While astronauts in space get to do many exciting things, they miss out on ordinary things that we all take for granted—being able to walk on firm ground, hanging out with family and digging into a slice of hot steaming pizza. Though not much can be done about the first two things, there may soon be a solution to the third one, thanks to this cool 3-D pizza printer!
About a year ago, NASA offered $125 ,000 to Anjan Contractor, a 3-D technology expert, to build a device (设备) that would allow astronauts to make pizza on demand. The mechanical engineer promised that his invention would produce pies in large quantities that looked, tasted and even smelled like pizza made in common ovens.
Late last year, the engineer presented a video of his first prototype (原型) that begins by creating a single slice of dough (面团) that is cooked and printed at the same time. Then comes the tomato “sauce” — a mix of tomato powder, oil and water and finally, a protein slice that resembles cheese. While the video doesn’t show the baking process, the inventor says that once the pizza is printed, it can be ready to be consumed in 7 seconds.
While the pie in the video looks delicious enough to attract any pizza lover, Anjan Contractor is far from ready for astronauts. That’s because he still has to find a solution to make the food container in the printer last for 30 years. Though that may sound unrealistic, actually it is not.
Anjan Contractor believes that the only way that is possible is that the water is removed from all the ingredients (配料) and then they are reduced to the powder form. This, as you can imagine, will not be so easy. But, while the printer may not be ready for space, it certainly looks ready enough for people on earth. Hopefully, NASA and Contractor will consider selling it to those not fortunate enough to go to Mars!
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．NASA is trying its best to help astronauts eat better |
| B．Astronauts may soon be able to enjoy steaming hot pizza |
| C．NASA is working on making pizza for common people |
| D．A 3-D pizza printer has been used to make pizza |
Computer programmer David Jones earned $ 150,000 a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a check card (信用卡). Instead, he has been told to wait another two years until he is 18.
He works for a small firm in Liverpool, where most young people of his age are finding jobs. David”s biggest headache is what to do with his money. Though he has high payment, he cannot drive a car, or get credit cards.(信用卡)
David got his job four months ago, a year after leaving school with six O-Levels(普通成绩) and working for a time in a computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs,” he said.
“I suppose $150,000 sounds a lot but I hope it will come to more than that this year.” He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother $20 a week as he lives with his parents. But most of his spare time is spent working.
“Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school,” he said. “ But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway. I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement(退休) is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear.
11. why is David so different from other young people of his age?
A .He has got a job. B. He lives at home with his parents
C .He does not get out much. D. He earns a high payment
12. David’s greatest problem is that _____.
A. he can’t be treated as an adult (grown-up) by the bank
B. he can’t make as many games as he wishes
C .he doesn’t know what to buy with the money
D. he is too young to drive a car
13. He was employed by the company because _____
A .he had worked in a computer shop
B. he had written some computer programs
C. he is clever and works hard at his lessons
D. he had learnt computer from books and magazines
14. He left school after taking six O-Levels because ____.
A. he was afraid of getting too old to start computing B. he didn’t enjoy school
C. he wanted to work with computers D. he wanted to earn a lot of money.
15. Why does David think he might retire early?
A. He thinks computer games might not always sell so well.
B. He wants to stop working when he is a millionaire.
C. One has to be young to write computer programs
D. He thinks his firm might close down.
Carlos Gardel was born on Dec. 11, 1890, just at the right time. The recording and film industries were jus starting to impact the world. Carlos had good looks and a pleasant voice. His death occurred at the peak of his career and popularity in a tragic accident.
Carlos Gardel was the first great singer of tango and to this day remains an icon (崇拜对象) in Argentina, Uruguay and much of the world. As a result of his important role in tango, there are three countries that claim him as their own: France, Uruguay and Argentina.
Carlos’s mother, Berthe, was an unmarried mother and his father did not recognize him. His mother took Carlos to Buenos Aires in 1893. They lived in a poor part of town and Carlos spent his time in the streets; he dropped out of school in 1906 at the age of 15 and started singing in bars.
For the next few years, Carlos toured the clubs and theaters of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. His most constant singing partner was Jose Razzano, a folk singer Carlos had met earlier during a singing match. In 1915, after playing in a club in Brazil, Carlos wa
s shot in the left lung, where the bullet stayed for the rest of his life. “Mi Noche Triste” was the hit song that sent Carlos skyrocketing in popularity. It became the first recorded vocal tango and the public was grabbed by the recording of the song. Carlos and Rozzano spent the next years touring through Latin America. In 1923, they left the continent and struck out for Europe. In 1935, Carlos decided to go on tour through the Caribbean and northern South America. On June 24, a plane he was a passenger in was hit by another plane on the runway. Everyone on board was killed.
Carlos may be gone, but he is far from forgotten.
6. The passage was mainly written to ______.
A. show us the history of tango B. introduce the first singer of tango
C. teach us how tango developed D. advertise a tango class
7. We can infer from the passage that _____.
A. Carlos lived a poor life with his mother in Buenos Aires
B. Carlos had only been to France, Uruguay and Argentina
C. Carlos died at the age of 54.
D. Carlos was born when the film industry began to fail
8. What’s the RIGHT time order of the following events?
a. Carlos toured through Latin America.
b. Carlos was shot after playing in a club in Brazil.
c. Carlos toured the clubs and theaters of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
d. Carlos moved to Buenos Aires.
A. cbad B. dcba C. cabd D. dcab
9. The underlined word “grabbed” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by _____.
A. lied B. frightened C. cheated D. attracted
10. Which of the following statements about Carlos in NOT true?
A. His singing partner Jose was his brother.
B. He is an important figure in the world of tango.
C. His father did not recognize him
D. He died in a plane accident.
III.阅读理解(20×2)
When Sir Winston Churchill , the great British prime minister, reached his eightieth birthday in November 1954, he was presented with his portrait by a well-known modern artist, Granham Sutherland. The painting had been ordered and paid by the members of Parliament(国会)， who wanted to honor the Grand Man of World war II.
Sir Winston and Lady Churchill were deeply moved by this mark of respect and affection. Neither of them, of course, allowed the donors（捐赠者） to see how much they both disliked the portrait. “It makes me look stupid—which I am not !” Churchill protested in pr
ivate. Publicly, he only said that it was “a fine example of modern art”. His friends smiled: it was well-known that Sir Winston didn’t care for modern art.
Churchill was so unhappy about the portrait that finally his wife had it destroyed. Churchill died at ninety in January 1965. lady Churchill followed him in 1977. Shortly after her death, the public learned what had happened to Sutherland’s paint
ing, and a heated argument broke out. The painter was understandably sad. The artistic community, shocked and angry, claimed that the destruction of the picture had been a crime. Historians said that they regretted the disappearance of a historical document. All agreed that Churchills didn’t have the right to do what they had done.
Well—did they ? A good part of the public felt that the owner of a portrait had the right to get rid of it if it made him so unhappy. The question, however, has been raised many times before: who has the right to a work of art—the sitter, the owner, the donor or the artist who created it? And when the painting is the portrait of a historical figure, should the right of posterity (后代) be considered, as the historians claimed?
1. To have Churchill’s portrait painted was the idea of ______.
A.a we
ll-known modern artist B.Parliament
C.a friend of Churchill D.the public
2. Which of the following is true ?
A. Churchill liked the portrait but his wife not
B. Churchill didn’t like the portrait because he didn’t like the painter
C. Churchill liked the portrait because it was a fine modern art.
D . Churchill didn’t like the portrait and nor did his wife
3. When Churchill said it was “a fine example of modern art”, he was ______.
A. dishonest B. joking C. praising the portrait D. not been straight
4.When was the destruction of the portrait known to the public?
A . As soon as it happened B.After Churchill died in 1965
C. Soon after Lady Churchill’s death D. Not until recently
5. How did people reacted to the news?
A. People of the artistic community were all very sad.
B. The historians felt more strongly against it than the artistic community.
C.All people agreed that Chutchills had no right to destroy the picture.
D. while some were upset, quite a few people believed the Churchills had the right to destroy it.
At 227 billion yuan ($33 billion) for 2008, Guangdong's cultural industries accounted for 6.4 percent of its GDP and experienced a growth rate of 13.8 percent. But Lai admits that size does not equal weight. "Our businesses are mostly small, financing difficult and brands few."
One local brand that has made it big is Pleasant Goat and Big, Big Wolf, also translated as Happy Sheep and Gray Wolf, China's most popular cartoon series currently being aired. But Liu Manyi, general manager of Creative Power Entertaining Inc, the firm behind the hit show, is not laughing to the bank. Instead she is bitter: "Pirate discs were all over the streets before our first movie hit the screen. Their images appear on all kinds of products. All this has no proper licensing."
In case you don't know, China produces the largest amount of animated(动画的) programming in the world. But quantity is not quality. Behind every Pleasant Goat there are tens of thousands of flops. The best way for the government to promote the country's creative industries is to crack down on piracy (盗版). Hollywood often raises its voice about being victimized (受害) in China. Truth be told, Hollywood is probably the least affected since there is a quota system for China's importation of Hollywood films.
Many Chinese producers are taking baby steps and the domestic market is all they have. If their rights in the home market are not protected, they will never see the day their products find a foreign audience.
The sudden closure(关闭) of BT websites where copyrighted materials used to flow freely suggests a determination on the part of the government to take intellectual property rights seriously. This kind of websites is bad for us, so we should ban them.
Much of the news coming out of the 2009 International Cultural Industries Forum was encouraging. China's film industry is expected to get 6 billion yuan ($879 million) in box office receipts this year. A decade from now, this number may go up to 30 billion, according to some forecasts.
If the government takes serious action against online and offline pirates, China's creative industries may well have a bright future.
51. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 1 mean?
A. Fast as the development of Guangdong's cultural industries is, they don’t have a big challenge in the world.
B. Guangdong's cultural industries can make a big profit although they are just the small companies.
C. Guangdong's cultural industries make a big contribution to its GDP because of their strong economic power.
D. The development of Guangdong's cultural industries cannot catch up with any other industries.
52. What does Liu Manyi think about Pleasant Goat and Big, Big Wolf?
A. It is a failure since it is a local brand.
B. It is a success but cannot get the expected profit.
C. Its profit from the images has been shared legally.
D. Pirate discs make it more popular among the children.
53. Hollywood films are mentioned to tell us that __________.
A. Hollywood films make our creative industries have less space to survive
B. it is piracy that makes it possible for Hollywood films to get less influenced
C. our creative industries need enough protection to have a bright future
D. foreign films have taken up more market in China than the local ones
54. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Chinese creative industries are more advanced than foreign ones.
B. The domestic market is of little significance to the survival of Chinese creative industries.
C. BT websites stand in the way of the development of Chinese creative industries.
D. The growth of China's film industry is always slow and needs more support.
55. In which column of a newspaper will you probably read this passage?
A. Regional B. Economic C. Sports D. Cartoon
A 17-year-old boy, caught sending text messages in class, was recently sent to the vice principal's office at Millwood High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The vice principal, Steve Gallagher, told the boy he needed to focus on the teacher, not his cellphone. The boy listened politely and nodded, and that's when Mr. Gallagher noticed the student's fingers moving on his lap. He was texting while being scolded for texting. “It was a subconscious act,” says Mr. Gallagher, who took the phone away. “Young people today are connected socially from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they close their eyes at night. It's compulsive.”
A study this year by psychology students at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga., found that the more time young people spend on Facebook, the more likely they are to have lower grades and weaker study habits. Heavy Facebook users show signs of being more socialable, but they are also more likely to be anxious, hostile or depressed. (Doctors, meanwhile, are now blaming addictions to 'night texting' for disturbing the sleep patterns of teens.)
Almost a quarter of today's teens check Facebook more than 10 times a day, according to a 2009 survey by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group that monitors media's impact on families. Will these young people get rid of this habit once they enter the work force, or will employers come to see texting and 'social-network checking' as accepted parts of the workday?
Think back. When today's older workers were in their 20s, they might have taken a break on the job to call friends and make after-work plans. In those earlier eras, companies discouraged non-business-related calls, and someone who made personal calls all day risked being fired. It was impossible to imagine the constant back-and-forth texting that defines interactions among young people today.
Educators are also being asked by parents, students and educational strategists to reconsider their rules. “In past generations, students got in trouble for passing notes in class. Now students are adept at texting with their phones still in their pockets,” says 40-year-old Mr. Gallagher, the vice principal, “and they're able to communicate with someone one floor down and three rows over. Students are just fundamentally different today. They will take suspensions rather than give up their phones.”
46. The underlined word “a subconscious act” refers to an act __________.
A. on purpose B. without realization C. in secret D. with care
47. Young people addicted to the use of Facebook _________.
A. are good at dealing with the social relationships and concentrate on their study
B. have high spirits and positive attitudes towards their life and work
C. have been influenced mentally in the aspects of behaviors and habits
D. are always in bad mood and have poor performance in every respect
48. Through the situation of today’s older workers in their 20s, it can be inferred that ___________.
A. the employers will not accept young people’s sending text messages
B. a cellphone is a must for today’s older workers instead of young people
C. the employers prefer older workers to young people
D. the employers will find it hard to control the interaction among young people
49. Mr. Gallagher reminds us that the students in the past and those today _________.
A. like to break rules and have the same means of sending messages
B. are always the big problem for the educators and their parents
C. like sending text messages but those today do it in a more secret and skillful way
D. cannot live without a cellphone
50. What’s the best title of the passage?
A. Teenagers and Cellphones B. Teenagers’ Texting Addiction
C. Employers and Teenagers D. Teenagers’ Education
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