There are many people who say Thomas Edison invented the twentieth century. Although there are those who may disagree, yet Edison was one of the greatest inventors in America.

Born in 1847 in Ohio, Thomas Edison attended school for only three months. After his teacher said that he could not learn, Edison’s mother decided to teach him at home. There he was allowed to study the subjects that most interested him. By age ten, Edison had built a science laboratory of his own.

Edison got his first job at age twelve on the railway selling candy and newspapers. There he once saved a boy whose father was the boss of the railway station. In return the boss helped him a lot.

In his late twenties, Edison built an “invention factory” where he and his business partners could devote all their time to inventing. After improving upon the telephone, Edison created the phonograph(留声机). Although Edison did not actually invent the light bulb, he did create an electric lighting system which led to its widespread use.

Edison set up the first central electric power station in 1882, so New York became the first city in the world to have electric lights. This was the beginning of the modern world in which electricity became a way of life.

The following year, one of Edison’s engineers discovered electrons(电子), which at last led to electronics. Without electronics, we might not have radio, TV, computers, or space travel. The rest of Edison’s life was spent making and improving inventions.

Thomas Edison died at the age of eighty-four in 1931. Three days later, much of America dimmed(使暗淡) its lights in honor of the inventor—a man who had more impact (影响)on the development of present-day civilization than anyone else in history.

1. The passage tells us that ________.

A. Edison didn’t like to study at school

B. Edison invented the light bulb in his late twenties

C. even without electronics, we might have radio, TV, computers, or space travel

D. New York was the first city in the world to have electric lights

2.From the passage, we can infer that _________.

A. Edison’s teacher thought Edison was not worth teaching

B. Edison’s mother stopped Edison studying at school

C. Edison didn’t invent many things in all his life

D. Edison didn’t spend his life working on these inventions when he was old

3. Why did many Americans dim their lights when Edison died? ________.

A. Americans wanted to save more energy.

B. Americans were used to dimming their lights.

C. Americans dimmed their lights in memory of the great inventor.

D. Americans were made to dim their lights.

4.The best title for this passage is ________.

A. Edison, a Poor Man

B. Edison, a Great Inventor

C. Edison Died at 84

D. Edison and His Childhood

If you wish to become a better reader, here are four important things to remember about reading rate:

● Knowing why you are reading or what you are reading to find out will often help you to know whether to read rapidly or slowly.

● Some things should be read slowly throughout. Examples are directions for making or doing something, arithmetic problems, science and history books, which are full of important information. You must read such things slowly to remember each important step and understand each important ideas.

● Some things should be read rapidly throughout. Examples are simple stories meant for enjoyment, news letters from friends, pieces of news from local, or home-town, papers, telling what is happening to friends and neighbors.

● In some of your reading, you must change your speed from fast to slow and slow to fast, as you go along. You will need to read certain pages rapidly and then slow down and do more careful reading when you come to important ideas which must be remembered.

1.The underlined word "rate" in the first sentence means _______.

A. fast B. slow C. speed D. skill

2. Which should be read slowly according to the passage?

A. Stories for enjoyment

B. Arithmetic problems

C. Letters from friends

D. News from hometown newspapers

3. How fast should we read?

A. The faster, the better.

B. The more slowly, the better.

C. Neither too fast nor too slow.

D. It depends on what we are reading.

4.According to the passage which of the following is NOT true?

A. Read slowly when you are reading something important to you.

B. Read fast when you are reading something unimportant to you.

C. Read the materials that you are interested in slowly.

D. Read the materials that you are interested in fast.

短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。有两项为多余选项。

Vacations are important. We need to take time out from work to relax, and just be

ourselves. __1.__ We should all be allowed to leave our jobs behind us — at least for a few weeks each year — and just have fun. This might be something as simple as reading a good book in front of a warm fireplace through to travelling to the most interesting places on our planet. Whatever we fancy doing is worth taking time out for.

Workplace stress is on the rise. _2._ These include disease, depression and even death. We all seem to be running from one place to the next, never finding out where we want to go in the first place. I intend to break that trend in the coming days. __3.__ I will sleep late, write, watch movies, drink the occasional glass of wine, and eat to my heart’s content ignoring calorie counting. My plan is to just enjoy the fleeting moments of being alive.

_4.__ Spend your next vacation the way you want. Do what will restore your mental health. You’re very valuable to the people who are close to you, and to those who depend on it. Like it or not, we are all interdependent in this great life of ours.

You are valuable. Just remember that the next time you look at the mirror and take a deep breath. Remind yourself that there will never be anyone like you ever on this earth again. __5.__ All you have to do is just ask yourself what you want to do.

A. With it come many health problems.

B. When you finally get home you'll be greatly refreshed.

C. I challenge each one of you to do the same.

D. Draw up a detailed plan so you can see more.

E. Life is not all about work, or at least it shouldn't be.

F. And only you know how to vacation your way.

G. For my next holiday, I will do all the things that I love doing.

阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Taste is such a subjective matter that we don't usually conduct preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone's preference, is that it's one person's opinion. But because the two big cola companies-Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed so aggressively, we have wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca-Cola Classic or Pepsi fans: find your brand in a blind tasting.

We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola Classic or Pepsi, Diet (低糖的) Coke, or Diet Pepsi. These were people who thought they' d have no trouble telling their brand from the other brand.

We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them four unidentified samples of cola one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for the other. We asked them to tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi, then we analyzed the records statistically to compare the participants' choices with what mere guess-work could have accomplished.

Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people who believed they could recognize their brand. In the end, only 7 out of 19 regular cola drinkers correctly identified their brand of choice in all four trials. The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse-only 7 of 27 identified all four samples correctly.

While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people got all four samples wrong. Overall, half of the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, so tiredness, or taste burnout, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggest that only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and price.

1.It is implied in the first paragraph that ________.

A. the purpose of taste tests is to promote the sale of colas

B. the improvement of quality is the chief concern of the two cola companies

C. the competition between the two colas is very strong

D. blind tasting is necessary for identifying fans

2.According to the passage the preference test was conducted in order to _______.

A. find out the role taste preference plays in a person's drinking

B. reveal which cola is more to the liking of the drinkers

C. show that a person' s opinion about taste is mere guess-work

D. compare the ability of the participants in choosing their drinks

3.The word 'burnout" underlined in Paragraph Five, refers to the state of ________.

A. being seriously burnt in the skin

B. being unable to burn for lack of fuel

C. being badly damaged by fire

D. being unable to function because of excessive use

4.The author's purpose in writing this passage is to ________.

A. show that taste preference is highly subjective

B. argue that taste testing is an important marketing strategy

C. emphasize that taste and price are closely related to each other

D. recommend that blind tasting be introduced in the quality control of colas

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