The oldest and hardest cow beef may be made as tender and tasty as young and choice met. ”This declaration was made by the French physicist Denis Papin in book published in 1681, which described his “New Digester” or pressure cooker.  It was a cast iron pot with an air-tight lid, which allowed liquids to boil at a higher temperature than usual, and so it cooked food in a quarter of the time.  The food was cooked by pressurized steam being forced through it at about 121℃.  All pressure cookers were made of cast iron until 1905,  when the first aluminum model was made in America. In 1938, Alfred Vischer, a man from Chicago, U. S. A., designed a simple interlocking pan and lid, and an improved pressure-tight seal（密封）—a replaceable rubber sealing ring. When Vischer’s patent（专利）expired in 1954,  many companies entered the field,  and the rapid pressure cooker became popular with people with people who had little time to cook or had to supply food for unexpected guests.

1.From the passage we can learn pressure cooker made of cast iron lasted at least ____years.

2.Which of the following shows the correct order?

a.        Denis Papin called his invention “New Digester”.  

b.        It began to be widely used by common families.

c.        Instead of cast iron,  it was first made of aluminum. 

d.        The first pressure cooker was invented in France.

e.        Alfred Vischer greatly improved its design.           

f.         Vischer’s patent came to an end.

g.  Many other companies began to produce it.

3.In the writer’s opinion, the best advantage of a pressure cooker is that_______.

4.The best title of this passage may possibly be _______.

The United States is already one year into a depression That was the news this week from the Na-tional Bureau of Economic Research. The downturn is the longest since a depression that began in 1981and lasted sixteen months.
Economists generally wait for production to shrink for six months in a row before they declare a re-cession. But the bureau, a private group, uses a wider set of information to measure the economy. Thenews only confirmed what many people already knew: that the world's largest economy is weak and maynot recover soon.
Worsening conclitions have led to a big drop in spending, especially on costly products like new cars. Even Japanese automaker Toyota saw its sales fall thirty - four percent in the United States in November from a year ago.
The heads of Chrysler, Ford and General Motors retumed to Congress this week to again ask for federal aid.  Congressional leaders denounced(指责) them two weeks ago after they came in private jets with no clear plans for saving their industry. This time, the chiefs drove to Washington in fuel- saving hybrid vehicles. And their companies presented detailed restructuring plans. The reguest for aid has risen from twenty-five billion dollars two weeks ago to thirty-four billion in loans and credit lines.
G.M. wants almost half of that, and says it needs four billion dollars this month. It warned that without support it cannot continue to operate.
Ford is in a better position, But the sharing of suppliers means it could be affected if G.M. or
Chrysler fails. Ford is asking for a nine billion dollar credit line in case it needs it.
Chrysler is the smallest and most trouble of America's Big Three. It says it needs a seven billion dollar loan by the end of the month.
Two days of congressional hearings began Thursday in the Senate Banking Committee. The chairman, Democrat Chris Dodd, said he would support helping the automakers for the good of the economy.
But the committee's top Republican, Richard Shelby, continued to express opposition to a bailout(贿政援助）．
A main root of the world financial crisis is the weak housing market in the United States. The Trea-sury Department has been under pressure to help troubled homeowners. Now comes news that the depart-ment is developing a plan aimed at reducing interest rates on mortgage loans(汽车贷款) for some buyers of homes. That could be good for homeowners trying to sell.
【小题1】From the first two paragraphs, we know       .

Section B:  Vocabulary

Directions: Complete the passage by choosing the proper words in the box.

Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

F. simple        G. bought      H. ending         I. design       J. wonderful

Almost every day we come across situations in which we have to make decisions one way or another. Choice, we are given to believe, is a right. But for a good many people in the world, in rich and poor countries, choice is a luxury, something __41__but hard to get, not a right. And for those who think they are exercising their right to make choices, the whole system is merely an illusion, a false idea created by companies and advertisers hoping to sell their products.

The endless choice gives birth to anxiety in people’s lives. Buying something as basic as a coffee pot is not exactly __42__. Easy access to a wide range of everyday goods leads to a sense of powerlessness in many people, __43__in the costomer giving up and walking away, or just buying an unsuitable item that is not really wanted. Recent studies in England have shown that many electrical goods __44__ in almost every family are not __45__ needed. More difficult decision-making is then either avoided or trusted into the hands of the __46__, lifestyle instructors, or advisors.

It is not just the availability of the goods that is the problem, but the speed with which new types of products come on the market. Advances in __47__ and production help quicken the process. Products also need to have a short lifespan so that the public can be persuaded to replace them within a short time. The __48__ example is computers, which are almost out-of-date once they are bought. This indeed makes selection a problem. So gone are the days when one could just walk with ease into a shop and buy one thing: no choice, no __49__.

In a national spelling contest in America, an 11-year-old girl was asked to spell a certain word. But with her soft voice the judges were not sure if she spelled the word with the letter A or E. __61__ At that time, the girl knew she had misspelled the word. But instead of lying and telling the judges she had said the correct letter, she told the truth that she had said the wrong letter. __62__.

The Meanings of Dreams

Sleep and dreams have interested people for centuries. Scientists are learning more about sleep, but they still know very little about why we dream.

      1.   First, we have most of our dreams during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. At this time, the brain is very active. Second, everyone dreams – even if we cannot remember doing so when we awaken.    2.   While we are asleep, it works more slowly and sometimes puts our thoughts and memories together in strange ways.

        3.   Some believe that our dreams are associated with thoughts and feelings that we experience while we are awake. Many dream researchers think that a dream about death, for example, is really about an important life change.   4.    Dreams about a car or travel often represent feelings about your own life. Dreams about teeth – especially broken or loose ones may indicate stress and fear. Dreams in which you are flying often represent freedom or escape.

    Researchers think people in our dreams can tell us something about ourselves. If the person in the dream was yelling (叫喊), for example, maybe you are angry.  5.   

    There is still a lot about dreaming that we do not understand. By learning more about our dreams, we may learn more about ourselves.

A. Dreams may be more important than sleep.

B. Scientists do not know for certain why we dream.

C. If he or she was terrified, then maybe you are afraid of something.

D. Modern research can tell us some important things about dreams.

E. There are three things you should pay attention to to have a sweet dream.

F. Finally, a part of our brain helps us to understand daily experiences we have.

G. Dreams about telephones are thought to be about giving or receiving an important message.