阅读理解

　　From boyhood he had been interested in astronomy(天文学), and while at Cambridge he would sit up at night to watch the stars. But he was not satisfied with the telescopes of those days because they didn't show him a clear picture of things. At first he thought there must be something wrong with the lens. But no matter how hard he tried to improve the lens; the trouble was still there.

　　This set Newton thinking. He began to study the nature of light and colors. In the end he found that sunlight, or white light, is actually made up of a row of colors. He counted seven colors in all. This was of course a great discovery. But Newton still wasn't satisfied His mind was busy with another problem. Before Newton's time, scientists had already discovered that the sun, not the earth, was the centre of the other planets moving round the sun. But they couldn't explain why this was so until Newton gave the answer.

　　One autumn evening while Newton was sitting under an apple tree thinking over these problems, he saw the moon rise in the sky. Why, he asked himself, should the moon go round the earth, never leaving the same path? At that moment, he heard an apple drop from the tree. Why didn't it go sideways or fly up?

　　There seemed to be only one reason：the earth was drawing it－that is the force of gravity. If a stone is tied to the end of a string and whirled around, it will fly round and round in circles because of the string. In the same way, the force of gravity, thought Newton, must be the force that keeps the moon going round the earth and the planets round the sun.

1．This passage mainly tells us ________.

[　　]

A．Newton gave the right answer to the making up of the sunlight

B．Newton found that the moon goes round the earth

C．how Newton made two of his greatest discoveries

D．why Newton made two of his greatest discoveries at home

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

[　　]

A．Newton made only two discoveries in his lifetime.

B．Finding nothing wrong with the lens, Newton began to study the nature of light and colors.

C．Nobody could explain why the planets moved round the sun before Newton's time.

D．It was by chance that Newton discovered the force of gravity.

3．Give the right order of the events given in the passage.

a．Newton found that the sunlight is made up of a row of colors.

b．Newton wondered why the apples didn't go sideways.

c．Newton concluded that the force of gravity keeps the moon going round the earth.

d．Newton tried every means to improve the lens.

e．Newton counted the number of colors.

[　　]

4．Which of the following is nearest in meaning to “They couldn't explain why this was so until Newton gave the answer.”?

[　　]

A．Newton gave the answer because they couldn't explain why.

B．Newton couldn't explain why unless they gave the answer.

C．It was Newton who gave the answer.

D．Newton was the first to give the answer.

The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of 2 September, 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. Over one hundred people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.

The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King’s baker (面包师) in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window into the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery (面包房) into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.

By eight o’clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul’s and the Guildhall among them.

Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire, “People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat .”

The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.

After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect (建筑师), wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow, but he did build more than fifty churches, among them the mew St Paul’s

The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.

From the passage, we can learn that the fire began in ________.

A. a hotel　　　           B. the palace　　        C. Pudding Lane　　 D. Thames Street

The underlined word “family” in the second paragraph means ________.

A. wife and husband　　      B. wife and children　   C. home                  D. children

It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that ________.

A. many famous buildings were destroyed

B. some people lost their lives

C. the birds in the sky were killed by the fire

D. the King’s bakery was burned down

Why did the writer cite (引用) Samuel Pepys?

A. Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire.

B. Because Pepys also wrote about the fire.

C. Because he wanted to give the reader a clearer picture of the fire.

D. Because he wanted to show that poor people suffered most.

How was the fire put out according to the text?

A. The King and his soldiers came to help.

B. Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down.

C. All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed.

D. People managed to get enough water from the river.

　　Some time ago, a friend of mine who worked in a part of the city I didn't know very well invited me to call on him. It took me hours to get there and I took great trouble to find a proper spot to park my car. As I was already three quarters of an hour late, I parked my car quickly.

　　At noon, just as I was leaving my friend's office it suddenly struck me that I had no idea where I had parked my car. I could hardly go up to a policeman and tell him that I had lost a small green car somewhere! Walking down street after street, I examined each car closely and was very happy to see a small green car just behind an old car. But how disappointed I was to discover that though the car was exactly like my own, it belonged to someone else! Feeling quite tired now, I went off for lunch. Some time later, I left the restaurant and walked down the street. Turning the corner, I nearly jumped for joy: my car was right in front of me, and there was no problem this time.

　　To tell the truth, driving in a crowded city is far from being a pleasure and it is much easier to walk than to drive.

(1)What did the writer do the other day?

[　　]

A．He went to telephone his old friend.

B．He paid a visit to his friend.

C．He called on a friend, who he didn't know well.

D．He visited a friend and had lunch with him.

(2)“It suddenly struck me”in the second paragraph probably means“________”.

[　　]

A．a stick suddenly hit me

B．a stone suddenly hit me

C．I suddenly found out

D．I suddenly thought

(3)Which of the following statements is true according to this story?

[　　]

A．The writer had not much difficulty in finding a parking-place.

B．It took him forty-five minutes to find a place to park his car.

C．It was very difficult for the writer to find a parking-place.

D．He got a parking-place right away and parked his car in a hurry.

(4)How did he look for his car?

[　　]

A．He asked a policeman for help.

B．His friend called a policeman.

C．He examined every car in the street.

D．A waiter helped him to do this.

Tuesday the twelfth was my birthday. I  16 a day of cake and presents  17__     it turned into a day of mystery(神秘). Someone sent a bottle with a letter and a treasure map   18 . It said there was a treasure of over 20 million dollars. I didn’t know if it was a trick(恶作剧) or if I should   19  it. If it was   20  , it would be the best present I had ever got. I decided to  21 . Two of my friends came and we rented a truck.   22 , I thought about turning back twice during this trip, but I didn’t think it was a 23 decision for me to make. I   24 to give this trip twice the effort(努力) I had been putting in. This would take all my trust in order for me to find the  25  .
“The map says you have to turn when you see a large stone with a red circle,” said one of them.
“What do we do after the turn?” I asked   26 .
“It says we should see a tree. We are   27  to turn 20 meters north of it and dig.　
We got there and dug. We had   28  at first digging but we got better and worked very   29 . My trousers were dirty but I kept digging   30  I hit something. It was a large metal box. We   31  the lock and looked inside. There was a letter. It read:
　　“The lesson you have learned will be very   32  . If you put as much   33 in anything you do as you did in finding the   34  , you will have found the key to making over 20 million dollars.”
　　This was a trick from my parents. I thought I would never forget this   35    birthday present.