Sharks are among the oldest animals on E...

Light for the City

Edison and his assistants came to New York to set up an electric power system. They hoped it would provide enough electricity to light up a part of the great city.

They bought several machines with them. These were called generators, which produced electricity power for lamps in Edison’s building.

Soon there were lights for the building. Edison lived in a room facing the street and he often worked over night. The light burned brightly and steadily and he often worked over night. People often came and stopped their horse-drawn carriage to look. Everyone knew that Thomas Edison was in town.

First, the inventor and his assistants produced several large generators. A great deal of power would be needed to light up even a small part of the city.

Then the workers were busy digging deep trenches(沟) in the hard earth below the city streets, and Edison had fourteen miles of wire laid into the trenches. The wire connected each building to a generator.

Setting up an electric power system was not an easy job. It took a year and a half. In September, 1882, the job was finished.

A small group of men stood around Edison inside the power house. The big moment came at last. The inventor, taking a deep breath, pulled a switch. The electric lights flashed up.

“Very good! Very good!” a man nearby shouted to praise Edison for what he had done.

“Sir,” said Edison, “this is only the beginning!” And Edison was right. Soon Edison’s lamp were lighting up cities all over the world.                

1.The generators they brought with them could produce as much as electricity as ______ needed.

2.At that time carriages ______ by horse could be seen in the street.

3.Trenches were dug to ______.

4.It took a year and a half to ______.

Smiling

People smile at times. However, the meaning of a smile in different cultures may be different. Depending on different cultures, smiling can express joy and amusement, but it can also indicate embarrassment（苦恼）. The following examples show this point of view:

In an attempt to be open and friendly, people in the United States smile a lot. Every one smiles at each other, this nonverbal communication shows being friendly in the United States. However，in China, smiling is not only an expression of happiness, but also a way to avoid being embarrassed. Chinese people like smiling when they are embarrassed in order to avoid embarrassment. Smiling is a kind of good will but not sneer（嘲笑）. For example: When a child falls off from a bike, the adults in China may smile, which is a kind of gentle encouragement and may not be a kind of impolite laugh.

When a person from the United States might blush（脸红）with embarrassment or become offensive, a Chinese might blush with smile. To avoid serious misunderstanding, people who engage in intercultural communication should be able to understand the meaning of smiling appropriately. Related to the smile is the laugh. Also, different cultures have different meanings about laugh. For example, Americans can enjoy a very heartfelt belly (腹部) laugh that comes from the deepest emotions. However, most Chinese seldom laugh that way because they are thought to be silly except among close friends.

1.We can use smile to express all of the following feelings except_________,

2.People often smile at each other in the United States because_________.

3.In China, seeing a child falls off a bike, an adult will smile in order to ________.

4.What is mainly talked about in the passage?

Bill Robinson is on trial for murder（因谋杀而受审）．He grew up in a small town in Ohio and then went to Kent State University for one year．When he was nineteen years old，he was asked to join the army and was soon sent to fight in Vietnam．He was very unhappy there as he hated the war and he hated killing people．Two years later he returned home and tried to pick up where he had left off，but things were never quite the same again for the young black man．For one thing，he always had terrible dreams about the war．He could not concentrate on his studies and soon he had to leave school．Then he was fired from one job after another．He wanted to meet someone nice and get married，but he just couldn't seem to get close to anyone．He became angry easily and people avoided him．He was always lonely．Finally one day，while eating at a restaurant，Bill lost control of himself and shot someone for no reason at all．Bill's lawyer hopes that he will not be held responsible for the shooting．He hopes that the judge and the jury（陪审团）will understand that Bill was“temporarily insane（一时精神错乱）”and did not really choose to kill anyone．

1.What did Bill Robinson do after he returned from abroad？

2.He failed to complete his college education because he ____ ．

3.He never married because ____ ．

4.The best title for this article is ____ ．

For thousands of years, man has enjoyed the taste of apples. Apples, which are about 85 percent water, grow almost everywhere in the world but the hottest and coldest areas (地区). Among the leading countries in apple production are China, France and the United States.

There are various kinds of apples, but a very few make up the majority of those grown for sale. The three most common kinds grown in the United States are Delicious, golden Delicious, and McIntosh.

　Apples are different in colour, size, and taste. The colour of the skin may be red, green, or yellow. They have various sizes, with Delicious apples being among the largest. The taste may be sweet or tart (酸的). Generally, sweet apples are eaten fresh while tart apples are used to make applesauce (苹果酱).

　Apple trees may grow as tall as twelve metres. They do best in areas that have very cold winters. Although no fruit is yielded during the winter, this cold period is good for the tree.

1.It can be learned from the text that delicious apples are _______________

2.Cold winter weather is good for _______________

3.China, France and the United States are considered to _______________

A Shelter for the Homeless

Last summer I was a volunteer (志愿者) at a shelter for the homeless, a place for homeless people to sleep at night. I wasn’t working that summer and was  36  only two classes in summer school, so I had some  37  time.

Three nights a week, I  38  in the kitchen of the shelter along with four other volunteers. We planned and  39  for 45 people hot meals  40  vegetables, chicken, fish and fruit. The homeless people  41  this good food because many of them usually didn’t eat well.

I  42  this volunteer work, making  43  with the four volunteers in the kitchen. One was a very nice elderly housewife, one a movie actor, another a young teacher, and the other a college student,   44  me.

I talked to a lot of the homeless people at the shelter. Their life stories  45  me with sympathy (同情). Some of them had  46  with alcohol (酒) or drugs while others only had bad  47 . One woman worked for almost 30 years for a small company, and  48  she lost her job. She looked for a  49  job,but couldn’t find one, for she was too  50  . She could do nothing but sell her furniture — sofas, chairs, and tables  51  she could pay for her food.The woman  52  on job hunting, but she 53 couldn’t find one.She had no money for her  54  and had to sleep in her car. Then she had to sell her car. Alone,   55  , and homeless, she finally came to the shelter.