Thomas Edison lit up the world with his invention of the electric light. Without him, the world might still be in the dark. However, the electric light was not his only invention. He also invented the motion picture camera and 1200 other things. About every two weeks he created something new.

Thomas Edison was born in 1847. He attended school for only three months. His mother taught him at home, but Thomas was mostly self-educated. He started experimenting at a young age.

When he was 12 years old, he got his first job. He became a newsboy on a train. He did experiments on the train in his free time. Unluckily, his first work experience did not end well. They fired him when he accidentally set fire to the floor of the train. Then Edison worked for five years as a telegraph operator, but he continued to spend much of his time in experimenting his first patent(专利权) in 1868 for a vote recorder run by electricity.

Edison was totally deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other, but he thought of his deafness as a blessing(福分) in many ways. It kept conversations short, so that he could have more time for work. He always worked 16 out of every 24 hours. Sometimes his wife had to remind him to sleep and eat.

Edison died at the age of 84. He left a great many inventions that greatly improved the quality of life all over the world.

1.How often did Edison make a new invention?

A. About every fourteen days

B. About every seven days

C. About once a week

D. About twice a week

2.The underlined word “fired” in the passage means “__________”

A. Gave somebody a job

B. Set fire to somebody

C. Let somebody down

D. Made somebody leave his job

3.Edison considered his deafness as______.

A. something bad B. a gift from god

C. a kind of ability D. a chance

4.Which of the following sentence is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Edison had only 8 hours rest each day after his deafness.

B. Edison had his first job in 1859.

C. A Vote recorder was Edison’s only patent.

D. Edison got his education mostly by himself.

5.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. The function(功能) of the electric light

B. The whole life of Edison.

C. The importance of inventions

D. Edison and his experiments

Decisions, decisions! Our lives are full of them, from the small ones to the life-changing. The right to choose is central to everyone. Yet sometimes we make bad decisions that leave us unhappy or full of regret. Can science help?

Most of us know little about the mental processes(心理历程)that lie behind our decisions. Luckily, what psychologists are finding may help us all make better choices. Here are some of their amazing discoveries to help you make up your mind. Consider your emotions(情感). You might think that emotions are the enemy of decision-making, but in fact they are a part of it. Whenever you make up your mind, your brain’s emotional centre is active. University of Southern California scientist, Antonio Damasia, has studied people with damage(损伤) to only the emotional parts of their brains, and found that they were unable to make basic choices about what to wear or eat. Damasia thinks this may be because our brains store emotional memories of past choice, which we use to help the present decision-making.

However, making choices under the influence of an emotion can greatly affect the result. Take anger for example. A study by Nitika Garg of the University of Mississippi and other scientists found the angry shoppers were more likely to choose the first thing they were offered rather than considering other choices. It seems that anger can lead us to make quick decisions without much thinking.

All emotions affect our thinking and motivation(动机),so it may be best to avoid making important decisions under their influence. Yet strangely there is one emotion that seems to help us make good choices. The American researchers found that sad people took time to consider the various choices on offer, and ended up making the best choices. In fact many studies show that people who feel unhappy have the most reasonable view of the world.

1. What does the underlined word “central” mean?

A. in the middle B. easy to reach

C. important D. having power

2. Damasia’s study suggests that ________.

A. emotions are the enemy of decision-making.

B. our brain has nothing to do with decision-making.

C. people with physical damage find it hard to make up their minds.

D. our emotional memories of past choices can affect present decisions.

3.According to the text, what may help us make better decisions?

A. To think about happy times.

B. To make many decisions at a time.

C. To stop feeling regretful about the past.

D. To learn about the process of decision-making.

4. Why are angry shoppers more likely to choose the first thing they are offered?

A. They often forget their past choices.

B. They make decisions without much thinking.

C. They tend to save time when shopping.

D. They are too angry to bargain.

5.What do we learn from the text?

A. Emotions are a part of decision-making.

B. Sad people always make worse choices.

C. No emotion seems to help us make good choices.

D. Only sad feelings affect our thinking and motivation.

阅读表达。阅读下面的短文,根据要求完成文后各小题。

Being tired of my noisy life in the city, I wanted to breathe some fresh air and experience a new kind of life. So I joined the “Earth care Project”. When I set out, I took nothing with me but some bad emotion(情绪).However, when the trip was over, my backpack was full of things, including joy, sadness, beautiful views and some knowledge about life.

In this exchange project, I was glad that I could get along well with the strange participants(参加者) from other countries. We tried to take care of each other. The group leaders, Paul and Reg, were both nice. They were very knowledgeable about plants, animals and the environment. However, they were completely different from each other-----one was very quiet and the other was very outgoing. They were a really interesting pair.

The most successful thing about this trip was that we had panted 1103 plants during the last two weeks. That was really encouraging. I felt very happy that I had done something useful for the earth with my own hands.

On this trip, I learned to watch and think more about the world around me, rather than just caring about myself. We should be kind to life. We should not only treat human beings well, but also animals, plants and nature. After this trip, I feel that I have become more active and outgoing. I won’t miss another trip like this in the future.

1.Why did the writer join the “Earth Care Project” at first?

2.Where did the participants of the project come from?

3.Did Paul and Reg have the same completely character?

4.Try to put the underlined sentence into Chinese.

5.What do the volunteers do in the “Earth Care project”?

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