(E)
Messages can be sent across the land by means of the electric telegraph; but you cannot put up a line of telegraph posts across the sea. Messages can be sent across the
ocean by radio or by cable(电缆). The cable lies on the sea bottom and it has to have very good insulation. If any part of it is weak, the water will get through and stop all signals .
The first cable under the sea was between England and France. It was laid（放置） in 1851. In 1851 engineers tried to lay a cable across the Atlantic Ocean, but they met a
lot of difficulties. Halfway across the Atlantic the cable broke, and the ship that was laying it had to return.                                                       
Kelvin advised that another cable ought to be laid. It was made ready, and put on board a big ship. Kelvin and his friends traveled with it and after many days of hard work, they reached America without breaking the cable. Kelvin himself sent the first
message by cable from America to Britain. Unfortunately only 732 messages were sent through this cable before it broke.
The next cable was laid in 1866, and this time there were no problems. The ship
that laid it was the Great Eastern, one of the strongest ships that have ever been built.
It was driven by powerful engines and also by sails .                         
1. The undersea cable must be made strong enough to prevent _____.
A.. fishes from eating it     B. enemy stealing it
C.water getting through it    D. others cutting it                                                       
2. The first cable across the Atlantic _______.
A. was the first undersea cable
B. was only laid half- way
C. broke after only 732 messages were sent
D. never broke
3. The undersea cable Kelvin and his Mends laid was between_____.
A. England and France    B. America and England
C. American and France   D. England and Britain
4. The cable that Kelvin and his friends laid went through __
A. the Pacific Ocean      B. the Indian Ocean
C. the Atlantic Ocean     D. the Arctic Ocean
5. This passage mainly tells us _______.
A. how Kelvin laid the cable
B. how the scientists discovered the cable
C. the history of the cable in the world
D. how to lay the cable in the sea

The surprising experiment I am about to describe proves that air is all aroud you and that it proves down upon you．Air pressure is a wonderful force．When you swim underwater, you can feel water push down your body．The air all around you does the same．However, your body is so used to it that you do not notice this ．The pressure is caused by a layer of air called the atmosphere．This layer surrounds the Earth , extending to about five kilometers above the Earth’s surface．

The following experiment is an easy one that you can do at home．But make sure that you are supervised , because you will need to use matches．Now for the experiment！

What you need

·A hard-boiled egg without the shell

·A bottle with a neck slightly smaller than the egg

·A piece of paper

·A match

Metheod

1) Check that the egg will sit firmly on the neck of the bottle．

2) Tear the paper into strips and put the strips into the bottle．

3) Light the paper by dropping a burning match into the bottle．

4) Quickly sit the egg on the neck of the bottle．

Result

Astonishingly,the egg will be sucked into the bottle．Your friends will be amazed when you show them the experiment．But be careful when you handle matches．

Why it happened

As the paper burns,it needs oxyen and uses up the oxygen(air) in the bottle．The egg acts as a seal in the neck of the bottle,so no more air can get inside ．This reduces the air pressure inside the bottle．The air pressure must equalize,so more air from outside must enter the bottle．The outside air pressure against the egg and then the egg is pushed into the bottle!The proves that air is all around and that it is pressing down on it．

1．When you do the experiment, why need you a person beside you?

     A．You couldn’t place the egg on the bottle by yourself．

     B．The egg needs to be shelled．

     C．You need to use matches．

     D．The bottle can’t sit firmly on the desk．

2．The purpose of doing this experiment is to prove ______．

     A．air pressure is a wonderful force

     B．water can push down your body when you swim underwater

     C．the air pressure is not equalized around us

     D．the earth is surrounded by a layer of air called the atmosphere

3．How did the egg put into the bottle？

       A．The oxygen inside the bottle suckde the egg in．

       B．It became solt without the shell．

       C．The neck of the bottle was wide enough．

       D．The outside air pressure forced it into the bottle．

4．The passage is ______．

     A．an experiment report           B．a scientific story

     C．a research report                  D．an interesting novel

Six Americans are working on a new highway. But this highway won't have any traffic．It's an "ice highway" to the South Pole.

The team has just finished a second year of work on the 1,020-mile highway. "The road is the greatest single footprint of activity we've seen in the Antarctic (南极洲)," said Alan Hemmings, an Australian environmentalist.

The highway will provide a new way for supplies to be trekked (拉, 搬) across the earth on tractor-pulled sleds (雪橇). This method will use a lot less fuel than an aircraft, the current (当前的) way that scientists and supplies reach the Amundsen-Scott Base, a U.S. research station in the South Pole. The highway will also allow for equipment that is too big for planes to carry to be brought to Antarctica．Even with these benefits, there is one disadvantage—a round trip on the road will be 30 days, compared to a few hours by plane.

Making this 20-foot-wide road isn't easy, and it takes a lot of time. The crew (工作队) has been working on the road for two summers, when it's warmer and easier to work with the ice. It probably won't be completed until 2006.

Crevasses (裂缝), or cracks, in the land often make the construction difficult. Crevasses are kind of like pot holes that form when surface ice is stretched．This can be very dangerous, especially when the crevasses are hidden under a layer (层) of snow and can't be seen.

"Last year it took us three months to go three miles across a crevasse field, full of dangerous, hidden crevasses," said the project's manager, John Wright. Each year, more crevasses appear and they have to be filled with snow and ice so the road is safe for travel. The road will also be lined with green flags so travelers know where the safe surface is.

It will probably take ______ years to complete the ice highway.

       A．2     B．4      C．6      D．8

When it is finished, the highway will not be used for ______.

       A．giving supplies to the research station in the South Pole

       B．taking scientists to the South Pole

       C．taking travelers to a tour of Antarctic

       D．bringing huge equipment to Antarctic

How many miles can be covered at most each day if you take the ice highway to the South

Pole?

       A．30.    B．34.    C．68.    D．88.

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

       A．Other crevasses won’t appear if a crevasse has been filled.

       B．Many new crevasses will form after a crevasse has been filled.

       C．Travelers can drive their sleds on the ice highway freely.

       D．There will be less danger if the crevasses are covered by snow.

The surprising experiment I am about to describe proves that air is all around you and that it proves down upon you. Air pressure is a wonderful force. When you swim underwater, you can feel water push down your body. The air all around you does the same. However, your body is so used to it that you do not notice this. The pressure is caused by a layer of air called the atmosphere. This layer surrounds the Earth, extending to about five kilometers above the Earth’s surface.

The following experiment is an easy one that you can do at home. But make sure that you are supervised, because you will need to use matches. Now foe the experiment！

What you need

·A hard-boiled egg without the shell

·A bottle with a neck slightly smaller than the egg

·A piece of paper

·A match

Metheod

1） Check that the paper will sit firmly on the neck of the bottle.

2） Tear the paper into strips and put the strips into the bottle.

3） Light the paper by dropping a burning match into the bottle.

4） Quickly sit the egg on the neck of the bottle.

Result

Astonishingly, the egg will be sucked into the bottle. Your friends will be amazed when you show them the experiment. But be careful when you handle matches.

Why it happened

As the paper burns, it needs oxygen and uses up the oxygen （air） in the bottle. The egg acts as a seal in the neck of the bottle, so no more air can get inside. This reduces the air pressure inside the bottle. The air pressure must equalize, so more air from outside must enter the bottle. The outside air pressure against the egg and then the egg is pushed into the bottle! The proves that air is all around and that it is pressing down on it.

1.Why is there the need to take care when you are doing the experiment?

A. The bottle could break.

B. You need to light the paper with a match.

C. The egg needs to be shelled.

D. The egg has to be perfectly placed on the neck of the bottle.

2.In the experiment, the burning inside the bottle can___.

A. equalize the air pressure inside and outside

B. make a seal in the neck of the bottle

C. finish up the oxygen inside the bottle

D. produce more oxygen inside the bottle

3.How did the egg put into the bottle？

A. The oxygen inside the bottle sucked the egg in.

B. It became salt without the shell.

C. The neck of the bottle was wide enough.

D. The outside air pressure forced it into the bottle.

4.The experiment is carried cut to prove ______.

A. water pushes on your body when you swim underwater.

B. the earth is surrounded by a layer of air called the atmosphere.

C. the pressure of air around us has a powerful force.

D. the air pressure is not equalized around us.

I was brought up in the British, stiff upper lip style. Strong feelings aren’t something you display in public. So, you can imagine that I was unprepared for the outpouring of public grief(悲伤) at a Chinese funeral.

My editorial team leader died recently after a short illness. He was 31. The news was so unexpected that it left us all shocked and upset. A female colleague burst into tears and cried piteously at her desk. Somehow we got through the day's work. The next day was the funeral.

Our big boss stepped forward to deliver a eulogy(悼词) and was soon in tears. She carried on, in Chinese of course, but at the end said in English: "There will be no more deadlines for you in heaven." Next came a long-term colleague who also dissolved in tears but carried on with her speech despite being almost overcome by emotion. Then a close friend of the dead man paid tribute(哀悼), weeping openly as he spoke. Sorrow is spreading. Me and women were now sobbing uncontrollably. Finally, the man's mother, supported between two women, addressed her son in his coffin. At one point, the mother almost collapsed and had to be held up. We were invited to step forward to each lay a white rose on the casket. Our dead colleague looked as if he was taking a nap. At the end of the service I walked away from the funeral parlor stunned at the outpouring of emotion.

In the UK, families grieve privately and then try to hold it together and not break down at a funeral. Here in China it would seem that grieving is a public affair. It strikes me that it is more cathartic to cry your eyes out than try to keep it bottled up for fear of embarrassment, which is what many of us do in the West.

Afterwards, a Chinese colleague told me that the lamenting at the funeral had been restrained(克制) by Chinese standards. In some rural areas, she said, people used to be paid to mourn noisily. This struck me like something out of novel by Charles Dickens. But we have all seen on TV scenes of grief-stricken people in Gaza and the West Bank, in Afghanistan, Iraq and the relatives of victims of terrorist bombings around the world. Chinese grief is no different. I realized that it's the reserved British way of mourning that is out of step with the rest of the world.

It was our newspaper's production day. We were bussed back to the office to resume work. No more deadlines for our former colleague, but we had to pull together to put the newspaper to print. The boss invited the team to go out for dinner after work. We relaxed, smiled, joked. There was no mention of the funeral or our poor colleague. Enough sorrow had been shed already. We needed a break.

1.The underlined words “stiff upper lip style” in Paragraph 1 mean “________”.

A．cold-blooded      B．warm-hearted  C．light-hearted   D．self-controlled                 

2.At the funeral, ________.      

A. five individuals made speeches

B. the boss’s speech was best thought of

C. the writer was astonished by the scene

D. everyone was crying out loudly

3.According to the writer, people in the West ________.     

A. are not willing to be sad for the dead

B. cry their eyes out at the public funeral

C. prefer to control their sadness in public

D. have better way to express sadness

4.It is implied that ________.  

A. Chinese express their sadness quite unlike other peoples

B. the English might cry noisily for the dead in Dickens’ time

C. victims of terrorist bombings should be greatly honored

D. English funeral culture is more civilized than the others

5.This passage talks mainly about________.       

A. an editor’s death            B. bad funeral customs

C. cultural differences          D. western ways of grief