题目内容
He was tired of their_________ (play) a trick on people who can’t speak properly.
playing
On the day of a big event, many people came to Big Bend Mountain to watch. John Henry and the salesman stood side by side. Even early in the day, the sun was burning hot.
The competition began. John Henry kissed his hammer and started working. At first, the steam-powered drill worked two times faster than he did. Then, he started working with a hammer in each hand. He worked faster and faster. In the mountain, the heat and dust were so thick that most men would have had trouble breathing. The crowd shouted as clouds of dust came from inside the mountain.
The salesman was afraid when he heard what sounded like the mountain breaking. However, it was only the sound of John Henry at work. Polly Ann and her son cheered when the machine was pulled from the tunnel of the mountain. It had broken down. Polly Ann urged John Henry to come out. But he kept working, faster and faster. He dug deep into the darkness, hitting the steel so hard that his body began to fail him. He became weak, and his heart burst.
John Henry fell to the ground. There was a terrible silence. Polly Ann did not move because she knew what had happened. John Henry’s blood spilled over the ground. But he still held one of the hammers. “I beat them,” he said. His wife cried out, “Don’t go, John Henry.”“Bring me a cool drink of water,”he said. Then he took his last breath.
His friends carried his body from the mountain. They buried him near the house where he was born. Crowds went there after they heard about John Henry’s death.
Soon, the steam drill and other machines replaced the steel-drivers. Many laborers left their families to look for work. They took the only jobs they could find. As they worked, some sang about John Henry.
What does the big event mentioned in Paragraph 1 refer to?
A.John Henry’s work on a machine.
B.A competition between John Henry and a salesman.
C.John Henry’s work with his hammer and the steel.
D.A competition between John Henry and a drill.
The underlined word “tunnel ”in Paragraph 3 probably means “ ”.
A.flat ground B.big rock C.underground passage D.hard metal
What happened to John Henry when he fell to the ground?
A.He was tired and had to have a rest.
B.He had heart trouble and was dying.
C.He was thirsty and wanted to drink some water.
D.He was injured slightly and was bleeding.
What do we know about John Henry?
A.He won the competition finally. B.He was buried under the mountain.
C.He loved his work very much. D.He said nothing before his death.
What can we infer from the passage?
A.Humans can never beat machines. B.John Henry was regarded as a hero.
C.Laborers hated machines very much. D.It was easy for laborers to find work.
Early one morning,more than a hundred years ago,an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep.He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem: It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
Though he was tired,Howe slept badly.He turned and turned.Then he had a dream.He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine.When he tried to do so,Howe ran into the same problem as before.The thread kept getting caught around the needle.The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe.They came up towards him with their spears raised.But suddenly the inventor noticed something.There was a hole in the tip of each spear.The inventor awoke from the dream,realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem.Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle,he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle.This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practical sewing machine.
Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way.Thomas Edison,the inventor of the electric light,said his best ideas came into him in dreams.So did the great physicist Albert Einstein.Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing ?Jane Eyre.?
To know the value of dreams,you have to understand what happens when you are asleep.Even then,a part of your mind is still working.This unconscious(无意识的),but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day.It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed.It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake.However,the unconscious part acts in a special way.It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first.This is why dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves ”.
According to the passage,Elias Howe was_________.
A.the first person we know of who solved problems in his sleep
B.much more hard-working than other inventors
C.the first person to design a sewing machine that really worked
D.the only person at the time who knew the value of dreams
The problem Howe was trying to solve was_________.
A.what kind of thread to use
B.how to design a needle which would not break
C.where to put the needle
D.how to prevent the thread from getting caught around the needle
Thomas Edison is spoken of because_________.
A.he also tried to invent a sewing machine
B.he got some of his ideas from dreams
C.he was one of Howe's best friends
D.he also had difficulty in falling asleep
Dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves” because _________.
A.strange images are used to communicate ideas
B.images which have no meaning are used
C.we can never understand the real meaning
D.only specially trained people can understand them
BEvery year 2. 2 million tons of oil are put into the ocean and this oil has terrible effects on ocean life, including the coastlines where the off washes up onto shore. Some of the largest spills(溢出) in history were caused by oil tankers(油轮) running into each other or by an oil tanker sailing into shallow water and hitting the bottom of the ocean. After these spills, officials try to discover who or what was at fault to help prevent similar accidents in the future. One of the worst oil spills in history happened along the Alaskan（阿拉斯加） coastline in 1989. In this accident, 42,000 tons of oil spilled from a tanker which resulted in terrible damage to this sensitive natural area. In this spill, the tanker's captain, who was tired from overwork and drinking alcohol, had gone to take a rest. He gave control of the ship to the third mate. The third mate was unfamiliar with the path the ship took, and he ran the ship onto a natural underwater rock wall near the Alaskan coast. Damaged by the rock, the ship leaked(泄漏) oil out into the ocean. More than 1,600 kilometers of coastline were affected by the oil spill. Some scientists who studied nature in the area guessed that 580,000 birds and 5,500 others died when the oil covered their skin. As well, smaller shellfish and other sea creatures were later eaten by seals, whales, and other animals. The most oil ever spilled was in 1990. As part of the Iraq war plan, 900,000 tons of oil were let out into the Persian(波斯的) Gulf by Iraq. The oil also damaged 650 kilometers of the coastline of both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In some places, oil on the water was 43 centimeters thick. Water birds, water plants, and baby fish were all seriously affected. The long-term effects of this act on the food chain in the area are bound to（肯定会） cause problems far into the future. 45. Oil spills have terrible effect on________.A. ocean life B. the coastline C. both ocean life and the coastline D. the bottom of the ocean46. Why did the third mate run the tanker aground(搁浅地) in this accident?A. He was tired. B. He did not know the area well.C. He was drunk. D. He was talking on the phone.47. According to the writer, ________.A. the accident along the Alaskan coastline was the worst oil spill in historyB. Iraq poured oil into the the Persian Gulf on purpose C. the effects of Iraq’s act in the Persian Gulf War have been seen fullyD. oil put into the sea by Iraq in the war was the worst accident in history48. Which of the following is the best title for this text?A. The Worst Oil Spill B. PollutionC. The Persian Gulf War D. Oil Spill
There once was a very wealthy and successful man. He had more money than he could ever spend, and he was admired and looked up to by his community. __1___ He wasn’t happy. All his life he had been looking for happiness and striving for happiness.___2____Then one day he heard about a hidden temple in Nepal that had a special room that contained the secret of happiness.___3___ After many years of searching and countless hardships he arrived there. He was tired and penniless, but he knew that none of that mattered now because he had found the temple. He asked a wise, smiling monk if he could enter the special room. The monk agreed and showed him the stairs leading to the room. ___4___ He stared into the room with sunlight steaming through the window and saw what he had come so far to find. There hanging on the wall was the secret of happiness. The man gazed at his reflection in the mirror and laughed.__5__ Happiness is a choice that we can make. Don’t spend the rest of your life searching the world for happiness then. Just look in the mirror and laugh. Just let the happiness flow from your heart, mind, and soul until it fills your life and the lives of all those around you.A. He immediately sold all that he owned and set out to find this hidden templeA. It was difficult to find the temple in Nepal.C. No one found the secret of happiness at last.D. But he knew that something was missing in his life.E. But he had never been able to find it.F. He climbed them with legs shaking with expectation and slowly opened the door.G. It is time that we all realized that we were the secrets of our own happiness
Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem: It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
Though he was tired, Howe slept badly. He turned and turned. Then he had a dream. He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle. The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They came up towards him with their spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was a hole in the tip of each spear. The inventor awoke from the dream, realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem. Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle. This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practiced sewing machine.
Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way.
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams. So did the great physicist Albert Einstein. Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.
To know the value of dreams, you have to understand what happens when you are asleep. Even then, a part of your mind is still working. This unconscious(无意识的), but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day. It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed. It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake. However, the unconscious part acts in a special way. It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves”.
1.According to the passage, Elias Howe was________.
A. the first person we know of who solved problems in his sleep
B. much more hard-working than other inventors
C. the first person to design a sewing machine that really worked
D. the only person at the time who knew the value of dreams
2.The problem Howe was trying to solve was________.
A. what kind of thread to use
B. how to design a needle which would not break
C. where to put the needle
D. how to prevent the thread from getting caught around the needle
3.Thomas Edison is spoken of because________.
A. he also tried to invent a sewing machine
B. he got some of his ideas from dreams
C. he was one of Howe’s best friends
D. he also had difficulty in falling asleep
4.Dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves” because ________.
A. strange images are used to communicate ideas
B. images which have no meaning are used
C. we can never understand the real meaning
D. only specially trained people can understand them
After these spills, officials try to discover who or what was at fault to help prevent similar accidents in the future.