Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s. the sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.
Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.
People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.
Today, we know that the little iron in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.
It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.
1.A good title for this reading passage is______.
A. Popeye the Sailor
B. The Truth About Spinach
C.A Mistake with Numbers
D. Folic Acid Makes You Strong
2.Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?
A. People liked folic acid.
B. They thought Popeye was funny.
C. Spinach had a lot of iron.
D. They thought spinach made them strong.
3.A research group told people that spinach______.
A. made Popeye strong
B. was a green vegetable
C. had less iron than other green vegetables
D. had more iron than other green vegetables
4.The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from______.
A. ironB. spinachC. folic acidD. exercise
A Leap to Honor
Leaping on a narrow balance beam(平衡木) is not easy. But Lola Walter, a 13-year-old gymnast, is an expert at it.
To perfect her skills, Lola for four hours a day, five days a week. At the state championships in March, she finished seventh out of 16 girls.
That’s especially impressive, she is legally blind, born with a rare condition that causes her eyes to shift constantly. She often sees double and can’t how far away things are.
When she was little, her mom that even though she couldn’t see , she was fearless. So her mom signed her up for gymnastics when she was three. She loved the right away and gymnastics became her favorite.
Though learning gymnastics has been more for her than for some of her tournaments, she has never quit. She doesn’t let her stop her from doing anything that she wants to.
She likes the determination it takes to do the sport. Her biggest is the balance beam. Because she has double vision, she often sees two beams. She must use her sense of touch to help her during her routine. Sometimes she even closes her eyes. “You have to your mind that it’ll take you where you want to go.” says Lola.
To be a top-level gymnast, one must be brave. The beam is probably the most for anyone because it’s four inches wide. At the state competition, Lola didn’t fall the beam. In fact, she got an 8.1 out of 10---- her highest score yet.
Lola doesn’t want to be differently from the other girls on her team. At the competitions, the judges don’t know about her vision . She doesn’t tell them, because she doesn’t think they need to know. Her mom is amazed by her attitude.
Lola never thinks about . She is presently at Level 7 while the highest is Level 10 in gymnastics. Her is to reach Level 9. She says she wants to be a gymnastics coach to pass down what she’s learned to other kids she grew up.
Lola is of all her hard work and success. She says it’s helped her overcome problems in her life outside gymnastics, too. Her for others is “just believe yourself”.
1.A. runsB. teachesC. trainsD. dances
2.A. sinceB. unless C. afterD. though
3.A. tellB. guessC. assumeD. predict
4.A. suspectedB. remembered C. imagined D. noticed
5.A. deeplyB. wellC. aheadD. closely
6.A. taskB. sportC. event D. show
7.A. boringB. enjoyable C. different D. unsatisfactory
8.A. talentB. qualityC. nature D. condition
9.A. doubtB. advantage C. challengeD. program
10.A. examineB. expressC. openD. trust
11.A. fearfulB. harmful C. unfair D. inconvenient
12.A. toB. onC. offD. against
13.A. greetedB. treatedC. servedD. paid
14.A. painsB. stressesC. injuriesD. problems
15.A. positiveB. friendlyC. flexibleD. caution
16.A. defendingB. quittingC. winningD. bargaining
17.A. standardB. rangeC. viewD. goal
18.A. untilB. asC. whenD. before
19.A. proudB. tired C. ashamedD. confident
20.A. planB. advice C. rewardD. responsibility
— Are you sure the delegation will come to our school next week?
— _____. The head of it has just emailed me about the departure time of their flight.
A. No wonder B. You bet C. Don’t mention itD. Definitely not
The book tells stories of the earthquake through the eyes of those _______ lives were affected.
A. who B. thatC. whose D. which
Since the baby milk powder was found to be polluted, there has been universal doubt _____ other food products are safe _____.
A. that; to eat B. whether; to be eaten
C. that; to be eaten D. whether; to eat
— But for your timely warning, we _____ into great trouble.
— Well, you know we’re friends.
A. would get B. must have got
C. would have got D. can’t have got