Section B

Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only

be used once.  Note that there is one word more than you need.

F.  sales    G. amazing     H. similar    I. included   J. contest

Do you have a problem with the messy homework? Good news! You may soon be able to solve that, thanks to Keagan Bolibol and her Problem Pad.

Keagan is the winner of the Staples Invention Quest for kids, a (41)________ that encourages people to invent helpful office products. This is the first year that the Invention Quest has （42）________ a category for kids. “ I’m very excited,” Keagan told Scholastic News Online. “ I really can’t believe I actually did it. From the moment I entered it, it’s really (43)________that I should make it this far.”

Keagan was one of the five (44) _______ in the kids’ category. She is a fourth-grader in Woodinville, Washington.  Keagan’s Problem Pad is (45)________ to a dry-erase board except that it can fit into a notebook. It also has a pen (46)_______ to the bottom, along with helpful tools like a multiplication table (乘法表). Kids can use the Problem Pad to do their homework and other projects. They can make mistakes and then erase them. When they finally get them right, they can copy their work on a clean sheet of paper.

Keagan received a $25,000 prize for her invention, (47) ________ thousands of other kids. If her product is produced and sold in Staples stores, she can also receive royalties（版税），part of the money made from (48)________ of a product. “ I’m (49) ________ going to donate some to charities. Then the rest is for college,” said Keagan.

从方框内选择适当的短语,把其对应的序号填入答题卷上相应的题号中。

A. set down    B. at present     C. changing his mind  D. has gone through

E. ever since    F. getting along with    G. such as    H. is fond of

I. cares about   J. give in

1.What he ___ is whether he can buy the train ticket as soon as possible.

2.Karl Marx could speak a few foreign languages, _____ Russian and English.

3.The country _____a lot of wars in the past ten years.

4.Please speak slowly so that I can _____ your cellphone number and address.

5.How are you______your new classmates?   --- Quite well.

6.The subway, which is being built in Shenyang ______, will be completed next year.

7.We have lived in Shanghai_____ we came to China.

8.Finally Mrs White had to _______ and let her husband go on smoking.

9.He _____ playing the piano while his brother is interested in listening to pop music.

10.Don’t trust him. He is always _______________________.

When the first spring flowers blossom, Easter comes. It is the oldest Christian feast, in memory of the resurrection (复活) of Jesus Christ.

Along with the traditional Easter walk or outing, the giving of Easter eggs and, more recently, of Easter presents is a main feature of the feast. Parents give their children “Easter eggs” – colored and boiled eggs, chocolate eggs, marzipan eggs – Easter bunnies, sweets, and other gifts. In some German regions, children virtually “collect” Easter eggs from their relatives, especially their godparents.

Usually, the Easter eggs are carefully hidden in the garden or in the house and the children must search for them on the morning of the Sunday. They are told that the Easter bunny has brought them. This anonymous(匿名的), mysterious bunny is like Santa Claus at Christmas. But it is less of an “educational” figure than Santa Claus is, since the eggs are not given to children as rewards for being good.

Some Easter egg games have been preserved at certain places in Germany or have even been newly developed. Children try to outdo others in rolling colored eggs down grassy slopes, for instance, or they knock the eggs’ pointed ends together and the child whose egg does not shatter（砸碎） gets the broken one, too. In some places, this custom was even used as the name of local festival.

1.What are the main features of Easter?

A.        Easter walk, Easter eggs, Easter bunnies and sweets.

B.        Easter outing and the giving of Easter presents.

C.        Easter walk, Easter eggs, Easter bunnies and Easter egg games.

D.        Easter outing, the collecting of Easter eggs, and Easter games

2.The underlined word “outdo” means ________.

A. do better than               B. do worse than               C. do slower than              D. do the same as

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

E.         Easter bunny will give gifts to children for better or worse.

F.         Easter bunny is very similar to Santa Claus, as they both bring gifts to children.

G.        Easter always falls on a Sunday.

H.        Some of the local festivals are named by Easter egg games.

Professional adventurer Mike Horn never met a challenge he didn’t welcome. In fact according to Horn, “The impossible exists only until we find a way to make it possible.”
As a child in Johannesburg, South Africa, Horn excelled at sports and loved adventure. But it wasn’t until he moved to Switzerland in 1990 that his life of adventure really began.
Horn had always loved sports and taking risks, and he was known for his crazy feats. He traveled in the South American Andes Mountains in the early 90s and then in 1997 crossed the entire continent on foot. He finished by floating 7,000 km down the Amazon River!
In 1999, H      orn began a solo trip around the world following the equator,without the use of any motor-powered transportation. When he finished successfully 17 months later, he became the first person to accomplish the feat.
Horn’biggest challenge to date came in 2006. He and a fellow adventurer walked from Russia to the North Pole in the sunless winter. Traveling through the winter darkness, he encountered polar bears and many other dangers.
In 2008, Horn began another unique adventure –one that will take four years to complete. Instead of trying to achieve more personal goals, Horn is now dedicated to sharing his knowledge and experience with others.
He calls his latest expedition the “Pangaea Expedition.”with “Pangaea” standing for “a Pan Global Adventure for Environmental Action.”By the end of this expedition, Horn will have traveled 100,000 km and crossed all of the continents and oceans. But this time he won’t be going alone: He’s choosing young people from around the world, aged 13 to 20, to accompany him. Twelve young men at a time will participate in one of 12 different projects, ranging from studying glaciers to treating water sources.
The journey will take place onboard Horn’s 35-meter saiboat , the Pangaea which will become a floating science class . Along with a team of scientists, Horn plans to teach the young explorers about protecting and preserving the earth.
In perhaps his most important expedition, Horn will pass down his passion for Earth’s wonders to the next generation.
64.Which of the following is NOT ture?
A. He met with polar bears and many dangers in 2006 when Horn walked to the North Pole with another adventurer.
B. He loved sports, Earth’s wonders and taking risks.
C. It took Horn 17 months to complete his solo trip around the world without any Motor-powered transportation.
D. He really began his life of adventure in te 1990s.
65. The underlined sentence probably means____________.
A. He was afraid of challengers                          B. He never met challengers
C.He didn’t welcome challengers                       D. He was willing to meet challengers
66. In his latest “Pangaea Expedition”, Horn__________.
A. will have covered 100,000km and crossed only all the continents
B. will choose young men to take part in the 12 different projects
C. will be going around the world by himself
D. intends to teach the young men how to make expeditions
67. What is the best title for the passage?
A. Mike Horn-an adventurer with a cause           B. The Pangaea Expedition
C. How Mike Horn makes expeditions.               D. How to make expeditions.

A report on a new software that enables eyes to do the typing appears in Wednesday’s edition of the journal Nature. Replacing a keyboard or mouse, eye-scanning-cameras mounted on computers have become necessary tools for people without limbs or those affected with paralysis. The camera tracks the movement of the eye, allowing users to “type” on a virtual keyboard as they look at the screen. And now, researchers from the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University say they have developed software that replaces the standard QWERTY keyboard layout with one that is nearly twice as efficient, more accurate and easier on the eyes. Called Dasher, the prototype program looks into the natural gaze of the eye and makes predictable words and phrases simpler to write. Any off-the-shelf camera capable of scanning eye movement can be used with Dasher, though the person must sit fairly still during the interaction.

  The letters of the alphabet appear in a single column on the right of the screen, with an underline symbol to represent a space. Each letter is framed by a colored box. As the user looks at a particular letter on the right side of the screen and drags it to the left with their eye, another sub-alphabet column begins to emerge inside the box on the right-hand side, along with more letters framed in colored boxes. Dasher is designed to anticipate which letter will be needed, so although the successive sub-alphabet columns are initially very small, the letters or combination of letters that appear are most likely to be used next in that sequence. For example, if a person starts with the letter “h”, the language models in Dasher will bring up “a” “e” “i” “o” and “u” in the sub-alphabet box, along with a few other possible combinations like “ello” to form the word “hello”. Each box has a complete alphabet within it, though the first letters to appear have the highest probability of usage. The letters are then placed together to form a sentence on the left side of the screen.

  Researchers say people will be able to write up to 25 words per minute with Dasher compared to on-screen keyboards, which they say average about 15 words per minute. With a bit of practice, MacKay said, Dasher offers an easier and more satisfying way for disabled people to communicate, providing them with better tools to write e-mail or create word processor files. Mackay said Dasher could work in most languages.

72. With the new software Dasher, people can type with their eyes through_____.

A. a computer screen with eye-scanning sensors

　　B. an eye-scanning camera on computer

　　C. a colored box attached to the computer

　　D. a regular keyboard with sensors

73. The new method of typing will most benefit those people who___________ .

A. have reading difficulties     B are visually incompetent

　　C. are physically challenged.   D. do not have a big vocabulary

74. The software Dasher_______________ .

　　A. is able to predict the next sequence of words the user is going to write

　　B. can form coherent sentences based on the first word typed in by the user

    C. has to be used with eye-scanning cameras specially designed for the 

software

　　D. does not allow the user to move a lot during the interaction

75. Which of the following is true about Dasher?

　　A. It can be used to write ten more words than on screen keyboard per minute.

　　B. It is easier to use than ordinary keyboards.

　　C. It can provide hints for possible sentences to be written.

　　D. It is an independent text processor.