Wheels are everywhere around you and me, 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 2002 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 tire (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 go faster and faster.
1.What might be the reason why transport wheels wasn’t that popular for some time?
A. Few knew how to use transport wheels.
B. Humans carried farming tools just as well.
C. Such animals as horses and bulls were still a good means of transport.
D. The existence of transport wheels was not known.
2.How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
A. By giving examples.
B. By following time order
C. By making comparisons.
D. By making classifications.
3.What is the passage mainly about?
A. The beginning of road design.
B. The history of public transport.
C. The developmentt of transport wheels.
D. The invention of fast-moving vehicles.
On the night of November 14, 1978, a six-year-old Korean boy was flying to the United States. All he knew was that he was on a plane heading for somewhere. The plane landed at Kennedy International Airport, where he was greeted by a family. This young boy was me.
I have grown up in a town where there were few Asians, so I stuck out in the crowd. I made friends quickly and they treated me just like anyone else. You may ask if anyone made fun of my appearance. Well, of course, I met that kind of person. I just shrugged it off.
As an adopted child, I have something that others don't have. I have had the benefit of two families. I'm lucky to have got a chance to start a new life. But we must try never to forget our past. Someday I will go back to Korea to find out what kind of culture I left behind.
There is only one thing that I regret about being adopted. When I argue with my parents and they realize they are losing the argument, they sometimes wonder what I would be doing if I were back in Korea. I don't understand this because I thought the purpose of adopting someone was to give them a better chance of growing up in a family. Some day when I am older, I want to adopt a girl and raise her the way my parents have raised me, but I would do it better, for I know what went well and what did not.
1.We learn that when the writer was on the way to his new family, ______.
A. he was with his own parents
B. he was very happy and excited
C. he was about ten years old then
D. he didn't know he was going to be adopted
2.If someone sticks out in the crowd, it means that he/she_______.
A. is very good-looking
B. is very kind-hearted
C. is easily noticed by others
D. is disliked by others
3.When the writer was made fun of by others, he _______.
A. was deeply hurt
B. wanted to go back to Korea
C. didn’t care about it that much
D. tried to make friends with them
4.What does the writer want to do when he is older?
A Go back to live with his parents in Korea.
B. Tell his parents what they have done wrong.
C. Find out how to raise children in a better way.
D. Adopt a girl and raise her in a good way.
书面表达
假定你是李华。应英国朋友Bob的要求，写一封短信介绍你校图书馆的基本情况。内容须包括下面两幅图中的相关信息。
注意：1.词数100左右;
2.可以适当增减细节，以使行文连贯;
3.开头语已为你写好。
Dec. 10
Dear Bob,
Thank you for your last letter asking about our library.
Best wishes,
Li Hua
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文, 请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误, 每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加: 把缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧), 并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除: 把多余的词用斜线(\)画掉。
修改: 在错的词下画一横线, 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意: 1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2. 只允许修改10处, 多者(从第11处起)不计分。
When I was at middle school, I have a nice classmate, which was the first foreigner I had ever met. She was friendly and very pretty. She was good in three languages, so she was born in China. It was interesting that her father was a Frenchman while her mother came from England. All of them were teaching at a university at that time. She was crazy about collect stamps, listening to pop music, as well as playing the football. Her dream was to be a engineer, so she usually studied harder to achieve it. She often told funny stories in English to make us laughing. We all liked her.
在下列句子的空格处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。
1.Police in America have stepped up their search for a 15-year-old boy who went __________ (miss) three days ago in Dover.
2.When asked about the ___________ (possible) that Justin was taken by aliens, Detective Sam told journalists that people sometimes liked to make up such amazing stories.
3.In this peaceful land, people live in perfect harmony _________ nature, far away from the noise and worry of the outside world.
4.Although Mary did not say anything, John assumed that she was linked ________ the incident.
5.She is enthusiastic _________ playing badminton and is now organizing a school tournament.
6.You are supposed _____________ (hand) in your homework tonight.
7.He is making _____________ (prepare) for tomorrow’s exam.
8.All students are ______________ (require) to attend school assembly on Monday mornings.
9.This is the second time that I _________ (lose) my mobile phone.
10.He wastes so much of his valuable time __________ (chat) on the Internet.
完形填空
When I was about twelve, I suddenly developed a great passion(热情) for writing poetry(诗). I gave up all my other hobbies, such as ________ stamps and spent all my ________ time reading poetry and writing it. This habit of writing poetry on every possible time soon got me ________ trouble at school. If a lesson did not interest me, I ________ take out my notebook and ________ poems in class. Of course I ________ this very cautiously(小心地), but it was not ________ I got caught. One day while I was ________ writing a poem during a geography lesson, I looked up ________ the teacher standing over me, fuming with anger (= getting very angry) because I was not ________ attention. He tore the poem up, with a________ not to waste time in his lesson. ________ I felt certain that I had written a good poem, ________ that evening I wrote it out again from ________ . Not long after, I read ________ a poetry contest and I decided to send in my poem. Weeks later, long after I had given up ________ , I got a letter informing me I had won first________. Everyone at school was very impressed, ________ the geography teacher, who ________ me more carefully than ever. He ________ that I not write poetry in his class!
1.A. gatheringB. collectingC. keepingD. picking
2.A. spareB. importantC. extraD. other
3.A. withB. toC. intoD. on
4.A. mightB. ought toC. shouldD. would
5.A. start writingB. ought toC. shouldD. would
6.A. wroteB. was writingC. was doingD. did
7.A. long agoB. long beforeC. soon afterD. soon before
8.A. busy atB. busy overC. busyD. busy with
9.A. to findB. finding outC. to look forD. searching
10.A. callingB. devotingC. givingD. paying
11.A. noticeB. lookC. warningD. word
12.A. At the sameB. All the sameC. At the timeD. The same as
13.A. soB. andC. asD. since
14.A. brainB. memoryC. mindD. reciting
15.A. throughB. inC. fromD. about
16.A. successB. courageC. hopeD. wish
17.A. victoryB. positionC. prizeD. gift
18.A. exceptB. besidesC. as well asD. especially
19.A. guardedB. watchedC. observedD. inspected
20.A. suggestedB. requestedC. promisedD. insisted
