In 1883. John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However, bridge building experts throughout the world thought this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea, but Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

    The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.

    "We told them so." "Crazy men and their crazy dreams.'' "It's foolish to chase wild visions." Evcryone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap, Washington was never discouraged.

    One day he was lying on his bed in hospital, seeing the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment with the sunlight streaming through the windows, and a gentle breeze bowing the  flimsy white curtains apart when an idea hit him. He decided to make the best use of the only finger  he could move. Thus, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

    He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

    For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm until the bridge was finally completed.

1.Which of the following is true of Washington and his father?

A. They are hardworking and courageous.

B. They are stubborn and bold.

C. They are creative and persistent.

D. They are curious and modest.

2. In the third paragraph, the underlined phrase''wild vision" refers to______.

A. the tragic accident               B. the building of the bridge

C. the brain damage                D. the discussion and persuasion

3. What can we learn about Washington's wife?

A. She could understand Washington and helped him a lot.

B. She cnuldn't understand him but took good care of him.

C. She didn't like Washington's idea about building the bridge.

D. She took the responsibility to continue building the bridge.

4.From the passage, we know that_______when Roebling proposed building the bridge.

A. people all over America supported him

B. almost no bridge experts in the world supported him

C. his friends were strongly in favor of his idea

D. many people considered it would be a great fe

5. The passage suggests that______.

A.NO pains, no gains.

B.Many hands make light work.

C. A lighted heart is a good medicine.

D. Passion creates wonder.

Imagine you’re at a party full of strangers. You’re nervous. Who are these people? How do you start a conversation? Fortunately, you’ve got a thing that sends out energy at tiny chips in everyone’s name tag (标签). The chips send back name, job, hobbies, and the time available for meeting-whatever. Making new friends becomes simple

This hasn’t quite happened in real life. But the world is already experiencing a revolution using RFID technology.

An RFID tag with a tiny chip can be fixed in a product, under your pet’s skin, even under your own skin. Passive RFID tags have no energy source-batteries because they do not need it. The energy comes from the reader, a scanning device, that sends out energy (for example, radio waves) that starts up the tag immediately.

Such a tag carries information specific to that object, and the data can be updated. Already, RFID technology is used for recognizing each car or truck on the road and it might appear in your passport. Doctors can put a tiny chip under the skin that will help locate and obtain a patient’s medical records. At a nightclub in Paris or in New York the same chip gets you into the VIP (very important person) section and pays for the bill with the wave of an arm.

Take a step back:10 or 12 years ago,you would have heard about the coming age of computing. One example always seemed to surface: Your refrigerator would know when you needed to buy more milk. The concept was that computer chips could be put everywhere and send information in a smart network that would make ordinary life simpler

RFID tags are a small part of this phenomenon. “The world is going to be a loosely coupled set of individual small devices, connected wirelessly,” predicts Dr.J.Reich. Human right supporters are nervous about the possibilities of such technology. It goes too far tracking school kids through RFID tags, they say. We imagine a world in which a beer company could find out not only when you bought a beer but also when you drank it. And how many beers. Accompanied by how many biscuits. w*w*When Marconi invented radio, he thought it would be used for ship-to-shore communication. Not for pop music. Who knows how RFID and related technologies will be used in the future. Here’s a wild guess: Not for buying milk.

1. The article is intended to______.  

A. warn people of the possible risks in adopting RFID technology

B. explain the benefits brought about by RFID technology

C. convince people of the uses of RFID technology

D. predict the applications of RFID technology

2. We know from the passage that with the help of RFID tags, people        .

A. will have no trouble getting data about others

B. will have more energy for conversation

C. will have more time to make friends

D. won’t feel shy at parties any longer

3. Passive RFID tags chiefly consist of        .

A. scanning devices              B. radio waves   C. batteries              D. chips

4. Why are some people worried about RFID technology?

A. Because children will be tracked by strangers.

B. Because market competition will become more fierce.

C. Because their private lives will be greatly affected.

D. Because customers will be forced to buy more products.

5. The last paragraph implies that RFID technology        .

A. will not be used for such matters as buying milk

B. will be widely used, including for buying milk

C. will be limited to communication uses

D. will probably be used for pop music

In 1883. John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However, bridge building experts throughout the world thought this was an impossible mission and told Roebling to forget the idea, but Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

    The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.

    "We told them so." "Crazy men and their crazy dreams.'' "It's foolish to chase wild visions." Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap, Washington was never discouraged.

    One day he was lying on his bed in hospital, seeing the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment with the sunlight streaming through the windows, and a gentle breeze bowing the  flimsy white curtains apart when an idea hit him. He decided to make the best use of the only finger  he could move. Thus, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

    He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

    For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm until the bridge was finally completed.

1.Which of the following is true of Washington and his father?

A. They are hardworking and courageous.

B. They are stubborn and bold.

C. They are creative and persistent.

D. They are curious and modest.

2.In the third paragraph, the underlined phrase ''wild vision" refers to______.

A. the tragic accident

B. the building of the bridge

C. the brain damage

D. the discussion and persuasion

3.From the passage, we know that _______ when Roebling proposed building the bridge.

A. people all over America supported him

B. almost no bridge experts in the world supported him

C. his friends were strongly in favor of his idea

D. many people considered it would be a great project

4.The passage suggests that______.

A.NO pains, no gains.

B. Many hands make light work.

C. A lighted heart is a good medicine.

D. Passion creates wonder.

Since people first sent rockets into space in the 1950s, we have been leaving behind all sorts of things. Some of them, like the camera, were lost by astronauts while they did work outside their spaceship. But much of the space junk is made up of little pieces of things that were once bigger objects, until they struck each other and broke apart.

Some things we send into space fall back toward the earth and burn up in the atmosphere. But larger pieces sometimes survive the extreme heat and hit the ground or the ocean at great speeds. So there is always concern that something may fall from the sky and do some harm.

But space junk falling on housetops (屋顶) is not the biggest worry. Scientists are concerned about what happens when an empty rocket strikes another while orbiting (绕轨道飞行) the earth. Two big things become many smaller things. They then hit other things. The pieces get smaller and smaller until they form a cloud of junk that blocks the path of future space vehicles.

So what can be done to clean up the space around our planet? Marco Castronuovo, an Italian researcher, talks about sending a satellite into space that would get very close to some of the larger pieces of space junk. The satellite would connect a small rocket to the useless object. When the rocket explodes, it pushes the junk into a lower and slower orbit, nearer the earth. After a time, the junk burns up in the atmosphere.

Mr. Castronuovo has proposed (提议) using a number of small satellites with robotic arms. One arm would catch the space junk, and another arm would connect the rocket. He imagines that each satellite would jump from one large piece of junk to another. He thinks this method could destroy about ten large objects each year.

Scientists have been concerned about space junk for many years. Right now, the costs of the clean-up have been too great. Mr. Castronuovo says his system could be put in place for a much more reasonable amount of money.

1.Much of the space junk _____.

A．was thrown by the astronauts

B．is from broken spaceship

C．is made up of small pieces of things

D．returns to the earth piece by piece

2.Scientists are most worried that the space junk _____.

A．will stop the future space vehicles

B．will do harm to the atmosphere

C．will fall on the housetops

D．will burn up in space

3.What does Marco Castronuovo think of his system?

A．It can remove space junk completely.

B．It can save a large amount of money.

C．It can create a large amount of space.

D．It can develop robotic technology.

No one is glad to hear that his body has to be cut open by a surgeon（外科医生） and part of it taken out． Today， however， we needn't worry about feeling pain during the operation． The sick person falls into a kind of sleep，and when he awakes，the operation is finished. But these happy conditions are fairly new．It is not many years since a man who had to have operation felt all its pain．

   Long ago， operation had usually to be done while the sick man could feel everything． The sick man had to be held down(压制，控制) on a table by force while the doctors did their best for him． He could feel all the pain if his leg or arm was being cut off， and his fearful cries filled the room and the hearts of those who watched．

   Soon after 1770, Josept Priestley discovered a gas which is now called “laughing gas”．Laughing gas became known in America．Young men and women went to parties to try it．Most of them spent their time laughing，but one man at a party，Horace Wells，noticed that people didn't seem to feel pain when they were using this gas．He decided to make an experiment on himself．He asked a friend to help him．

   Wells took some of the gas，and his friend pulled out one of Well’s teeth．Wells felt no pain at all．

   As he didn't know enough about laughing gas，he gave a man less gas than he should have. The man cried out with pain when his tooth was being pulled out．

   Wells tried again，but this time he gave too much of the gas，and the man died．Wells never forgot this terrible event．

It is ＿＿＿＿ since a man being operated felt all the pain．

   A. a few more years   B. not long    C. few years     D. two thousand years

Long ago，when the sick man was operated on, he ＿＿＿＿．

   A. could feel nothing           B. could not want anything

   C. could feel all the pain        D. could do anything

Using the laughing gas，the people did not seem to ＿＿＿＿．

   A. be afraid of anything    B. feel pain   C. want to go to the parties    D. be ill

If a man took less laughing gas than he should have when an operation went on，he ＿．

   A．felt nothing  B. felt very comfortable  C．still felt pain      D．would die

One who took too much of the laughing gas ＿＿＿．

   A.would laugh all the time       B.would die 

C.would never feel pain         D.would be very calm