Robert Owen was born in Wales in 1771. At the age of ten he went to work. His employer had a largePrivate library so Owen was able to educate himself. He read a lot in his spare time and at nineteen he was given the job of superintendent(监工) at a Manchester cotton mill. He was so successful there that he persuaded his employer to buy the New Lanark mill in Scotland.
When he arrived at New Lanark it was a dirty little town with a population of 2,000 people. Nobodypaid any attention to the workers' houses or their children's education. The conditions in the factories were very bad. There was a lot of crime and the men spent most of their wages on alcoholic drinks.
Owen improved the houses. He encouraged people to be clean and save money. He opened a shop and sold the workers cheap, well-made goods to help them. He limited the sale of alcoholic drinks. Above all, he fixed his mind on the children's education. In 1816 he opened the first free primary school in Britain.
People came from all over the country to visit Owen's factory. They saw that the workers were healthier and more efficient than in other towns. Their children were better fed and better educated. Owen tried the same experiment in the United States. He bought some land there in 1825,but the community was too far away. He could not keep it under control and lost most of his money.
Owen never stopped fighting for his idea. Above all he believed that people are not born good or bad.
He was a practical man and his ideas were practical. "If you give people good working conditions," he thought, "they will work well and, the most important thing of all, if you give them the chance to learn, they will be better people."
1.For Owen, his greatest achievement in New Lanark was _____________.
A. improving worker's houses B. helping people to save money
C. preventing men from getting drunk D. providing the children with a good education
2.From the passage we may infer that Owen was born ___________.
A. into a rich family B. into a noble family
C. into a poor family D. into a middle class family
3.Owen's experiment in the United States failed because _______.
A. he lost all his money
B. he did not buy enough land
C. people who visited it were not impressed
D. it was too far away for him to organize it properly
4.We may infer form the passage that no children in Britain could enjoy free education until ____.
A. 1771 B. 1816 C. 1825 D. 1860
Do dogs understand us?
Be careful what you say around your dog. It might understand more than you think.
A border collie named Rico recognizes the names of about 200 objects, say researchers in Germany. The dog also appears to be able to learn new words as easily as a 3-year-old child. Its word-learning skills are as good as those of a parrot or chimpanzee(黑猩猩).
In one experiment, the researchers took all 200 items that Rico is supposed to know and divided the into 20groups of 10 objects. Then the owner told the dog to go and fetch one of the items and bring it back. In four tests,Rico got 37 out of 40 commands right. As the dog couldn't see anyone to get clues, the scientists believe Rico must understand the meanings of certain words.
In another experiment, the scientists took one toy that Rico had never seen before and put it in a roomwith seven toys whose names the dog already knew. The owner then told Rico to fetch the object, using a word the dog had never heard before.
The correct object was chosen in seven out of l0 tests, suggesting that the dog had worked out the answer by process of elimination(排除法). A month later, Rico remembered half of the new names, which is even more impressive.
Rico is thought to be smarter than the average dog. For one thing, Rico is a border collie, a breed (种)known for its mental abilities. In addition, the 9-year-old dog has been trained to fetch toys by their names since the age of nine months.
It's hard to know if all dogs understand at least some of the words we say. Even if they do, they can't talk back. Still, it wouldn't hurt to sweet-talk your dog every now and then. You might just get a big, wet kiss in return!
1.From paragraph 2 we know that __ .
A. animals are as clever as human beings
B. dogs are smarter than parrots and chimpanzees
C. chimpanzees have very good word-learning skills
D. dogs have similar 'learning abilities as 3-year-old children
2.Both experiments show that .
A. Rico is smart enough to get all commands right
B. Rico can recognize different things including toys
C. Rico has developed the ability of learning mathematics
D. Rico won't forget the names of objects once recognizing them
3.Which of the following statements is true?
A. The purpose of the experiments is to show the border collie's mental abilities.
B. Rico has a better memory partly because of its proper early training.
C. The border collie is world-famous for recognizing objects.
D. Rico is born to understand its owner's commands.
4.What does the writer want to tell us?
A. To train your dog. B. To talk to your dog.
C. To be friendly to your dog. D. To be careful with your dog.
WASHINGTON---Worldwide sales of personal computer in 1995 rose 24.7 percent over 1994 with Compaq（美国康柏电脑公司）holding its first—place position while IBM overcame（击败）Apple for the No.2 slot （表上排名）,according to Dataquest.
A total of 59.7 million computers were sold around the world with important gains（获得）in Japan and Europe.
Compaq sold 5.99 million computers ,or 10percent of the market ,unchanged from 1994.
IBM sold 4.7 million with an 8 percent share of the market compared with 8.2 percent in 1994 .
Apple sold 4.7 million ,or 7.8 percent of the trade ,compared with 8.4 percent in 1994.
Their lost market share was taken up by Packard Bell and NEC ,which sold 3.1 million and 2.8 million computers separately.
1.Which company was the first in selling computers in 1994?
A．Compaq B．IBM C．Apple D．NEC
2.Which company sold the third most computers in 1995?
A．Compaq B．IBM C．Apple D．NEC
3.What was the market share of Compaq in 1994?
A．5.99% B．8.2% C．8.4% D．10%
4.Packard Bell and NEC take up about of the market share in 1995.
A．8.2% B．52% C．10% D．5%
Not long ago, the only time you could see a robot was when you were reading a novel or watching a movie such as Star Wars. Today, 1a lot of things in science stories have been science facts. Robots are starting to _2_ in our everyday lives. These robots have different sizes, shapes and colors. But they all have the same _3_ of man-made “_4_”. Leading the robot revolution(革命) are industrial robots that work in factories. Industrial robots can do different kinds of jobs that are often _5_ and sometimes dangerous. Robots are also coming to American homes, though not as quickly asthey are entering _6_. These robots aren’t as friendly and _7_ as those you saw in Star Wars. But, their makers say, today’s home robots “walk” and sense objects in their own way. They even _8_ objects though they may sometimes drop. Well, nobody is _9_.
We may _10_ home robots today, but some day they may see and hear _11_ than humans do. We _12_
can only see certain wave lengths of light and hear certain _13_. That’s because the _14_ of our eyes and ears are _15_.
Robots, however, need not have the same limits _16_ we have. Robots may also be _17_ wit devices(装置) that _18_ information humans can’t. However, to understand _19_ their sensing devices pick up is a hard job.
Remember, man-made brains _20_ information, including all kinds of data, as zeroes and ones.
Imagine the difficulty in trying to explain to a robot what a football looks like---using only zeroes and ones.
1.A. however B. whenever C. on the other hand D. in other words
2.A. come B. appear C. enter D. raise
3.A. variety B. dozen C. score D. type
4.A. muscle B. body C. brain D. appearance
5.A. surprising B. boring C. pleasant D. exciting
6.A. homes B. factories C. schools D. offices
7.A. certain B. pleasing C. bright D. foolish
8.A. carry B. forget C. remember D. choose
9.A. wonderful B. excellent C. happy D. perfect
10.A. play jokes on B. make fun of C. laugh at D. have fun with
11.A. worse B. faster C. better D. sooner
12.A. fellows B. humans C. beings D. friends
13.A. noise B. voice C. sounds D. speeches
14.A. sight B. length C. distance D. ability
15.A. enough B. endless C. limited D. hopeful
16.A. as B. since C. for D. while
17.A. given B. equipped C. sent D. applied
18.A. pick out B. pick up C. send up D. send out
19.A. how B. where C. what D. which
20.A. deal B. handle C. seek D. provide
Was it in the village___ we used to live in____ the accident happened ?
A. where, that B. which, that C. that, where D. where, which
Over the past decades, sea ice _____ in the Arctic as a result of global warming.
A. had decreased B. decreased C. has been decreasing D. is decreasing
