The pencil is a very simple object． However， it took hundreds of people over centuries to make it what it's like today．
The story of the pencil starts with graphite（ 石墨）． People cut it into small sticks and use them to write or draw． Around 1560， an Italian couple named Simoni and Lyndiana Bemacotti added wood holders to the graphite sticks． However， since the graphite is too soft， the pencils were easy to break．In 1795， in France， Nicolas﹣Jaoques Conte worked out a method of mixing graphite powders with clay（黏土）． In this way， people made strong pencil core（铅笔芯）， To this day， the method is still used in making pencils．
It was Henry David Thoreau who came up with the grading scale（分级量表） for different hardnesses of pencils． It was graded one through four， and grade two is the proper hardness for general use． The softer the pencil is， the more graphite it has in it， and the darker the line is． The harder the pencil is， the more clay it has， and the lighter the line is． Nowadays， pencils marked 2B are usually used in exams to mark answers． Pencils marked HB are usually used in daily writing．People usually use pencils of different hardness and blackness to draw different parts of a picture．
When pencils were handmade， they were made round． Then an American Joseph Dixon developed machines to make pencils． Later people found out itwas easier and less wasteful to make a pencil which has six sides．
There is a pencil for everyone and every pencil has a story． The Blackwing 602 is famous for being used by a lot of writers， And then， you have the Dixon pencil company． It's what people think of when they think of a pencil and what they most probably will buy when their children are about to write．
In my opinion， there's nothing that can be done to make the pencil better than it is．
根据短文内容选择最佳选项．
（1）Who improved the hardness of pencils？
| A． |
Joseph Dixon． |
| B． |
Nicolas﹣Jacques |
| C． |
Henry David Thoreau． |
| D． |
Simoni and Lyndiana Bemacotti． |
（2）What can we lean about pencils？
| A． |
Pencils of great hardness are less useful． |
| B． |
Their hardness and blackness decide their uses． |
| C． |
Round pencils were first made by machines． |
| D． |
Pencils with six sides are comfortable to use． |
（3）What does Paragraph5 tell us？
| A． |
Pencils are the best writing tool． |
| B． |
There are many kinds of pencils． |
| C． |
The Blackwing 602 is very expensive． |
| D． |
Dixon pencils are popular with people |
（4）What does the underlined word"it " mean in Paragraph 4？
| A． |
The grading scale． |
| B． |
The story of the pencil． |
| C． |
To make the pencil round． |
| D． |
To make a pencil which has six sides． |
（5）What's the text mainly about？
| A． |
The development of pencils． |
| B． |
The main inventors of pencils． |
| C． |
What pencils are made out of． |
| D． |
Why pencils are widely used． |
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. |
What should we do when we have trouble in making friends?
| A．Respect others. | B．Complain. | C．Give up. | D．Laugh at them |
In the 13th century, the famous Indian traveller, Marco Polo, travelled a long way to China. He saw many wonderful things. One of the things he discovered was that Chinese used paper money. In western countries, people did not use paper money until the 15th century. However, people in China began to use paper money in the 7th century.
A Chinese man called Cai Lun invented paper almost 2,000 years ago. He made it from wood. He took the wood from trees and made it into paper. He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book.
Now paper still comes from trees. We use a lot of paper every day. If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth. If there are no trees, there will be no paper. Every day, people throw away about 2,800 tons of paper in our city. It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day. Since it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now. If we don’t, we will not have enough time to grow more trees to take the place of those we use for paper.
So how can we save paper? We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially when we are making notes. We can also use cotton handkerchiefs（手帕） and paper ones. When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags. If the shop assistant does give us a paper bag, we can save it and refuse (拒绝) it later.
Everyone can help to save paper. If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees. But we should do it now, before it is too late.When he was in China, Marco Polo __________ .
| A．discovered Cai Lun invented paper | B．learned to make paper |
| C．saw many wonderful things | D．read a lot of books |
People in western countries first used paper money in the _________ century.
| A．17th | B．15th | C．13th | D．7th |
About ________ tons of paper are thrown away every day in our city.
| A．1,700 | B．2,000 | C．2,800 | D．48,000 |
Which of the following is the way of saving paper?
| A．To use both sides of every piece of paper. |
| B．To use the paper bags from shops more than once. |
| C．To use cotton handkerchiefs and paper ones. |
| D．All of the above. |
Which is the best title（题目） of the passage?
| A．Saving paper. | B．The history of paper. |
| C．Cotton handkerchiefs back again. | D．Cai Lun, the great inventor. |
One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, “Look! There’s a horseshoe. Pick it up and put it in your bag.” Thomas said, “It isn’t worth the trouble.” His father said nothing but picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries.
The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn’t a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on. At this time, his father dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son lost some time in picking it up and putting it in his mouth.
And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had eaten up all the cherries, his father said to him, "My dear son, if you had bent down earlier to pick up that horseshoe. it would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the cherries. Always remember the lesson that anyone who does not worry about the little things will find that he cannot do the great things.Who picked up the horseshoe at last?
| A．Thomas. | B．The old father. |
| C．Both the father and the son. | D．Neither the father nor the son. |
The farmer bought _______ with the money after he sold the horseshoe.
| A．some food | B．some water | C．some cherries | D．some pennies |
When the son refused to pick up the horseshoe, the father _______.
| A．felt very happy | B．didn’t say anything | C．beat the son | D．became a little angry |
The father dropped the cherries one by one, because _______.
| A．he wanted his son to eat them all | B．he wanted his son to do more exercise |
| C．he wanted to teach his son a lesson | D．he wanted his son to pick them up |
From the story, we can learn that _______.
| A．cherries are so delicious that most of us like to eat them |
| B．a horseshoe is so expensive that it can bring us a lot of money |
| C．if the boy wants to eat cherries, he must pick up the horseshoe |
| D．if we want to do some great things, we should start with some small ones |
| New Books this Month |
||
| The Long Night This is David Reilly’s first book. David became a writer after teaching English for several years. Maha is a nurse in northern Australia. She works in a small hospital. One day a baby is so ill that Maha has to drive all night to get her to the nearest big city. They have a lot of problems getting there and … |
Hard Work This exciting story is Joanna’s twentieth. Hard Work is about Sombat. He works with his father, a carpenter, in Thailand. They work long, hard hours making tables and chairs, but they do not have any money. Then one day a man dressed all in black buys the most beautiful table in the shop… |
Hospital or Cinema Marcie Jacome, who studies English in London, wrote this story earlier this year. Tina is a young Indian woman whose dream is to become a doctor. She goes to London to study English and medicine, but one day she meets a man who asks her to go to the USA with him to become a film star…What will Tina do? |
The Long Night was written by _________.
| A．David Reilly | B．Maha | C．Joanna | D．Marcie Jacome |
The story of Hard Work happened in _______.
| A．Australia | B．Thailand | C．India | D．England |
From the passage we can see Tina is_________.
| A．a doctor | B．a film star | C．a writer | D．a college(大学) student |
_______ is about a difficult journey.
| A．Hospital or Cinema | B．Hard Work | C．The Long Night | D．Harry Potter |
The passage above is___________.
| A．an advertisement | B．a story | C．a novel | D．a diary |
Dick was driving a large American car. As soon as the race started, he pulled out in front. As the race went on, he kept the first place. And he was far ahead of Wilson, the man in the second place.
When the race was almost over, some people stood up and left. “Why did stay?” they thought. They were sure they knew who would win.
But things did not go as they thought. A strange noise came from Dick’s car. It slowed down. Something was wrong. Dick knew his car would not go far. His only hope was that he would make it to the finish. But on his last lap(赛圈), the car stopped. Wilson’s car roared (呼啸) by. Dick saw it go by. He knew he could not win now. “But I can finish the race,” he thought. And he got out of his car. So did his assistant. They began to push the car to the finish.
Wilson went by them again and again. He was on his last lap. He was going to win. Dick and his friend did not care. They went on pushing.
At first, all eyes were on Wilson. He crossed the line. And the race was over. He won! Dick and his friend pushed on. At last, the car crossed the line. By then all the people shouted for them. They shouted more than they did for Wilson. This was a different kind of winner!Dick was driving a large car that made in _____.
| A．China | B．Japan | C．The United States | D．Canada |
Why Dick’s car stopped on his last lap? Because_______ .
| A．he wanted to have a rest |
| B．he wanted to have a drink |
| C．there is something wrong with him |
| D．there is something wrong with his car. |
Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．Dick wanted Wilson to win the race. |
| B．Both Dick and Wilson are winners. |
| C．Dick drove his car to the end. |
| D．Dick drove slower than others at first. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．American cars always break down in the race. |
| B．Good cars always help people win the race. |
| C．People should always shout for the loser. |
| D．People should always keep trying. |
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