A Train Floating On Air

A train that floats on air? It's not magic — it's magnets (磁). And it's close to reality.

       In Virginia USA the fall of 2002, a train with no wheels traveled on air and carried college students across their campus. In Japan, a whisper-quiet railway engine hovered and raced at 350 miles per hour using magnets and electricity as the power. And in China, a magnet train line linked Shanghai with nearby Pudong Airport.

These trains use magnetic levitation (悬浮) technology, “maglev” for short. They use the same rules as the magnets you pick up at home or school: opposite poles of magnets attract each other, and like poles repel each other.

How does it work?

Powerful magnets on the bottom of the train repel magnets on the track, which is actually just a magnet-filled guiding way. With a magnetic field of sufficient force, the train will go hovering on air, which seemed impossible to us in the past.

When an electrical current is sent through the track, the train moves. Turn the current backwards and the train slows down.

Maglev doesn't rely on the friction (摩擦力) of wheels on track, so it can climb a much steeper hill than a traditional train. And it can travel easily in snow and ice, something that could bring normal trains to a screaming stop.    

Which of the following is a repelling action?

       A.                        B.                        C.                        D.

     What can we learn from the text?

A. Electric currents decide the movements of a maglev train. 

B. A magnet-filled guiding way is formed inside a maglev train.

       C. Instead of electricity, magnets are used as the power of a maglev.

       D. Maglev trains can climb hills with the help of magnet wheels.

What is the difference between a maglev train and an ordinary train?

       A. Floating on a track, a maglev train is faster, quieter than an ordinary railway train.

       B. A maglev train can climb mountains without power while an ordinary one can’t.

       C. A maglev train can travel in college campus while an ordinary train is not allowed.

       D. Travelling without a track, a maglev train is safer and smoother than an ordinary one.

For the second time in three years, Norway's Robert Sorlie delivered a brave performance to win sled-dog racing's toughest contest—the Iditarod. The 47-year-old firefighter crossed the finish line in Nome, Alaska, at 8:39 a.m. local time Wednesday morning.

"It feels good to be here," he declared, after passing the finish line. "I'm ready for breakfast."

Frosty temperatures, rough land, and exhaustion couldn't break the musher （赶狗拉雪撬的人）, who completed the race in 9 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds. Runner-up Ed Iten finished 34 minutes later, and defending champ Mitch Seavey finished third.

Sorlie took his first lead at the 365-mile mark, but fell into second place halfway through the race. With 500 miles to go, he regained the lead for good.

Iditarod officials rewarded Sorlie with a generous prize of $72,066 and a new truck. But even more exciting for the winner was the historic nature of his ride. By winning this year's race, Sorlie joins a best group of mushers, becoming only the sixth person to win the Iditarod more than once.

After winning several major long-distance races in Europe, Sorlie made his Iditarod first appearance in 2002, finishing in ninth place. A year later, he returned to take on the Alaskan wilderness once again, and won.

Iditarod: A Quick History

Since 1973, the world's top competitors have gathered in Alaska to undertake the Iditarod's 1,150-mile trail, which stretches from Anchorage to Nome.

The race commemorates（纪念）a group of courageous mushers and dogs. In 1925, they traveled across part of the Idit trail to deliver serum（血清）to save sick children in Nome.

How many times has Robert Sorlie won the Iditarod?

       A．Once.     B．Twice.     C．Three times.          D．Several times.

How long did it take Ed Iten to finish the race?

       A．9 days, 19 hours, 13 minutes, and 31 seconds.

       B．9 days, 18 hours, 5 minutes, and 31 seconds.

       C．9 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds.

       D．9 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes, and 31 seconds.

This win was very important for Sorlie because he could _____.

       A．get the generous prize of $72,066 and a new truck

       B．get a chance to race in Europe

       C．join a best group of mushers

       D．save sick children in Nome

How long has the Iditarod been held?

       A．Only 3 years.   B．Over 100 years.       C．About 80 years.       D．Over 20 years.

A. Importance of Learning from Failure        B. Quality Shared by Most Innovators        C. Edison’s Innovation        D. Edison’s Comment on Failure        E. Contributions Made by Innovators        F. Successful Innovators

Even Intelligent People Can Fail

_________

The unusual things about the innovators (创新者) who succeeded in making our modern world is how often they failed. Turn on a light, take a photograph, watch TV, search the web, jet across the Pacific Ocean, talk on a cell-phone. The innovators who left us these things had to find the way to success through a maze (错综复杂) of wrong turns.

_________

We have just celebrated the 125th anniversary of American innovator Thomas Edison’s success in heating a thin line to white, hot heat for 14 hours in his lab in New Jersey, US. He did that on October 22, 1879, and followed up a month later by keeping a thread of common cardboard alight (点亮着的) in an airless space for 45 hours. Three years later he went on to light up half a square mile of downtown Manhattan, even though only one of the six power plants in his design worked when he turned it on, on September 4, 1882.

________

“Many of life’s failures,” Edison said, “are because that people did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Before that magical moment in October 1879, Edison had worked out no fewer than 3,000 theories about electric light. But in only two cases did his experiments work.

________

No one likes failure, but the smart innovators learn from it. Mark Gumz, the head of a camera maker, attributes some of the company’s successes in technology to understanding failure. His popular phrase is：“You only fail when you quit.”

_________

Over two centuries, the most common quality of the innovators has been persistence (坚忍不拔). That is another way of saying they had the emotional ability to keep on with what they were doing. Walt Disney, the founder of Disneyland, was so penniless after a series of financial failures that he was left shoeless in his office because he could not afford the $1.50 to get his shoes from the repair shop. Pioneering car maker Henry Ford failed with one company and was forced out of another before he developed the Model T Car.

Across the world , 11 billion people have no access to clean drinking water . More than2.6 bullion people lack basic sanitation (卫生设备) .

The combination proves deadly . Each year . diseases related to inadequate water and sanitation kill between 2 and 3 million people and cause an estimated 80 percent of all sicknesses in the developing world . Safe thinking water is a precondition for health and the fight against child death rate , inequality between men and women,  and poverty .

Consider these facts :

●The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 kilometers .

●Only 58 percent of children in sub-Saharan Africa are drinking safe water, and only 37 percent of children in South Asia have access to even a basic toilet .

●Each year in India alone, 73 million working days are lost to water-borne diseases .

Here are three ways you can help :

1) Write Congress

  Current U.S. foreign aid for drinking water and sanitation budgets only one dollar per year per American citizen . Few members of Congress have ever received a letter from voters , about clean drinking water abroad .

2) Sponsor a project with a faith-based organization

  Many U.S. religious groups already sponsor water and sanitation projects, working with partner organizations abroad . Simply put , a single project by a U.S. organization can make safe water a reality for thousands of people .

3) Support nonprofit water organizations

  Numerous U.S.-based nonprofits work skillfully abroad in community-led projects related of drinking water and sanitation . Like the sample of non-profits noted as follows , some organizations are large , others small-scale , some operate worldwide , others are devoted to certain areas in Africa , Asia , or Latin America . Support them generously .

72．The three facts presented in the passage the used to illustrate that      .

       A．poverty can result in water-borne diseases

       B．people have no access to clean drinking water

       C．women’s rights are denied in some developing countries .

       D．safe drinking water should be a primary concern

73．The intended readers of the passage are _____________.

A．Americans                                          B．overseas sponsors

       C．Congressmen                                      D．U.S-based water organizations

74．The main purpose of the passage is to call on people to ___________.

       A．get rid of water-related diseases in developing countries

       B．donate money to people short of water through religious groups

       C．fight against the worldwide water shortage and sanitation problem

       D．take joint action in support of some nonprofit water organizations

75．What information will probably be provided following the last paragraph?

       A．A variety of companies and their worldwide operation.

       B．A list of nonprofit water organizations to make contact with.

       C．Some ways to get financial aids from U.S. Congress.

       D．A few water resources exploited by some world-famous organizations.

 

 

D
At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.
At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.
And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”
What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.
【小题1】The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.

A．young students will travel home for Christmas.

B．young people will travel in every direction.

C．it is a large movement of human beings

D．the traffic flows will be more contradictory

【小题2】From the second paragraph we can learn that the writer _______.

A．went home every week to wash dirty clothes

B．understood his parents’ desire of seeing him

C．didn’t understand his parents’ feelings

D．went home to see his parents regularly

【小题3】The underlined word “remedies” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _______.

A．reasons

B．excuses

C．habits

D．solutions

【小题4】From the last paragraph we know that _______.

A．in modern society, children should leave home

B．Christmas is likely a time for family reunion

C．the significance of Christmas is celebration

D．Christmas is not a comfort for the non-religious

【小题5】From the passage we can infer that by writing the article the writer is to _______.

A．persuade the young to show concern for their parents

B．ask the young to go home regularly

C．make the young understand their parents’ interest

D．enable the young to be more independent