B
　　Although man has known asbestos for many hundreds of years, it was not until 160 years ago that it was mined for the first time on the North American continent. H. W. Johns, owner of a New York City Supply Shop for roofers, was responsible for he opening of that first mine.
　　Mr. Johns was given a piece of asbestos which had been found in Italy. He experimented with the material and then showed its surprising powers to his customers. After putting on a pair of asbestos gloves, which looked much like ordinary work gloves, he took red-hot coals from the fireplace and played with them in his hands. How astonished the customers were to discover that he was not burned at all. You can well imagine that he had increasing business in asbestos roofing materials. However, because it was very expensive to transport them from Italy to the United States, Mr. Johns sent out a young scientist to seek a source nearer home. This young man found great vein in the province of Quebec in Canada.
　　Ever since 1881 Quebec has led the world in the production of this unusual mineral, which is made up of magnesium, silicon, iron, and oxygen. When it is mined, the asbestos is heavy, just as you would expect a mineral to be. When it is separated, a strange thing happens; the rock breaks down into fine, soft, soapy fibers .
　　Scientists do not know why the rock can be separated easily into threads,but they have found thousands of uses of this fireproof material, of the so-called “cloth of stone”.
　60. Which title best expresses the main idea of this passage?
　   A. Asbestos mined in Canada                  B. Fireproof matter
C. A “wonder” mineral                           D. A new roofing material
　61. Johns proved his ability as a salesman by_______.
　   A. going into roofing business              
B. carrying asbestos from Italy
　   C. sending a trained scientist                 
D. showing the use of asbestos gloves
　62. Which is the most important character of asbestos that the author wants to show us?
　   A. It is like thread.                               B. It feels soapy.
C. It burns easily.                                 D. It is unusually heavy.
　63. The author’s main purpose in writing this passage was to _______.
　   A. show the need for more scientists
　   B. compare asbestos with other minerals
　   C. increase the sales of asbestos
　   D. present facts about asbestos

                                        B

　　Although man has known asbestos for many hundreds of years, it was not until 160 years ago that it was mined for the first time on the North American continent. H. W. Johns, owner of a New York City Supply Shop for roofers, was responsible for he opening of that first mine.

　　Mr. Johns was given a piece of asbestos which had been found in Italy. He experimented with the material and then showed its surprising powers to his customers. After putting on a pair of asbestos gloves, which looked much like ordinary work gloves, he took red-hot coals from the fireplace and played with them in his hands. How astonished the customers were to discover that he was not burned at all. You can well imagine that he had increasing business in asbestos roofing materials. However, because it was very expensive to transport them from Italy to the United States, Mr. Johns sent out a young scientist to seek a source nearer home. This young man found great vein in the province of Quebec in Canada.

　　Ever since 1881 Quebec has led the world in the production of this unusual mineral, which is made up of magnesium, silicon, iron, and oxygen. When it is mined, the asbestos is heavy, just as you would expect a mineral to be. When it is separated, a strange thing happens; the rock breaks down into fine, soft, soapy fibers .

　　Scientists do not know why the rock can be separated easily into threads,but they have found thousands of uses of this fireproof material, of the so-called “cloth of stone”.

　60. Which title best expresses the main idea of this passage?

　   A. Asbestos mined in Canada                   B. Fireproof matter

C. A “wonder” mineral                            D. A new roofing material

　61. Johns proved his ability as a salesman by_______.

　   A. going into roofing business               

B. carrying asbestos from Italy

　   C. sending a trained scientist                  

D. showing the use of asbestos gloves

　62. Which is the most important character of asbestos that the author wants to show us?

　   A. It is like thread.                                B. It feels soapy.

C. It burns easily.                                    D. It is unusually heavy.

　63. The author’s main purpose in writing this passage was to _______.

　   A. show the need for more scientists

　   B. compare asbestos with other minerals

　   C. increase the sales of asbestos

　   D. present facts about asbestos

根据短文的内容，用适当的词语填空，首字母已给出。

　　In 1846 an Irish immigrant in New York named Alexander Stewart opened a business called the Marble Dry-Goods Palaces． By doing so, he gave the world something completely new－the department store． Before this , no one (1)h ________tried to bring together such a wide range of goods (2)u ________a single roof． The business did very (3)w ________． It expanded rapidly and soon had a staff of two thousand． For Stewart even that was not enough , (4)h________． In 1862 he moved to an eight-storey (5)b ________nearby, (6)w________ he renamed A．T． Stewart's Cast-Iron Palace． It was , (7)a________ for many years would remain , the largest shop in the world．

　　Others followed Stewart’s examples and soon there were stores (8)l________ his in many major cities in the United States． We don’t (9)k________ when people started calling them department stores． The expression wasn't used in print (10)u________ 1893 , when it appeared in Harper’s magazine, but the way that it was used there (11)m________ it clear that it was already widely understood．