B
  Although man has known asbestos for many hundreds of years, it was not until 160 years ago that it was mined for the first time on the North American continent. H. W. Johns, owner of a New York City Supply Shop for roofers, was responsible for he opening of that first mine.
  Mr. Johns was given a piece of asbestos which had been found in Italy. He experimented with the material and then showed its surprising powers to his customers. After putting on a pair of asbestos gloves, which looked much like ordinary work gloves, he took red-hot coals from the fireplace and played with them in his hands. How astonished the customers were to discover that he was not burned at all. You can well imagine that he had increasing business in asbestos roofing materials. However, because it was very expensive to transport them from Italy to the United States, Mr. Johns sent out a young scientist to seek a source nearer home. This young man found great vein in the province of Quebec in Canada.
  Ever since 1881 Quebec has led the world in the production of this unusual mineral, which is made up of magnesium, silicon, iron, and oxygen. When it is mined, the asbestos is heavy, just as you would expect a mineral to be. When it is separated, a strange thing happens; the rock breaks down into fine, soft, soapy fibers .
  Scientists do not know why the rock can be separated easily into threads,but they have found thousands of uses of this fireproof material, of the so-called “cloth of stone”.
 60. Which title best expresses the main idea of this passage?
    A. Asbestos mined in Canada                  B. Fireproof matter
C. A “wonder” mineral                           D. A new roofing material
 61. Johns proved his ability as a salesman by_______.
    A. going into roofing business              
B. carrying asbestos from Italy
    C. sending a trained scientist                 
D. showing the use of asbestos gloves
 62. Which is the most important character of asbestos that the author wants to show us?
    A. It is like thread.                               B. It feels soapy.
C. It burns easily.                                 D. It is unusually heavy.
 63. The author’s main purpose in writing this passage was to _______.
    A. show the need for more scientists
    B. compare asbestos with other minerals
    C. increase the sales of asbestos
    D. present facts about asbestos

After more than a year of bitter political debate, President Obama sat down in the White House East Room on March 23 and signed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law with a pen,and then another pen,and another. Obama used 22 pens to sign the $938 billion health care bill.
The practice of using different pens to sign important legislation(法规)dates at least as far back as Franklin Roosevelt. The reason is fairly simple. The pen used to sign historic legislation itself becomes a historical artifact. The more pens a President uses, the more thank-you gifts he can offer to those who helped create that piece of history. The White House often give pens to supporters of the newly signed legislation. When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he reportedly used more than 75 pens and gave one of the first ones to Martin Luther King Jr. And in 1996, President Clinton gave the four pens he used to sign the Line-Item Veto bill to those most likely to appreciate the bill's consequence.
Once they're given away, some pens end up in museums; others are displayed proudly in recipients'(接受者) offices or homes. But they sometimes appear again, like in the 2008 presidential campaign(竞选活动), when John Macain promised to use the same pen given to him by President Reagan to cut pork from the federal budget.
Not every President goes for the multipen signature, however. President George W. Bush preferred signing bills with only one pen and then offering several unused "gift" pens as souvenirs.
【小题1】.We can learn from paragraph 1 that the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act        .

A.has been passed easily
B.was put forward one year ago
C.becomes law in the USA
D.is unimportant
【小题2】How are the pens dealt with after being used by President Obama?
A.Supporters of the newly signed legislation are likely to get some of them.
B.Obama will keep them.
C.They will be just set aside
D.They will be sold to the public at a high price.
【小题3】What can we learn about John Macain?
A. He was ever President in the USA.
B. He took part in the 2008 presidential campaign.
C. He never used the pen given by Reagan.
D. He was only concerned about his own business.   
【小题4】What does this passage mainly tell us ?[来源:学。科。网]
A. Obama signed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
B. It is a practice to use multiple pens to sign important legislation in the USA.
C. Pens are necessary in the signature.
D. All the presidents like the multipen signature.

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