For more than ten years John Grimshaw has been pioneering a gentle revolution. He aims to get us going by bike on Britain’s network of disused railways. He works as an engineer for Sustrans, a Bristol-based charity.

He believes that there is no benefit or logic behind the building of bigger and faster roads that only encourage people to use cars more extravagantly(过分地). Britain’s roads being built ignore all but the motorists while miles of railway tracks no longer used by trains lie wasted.

His organization started work in 1994 with a modest five mile track from Bristol to Bath, and cyclists and walkers now make a million journeys a year on the path. Sustrans has since completed a further 150 miles throughout Britain with the help of volunteer workers.

Building such paths is not easy or cheap. Sustrans buys or leases(租借) land from British Rail and the paths can cost from 6,000 pounds up to 8, 0000 pounds per kilometer to build. Money comes from central and local government, charity bodies and gifts from individuals.

To encourage more walkers and cyclists along its paths, Sustrans plans to construct a work of art on every mile of path it builds. Most of their tracks quickly transport people from the city to the countryside. The latest route runs from the heart of Glasgow to Loch Lomond. Relics (遗迹)of the great railway age litter the routes—station houses, signals boxes and even steam trains.

Some might consider John Grimshaw a traveler from the past, out of touch with the modern world, but for many he is preparing the way for an alternative for a car-mad world.

The aim of Sustrans is to _________.

a. encourage people to use cars more efficiently

b. use old railway lines for leisure purposes

c. provide a cycling network across Britain

d. build better and faster roads

How does Sustrans finance its work?

a. with a mixture of money from the government and donations

b. with money from British Rail

c. by leasing its land

d. by using volunteer workers

Which of the following is TRUE?

a. Sustrans will not build any more tracks after Glasgow to Loch Lomond

b. Sustrans will have to clear the track of relics

c. Sustrans makes the countryside more accessible to the public

d. Sustrans believes more drivers will use their tracks.

The iPhone has become one of the most popular mobile phones in the United States. An 18-year-o1d student in California has used his knowledge of the device to create his own business,gaining national recognition for his work.

Vincent Quigg is the CEO of TechWorld. His company is kind of like a hospital for iPhones,specializing in customizing and repairing iPhones. Vincent Quigg launched TechWorld while in high school. “My mom became single a couple of years ago and I had to grow up. And in order to keep my lifestyle, I had to find different ways to keep my phone, keep a car, transportation and all that stuff. So I had to find ways to be entrepreneurial.” An organization cal1ed the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. or NFTE, helped the young man get started. His mother, Carla Quigg: “He quit the class, which made me very disappointed.”

“It was extremely hard for myself to find a business to start and run with it. But once I had that ‘aha moment’or what I knew I wanted to go with, it was really easy and extremely fun.”

At the time, Vincent worked for the electronics store BestBuy. He says people always came into the store with broken electronic devices. He decided that repairing those devices was what he wanted to do. He not only re-registered for the NFTE class, but he also won the organization’s national competition for best young entrepreneur.His business has grown through word-of-mouth. Vincent says he now fixes up to l0 phones per week. He earns about $l,500 each month in sales. TechWorld has two other employees. Kacee Wheeler is one of them. He works on the technical side of the business while Vincent Quigg now deals with finances and planning. He says he wants to continue to grow his business.

1.What is Vincent Quigg’s company specialized in?

A.Customizing and repairing iPhones.          B.Advertising and selling iPhones.

C.Helping students set up business.           D.Offering people medical advice.

2.What drove Vincent to start his own business?

A.His special family education background.

B.The need to keep his former way of 1ife.

C.The desire to be the CEO of a company.

D.The encouragement from another company.

3.What does the underlined phrase “aha moment” probably mean?

A.The moment to celebrate success.

B.The moment to comp1ain hardship.

C.The moment to have a great idea.

D.The moment to have great fun.

4.What can we 1earn from the text?

A.Vincent started his own business with the help of his col1ege.

B.Vincent went through great difficulty in the beginning.

C.Vincent promotes his business by large scale advertisements.

D.Vincent’s mother was disappointed by his achievement.

 

Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and Iron Man ... .There is no shortage of superheroes. You find them in comic books, on the TV and the big screen.

In a survey of fans by the sci-fi and fantasy website, SFX.co.uk, Batman, 70 years old this year, was voted Britain's favorite superhero.

Unlike many crime-fighting superheroes Batman has no special powers. He can't fly like Superman or shoot a sticky web like Spider-Man.

Bruce Wayne is born to a wealthy Gotham City business family. However, when his parents are murdered his life changes completely.

Wayne feels anger at their deaths and guilty that he did not prevent them. He travels around the world learning how to fight. Upon returning to Gotham, he creates a disguise (伪装) to enable him to fight crime without being recognized.

A childhood fear of bats leads him to choose to dress as one. His idea is that through the bat person he can prove to himself that he has overcome his childhood fears.

Wayne is the CEO of the company he inherits (继承) from his father. He seems to live the lifestyle of a millionaire playboy. But this is a ruse (计策). He works hard at the image to allow himself the freedom he needs to do his work as a crime fighter. "Bruce Wayne, playboy" is the disguise Batman is the real person.

"Wayne is not a born superhero. Instead, he is a real, complex person," said Dace Golder, editor of the website. "He is the most realistic of all the superheroes. I am particularly interested in the emotional process by which a boy becomes a hero. His superhero qualities come from within."

1.What is the article mainly about?  

A.How Bruce Wayne develops into a superhero.

B.How to overcome childhood fears.

C.What makes a superhero.

D.Why superheroes enjoy great popularity in Britain.

2.Bruce Wayne decides to dress like a bat because of ______ .

A.his curiosity about bats

B.his childhood fear of bats

C.his parents' sudden death

D.his unusual travel experiences

3.Why does Wayne live like a playboy?

A.He prefers the lifestyle of a playboy.

B.He doesn't know how to run a company.

C.He loves freedom more than anything else.

D.He needs to disguise his crime fighting activities.

4.Which of the following statements is true about Batman? 

A.Batman is a born superhero

B.He has special powers

C.The turning point of his life is due to his parents' sudden death

D.He actually lives the lifestyle of a millionaire playboy

 

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