My mother would never let us kill a spider, not even a hairy old grandfather. "If you want to live and rich," she used to say, "let a spider run alive." And so the spiders, our enemies, were beaten and kicked but never killed. But she had no such dealing with the mice.
One of our problems was that my mother hated cats; and we never owned a single cat. We kept dogs, often two or three at the same time, but very few dogs can move fast enough to catch a lively young mouse. Every night we set a dozen mousetraps(捕鼠器), each with a small piece of cheese. Sometimes the cheese disappeared, but the mice usually seemed too wise to go near the traps. We seldom caught anything.
My mother herself had far better luck. Her arms and hands moved as fast as any cat's paws. Often, when she was scrubbing or polishing a floor on her hands and knees, some foolish little grey fellow would try to run past her. He never got very far. Quick as lightning her hard hands would smack(用掌击) together--and there on the floor would be one dead mouse. "Oh, you were a proud one," she would say to it then.
One day my father decided to clean out the water tank, which stood on four iron legs in a corner upstairs. He was soon sorry that he had started the job. In the mud at the bottom of the tank, there were sixteen of the little grey fellows, all as solid and hard as stones. We had been drinking the water from that tank for twelve years.
Which of followlng statements is true?
A.Because the house was old, the family were troubled by lots of mice and spiders.
B.The children did not live in the house because they were afraid of the spiders.
C.The trouble was that there was no water supply in the old house.
D.Spiders and mice are a part of the family.
For example, it is recorded in many history books that people who lived over 3000 years ago ate salted fish. Thousands of years ago in Egypt, salt was used to preserve the dead.
In some periods of history, a person who stole salt was thought to have broken the law. Take the eighteenth century for example, if a person was caught stealing salt, he would be thrown into prison. History also records that only in England about ten thousand people were put into prison during that century for stealing salt! About 450 years ago, in the year 1553, if a man took more than his share of salt, he would be thought to have broken the law and would be seriously punished. The offender's ear was cut off.
Salt was an important item on the dinner table of a king. It was always put in front of the king when he sat down to eat. Important guests at the king's table were seated near the salt. Less important guests were given seats farther away from it.
Thousands of years ago in Egypt salt was used ______.
A.to punish people who had broken the law
B.to keep dead bodies from decay
C.to keep fish alive
D.to make chemicals
For example, it is recorded in many history books the people who lived over three thousand years ago ate salted fish. Thousands of years ago in Egypt, salt was used to preserve the dead.
In some periods of history, a person who stole salt was thought to have broken the law. Take the eighteenth century for an example, if a person was caught stealing salt, he would be thrown into prison. History also records that only in England about ten thousand people were put into prison during that century for stealing salt! About one hundred and fifty years ago, in the year 1553, if a man took more than his share of salt, he would be thought to have broken the law and would be seriously punished. The offender' s ear was cut off.
Salt was an important item on the dinner table of a king. It was always placed in front of the king when he sat down to eat. Important guests at the king' s table were seated near the salt. Less important guests were given seats farther away from it.
Thousands of years ago in Egypt, salt was used ______.
A.to punish people who had broken the law
B.to keep dead bodies from decay
C.to keep fish alive
D.to make chemicals
The water is brought from the waterworks to each street by a large underground pipe—a water main. The water in this pipe is then forced by pressure into the smaller pipes which carry it to storage tanks at the tops of the buildings. Other pipes bring the water down from the storage tank to the kitchens and bathrooms in the building.
When the water has been used, it is taken away from the building by drainpipe. These take the waste water to another large pipe under the road—the main sewer. The waste water then flows along the sewer to the sewage works where it is cleaned. This "clean" water is then poured into the sea or into a river, or in some countries, sent back to the waterworks to be used again.
Electricity is also brought to the house by a main, in this case a cable. This cable may be underground or, in country districts, it may hang above ground on pylons. The cable is connected to a meter in the building. This meter measures the amount of electricity that is used in the building. Near the meter there is a master switch which can cut off the supply of electricity. There are also fuse boxes between the master switch and the wires which take the electricity to each of the switches in the building. All these wires, fuses and switches are the "wiring circuit".
It can be inferred from this passage that______.
A.water and electricity are the only main services in our homes
B.the pipes bringing water to our homes are unimportant
C.water is less significant than electricity in our homes
D.we are unaware of how water or electricity is brought to our homes
"Does Professor O' hare live near the downtown area?" "No, he lives ______."
A.out in the suburbs
B.out in suburb
C.in the out suburbs
D.in suburb
-- Do you live ______ near the shop?--No, it's in the other side of the town.
A.somewhere
B.anywhere
C.nowhere
D.everywhere
A.Is your house near the restaurant
B.Is that near the restaurant
C.I live near the cinema
The houses we live in are very __1__. They keep us from being cold in the winter and hot in the summer. In the winter they keep out of the snow. They also keep out the wind. Even if it is blowing outside, we are nice and warm inside. In the summer houses keep the hot sun from us.When it rains, they keep us from getting wet.Houses are also places __2__ we feel safe. People can’ t get at us or our things. Houses give us a place to be together with our families and friends. Mothers and fathers __3__ their children there. The children play there. The family eat and sleep under the same roof.Houses are different in many ways. They are made of different things.Some houses are made of wood. Some are made of stones. Sometimes more than one thing is used to make a house.Houses come in different __4__. Some houses have only one room. Some houses have more than one room. Big buildings found in cities have a great many rooms. They hold many families. The rooms in which each family lives are called an apartment. Houses are different in the ways they are __5__. Houses in tropic countries can be lightly built. In places where it rains much of the time, houses must keep out the water.take care( “注意”,“当心”,“留心”)
(1)__1__
A.expensive
B.important
C.huge
My two years at that school were the happiest of my life.
(56)
A.if
B.despite
C.although
D.since
Suppose a man wanted to reach a distant star. Even if he traveled his whole life, he would have to move faster than the speed of the light. Nothing can move that fast except light itself.
Strange things happen to an object when it moves rapidly. The object weighs more. An object moving at 86 percent of the speed of light is twice as heavy as it is at rest. A stick appears shorter. A clock runs more slowly. A man would not age so fast as he would on the earth.
Light travels more than 186,000 miles a second, or about 11 million miles a minute. In one year, light travels six trillion miles. That great distance is called a light-year. It is used to measure distance in space.
The star closest to our sun is Alpha Centauri. It is more than four light-years away. If one traveled at the speed of light, he could make a round trip to Alpha Centauri in nine years. But, even at that speed, he could not reach Alcaid (北斗星) in the handle of the Big Dipper. A one-way journey to Alcaid would take almost 200 years
1.In this passage the words “closest to our sun” means the star().
A、the earth we live on
B、Alpha Centauri
C、the Big Dipper
D、the moon
2.A one-way journey to Alcaid would take().
A、about nine years
B、less than four years
C、almost 200 years
D、less than 100 years
3.Why do we measure the distance in light-years instead of miles?()
A、Units of light-years sound better.
B、Using light- years reduced the number of figures used.
C、We used to measure distance in light-years long ago.
D、We do not make mistakes when we use light-years.
4.If a stone moved at the speed of light, it().
A、would weigh twice more than it is motionless
B、would weigh as much as it is on earth
C、would weigh less than it is on earth
D、would not have weight at all
5.This story is mainly about ().
A、the distance between the sun and the other stars
B、the problems of traveling to faraway stars
C、what happens when we travel faster than the speed of light
D、the tool we use when we go to faraway stars
In ancient times, man settled near rivers or on river banks and built up large empires.
Water is the Nature's most precious gift to man. Man needs water to irrigate his crops, to cook and to wash. In nations all over the world rivers mean life and wealth. They feed and clothe the nations around them.
Water is also a source of energy and power. Man constructs huge dams across the river to control the water for irrigation and get the energy needed to drive generators. The electrical power is then directed to homes, cities, factories and television stations.
Man uses water each day. His main source of water comes from reservoirs, which in turn get their water from the rivers.
Rivers also bring down soil and minerals from the mountains and deposit them on the plains building up rich river deltas for raising plants and crops. Fresh water life in rivers or in lakes fed by them provide man with food.
In a small way rivers help to keep man in good health and provide for his amusements. Various forms of water sports keep man strong and healthy.
Rivers have run on this earth long before man. Man's future ability to live is uncertain, but rivers will flow on forever.
Rivers have been important to man______.
A.since the last century
B.for a very long time
C.since a few hundred years ago
D.since a few years ago