【2012年江西】How would we travel without maps? It would be a bit adventurous (冒险的) to set off from Oxford University to go to London Bridge if there wasn't a map of the London Underground at each station. In fact, a lot of the early map-makers were adventurers and explorers, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.
So what did people do before there were maps? Well, it was quite easy to use natural signs like mountains and rivers if you were travelling on foot or riding a horse. People took small boats down rivers and followed coastlines. And it was much more logical (合理的) to use time, not distance, to measure (计量) journeys: the next village is a three-hour ride, for example.
In fact, in the earliest maps, people didn't draw landmarks. They drew the stars. It was very easy to see the night sky and use it for navigation (航行). The sky was a lot clearer before the light pollution from cities that we have today. When towns and cities were built, people drew road maps which gave correct distances and directions.
The London Underground was opened in 1863 and it also used a road map style. But a man called Henry Beck realized that travelling by train wasn't the same as driving your car across London. Passengers only needed to know which stations to change at. His new design (设计) for the Underground map wasn't very popular with the train companies at first. But the passengers loved it and in 1933, 700,000 copies were printed.
These days, of course, you can ride a bike, drive a car or go through a forest and know where you are exactly, using a GPS. It's really difficult to get lost!What was drawn in the earliest maps?
| A．Stars. |
| B．Landmarks. |
| C．Cities and towns, |
| D．Mountains and rivers. |
When did road maps come out?
| A．Around 15th and 16th centuries. |
| B．When people began to travel by train. |
| C．When people began to travel by sea. |
| D．When cities and towns appeared. |
Which of the following is true?
| A．A GPS helped people to travel long time ago. |
| B．Ancient people could travel on a horse without maps. |
| C．The sky was polluted by light before cities were built. |
| D．Henry Beck's map wasn't popular with the passengers. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Maps have a long history. |
| B．We never get lost these days. |
| C．We can't travel without maps. |
| D．Henry Beck designed a new map. |
I love My Country is a Dutch（荷兰的）TV series, first aired（播放）in the Netherlands on March 8, 2008.A tenth season was aired in late 2012, with an 11th season airing in March, 2013.
The show was created by the Dutchman John de Mol and has been sold to at least 25 countries in the world.
The series is divided into two teams. Each team, led by its leader, has three members. The teams have to answer questions about their own home country, like "What is the capital…?", "When did our country end the war with…?”etc. At the end of the programme the winning team gets a bicycle.
Big Ideas is a Canadian television series produced by TVOntario, on the air since 2001. The idea of starting the programme came from Wodek Szemberg who worked as the producer of the programme afterwards. The programme show lectures（讲座）to the public given by famous university educators.
Big Ideas airs on TV Ontario on Saturdays and Sundays at 5 pm, with repeat airings at 5 am on Sunday and Monday mornings.
In 2007, Big Ideas held its Best Lecture Competition for the second time. Dr. Michael Persinger, from Laurentian University, received the best-lecturer award.
The show stopped in the spring of 2013 because TVO had little money for it.How many seasons of I Love My Country has been aired so far?
| A．8 | B．9 | C．10 | D．11 |
When can you see Big Ideas on TV?
| A．At 4 pm on Saturdays. | B．At 5 pm on Sundays. |
| C．At 5 pm on Mondays. | D．At 4 am on Sundays. |
The writer writes the passage to _______.
| A．introduce two TV series to us |
| B．explain why there are so many TV series |
| C．encourage us to watch more TV series |
| D．encourage us to love our country more |
During all this time I never stopped thinking about escape. When I traveled across to the other side of the island, I could see the other islands, and I said to myself, “Perhaps I can get there with a boat. Perhaps I can get back to England one day.”
So I decided to make myself a boat. I cut down a big tree, and then began to make a long hole in it. It was hard work, but about six months later, I had a very fine canoe (独木舟). Next, I had to get it down to the sea. How silly I was! Why didn’t I think before I began work? Of course, the canoe was too heavy. I couldn’t move it! I pulled and pushed and tried everything, but it didn’t move. I was very unhappy for a long time after that.
That happened in my fourth year on the island. In my sixth year I did make myself a smaller canoe, but I did not try to escape in it. The boat was too small for a long journey, and I did not want to die at sea. The island was my home now, not my prison, and I was just happy to be alive. A year or two later, I made myself a second canoe on the other side of the island. I also built myself a second house there, and so I had two homes.
My life was still busy from morning to night. There were always things to do or to make. I learnt to make new clothes for myself from the skins of dead animals. They looked very strange, it is true, but they kept me dry in the rain.
I kept food and tools at both my houses, and also wild goats. There were many goats on the island, and I made fields with high fences to keep them in. They learnt to take food from me, and soon I had goats’ milk to drink every day. I also worked hard in my corn fields. And so many years went by.The purpose of making a canoe on the island was to _____________.
| A．escape in it |
| B．get to the other side of the island |
| C．use it for food |
| D．go around the island |
To survive, the writer _____________.
| A．kept goats for milk |
| B．made clothes from animal skins |
| C．worked in the cornfields |
| D．did all the above |
Why didn’t the writer use his first canoe?
| A．Because it was too small for a long journey. |
| B．Because it was too heavy to get down to the sea. |
| C．Because there was something wrong with it. |
| D．Because the writer was busy building a second house. |
From the story, we can learn that _____________.
| A．the writer tried to make his stay comfortable on the island |
| B．the writer had nothing to do on the wild island |
| C．the writer tried to escape in the second canoe, but failed |
| D．the writer was in prison on the island, losing his freedom |
If I ask you to shut your eyes and gave you a piece of apple to eat, would you be able to tell me what it is just by tasting it? Of course, you could. Your tongue is covered with tiny “taste buds” which help you know what different foods taste like. Do you know that foods would taste different if you did not have a nose? This experiment shows how important your nose is when you taste things.
What You Need:
• a friend to help
• small pieces of any food like carrot, orange, banana
• small pieces of apple, raw(生的) potato, and onion
What You Do:
There are actually three different experiments. You and your friend should take turns to try them on each other.
Experiment 1:
Have your friend close her eyes and open her mouth.
Give her a piece of the food and ask her to taste it.
Then, ask her what she thinks it is. She will probably guess correctly.
Experiment 2:
While your friend has her eyes closed, give her a piece of the raw potato. At the same time, hold a piece of apple right under her nose. Ask her to eat the potato (but don’t call it by name) and tell you what she thinks it is. She will say it is a piece of apple!
Experiment 3: (for the brave)
Take a piece of raw onion. You don’t have to close your eyes this time. Squeeze your nose closed with your other hand so that no smells can get into your nose. Now take a nibble of the onion. Surprise! As long as you hold your nose, you will not be able to taste the onion.
The Science Secret
You already know the science secret. Your nose and your tongue work together to make food taste the way it does. Your tongue, however, can taste only certain flavors like salty, bitter, sour, and sweet. All of the other “tastes” are actually “smells,” and you need your nose to “taste” them. Oh, and you might use this science secret the next time you are told to eat something you don’t like the taste of. If you hold your nose while you eat it, you won’t “taste” it at all.According to this article, what could a reader know about food?
| A．People hold their noses to eat onions. |
| B．If you can smell potatoes, you will taste apples. |
| C．People need a sense of smell to taste some food. |
| D．If you close your eyes, food will taste better. |
What is the most likely reason Experiment 3 is called “for the brave”?
| A．You keep your eyes open. | B．You have to eat a raw onion. |
| C．You have to squeeze your nose. | D．You do the experiment alone. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Your Eyes Knows | B．Your Nose Knows |
| C．Your Mouth Knows | D．Your Tongue Knows |
People have their own ways of saying things with their own special expressions. Some of these expressions are easy to understand. “As Easy as Falling off a Log (圆木)” is one such expression. It describes a job that does not take much effort. If you ever tried to walk on a falling tree log, you may understand what the expression means. It is easier to fall off the log than to stay on it.
There are several other expressions that mean the same thing. And their meaning is as easy to understand as falling off a log. One is “Easy as Pie.” Nothing is easier than eating a piece of sweet juicy pie, unless it is a piece of cake. “A Piece of Cake” is another expression that means something is extremely easy to do.
Another expression is “As Easy as Shooting Fish in a Barrel (桶)”. Clearly, fish in a barrel will be much easier to shoot than fish in a river. In fact, it would be as easy as falling off a log.
Sometimes, things that come to us easily also leave us just as easily. In fact, there is an expression “Easy Come Easy Go”. Another easy expression is “To Go Easy on a Person”. It means to treat a person kindly or gently, especially in a situation where you might be expected to be angry with him. A wife might ask her husband to go easy on their son, because the boy did not mean to destroy the toy. If you want to borrow some money to fix the car, you should look for a friend who is an “Easy Touch”. An easy touch or a soft touch is someone who is kind and helpful.
And there is one more expression that means do not worry or work too hard. Try to keep away from difficult situations. “Take it easy”, until we meet again.Which of the following expressions has the same meaning with “As easy as falling off a log??”
| A．Shooting fish in a barrel | B．Walking on a falling tree log. |
| C．Staying on a log | D．Shooting fish in a river |
A friend might tell you that his new job was___________.
| A．easy come easy go | B．as easy as shooting fish in a barrel |
| C．to take it easy | D．to go easy on a person |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．That he goes easy on me means that he is angry with me. |
| B．He is always helping others, so he is an easy touch. |
| C．When he asks me to repair his broken bike, I say, “A piece of cake. I can help repair it.” |
| D．When a girl loses her way, I say, “Take it easy, I will send you home.” |
A small boy at summer camp received a bag of cookies in the mail from his mother. He ate a few, and then put the rest under his bed. The next day, after lunch, he went to his tent to get a cookie. The box was gone.
That afternoon a camp leader saw another boy sitting behind a tree. He was eating the stolen cookies! “That young man,” he said to himself, “must be taught not to steal.”
He returned to the group and found the boy whose cookies had been stolen. “Billy,” he said, “I know who stole your cookies. Will you help me teach him a lesson?”
“Well, yes. But aren’t you going to punish him?” asked the puzzled boy.
“No, that would only make him hate you.” the leader explained. “I want you to call your mother. Ask her to send you another box of cookies.”
The boy did so and soon received another box of cookies. “Now,” said the leader, “the boy who stole your cookies is down by the lake. Go and share your cookies with him.”
“But he’s the thief!”
“I know, but try it—see what will happen.”
Half an hour later, the camp leader saw the two come up the hill, hand in hand. The boy who had stolen the cookies was trying to get the other to accept his toy knife. The other boy was just refusing the gift from his new friend. He said that a few cookies weren’t that important anyway.When Billy first got cookies from his mother, __________.
| A．he ate some of them himself | B．he gave some to the camp leader |
| C．he shared them with another boy | D．he hid them away quickly |
Which of the following is NOT the camp leader’s intension (意图)？
| A．To teach the boy not to steal. | B．To punish the boy for stealing. |
| C．To teach Billy to forgive others. | D．To teach Billy to share with others. |
After that, the boy who stole the cookies might _________.
| A．steal again | B．hate Billy |
| C．make friends with Billy | D．give Billy a bag of cookies, too |
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