Light travels at a speed which is about a million times faster than the speed of sound. You can get some idea of this difference by watching the start of a race. If you stand some distance(距离) away from the starter, you can see smoke from his gun before the sound reaches your ears.
This great speed of light produces some strange facts. Sunlight(太阳光) takes about 8 minutes to reach us. If you look at the light of the moon tonight, remember that the light rays left the moon 1.3 seconds before they reached you. The nearest star is so far away that the light that you can see from it tonight started to travel towards you four years ago at a speed of nearly 2 million km. per minute. In some cases, the light from one of tonight’s stars had started on its journey to you before you were born.
Thus, if we want to be honest, we can’t say, “The stars are shining tonight.” We have to say instead, “The stars look pretty. They were shining four years ago, but their light has only just reached the earth.”Light speed is ______ sound speed.
| A．as fast as |
| B．a million times slower than |
| C．about millions of times faster than |
| D．about a million times faster than |
If you stand 200 meters away from a man who is firing a gun to start a race, you will find out that ______.
| A．you can hear the sound before you see the smoke |
| B．the sound does not travel as fast as light |
| C．the sound will reach you before the man fires |
| D．sound travels about a million times faster than light |
Sunlight obviously(显然的) ______ than the light of the moon.
| A．has to travel a greater distance |
| B．moves less quickly |
| C．travels much more quickly |
| D．is less powerful |
The scientific way of saying "The stars are shining tonight" should be ______.
| A．the stars have been shining all the time |
| B．the stars seen tonight will shine four years later |
| C．the stars were shining long ago but seen tonight |
| D．the starlight seen today could be seen four years ago |
What is your zodiac（生肖） animal? According to the Chinese lunar calendar（农历）, 12 animals mark 12 different years. It is the basis of the Chinese zodiac. Nowadays, Chinese zodiac animals have worldwide fame and are increasingly popular among western people.
The zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture. People believe that the characteristics of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year. For example, people born in the Year of the Tiger are considered powerful and brave.
Zodiac animals also have some social functions. When people think it is not proper to ask: “How old are you”, they may change their question to “What is your zodiac animal?” With this question, you can figure out roughly which year someone was born and the person’s age.
Zodiac animals are not special to China. Many countries share a similar zodiac culture with China. For example, in the Japanese Zodiac, a wild boar（野猪）takes the place of a pig and the Vietnamese（越南的）zodiac has a cat instead of a rabbit.
But have you ever wondered how these 12 animals were chosen to represent each year? According to legend, the Jade Emperor（玉皇大帝）invited all the animals to join him for Chinese New Year. Only 12 animals went to see him. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The ox would have been the first to arrive, but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived to come in first place.The characteristics of a zodiac animal may influence the _____ of every person
born in that year.
| A．appearance | B．personality | C．hobby | D．education |
“What is your zodiac animal?” is a question used to find out a person’s______.
| A．age | B．name | C．job | D．weight |
In the Japanese zodiac, we don’t see the zodiac animal：_______
| A．wild boar | B．rabbit | C．dragon | D．pig |
According to the last paragraph, we know that ____ was the first animal to arrive.
| A．ox | B．rat | C．pig | D．cat |
ASK THE BLOG!
Post your problems on the blog and get other bloggers’ advice!
★★★★★★
My problem is my parents. They never stop going on about how I should keep my room tidy, keep my hair tidy and wear smart clothes. They even make me do the washing-up after dinner every night! None of my friends have got such tenable parents. What should I do?
Helen, USA
★★★★★★
Hi, Helen. I think you should do what your parents ask. They’re much older than you and you should respect them. It’s their house you live in and their money you spend.
Emily, Australia
★★★★★★
Helen, why should your parents do all the housework? You should help around the house. –it’s only fair. I don’t think you should change your appearance though. Teenagers should look like teenagers.
Simon, EnglandWhat is Helen’s problem?
| A．Her parents treat her badly. |
| B．She always worries about her parents. |
| C．Her parents don’t care about her feelings. |
| D．She doesn’t want to do what her parents ask. |
In Emily’s opinion, Helen should .
| A．respect her parents | B．give her parents money |
| C．leave her parents | D．change her appearance |
Simon suggests that Helen should .
| A．wear smart clothes | B．help with housework |
| C．do all the washing-up | D．change her appearance |
Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads at their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge(向…挑战)yourself. So you can not always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving(旋转)door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.When you fall down in a PE class, both your teacher and your classmates will_________.
| A．laugh at you | B．play jokes on you |
| C．quarrel with you | D．help you up |
What will your friends say to you when you make great progress?
| A．Oh, so do I. | B．Congratulations. |
| C．Good luck. | D．It’s just so-so. |
Which idea is NOT right according to the passage?
| A．People who have cars would never like to walk in the open air. |
| B．You can get help from others when you make mistakes. |
| C．You can still be a happy person even if you have little money. |
| D．Happiness is always around you though difficulties come towards you. |
Which of the following is this passage about?
| A．Bad luck. | B．Good luck. | C．Happiness. | D．Life. |
Ruby, the artist, is an Asian elephant, She is17 years old. She lives in the zoo. Ruby has produced about 100 paintings since last year. She has made more than $ 40,000 for the zoo. Zoo leaders say Ruby first showed the talent (才能) about four years ago. Zoo workers watched her make the marks in the sand with her trunk. She rubbed (擦掉) out the marks, then made the new ones. The zoo worker gave her brushes and paints. Soon Ruby painted pictures.
Newspaper reporters wrote Ruby, then people asked about buying her pictures. And in this way, she made a lot of money for the zoo. This is how Ruby does the paintings. A zoo worker holds different color paints. Ruby touches the colors she wants. Then the worker gives her brushes with the chosen colors in her trunk and Ruby begins painting.We can most probably read this story_______.
| A．in a dictionary about read animals | B．in a newspaper |
| C．in a book on art | D．in history textbooks |
People asked about buying Ruby's pictures because_______.
| A．newspaper reporters bought her picture |
| B．her pictures were better than those of real artists |
| C．they just wanted to have fun |
| D．zoo workers would let them have a free visit to the park |
Ruby rubbed out the marks she had drawn in order to_______.
| A．make other ones | B．clear her trunk |
| C．dig a hole in the sand | D．ask for brushes and paints |
From the story, we can know that_______.
| A．Ruby can paint a picture all by herself |
| B．Ruby can draw better pictures than the other animals in the zoo |
| C．Ruby has to finish a painting with the help of zoo workers |
| D．Ruby will ask for money if she finishes a picture |
Everyone needs friends. Friends bring us happiness and hope in our lives. But the ability to make friends changes from person to person. To some people, making friends is easy, and to others it’s very difficult.
Making friends is a skill, and the first thing is to know how to get on with others.
If you have trouble in making friends, maybe I can tell you how to do it.
Realize your own good points. You have skills and talents(才能) that others will like.
Believe that you are a good person and have something nice to share with others.
Be humourous. Learn to laugh at yourself and your weakness. Remember to smile at others.
Respect(尊敬) the others. Everyone has his own idea. Learn how to listen to others’ ideas without trying to make them accept(接受) yours.
Be kind. If you are kind to others, they will usually be kind to you. There are hundreds of little things you can do to show your kindness. Open the door for someone. Wave to a friend and so on.
Don’t complain(抱怨). Learn to accept what you can’t change, and work hard to change what you can. No one is willing to hear your complaints all the time.
Never give up. Even if you are faced with some closed-minded people, never give up. And try to find someone who will understand you.Why do we need friends according to the passage?
| A．Friends can do everything for us. | B．Friends can bring us happiness. |
| C．Friends accept our ideas all the time. | D．Without friends, we could not live. |
What’s the first thing we should learn in order to make friends?
| A．To help others. | B．To smile to others. |
| C．To get on with others. | D．To listen to others’ complaints. |
Which of the following shows a sense of humour?
| A．Opening the door for someone. | B．Complaining to others all the time. |
| C．Laughing at ourselves and our weakness. | D．Finding someone who will understand us. |
How many pieces of advice does the writer provide when we have trouble in making friends?
| A．Five. | B．Seven. | C．Nine. | D．Eleven. |
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