New York is one of the last large American cities to have some of its policemen on horseback.The New York police have 170 horses working on certain parts of the city.The horses are expensive to feed(喂养), but it is even more expensive to look after them.Because the horses must walk on the streets, they need special horse shoes.In fact, they need more than 8,000 of them each day.Every police horse in New York gets new shoes every month.Keeping these shoes in good repair is the job of six blacksmiths(铁匠).There are only about thirty-five blacksmiths in the whole United States.

The cost of shoeing a horse is between twenty dollars and thirty-five dollars and it takes a good blacksmith two or three hours to do the job.

A blacksmith’s job is not an easy one.He must be able to shape a shoe from a piece of metal and then fit(安装) it to the horse foot.The blacksmith must bend over(弯腰) all the time when he is fitting the shoe and must hold the weight(重量) of the horse’s leg while he works.Clearly, a blacksmith must be very strong.But even more important, he must be able to deal with horses-for before the blacksmith can begin his work, he has to get the horse to lift his leg.

One of the blacksmiths in New York is James Corbin.He came to the country from Ireland in 1948.He not only makes horseshoes for the police but also works for a group of horse owners near the city.Corbin became interested in the job of blacksmiths because his father did it, and, as he puts it, “It’s a good way to make a living.”

1.According to the passage, a blacksmith must be a man.

A.clever B.rich C.strong D.lucky

2.James Corbin became a blacksmith because he .

A.was interested in horses

B.was needed by the policemen

C.drew a picture of the horse shoes

D.had to make a living

3.In the passage “to shape a shoe” is to .

A.fit it on the horse’s foot

B.use it for two or three hours

C.make the form of a horseshoe from a piece of metal

D.draw a picture of the shoe

4.The best title for the passage is “ ”.

A.Policemen on Horseback

B.Blacksmiths and Horseshoeing

C.James Corbin, a Blacksmith

D.Horseshoeing Is a Good Way to Make a Living

5.Which of the following is true?

A.Only a few large American cities have some policemen on horseback.

B.New York is the only city in America to have some policemen on horseback.

C.Policemen on horseback enjoy travelling around the United States.

D.Policemen on horseback are less expensive than those in cars.

We have always been interested in the moon.2000 years ago people already knew it moved around the earth and where it would be in the sky at different times of the year.At that time, everything about the moon was learned by watching it carefully in the sky.

When scientists could use telescopes to study the moon more closely, their ideas began to change.They could see the moon was made of rocks.Most scientists thought moon rocks would be different from those on Earth.This was because they believed the moon had once been a planet that had been caught in the earth's gravity (引力) millions of years earlier.

In 1969 moon rocks were finally brought to the earth and studied.Much to their surprise, scientists found that, except for water, the moon and the earth were made of the same things.Once again new ideas were needed for this new information.

After years of study, most scientists now think that the moon was once part of Earth.They believe very early in its history, maybe 4 million years ago, something about the size of Mars hit Earth.This sent billions of rocks into space around our planet.These rocks slowly joined together and after many years became the moon.

In the future, even though our ideas about the moon may change again, we will still be interested in it.

1.Now, we’re sure ________________

A.Moon rocks are quite different from those on Earth.

B.Moon was once a part of Earth.

C.Moon moves around Earth and it’s the only satellite of Earth.

D.Moon was once a planet caught in Earth’s gravity.

2.In 1969 there is a big event, that is __________.

A.humans Found no water in Moon rocks

B.scientists made out a modern spaceship

C.scientists invented an advanced telescope

D.humans left their footprints on Moon

3.What does the writer want to tell us in the passage?

A.Why people are interested in the moon.

B.How ideas about the moon have changed over time.

C.Where the moon came from in the past.

D.That people have finally learned the truth about the moon.

4.Before 1969 most scientists thought the moon was ________.

A.part of the earth billions of years earlier

B.older than the earth

C.a planet caught by the earth's gravity

D.made of the same things as the earth

5.From this passage we can learn that ________.

A.scientists in the past were not clever

B.the earth was once part of the moon

C.new information brings new ideas

D.we now know everything about the moon

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