communicaid’s British Accent course trainers are native speakers with at least 3 years’ professional training experience in the field. A client’s British Accent trainer will be decided according to his goals and areas of focus.We can learn from the article that Communicaid is a company that .
| A．sells books |
| B．designs ads |
| C．offers communication skill training |
| D．offers language training |
Who are the target readers of the article?
| A．Overseas students. |
| B．Overseas workers. |
| C．Bosses employing workers whose first language is not English. |
| D．People whose partners come from a non- English-speaking country. |
The article was written mainly to .
| A．attract people to attend Communicaid’s courses |
| B．introduce the history of the company Commuicaid |
| C．give instructions on English pronunciation |
| D．tell the readers the importance of the British accent |
For years scientists have been worried about the effects of air pollution on the earth’s natural conditions. Some believe the air inside many houses may be more dangerous than the air outside. It may be one hundred times worse.
Indoor air pollution can cause a person to feel tired, to suffer eye pain, headache and other problems. Some pollutants（污染物）can cause breathing disorders, diseases of blood and even cancer. Most scientists agree that every modern house has some kind of indoor pollution.
People have paid more attention to the problem now. It is true that when builders began making houses and offices they did not waste energy. To do this they build buildings that limited the flow of air between inside and outside. They also began using man-made building materials. These materials are now known to let out harmful gases.
As the problem became more serious, scientists began searching for a way to deal with it. They discovered a natural pollution control system for building—green plants. Scientists do not really know how plants control air pollution. They believe that a plant’s leaves absorb（吸收）or take in the pollutants. In exchange the plant lets out oxygen through its leaves and tiny organizations on its roots. Scientists suggest that all buildings should have one large plant or several small plants inside for every nine square meters of space. Studies of different plants show that each absorbs different chemicals. So the most effective way to clean the air is to use different kinds of plants. Having green plants inside your house can make it a prettier and healthier place.Generally speaking, indoor air pollution may be more harmful than the air outside because .
| A．indoor air pollution can often make people seriously ill |
| B．man-made building materials give off dangerous gases |
| C．there may be more harmful gases outside the buildings |
| D．the air indoors is polluted, which is very harmful |
Some kind of indoor pollution can be found in .
| A．every modern house | B．every old house |
| C．all kinds of houses | D．all kinds of offices |
The indoor air pollution is caused by .
| A．the limit of the flow of air between inside and outside |
| B．the building way that the builders want to save energy |
| C．the building things that are made of man-made materials |
| D．the man-made building materials and the limit of air-flow |
The reason why we should use different kinds of plants to clean the air is that
| A．plants can let out all kinds of pollutants indoors |
| B．plants may take in more oxygen （氧气）which people need |
| C．plants can absorb all kinds of harmful indoor chemicals |
| D．plants can make our houses prettier and more healthy |
Most of us are used to seasons. Each year, spring follows winter, which follows autumn, which follows summer, which follows spring. And winter is colder than summer. But the earth goes through temperature cycles over much longer periods than those that we experience.
Between 65,000 and 35,000 years ago, the planet was much colder than it is now. During that time the temperature also changed a lot, with periods of warming and cooling. Ice melted during the warm periods, which made sea levels rise. Water froze again during the cold periods.
A new study from Switzerland sheds light on where ice sheets melted during the ice age.
It now seems that the ice melted at both ends of the earth, rather than just in either northern or southern areas. This surprised the researchers from the University of Bern.
Scientists have long assumed（认为） that most of the ice that melted was in the Northern hemisphere(半球) during the 30,000-year long ice age. That belief was held because the North Pole is surrounded by land, while the South Pole is surrounded by the Antarctic Ocean. It is easier for ice sheets to grow on land. If surrounded by sea the ice can easily just slip into the ocean instead of building up.
The researchers used a computer model to look at ways the ice could melt and how it might affect sea levels. They compared these results to evidence of how temperatures and currents actually changed during that time.
The model showed that if it was only in the Northern hemisphere that ice melted, there would have been a bigger impact(影响) on ocean currents(洋流) and sea temperatures than what actually happened. Studies suggest that melting just in the Southern hemisphere would have been impossible, too.
The only reasonable conclusion, the scientists could make, was that ice melted equally in the North and the South.
It is still a mystery as to what caused the temperature changes that caused the ice to melt.The underlined phrase “sheds light on” (in paragraph 3) can be replaced by .
| A．throws doubts on |
| B．beats down on |
| C．makes it clear |
| D．makes light of |
We can infer from the passage .
| A．the ice can easily just slip into the ocean |
| B．melting just in the Northern hemisphere would have been impossible |
| C．volcanoes caused the ice to melt |
| D．researchers often use the computer models help their research work. |
The scientists are not sure .
| A．what caused the temperature changes |
| B．where ice sheets melted during the ice age |
| C．how long the ice age lasted |
| D．what the earth is made up of |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A computer model |
| B．Studies show ice melted equally in the North and the South during the ice age |
| C．Most of the ice melted in the Northern hemisphere during the 30,000-year long ice age. |
| D．A survey result |
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