Scientists would like to place a huge mirror in space above the earth. It might be sixty miles wide. It would be used to catch the rays (光線(xiàn)) of the sun. It would direct the sun’s rays upon the earth as a child might do to make sunlight dance on the wall with a hand mirror.
Why do they want to do this? The sun’s rays could be helpful in many ways. They could light up cities by night. The warm rays could stop frosts (霜凍) which might come at night and hurt fruit crops. They could melt (融化) dangerous icebergs in the ocean. Perhaps they could change cloud movements and bring rain where it is needed.
小題1:The huge mirror would ______.

A．stand 60 miles in height (高度)	B．be 60 miles from side to side
C．cover 60 miles of the earth	D．be 60 miles above the earth

小題2:The mirror would be used to ______.

A．reflect (反射) sunlight	B．a(chǎn)bsorb (吸收) sunlight
C．see what the earth looks like	D．see how clouds move

小題3:The strong light from the mirror could possibly ______.

A．hurt fruit crops	B．set fire to cities
C．bring longer daytime	D．shine through walls

小題4:The huge mirror is ______.

A．something in a story	B．a(chǎn)lready made
C．just an idea	D．to be made soon

Liverpool city council (市政廳) want to clear the city of fat pigeons (鴿子). They say that people are feeding the birds, which makes them fat. The pigeons get bigger because they normally eat seeds (種子) and insects (昆蟲(chóng)) for their main food, not high-fat junk food they are eating in the city centre.
The council want people to know that everyone who feeds the pigeons makes the streets crowded (擁擠)with these birds. They hope to encourage the birds to move away from the city centre and into parks and open spaces.
Ten robotic birds have been brought into the city centre to scare the pigeons away and visitors are asked not to give the pigeons any food. The mechanical birds—known as ‘robops’—will sit on the roofs of buildings. They can be moved around to different places. They look like a peregrine falcon, which is a bird that kills pigeons. They even make noises and flap their wings to scare the pigeons. They hope that the pigeons will go away before the city becomes the European Capital of Culture in two years.
小題1:Liverpool city council want to clear the city of fat pigeons because ______.

A．the pigeons are eating junk food

B．the pigeons might get killed

C．the pigeons make the city center crowded

D．the pigeons sit on the roofs of buildings

小題2:What do we know about a peregrine falcon?

A．It scares the robotic birds.	B．It is an enemy of the pigeons.
C．It looks like a pigeon.	D．It likes the food people give it.

小題3:Which of the following is probably true according to passage?

A．The robots will fly around the city center like real birds.

B．Pigeons get fat because they eat seeds and insects.

C．Liverpool is the European Capital of Culture.

D．The pigeons like the food that people give them.

See a cell phone cover that you like on Taobao? Forget about placing an order, paying the bill online and waiting for days for it to be delivered to you. In the near future, you'll be able to get it in minutes just by hitting "print" on your computer.
You might find it hard to believe that you could actually "print" an object like you would a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it would work. Just as a traditional printer sprays (噴) ink onto paper line by line, modern 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (樹(shù)脂)and certain metals. The thinner each layer is --- from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair ---  the smoother and finer the object will be.
This may sound like a completely new technology, but the truth is that 3-D printing has been around since the late 1980s. Back then, it was hardly affordable for most people, so few knew about it.
Last year, though, saw a big change in the 3-D printing industry--- printers became much cheaper. For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost £20,000 (200,000 yuan), while now they cost only about £ 1,000, according to the BBC.
Taken out of the factory and introduced to more diverse and common uses, 3-D printing can create just about anything you can think of ---flutes (笛子), bikinis, jewelry, aircraft parts and even human organs. In fact, scientists from Cornell University in New York have just made an artificial ear using a 3-D printer, according to Science Daily. The fake ear looks and acts exactly like a natural one.
However, as 3-D printing becomes more common, it may bring about certain problems --- such as piracy(盜版). "Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?" an expert in 3-D printing told Forbes News. Even more frightening, what if anyone in the world could use a 3-D printer to print out a fully functioning gun?
小題1:According to the article, in the future, the 3-D printing technology will ___.

A．enable people to make better purchases online

B．be applied as widely in our daily lives as computers

C．change the way we make many products

D．shorten the time it takes for people to get what they buy online

小題2:What was the big event happening in the 3-D printing industry last year?

A．The 3-D printing technology was taken out ofthe factory.

B．The 3-D printer became more affordable forconsumers.

C．The 3-D printer was used for medical treatmentfor the first time.

D．3-D printing technology began to be used invarious fields.

小題3:How is the last paragraph developed?

A．By analyzing a cause and an effect.	B．By making comparisons.
C．By giving examples.	D．By presenting research findings.

小題4:What is the best title of the passage?

A．Printing out everything	B．Technology in the future
C．Online shopping disappearing	D．Great demand for 3-D printers

As a senior high school student, my future is always on my mind. To be exact,thoughts of the future have kept me up countless nights and made me worry enough to do poorly on more than one test. Because of this, words of wisdom are a source of comfort.Steve Jobs gave a speech to Stanford's graduating class in 2005 and his words resound repeatedly in my mind whenever I think about my future.
It started when l became a junior, when college came into view.  It's the first big step to making your life your own. So when Jobs discussed his life as a student, some fears were eased. He, too, felt the need to attend college to make something of himself. He faced what many are extremely afraid of: uncertainty. His lack of understanding caused him to stop attending college and focus on what he felt was important. His story had a happy ending, of course, since he certainly turned out well.
This doesn't mean that students shouldn't attend college, but rather that they shouldn't worry so much.  You'll get where you need to go, even if your path is a bit morewinding(蜿蜒的)than you'd like.
Jobs talked about the hardships in his work.  His love of his work helped him carry on and he got where he was meant to be, which restates the point: don't panic.One particular part of his speech stayed with me.  Steve Jobs quoted(引用)thc saying"Stay hungry, stay foolisll" and it has become my motto. Staying foolish is realizing thatyou are still a fool, no matter how much you've learned or experienced.  There is always more to explore. Staying hungry is wanting to find those things about which you are still uneducated.
Steve Jobs' level of success is possible to achieve, and I aim to prove that. With the will power to go into the world living every day like it's my last and allowing the future to take care of itself, I will do great things.  In the last moments of my life, I'll be proud of what I have done and hope to have all the wisdom a person could wish for.
小題1:The author felt worried when_____.

A．he had to take tests at school

B．he had lots of sleepless nights

C．he thought about his future

D．he searched for words of wisdom

小題2:It is suggested in Paragraphs l and 2 that_____

A．the author is a college student

B．the author cares much about his future

C．Steve Jobs failed because of his decision

D．Steve Jobs' words had no effect on the author

小題3:What did the author gain from Jobs' speech?

A．Courage to drop out of school.	B．Confidence in defeating Jobs.
C．Interest in computer industry.	D．Bravery to face uncertainties.

小題4:What did NOT Steve Jobs encourage students to do in his speech?

A．Be content with what they know.

B．Have the desire to learn more.

C．Stay calm in the face of hardships

D．Be modest so as to learn more.

小題5:The passage is mainly about_____.

A．a(chǎn)n experience of a speech

B．a(chǎn) memorable meeting with Jobs

C．the most impressive quotation in life

D．the wisdom drawn from a speech

Look closely at ,your hands-are they clean? It doesn't matter how many times you was  your hands. They're still crowded with microbes, which are also called "germs" or "bacteria". Microbes are everywhere. But don't worry-most microbes don't harm you. and many actually help you stay alive.
Now,  scientists say the microbes that live on our hands could be used in a surprising way: fighting crime.
When police visit the scene of a crime, they often look for fingerprints to try to identifythe criminal.  But according to a recent study, investigators could even use microbes to help break a criminal case.
Every person has his or her own set of microbes that live on their hands, according to scientists at,the University of:Colorado. That means the mix of different kinds of microbes on everybody's hand is unique-much like one's fingerprint.
The scientists wanted to know whether this microbe mix could be used as a new kind of fingerprint-especially in a crime scene where fingerprints might be hard to find.  And policemen use forensics such as studying fingerprints to identify the criminal.
"Microbe fingerprints are harder to hide," said Noah Fierer, one of the scientists.
"You can't sterilize(為……殺菌) a surface just by wiping it off. "
His team compared the bacteria on the hands of 273 people with the bacteria found on each person's computer keyboard. For the study, the keyboards had been used only by the people who were being tested. The study showed that the mix of microbes from each per- son's hands matched the mix of microbes on that person's keyboard. The scientists were easily able to tell the 273 people apart-just by looking at their keyboards.
But there are a lot more than 273 criminals. Other scientists wonder whetherthe microbe fingerprint can really be that useful. 
Fierer agrees that scientists have a lot more work to do before the microbe fingerprint will be a useful tool．
小題1:According to the passage,  microbes on people's hands_____

A．do more harm than good	B．a(chǎn)re easy to get rid of
C．a(chǎn)re almost the same	D．might help find crimes

小題2:The underlined word "forensics" in Paragraph 5 probably refers to________.

A．the scientific test used by police

B．a(chǎn) new kind of fingerprint

C．a(chǎn) kind of bacteria'in people's hands

D．a(chǎn) kind of newly invented keyboard

小題3:What did Fierer's team find through the study?

A．They found the criminal among the 237 people.

B．They could tell who had used which computer.

C．Computer keyboards couldn't keep people's microbe fingerprints.

D．People's characters could be identified by the keyboards they used.

小題4:We can learn from the passage that ______.

A．your microbes may give you away

B．scientists will come to a clear conclusion soon

C．many scientists think microbe fingerprints useless

D．the microbe fingerprint has been used in many cases

小題5:The main idea of the passage is about_____.

A．the importance of fingerprints	B．how to clean our hands
C．the usefulness of microbes	D．different germs on our hands

A practical English Grammar is intended for intermediate（中級(jí)的） and post-intermediate students. We hope that more advanced learners and teachers will also find it useful.
The book is a comprehensive survey of structures and forms, written in clear modern English and illustrated with numerous examples. Areas of particular difficulty have been given special attention. Differences between conversational usage and strict grammatical forms are shown but the emphasis is on controversial forms.
In the fourth edition the main changes are as follows.
1. Explanation and examples have been brought up to date.
2. There is now more information on countable and uncountable nouns, attributive and predicative adjectives, adverbs of place, sentence adverbs, cleft sentences, prepositions, conjunctives, modal verbs, perfect tenses, infinitive constructions, the passive, purpose clauses and nouns.
3. Some material has been rearranged to make comparisons easier. For example, parts of chapters on can, may, must etc. are now grouped by functions; verbs of liking and preference have a chapter to themselves; suggestions and invitations have joined the chapter on commands, requests and advice.
4. The contents list now summaries every edition heading, and there is a new index containing many more entries references.
In this edition the sign “~” is frequently used to show a change of speaker in examples of dialogue. Note also that although the sign “="”" sometimes connects two words or expressions with the same meaning, it is often used more freely, e.g. to indicate a transformation from active to passive or direct to indirect speech.
We wish to thank all at Oxford University Press who have assisted in the preparation of the fourth edition. We would also like to thank Professor Egawa of Nihon University, Japan, Professor Rene Dirven of Duisburg University, West Germany and other colleagues for their friendly and helpful suggestions.
London, November 1985   A.J.T., A.VM
小題1:The grammar book mentioned in this passage is not suitable for              .

A．a(chǎn) middle school teacher	B．a(chǎn) primary school student
C．a(chǎn) senior high student	D．a(chǎn) college student

小題2:According to the passage, we know that his grammar book              .

A．compares modern English with old English

B．gives a large number of examples to reduce difficulty

C．a(chǎn)ttaches more importance to conversational forms

D．pays little attention to strict grammatical forms

小題3:Which of the following statements about the changes is TRUE?

A．This book keeps up with the latest usages of the America English language.

B．This edition offers more information about pronouns.

C．It’s not easy for us to find the information we need in this book.

D．One particular chapter discusses verbs like “care, like, love, hate, prefer, wish”.

小題4:When you see this line in the book, “Did you get a ticket? ~Yes, I managed to get one”, we can understand that             .

A．the two parts before and after the sign “~” mean the same

B．the two parts before and after “~” are said by two different people

C．the second speaker repeats what the first speaker says

D．the topic is changed in the part after the sign “~”

小題5:In the last paragraph, the authors thank several people because              .

A．they have helped the authors with this edition

B．they have agreed to buy a lot of books from the authors

C．the authors want to make use of the fames of those people

D．those people will make advertisements for this book

The human body has hundreds of muscles. The three types are skeletal(骨骼的) muscles, smooth muscles and cardiac, or heart muscles. Each kind of muscle has a special job to do. 
The skeletal muscles are attached to the bones; they actually hold the skeleton together. Strong cords, called tendons(肌腱), help connect these muscles to the bones. Skeletal muscles give us strength and allow us to move in many ways. If you look at skeletal muscles through a microscope, you will see that it has bands of fibers that look like stripes(條紋). These stripes are called striations. Skeletal muscles usually move because the brain has sent a conscious message to them telling them what to do. This is called voluntary movement.
Another type of muscle is smooth muscle. Unlike skeletal muscle, smooth muscle does not have striations. This is found in organs such as the stomach, the bladder(膀胱), the lungs and the eyes. Smooth muscles are smaller than the skeletal muscles and they move involuntarily. The brain tells these muscles what to do, but we aren’t even aware of it. For example, we don’t have to think about breathing or digesting food. The smooth muscles just do their jobs automatically. For this reason smooth muscles are sometimes called involuntary muscles.
Like smooth muscle, cardiac muscle also works involuntarily. It is a very thick muscle that is found only in the walls of the heart. Its job is to pump blood out of the heart and into blood vessels called arteries(動(dòng)脈). The arteries help carry the blood to all parts of the body. When the cardiac muscles relax, they let blood back into the heart. Cardiac muscles have striations, just like skeletal muscles do.
小題1:When we _______, the job is done by smooth muscles.

A．close our eyes

B．kick a ball

C．hug our friends

D．lift a suitcase

小題2:Skeletal muscles and heart muscles are alike because_______.

A．both can move voluntarily

B．both are thick muscles

C．both are bigger than smooth muscles

D．both have stripes called striations

小題3:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Heart muscles are very important because they give us strength and allow us to move.

B．The heart of human beings completely consists of heart muscle.

C．The skeletal muscles are connected to the bones by tendons.

D．Smooth muscle does its work without receiving message from the brain.

The earth is not the only body that travels around the sun. With it are eight other planets, fellow members of the sun’s family.
Two of them, Mercury (水星) and Venus, are nearer while the other six, namely Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, also in their given order from the sun, are farther from the sun than the earth is. The farther they are, the longer trips they make around the sun. People noticed long ago that these traveling bodies moved around in the sky in definite paths. It is a force called gravity that holds them in their paths.
We know that every little bit of matter in the universe pulls upon every other bit of matter. The pull between two bodies is proportional (成比例的) to the product of their masses. Because the sun is so large the pull between the sun and the planets are thus great. If it were not for this pull, the planets would fly off into space. In the same way there exists a pull between the earth and the moon, which keeps the moon traveling in its orbit around our planet, the earth. Gravity holds you to its surface, and pulls back to it the ball which you throw into the air. Of course the ball also pulls on the larger earth but the earth is so much larger that the pull is not noticed.
Now remember that large bodies exert a greater pull than smaller ones which contain less material. But each object in the universe, no matter how small, pulls on all other objects to some degree.
小題1:There are ________ that travel around the sun in the sun’s family.

A．nine planets	B．eight planets
C．one star and ten planets	D．the earth and the sun

小題2:Which two planets make the longest trips around the sun among all the planets in the solar system?

A．Mercury and Venus.	B．Neptune and Pluto.
C．Saturn and Uranus.	D．Mars and Jupiter.

小題3:From the passage we can see__________

A．a(chǎn)ll the objects, big or small, must exert the same pull on one another

B．large objects exert the same pull on anybody as small objects

C．small objects exert the same on large ones

D．each object in the universe exerts a pull on all other objects

小題4:From the sentence “The pull between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses.” We can infer that the pull between__________

A．the sun and the moon is greater than between the sun and the earth

B．the earth and the moon is greater than that between the sun and the earth

C．the sun and the earth is greater than that between the earth and the moon

D．the sun and the earth is the same as that between the earth and the moon

It’s true that quite a few most respected scientific authorities have confirmed that the world is becoming hotter and hotter. There’s also strong evidence that humans are contributing to the warming. Countless recent reports have proved the same thing. For instance, a 2010 summary about the climate science by the Royal Society noted that: “The global warming over the last half-century has been caused mainly by human activity.”
You may not believe that humans could change the planet’s climate, but the basic science is well understood. Each year, billions of tons of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere because of human activity. As has been known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible (看不見(jiàn)的) blanket.
Of course, the earth’s climate has always been changing due to “natural” factors such as volcanic eruption or changes in solar, or cycles concerning the Earth’s going around the sun. According to the scientific research, however, the warming observed by now matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build-up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – not the warming we would expect from other possible causes.
Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming recorded so far, that would give birth to a difficult question. As Robert Henson puts it: “If some newly discovered factor is to blame for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”
The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths – one with human influence and one without. That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty.
小題1:In most scientists’ opinion, the global warming is mainly caused by ________.

A．solar activity	B．volcanic activity
C．natural factors	D．human factors

小題2:The text is developed by ________.

A．giving typical examples

B．following the order of space

C．a(chǎn)nalyzing a theory and arguing it

D．comparing and finding differences

小題3:The underline word “identical” in the last paragraph probably means ________.

A．totally different	B．exactly the same
C．extremely important	D．partly independent

小題4:Which of the following is not the cause of climate change?

A．volcanic eruption

B．cycles concerning the Earth’s going around the sun

C．changes in solar

D．floods and droughts

小題5:Which of the following can be the best title?

A．Are All the Scientists Really Scientific?

B．Where Is Global Warming Leading Us to?

C．Are Humans Definitely Causing Global Warming?

D．What’s the Relation of Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases?

Not long ago the movie 2012 came into screen．The people were threatened by those scenes of destroying flood, severe earthquake, terrifying hurricane and constructions representing human civilization being destroyed and even swallowed by disaster．Luckily, they are just the director' s imagination, but the present situation is not heading a positive direction, either．
Take my own experience in Alaska as an example．Once I took a trip to the glacier．Along the way there stood signposts marking the snow lines of different years．They started from the foot of the mountain, but it was at the top that I finally saw melting glaciers（融化的冰川）．My heart ached seeing the beautiful blue ice melting at every second．
Sad but true, they are the effects of global warming and the result of our human impact．Furthermore, each year the rising sea level will kill 56 million people, and that' s about the population of the entire Italy．According to studies, if the temperature keeps on rising like this, by the year 2050, some islands and coastal cities including New York, Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney will be drowned in water．
Our fortune is in our own hands．It depends on us to shape our future, to reduce future human impact and find ways to form a peaceful relationship with our environment. Therefore, it's time for actions to be taken right now．Contribute a little to energy saving by using more efficient light bulbs and less hot water．Let recycle become our habit by thinking twice before throwing something away．Let us take public transportation as our first choice when going to a certain place．It might cost more time for now, but it' s to the benefit of a permanent future．Take care of every tree and grass around us by watering them or simply just avoid destroying them．
In a word, small drops of water make a big ocean． The earth does not belong to us．On the contrary, we belong to the earth． Please bear in mind that the earth is our home．It is our responsibility to build a brighter and better future of our planet and prevent what happened in the movie 2012 from becoming reality．                
小題1:Why does the author talk about the movie 2012 in the passage ? __________.

A．To give example．	B．To lead into the topic．
C．To make prediction．	D．To provide the evidence．

小題2:How did the author feel when he took a trip to the glacier? ____________.

A．Worried．

B．Puzzled．

C．Scared．

D．Bored．

小題3:It can be inferred from the third paragraph that          .

A．56 million people in Italy have been killed owing to the rising sea level

B．Some islands and coastal cities will be drowned in water by the year of 2050

C．Human beings will be in danger if we don't take actions to prevent the global warming

D．It is certain that what happened in the movie 2012 will come into reality

小題4:According to the passage, you are advised to         .

A．drive our own private cars instead of taking buses to some place

B．recycle everything that is used

C．go to see the movie 2012 at once

D．work together to take good care of our planet

小題5:What does the author mean by saying "small drops of water make a big ocean"?

A．Think twice before taking action.

B．It's our duty to protect the ocean．

C．Everyone together can make a difference．

D．It's important to save every drop of water．