When Babbage was working at Cambridge, a new idea occurred to him. He wanted to construct a calculating machine to work out the solutions（解法）to maths problems not only with correctness but also with a speed beyond the power of any human mind. His machine could solve problems involving（涉及）long rows of figures in one continuous operation（运算）.

       In 1822 Babbage exhibited his invention and won a prize from the government. After that, he immediately started to work on a larger machine designed to solve more difficult problems. Although he received some money left by his father, the money was not enough to support his design. He wrote to the government about his plan and was given ￡2500 to start with, a sum worth much more in those days than it is now.

       Babbage continued his work in London for four years. Then his health broke down, and he had to take a long holiday abroad. When he returned to London in 1828, he was at the end of his resources. Many bills remained unpaid. His chief assistant and co-workers quarreled with him and left with many expensive tools. For one year no work was done. During this period, Babbage, whose mind was always active, suddenly thought of a completely new idea for the machine. He rushed to meet the government officials to explain his new idea. But this time, they were unwilling to help him. For eight years, they refused to say whether they wanted the machine or not, and their final answer was “No.”

       From 1828 to 1839, Babbage held the position of professor at Cambridge very successfully. But his greatest work was the unfinished calculating machine which stood covered in dust in his house. It was the beginning of the modern computer.

60．The machine Babbage designed would solve difficult maths problems _________.

      A．in one operation with few mistakes

       B．in more than one operation without any mistakes

       C．in more than one operation with slight mistakes

       D．in one operation without any mistakes

61．Babbage failed to continue his research work in 1828 mainly because _______.

      A．he was in poor health    B．he almost ran out of money

       C．his co-workers argued with him         D．he spent all his money on his bills

62．Babage explained his new idea to the government officials, expecting that _________.

      A．they would agree to his plan    B．they would pay for his new idea

       C．they would support him with money   D．they would exhibit his new design

63．From the passage, we can infer that __________.

      A．Babbage failed to be a famous scientist at Cambridge

       B．Babbage always had new ideas but gave them up easily

       C．Babbage always needed support from the government officials

       D．Babbage was the first designer of the modern computer

A beautiful woman took a plane on business. She found her seat and sat down next to a young man. The man was just thinking of making a few dollars on the plane. When he saw the woman, he got an idea.

“Hey! Would you like to play a game?” he asked the woman. “No, thank you. I just want to take a nap (打盹),” the woman answered.

“It’s really easy. All you have to do is to answer the questions that I ask you. If you don’t know the answer, you give me five dollars. If I don’t know the answer to your question, then I’ll give you five dollars.”

“No,” the woman still refused.

“OK. If I don’t know the answer to your question, I’ll give you five hundred dollars. How about that?” the man said. Then the woman became interested and decided to join in the game.

“OK. How many moons does Jupiter (木星) have?” asked the young man. The woman reached into her purse and took out a five-dollar bill.

“What goes up the mountain with three legs and comes back with four?” the woman asked. Then the young man took out his computer and searched the Internet for an answer. Minutes later, the young man handed five hundred dollars to the woman.

After a few hours, the young man really wanted to know the answer to the question. So he asked the woman, “What is the answer to your question?” The woman reached into her purse and handed the young man a five-dollar bill.

1.Why did the man ask the woman to play a game?

A. He wanted to show his kindness.

B. He wanted to have a pleasant journey.

C. He wanted to earn some money from it.

D. He wanted to make friends with the woman.

2.How much did the woman get at the end of the story?

A. $ 500.        B. $ 5.       C. $ 10.          D. $ 490.

3.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. The woman told the man the answer to her question.

B. The woman gave the man’s money back to him.

C. The woman asked the man another question.

D. The woman didn’t know the answer, either.

4.We can learn from the story that the woman is ______.

A. clever            B. friendly           C. polite           D. honest

A man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspaper.

“Last week, ” he said,  “my umbrella was stolen from a London church. As

it was a present,  I spent twice its worth in advertising,  but didn’t get it back. ”

“How did you write your advertisement? ” asked one of the listeners,  a merchant.

　　“Here it is, ” said the man,  taking out of his pocket a slip cut from a newspaper. The other man took it and read,  “Lost from the City Church last Sunday evening,  a black silk umbrella. The gentleman who finds it will receive ten shillings on leaving it at No. 10 Broad Street. ”

“Now, ” said the merchant,  “I often advertise,  and find that it pays me well. But the way in which an advertisement is expressed is of extreme importance. Let us try for your umbrella again,  and if it fails,  I’ll buy you a new one. ”

　　The merchant then took a slip of paper out of his pocket and wrote:  “If the man who was seen to take an umbrella from the City Church last Sunday evening doesn’t wish to get into trouble,  he will return the umbrella to No. 10 Broad Street. He is well known. ”

　　This appeared in the newspaper,  and on the following morning,  the man was astonished when he opened the front door. In the doorway lay at least twelve umbrellas of all sizes and colors,  and his own was among them. Many of them had notes fastened to them saying that they had been taken by mistake,  and begging the loser not to say anything about the matter.

1.The result of the first advertisement was that＿＿＿＿ .

2.The merchant suggested that the man should＿＿＿ .

3.“. . . if it fails,  I’ll buy you a new one” suggested that the merchant＿＿＿＿ .

4.The story is mainly about ＿＿＿＿＿.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21—40各题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together. However, I was not thinking about the golden chain when I had to help people whotheir way and parked in front of my house.

I was growing tired of helping so many people. Almost every I was awaken during a sound night’s sleep and had to someone out. Many times I was  by some penniless motorists who did not even thank me for the helps that they received and some even complained that I could have done .

One day, a young man with a week – old beard climbed out of a automobile. He had no money and no food. He asked if I could give him some , offering him gasoline and a meal. I told him that if he wanted to work for me, he could cut the grass, but the work wasn’t necessary.

Though sweaty and hungry, he worked hard. After working all day, he sat to cool himself. I thanked him for his work and gave him the money he . I then offered him some money for a task particularly well done, but he , shaking his head.

I never saw him again. He probably thinks I helped him out that day, but that is not it was. I didn’t help him. He helped me to people again to repay their trust in me. He helped me to once again want to do something for those who are . I wish I could thank him for some of my belief in the basic  of others and for giving me back a little of the I had lost. Because of him, I once again felt part of a golden chain of kindness that us to others.

I may have fed his body that day, but he fed my .

A．fought   B．found       C．made D．lost

A．morning B．afternoon  C．night D．evening

A．bring     B．help  C．carry D．drive

A．taken for granted  B．put up with      C．turned down     D．taken up with

A．less B．more C．worse       D．enough

A．fashionable    B．famous     C．flashy       D．shabby

A．money   B．food  C．water D．work

A．actually  B．specially   C．particularly      D．generally

A．in the sun      B．in the shade      C．in the field       D．in the car

A．asked   B．begged     C．needed      D．charged

A．old       B．extra C．small D．good

A．accepted      B．received    C．refused     D．denied

A．the condition      B．the thing   C．the issue   D．the way

A．believe in    B．watch over       C．look after  D．care about

A．in trouble    B．in danger  C．in tears     D．in fear

A．forgetting    B．losing       C．restoring   D．finding

A．goodness     B．happiness  C．pleasure    D．nature

A．weakness     B．strength    C．optimism  D．pessimism

A．adapts  B．adjusts      C．devotes     D．connects

A．heart    B．soul   C．head  D．mouth

There were a family of nine: the father, the mother, two boys and five girls. The father worked as a kitchen cleaner at a local school and the rest of the family did the same job-----clean people’s yards.  1.     

Then one day, the father lost his job at the school. He asked me if I could allow him to clean my yard.   2.    He and his family came to our house three times a week to clean the yard.

One Sunday morning, the father suffered a stroke and died in the hospital two days later. The poor family had lost their main bread-winner. The eldest boy had just completed high school and was getting ready to go to college.   3.   

For the following years, Andrew, my husband and I did all our best to help make sure the family got their education, and provided some daily needs, like clothes.

   4.   . They didn’t have a toilet in their home! Imagine! A mother, a fifteen-year-old girl, and four smaller children without a toilet or bathroom!

The next morning, my friend Peter came to my house. Then I told him I wanted to do something for the poor family. As a helpful man, he promised to offer some money. So together we built a bathroom and a toilet for this family in three days.   5.   . And we felt happy, too.

A．Clearly, they lived a poor life.

B．The others were just little kids

C．Realizing his situation, I offered him the job at once.

D．This brought a lot of smiles and happiness to the family.

E.Every day we gave her some pocket money.

F.We visited the family once and one thing made us greatly surprised.

G.You would be surprised to know that this poor family lived in just two rooms!