The Tin Lizzie

　　It shook, rattled (嗄嗄作响), and groaned (呻吟). It wasn't pretty. It looked like a black box sitting on high, skinny wheels. But it could go anywhere, and it was cheap.

　　What was it? It was Henry Ford's Model-T ca－better known as the Tin Lizzie. This car was the most popular of all for nearly 20 years. It changed the American way of life forever.

　　Model T's were sold as fast as they were made. Eleven thousand were sold in 1908. They cost $850 each. Of course, you can't buy a new car for $850 any longer. The prices of new cars keep changing.

　　The line graph below shows how the average prices of American cars have been changing.

　　A line graph shows how something has changed. This kind of graph uses a simple line to show changes. If the line goes up, that means things have gone up in some way. If the line goes down, then something has gone down.

　　Suppose you want to find the average price of cars for 1977. Find 1977 at the bottom of the graph. Find the dot over the year. Then find the price across from the dot.

　　Use the line graph to answer the questions below.

1．What was the average price of a car in 1979?

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2．What does the line graph show about car prices?

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3．In what year did cars cost more than $4000 but less than $6000?

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4．Suppose you were looking for a new car in 1981. What would the average price have been?

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5．How did the average price of cars change from 1977 to 1979?

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　　阅读理解

Radio and television are very popular in the world today. Millions of people watch TV. Perhaps more people listen to the radio.

　　The TV is, of course, more useful than the radio. On TV you can see and hear what is happening in the world.

　　Now radio is still with us. And the number of listeners is becoming larger. One reason for this is the invention of transistor radio. A transistor radio is sometimes very small. It is very easy to carry. You can put one in your pocket and listen to it on the bus or on your bike when you go to work. It is better for blind people. The sight of many people is not good enough to watch TV. Then, when people are working, they can't watch TV but they can listen to music or news over the radio. What's more, radio is much cheaper than TV.

　　(1)Radio and television ________ in the modern world today.

[　　]

　　A． are both widely used

　　B． are both expensive

　　C． have been changed a lot

　　D． are used for learning things

　　(2)Radio and television are quite useful because you can ________.

[　　]

　　A． see what is happening in the world

　　B． hear what is happening to the world

　　C． know what the world is like

　　D． see what the people on the earth are doing

　　(3)The number of listeners is becoming larger because ________.

[　　]

　　A． the radio is easy to carry

　　B． the radio is good for blind people and many old people

　　C． the radio can be used at any time

　　D． the reason is A, B and C

　　(4)________ when you are on the bus or bike.

[　　]

　　A． Radio can be listened

　　B． TV can be watched

　　C． Radio can be listened

　　D． TV can be used

　　(5)Radio is used a lot because ________.

[　　]

　　A． it costs less than TV

　　B． it costs more than TV

　　C． it is not so cheaper as TV

　　D． people can't know the news on TV

We are all busy talking about and using the Internet, but how many of us know about the history of the Internet?

Many people are surprised when they find that the Internet was set up in the 1960s. At that time, computers were large and expensive. Computer networks (网络) didn’t work well. If one computer in the network broke down, then the whole network stopped. So a new network system (系统) had to be set up. It should be good enough to be used by many different computers. If part of the network was not working, information could be sent through another part. In this way the computer network system would keep on working all the time.

At first, the Internet was only used by the government, but, in the early 1970s, universities, hospitals and banks were allowed to use it too. However, computers were still expensive and the Internet was difficult to use. By the start of the 1990s, computers become cheaper and easier to use. Scientists had also developed software (软件) that made “surfing (浏览)” the Internet more convenient (方便).

Today it is easy to get on-line and it is said that millions of people use the Internet every day. Sending e-mail is more and more popular among students.

The Internet has now become one of the most important parts of people’s life.

阅读短文，选择正确答案

1.The Internet has a history of ______ years.

A. about 40　　 　　　　　　 B.less than 30　　 　　   C.more than 45　　     D.nearly 35

2.Scientists set up a new network system to ______.

A. make the computer cheaper　　 　　　　　　　　　　 B.make the system work well

C.make the computer go well　　 　　　　　　    D.develop new softwares

3.The Internet was widely used in the ______.

A.1960s　　 　　　　   B.1970s　　 　　　　　　   C.1980s　　 　　　　　　   D.1990s

4.The underlined words “get on-line” in Chinese mean ______.

A.上机　　 　　　　　　 B.上网　　 　　　　　　    C.接线　　 　　　　　　    D.买电脑

5.Which of the following is NOT true?

A. In the 1960s computer network system went wrong easily.

B.Computers are much cheaper than before.

C.Today the Internet is used everywhere.

D.People had enough softwares to get on-line fifteen years ago.