John von Neumann was the oldest of 3 children of an banker, and his speed of learning new ideas and solving problems stood out early. At 17, his father tired to persuade him not to become a mathematician because he may lead a poor life being a mathematician, and so von Neumann agreed to study chemistry as well. In 1926, at 23, he received a degree in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in mathematics. From then on, mathematics provided well enough for him, and he never had to turn to chemistry.
In 1930, von Neumann visited Princeton University for a year and then became a professor there. His first book was published in 1932. In 1933, the Institute for Advanced Study was formed, and he became one of the 6 full-time people in the School of Mathematics（Einstein was one of the others）
World War Ⅱ hugely changed von Neumann's areas of interest. Until 1940 he had been a great pure mathematician. During and after the war, he became one of the best mathematicians who put mathematics theories into practice. During the last part of the war he became interested in computing machines and made several fundamental contributions After the war, von Neumann continued his work with computers, and was generally very active in government service. He received many awards, was president of the American Mathematical Society and was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. He died in 1957 of cancer.
Von Neumann made several great contributions and any one of them would have been enough to earn him a firm place in history. He will be remembered as one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.
Von Neumann really was a legend in his own time, and there are a number of stories about him. His driving ability is a part of his legend. He reported one accident this Way: "I was driving down the road. The trees on the right were passing me in an orderly fashion at 60 miles per hour. Suddenly one of them stepped in my path."According to the text, von Neumann's father believed that _____________.
| A．a mathematician couldn't earn a lot of money |
| B．a mathematician needed a good memory |
| C．von Neumann had the ability to learn two subjects at the same time |
| D．von Neumann had the gift for solving problems at a high speed. |
von Neumann published his first book at the age of _________________
| A．23 | B．26 | C．29 | D．32 |
How did World War Ⅱ affect John von Neumann?
| A．He realized the importance of engineering |
| B．He began to research how to put mathematics into practice. |
| C．He left college and served at the government department. |
| D．He lost interest in chemistry. |
Which of the following is true of Von Neumann?
| A．He had three children |
| B．He died from an accident. |
| C．He received many rewards in his life |
| D．He and Einstein were classmates in Princeton University. |
From the last paragraph, we can infer John von Neumann was _____________.
| A．calm | B．brave | C．intelligent | D．humorous |
Read the following reviews for movies that are showing at the moment．And then answer questions．
Happiness（Romance）★★★★
Happiness tells the story of two people （Lisa Turbot and Danny Roy） who work for different advertising companies．They talk on the phone all the time and don't like each other．But then they correspond by email and fall in love．This movie will be very popular with teenagers and people who like romances．It also has beautiful music．
I Scream （Thriller）★★
In I Scream, Paul （Colin Jacks） is a young man who joins a thriller club．Each of the members tries to frighten the others．Paul is told to stay in an old house for the night．This movie is very frightening but also quite silly．It doesn't make sense for Paul to stay m the house when things start to go wrong．Only for people who like thrillers．
Paul's Heroes （Comedy）★★★
This is a very funny war movie set in World War Two．Six soldiers （including Sammy Turblow） have to get to Italy to take secret messages to the American army there．During the movie, they dress up as women and fight with Italian workers．You can guess the ending, but it's great
fun getting there．
_____（Drama）★★★★
This is a very good drama with Jack Ross, who pays a hard-working truck driver．His wife becomes ill and he has to find a doctor who can help her．m his travels he meets Dr．Lloyd （Phil Driver） who has found the cure for the illness, but Jack Ross has only twelve hours to get the medicine back to his wife on the other side of America．This is an excellent movie, which is 
very exciting．Which of the four movies is the least popular with people?
| A．The 1st one. | B．The 2nd one. |
| C．The 3nd one. | D．The 4th one. |
The underlined word "correspond" can be replaced by _________.
| A．date | B．exchange | C．write | D．communicate |
A thriller is most probably a film which tells something _________.
| A．frightening | B．instructive | C．humorous | D．interesting |
Which of the following is the best title for the fourth film?
| A．A Hard-working Truck Driver | B．Medicine |
| C．A Strange Illness | D．Twelve Hours |
If, for some reason, you had 2,010 empty plastic bottles, what would you do? You’d probably sell them cheaply, right? But Xia Yu collected 2,010bottles and built a boat with them, As you read this, Xia is, in fact, on a river somewhere in Anhuai, slowly going towards his destination: the Expo Garden in Shanghai．2,010 plastic bottles was to celebrate Expo (世博会) 2010 Shanghai．On the opening day of the Expo, Xia, together with five friends, went on a 1,500 – km journey from Xiangtan to the Expo Garden, in spite of the doubt whether they’ll make it．After all, the boat they are on can hardly be called a boat．It cost only 2,000 yuan to build in a month.
What’s keeping Xia going is a major cause behind the trip．“We are examining water pollution through our journey and trying to promote a low – carbon (低碳) lifestyle．Before we started, no one believed we could sail the boat to the Dongting Lake．But we made it.” But as they expected, the journey has not always been smooth．Of the six from Xiangtan, four gave up．As of the press time (到发稿时), only Xia and his friend Huang Ying were on the boat．Huang suffered from a disease when they reached Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, Xia said, “There are so many things that can stop up from making it to Shanghai, like the weather, health, and sometimes swift rive water.”
“The boat was produced in a factory according to our design, and perhaps it’s not in a very good condition．But,” Xia said, “we are wearing life jackets”．“Some boats passing by offered help.” What is more of a reward for Xia and Huang is that the Yangtze Rive truned out much cleaner than they had expected．Although Xia and Huang are uncertain about the journedy ahead, they are “quite happy” with what they have already achieved．“After all, it’s not the destination that counts．It’s always the course that matters the most.”Xia Yu doubts the success of the journey because of .
| A．such a 1ong journey on the river |
| B．the poor boat and the bad weather |
| C．few people taking part in the journey |
| D．the seriously polluted river in some parts |
Which of the following is NOT the purpose of the journey?
| A．To examine water pollution． |
| B．To celebrate Expo 2010 Shanghai. |
| C．To win a race on the water． |
| D．To promote a low－carbon lifestyle. |
From the text we know that .
| A．They stay on the boat at night． |
| B．Three people gave up due to their bad health. |
| C．Xia Yu and his mate have arrived in Shanghai |
| D．Huang suffered from a disease on the journey. |
The last paragraph tells us Xia Yu and Huang Ying .
| A．pay more attention to the process. |
| B．are sure to arrive at the destination. |
| C．helped turn the Yangtze River cleaner. |
| D．are happy because of their final success. |
In terms of history, Australian cuisine（烹饪）was on the basis of traditional British cooking brought to the country by the first settlers．Modern Australian cuisine，however．has been heavily influenced by Australia’ s Asian and Southeast Asian neighbors．The trend，encouraged by long-term government health programs，is towards low-fat healthy cookery including low-fat meat and lightly cooked，colorful，steamed or fried vegetables．Besides，1ike many English families，in many Australian homes，a widespread tradition of having roast turkey，chicken，and ham for Christmas 1unch or dinner still remains．
Generally breakfast is light in most parts of Australia．but in the colder regions porridge or meals similar to the full English breakfast may be consumed．In recent years，however，most Australian people prefer light breakfast in order to control their weight．The 1ight breakfast commonly consists of cereals（谷类），toast and fruit．A heavier breakfast will frequently include fried bacon，eggs，mushrooms，etc．Drinks taken at breakfast include tea，coffee，milk or juice．
The evening meal is the main meal of the day for most Australians，and when consumed at home，it is often eaten with members of the immediate family．The dishes served will vary widely according to the tastes and background of the family．A typical Australian restaurant might offer sandwiches，chicken or other meat-based dishes and cakes．
In recent years，take—away food is becoming popular in Australia．American-style chain restaurants are common including Subway，KFC，and Mcdonald’s．They a11 come from America．Most of these restaurants sell high quality food at reasonable prices．
With the high 1evels of immigration（移民）from the Middle East．South and Southeast Asia．Korea．China and other countries from a11 over the world to Australia．many authentic（正宗的）and high-quality restaurants are run by first-and second-generation immigrants from these areas．According to the first paragraph，what does the Australian government encourage its people to do?
| A．To try to eat 10w—fat healthy foods． |
| B．To have roast turkey for Christmas dinner． |
| C．To use traditional British cooking methods． |
| D．To 1earn from Asian neighbors to cook foods． |
The main idea of the second paragraph is ．
| A．what breakfast is 1ike in Australia |
| B．w hat Australian people drink at breakfast |
| C．that Australians often have a heavy breakfast |
| D．that most Australian people don’ t have breakfast to lose weight |
The underlined part the immediate family in Paragraph 3 probably mean people who .
| A．have the same family names |
| B．do some cooking together at times |
| C．live next to one another in the same area |
| D．are very directly – related members of a family |
From the passage, we learn that .
| A．fewer and fewer immigrants enter Australia every year |
| B．Subway is a chain restaurant and it is from the USA |
| C．home cooking is becoming more and more popular in Australia |
| D．a typical restaurant mainly offers porridge and noodles for supper |
What’ s the fastest way to learn a language?
 |
Learning a new language seems hard and frightening as
we look back on the years of grammar and translations in
school．Yet babies communicate t eighteen months and speak
the language fluently before they go to school.
Firstly and most importantly, a child’ s natural language-learning ability exits only in a speech environment free of translations and explanations of translations and explanations of grammar．Secondly, a child’ s language learning speeds up by constant feedback（反馈）from family and friends．Thirdly, children learn through play.
At Rosetta Stone, you know adults can recover the native language-learning ability they once had as children．At every step and in every skill, you receive immediate and actionable feedback, including speech recognition（识别）, advice and attention.
Every act is an act of play for children and there’ s no reason why it should be different for learners of any age．With Rosetta Stone programs, you rediscover the joy of learning languages．Clever, puzzle-like activities produce sudden “aha!” moments and astonishing language discoveries, we see it all the time．A slow of recognition, as though the brain suddenly realizes what is like to learn a language as a child.
Visit our website and find out how you can make your own language-learning ability active with Rosetta Stone．It’ s the fastest way to learn a language.Which of the following as is TRUE about Rosetta Stone?
| A．You can learn only a few languages. |
| B．You will get some advice in time during learning. |
| C．You may take part in the language school today. |
| D．You can get your money back after seven months. |
The main purpose of the text is to ．
| A．tell adults how to 1earn a language well |
| B．present readers to buy CDs of Rosetta Stone |
| C．present some problems of learning languages |
| D．compare adults and children 1earning 1anguages |
If there’ s a$499 program，you order it today and pay .
| A．$479 | B．$459 | C．$449 | D．$439 |
The passage is most 1ikely to be a（ n） ．
| A．education paper | B．review on 1anguage |
| C．science report | D．advertisement for a product |
Although Thomas Edison created the technologies behind three major 21st century industries electrical power，recorded music and movies—his greatest invention may have been the modern method of inventing．He basically came up with the modern system of research and development．Edison was not the only scientist doing research in his garage but someone who gathered around him a team of creative scientific minds．Edison’s 1aboratories were the forerunners（先驱）of Apple，Google and Microsoft．
Yet for a11 his scientific gifts，he was no Steve Jobs or Bill Gates．He once said，“Anything that won’ t sell，I don’ t want to invent．” But Edison，unlike Jobs or Gates，had no real sense of what the public wanted or how to change his discoveries into products that might sell．It took him years to understand that the phonograph（留声机）was not a business tool but an entertainment invention．He helped create movies but resisted the idea that people might want to go into a theater to watch one．
We chose Edison this year because we need his example now more than ever．Though we live in a time of great reformation，the U．S．is in danger of losing its advantage in science and technology．American investment（投资）in research and development has not increased as a percentage of GDP since the mid一1980s，while the government’ s share has been dropping．And this is at a time when China is rapidly increasing its money on research and development．The U．S．was once among the 1eading nations．Now it ranks near the bottom of the 23 nations that collect such data．We hope that Edison’ s story might not only encourage reformation but also inspire more
young Americans to study science and engineering．The first paragraph is mainly about .
| A．the number of Edison’ s great inventions |
| B．Edison’ s special personal characters |
| C．Edi son’ s modern system of research |
| D．Apple．Google and Microsoft and their forerunners |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．A11 the things Edison invented sold well． |
| B．Edison wanted to invent things that sold well． |
| C．Edison’ s inventions were not valuable for being unpopular． |
| D．Edison had a gift for changing his discoveries into best sellers. |
The author’ s main purpose is to ．
| A．inform US of the danger the USA is in |
| B．get young Americans to study science |
| C．be in honor of Edison for his contributions |
| D．tell US how important Edison’ s inventions are |
We can infer from the text that ．
| A．the USA is no 10nger advanced in science and technology |
| B．the USA falls behind China in research and inventions |
| C．more and more young Americans will be interested in science |
| D．China is spending more and more money on research and development |
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