Most people in the world like to enjoy nature. Travel is one of the most popular ways. Nowadays modern transportation can take people everywhere. But people who lived before the 1880s probably would not travel very far. They would not have time to travel far from their work. Anyone who travelled  36  would usually walk or ride a horse. But in Germany a man named Karl Benz had an idea that  37  the world in a dramatic way. In 1885, he made  38  . His car had three wheels,  39  most cars today. The car could only go  40  16 kilometres an hour.

At around the same time, the man  41  his first car in Detroit, America is called Henry Ford. Detroit is now still famous all over the world as the centre of American car-making.

Cars were very few and only  42  people could buy them.  43  , in England cars were thought to be  44  at that time, so for a few years someone  45  walk in front of every car  46  a red flag! This was to make sure that the car did not go too fast and hurt  47  .

In the 1910s, Henry Ford had  48  a better kind of car called the Model T Ford and he built a  49  where the cars could be made  50  . In this way the car could be made  51  and the cost was less and more and more people could  52  them. But there was still a problem  53  all the cars were black. That was because it was 54  to produce cars that were all the same color. Now, of course, you can buy cars in all  55  .

Tim Welford, aged 33, and Dom Mee, aged 30, both from England, were keen on (=like... very much) rowing boats. They made a plan to row across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to San Francisco. The name of their rowboat was “Crackers”. It was about seven meters long.

     They set out from Japan on May 17,2001. They had rowed nearly 5,500 miles when their boat was hit by a fishing ship on September 17,2001. Luckily they both escaped unharmed, but their boat was badly damaged and they had to abandon( = stop)their journey.

　 　In a radio interview, Dom expressed his disappointment and explained how the accident took place.

　　“A fishing ship came towards us with nobody on the bridge and ran us down. It all happened so quickly. I managed to dive into the water. Tim felt it would be safer to stay on board. He was trapped inside as the boat was driven under the water. Finally some people appeared on the ship and saw me in the water. I shouted at them to stop the ship and to get Tim out. When the ship stopped, I eventually saw Tim, and I was very, very happy that we were still alive. We were very disappointed that we couldn’t reach San Francisco. But we are alive. That above everything is the most important. ”

41. 1. How long had Tim and Dom been at sea when their boat was hit by a fishing boat?

A. For one month　 　           B. For two months. 

C. For three months.　　        D. For four months.

42. 2.According to Dom, the main reason for the accident was that________.

A. Tim and Dom were too careless

B. the speed of the fishing ship was too fast

C. nobody on the fishing ship saw them

D. their rowboat was not strong enough

43. 3.Dom said that the most important thing in this accident was that________.

A. their rowboat was not damaged

B. both of them existed after a dangerous time

C. they enjoyed this journey

D. they failed to reach San Francisco

44. 4.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. Some people on the fishing ship saved them.

B. Tim and Dom were going to San Francisco in the rowboat because they had no money to buy airplane tickets.

C. Dom dived into the water when the accident happened because he thought it would be dangerous to stay on board.

D. Dom told people about their dangerous experience when he was interviewed on the radio.

If you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors, who say that most of out brains are not getting enough exercise, and as a result, we are growing old unnecessarily soon.

Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why quite healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a rather early age, and how the speed of getting old could be slowed down.

With a team of researchers at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain sizes of a thousand people of different ages with different jobs.

Computer technology helped the researchers to get most exact measurements of the sizes of the front and side parts of the brain, which have something to do with thinking and feeling, and decide the human character. As we all know, the back part of the brain, which controls task like eating and breathing, does not contract(萎缩) with age.

Contraction of front and side parts, as cells(细胞) die off, was seen in some people in their thirties, but it was still not found in some sixty and seventy-year-olds.

Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple way to prevent the contraction---using the head.

The findings show that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than those in the towns. Those with least possibility, says Matsuzawa, are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White-collar workers doing the same work day after day in government offices are, however, as possible to have contracting brains as the farm workers, bus drivers and shop assistants.

1. The team of doctors wanted to find out ____.

   A. at what point people grow live longer. 

B. how to make people live longer

   C. the size of certain people’s brains.  

D. which group of people are the busiest

2.Their research findings are based on ______.c

   A. an examination of farmers in northern Japan 

B. using computer technology

   C. examining the brain sizes of different people 

D. tests given a thousand old people

3.The doctor’s tests show that ______.

   A. our brains contract as we grow older  

B. one part of the brain does not contract

   C. sixty-year-olds have better brains than thirty-year-olds

   D. contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country

4. According to the article, _____ are growing mentally old earlier.

   A. engineers    B. office clerks    C. professors    D. researchers

5.The most possible conclusion of the article is that ____.

   A. most of us should take more exercise  

B. it’s better to live in the towns

   C. the brain contracts if it is not used 

D. the more one uses his brain, the sooner he becomes old

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中的两项为多途选项。

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中的两项为多途选项。

In many parts of the world, cars play an important role in daily life and many societies would not exist without them.  71  But this is the prediction made by a team of transport researchers who are taken seriously, not only by government but also by car manufacturers.

The Human Science and Advanced Technology Institute at Loughborough in the UK is part of an international research program.  72  That will mean much saving, no accidents and better use of roads. The super-intelligent car in the future will drive itself.  73  Instead, we will have a choice of cars and change them as frequently as we change our clothing.

According to Dr. David Davis, who leads the research team, these predictions are based on the rising cost of the car culture, which had blocked up our cities, polluted our air, and caused more deaths than both world wars put together.

Davis says, cars will be fitted with some intelligent devices(装置) to regulate(调节) the distance between one car and another.  74  computers are much safer drivers than people, so cars in a road train will be able to drive much closer together than cars driven by people.

   By 2010, Dr. David Davis believes, car technology will give motorists a clear view of the road, whatever the weather conditions, by projecting an image of the road ahead on to the car’s windscreen.  75  Cars will be connected by an electronic tow bar to the car in front to form “road-trains”. “The front vehicle in such a train burns the normal amount.”says Davis. “but all the others in the train would burn about ten percent of the normal amount,  and so produce about ten percent of the pollution.”

A.      The team there believes that by 2030 all cars will be computerized.

B.      They believe that cars will become more important in 20 years.

C.      And it will not be owned by one individual.

D.      And by 2030, cars will travel in line, linked to each other electronically.

E.       So the idea that in 20 years’ time, no one will own cars may be hard to believe.

F.       Every driver will use less fuel in the car he owns.

G.      The car will automatically speed up, or slow down, to match the speed of the car in front.