阅读下面短文,并按照题目要求用英语回答问题.

Almost everybody in America will spend a part of his or her life behind a shopping cart（购物手推车）. They will, in a lifetime, push the chrome-plated contraptions many miles. But few will know—or even think to ask—who it was that invented them.

Sylvan N. Goldman invented the shopping cart in 1937. At that time he was in the supermarket business. Every day he would see shoppers lugging（吃力地携带） groceries around in baskets they had to carry.

One day Goldman suddenly had the idea of putting baskets on wheels. The wheeled baskets would make shopping much easier for his customers, and would help to attract more business.

On June 4, 1937, Goldman’s first carts were ready for use in his market. He was terribly excited on the morning of that day as customers began arriving. He couldn’t wait to see them using his invention.

But Goldman was disappointed. Most shoppers gave the carts a long look, but hardly anybody would give them a try.

After a while, Goldman decided to ask customers why they weren’t using his carts. “Don’t you think this arm is strong enough to carry a shopping basket?” one shopper replied.

But Goldman wasn’t beaten yet. He knew his carts would be a great success if only he could persuade people to give them a try. To this end, Goldman hired a group of people to push carts around his market and pretend they were shopping! Seeing this, the real customers gradually began copying the phony（假冒的） customers.

As Goldman had hoped, the carts were soon attracting larger and larger numbers of customers to his market. But not only did more people come—those who came bought more. With larger, easier-to-handle baskets, customers unconsciously bought a greater number of items than before.

Today’s shopping carts are five times larger than Goldman’s original model. Perhaps that’s one reason Americans today spend more than five times as much money on food each year as they did before 1937—before the coming of the shopping cart.

The underlined words “chrome-plate contraptions” in Paragraph 1 refer to ______.

（No more than 3 words）

What was the purpose of Goldman’s invention? （No more than 10 words）

Why was Goldman disappointed at first? （No more than 10 words）

Why did Goldman hire people to push carts around his market? （No more than 10 words）

What do you think of Goldman? Please give your reasons. （No more than 20 words）

You needn’t hurry her; she _______ it by the time you are ready.

       A. will have finished                          B. will finish

C. will be finishing                             D. has finished

This past week, the world lost an icon and I lost one of my favorite musicians when Michael Jackson, 50, died of a heart attack on June 25. Jackson, a famous person nearly all his life, was admired by fans for signature dance moves like the Moonwalk and his album Thriller, which has sold over 100 million copies.

One of the greatest hits from Thriller is Beat It. In the song, Jackson sings: “Just beat it, beat it/ No one wants to be defeated/ It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right/ Just beat it, beat it!”

Just what does he mean?

“Beat it” is a very common expression with a few different meanings. One of the most popular is the command form, which is similar to “Get out of here!” or “Get out of my face, stop bothering me!” You might tell your dog to “beat it” when he keeps begging you for food.

“Beat it” can also be used as a suggestion, to describe the act of leaving suddenly: “This party is so boring, let’s beat it.”

The expression can be taken more literally, in its traditional sense of “ to strike or hit something”: “Tell me the answer before I beat it out of you.”

“To beat” also means “to win”. “She struggled with her illness, and in the end she beat it.” When Jackson sings, “No one wants to be defeated…Just beat it!” he may be encouraging his audience to overcome their struggles. Or maybe he means the opposite: that it’s better to run than stay and fight. Just beat it!

The underlined word “icon” in the first paragraph most probably means ______.

A. a small symbol on a computer screen that represents a programme

B. a famous person or thing that people admire and see as a symbol of a particular idea etc.

C. a person who has talent in songs or music

D. a man or woman who is very good-looking in appearance

The author mentions Michael Jackson mainly to _____.

A. show his or her honor to him

B. inform readers of his death

C. introduce the expression “beat it”

D. get us to know more about his career

According to the passage the expression “Beat it” has all the following meanings EXCEPT “_____”.

A.  Away with you!             B. Get out of my face!

C.  See or understand            D. Win

What’s the purpose of the writer’s writing this passages?

A. To make the expression “Beat it” known.

B. To tell us that Michael Jackson’ death is a great loss to the world.

C. To show the origin of the expression “Beat it”.

D. To amuse or entertain readers.

Brittnie Pemberton listened attentively as Jim Herrick took her and her mother, Tanya, on a brief tour of San Diego State University on Thursday. Her dream is much closer to reality after she received a promise from the university. The university promised that she would get a full four-year scholarship to the school as long as she met the entrance requirements.

Brittnie, 10, laughed. Her mom cried.

They live at the Salvation Army Door of Hope, a living center for homeless women and their children. Photojournalist Linda Solomon met them in August when she came to the facility and taught boys and girls, ages three-and-a-half to 13, how to take pictures. She gave them all disposable cameras and told them to capture images that reflected their dreams. The children's images - a big house, a church, a playground, a backyard and more - are kept. This is a project called“Pictures of Hope" organized by the Salvation Army

"I wish to go to college, so I took a picture of the sign out in front of San Diego State University," Brittnie said last month. The Fletcher Elementary School fifth-grader was pointing to the Christmas card bearing her photograph.

Adrienne Finley, development director at the Salvation Army, hosted a reception for Solomon, who told Finley about the president of a small university who gave a child the scholarship she dreamed of last year.

Finley called his old friend, Herrick, who serves as the SDSU President. "We have a wonderful opportunity here to make a difference in a little girl's life," Finley said. Soon her mom and Brittnie were face to face with SDSU President Jim Herrick.

"You must be Brittnie," he said, reaching out to shake her hand. She quickly pulled her hands out of the pockets of the new SDSU sweatshirt she had been given that morning.

They sat down at a table in his office and talked about college, about science, about her love of math and his hope that she and other girls wouldn't lose interest in those subjects, as happens to many girls as they grow older.

Then they talked about how much discipline she would need over the next eight years to make her dream come true. Both signed the paper outlining their agreement to the terms of the scholarship. Back outside on the sunny campus, Brittnie admitted she's tempted sometimes not to do her homework. "But not anymore," she said.

According to the first paragraph, we can know that________.

A. it is certain that Brittnie will be admitted into SDSU

B. Brittnie will not need to pay for her university education if she can study in SDSU.

C. Jim Herrick promised Brittnie’s mother to offer her a job in SDSU.

D. Brittnie made a promise that she would never give up her dream. .

The Salvation Army Door of Hope is intended to ______.

A. recruit young men and young women to help others

B. provide shelters for homeless moms and their children

C. carry out some projects to help those who are in trouble

D. help homeless people no matter who they are

According to the passage, the following statements are true EXCEPT_______.

A. Linda Solomon taught children photography to inspire them.

B. Children told people about their dreams through their pictures.

C. Brittnie took a picture standing at the gate of SDSC.

D. Brittnie’s picture was so good that it was printed on a Christmas card.

From what Ferrick said to Brittnie, we can infer that_______.

A. Ferrick has a strong belief that Brittnie will be a scientist in the future.

B. Brittnie, as well as some other girls, is interested in both science and math.

C. some girls would not be so good in science and math as boys as they grow older.

D. Brittnie will never lose interest in science because of her deep love

Which of the following words can best describe Brittnie’s feelings when she signed

the agreement about the scholarship ?

A. Encouraged                B. Calm               C. Nervous          D. Proud

Jane told the police man that her gold necklace ______.

   A. was stolen of   B. was robbed from    C. had been stolen from   D. had been robbed of