In earliest times, men considered lightning （闪电）to be one of the great mysteries（神密） of nature． Some ancient people believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons(武器) of the gods．

    In reality lightning is a flow of electricity （电流）formed high above the earth． A single flash（闪烁） of lightning 1.6 kilometers long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs．

    The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752． In the same year he also built the first Lightning Rod (避雷针)． His device（发明物） protects buildings from being damaged by lightning．

     Modern science has discovered that one stroke of lightning contains more than 15 million volts(伏特)． A spark（火花） between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second．Scientists estimate (估计) that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year． Lightning hits the Empire, State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year． In the United States alone it kills an average of one person every day．

    The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car． Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under trees． Also, one should stay out of water and away from metal fences． Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things．

    With lightning, it's better to be safe than sorry.?

Lightning is actually ＿＿＿＿＿．

  A．weapon     B．electricity     C．light     D．mystery

People once thought that lightning came from ＿＿＿＿＿＿．

  A．scientists     B．ground    C．lightning rod     D．gods

Benjamin Franklin ＿＿＿＿＿＿．

  A. made the first lightning rod    B．built the Empire State Building

  C. invented electricity           D．prevented lightning from hitting cars

＿＿＿＿＿＿is the best place to be in during an electricity storm．

  A．Swimming pool   B. A high place   C．Under a tree  D．A car

Imagine being the only person in the Forbidden City. You could stay there all day without swarms of people crowding around. You'd be able to look at the ancient treasures without worrying about other visitors pushing you for a better view. Well, in two years time you'll be able to have such an experience, just like the former emperors used to. The only difference is that your Forbidden City fun will be online.

Thanks to new technology, a virtual tour of the Forbidden City will be available online by 2008. The project － jointly driven by the Palace Museum and computer company IBM － aims to help teenagers around the world become more interested in Chinese culture. The project will offer an interactive, three-dimensional view of the palace. The virtual tour will provide images from all over the 780,000-square-metre palace.

"The Palace Museum is a big book; there are always places you haven't read about," said Hu Chui from the museum. There are many rooms closed for protection. But the virtual platform breaks the boundaries of time and space, meaning visitors can see whatever they want. "The interaction and games content in the virtual tour will attract more young people to understand and love our cultural heritage," added Hu.

In the virtual tour, historical figures will actually talk to visitors and answer their questions. The stories behind the buildings and treasures will also be told. "The online environment, presented in both Chinese and English, enables visitors to experience the culture and stories of the museum," said James Yeh, an IBM official.

If you visit the Forbidden City now, which of the following won’t be the case you’ll have?

A. It is crowed with a lot of visitors.   B. Visitors are pushing you for a better view.

C. You are the only person in it.           D. You can see some ancient treasures in it.

Which of the following is not the advantage of the virtual tour of the Forbidden City?

A. Visitors can see whatever they want.

B. Visitor can ask and talk to historical figures.

C. Visitors can get to know the cultural heritage by playing games.

D. Visitors can walk around the Forbidden City with your family.

The “project” underlined in paragraph 2 refers to ______.

A. a virtual tour of the Forbidden City

B. a new “Forbidden City” to be built by the Palace Museum and IBM computer company

C. an Internet cafe to be built in the Palace Museum

D. a big book to be published to introduce Chinese culture

What attracts teenagers most to the virtual tour is _____.

A. the visible pictures in the place

B. the interaction and game playing

C. the online environment presented in English

D. the platform without the boundaries of time and space

Nine 1700­year­old brick tombs have been discovered in northwest China’s Xinjiang. Experts say that they can   1  valuable clues for the research of exchanges(交换；交流) between the central Chinese government at that time and    ___2  Western Regions.
It is the    3  time ancient tombs with typical characteristics of China's main Han nationality have been found in the Uygur ethnic region(自治区)．
    4   from Beijing，Shanxi and Xinjiang concluded that the tombs were  ___5___ between the middle and late third century and fourth century.
The tombs were unearthed during the   6  of a road earlier this year in Kuqa county,740 km from Xinjiang's capital Urumqi and part of the   7  Qiuci State. Qiuci State，which   8  between the second century BC and 860 AD，was one of the 36 states in the Western Regions.
The tombs would help archaeologists with research into the political，economic and cultural   9   between the Central Plains government and states in the west，and on the cultural     10  of the Central Plains on the Western Regions.
Archaeologists from the Xinjiang institute have dug nine tombs since August 22，___11   bodies of more than 30 people，some ancient   12  and more than 60 pottery(陶器)jars. It is thought there are another three tombs to be    13  .
The people buried in the tombs were    14  either people from the western regions deeply influenced by the Han culture or the Han residents(居民)in the    ___15  .