Without electricity human life _____ quite different today.  

“ Have you visited the Science Museum?”

“ No, but I really wish I ___.”                     

The head office of the bank is in Beijing, but it has ___ all over the country.

 Accustomed to ______ the steep mountain, he had no difficulty reaching the top. 

Michel is a young girl who works for the police 21  a handwriting expert. She has helped   22  many criminals  by using her special talents　　When she was fourteen, Michel was already  23  interested in the differences in her friends'   24  that she would spend hours  25  them. After  26  college she went to France for a  27  two-year class in handwriting at the School of Police Science.

Michel says that it is  28  for people to hide their handwriting. She can discover 29  of what she needs to know simply   30 looking at the writing with her own eyes,  31  she also has machines  32   help her make   33   different kinds of paper and ink. This knowledge is often   34  great help to the police.

Michel believes that handwriting is a good   35  of what kind of person the    36   is. "I wouldn't go out with a fellow    37  I didn't like his handwriting.” She says. But she  38 she fell in love with her future husband, a young policeman  39   she studied his handwriting. It is later proved to be   40 , however.

Rush hour traffic is a problem in many big cities around the world. Commuters(上下班者)rush to and from their jobs in cars, buses, subways, trains, and even on bicycles. Large cities in the United States have two rush hours—one in the morning and one in the evening. But in cities in other parts of the world, there are four rush hours. In Athens and Rome, for example, many workers go home for lunch and a nap. After this midday break, they rush back to their jobs and work for a few more hours.

In Tokyo, there's a big rush hour underground. Most of the people in Tokyo take the subways. The trains are very crowded. Subway employees called packers wear white gloves and help pack the commuters into the trains when the doors close. They make sure that all purses, briefcases, clothes, and hands are inside the trains.

In Seoul, many commuters prefer to take taxis to get to work.. To hail a cab，many people stand at crossroads and raise two fingers. This means they'll pay the cab driver double the usual fare. Some people even raise three fingers! They'll pay three times the normal rate。

Streets in Rome are very crowded with automobiles and mopeds(摩托自行车)during rush hours. The city can't make its streets wider, and it can't build new highways, because it doesn't want to disturb the many historic sites in the city, such as the Forum and the Coliseum. It took the city fifteen years to construct a new subway system. Construction had to stop every time workers found old artifacts and discovered places of interest to archaeologists(考古学家).

In many big cities, there are special lanes on highways for carpools. These are groups of three or more people who drive to and from work together. They share the costs of gas and parking and take turns driving into the city.

Getting to work and getting home can be difficult in many places around the world. Rush hour traffic seems to be a universal problem.

1.Big cities have traffic problems during rush hours because there are _______

2.Most of the commuters in Tokyo _______

3.To “hail a cab” means to _______

4.Commuters in carpools probably_______

In earliest times, men considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries of nature. Some ancient people believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons of the gods.

In reality, lightning is a flow of electricity formed high above the earth. A single flash of lightning 1.6 kilometres long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs .

The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752. In the same year he also built the first lightning rod (避雷针). This device protects buildings from being damaged by lightning.

Modern science has discovered that one stroke of lightning has a voltage (电压) of more than 15 million volts (伏特). A flash of lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second.

Scientists judge that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year. In the United States alone it kills an average of one person every day.

The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car. Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under tress. Also on,e should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.

With lightning, it is better to be safe than sorry.

1.People once thought lightning came from ________.

2.According to the passage what do you think all buildings need?

3.Lightning can travel ________.

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

I first went to Harrow in the summer term. The school had the biggest swimming pool I had ever seen. It was a good joke to come up behind a naked boy, and push him into the pool. I made quite a habit of this with boys of my own size or less.

One day I saw a boy wrapped in a towel on the side of the pool. He was no bigger than I was, so I thought him a fair game. Coming secretly behind, I pushed him in, holding on to his towel so that it would not get wet, I was surprised to see an angry face come out from the water, and a being of great strength masking its way by face strokes (猛力地划)to the shore. I fled, but in vain. He overtook me, seized me violently, and threw me into the deepest part of the pool. I soon climbed out on the other side, and found myself surrounded by a crowd of younger boys.” Do you know what you have done?” they said, “It’s Amery; he is in Grade Six. He is champion at gym; he has got his football honor.”

I was frightened and felt ashamed. How could I tell his position when be was wrapped in a bath towel and so small.” He didn’t seem pleased at all, so I added in a most brilliant word,” My father, who is a great man, is also small.” At this be laughed, and after some general words about my rude behavior and how I had better be careful in the future, signified the incident was closed.

1.The writer thought Amery” a fair game” because the boy   .

2.The writer felt” ashamed” because    .

3.By saying “My father, who is a great man, is also small”, the writer   .

4.Which of the following is TRUE?

In 1977, a dead author of detective stories saved the life of a 19-month-old baby in a most unusual way. The author was Agatha Christie, one of the most successful writers of detective stories in the world.

In June 1977, a baby girl became seriously ill in Qatar, near Saudi Arabia. Doctors were unable to find out the cause of her illness with confidence, so she was sent to Hammersmith Hospital in London. She was then only semi-conscious and on the "Dangerously Ill" list. A team of doctors hurried to examine the baby only to discover that they, too, were confused by the very unusual symptoms (症状). While they were discussing the baby's case, a nurse asked to speak to them. "Excuse me," said Nurse Marsha Maitlan, "but I think the baby is suffering from thallium (铊) poisoning."

"What makes you think that?" Dr. Brown asked. "Thallium poisoning is extremely rare."

"A few days ago, I was reading a novel called A Pale Horse by Agatha Christie," Nurse Maitlan explained. "In the book, somebody uses thallium poison, and all the symptoms are described. They're exactly the same as the baby's."

"You're very thoughtful and you may be right," another doctor said. "We'll carry out some tests and find out whether it's thallium or not."

Tests showed that the baby had indeed been poisoned by thallium, a rare metallic substance used in making special glass. Once they knew the cause of the illness, the doctors were able to give the baby the correct treatment. She soon recovered and was sent back to Qatar. Later it was reported that the poison might have come from an insecticide (杀虫剂) used in Qatar.

1.The one who first suggested the correct cause of the baby's illness was _____.

2.As far as we can tell from the passage, Agatha Christie _____.

3.It seems likely from the passage that the baby's illness had something to do with _____.

单词拼写（每小题1分, 共10分）

1.You can take ___________ (占有) of the front seat so as to see the blackboard clearly

2. They often ______________ ( 捐赠) food and clothing to the poor.

3.He made an ___________（尝试） to cheat in the exam.

4.You can easily ___________（阐明） the problems if you study British history.

5.A golden __________（婚礼） is the fiftieth anniversary of a marriage.

6.She wore a pair of ________ (钻石) earrings at last night’s party.

7.Having lived in Hawaii all his life, he was not __________ (习惯于）to the cold of Northern Europe.

8.He was _______ （羞愧）of his body so he decided to go on a diet and do more exercise.

9.__________ (青少年) often take more risks than adults.

10.All the ____________ (女性的) workers in this factory got a present on March 8.