Humans have sewn by hand for thousands of years. It was said that the first thread was made from animal muscle and sinew (腱). And the earliest needles were made from bones. Since those early days, many people have been involved in the process of developing a machine that could do the same thing more quickly and with greater efficiency.

Charles Wiesenthal, who was born in Germany, designed and received a patent on a double-pointed needle that eliminated the need to turn the needle around with each stitch (缝合) in England in 1755. Other inventors of that time tried to develop a functional sewing machine, but each design had at least one serious imperfection. [来源:学,科Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonnier finally engineered a machine that really worked. However, he was nearly killed by a group of angry tailors when they burned down his garment factory. They feared that they would lose their jobs to the machine.

American inventor Elias Howe, born on July 9, 1819, was awarded a patent for a method of sewing that used thread from two different sources. Howe’s machine had a needle with an eye at the point, and it used the two threads to make a special stitch called a lockstitch. However, Howe faced difficulty in finding buyers for his machines in America. In frustration, he traveled to England to try to sell his invention there. When he finally returned home, he found that dozens of manufacturers were adapting his discovery for use in their own sewing machines.

Isaac Singer, another American inventor, was also a manufacturer who made improvements to the design of sewing machines. He invented an up-and-down-motion mechanism that replaced the side-to-side machines. He also developed a foot treadle(脚踏板) to power his machine. This improvement left the sewer’s hands free. Undoubtedly, it was a huge improvement of the hand-cranked machine of the past. Soon the Singer sewing machine achieved more fame than the others for it was more practical, it could be adapted to home use and it could be bought on hire-purchase. The Singer sewing machine became the first home appliance, and the Singer company became one of the first American multinationals.

However, Singer used the same method to create a lockstitch that Howe had already patented. As a result, Howe accused him of patent infringement（侵犯）. Of course, Elias Howe won the court case, and Singer was ordered to pay Howe royalties（版税）. In the end, Howe became a millionaire, not by manufacturing the sewing machine, but by receiving royalty payments for his invention.

1.Barthelemy Thimonnier’s garment factory was burned down because _____________.

A. people did not know how to put out the fire

B. Elias Howe thought Thimonnier had stolen his invention

C. the sewing machines was couldn’t work finally

D. workers who feared the loss of their jobs to a machine set fire

2.Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage???

A. Singer is an American inventor and manufacturer.

B. The Singer sewing company became more practical.

C. The foot treadle helped to make the sewer’s hands free.

D. Singer made improvements to the design of sewing machines.

3.Why did the court force Isaac Singer to pay Elisa Howe a lifetime of royalties?

A. Because the judge was against Singer for his surly attitude.

B. Because Howe had already patented the lockstitch used by Singer.

C. Because Singer had borrowed money from Howe and never repaid it.

D. Because Singer and Howe had both invented the same machine.

4.Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A. A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

B. The Case between Howe and Singer

C. Patent Laws on the Sewing Machine

D. The Early History of the Sewing Machine

A small group of people around the world have started implanting(移植) microchips to link the body and the computer.
Mr. Donelson and three friends, who had driven 100 miles from their homes in Loekport, New York, to have the implants put in by Dr Jesse Willemaire, whom they had persuaded to do the work, are part of a small group, about 30 people around the world, who have independently put in microchips into their bodies, according to Web-based reports.
At a shop William Donelson was having a four-millimeter-wide needle put into his left hand. “I’m set,” he said with a deep breath. He watched as the needle pierced(刺穿) the fleshy webbing between his thumb and a microchip was set under his skin. At last he would be able to do what he had long imagined; strengthen his body’s powers through technology.
By putting the chip inside—a radio frequency identification device (RFID)—Mr. Donelson would have at his fingertips the same magic that makes safety gates open with a knock of a card, and bridge and tunnel traffic flow smoothly with an E-Zpass. With a wave of his hand he plans to connect with his computer, open doors and unlock his car.
Implanting the chip was relatively simple task but very meaningful to Mr. Doneselson, a 21-year-old computer networking student so interested in the link between technology and the body that he has data-input jacks(数据输入插空) inside his body. They might lead to an imagined future when people can be connected directly into computers. His new chip is enclosed in a glass container no bigger than a piece of rice and has a small memory where he has stored the words “Technology”.
Some doctors have done the piercing in people’s homes, and others have implanted chips in their offices after patients signed forms showing the fact that long-term studies have not been done on their safety. Piercers treat the implants much like any other medical operation steps, instructing people to keep the site dry, and advising them that swelling(肿) and redness should last a week.
69. With a RFID implanted, which of the following will Mr. Donelson be able to do?
Make a safety gate open with a knock of a card.
Make bridge and tunnel traffic flow smoothly with an E-Zpass.
Open doors and unlock his car with a wave of his hand.
Turn his body and brain directly into computers.
70. The underlined word “they” in paragraph 5 refer to “___________”.
A. glass containers                             B. implanted computer chips
C. data input jacks                                    D. computer and net working students
71. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. High Tech, Under the Skin                     B. A Needle, So Magic
C. Donelson, a Powerful Man                     D. Data-input Jacks, Inside the Body
72. We can conclude from the passage that __________________.
Mr. Donelson has made a large sum of money by the piercing.
the Piercers are people working in the computer field
the piercing has no side effect and it will make people intelligent
the long term effects of these implants are not yet known

完形填空 (共20小题;每小题1分,满分20分)

阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从36-55各题所给四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项。

Mrs. Jones was over eighty, but she still drove her old car like a woman half her age. She loved driving very fast, and was proud of the fact   36  she had never, in her thirty-five years of driving, been punished   37  a driving offence (犯规，犯法).

Then one day she nearly   38  her record. A police car   39  her, and the policemen in it saw her   40  a red light without stopping. Of course, she was stopped. It seemed   41  that she would be punished.

42  Mrs. Jones came up to the judge, he looked at her seriously and said that she was   43  old to drive a car, and that the   44  why she had not stopped at the red   45  was most probably that her eyes had become weak   46  old age, so that she had simply not seen it.

When the judge had finished what he was  47 , Mrs. Jones opened the big handbag she was   48  and took out her sewing. Without saying a word, she   49  a needle（针） with a very small eye, and threaded it at her first attempt.

When she had   50  done this, she took the thread（n.线） out of the needle again and handed   51  the needle and the thread to the judge, saying, “Now it is your   52  . I suppose you drive a car, and that you are quite sure about your own eyesight.”

The judge took the   53  and tried to thread it. After half a dozen tries, he had still not succeeded. The case (案例) against Mrs. Jones was   54  , and her record   55  unbroken.

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

A small group of people around the world have started implanting(移植) microchips to link the body and the computer.

Mr. Donelson and three friends, who had driven 100 miles from their homes in Loekport, New York, to have the implants put in by Dr Jesse Willemaire, whom they had persuaded to do the work, are part of a small group, about 30 people around the world, who have independently put in microchips into their bodies, according to Web-based reports.

At a shop William Donelson was having a four-millimeter-wide needle put into his left hand. “I’m set,” he said with a deep breath. He watched as the needle pierced(刺穿) the fleshy webbing between his thumb and a microchip was set under his skin. At last he would be able to do what he had long imagined; strengthen his body’s powers through technology.

By putting the chip inside—a radio frequency identification device (RFID)—Mr. Donelson would have at his fingertips the same magic that makes safety gates open with a knock of a card, and bridge and tunnel traffic flow smoothly with an E-Zpass. With a wave of his hand he plans to connect with his computer, open doors and unlock his car.

Implanting the chip was relatively simple task but very meaningful to Mr. Doneselson, a 21-year-old computer networking student so interested in the link between technology and the body that he has data-input jacks(数据输入插空) inside his body. They might lead to an imagined future when people can be connected directly into computers. His new chip is enclosed in a glass container no bigger than a piece of rice and has a small memory where he has stored the words “Technology”.

Some doctors have done the piercing in people’s homes, and others have implanted chips in their offices after patients signed forms showing the fact that long-term studies have not been done on their safety. Piercers treat the implants much like any other medical operation steps, instructing people to keep the site dry, and advising them that swelling(肿) and redness should last a week.

69. With a RFID implanted, which of the following will Mr. Donelson be able to do?

Make a safety gate open with a knock of a card.

Make bridge and tunnel traffic flow smoothly with an E-Zpass.

Open doors and unlock his car with a wave of his hand.

Turn his body and brain directly into computers.

70. The underlined word “they” in paragraph 5 refer to “___________”.

A. glass containers                             B. implanted computer chips

C. data input jacks                                    D. computer and net working students

71. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. High Tech, Under the Skin                     B. A Needle, So Magic

C. Donelson, a Powerful Man                     D. Data-input Jacks, Inside the Body

72. We can conclude from the passage that __________________.

Mr. Donelson has made a large sum of money by the piercing.

the Piercers are people working in the computer field

the piercing has no side effect and it will make people intelligent

the long term effects of these implants are not yet known