“How many common English words were invented by Shakespeare?”
How long did it take people to find the answer to this question 15 years ago? And now! You can google it and find the answer immediately!
Google is the most popular Internet search engine（搜索引擎）in the world. It was invented by two students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They met in 1993, when they were studying computer science at Stanford University, USA. They dreamed of producing something that could also answer any question in seconds.
Internet search engines at that time were slow and gave many websites that weren’t useful. In January 1996, Page and Brin decided to make a better and faster search engine. They thought the results should be based on the most popular websites.
Nobody would give them money for their project, so they used their own money. They also borrowed money from family and friends. Then, in 1998, they were given a cheque for $100,000, and they started their own company(公司). Their first office was in a friend’s garage(车库).The company name is Google, a word which comes from mathematics. A “google” is a very high number — 1 followed by a hundred zeros.
The Google search engine was soon used by thousands of people worldwide because it was fast, easy and correct. By 2002 it was the biggest search engine on the Internet. Now, more questions have been answered by Google than any other Internet service, from sport to science, and from music to medicine. Google hopes that in the future all the world’s information will be put on the Internet, so that everybody can find everything.
【小题1】Why did the writer begin this passage by asking you a question?

— Excuse me, could you tell me ________ to fly to Guilin?

— About two hours.

One of the fastest passenger trains in the world is the Euro Star. It travels the distance between London and Paris in just over two and a half hours. The same journey which used to take five or six hours and always involved（包含） a slow boat crossing. If you take the Euro Star, you can leave London Waterlooat 4 o’clock on a Friday afternoon and be in the centre of Paris at 6:35, in time for dinner.

One of the most exciting things about Euro Star is that it goes through a tunnel under the sea. This is called the Channel Tunnel, and goes between Folkestone in England and Sangate in France. The tunnel is 31 miles long, and cost $21 billion to build. This part of the journey takes about 20 minutes and there are two other tunnels that people can get out of quickly if there is a fire or an accident（事故）.

The trains have a top speed of 180 mph (300 km p hr), and run on special tracks（轨道）. It can go much faster on these tracks. The trains are very comfortable, just like all the other trains, and you can also buy a lot of food and drink in the restaurant car. But the trains travel so fast, people can’t really see anything out of the window, especially on the French side where it speeds up quite a lot.

1.Does the Euro Star travel between London and Paris?

2.How long did it take from London to Paris if you take the Euro Star?

____________________________________________________________

3.How long is the Channel Tunnel?

4.How many tunnels are there to help people get out of if there is a fire?

5.What makes the Euro Star go faster through the tunnel?

“How many common English words were invented by Shakespeare?”

How long did it take people to find the answer to this question 15 years ago? And now! You can google it and find the answer immediately!

Google is the most popular Internet search engine（搜索引擎）in the world. It was invented by two students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They met in 1993, when they were studying computer science at Stanford University, USA. They dreamed of producing something that could also answer any question in seconds.

Internet search engines at that time were slow and gave many websites that weren’t useful. In January 1996, Page and Brin decided to make a better and faster search engine. They thought the results should be based on the most popular websites.

Nobody would give them money for their project, so they used their own money. They also borrowed money from family and friends. Then, in 1998, they were given a cheque for $100,000, and they started their own company(公司). Their first office was in a friend’s garage(车库).The company name is Google, a word which comes from mathematics. A “google” is a very high number — 1 followed by a hundred zeros.

The Google search engine was soon used by thousands of people worldwide because it was fast, easy and correct. By 2002 it was the biggest search engine on the Internet. Now, more questions have been answered by Google than any other Internet service, from sport to science, and from music to medicine. Google hopes that in the future all the world’s information will be put on the Internet, so that everybody can find everything.

1.Why did the writer begin this passage by asking you a question?

A．Because he or she liked to begin this passage by asking readers a question.

B．Because he or she was afraid that the readers didn’t know this question.

C．Because he or she wanted to make the readers interested in this passage.

D．Because Shakespeare is one of the most famous people in the world.

2.The underlined word “cheque” in the fifth paragraph means _______.

A．楼房             B．账单             C．订单             D．支票

3.From the passage we know that at the beginning of their project, _______.

A．there was not any search engine on the Internet

B．nobody supported them except their family and friends

C．Larry Page and Sergey Brin dreamed to answer any question

D．one of the most popular websites gave them a cheque for $100,000

4.Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Now the Google search engine is widely used in the world.

B．The Google search engine was not the biggest one before 2002.

C．Larry Page and Sergey Brin named google after a hundred zeros.

D．The service of the Google search engine is very popular.

5.The passage mainly tells us _______.

A．the development of the Google search engine

B．about Larry Page and Sergey Brin

C．how to find information on the Internet

D．how to use the Google search engine

Chris Jones recently completed a very unusual journey. Our reporter Mary Owen met him at his home in the south of London and be told her all about the trip.

Reporter: What gave you the idea to make a trip around India on an elephant, Chris?

Chris: Well, it all started the idea two years ago when I was planning a trip to India. I visited a photo exhibition of elephants and I realized that the only enjoyable way to make a trip around India was on an elephant.

Reporter: What did you do next?

Chris: I flew to New Delhi and started looking for an elephant, I needed an elephant trained to carry people. I didn’t know anything about elephants, so I asked an expert(专家) for help. He taught me how to ride an elephant. He also helped me find an elephant.

Reporter: How long did it take to find a suitable elephant?

Chris: Not too long. I bought a female elephant called Tara for about 6, 000 dollars.

Reporter: Can you tell me about the journey?

Chris: Tara and I set off from New Delhi a week later. We were going to Sonepur in northern India. There is a big elephant market there and I could sell Tara easily. And what a ride! Elephants can travel at about 6 miles an hour and Sonepur is more than 1, 200 km away. It took us 64 days to complete the journey.

Reporter: Did you have any problems on your journey?

Chris: Yes, a few. But nothing serious. On the third day, Tara hurt her foot. Btu that got better quickly. Also, there was a lot of heavy rain during the first week and we got very wet!

Reporter: What happened when you reached Sonepur?

Chris: My plan was to sell Tara. But I was very fond of her. I couldn’t take her back to Britain and I didn’t want to sell her at the market. I happened to meet some people who wanted an elephant for their national park in southern India. I knew that Tara would be safe with them, so I gave her to them. I was very sad to say goodbye.

1.Chris got the idea to make a trip around India on an elephant from __________.

2.The elephant expert told Chris __________.

3.Chris decided to go to Sonepur because __________.

4.When Chris arrived at the market in Sonepur, __________.