Hands can easily get cold in winter. Wearing gloves might be a good choice, but sometimes it is not 1. (convenience). However, this was not a problem for ancient Chinese people, 2. had a more delicate tool to keep their hands warm: hand warmers.
There is no accurate written record about the origin of this tool, but there are some laics about its 3. (invent). One folk story concerns Emperor Yangdi from the Sui Dynasty (581-618) who visited Jiangsu in the winter. Due to the bitter cold, the local official asked the producers to make 4. small warmer for the emperor that could be held in one’s hands. Thus the hand warmer 5. (create).
Techniques for producing the tool were 6. (steady) developed in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). Many poems and books from this period recorded people using hand warmers. The Dream of the Red Chamber, the classic novel written 7. Cao Xueqin from the Qing Dynasty, also described a maid who 8. (send) a hand warmer to Lin Daiyu in one chapter.
Ancient hand warmers had various designs. Round and square shapes arc typical. Some of 9. (they) look like pumpkins and flowers. Inside a hand warmer, there were 10. (burn) coals, some mixed with fragrance and giving off a pleasant smell.
Yan Wei, a 30-year-old blind man, has just covered a marathon on Sunday. This time he ______ his personal record with a new time of 3 hours, 15 minutes and 58 seconds. He had two ______ to help him and was ______ them with a safety rope.”
Yan, who lost his ______ when he was a few months old, started running three years ago, after learning that volunteers were available to ______ blind runners at the 2015 Beijing Marathon.
When he started training with the help of his ______ and parents, he could run only for 2 or 3 km at a time. But soon he ______ so much that his sister had to ride a bike to stay ______ him and guide him. It took him just four months to be ______ for his first marathon.
Yan ______ his quick progress to daily exercise. “I’d like to ______ 200 km per month. I feel ______ if I do not run for two days in a row.” says Yan.
But training is becoming ______ for Yan now, because there are few guides who can run faster than him. His guides need to be in better ______ condition than him.
“He’s never missed a single training in the past three years. I am ______ not only by his strength but also his ______ to train,” says Shu Hao, an ______ runner who has taken part in a lot of marathons and one of Yan’s running guides.
Instead of dying to prove himself ______ he ran, Yan has taken delight in running and now moved to ______ the process. He has completed fourteen ______ in the last two years and just wants to keep going.
1.A. beat B. copied C. researched D. preserved
2.A. dogs B. coaches C. guides D. judges
3.A. lifted by B. tied to C. separated from D. fixed on
4.A. parents B. strength C. voice D. sight
5.A. assist B. comfort C. represent D. consult
6.A. teachers B. classmates C. brother D. sister
7.A. donated B. occupied C. improved D. witnessed
8.A. away from B. ahead of C. behind D. for
9.A. ready B. late C. grateful D. harmful
10.A. adjusts B. owes C. devotes D. applies
11.A. run B. drive C. swim D. fly
12.A. unlucky B. embarrassed C. uncomfortable D. ignored
13.A. stricter B. looser C. easier D. harder
14.A. living B. physical C. mental D. educational
15.A. praised B. evaluated C. impressed D. inspected
16.A. instruction B. pressure C. absence D. determination
17.A. experienced B. honest C. overweight D. upset
18.A. soon after B. every time C. as if D. even though
19.A. delay B. register C. simplify D. enjoy
20.A. projects B. operations C. marathons D. tasks
Long before the Internet, and even before the telephone, people relied on pen and paper to communicate. It’s a lot different from writing an email because when you make a mistake, you cannot “backspace” your errors away. 1.
Letter writing has been a key means of communication for people throughout history.2. Famous names like Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci graced my history textbooks growing up, with stories of their explorations. Much of what we know about them is through the letters they wrote to people back in Europe.
There were two main reasons why these early explorers wrote letters.3. The other reason for writing letters was to assure and update the people who financed their trips. These so-called sponsors were often noblemen or wealthy people who had a personal interest in world discoveries. Letters from explorers would raise hopes that new lands could bring more riches.
When the British began building colonies (殖民地) in America during the 17th century, these lands were settled by people who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.4. Their letters were mixed with news of illness as well as details of their exotic (异国的) surroundings.
5. With the widespread use of the Internet, the tiny differences of a person’s handwriting are lost to the cold, typewritten text that comes with an email. A person’s unique signature is reserved for signing a receipt for a credit card payment.
A. Letter writing is just how you travel around the world.
B. You simply cross out your mistakes with your pen and continue writing.
C. The early settlers faced a lot of challenges in the unfamiliar environment.
D. One was a boy from England who liked the same music as me: rock and roll.
E. Four hundred years later, however, we don’t really need to write letters anymore.
F. It played a vital part in the exploration of the ‘"New World”, as America was once known.
G. One was to document for the people back home what they saw as they journeyed through the faraway, mysterious land.
Last week, two companies, Kitty Hawk and Uber, announced their plans to bring flying cars to reality very soon.
Kitty Hawk president, Sebastian Thrun, announced Kitty Hawk’s flying car plans last Monday. According to its website, the car is electric-powered and will be able to travel at speeds up to 40 kilometers an hour. It says such a machine “does not require registration or a pilot’s license and may be flown in uncrowded areas for recreational purposes.” As of now, the car can only be flown over fresh water.
Kitty Hawk is making a list of people interested in buying the flying car. They must pay a deposit of $ 100. Those who get their names on the list early will receive $2,000 off the final cost of the car. However, Kitty Hawk has not yet announced the price. Its first flying cars are expected to go on sale by the end of this year.
Unlike the Kitty Hawk company, Uber does not plan to build its flying cars. Uber expects to launch flying taxis in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas, US by 2020. Like the Kitty Hawk car, Uber flying taxis will use electric power. Uber says its flying taxis could travel up to 241 kilometers an hour. The company says that could reduce the travel time between San Francisco and San Jose, California from 2 hours on the road to 15 minutes in the air.
Riders could use the Uber app to book a flying taxi to take them to their destinations. The company has not yet said how costly air taxi travel would be compared to road taxi travel.
Sooner than you think, flying cars may appear in the sky. Much convenience as they will bring, just imagine having to avoid other flying cars. Also, what if your battery dies when you are in the air? And, how will you know where to land?
1.What may Kitty Hawk’s flying car be used for at present?
A. Accelerating the speed. B. Having fun.
C. Advertising the company. D. Fetching water.
2.What do we know about Kitty Hawk’s flying car from the third paragraph?
A. It costs two thousand dollars each. B. It can travel over water.
C. It offers $100 to its potential buyers. D. It hasn’t gone to market.
3.In what way is Uber’s flying taxi similar to Kitty Hawk’s flying car?
A. They travel at the same speed. B. They are electric-powered.
C. They are supported by the Uber app. D. They require a flying license.
4.What is the purpose of the last paragraph of the text?
A. To call for public donations. B. To introduce some advantages.
C. To promote interest in science. D. To talk about possible problems.
Readers in Grenoble can now nibble (啃) fiction after Publisher Short Edition introduced eight short-story dispensers (自动售货机) around the French city.
The free stories are available at the touch of a button, printing out on rolls of paper like a receipt. Readers are able to choose one minute, three minutes, or five minutes of fiction.
“The feedback we got has been extremely positive. Just two weeks since its launch, more than 10,000 stories have already been printed. We are thrilled to see it working so well,” said the co-founder Quentin Pleple. “There are only eight dispensers in the city of Grenoble for now but we are planning to introduce more. We are getting requests from all over the world-Australia, the US, Canada, Russia, Grace, Italy, Spain and Chile.”
Pleple said he and his team initially came up with the idea a couple of years ago when taking a break at a drink dispenser. “We thought it would be cool to have it for short stories,” said the publisher. ‘Then, we decided to make a difference: the short-story dispenser was born.”
The French publisher hopes the story will be used to fill the “dead time” of a passenger. “In the bus or the subway, everyone can make the most of these moments to read short stories, poems, or short picture books,” said a statement from Short Edition. “And they can be sure to enjoy the quality.”
The dispensers arc now in locations including Grenoble’s town hall, its tourist office and its library. The stories are drawn from more than 60,000 stories on Short Edition’s website. But there is a problem that users are not able to choose what type of story they would like to read. “Right now they can only choose the length. But that is exactly what really counts, isn’t it?” said Pleple.
1.Where can you probably see a short-story dispenser at present?
A. In Chile. B. In Canada
C. In France. D. In Italy.
2.What does the underlined word “launch” in the third paragraph probably mean?
A. Coming into use. B. Being thrown away.
C. Being found out. D. Breaking down.
3.Why did Short Edition provide short-story dispensers?
A. To help people kill time in the journey.
B. To encourage people to write short stories.
C. To attract international tourists to Grenoble.
D. To do research in the field of new technology.
4.In what aspect does the short-story dispenser need to improve?
A. The length of the stories. B. The quality of the stories.
C. The number of the stories. D. The choice of different stories.
My father was a taxi driver but I am a king—King Renato, of the country Pontinha, an island on Funchal harbour. It’s in Madeira, Portugal, where I grew up. It was discovered in 1419; Captain Cook once came here.
In 1903, the Portuguese government didn’t have enough money to build a harbor port, so the king sold the land to a wealthy British family, the Blandys, who make Madeira wine. Fourteen years ago, the family decided to sell it for just € 25,000 (£19,500). I decided to buy it though I had no money—I was just an art teacher.
I tried to find some business partners, but they all thought I was crazy to want to buy what is actually a large rock; it has a small cave, a platform on top, and no electricity or running water. So I sold some of my possessions, put my savings together and bought it.
When the king of Portugal originally sold the island in 1903, he and all the governors signed a document, selling all the “possessions and the dominions (领土)” of the island. It means I can do what I want with it—I could start a restaurant, or a cinema, but nobody thought that someone would want to start a country. So that’s what I did: I decided that this would no longer be just a rock on the port of Funchal. It would be my island, about the size of a one-bedroom house.
After I bought it, the governor of Madeira asked to buy my island. Of course, I said no. He said that unless I sold it back to the state, he wouldn’t let me connect to any electricity. But I have a solar panel and a small windmill, and maybe in the future I will be able to generate power from the ocean around Pontinha.
1.What does the writer want to show by mentioning his father?
A. He had a royal family. B. He loved his family.
C. He was not a born king. D. He was not a good driver.
2.Who sold the island to the author?
A. A Portuguese king. B. An art teacher.
C. The Blandy family. D. Captain Cook.
3.How did the writer start the country?
A. He discovered the island.
B. He found business supporters.
C. He was supported by citizens in the island.
D. He took advantage of the official document.
4.What can we infer about the country Pontinha?
A. It was a tiny island.
B. A harbor port was built on it.
C. It was a wealthy land.
D. Life there was very convenient.
