The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's greatest art museums. Millions of people have entered its doors to see paintings by the world's fine artists. But if these priceless masterpieces are to be preserved, the Gallery must protect them carefully. The Gallery's 135-man guard force has successfully prevented them from being stolen, but protecting the paintings from nature is a greater problem.
In past times, the owners of paintings did not protect them from damaging changes in humidity (湿度) and temperature. As a result, the life of these paintings were shortened. In the National Gallery, however, humidity and temperature are carefully controlled. The building is air-conditioned in summer and heated in winter. The air-conditioning and heating system are so important to the life of the painting that the Gallery has two of each system. If one should fail, the extra one can take over.
Light is another enemy of paintings. Ultraviolet rays (紫外线) in light cause paintings to fade (褪色). Long ago, paintings often hung in dark churches and palaces. A coat of varnish (清漆) was a protection from the weak light. But when museums took over the care of many paintings, they were often hung in brighter light than before. Soon they were in danger of fading. The damaging effects of light were increased when the museums removed the varnish coating, yellowed with age.
To protect its paintings, the National Gallery put a special kind of glass in its skylights. This glass allows visible lights to enter the building but it keeps out harmful ultraviolet rays. The Gallery has also developed new and better varnishes which help to keep paintings from fading. Thanks to these new precautions, many of the world's greatest paintings are being well protected for future generations to enjoy.
1.The text mainly tells us about ______.
A．the guard force in the National Gallery
B．protecting great paintings from nature
C．priceless paintings of past times
D．the air-conditioning and heating systems in the National Gallery
2.The underlined word "precautions" in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______.
A．decorations
B．problems
C．suggestions
D．applications
3.From the text we can infer that_______.
A．great artists painted in dark churches and palaces
B．you can touch these paintings while you are in the National Gallery
C．the care of the world's greatest paintings is both a big responsibility and a great challenge
D．the guard force in the Gallery has not done a good job
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.
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
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.
3.From the passage we can see__________
A．all 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
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
A newly-wed couple on a four-month honeymoon were hit by six natural disasters, including the Australian floods, Christchurch earthquake and Japanese tsunami.
Stefan and Erika Svanstrom left Stockholm, Sweden, on December 6 and were immediately stranded in Munich, Germany, due to one of Europe's worst snowstorms. Travelling with their baby daughter, they flew on to Cairns in Australia which was then struck by one of the most tremendous tonadoes in the nation's history. From there, the couple, in their 20s, were forced to shelter for 24 hours on the cement floor of a shopping centre with 2,500 others. "Trees were being knocked over and big branches were scattered across the streets," Mr Svanstrom told Sweden's Express newspaper. "We escaped by the skin of our teeth," said Svanstrom.
They then headed south to Brisbane but the city was experiencing massive flooding, so they crossed the country to Perth where they narrowly escaped raging bush fires. The couple then flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, arriving just after a massive magnitude 6.3 earthquake destroyed the city on February 22. Mrs. Svanstrom said, "When we got there the whole town was a war zone." "We could not visit the city since it was completely blocked off, so instead we travelled around before going to Japan." But days after the Svanstroms arrived, Tokyo was rocked by Japan's largest earthquake since records began. "The trembling was horrible and we saw roof tiles fly off the buildings," Mr. Svantrom said. "It was like the buildings were swaying back and forth."
The family returned to Stockholm on March 29,2011 after a much calmer visit to their last destination China. But Mr. Svanstrom, who also survived the destructive Boxing Day tsunami that hit southeast Asia in 2004, said the marriage was still going strong. He added, "I know marriages have to endure some trials, but I think we have been through most of them." "We've certainly experienced more than our fair share of catastrophes, but the most important thing is that we're together and happy." Mrs. Svantrom added: “ To say we were unlucky with the weather doesn’t really cover it! It’s so absurd that now we can only laugh.”
1.How many countries did the couple visit during their honeymoon?
A．6. B．5. C．4. D．3.
2.What's the right order of the following things according to the passage?
a. The couple headed south to Brisbane.
b. The couple flew to Cairns.
c. The couple flew to Christchurch.
d. The couple were stranded in Munich.
A．a-b-c-d
B．a-c-b-d
C．d-b-c-a
D．d-b-a-c
3.By saying "We escaped by the skin of our teeth.", Mr. Svanstrom meant that _____
A．The tornadoes was tremendous
B．They escaped from the tornadoes easily.
C．They had a narrow escape from the tornadoes
D．There was something wrong with their teeth
4.According to the last two paragraphs, which word can best describe Mr. Svanstrom?
A．ambitious.
B．enthusiastic
C．considerate
D．optimistic
Robeson was born in a very poor family. At seven, he had to pick coal in a deserted mine near his home, and then he sold__36__he had picked and earned a few coins to help his parents. He had__37__schooling, for being so poor, how could they__38__school fees?
When he was fifteen, he worked__39__a servant in a school. Looking at other children studying in the classroom，he felt__40__for himself. How he__41__to have the same chance! He decided to study by__42__.In the daytime, after the sweeping and cleaning was over, he__43__stand by the window outside the classroom trying to catch what the teacher said. At night, he tried his best to remember what he__44__during the day. He worked__45__hard at his lessons that he sometimes had just three or four hours to sleep. The more he learned, the greater__46__he showed in his lessons. A math teacher discovered him and came to like this diligent boy and__47__him to sit at the back of the class. In one exam, he was the__48__one in the whole school who reached the highest grade. He would have been given the scholarship if he__49__a regular student of the school.
Robeson__50__through six long years with his study of math and wrote several articles which captured the__51__of some university professors. They admired his talent__52__his diligence. To give him a good chance, they hired him as a librarian and__53__him free guidance. Robeson felt__54__, for he was sure that before him there was a broad road__55__success.
1. A．whether B．which C．that D．what
2. A．many B．few C．little D．much
3. A．buy B．afford C．send D．read
4. A．as B．like C．for D．by
5. A．angry B．happy C．proud D．sorry
6. A．hated B．decided C．wished D．regretted
7. A．the teacher B．himself C．his parents D．his schoolmates
8. A．could B．ought to C．should D．would
9. A．had learned B．has been taught C．has heard D．had been written down
10. A．very B．so C．too D．quite
11. A．joy B．interest C．time D．taste
12. A．allowed B．agreed C．let D．refused
13. A．worst B．only C．last D．laziest
14. A．had been B．has been C．is D．was
15. A．learned B．listened C．mastered D．struggled
16. A．notice B．influence C．eyes D．attention
17. A．except for B．according to C．as well as D．in spite of
18. A．taught B．offered C．lent D．sent
19. A．sad B．angry C．happy D．disappointed
20. A．leading to B．coming from C．made of D．covered with
Successful people always make ________ preparations for any potential setbacks.
A．final B．urgent C．abrupt D．adequate
With a huge amount of food ________，all of the staff are busy preparing for the dinner tonight.
A．would serve B．served C．to serve D．serving
