Fading beauty
She is widely seen as proof that good looks can last for ever. But, at nearly 500 years of age, time is catching up with the Mona Lisa.  
The health of the famous picture, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1505, is getting worse by the year, according to the Louvre Museum (卢浮宫博物馆) where it is housed.   
“The thin, wooden panel on which the Mona Lisa is painted in oil has changed shape since experts checked it two years ago,” the museum said. Visitors have noticed changes but repairing the world’s most famous painting is not easy. Experts are not sure about the materials the Italian artist used and their current chemical state (化学状态).  
Nearly 6 million people go to see the Mona Lisa every year, many attracted by the mystery of her smile. “It is very interesting that when you’re not looking at her, she seems to be smiling, and then you look at her and she stops,” said Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University. “It’s because direct vision (视觉) is excellent at picking up detail, but less suited to looking at shadows. Da Vinci painted the smile in shadows.”
However, the actual history of the Mona Lisa is just as mysterious as the smile. Da Vinci himself loved it so much that he always carried it with him, until it was eventually sold to France’s King Francis I in 1519.  
In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre by a former employee, who took it out of the museum hidden under his coat. He said he planned to return it to Italy. The painting was sent back to France two years later.  
During World War II, French hid the painting in small towns to keep it out of the hands of German forces.   
Like many old ladies, the Mona Lisa has some interesting stories to tell.
【小题1】What does the writer mean by “time is catching up with the Mona Lisa”?

Louis Pasteur, one of the world's great scientists, was born in 1822, and died in 1895.While still a young boy, Louis Pasteur made his decision to become a scientist. He spent much of his life time studying the diseases of cattle, chickens and other tame animals. His wife learned to help him with his work. Almost everyone knows that Pasteur is the man responsible for finding a way of preventing milk from spoiling (变质). Not many people know he was the first to imagine and to prove that air we breathe is full of germs (细菌).  One of his greatest successes was finding a treatment for people and animals to prevent a disease called rabies (狂犬病). Louis Pasteur won many honors and could have got large amount of money. But Pasteur preferred to live simply. The real happiness of this unusual man came from his work. Louis Pasteur did so well in his life that the French government took up his work and created the Institute Pasteur in the year 1888. 
【小题1】According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

Five people are at our table, including myself. I’ve already learnt a great deal about them in the short time we’ve been at sea, although we rarely meet except at mealtimes.
First of all, there is Dr. Stone. He is a man of about sixty-five, with gray hair and a friendly face. He gave up his work a short while ago and is now traveling round the world before he retires to some quite country village. As a young man, he served for many years as a doctor in the army and visited many countries. He’s told us a great deal about the city to which they are going.
Then there is “Grandmother”. I call her that because her name escapes me. In spite of being a grandmother, she looks remarkable young, no more than fifty. She is on her way to visit a daughter who went to Australia some years ago. Naturally she is very excited at the thought of seeing her again, and her three grandchildren, whom she has never seen.
Then there is a man I don’t care for very much, the engineer by the name of Barlow. He has been on leave in England and is now returning to his work in Singapore.
The other person who sits at our table is Mrs. Hunt. I’ve found out hardly anything about her. She’s extremely quiet and rarely talks, except to consult the doctor about children’s various illnesses. She is on her way to join her husband in India.
【小题1】What can we know about Mr. Stone?

Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5,100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modem road design.
In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a new design of road—a base layer (层) of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same lime, metal hubs (the central part of a wheel) came into being, followed by the pneumatic tyre(充气轮胎) in 1846. Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads (柏油路). As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster and faster.
【小题1】What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become popular for some time?

   Matt grow the best vegetables in the village . He grows fruit too--big , sweet apples and oranges . And what else ? Well , the biggest and the prettiest flowers . Things grow in Matt' s garden all through the year . He cuts some flowers for his sitting room table ; and of course , he eats some fruit and vegetables . But he sells everything else in the market . Matt is not a poor man .
He knows a few other gardens ; but he does not have any friends . You might ask , " What is that ? Why doesn ' t he have friends ? "
I will tell you . People do not understand him . And they do not understand his garden , " Why not ? " you will ask . " It' s a very good garden , isn' t  it ? "
It is a wonderful garden . Matt plants things in spring , summer and autumn and winter . After that he does very little work . He sits in the garden with his small radio . And everything grows .
People ask , " How does Matt grow these wonderful things ? He waters the plants sometimes , but he doesn' t do anything else . He just sits under an orange tree  with his radio . He listens to music nearly all day ! " And that is all quite true , people cannot understand it , and so they don' t like it very much .
Matt likes music . But what about the garden ? Who does the work ? I will tell you another true thing : the music does the work . All plants love music ; and Matt knows that .
Do you want big vegetables and the loveliest flowers ? Well , just give your plants a  lot of  music ,
66.There are not only vegetables and flowers , but also ______ in Matt' s garden .
A. plants   B. fruit trees     C. ants       D. crops
67.Matt makes a living by _______.
A. selling his vegetables , fruit and flowers
B. growing trees in his garden
C. working in the market
D. helping other people growing plants
68.. Everything in Matt' s garden grows well because _____
A. he has a good garden
B. he is good at growing things and likes listening to the radio
C. music helps his plants a lot
D. he is very hardworking
69. People think that ______ .
A. Matt' s garden is better than theirs
B. Matt works harder than they
C. Matt knows how to grow vegetables well
D. the radio helps Matt to grow veveything well in his garden
70. People don' t like Matt because ____.
A. he doesn' t give thim any vegetables or fruit
B. he listens to the radio too much
C. they are jealous（嫉妒的） of him
D. Matt doesn' t let them listen to his radio