Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that the perfect portable bike would be “like a magic carpet…You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag”. Then he paused: “But you’ll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel.”

It was a rare — indeed unique — occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame that split into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout’s Wonderful Bag, a leather case.

Grout’s aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn’t that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout’s day, tyres were solid, which made the business of splitting a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn’t do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated (充气的) tyre.

So, in a 21st-century context, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons, has developed a wheel that can be squashed into something like a slender ellipse (椭圆). Throughout, the tyre remains inflated.

Will the young Fitzsimons’s folding wheel make it into production? I haven’t the foggiest idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It’s as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there’s plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than ??1,000 that can be knocked down so small that it can be carried on a plane — minus wheels, of course — as hand baggage.

Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie’s imagination? No. But it’s progress.

We can infer from Paragraph 1 that the Brompton folding bike        .

A. was portable

B. had a folding wheel

C. could be put in a pocket

D. looked like a magic carpet

We can learn from the text that the wheels of the Grout Portable        .

A. were difficult to separate

B. could be split into 6 pieces

C. were fitted with solid tyres

D. were hard to carry on a train

We can learn from the text that Fitzsimons’s invention        .

A. kept the tyre as a whole piece

B. was made into production soon

C. left little room for improvement

D. changed our views on bag design

Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. Three folding bike inventors

B. The making of a folding bike

C. Progress in folding bike design

D. Ways of separating a bike wheel


III, Reading Comprehension
Section A
Directions: For each blank in the following passages there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D.  Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
The world was sharply separated into men and women, because that was the way we believed it should be.  We hold this firm belief and made efforts to keep this ___50___.  When a baby came to the world, he or she was expected to play different roles—boys were portrayed as noisy and naughty ones who people were more likely to ___51___ while girls were bound by strict social requirements to be lovely and ___52___.  People became the product of their sex.  Their social roles were determined when they were ___53___.  Males were the producers of cool reasoning and were capable of ___54___.  And being emotional was considered as the feature of females and their main activity location was ___55___.
___56___, with the development of civilization and women’s self-consciousness, more and more women have realized that such natural and physical differences between man and woman have no ___57___ with the differences between male and female excellence.  Women are now confident to ___58___ the concepts as “male leadership” and “male power”, which are only terms invented by men and serve in men’s ___59___.
Such remarkable change in people’s viewpoint may well explain the gradual ___60___ of single-sex schools.  The aim of education is to stimulate imagination, encourage free thinking and keep alive various interests.  But the single-sex school follows the same regulations and ___61___ a set of separate subjects for males or females.  In single-sex schools, instead of being offered a rich expansion of experience, students have access to ___62___ knowledge.  Such education harms individual freedom and kills the possibility for a young person to develop into a(n) ___63___ human.  Furthermore, such sexual distinction is also dangerous as it breaks up the sense of community by ___64___ people into two sex groups, which eventually damages the development of human civilization.
50.   A. regret     B. division            C. union          D. step
51.   A. spoil            B. control             C. teach          D. face
52.   A. active          B. humorous       C. famous            D. gentle
53. A. born              B. grown         C. praised            D. retired
54.   A. friendship       B. failure     C. leadership        D. relationship
55.   A. at home          B. at work place       C. in politics        D. in education
56.   A. In particular         B. Furthermore        C. In addition   D. However
57.   A. contact            B. attempt          C. connection  D. excuse
58.   A. reject          B. reflect     C. pardon             D. measure
59.   A. truth           B. sex              C. interest           D. belief
60.   A. extinction       B. prospect         C. foundation   D. definition
61.   A. sets up            B. brings down         C. sticks to          D. gives up
62.   A. objective         B. wrong         C. vivid            D. limited
63.   A. complete        B. simple     C. domestic         D. ordinary
64.   A. guiding            B. uniting     C. isolating          D. transporting

Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day.“I was a clothes addict(有瘾的人)”he jokes.“I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual(不经意的,随意的) clothes—khaki pants (裤子)and a sports shirt—to the office. He hardly ever wears a necktie.“I am working harder than ever.”David says,“and I need to feel comfortable.”
More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work. In the United States, the change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employees to wear casual clothes on Friday(but only on Friday).This became known as“dress-down Friday”or“casual Friday”.“What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing.”said business Maisly Jones.
Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code.” “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company,“so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative(保守的)dress code.”Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale(心境,士气). Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative influence on productivity. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,”one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.”
【小题1】David Smith refers to himself as having been“a clothes addict,”because      .

A.he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt
B.he couldn’t stand a clean appearance
C.he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time
D.he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes
【小题2】David Smith wears casual clothes now, because      .
A.they make him feel at ease when working
B.he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes
C.he looks handsome in casual clothes
D.he no longer works for any company
【小题3】According to this passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A.Company workers started to dress down about twenty years ago.
B.Dress-down has become an everyday phenomenon since the early 90s.
C.“Dress-down Friday”was first given as a favor from employers.
D.Many workers want to wear casual clothes to impress people.
【小题4】In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned EXCEPT_______
A.saving employees’ moneyB.making employees more attractive
C.improving employees’ motivationD.making employees happier

E

How words came into being is unknown.All we assume is that some early men invented cortain sounds,in one way or another,to express thoughts and feelings,actions and things,so that they could talk with each other.Later they agreed upon certain signs,called letters,which could be put together to show those sounds,and which could be written down.Those sounds,whether spoken or written in letters,are called words.

The power of words,then,lies in their associations-the things they bring up to our minds.Words become filled with meaning for us by experience;and the longer we live,the more certain words bring back to us the happy and sad events of our past;and the more we read and learn,the more the number of words that mean something to us increases.

Great writers are those who not only have great thoughts but also express these thoughts in words which have powerful effects on our minds and feelings.This clever use of words is what we call literary style.Above all,the real poet is a master of words.He can express his meaning in words which sing like music,and which by their position and association can move men to tears.We should therefore learn to choose our words carefully and use then correctly,or they will make our speech silly and common.

58.We learn from the text that language might have begun with(    )

A.expressions    B.actions    C.signs    D.sounds

59.What is mainly discussed in Faragraph 2?

A.The ……of new words      B.The importance of old words

C.The relation of human experience with words  

D.The gradual change and development of words

60.In the last paragraph,what does the anthor suggest that we should do?

A.Use words skilfully    B.Make musical speeches  

C.Learn poems by heart   D.Associate with listeners

 

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