48. From the passage we know that at the beginning of their project, _______.

A. there was not any search engine on the Internet

B. nobody supported them except their family and friends

C. Larry Page and Sergey Brin dreamed to answer any question

D. one of the most popular websites gave them a cheque for $100,000

47. The underlined word “cheque” in the fifth paragraph means _______.

A. 樓房          B. 賬單                     C. 訂單                     D. 支票

46. Why did the writer begin this passage by asking you a question?

A. Because he or she liked to begin this passage by asking readers a question.

B. Because he or she was afraid that the readers didn’t know this question.

C. Because he or she wanted to make the readers interested in this passage.

D. Because Shakespeare is one of the most famous people in the world.

How long did it take people to find the answer to this question 15 years ago? And now! You can google it and find the answer immediately!

Google is the most popular Internet search engine（搜索引擎）in the world. It was invented by two students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They met in 1993, when they were studying computer science at Stanford University, USA. They dreamed of producing something that could also answer any question in seconds.

Internet search engines at that time were slow and gave many websites that weren’t useful. In January 1996, Page and Brin decided to make a better and faster search engine. They thought the results should be based on the most popular websites.

Nobody would give them money for their project, so they used their own money. They also borrowed money from family and friends. Then, in 1998, they were given a cheque for $100,000, and they started their own company(公司). Their first office was in a friend’s garage(車庫).The company name is Google, a word which comes from mathematics. A “google” is a very high number ― 1 followed by a hundred zeros.

The Google search engine was soon used by thousands of people worldwide because it was fast, easy and correct. By 2002 it was the biggest search engine on the Internet. Now, more questions have been answered by Google than any other Internet service, from sport to science, and from music to medicine. Google hopes that in the future all the world’s information will be put on the Internet, so that everybody can find everything.

45. What can we learn from this passage?

A. The Australian team got 8 gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

B. If you have a wide wingspan, you must be a good swimmer.

C. Phelps was made to spend all his time swimming every day.

D. Nothing is impossible if you put your heart into it.

D

“How many common English words were invented by Shakespeare?”

44. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Phelps is the best swimmer in Australia.

B. It was Mark Spitz who saw the kid’s great talent.

C. Phelps won 8 gold medals and broke 7 world records.

D. At the age of seven, Phelps started to swim.

43. Why did Phelps try backstroke first?

A. Because he was born with the body of a swimmer.

B. Because his hands and feet were like paddles in the water.

C. Because he didn’t want to put his face in the water.

D. Because he had a wide wingspan.

A. 8.             B. 9.                C. 7.            D. 17.

42. How many games did Phelps take part in at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games?

41. Who did best in swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games?

A. Bob Bowman.       B. Mark Spitz.            C. Phelps.     D. The Australian team.