（BBC）The "father of the personal computer" who kick-started the careers of Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen has died at the age of 68. Dr Henry Edward Roberts was the inventor of the Altair 8800, a machine that led to the home computer age.
Gates and Allen contacted Dr Roberts after seeing the machine on the front cover of a magazine and offered to write software for it. The program was known as Altair-Basic, the foundation of Microsoft's business. "Ed was willing to take a chance on us - two young guys interested in computers , and we have always been thankful to him," the Microsoft founders said in a statement.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told technology website CNET that Dr Roberts had taken " a critically important step that led to everything we have today".
Dr Roberts was the founder of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), originally set up to sell electronics parts to model rocket hobbyists. The company went on to sell electronic calculator parts, but was soon overshadowed by bigger firms.
In the mid-1970's, with the firm struggling with debt, Dr Roberts began to develop a computer kit(配套零件) for hobbyists. The result was the Altair 8800. The $395 kit (around £1,000 today) was featured on the cover of Popular Electronics in 1975, resulting in a flood of orders.
Amongst those interested in the machine were Paul Allen and Bill Gates. The pair contacted Dr Roberts, offering to write software that would help people program the machine. The pair finally moved to Albuquerque - the home of MITS - where they founded Micro-Soft, to develop their software.
Dr Roberts sold his company in 1977. He died in hospital on 1 April after a long period of pneumonia．(肺炎)
1.Why did Dr Roberts probably decide to sell his company?
A. Because he was in heavy debt in the mid-1980's .
B. Because he wanted to take a chance on Gates and Allen.
C. Because he wanted to develop a computer kit for hobbyists.
D. Because he had difficulty competing with big companies.
2.What do we know about MITS?
A. It was set up by Steve Wozniak.
B. It sold electronics parts to big firms.
C. It is located in Albuquerque.
D. It is a technology website.
3.We can learn that Popular Electronics is likely to be ____.
A. a newspaper B. a magazine C. a Website D. an organization
4.What is the best title of this passage?
A. The story of the Altair 8800
B. The founder of MITS
C. Father of the personal computer died
D. The story of Dr Roberts
Funny English Errors and Insights
Laugh... And Learn!
Welcome to the website for Funny English Errors and Insights (2010), a new book of unconscious humour published by the National Library of Australia.
Funny English Errors and Insights will be launched at the National Library in Canberra on 29th, October 2010.
In the meantime, explore this website for other collections of real-life English language mistakes, including funny answers to exam questions, media misprints, and silly signs.
See Funny English Errors: The B List for more than a hundred examples of funny English gaffes（失言）. For more funny English errors, read author Troy Simpson's blog. For still more examples,, join this website to download a free PDF version of English As She Is Taught, which lists our top 250 funny English language mistakes from that classic howlers book.
Join this website FREE, and you can also:
o Enter member-only competitions
o Contribute your comments
o Download free e-Cards
o Be the first to know about our much-anticipated book, Funny English Errors and Insights (2010) ...
Features
Follows in the tradition of the runaway best-seller Howlers books of the 1920s and 1930s
o Includes quotes(引文) that have never been published before in this way
o Includes more than 30 carefully selected funny photos
o Topics include English, science, history, geography, religion, mathematics, and more
o A perfect gift for students, teachers, parents, grandparents, public speakers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, clergy and religious, and anyone with a sense of humour!
1.The word launched in the second paragraph is closest to the meaning:
A. sent up for the first time. B. written for the first time.
C. for sale for the first time. D. printed for the first time.
2.On the website ,you can do the following things except .
A. read some funny news
B. know something about this book previously
C. find a lot of examples about English errors
D. express your opinions freely
3.About this book, you know that .
A. it only includes English, science, history
B. it is quite different from Howlers books
C. all the quotes in it are familiar with us
D. it is intended for people all walks of life
4. The text is aimed at introducing .
A. a popular website B. some selected funny photos
C. a new book D. some funny English errors
Maggiano is an award-winning teacher in the Social Studies Department at West Springfield High School in Virginia. He has taught in public and private schools for 25 years .In a piece on his blog called “The Classroom Post,” he calls for more males to enter the profession(职业).
Men Teach, a non-profit organization that encourages men to enter teaching, reports that in 2008, 18.8% of all elementary and middle school teachers were men. At the high school level during the same year, men comprised（构成） 44% of the work force.
Why are there so few men in teaching? Men Teach says low pay and lack of prestige（声望）, as well as a perception in our culture that teaching is for women. As a result, there is no organized effort across the country to attract men into the teaching profession.
A study in 2008 by the National Education Association showed that the number of male teachers hit a record 40-year low. Males comprised 24.5 percent of public schoolteachers. States with high percentages: Kansas (33.6 percent), Oregon (31.6 percent), Alaska (30.9 percent) and Indiana (30.5percent).States with the lowest percentage : Arkansas (16.2 percent), Virginia (17.4 percent), Mississippi (17.5 percent), Louisiana (18 percent), South Carolina (18.5 percent) and Georgia (19.7 percent).
There is no definitive(确定) research that male students--or female students, for that matter-- learn better from a particular sex.
But as Maggiano put it, “Kids today, both boys and girls, must have the same opportunity to learn from outstanding, devoted men that I did. However, I have heard little discussion about this problem coming from our national leaders.
1.What worries Maggiano is that_______.
A. nobody will take his place when he retires
B. male teachers are not so excellent
C. men are not interested in teaching
D. there is not enough teachers in the schools
2.According to the text , we can infer that______.
A. the number of male teachers hit a record 40-year low in 2008
B. it is not sure students will learn better from male teachers
C. male teachers get a higher pay
D. organized efforts have been made to call on men into the teaching profession
3.In which state are male teachers most badly needed?
A. Alaska B. Virginia C. Georgia D. Arkansas
4. What does the last paragraph suggest?
A. The government doesn’t pay much attention to the shortage.
of male teachers in the school.
B. Students find it easy to learn from male teachers.
C. I’m glad to hear the discussion about the shortage of male teachers in the school.
D. The shortage of male teachers in the school has no effect on students.
After more than a year of bitter political debate, President Obama sat down in the White House East Room on March 23 and signed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law with a pen，and then another pen，and another. Obama used 22 pens to sign the $938 billion health care bill.
The practice of using different pens to sign important legislation（法规）dates at least as far back as Franklin Roosevelt. The reason is fairly simple. The pen used to sign historic legislation itself becomes a historical artifact. The more pens a President uses, the more thank-you gifts he can offer to those who helped create that piece of history. The White House often give pens to supporters of the newly signed legislation. When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he reportedly used more than 75 pens and gave one of the first ones to Martin Luther King Jr. And in 1996, President Clinton gave the four pens he used to sign the Line-Item Veto bill to those most likely to appreciate the bill's consequence.
Once they're given away, some pens end up in museums; others are displayed proudly in recipients'(接受者) offices or homes. But they sometimes appear again, like in the 2008 presidential campaign（竞选活动）, when John Macain promised to use the same pen given to him by President Reagan to cut pork from the federal budget.
Not every President goes for the multipen signature, however. President George W. Bush preferred signing bills with only one pen and then offering several unused "gift" pens as souvenirs.
1..We can learn from paragraph 1 that the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act .
A. has been passed easily
B. was put forward one year ago
C. becomes law in the USA
D. is unimportant
2.How are the pens dealt with after being used by President Obama?
A. Supporters of the newly signed legislation are likely to get some of them.
B. Obama will keep them.
C. They will be just set aside
D. They will be sold to the public at a high price.
3.What can we learn about John Macain?
A. He was ever President in the USA.
B. He took part in the 2008 presidential campaign.
C. He never used the pen given by Reagan.
D. He was only concerned about his own business.
4.What does this passage mainly tell us ?
A. Obama signed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
B. It is a practice to use multiple pens to sign important legislation in the USA.
C. Pens are necessary in the signature.
D. All the presidents like the multipen signature.
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的中个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出或以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
My neighbor Peter Gate’s life was shadowed for years by the memory of his part in an outdoor adventure that resulted in the death of one of his classmates. He and his wife 21 after six years of marriage. Then the news about Peter changed. His wife Betty came back; he 22 a fine position in a company.
One day he told me what had changed his 23 : I used to think, ‘Nothing can undo what I have done.’ The thought of my guilt(罪恶感) would 24 me in the middle of a smile or a handshake. It put a wall between my wife and me. Then I had an 25 visit from the person I 26 most to see —the 27 of the college classmate who died. “Years ago”, she said, “I found it in my heart, through prayer(祈祷), to 28 you. Betty forgave you. So did your friends and employers.” She 29, and then said 30, “You are the one person who hasn’t forgiven Peter Gate. Who do you think you are to 31 the people of this town and God ？” “I 32 her eyes and found there a kind of 33 to be the person I might have been if her son had lived. For the first time in my adult life I felt 34 to love and be loved.”
So, you see, it is only through forgiveness of our 35 that we gain the freedom to learn from experience. But forgiving our shortcomings doesn't mean 36 that they exist. 37 , it means 38 them honestly, realistically. 39 you forgive, you cannot love. And without 40, life has no meaning. Forgiveness is a good quality.
21．A．divided B. separated C. quarrelled D. left
22. A．lost B. kept C. earned D. discovered
23. A．marriage B. job C. family D. life
24. A．help B. stop C. protect D. attract
25. A．unexpected B .unwilling C. unfriendly D. unknown
26. A．hoped B. feared C. terrified D. wished
27. A．sister B. wife C. mother D. teacher
28. A．hate B. love C. forgive D. forget
29. A．stopped B. added C. continued D. paused
30. A．seriously B. sadly C. cheerfully D. nervously
31. A．get along with B. stand out against
C. keep in touch with D. live in harmony with
32. A．looked at B. looked for C. looked into D. looked after
33. A．permission B. determination C. sorrow D. apology
34. A．worried B. worthy C. lonely D. curious
35. A．adventures B. friends C. mistakes D. classmates
36. A．ignoring B. admitting C. remembering D. finding
37. A．To begin with B. On the other hand C. Above all D. On the contrary
38 A．facing B. recognizing C. returning D. forgetting
39. A．Although B. If C. Unless D. Because
40. A．forgiveness B. love C. freedom D. shortcomings
I saw Tom in the meeting-room, so he attend the meeting.
A. surely B. did C. does D. really
