When I was 16 years old,I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn't the first time I had been abroad. Like most of English children,I learned French at school. And I had often been to France,so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn't understand English. But when I went to America I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.

  How wrong I was!The misunderstanding began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my friend Danny a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.

  "Yes," I said, "I want to give my friend a ring."

  "Well,that's nice," he said, "Are you getting married? But aren't you a bit young?"

  "I am not talking about marriage!" I replied, "I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I've arrived. Can you tell me where there's a phone box?"

  "Oh!" he said, "There's a phone downstairs."

  When at last we met,Danny explained the misunderstandings to me.

  "Don't worry," she said to me, "I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from the British. You will soon get used to all the funny things they say. Most of the time British and American people understand each other."

(   ) 5. Where was the writer from?

   A. America. B. France. C. England. D. China.

(   ) 6. The writer wanted         .

   A. to buy a ring for his friend

   B. to make a call to his friend

   C. to go to the telephone company

   D. his friend to see him off

(   ) 7. From the passage we can see that "give somebody a ring"         .

   A. has the same meaning in America as in England

   B. means "call somebody" for the old man

   C. has two different meanings

   D. means "be going to get married" in England

(   ) 8. In the last paragraph,the underlined word "they" refers to         .

   A. the old man and the boy   B. the Americans

   C. the British   D. the French


 Since the 1970s,scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Braincomputer interface (BCD technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.

  Recently,two researchers,Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne,Switzerland,demonstrated (展示) a small robotic wheelchair by a person's thoughts.

  "Our brain has billions of nerve cells. They send signals through the spinal cord (脊髓) to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can pre?vent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles," Tavella says. "Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices."

  The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp (头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.

  Prof. Millan,the team leader,says scientists keep improving the computer software that re?ceives brain signals and turns them into simple commands. "The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped into two categories,communication and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair."

  He says his team set two goals. One is testing with real patients,so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technolo?gy over long periods of time.

(   ) 5. BCI is a technology that can         .

   A. help to update computer systems   B. link the human brain with computer

   C. help the disabled to recover   D. control a person's thoughts

(   ) 6. How did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?

   A. By controlling his muscles. B. By talking to the machine.

   C. By moving his hand. D. By using his mind.

(   ) 7. Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 4?

   A. scalp—computer—cap—wheelchair   B. computer—cap—scalp—wheelchair

   C. scalp—cap—computer—wheelchair   D. cap—computer—scalp—wheelchair

(   ) 8. The team will test with real patients to         .

   A. make profits from them   B. prove the technology useful to them

   C. make them live longer   D. learn about their physical condition

(   ) 9. Which of the following would be the best title for the test?

   A. Switzerland,the BCI Research Center

   B. New Findings about How the Brain Works

   C. BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled

   D. Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries

  George Black's father died in1889. George was eleven years old. His brother was fourteen. "We will not be able to go to school," his brother said, "we are going to have to work for a living. If we work hard and make men out of ourselves,even if we do not know the difference between A and   B. people will call us Mr. Black someday."George repeated his brother's words proudly more than 80 years later. By then he was a very old man,everybody called him Mr. Black.

 The two little boys,George and his brother,set out on their own in1889. They walked 40 miles from their village in North Carolina to the nearest big city Winston-Salem. They worked for a brickmaker for a while. After they learned how to make bricks,they started their own business. By the time I met George Black,he had been making bricks for a very long time. He still used the same method. He tied a mule to what he called a"mudmill (磨) ". The mule walked slowly in a circle turning the mill. The mill mixed dirt and water creating the wet mud from which bricks are made. Mr. Black gathered up the mud in his big hands and put just the right amount in each form. It was then ready to be heated in a hot fire. Each form made six bricks.

  "How many bricks do you think you have made in your life?" I asked him.

"Oh”, he said, "I do not know,I would be afraid to know. I made a million bricks one year. Mr. Arge Renals wanted to build a tobacco factory. He asked me if I thought I could make a million bricks. I studied and said' Yes,I could.,I did too. You can go see them if you want to. That building is still there. They are all my bricks,yes sir."I found myself filled with great respect for this man. He was standing in a hole in the ground covered in mud. He had made a life of earth and water and fire. He had made the building blocks of a city.  

(   ) 5. George Black became a brick maker because         .

   A. his brother was a brickmaker

   B. he had been old enough to find a job

   C. he had to support himself

   D. he wanted to start his own business

(   ) 6. All the following statements are true EXCEPT         .

   A. George made a million bricks every year

   B. Both George and his brother were ambitious people

   C. George insisted on making bricks by hand all his life

   D. George was over90 years old when he was interviewed

(   ) 7. From the passage we know that George is a person who is         .

   A. educated and hardworking   B. oldfashioned and lonely

   C. intelligent and easygoing   D. strong and struggling

(   ) 8. Which of the following is the best title of this passage?

   A. A Brick maker   B. Mr. Black

   C. A Million Bricks   D. Builder of the City

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