Imagine the situation. You are driving alone in a desert or on a mountain. You have no idea where you are. You passed the last house two hours ago. Then your car breaks down. It is night and it is  ,  cold. You have no mobile phone. What do you do? Well,next time take a GPS with you. This invention  may be able to help you. It is a device (装置）which uses satellites (卫星）find the user’s position (位置）.It can find your position to within 20 metres. A GPS cannot start your car,but at least you will know where you are.

   GPS,which means Global Positioning System,is a small radio receiver. It looks like a mobile phone. You can hold it in your hand,or put in your pocket. It is sometimes put into a watch or a telephone. We also find GPS devices in cars,planes,or boats. Some of these devices have electronic maps,so you know where you are. For example,in a city they can tell you the name of the street.

There are three parts of the Global Positioning System. The first part is the receiver. You can hold it in your hand,or have it fixed into your car,plane etc. The second part is a group of satellites orbiting the Earth. The receiver contacts at least four of the satellites and calculates (计算)its position. The third part of the system is a network of ground stations. They are all over the world. They control the satellites and make sure they are working well.

Some people think that in the future the GPS will be as common as the mobile. They are becoming cheaper and more and more accurate (精确的). There are also new uses for the GPS. Perhaps they will become like watches. Everyone will have one and you will never be lost again.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。

(   ) 1. According to the passage，with the help of the

GPS,people        .

A. can’t be lost in a new city

B. can’t find their way in different countries

C. can learn about the culture of an unknown place

D. can spend the least time getting to another place

(   ) 2. We can learn from the passage that        .

A. there are three parts of the GPS

B. a GPS can’t be put into a watch

C. a GPS can help you start your car

D. the GPS are becoming more and more expensive

(   ) 3. The underlined word They in Paragraph 3 means

“       ”

A. receivers     B. GPS devices

C. satellites     D. ground stations

(   ) 4. The passage is mainly about        .

A. the history of the GPS

B. the introduction of the GPS

C. the shape of the GPS

D. the three parts of the GPS

(   ) 5. What  can  we  infer(推断）from the passage?

A. All GPS devices have electronic maps.

B. People in many countries will use the GPS for free.

C. The receiver of the GPS contacts at least five of the satellites.

D. The GPS will become more and more common in everyday life.

    People often said Thomas Edison was the greatest genius(天才)of his age. There are only a few men in all of history,who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be pleased only because someone said he was a genius. “ There is no such a thing as genius,” Edison said. He thought what people called genius was mostly(主要是）hard work.  

   But Edison was a thinker as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. He tried to understand them,and then he tried to learn what he could usefully do with them.

   Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people would do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking,especially if they do not think very often. But he knew,too,that thinking could give men enjoyment and pleasure.

   Edison could not understand why anyone could not be interested in life. As he loved to think,he also loved to . work. On the day he became 75 years old,someone asked him what idea he had about life. “Work,” he answered, “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier. ” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。

(   ) 1. What is genius according to Thomas  Edison?

A. Hard thinking.  B. Hard work.

C. Useful ideas.  D. Useful inventions.

(   ) 2. How did Edison always deal with the  secrets of nature after exploring them?

A. To write down what he had learned.

B. To carry out a new experiment.

C. To make them useful in life.

D. To share them with others.

(   ) 3. What could not Edison understand?

A. He couldn’t understand how  anybody enjoyed life.

B. He couldn’t understand if anybody loved working.

C. He couldn’t understand why anybody loved thinking.

D. He couldn’t understand why anybody was tired of life.

(   ) 4. Was Edison a good thinker or a good worker?

A. He was a good thinker.

B. He was either a good worker or a good thinker.

C. He was a good thinker and he was a good worker,too.

D. He was neither a good thinker nor a good worker.

(   ) 5. What does the last sentence in the passage mean?

A. Edison was bom to be a great inventor.

B. Edison was able to live another 100 years.

C. Edison was ready to make his 100th invention.

D. Life was too short for Edison to work for human beings.

  You may know the word “astronaut”. 1       do you know the word “ taikonaut ” ? It means “ Chinese astronaut” in English. It 2       the Chinese pinyin “taikong” and the English word “astronaut”. In 1998， a Malaysian Chinese scientist 3       the word for the first time. Since then,because of the fast development of China’s space industry,more and more people all over the world have known the 4       In September,2008,taikonauts caught many people’s eyes again.

  The Shenzhou-W spaceship that carried three taikonauts was launched from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center 5       September 25 th. It’s the third time for China to 6       people into space. During the flight in space,some tasks 7       and the 20-minute spacewalk was the most exciting one. 8       the help of his two teammates Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng,Chinese taikonaut Zhai Zhigang completed China’s first spacewalk. China has become the 9       country to finish such an outer space activity following Russia and the U. S. A. . All the Chinese people are 10       of our country. More and more young people hope to travel in space one day.

(   ) 1. A. And B. But     C. So D. Though

(   ) 2. A. hears from     B. learns from

         C. gets from     D. comes from

(   ) 3. A.  spoke  B. used     C. saw  D. told

(   ) 4. A.  word  B. scientist

         C. spaceship     D. that

(   ) 5. A.  at  B. in     C. on  D. from

(   ) 6. A.  send  B. put     C. go  D. get

(   ) 7. A.  completed  B. were completed

         C. completes     D. are completed

(   ) 8. A.  Among  B. Under     C. With  D. For

(   ) 9. A. first     B. second

        C. third     D. fourth

(   ) 10. A. disappointed     B. worried C. sorry     D. proud

  Long,long ago people made fires from lightening (闪电）. But they had to keep the fire burning,for they couldn’t start it again if there was no lightening. Later,they found out hitting two pieces of stone together could make a spark(火花）. The spark could fire dry leaves. In this way they could make the fire again if it went out.    Then people also learned to make a fire by rubbing (摩擦).They made a hole on a piece of wood and put a smaller stick into the hole. They turned the stick again and again. After a few minutes they got a fire.

Years went by,people learned other ways to make a fire. Sometimes they used the heat from the sun. They held a piece of glass in the right way and made a piece of paper on fire.

  About two centuries ago,people began to make matches. Matches brought people a quick and easy way to make fires. Today matches are still being used,but people have more new ways to make fires. One of them is to use an electric fire starter. Of course all electric fire starter is much more expensive than a box of matches. But it is very useful.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。

(   ) 1 . What could the spark do according to the passage?

B. Bum anything.

C. Burn dry leaves

D. Keep fire burning.

(   ) 2. TTie underlined word “it” in paragraph 1 refers to “       ”

A. the lightening     B. a spark

C. the fire     D. the match

(   ) 3. How long have matches been used?

A. For about two thousand years.

B. For about two hundred years.

C. Since people began to use fire for cooking.

D. Since people used the heat from the sun.

(   ) 4. What can we know from the passage?

A. Electric fire starter is a very useful way  to make fires.

B. People haven’t used matches since they had electric fire starters.

C. Today there are only two ways to make fire.

D. Some forest fires happen from lightening.

(   ) 5. Which of the following is the right order of the ways to make fires that people got to know?

a. with a match

b. from the sun

 阅读短文，从方框中选择适当的词并用其正确形式填空，使短文通顺、意思完整。 

  It has been more than two thousand years since we  began to use an umbrella on rainy days. However，people  often felt it not convenient to 1       an umbrella while working. Then the rubber raincoat was 2       by an;Englishman named Macintosh in 1823.

  In 1492,Columbus,a well-known Italian voyager, discovered the New World—the America. He brought a lot of things to Europe from South America. Rubber was \ one of them,but people didn’t know the use of rubber at  that time. In 1770,people found that the rubber could  I be 3       as erasers.

Macintosh was a 4       in an eraser factory in  Scotland. One day he spilled the rubber liquid over his j clothes carelessly when making erasers. He was too busy   to 5       it and went back home wearing the dirty  clothes. On the way home,it 6       heavily. Having no   umbrella,Macintosh had to run home quickly. When he — got home,he took off the 7       clothes. To his surprise, the area of the clothes with rubber wasn’t wet. “ Why not 1 make a rubber raincoat?” Macintosh thought. The next day he brushed the rubber liquid all over a coat. He           8        the “rubber coat” on rainy days and took a walk            in the field to test if it could really keep off the rain. \ Surprisingly,the clothes inside the “ rubber coat ” weren’t wet at all. The rubber raincoat was created in i this way by 9      

The rubber raincoats soon appeared on the market. However,they were sticky in summer and hardened in winter. Year after year,people kept on 10 the raincoats. Today raincoats are widely used in our daily life.

1.         2.         3.         4.         5.        

6.       7.        8.       9.        10.      

5. —Can you guess___(... 的形状)the present?  

—Yes. It’s round.  

4. —What are you going to do            (在将来）？  

—I am going to do science research work.

3 .____(只要）you study hard，you must get an award.  

 2. 一Can you                (找出）where the I book is?

—Sorry. I can’t. 

1. It is sunny tonight. There are many stars shining   ___(在天空中）.