阅读理解

　　Tim Berners-Lee is the man who wrote the software program that led to the foundation of the World Wide Web. Britain played an important part in developing the first generation of computers. The parents of Tim Berners-Lee both worked on one of the earliest commercial(商业)computers and talked about their work at home. As a child he would build models of computers from packaging material. After graduating from Oxford University he went on to the real thing. In the 1980's scientists were already communicating using a primitive version of e-mail. While working at a lab in Switzerland Tim Berners-Lee wrote a program, which let him store these messages. This gave him another idea that he was going to write a program that would let academics(学术界人士)from across the world share information on a single site. In 1990 he wrote the HTTP and HTML programs, which formed the basis of the World Wide Web.

　　The next year his programs were placed on to the Internet. Everyone was welcome to use them and improve them if they could. Programs used his codas to work with different operating systems. New things like web browsers and search engines were developed. Between 1991 and 1994 the number of web pages rose from 10 to 100,000.

　　In 1994 Tim Berners-Lee formed the newly World Wide Web consortium(协会), or W3C. More than 200 leading companies and labs are represented by W3C. Together they make sure that everyone can participate equally on the Web.“The Web can help people to understand the way that others live and work. It helps us understand the humanity of people”he says.

(1)From the passage we can infer that Tim Berners-Lee is most probably ________.

[　　]

A．British　　　　B．American

C．Swiss　　　　D．French

(2)The main idea of the passage is ________.

[　　]

A．when the internet came into being

B．how Tim Burners-Lee formed W3C

C．why computers develop so rapidly

D．how the World Wide Web started

(3)Scientists began to communicate using e-mail ________.

[　　]

A．in 1980　　　　    B．after the 1980's

C．before 1990　　　　D．in the 1960's

(4)He made up his mind to write a program that would let people from across the world share information on a single site when ________.

[　　]

A．he was a child

B．he studied on Oxford University

C．he formed W3C

D．he worked at a lab in Switzerland

　　Olaf Stapledon wrote a book called First and Last Men, in which he looked millions of years ahead. He told of different men and of strange civilisations（文明）, broken up by long 'dark ages' in between. In his view, what is called the present time is no more than a moment in human history and we are just the First Men. In 2,000 million years from now there will be the Eighteenth or Last Men.
　　However, most of our ideas about the future are really very short-sighted. Perhaps we can see some possibilities for the next fifty years. But the next hundred ? The next thousand? The next million? That's much more difficult.
　　When men and women lived by hunting 50,000 years ago, how could they even begin to picture modern life? Yet to men of 50,000 years from now, we may seem as primitive（原始的）in our ideas as the Stone-Age hunters do to us. Perhaps through the spundels and ballalators, these words, which I have just made up, have to stand for things and ideas that we simply can't think of .
　　So why bother even to try imagining life far in the future ? Here are two reasons. First unless we remember how short our own lives are compared with the whole human history, we are likely to think our own interests are much more important than they really are. If we make the earth a poor place to live because. we are careless or greedy（贪婪） or quarrelsome,our grand-children will not bother to think of excuses for us.
　　Second, by trying to escape from present interests and imagine life far in the future, we may arrive at quite fresh ideas that we can use ourselves. For example, if we imagine that in the future men may give up farming, we can think of trying it now. So set your imagination free when you think about the future .
53．A particular mention made of Stapledon's book in the opening paragraph ____________
　　A．serves as a description of human history
　　B．serves an introduction to the discussion
　　C．shows a disagreement of views
　　D． Shows the popularity of the book
54．The text discusses men and women 50,000 years ago and 50,000 years from now in order to show that _________.
　　A．human history is extremely long    B．life has changed a great deal
　　C．it is useless to plan for the next 50 years
　　D．it is difficult to tell what will happen in the future
55．Spundels and ballalators are used in the text to refer to _________.
　　A．tools used in farming                   B．ideas about modern life
　　C．unknown things in the future         D．hunting skills in the Stone Age
56．According to the writer of the text, imagining the future will _________.
　　A．serve the interests of the present and future generations
　　B．enable us to better understand human history
　　C．help us to improve farming
　　D．make life worth living

For many years, scientists couldn't figure out how atoms and molecules on the Earth combined to make living things. Plants, fish, dinosaurs, and people are made of atoms and molecules, but they are put together in a more complicated way than the molecules in the primitive ocean. What's more, living things have energy and can reproduce, while the chemicals on the Earth 4 billion years ago were lifeless.
　　After years of study, scientists figured out that living things, including human bodies, are basically made of amino acids and nucleotide bases. These are molecules with millions of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. How could such complicated molecules have been formed in the primitive soup? Scientists were stumped.
　　Then, in 1953, two scientists named Harold Urey and Stanley L. Miller did a very simple experiment to find out what had happened on the Primitive Earth. They set up some tubes and bottles in a closed loop, and put in some of the same gases that were present in the atmosphere 4 billion years ago: water vapor, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen.
　　Then they shot an electric spark through the gases to simulate bolts of lightning on the ancient Earth, circulated the gases through some water, sent them back for more sparks, and so on. After seven days, the water that the gases had been bubbling through had turned brown. Some new chemicals were dissolved in it. When Miller and Urey analyzed the liquid, they found that it contained amino acids-the very kind of molecules found in all living things.
61. When did scientists come to realize how the atoms and molecules on the Earth combined to make living thing?
　　A. 4 billion years ago. B.1953.　C. After seven days.D. Many years later.
62. Scientists figured out that human bodies are basically made of .
A.amino acids
B.molecules
C. hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms
D. water vapor, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen
63. Harold Urey and Stanley L.Miller did their experiment in order to .　
A. find out what had happened on the Earth 4 billion years ago
　　 B.simulate bolts of lightning on the ancient Earth
　　 C. dissolve some new chemicals
　　D.analyze a liquid
64. At the end of the last paragraph, the underlined word "it" refers to .
A. a closed loop   B. an electric spark   C.water   D. the liquid
65. According to the writer, living things on the Earth include .
　A. atoms and molecules                     B.chemicals　
C. plants, fish, dinosaurs and human beings     D.the primitive soup

The flag, the most common symbol of a nation in the modern world, is also one of the most ancient. With a clear symbolic meaning, the flag in the traditional form is still used today to mark buildings, ships and other vehicles related to a country.

The national flag as we know it today is in no way a primitive artifact. It is, rather, the product of thousands of years’ development. Historians believe that it had two major ancestors, of which the earlier served to show wind direction.

Early human beings used very fragile houses and boats. Often strong winds would tear roofs from houses or cause high waves that endangered travelers. People’s food supplies were similarly vulnerable. Even after they had learned how to plant grains, they still needed help from nature to ensure good harvests. Therefore they feared and depended on the power of the wind, which could bring warmth from one direction and cold from another.

Using a simple piece of cloth tied to the top of a post to tell the direction of the wind was more dependable than earlier methods, such as watching the rising of smoke from a fire. The connection of the flag with heavenly power was therefore reasonable. Early human societies began to fix long pieces of cloth to the tops of totems (图腾) before carrying them into battle. They believed that the power of the wind would be added to the good wishes of the gods and ancestors represented by the totems themselves.

These flags developed very slowly into modern flags. The first known flag of a nation or a ruler was unmarked: The king of China around 1,000 B.C. was known to have a white flag carried ahead of him. This practice might have been learned from Egyptians even further in the past, but it was from China that it spread over trade routes through India, then across Arab lands, and finally to Europe, where it met up with the other ancestor of the national flag.

1. The underlined word “ vulnerable” in paragraph 3 means _______.

　　A. easy to damage　　                B. likely to be protected

　　C. impossible to make sure of　　       D. difficult to find

2.The earliest flags were connected with heavenly power because they _______.

　　A. could tell wind direction　　         B. could bring good luck to fighters

　　C. were believed to stand for natural forces D. were handed down by the ancestors

3.What does the author know of the first national flag?

　　A. He knows when it was sent to Europe.  B. He doubts where it started.

　　C. He thinks it came from China.   　　  D. He believes it was made in Egypt.

4.What will the author most probably talk about next?

　　A. The role of China in the spread of the national flag.

　　B. The importance of modern flags.

　　C. The use of modern flags in Europe.

　　D. The second ancestor of the national flag.