We know the famous ones—the Thomas Edisons and the Alexander Graham Bells—but what about the less famous inventors? What about the people who invented the traffic light and the windshield wiper (雨刮器)？ Shouldn’t we know who they are?

Joan Mclean thinks so. In fact, McLean, a professor of physics at Mountain University in Range, feels so strongly about this matter that she’s developed a course on the topic. In addition to learning “who” invented “what”, however, McLean also likes her students to learn the answers to the “why” and “how” questions. According to McLean, “When students learn the answers to these questions, they are better prepared to recognize opportunities for inventing and more willing to give inventing a try.”

Her students agree. One young man with a patent（專利）for an unbreakable umbrella is walking proof of McLean’s statement. “If I had not heard the story of the windshield wiper’s invention,” said Tommy Lee, a senior physics major, “ I never would have dreamed of turning my bad experience during a rainstorm into something so useful.” Lee is now considering to sell his patent to an umbrella producer.

So, just what is the story behind the windshield wiper? Well, Mary Anderson came up with the idea in 1902 after a visit to New York City. The day was cold and stormy, but Anderson still wanted to see the sights, so she jumped aboard a streetcar. Noticing that the driver was struggling to see through the snow covering the windshield, she found herself wondering why there couldn’t be a built-in device(裝置) for cleaning the window. Still wondering about this when she returned home to Birminghan, Alabama, Anderson started drafting out solutions. One of her ideas, a lever (操作桿) on the inside of a vehicle that would control an arm on the outside, became the first windshield wiper.

Today we benefit from countless inventions and innovations. It’s hard to imagine driving without Garrett A. Morgan’s traffic light. It’s equally impossible to picture a world without Katherine J. Blodgett’s innovation that makes glass invisible. Can you picture life without clear windows and eyeglasses?

1.

2.

3.

 

【答案】

 

1.B

2.D

3.B

【解析】略

 

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源： 題型：閱讀理解

THE BRONTE FAMILY

Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小說(shuō)) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.

Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.

Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.

As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.

Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.

Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺結(jié)核) as her sisters had.

We know from the text that      .

A. Jane Eyre was published in 1847    

B. Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all

C. the Bronte sisters received good education     

D. Patrick Bronte helped his daughters with their writing

The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to      .

       A. Shirley and Villette   B. The Professor and Agnes Grey

       C. Agnes Grey and Wutheriing Heights   D. The Professor and wuthering Heights

What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?

       A. Their novels interested few publishers.

       B. None of them had more than two books published.

       C. None of them lived longer than 40 years old.

       D. Emily was the least successful of the three.

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Obama Still Smokes in Secret
US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers. He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry. The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products.
At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday.
Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn’t completely kicked the habit. Every now and then he still smokes in secret.
“As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time. Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.” Obama said at a news conference.
“I don' t do it in front of my lads．I don ?t do it in front of my family．I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up, " he said．
"Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important．The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up．What we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said．
Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases．
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A．Obama
B．tobacco industry
C．White House
D．US Food and Drug Administration
【小題2】What do we know about Obama?
A．He no longer smokes．
B．He still smokes as usual．
C．He began to smoke at eighteen．
D．He is trying hard to give up smoking．
【小題3】According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about           ．
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Obama Still Smokes in Secret
US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers．He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry．The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products．
At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday．
Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn’t completely kicked the habit．Every now and then he still smokes in secret．
“As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time．Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes．Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No．” Obama said at a news conference．
“I don' t do it in front of my lads．I don’t do it in front of my family．I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up, " he said．
"Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important．The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up．What we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said．
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【小題1】The new law makes life difficult for             ．

A．ObamaB．tobacco industry
C．White HouseD．US Food and Drug Administration
【小題2】What do we know about Obama?
A．He no longer smokes．
B．He still smokes as usual．
C．He began to smoke at eighteen．
D．He is trying hard to give up smoking．
【小題3】According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about           ．
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Obama Still Smokes in Secret

US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers. He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry. The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products.

At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday.

Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn’t completely kicked the habit. Every now and then he still smokes in secret.

“As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time. Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.” Obama said at a news conference.

“I don' t do it in front of my lads．I don ?t do it in front of my family．I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up, " he said．

"Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important．The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up．What we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said．

         Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases．

1.The new law makes life difficult for              .

A．Obama

B．tobacco industry

C．White House

D．US Food and Drug Administration

2.What do we know about Obama?

A．He no longer smokes

B．He still smokes as usual

C．He began to smoke at eighteen

D．He is trying hard to give up smoking

3.According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about           ．

A．children       B．officials

C．his family        D．businessmen

 

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Obama Still Smokes in Secret

US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers．He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry．The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products．

At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday．

Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn’t completely kicked the habit．Every now and then he still smokes in secret．

“As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time．Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes．Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No．” Obama said at a news conference．

“I don' t do it in front of my lads．I don 't do it in front of my family．I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up, " he said．

"Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important．The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up．What we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said．

Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases．

1.The new law makes life difficult for             ．

A．Obama

B．tobacco industry

C．White House

D．US Food and Drug Administration

2.What do we know about Obama?

A．He no longer smokes．

B．He still smokes as usual．

C．He began to smoke at eighteen．

D．He is trying hard to give up smoking．

3.According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about           ．

A．children

B．officials

C．his family

D．businessmen

 

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