Bob Christiansen, who studied the volcanic history of Yellowstone National Park in the 1960s, became puzzled about something that, oddly, had not troubled anyone before: he couldn’t find the park’s volcano. It had been known for a long time that Yellowstone was volcanic in nature—that’s the reason for all its hot springs and other steamy features. But Christiansen couldn’t find the Yellowstone volcano anywhere.

Most of us, when we talk about volcanoes, think of the classic cone (圆锥体) shapes of a Fuji or Kilimanjaro,which are created when erupting magma(岩浆) piles up. These can form remarkably quickly. In 1943, a Mexican farmer was surprised to see smoke rising from a small part of his land. In one week he was the confused owner of a cone five hundred feet high. Within two years it had topped out at almost fourteen hundred feet and was more than half a mile across. Altogether there are some ten thousand of these volcanoes on Earth, all but a few hundred of them extinct. There is, however, a second less known type of volcano that doesn’t involve mountain building. These are volcanoes so explosive that they burst open in a single big crack, leaving behind a vast hole, the caldera(火山喷口). Yellowstone obviously was of this second type, but Christiansen couldn’t find the caldera anywhere.

Just at this time NASA decided to test some new high-altitude cameras by taking photographs of Yellowstone. A thoughtful official passed on some of the copies to the park authorities and said that they might make a nice blow-up for one of the visitors’centers. As soon as Christiansen saw the photos, he realized why he had failed to spot the caldera: almost the whole park-2.2 million acres—was caldera. The explosion had left a hole more than forty miles across—much too huge to be seen from anywhere at ground level. At some time in the past Yellowstone must have blown up with a violence far beyond the scale of anything known to humans.

1.What puzzled Christiansen when he was studying Yellowstone?

2.Is Fuji or Kilimanjaro created when erupting magma piles up?

3.What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?

4.When did Christiansen realize why he had failed to spot the caldera?

5.What was the caldera of Yellowstone?

Thomas Edison was a great American inventor. When he was 7 years old, his mother had an appendectomy(阑尾手术). But it was too dark. So Edison put mirrors near oil lamps to light up the room.

The story is in a Chinese textbook for primary school students by People’s Education Press. But the publisher recently said it will remove(去除) the story. That’s because many people think it’s not true. Many believe that the world’s first appendectomy was in 1886. But when Edison’s mother had the so-called appendectomy, it was 1854.

The publisher also said it will avoid using some other fake(假的) stories. For example, there’s a story about the first US President George Washington. The story says young Washington cut down a cherry tree in the yard of his house. But in fact, there was no cherry tree in the area at that time.

So what’s the problem? Experts say that some editors care too much about the educational meaning of a story and fail to check first if the story is true.

The publisher says, in the future, they will pay greater attention to the truth of the stories in the textbook. “We will invite experts to check our stories,” it said in a statement.

1.The information about Tomas Edison is true EXCEPT ________.

A.He was from America. B.He was great.

C.He was a president. D.He was an inventor.

2.Tomas Edison born in ________.

A.1861 B.1847 C.1886 D.1854

3.Why will publisher remove these two stories?

A.Because they are not interesting.

B.Because they happened a long time ago.

C.Because they are true.

D.Because they are not true.

4.Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A.People didn’t have appendectomy until 1886.

B.Thomas Edison was very smart when he was 7.

C.Young Washington couldn’t cut down a cherry tree in his yard.

D.Thomas Edison didn’t put up mirrors near oil lamps to light up the room.

5.What is the main idea of the story?

A.Expert will be invited to check the stories before they are put into use.

B.Some editors care about the educational meaning as well as the truth of the stories.

C.Even educational stories will be cut off Chinese textbooks if they fail to be true.

D.Students should learn from the great men’s stories because they have educational meaning.

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