Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.

    Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.

   At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.

   At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening. No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.

Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?

A. The Britons got expensive tea from India. 

B. Tea reached Britain from Holland.

C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea.

D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea.

This passage mainly discusses_____________.

A．the history of tea drinking in Britain 

B．how tea became a popular drink in Britain

C．how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea   

D．how tea-time was born

Tea became a popular drink in Britain.

A．in eighteenth century    B．in sixteenth century

C．in seventeenth century   D．in the late seventeenth century

People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because.

A．it tasted like milk               

B．it tasted more pleasant

C．it became a popular drink

D．people tried to copy the way Madame de Servinge drank tea

60．We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain mostly resulted from the influence of　________.

 A．a famous French lady    B．the ancient Chinese

 C．the upper social class  D．people in Holland

Recently some American scientists have given a useful sincere piece of advice to people in industrialized nations that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.

The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since humans first appeared on the earth, but the way we live has changed greatly. Our body has not been able to deal with these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses. These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times, so they are called “diseases of civilization”. Many cancers and diseases of the blood system, including heart attacks and strokes ( 中风 ) are examples of such diseases.

Scientists noted that people in both the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age enjoyed very little alcohol or tobacco, probably none. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and that of today.

Stone-age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than domestic or tame ones ( 家畜 ). They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables and fruits. They didn’t have milk or any other dairy products, and they made very little use of grains. But today, we eat a large amount of these. We eat six times more salt than our remote ancestors. We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein and much less vitamin C.

People today probably do not want to live the way people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate much the same way as remote ancestors did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet food.

1.What is the main cause that people suffer from a lot of new sicknesses?

A. Ancient people did a great deal of physical exercise.

B. People today have a lot of alcohol.

C. People today have more tobacco.

D. Food today is quite different from that of ancient times.

2.Which of the following belongs to the dairy products?

A. Milk              B. Corn     C. Pork             D. Flour

3. New kinds of sicknesses have been found because ________.

A. the human body has changed compared with humans who first appeared on the earth

B. the way we live has changed a little

C. our body can’t deal with the changes in life style

D. the way we live today is proper for the human body

4. According to some scientists, Stone-age people were much healthier than people today because they ate a lot of ________.

A. milk and other dairy products                         B. salt and sugar

C. wild animals, fresh wild vegetables and fruits     D. grain foods

 

The hardworking blacksmith(铁匠) Jones used to work all day in his shop and so hard working was he that at times he would make the sparks fly from his hammer.
The son of Mr. Smith, a rich neighbor, used to come to see the blacksmith everyday and for hours and hours he would enjoy himself watching how the blacksmith worked. "Young man, why don't you try to learn to make shoe tacks（鞋钉）, even if it is only to pass the time?" said the blacksmith. "Who knows, one day, it may be of use to you." The lazy boy began to see what he could do. But after a little practice he found that he was becoming very skilled and soon he was making some of the finest tacks.
Old Mr. Smith died and the son because of the war lost all his goods. He had to leave home and settled down in another country. It so happened that in this village there were many shoemakers who were spending a lot of money to buy tacks for their shoes and even at times when they paid high prices they were not always able to get what they wanted, because in that part of the country there was a high demand for soldiers' shoes.
Our young Mr. Smith, who was finding it difficult to earn his daily bread, remembered that he had learned how to make tacks and had the sudden idea of making a bargain with the shoemakers. He told them that he would make the tacks if they would help to get him settled in his workshop. The shoemakers were only too glad of the offer. And after a while, Mr. Smith found that he was soon making the finest tacks in the village.
"How funny it seems," he used to say, "even making tacks can bring a fortune（财富）.”
【小题1】From the passage, we can learn the young Mr. Smith became rich ______.
A by selling shoes  B by making shoe tacks  C with his father’s help D by making bread
【小题2】Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A The young Mr. Smith’s father was very wealthy.
B The young Mr. Smith was lazy before learning to make shoe tacks.
C The shoemakers offered him a working place to make shoe tacks.
D The shoemakers were unwilling to buy the young Mr. Smith’s tack.
【小题3】What can we learn from the young Mr. Smith’s success?

A．It is no use crying over the spilt milk.

B．A friend in need is a friend indeed.

C．All roads lead to Rome.

D．Seeing is believing.

【小题4】What is the right order of the events related to the young Mr. Smith?
a. He was born in a rich family.
b. He became rich by selling tacks.
c. His father died and he became poor.
d. He was asked to learn to make shoe tacks.
e. He settled in another country.

A．a-d-c-e-b

B．a-d-b-c-e

C．b-d-c-e-a

D．b-d-a-e-c

Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.

Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.

At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.

At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.

1.Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?

A．The Britons got expensive tea from India.

B．Tea reached Britain from Holland.

C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea.

D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea.

2.This passage mainly discusses_____________.

A．the history of tea drinking in Britain

B．how tea became a popular drink in Britain

C．how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea

D．how tea-time was born

3.Tea became a popular drink in Britain_____________.

A．in eighteenth century	B．in sixteenth century
C．in seventeenth century	D．in the late seventeenth century

4.People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because_____________.

A．it tasted like milk

B．it tasted more pleasant

C．it became a popular drink

D．Madame de Sevigne was such a lady with great social influence that people tried to copy the way she drank tea

5.We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain was mostly

due to the influence of  ________.

A．a famous French lady	B．the ancient Chinese
C．the upper social class	D．people in Holland

 

Imagine you’re at a party full of strangers. You’re nervous. Who are these people? How do you start a conversation? Fortunately, you’ve got a thing that sends out energy at tiny chips in everyone’s name tag (标签). The chips send back name, job, hobbies, and the time available for meeting-whatever. Making new friends becomes simple

This hasn’t quite happened in real life. But the world is already experiencing a revolution using RFID technology.

An RFID tag with a tiny chip can be fixed in a product, under your pet’s skin, even under your own skin. Passive RFID tags have no energy source-batteries because they do not need it. The energy comes from the reader, a scanning device, that sends out energy (for example, radio waves) that starts up the tag immediately.

Such a tag carries information specific to that object, and the data can be updated. Already, RFID technology is used for recognizing each car or truck on the road and it might appear in your passport. Doctors can put a tiny chip under the skin that will help locate and obtain a patient’s medical records. At a nightclub in Paris or in New York the same chip gets you into the VIP (very important person) section and pays for the bill with the wave of an arm.

Take a step back:10 or 12 years ago,you would have heard about the coming age of computing. One example always seemed to surface: Your refrigerator would know when you needed to buy more milk. The concept was that computer chips could be put everywhere and send information in a smart network that would make ordinary life simpler

RFID tags are a small part of this phenomenon. “The world is going to be a loosely coupled set of individual small devices, connected wirelessly,” predicts Dr.J.Reich. Human right supporters are nervous about the possibilities of such technology. It goes too far tracking school kids through RFID tags, they say. We imagine a world in which a beer company could find out not only when you bought a beer but also when you drank it. And how many beers. Accompanied by how many biscuits. w*w*When Marconi invented radio, he thought it would be used for ship-to-shore communication. Not for pop music. Who knows how RFID and related technologies will be used in the future. Here’s a wild guess: Not for buying milk.

1. The article is intended to______.  

A. warn people of the possible risks in adopting RFID technology

B. explain the benefits brought about by RFID technology

C. convince people of the uses of RFID technology

D. predict the applications of RFID technology

2. We know from the passage that with the help of RFID tags, people        .

A. will have no trouble getting data about others

B. will have more energy for conversation

C. will have more time to make friends

D. won’t feel shy at parties any longer

3. Passive RFID tags chiefly consist of        .

A. scanning devices              B. radio waves   C. batteries              D. chips

4. Why are some people worried about RFID technology?

A. Because children will be tracked by strangers.

B. Because market competition will become more fierce.

C. Because their private lives will be greatly affected.

D. Because customers will be forced to buy more products.

5. The last paragraph implies that RFID technology        .

A. will not be used for such matters as buying milk

B. will be widely used, including for buying milk

C. will be limited to communication uses

D. will probably be used for pop music