The biggest secret about inventing is that anybody can do it! Perhaps this sounds crazy, but it’s true. Maybe you have the wrong idea about inventing, so read on to discover the truth.
Wrong idea No.1： An invention has to be something completely new.
Well, inventing means creating something “new”, but the idea could come from something that already exists*. The Wright Brothers, for example, got the idea for building a “flying machine” from watching birds.
Wrong idea No.2： Inventors are born, not made.
There are a lot of factors* that make invention possible. Take Mozart, for example. He was born with an endowment for musical composition. But other factors were also important for his creativity. His father was a music teacher, and Mozart practiced for hours every day, from the time he was four years old. Thomas Edison said that being an inventor was “99% hard work and 1% inspiration”!
Very successful creators don’t give up when they get something wrong. As one inventor said, “A failure is the right answer to the wrong question.”
Wrong idea No.3： Inventors are always old people.
Don’t believe that you can’t invent something when you are young. Here are two examples of young inventors： Louis Braille went blind when he was a child. When he was fifteen, he invented a system of reading and writing for blind people that is still used in most countries today.
As a young man, George Nissen was watching some artists performing in a show. He watched how they fell into the safety net and then jumped back up again. This gave him an idea, and he invented the trampoline*.
got the idea for building a “flying machine” from watching birds.
| A．Mozart | B．George Nissen |
| C．Louis Braille | D．The Wright Brothers |
The underlined word “endowment” probably means “ ”.
| A．态度 | B．品质 | C．天赋 | D．能量 |
According to the passage, which of the following is right?
A. Anybody can do inventing.
B. Inventors are born, not made.
B. Inventors are always old people.
D. An invention has to be something completely new.
The best title for the passage would be _______.
| A．How to perform in a show | B．Be a composer |
| C．How to help blind people | D．Be an inventor |
|
The Aborigines (澳洲土著) have lived in Australia for about 60,000 years. They painted pictures inside caves, and these are the rock paintings that have given us so much information about Aboriginal life. For example, some of the paintings that are about 10,000 years old show men with boomerangs. From this we know that the Aborigines started using boomerangs for hunting at that time. Other pictures show kangaroos, so we know that there were kangaroos at that time.
In 1700, there were many Aboriginal groups with a population of 750,000 all over Australia, and there were probably more than 240 different Aboriginal languages. The groups did not have a leader. Instead, things were decided by the older men in a group. People from different groups often travelled hundreds of miles to meet each other.
Aboriginal life changed when an English boat arrived in Australia in 1770. Many Aborigines were killed in the wars that they had with the English. More Europeans came, and they started taking land from the Aborigines. The Europeans also brought new illnesses that killed the Aborigines. The result is that today there are only about 300,000 Aborigines in Australia.
| A．on animals’ fur | B．on the land |
| C．on the tree | D．on the rock |
What do you think the Aborigines used boomerangs to do?
| A．To paint. | B．To hunt. | C．To fight. | D．To play. |
. The Aborigines thought were the most important on the earth.
| A．people | B．animals | C．spirits | D．plants |
In an Aboriginal group decided things.
| A．the older men | B．the leader |
| C．the English | D．the Europeans |
The number of the Aborigines is small today .
| A．because their living condition was very bad |
| B．because the English killed a lot of them in the wars |
| C．because of the new illnesses the Europeans brought them |
| D．because of the wars and the new illnesses |
There is not enough oil in the world now. As time goes by ,it becomes less and less ,so what are we going to do when it runs out? Perhaps we will go back to use horses ,carriages and bicycles .
In the Second World War ,some people didn＇t use gas made from petroleum （石油）in their cars .They made gas from wood and plants instead . The cars didn＇t go fast ,but they ran ,so this was better than nothing. However, in the future, we can＇t cut down all our trees to make gas; we need our trees for other things, too.
Besides different types of gas, we can also use electricity(电)to run our cars but first we must make the electricity ！Some countries have coal and they make electricity with that, but we might not always have coal, either. Other countries have big ,strong rivers and they can use the power of water to turn turbines(涡轮机) and make electricity more easily and cheaply.
We are also able to get power from the ocean tides. We put turbines into the mouth of the river .Then the tide comes in ,the water turns the turbines and then it goes out ,it turns them again.
Which of these ways will be used to run our cars in the future?When might people have to go back to using horses and carriages?
| A．When they are poor |
| B．When they run out of oil |
| C．When they need more exercise |
| D．When there aren＇t any big trees in the world |
How many ways are suggested to make electricity in the passage?
| A．2 | B．5 | C．4 | D．3 |
The passage is mainly about .
| A．how to run our cars |
| B．what to do when oil runs out |
| C．different types of gas |
| D．the way to make electricity |
The worst danger is a house on fire when people are asleep. Always be ready to leave through a window into the garden by making sure you can open it if necessary. If you should be on holiday in a tall building or hotel,make sure you know where the fire easape（太平梯） is . When you can’t find any way out,try to find pieces of cloth and make a rope to get out of a window to safety. If you smell burning in your home,get out right away. If you can’t breathe properly because of smoke on your way out, crawl（爬行） on your hands and knees because smoke rises and the air will be cleaner near the floor.Smoke is a killer and more people have died from breathing it in than actually being burnt.
Fire in a cinema,hall or public place often means people pushing to reach a door. Keep your head up with arms up in front of your chest（胸）.This protects your chest and gives you the best chance to breathe. Above all, don’t get frightened! In a room filled with smoke ,you’d better crawl on the floor because__________.
| A．you won’t ger burnt. | B．the floor is cleaner |
| C．there is less smoke near the floor | D．you won’t breathe any smoke |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．In a fire, more deaths are caused by smoke. |
| B．The most important thing is not to be frightened in a fire |
| C．When a public place is on fire, people usually push to leave. |
| D．Be ready to leave a burning house through a window if there is a garden down below. |
People cannot reach an agreement on the use of science and technology. For example, will radiation from electronic equipment destroy the environment? Should medical scientists change gene structures to prevent genetic disease or to create “more perfect” human beings? While people are arguing about these and others, technology continues to influence our everyday lives—the home, health and education, entertainment and communication, and so on.
Some people carry on active social lives with computers —their own or the ones in public places like cafes, social centers, libraries, and so on. Communicating with others in chat rooms, computer users can get to know people they might never meet in traditional ways. With live online video connections, two people with cameras in their computers can see and talk to each other from separate places.
With modern telephone technology, most people stopped writing lettters—especially personal letters and notes. But now, writing to communicate has returned in electronic form, or e-mail, which is a way of sending messages from one computer to another. For some computer users, the wish to communicate intelligently or creatively with others makes them want to write better.
Computer technology has also made it possible to run a house electronically. From turning lights on and off to starting the coffee and cooking the hot meal, computers are taking care of people at home. Many modern machines have computer chips that allow their owners to program them. For instance, you can “instruct” a microwave oven how to cook a dish. Most entertainment equipment operates with computer technology too. Computers can even start cars automatically so that on cold winter mornings you can get into a warmed-up vehicle and drive off.
Although much of the technology in our everyday lives has good effects, there are some uses that raise questions. For example, are interactive media ( i.e., a combination of television, telephone, and computer) going to control minds, cause people to forget about family life and personal relationships? What effects will the genentic engineering of food have on people’s health? High-tech medical treatments can make a person live a much longer life, but can they improve the health and happiness of human beings? Only time will tell, but, in the meantime, science and technology will continue to move forward. What does the underlined word “ chips” mean?
| A．thin pieces of potatoes | B．small holes | C．small pieces of wood | D．central parts |
We can know from the passage that _________.
| A．technology never stops changing our everyday lives |
| B．with computers each of us can live a comfortable life |
| C．people can do more activities with computers |
| D．the more you use computers, the better you might write |
What can we infer from the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?
| A．The longer you live, the happier you are. |
| B．High-tech medical treatments can’t improve our health and happiness. |
| C．High-tech medical treatments can’t help us with everything. |
| D．The writer questioned high-tech medical treatments somehow. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Science and New Technology | B．Computers Change Our Lives |
| C．Everyday Uses of Technology | D．Only Time Will Tell |
All over the world, the global diet includes fast food—prepared items from inexpensive restaurants, snack bars, or food stands. Some examples of American fast food are hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, fried chicken, and so on. Some types of international fast foods might be German sausage and Schnitzel, Italian pizza, Japanese sushi and tempura, Chinese eggrolls and noodles and the like. The variety of fast foods all over the world is growing. Even so, this kind of style is becoming worldwide. Fast-food places usually prepare and serve the items quickly. Many are part of fast-food chains (eating places with the same name and company owner). For example, the biggest and most famous American fast-food chain serves hamburgers in nearly every part of the world.
For several reasons, many people choose fast food. First, it is quick and convenient. Second, it is cheaper than special home-cooked meals or formal restaurant dinners. And third, it is easy to find every eating place with the same company name. The atmosphere and style of most fast-food places is casual, comfortable, and familiar.
Why do other eaters stay away from this fast, easy kind of nourishment? The main reason is its low nutritional value. Fast food doesn’t have large amounts of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and the like-elements necessary for good nutrition and health. In contrast (相反), most types of fast food have a lot of fat, sugar, or salt in them. Possibly, these things can cause or increase health disorders, like heart disease, and some kinds of cancer. Recently, these quick and easy kinds of world wide nourishment are generally getting better and more healthful. For example, many fast-food restaurants now have put vegetable items on their menus.
Of course, human beings around the world don’t always eat in fast-food places.The variety of food choices is large now and is probably going to increase. The number of food preparation methods is growing too. Cooking customs, eating habits, and food preferences all over the world are becoming more healthful. In these and other ways, the global diet is changing. From Paragragh 1,we can know that __________________.
| A．America serves four kinds of fast food |
| B．we used to have more types of fast food |
| C．different countries have different types of fast food |
| D．America serves fewer fast food than other countries |
The underlined phrase “stay away from” means __________.
| A．move away from | B．disorder | C．get out of | D．dislike |
The passage is mainly about ___________.
| A．the changing global diet |
| B．the increasing types of diet |
| C．the reason why people choose fast food |
| D．the reason why people dislike fast food |
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