16． The oldest university in the United States is____．

A．Dartmouth　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．Columbia

C．Princeton　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．Harvard

15．According to the passage，Who do you think learned a lesson？

A．The tortoise．　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．The hare．

C．Sonny．　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．Sonny's father．

E

Started in 1636．Harvard University is the oldest of all the many colleges and universities in the United states．Yale，Princeton， Columbia and Dartmouth were opened soon after Harvard．They were all started before the American Revolution that made the thirteen colonies(殖民地) into states．

In the early years，these schools Were much alike(相似)．Only young men attended college．All the students studied the same subjects，and everyone learned Latin， Greek and Hebrew( 希伯来语)．Little was known about science then，and one kind of school could teach everything that was known about the world．When the students graduated most of them became ministers or teachers．

In 1782，Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors．Later，lawyers could receive their training in Harvard's law school．In 1825，Harvard began teaching modern languages， such as French and German，as well as Latin and Greek．Soon it began teaching American history．

As knowledge increased， Harvard and the other colleges began to teach many new subjects．Students were allowed to choose the subjects that interested them．

Special colleges for women were started．New state universities began to teach subjects，such as farming， engineering， and business．Today，there are many different kinds of colleges and universities．Most of them are divided into smaller institutes that deal with special fields of learning．There is so much to learn that one kind of school cannot offer it at all．

14．Sonny believed that the tortoise____．

A． won the race by his effort

B．took a risk(冒险)by agreeing to the race

C．was not given a fair chance in the race

D． in fact did not win the race

13． The writer argued with is son because____．

A． he liked tortoises while his son liked hares

B．they disagreed about whether the tortoise was stupid

C．he liked the story of the hare and the tortoise while his son didn't

D．he tried to teach his son the moral(道德) lesson of the story but the son refused it．

12． After reading this passage，we should remember that we know the usual weight of a thing，____．

A．because it is on the surface of the earth

B． because it is weighed

C． because it is in space

D．because it is not far away from the earth

D

I was telling my boy Sonny the story of the hare(野兔) and the tortoise(乌龟)．At the end I said，“Son，remember：Slow and steady wins the race．Don't you think there's something to learn from the tortoise？”

He opened his eyes wide．“Do you mean next time when I'm entering the 60-metre race I should wish Billy and Tony and Sandy would all fall asleep halfway？”

I was surprised．“But the tortoise didn't wish the hare would fall asleep．”

“He must have wished that，” Sonny said，“Otherwise how could he be so stupid as to race with the hare？He hew very well the hare ran a hundred times faster than he himself did．”

“He didn't have such a wish．” I insisted．“He won the race by perseverance(毅力)， by pushing on steadily．”

Sonny thought for a While．“That's a lie，” he said．“He won the race because he was lucky．If the hare hadn't happened to fall asleep， the tortoise would never have won the race．He could be as steady as you like， or a hundred times steadier，but he'd never have won the race！That's for sure．”

11．If we make the distance between objects five times as far away，____．

A．it gets twenty-five times weaker

B．their weight gets twenty-five times weaker

C．their gravity gets twenty-five times weaker

D．their gravity increases twenty-five times weaker

10． A 450 pound man-made satellite is sent to the place 2000 miles out from the earth．Its weight is about____．

A．200 pounds　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．a half pounds

C．100 pounds　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．300 pounds

9．Which Of the following is right？

A． A thing has the same weight everywhere in space．

B．‘Weight’is a fixed quality in an object．

C．‘Weight’is not a quality on an object．

D．A thing's weight changes with its place in space．

8． The passage suggests that in America____．

A． women depend on husbands

B．lots of women live by themselves

C．women like driving trucks

D．the government gives welfare to poor women

C

Because we can feel that things are heavy， we think of“weight” as being a fixed quality in an object， but it is not really fixed at all．If you could take a one- pound packet of butter 4000 miles out from the earth， it would weigh only a quarter of a pound．

Why would things weigh only a quarter as much as they do at the surface ot the earth if we took them 4000 miles out into space？The reason is this： All objects have a natural gravity(引力)for all other objects；this is called gravitational(万有引力) attraction．But this power of attraction between two objects gets weaker as they get farther apart．When the butter Was at the surface of the earth．It was 4000 miles from the centre．When we took the butter 4000 miles out，it Was 8000 miles from the centre，which is twice the distance．

If you double the distance between two objects，their gravitational attraction decreases(减少)“two times two”．If you take the distance three times far away，it gets nine times weaker(three times three)．If you take it tour times as far away，it gets sixteen times weaker (four times four) and so on．

So this is one first things we need to remember：the weight of an object in space is not the same as its weight on the surface of the earth．

7．Choose the correct order according to the time．

a． Her husband left her．

b． She drove her husband's truck．

c． She left high school．

d．She got a much better job．

e．She entered for a truck-driving course．

f．She lifted herself out of poverty(贫困)．

g． She was told about W．O．W．

A．f，a，c，b，e，d，g

B．c，b，g，a，e，d，f

C．g，d，f，c，e，b，a

D．c，b，a，g，e，d，f