Marco Polo was born in Italy in 1254. When he was 17, he travelled across Europe and Asia with his father, who wanted to do trade with the Chinese. Finally they arrived in Beijing. They were guests at the Emperor's Palace. Although Marco Polo was young, he was very clever and could speak some foreign languages. The Emperor was impressed by him. He asked Marco Polo to serve in his court (宫廷) and sent him to do many important tasks across the country.
Marco Polo was amazed by the beautiful China. He was impressed by Beijing and the Emperor’s Palace, especially the Summer Palace which he described as “The greatest palace that ever was...” The walls were covered with gold and silver and the hall was so large that it could easily seat 6,000 people for dinner.
There were inventions and developments in China which were not used in Europe at that time. He was puzzled (困惑的) by the black stones people used to burn to produce heat. The black stones were coal, but Marco Polo had never seen coal before!
In 1295, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco Polo returned to Italy. He was then a very wealthy man. A writer wrote down the stories that Marco Polo told him in a book called The Travels of Marco Polo.
Although people enjoyed reading the book, many of them thought that Marco Polo’s stories about China were too fantastic to be true. But Marco Polo always stood by his tales. Just before he died in 1324, Marco Polo was asked the question, “Were they all true?” And this was his answer, “I have only told half of what I saw!”
1.Marco Polo and his father went to China to ____________.
A.go on a trip B.be asked as guests C.do business D.study Chinese
2.What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?
A.How beautiful China was. B.How developed China was.
C.How big China was. D.How strong China was.
3.We can learn from the passage that __________.
A.Marco Polo used two examples to describe Chinese developments
B.Only a few people didn’t believe what Marco Polo said
C.The Emperor forced Marco Polo to serve him
D.Marco Polo was 70 years old when he died
4.Where can we probably read the passage?
A.From a poster. B.From a guide book.
C.From a fairy tale. D.From a biography (人物传记).
As an English person, I can speak three languages — English, German and French, so do you think the British people are very good language learners? The fact is that they aren’t.
Some statistics (数据) from the survey done by the European Commission (欧盟委员会) showed that 62% of the British people only speak English. 38% speak at least one foreign language and 18% speak two or more. Compared with the British people, 56% of the people in other European countries speak at least one foreign language and 28% speak two or more. From this you can see that the British people are famous for not speaking foreign languages and that they are not good language learners in Europe.
And the survey also showed that English is the most widely-spoken foreign language. Many European people can have a conversation in English. That’s why many people don’t think it is necessary to learn a foreign language.
In Britain, students aren’t required to learn a foreign language. That means learning a foreign language is only a choice at school. In British schools it’s common for children to start learning a foreign language at 11 and many of them give it up at 14. So why don’t students continue learning foreign languages at school? Because they think it’s more difficult to get good marks in languages than in other subjects such as science or history.
To solve this situation, the British government is looking for different ways to improve language learning at school. One way is to start learning it at a much younger age. Another one is to give school children more choices.
1.What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
A.The people in England are good at learning languages.
B.Most of British people only speak English.
C.British people are known for speaking foreign languages.
D.Most of British people want to learn more than one language.
2.How many ways will the British government use to improve language learning?
A.One. B.Two. C.Three. D.Four.
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.People in other European countries speak English as much as British people.
B.One British student can’t give up learning a foreign language until 14.
C.Students in Britain prefer to learn science or history rather than learn a foreign language.
D.It’s unusual for British students not to learn a foreign language.
4.What does the passage mainly want to tell us?
A.Young English learners. B.Schools in the UK.
C.Speaking English. D.Foreign language learning in the UK.
Do you think doing housework is a hard task for you? Have you ever thought of inventing something to make it __? A boy named Sam Houghton did and he __ a two-head broom (扫帚).
Sam was just three years old when he came up with his __. He saw his father sweep up (打扫) garden leaves and __ brooms while trying to gather large leaves and litter.
Now he is the poster boy for a new show at the British Library in London called “Inventing the 21st Century.” To celebrate __ and encourage new inventors, the famous __ is telling the story of the most special inventions coming out of Britain in the past 10 years. Sam’s broom is produced by big companies, and the brooms are very__ in England.
Young Sam Houghton is now eight years old and has another invention. He has made a balloon popping machine (气球爆破装置) for play centers. He said, “We don’t want children to cry because of __ bangs (爆炸声) of balloons. I used a box to __ the bangs so that they can’t scare (惊吓) the children.”
Have you ever wanted to be a great inventor? Watch __, think it over and work hard. Maybe you will be an inventor. Do you think so?
1.A.easier B.harder C.funnier
2.A.bought B.invented C.saw
3.A.idea B.way C.information
4.A.pick B.change C.control
5.A.inventions B.birthdays C.festivals
6.A.school B.hotel C.library
7.A.popular B.interesting C.necessary
8.A.quiet B.loud C.harmful
9.A.turn on B.turn off C.take away
10.A.quickly B.successfully C.carefully
He was _________ in the traffic accident.
A.injure B.injuring C.injured
Did you go to school without ________breakfast this morning?
A.have B.having C.has
We are too tired. Let’s stop ________ a drink.
A.having B.to have C.to having
