The flying car has been talked about for many years, but now it appears to become a reality.
An international company has built a two-seater plane that, at the touch of a button, transforms into a car perfectly suitable for driving on public roads. It takes 15 seconds to switch between flying and driving. With its wings fully open and the propeller(螺旋桨) spinning, it can take off from any airfield.
Flying cars are quicker than traditional ones, and they can run on ordinary fuel. Another big advantage is that they are cool, like something you would see in an action film. At the moment, however, the flying car’s wheels are illegal to leave the ground. That is not because of technical reasons or problems with the design. It is because the various road and aircraft authorities simply cannot agree on whether it is a car or a plane.
Nevertheless the company hopes to produce and deliver its first flying car soon. The company already has orders for 40 of them. The majority potential customers are older and some are retired. There have even been orders from some people who have no pilot’s license.
The flying car will cost around $ 200,000. “For an airplane, that’s a very reasonable price, but for a car, it’s quite expensive,” explains Alan. “But it just is not possible to make a $ 10,000 flying car yet.”
This latest means of transport will not become a mass-market item in the near future, but in the long term it has the potential to change the way you travel. It will become no more expensive than driving your car on the motorway. Travel time could be reduced by more than half.
So the next time you are told to fasten your seat belt, it may be to prepare for take-off.
We know from the passage that the flying car .
| A．has to run on special fuel |
| B．will replace traditional planes |
| C．is popular with the rich |
| D．can shift between two forms |
The flying car is presently forbidden to take off because .
| A．many people think driving is not very safe |
| B．it’s hard to decide whether it’s a car or a plane |
| C．the government and the authorities accept it |
| D．there are still some technical problems to be solved |
According to the passage, we can learn .
| A．in the future few people will be able to afford a flying ear |
| B．owning two kinds of driving licenses is of great importance |
| C．because of the appearance of the flying car, traffic jams will disappear |
| D．flying cars may share the market in the future |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Your Car Is Ready for Take-off |
| B．Flying Car Will Be the Leading Means of Transportation |
| C．Affording a Flying Car Is a Necessity |
| D．The Advantages of Flying Cars |
You may have seen a lot of frogs, but if you haven't, you must have heard about frogs. However, have you heard about a frog that can kill a person?
These small brightly colored amphibians (两栖动物) live in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America. They are best known for their ability to kill persons even though they are no more than 2 inches long. If we touch their poisonous skin without proper protection (such as gloves), we may die! For animals of this size that can be so deadly, they are certainly one of the world's most poisonous animals! Who are they? They are poison arrow frogs or, simply, poison frogs.
Poison frogs acquired their name from the Indians. The Indians catch and kill many of these frogs before hanging them upside down over a campfire. As the frogs get hot, the poison drips out of their skin. The Indians collect the poisonous liquid in a bottle and dip(蘸) the tips of their arrows into the bottle. Once the tips are dried, they are ready to be used for their arrows for hunting.
There are about 170 different types of poison arrow frogs in the world. Though most species have bright markings, either in stripes or patches, on their black bodies, some just wear noticeable single-colored coats. Their shocking skin colors-usually in yellow, red, green, blue or orange-serve as a warning sign to other animals. The sign simply says,” Stay away or pay with your life!” They certainly do not bluff.We can infer that the Indians may kill poison frogs in order to______.
| A．treat diseases | B．avoid being bitten |
| C．hunt animals | D．eat their meat |
According to the passage, poison frogs______.
A can grow to several meters long B. like to change colors on the back
C. have bright-colored skin or markings D. are on the edge of dying outWhich of the following best explains the last sentence of the passage?
| A．Poison frogs don't want to kill others. |
| B．Poison frogs do not just scare others. |
| C．Poison frogs want to stop others from coming near. |
| D．Poison frogs just pretend to be dangerous animals. |
Like lots of small-business owners, Lola Gonzalez had to decide to cut down her company’s nine-person staff (员工) when the economic recovery began to fail last spring. Unlike other companies, she picked an unlikely employee to lay off (解雇): herself.
Her business began to have problems in 2008 after going through her books (账簿)
One day, her husband, Marcos, told her she had to reduce her payroll（薪金总额）by one person. Gonzalez said at a meeting, “I want you all to know that I have to lay somebody off and it’s been a very difficult decision. And that person is me.” Employees first froze in amazement and then burst into laughter until they realized she was serious. Gonzalez ’s employees said they were grateful for her kindness.
Her reason was simple. Although she ran the business and her employees did the legwork (跑腿), she thought she could find work more easily than her staff. Sure enough, she soon got a job as a social worker for a non-profit organization called Devereux Kids. She enjoys her social-worker job now, but the salary (薪水) cut has required some lifestyle changes. She and Marcos no longer eat out daily; they no longer pay for their son’s car and mobile phone, and they changed their car to a smaller one to save $300 a month.
Her business has picked up a bit recently and Marcos has begun to work part-time at Gonzalez’s company. Gonzalez says she has no plan to return to work at her company until the economic situation becomes better, perhaps in a year. Her employees, however, will get Christmas bonuses (奖金) this year.How many workers are there in Gonzalez’s company at present?
| A．8. | B．9. | C．10. | D．11. |
How did her employees feel at first when they heard Gonzalez’s decision?
| A．Happy. | B．Grateful. | C．Surprised. | D．Unbelievable. |
After leaving her company, _____________.
| A．Gonzalez sold her car and went to work by bus |
| B．Gonzalez always had meals in a restaurant |
| C．Gonzalez’s son helped her a lot |
| D．Gonzalez changed her lifestyle a lot |
From the text, we can learn that ___________.
| A．Gonzalez will not return to her company in future |
| B．Gonzalez’s business has improved a little lately |
| C．Gonzalez got her social-worker job with great difficulty |
| D．Marcos lost his job and had to work at Gonzalez’s company |
Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English ruler tried to conquer Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English, Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two "Irelands". Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people will work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were "the greatest talkers since the Creeks". Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.What does the author tell us in paragraph 1?
| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
We learn from the text that in Ireland________.
| A．food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
The last paragraph is mainly about________.
| A．the Irish character | B．Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments | D．a famous Irish writer |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Life in Ireland | B．A very difficult history |
| C．Ireland, past and present | D．the independence of Ireland |
My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn't know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking. Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn't have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.
We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.
For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.
We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.
Over dinner, we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained. “I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.” The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.
| A．poor | B．warm -hearted | C．silent | D．cold |
The underlined word “establish” in the 3th paragraph has the same meaning as_________.
| A．keep | B．discover | C．set up | D．accept |
The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.
| A．they both disabled people |
| B．they both had some difficulty in expressing |
| C．they both liked bus travel |
| D．they both brought interest to the passengers |
Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?
| A．Friends of the Road | B．The Silent Woman on the Bus |
| C．Going to Work by Bus | D．Different Kinds of Friendship |
Most people agree that it’s important to have a sense of humor. Having the ability to laugh can help one overcome anxiety, and make better decisions in difficult situations. People with a well-developed sense of humor appear to be happier, and some are healthier as well. This suggests that having a sense of humor is good for you. Humorless people may find themselves being treated as a fool, and become anxious and upset.
A sense of humor also plays an important role in human relationships. However, not everyone has a sense of humor. People with developmental disabilities (发展性能力丧失) can sometimes have no sense of humor, or have a very strange one.
A number of factors affect a person’s sense of humor, with the age probably being the main one. Young children are often highly amused by simple jokes or shows, while teenagers prefer to enjoy the ironic (讽刺的) events. Educational level, culture, and religious faith also affect one’s sense of humor. While Christians, for example, may have a deep appreciation of jokes about the Bible, others may find them disrespectful.
Many people believe that a sense of humor is something that develops on its own, and that you cannot teach someone to understand why jokes, certain comments, situations or events are funny. However, things can be done to enhance one’s sense of humor. Children, for example, benefit from being told jokes and encouraged to laugh, although some children’s jokes might seem rather strange to adults. If you have children, try to encourage them to tell jokes and think about what makes things funny. And it will help them develop a sense of humor.The purpose of the passage is to _______.
| A．explain what influences a person’s sense of humor |
| B．tell readers the importance of being healthy |
| C．explain how to make better decisions |
| D．tell readers how to understand jokes |
What does the underlined word in Paragraph 4 “enhance” probably mean?
| A．Enjoy. | B．Reduce. | C．Improve. | D．Prevent. |
According to the passage, which of the following isn’t talked about in our passenger?
| A．Culture. | B．Age |
| C．Educational level. | D．Family backgrounds. |
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