Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in Slovenia. It is over 5,100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around. But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modern road design.
In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a new design of road — a base layer (层) of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same time, metal hubs (the central part of a wheel) came into being, followed by the pneumatic type (充气轮胎） in 1846.Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads (柏油路). As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster and faster.
1.What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become popular for some time?
A. Few knew how to use transport wheels.
B. Humans carried farming tools just as well.
C. Animals were a good means of transport.
D. The existence of transport wheels was not known.
2.What do we know about road design from the passage?
A. It was easier than wheel design.
B. It improved after big changes in vehicle design.
C. It was promoted by fast-moving vehicles.
D. It provided conditions for wheel design to develop.
3.How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
A. By giving examples. B. By making comparisons.
C. By following time order. D. By making classifications.
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A. The beginning of road design.
B. The development of transport wheels.
C. The history of public transport
D. The invention of fast-moving vehicles.
Mothers and daughters go through so much — yet when was the last time a mother and daughter sat down to write a book together about it all? Perri Klass and her mother, Sheila Solomon Klass, both gifted professional writers, prove to be ideal co-writers as they examine their decades of motherhood, daughterhood, and the wonderful ways their lives have overlapped (重叠).
Perri notes with amazement how closely her own life has mirrored her mother’s: both have full-time careers; both have published books, articles, and stories; each has three children; they both love to read. They also love to travel — in fact, they often take trips together. But in truth, the harder they look at their lives, the more they acknowledge their big differences in circumstance and basic nature.
A child of the Depression (大萧条), Sheila was raised in Brooklyn by parents who considered education a luxury for girls. Starting with her college education, she has fought for everything she’s ever accomplished. Perri, on the other hand, grew up privileged in the New Jersey suburbs of the 1960s and 1970s. For Sheila, wasting time or money is a crime, and luxury is unthinkable while Perri enjoys the occasional small luxury, but has not been successful in trying to persuade her mother into enjoying even the tiniest thing she likes.
Each writing in her own unmistakable voice, Perri and Sheila take turns exploring the joys and pains, the love and bitterness, the minor troubles and lasting respect that have always bonded them together. Sheila describes the adventure of giving birth to Perri in a tiny town in Trinidad where her husband was doing research fieldwork. Perri admits that she can’t sort out all the mess in the households, even though she knows it drives her mother crazy. Together they compare thoughts on bringing up children and working, admit long-hidden sorrows, and enjoy precious memories.
Looking deep into the lives they have lived separately and together, Perri and Sheila tell their mother-daughter story with honesty, humor, enthusiasm, and admiration for each other. A written account in two voices, Every Mother Is a Daughter is a duet (二重奏) that produces a deep, strong sound with the experiences that all mothers and daughters will recognize.
1.Why does Perri think that her own life has mirrored her mother’s?
A. They both have gone through difficult times.
B. They have strong emotional ties with each other.
C. They have the same joys and pains, and love and bitterness.
D. They both have experiences as daughter, mother and writer.
2.The word “luxury” in Paragraph 3 means ______.
A. something rare but not pleasant
B. something that cannot be imagined
C. something expensive but not necessary
D. something that can only be enjoyed by boys
3.What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?
A. The content of the book. B. The purpose of the book.
C. The influence of the book. D. The writing style of the book.
4.How are women’s lives explored in this book?
A. In a musical form. B. Through field research.
C. With unique writing skills. D. From different points of view.
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Language is the most astonishing behavior in the animal kingdom. It is the species-typical behavior that sets humans completely 36 from all other animals. Language is a means of 37 , but it is much more than that. Many animals can 38 . The dance of the honeybee communicates the location of flowers 39 other members of the hive (蜂群). But human language permits communication about anything, 40 things like unicorns (独角兽) that have never existed. The key 41 in the fact that different words can be 42 together in different ways, according to 43 to communicate different meanings.
Language is the most important learning we do. Nothing can 44 humans so much as our ability to communicate abstract 45 , whether about the university, the mind, love, dreams, or ordering a drink. It is an extremely complex 46 that we take for granted. Indeed, we are not aware of most 47 of our speech and understanding. Consider what happens when one person is speaking to 48 . The speaker has to translate thoughts into 49 language. Brain imaging studies suggest that the time from thoughts to the 50 of speech is extremely fast. Only 0.04 seconds! The listener must hear the sounds to 51 what the speaker means. He must use the sounds of speech to 52 the spoken words, understand the pattern of 53 of the words (sentences), and finally 54 the meaning. This takes somewhat longer, a minimum of about 0.5 seconds. But once started, it is of course a(n) 55 process.
1.A. apart B. off C. up D. down
2.A. advertisement B. communication C. discovery D. invention
3.A. transfer B. move C. convey D. communicate
4.A. to B. from C. over D. on
5.A. only B. almost C. even D. just
6.A. stays B. situates C. hides D. lies
7.A. stuck B. joined C. rung D. controlled
8.A. rules B. scales C. laws D. standards
9.A. combine B. contain C. define D. declare
10.A. activities B. thoughts C. effects D. chances
11.A. expectation B. progress C. process D. produce
12.A. aspects B. abstracts C. angles D. assumptions
13.A. anybody B. another C. other D. everybody
14.A. body B. gesture C. written D. spoken
15.A. growing B. fixing C. beginning D. building
16.A. put out B. take down C. draw up D. figure out
17.A. identify B. locate C. reveal D. discover
18.A. performance B. organization C. design D. show
19.A. regulate B. justify C. release D. interpret
20.A. slow B. interesting C. continuous D. serious
The sun began to rise in the sky, ________ the mountain in golden light.
A. bathed B. bathing C. to bathe D. have bathed
I wonder whether the teacher is one of those who _______ to the mountain village to help the children there.
A. have sent B. has sent C. has been sent D. have been sent
The book tells stories of the earthquake through the eyes of those _______ lives were affected.
A. whose B. that C. who D. which
