You can buy a box of Crayola crayons in 152 colors today, but way back in 1903, they only came in eight colors. And that box of Crayola crayons was a huge improvement over the first crayons, which only came in black.

Wax crayons were mostly used for industrial purposes until cousins Edwin Binney and Harold Smith introduced their brightly colored crayons for kids. Edwin’s wife made up the name Crayola by putting “craie”(French for chalk)together with“ oleaginous”(which means oily). In other words, oily chalk!

It’s hard to understand just how modern crayons are different from those in the past without look at the history of the crayon. In 1864 Edwin’s dad, Joseph Binney, started a chemical factory in New York City. It made a black pigment by burning oil. When the two cousins took over the factory in 1885, they started making a number of industrial art products for home and school use, but from 1900 to 1902, they started making pencils and dustless chalk for school blackboards in American classrooms. Soon after that, colored crayons were made. But the crayons they first made were not safe for kids, so they developed crayons that would be safe. The first box they sold-the one with eight colors--cost just five cents.

To celebrate the hundredth birthday of Crayola crayons in 2003, a special 100-color box was created, adding four new colors to the existing 96-color box. Over the years, as the company grown, it has introduced more than 400 different colors. Today there are over a hundred types of Crayola Crayons. They are available in boxes printed in 11 languages including Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Italian, German, French, Finnish, English, Dutch and Danish. Two billion Crayola Crayons are produced yearly. Also you can find crayons that smell good, crayons that wash out of clothes, and even egg-shaped crayons. Nowadays, plenty of other companies make colored crayons for children, too.

1.What color were the first crayons?

A.Black B.Red C.Yellow D.Green

2.The first eight-color Crayola crayons started to be sold in the year__________.

A.1864 B.1885 C.1903 D.2003

3.Which of the following statements are TRUE about Crayola crayons?

A.The name Crayola was a mixture of two English words.

B.The first Crayola crayons were not safe but very expensive.

C.The company invented four more colors for its 100th birthday.

D.Today Crayola crayon boxes are now also printed in Chinese language.

4.What’s the passage mainly about?

A.The changes of the colors of Crayola crayons.

B.The history of the invention of Crayola crayons.

C.The two cousins who made Crayola crayons.

D.The reason why Crayola crayons are still popular.

Students from two schools, The City School in Nigeria and Heathland School in the UK, recently took part in a project to compare their education and find out about student life in a very different country. As expected, they found many differences but also a few things that are similar.

The City School is in a district just outside Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. The school is surrounded (环绕) by big trees and grassy fields that the children use to play football on. Heathland School is in a quiet suburb not far from central Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

Most of the 580 students at The City School are taught in pleasant one-storey yellow-brick buildings although some building work still needs to be done. Heathland School dates from the 1950s but some new facilities (设施) have been added recently.

Although The City School receives financial (财政的) help from the government, students still

have to pay school fees. It’s hard to find the money sometimes and quite a few parents struggle to keep their children in school. Unlike the Nigerian school, students at Heathland School only have to buy their uniforms and pay for some extra activities.

Teachers and students at The City School are proud of their library and the science laboratory. They say that there’s not a school in the area that can match it. The school concentrates (专注于) on traditional subjects like Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry because this will make it easier for students to get into a good profession. Practical subjects like Farm Technology are also popular.

Heathland School recently became a performing arts college. This means that in addition to subjects like English and Mathematics, the school also offers lessons in Dance, Drama and Music as choices for all students. There is a new dance studio which can also be used as a theatre.

Students in both schools found the project very interesting and hope to do further joint projects in the future.

1.Both The City School and Heathland School are ________a big city.

A.far away from B.a short distance from C.in the center of D.surrounded by

2.There are no school fees at ________.

A.Heathland School B.The City School

C.both of the two schools D.neither of the two schools

3.Students at The City School are mainly interested in subjects that will ________.

A.make them become top students

B.be easy to pass the exams

C.offer them a chance to go abroad

D.help them get a job

4.Heathland School has all the following characteristics (特征) except that ________.

A.it has a history of seventy years up till now

B.it recently became a performing arts college

C.its one-storey yellow-brick buildings are pleasant

D.it has a new dance studio to be used as a theatre

5.According to the passage, which of the following sentences is TRUE?

A.The City School building was only recently completed.

B.Staff and pupils at The City School are happy with the school’s facilities.

C.At Heathland School everyone has to study Dance, Drama and Music.

D.The comparison about student life in a very different country is meaningless.

Bertie was sad for weeks, months after the lion died. There was nothing I could do to cheer him or even console (安慰) him. He would sit for hours in his room, or go off on long walks all on his own. He seemed so shut away inside himself. Try as I did, I could not reach him.

? Then one day I was in the kitchen here, when I saw him hurrying down the hill, waving his stick and shouting to me. “I’ve got it,” he cried, as he came in, “I’ve got it at last.” He showed me the end of his stick. It was white. “See that, Millie?” “Chalk! It’s chalk underground, isn’t it?”

“So?” I said.

“You know the famous White Horse on the hillside at Uffington, the one they carved(雕刻) out of the chalk a thousand years ago? That horse never died, did it? It’s still alive, isn’t it? Well, that’s what we’re going to do, so he will never be forgotten. We’ll carve The White Prince out on the hillside—he’ll be there forever, and he’ll be white forever too. ”

“It’ll take a bit of time, won’t it?” I said.

“We’ve got plenty, haven’t we?” he replied, with the same smile he had smiled at me when he was a ten-year-old boy asking me if he could come back and mend my kite for me.

? Every spare hour we had, we were up there scraping (刨土) away with spades (铲子), and we had buckets (桶) to carry away the earth. It was hard, back-breaking work, but it was a labour (劳动) of love. We did it, Bertie and I, we did it together—paws, claws, tail, mane, until he was complete and perfect in every detail.

? It was just after we’d finished that the butterflies first came. We noticed that when the sun comes out after the rain in the summer, the butterflies—Adonis Blues, they are, I looked them up – come out to drink on the chalk face. Then The White Prince becomes a butterfly lion, and breathes again like a living creature (动物).

? So now you know how Bertie’s white lion became The White Prince and how The White Prince became our butterfly lion.

(Adapted from The Butterfly Lion)

1.The sentence “It took the next twenty years to do it.” should be put at the beginning of one paragraph. Where should we put it?

one paragraph. Where should we put it?

A.? B.? C.? D.?

2.The underlined word “he” in Paragraph 4 refers to (指代) ______.

A.Bertie B.butterfly C.the White Horse D.the white lion

3.The correct time order of the events about the story is ______ .

a. The lion died and Bertie was sad.

b. Butterflies flew to the chalk face.

c. Bertie decided to carve the lion on the hillside.

d. Bertie and Millie spent all the spare time carving.

A.a-c-d-b B.a-d-b-c C.d-a-b-c D.c-b-a-d

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网