－There is a knock at the door. Who ________ be?

－________ be Tommy.

[　　]

The dream of flying like Buzz Lightyear never dies. For years, space-age inventors have tested one wearable jet pack after another. And time after time, the designs have been grounded by dangerous fuels, excessive weight, or very loud noise levels. Now a Canadian inventor has sidestepped those weaknesses with an aquatic jet pack. Designed for travel over lakes or oceans, it’s driven by pressurized water, not burning rocket fuel.

When Raymond Li first told the idea for the aquatic jet pack to his friends, they said he must be nuts. How could a jet pack carry that much water? Its thrust-to-weight rate would be so low and it would never become airborne. Thrust-to-weight rate is a measure of the forward force produced compared with the weight of the vehicle. A vehicle with a low thrust-to-weight rate is relatively heavy for the amount of force it generates.

Li's genius idea was to place the jet pack’s engine and its water pump in a separate boat. The pump would draw water from the lake the boat was floating on. It would then force the water under pressure through a hose connected to the jet pack. The hose would be long enough to let the pack go up as high as 8.5 meters (28 feet) in the air.

Today, Li's invention, the Jetlev-Flyer, is ready to go into production. The pack itself, complete with jet nozzles （管嘴） and handlebars, weighs just 14 kilograms. The boat is a floating pod. To take off, the operator hits a trigger on a handlebar, which starts the pump, and then turns the throttle. Two streams of high-velocity water shoot through the hose and out the nozzles, lifting the operator into the air. The operator hovers there or pushes down on the handlebars, zooming forward at speeds of up to 64 kilometers per hour, pulling the pod behind.

All the following factors contribute to the failure of inventing a wearable jet pack EXCEPT ______.

A. excessive water     B. unbearable noise    C. unsafe fuels   D. too much weight 

The underlined word “sidestepped” in Para. 1 most probably means ________.

  A. improved          B. reduced         C. avoided         D. solved

Raymond Li’s friends found his idea for the aquatic jet pack was ________.

  A. exciting           B. crazy          C. realistic         D. creative

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

  A. His friends encouraged him to do the invention.

  B. He put the engine and its water pump in the same boat.

  C. The success of his invention lies in his bravery.   

  D. His invention finally succeeded and will go into production.

Which is the right order to make the Jetlev-Flyer take off?

  a. The throttle is turned.                  b. The operator is lifted into the air.

  c. A trigger is hit.                       d. Two streams of water shoot out.

The pump is started.

A. c, e, a, d, b          B. c, e, a, b, d            C. e, c, d, b, a          D. e, a, c, d, b

I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.

The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.

And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.

So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.?

There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her.

“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “ I don’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”

It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.

“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”

1.In the first paragraph, “No ifs, ands or buts” probably means ______.

A. Unintentionally                               B. Independently

C. Impressively                                  D. Unconditionally

2.From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ______.

A. with his family                               B. with Evelyn

C. alone                                            D. with his children

3.During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.

A. he was determined to be a good husband

B. he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm

C. she looked lovely in her new clothes

D. the doctor said his wife was seriously ill

4.The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?

A. He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.

B. She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.

C. He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.

D. He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying.

5.By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that ______.

A. he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life

B. he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband

C. he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change

D. he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before

 

I sometimes wonder if old Finchley has the right personality to be a research scientist. He keeps asking when he’ll be coming back. After all, it was his own fault. Nobody tries out what has just been invented on themselves any more but Finchley. Well, he must have pumped about a thousand cubic centimeters into himself before I noticed he was clearly becoming smaller.

  It was funny watching him, because his clothes remained the same in size. They simply piled up around him so that he looked like a small boy in his father’s clothes. But he kept getting smaller and smaller. As my colleague Dawson and I watched him, he disappeared! All we could see was Finchley’s clothes on the floor. They looked so strange, because the lab coat was on top, shirt and trousers inside and, I suppose, underclothes inside again. It gave me a strange feeling, and I think Dawson was a bit shaken, too.

  Dawson was sitting on his chair in front of a microscope he’d been using to examine a family of mites(螨虫). He looked through the scope kind of absently again, and was nearly scared to lose awareness when he found old Finchley waving back from the other end.

  It seems as if Finchley had taken a free ride on a dust mite and landed on the land of the mite family. Of course, we didn’t know till Finchley told us later. But anyhow, as I said, Dawson nearly passed out. He jumped off his chair and pointed at the microscope, too shocked to speak.

Finchley disappeared because ________.

 A. he took something poisonous      

B. he was changed into a dust mite

   C. his father’s clothes totally covered him up

 D. what he and his colleagues invented resulted in his disappearance

It frightened Dawson to see Finchley _______.

 A. got into his scope by accident      B. was waving through his telescope

   C. suddenly got lost in his clothes      D. gradually disappeared in the lab

It can be inferred that Finchley, Dawson and the writer have possibly invented _____.

 A. some kind of medicine               B. a new powerful microscope

   C. a machine to make people small    D. a new way to make a culture of mite

It can probably be concluded that Finchley ________.

   A. passed out there and then         B. is not fit to be a scientist

   C. is a devoted scientist            D. will remain tiny all the time

Joe wanted a bike. He asked his parents for the money and they had said he must  1 it.

But how? He thought about this  2 he walked home. Not many people wanted to ask kids to work for

3 . Maybe he could clear away snow for the neighbors. 4 this was summer. He’d have to

5 a long time for that. He couldn’t cut grass for their gardens 6 he had no tools to do the work with.

Then Joe saw one of his  7 , Dick, delivering  8 . I could do

that, he  9 . Maybe I could get the bike right  10 . I could pay

for it  

11 each week. He ran to catch up  

12 Dick．Joe asked  13 questions about having a paper route. He learned that  14 was possible to earn twenty-five dollars each week. He learned  

15 the job took about three  16 each night. Dick gave him the  

17 of the newspaper manager.

Joe almost flew home. After he had  18 his plan, his mother smiled. “I think it’s a great idea.” she said. “I’ll call the newspaper.”

“Wait Mom,” Joe said. “I’ll19 . After all, I’m going to be a businessman now.”

Joe’s mother smiled  20.

1.                A．buy            B．earn           C．take D．do

 

2.                A．if             B．whether        C．since D．as

 

3.                A．them          B．you            C．him  D．us

 

4.                A．But            B．And            C．So   D．Or

 

5.                A．walk           B．wait            C．sit   D．stand

 

6.                A．because        B．so             C．although D．but

 

7.                A．classmate       B．classmates       C．parents   D．parent

 

8.                A．newspapers     B．news           C．cards D．message

 

9.                A．talked          B．agreed         C．thought   D．told

 

10.               A．along          B．away           C．on   D．out

 

11.               A．little           B．few            C．a little D．a few

 

12.               A．with           B．on            C．along D．to

 

13.               A．many a         B．much          C．plenty D．a great many

 

14.               A．this            B．it             C．that  D．which

 

15.               A．that           B．what           C．why  D．when

 

16.               A．days           B．minutes        C．hours D．hour

 

17.               A．address        B．telephone      C．phone number  D．manager

 

18.               A．explained       B．talked          C．thought   D．changed

 

19.               A．call            B．tell            C．say   D．be

 

20.               A．sadly          B．angry          C．proud D．proudly