How could we tell time if there were no watches or clocks anywhere in the world? The sun was probably the world’s first “clock”, except in the far north, where the Eskimos(爱斯基摩人) live. There, it’s dark most of the winter, and light most of the summer. But in most of the world, people have used the sun for a clock. Even today, if you don’t have a clock, you still know that when the sun shines, it’s day, and when it’s dark, it’s night. The sun can also tell you if it’s morning, noon, or afternoon.

People who live near the sea can tell time from the tides. In the daytime, for about six hours, the water rises higher and higher on the beach. And then it goes down and down for about six hours. The same thing happens again at night. There are two high tides and two low tides every 24 hours.

Seamen on a ship learn how to tell time by looking at the moon and the stars. The whole sky is their clock.

In some places in the world the wind comes up at about the same time every day or changes direction or stops blowing. In these places the wind can be the clock.

A sand clock is an even better clock. If you had fine dry sand in a glass shaped like the one in the picture, you would have what is called an hourglass. The sand in the hourglass goes from the top part to the bottom part in exactly one hour. When the hourglass is turned over, the sand will take another hour to go back again.

1.According to(根据) the passage, there are ____________ ways to tell time besides(除了)the clock and watch.

A. 3 B. 4 C. 5 D. 7

2.The Eskimos in the far north can’t use the sun for a clock because __________.

A. they know very little about the sun

B. the sun there never goes down in winter

C. it’s too cold for them to go out to watch the sun

D. it has long dark winters and long light summers

3.The underlined(下划线) word “tides” in the passage means _____________.

A. 洋流 B. 潮汐 C. 海啸 D. 波浪

4.In which page of a newspaper can you most probably read this passage?

A. News B. Science C. Business D. Advertisement

5.What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Different Ways to Tell Time B. Useful Machines to Tell Time

C. The History of the Clock D. The Development of the Clock

Have you noticed your life becoming a little easier? Now, when you go to a certain shopping mall, you can enjoy its free Wi-Fi there. When you want to take a taxi, you can book one with your phone. In fact, all these can be seen as the basic parts of a smart city.

The idea of a smart city was brought up by US company IBM in 2010. Generally, a smart city is a city that uses digital technologies such as the Internet to improve city planning, save money and resources, and make our lifeconvenient. How smart can a city be? Here are great examples that we can learn from.

In 2009, Dubuque became the first smart city in the US. The city used smart water meters to take the place of traditional water meters. They can detect(探测〉water waste and leakage(泄漏)and send data to let the house owner know. The same system is used for other city resources like electricity and natural gas. This way, people know how they use their resources and are glad to help reduce waste.

Santander in Spain also gives us a look at the future. If people point a phone toward a nearby bus stop, the phone immediately shows all bus lines that serve the stop as well as their arrival times. The government organized a research team and provided an App(应用程序〉that collects data on almost everything: light, temperature, and the movements of cars and people. Opening the App near a supermarket provides immediate information on special

1.According to the passage, which of the following is RIGHT?

A. Digital technologies are used in smart cities.

B. An English company first raised the idea of a smart city.

C. A smart city is mainly made up of free Wi-Fi and phones.

D. A smart city is still an idea and hasn’t come into being.

2.The underlined word “convenient” is the closest in meaning to _____.

A. useful B. normal C. suitable D. easy

3.Compared to traditional water meters, smart water meters do better in .

A. cleaning water B. supplying water

C. saving water D. producing water

4.The example of Santander shows the use of smart systems in aspects(方面)EXCEPT _____.

A. business B. health care

C. traffic controlling D. public transportation

5.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A. Digital technologies help improve city planning.

B. Smart cities will make our future life better and smarter.

C. Smart cities are very common in both Dubuque and Santander.

D. Spain and the US take the leading position in building smart cities.

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