Technology is the application of knowledge to production. Thanks to modern technology, we have been able to increase greatly the efficiency of our work force. New machines and new methods have helped cut down time and expense while increasing overall output. This has meant more production and a higher standard of living. For most of us in America, modern technology is thought of as the reason why we can have cars and television sets. However, technology has also increased the amount of food available to us, by means of modern farming machinery and animal breeding techniques, and has made our life span longer via medical technology.
Will mankind continue to live longer and have a higher quality of life? In large measure, the answer depends on technology and our ability to use it widely. If we keep making progress as we have over the past fifty years, the answer is definitely yes. The advancement of technology depends on research and development, and the latest surveys show that the united States is continuing to put billions of dollars annually(每年) into such efforts. So while we are running out of some limited resources, we may well find technological substitutes (代用品) for many of them through our research programs.
Therefore, in the final analysis, the three major factors of production (land, labor and capital) are all influenced by technology. When we need new skills or techniques in medicine, people will start developing new technology to meet those needs. As equipment proves to be slow or inefficient, new machines will be invented. Technology responds to our needs in helping us improve our standard of living.
1.What is the best title for the passage?
A. The definition of technology
B. Modern technology
C. The application of technology
D. The development of technology
2.According to the passage, people can live a long life with the help of_________.
A. higher quality of life
B. medical technology
C. modem farming machinery
D. technological substitute
3.Which is the main idea of the passage?
A. Modern technology is the key to the improvement of standard of living.
B. The three major factors of production-land, labor and capital are all influenced by technology.
C. Technology is the response to our needs.
D. The United States is making great efforts to advance its technology.
Because plants cannot move or talk, most people believe that they have no feelings and that they cannot receive signals from outside. However, this may not be completely true.
People who studied plants have found out that plants carry a small electrical charge (电荷). It is possible to measure this charge with a small piece of equipment called “galvanometer”. The galvanometer is placed on a leaf of the plant, and it records any changes in the electrical field of the leaf. Humans have a similar field which can change when we are shocked or frightened.
A man called Backster used a galvanometer for his studies of plants and was very surprised at his results. He found that if he had two or more plants in a room and he began to destroy one of them -- perhaps by pulling off its leaves or by pulling it out of its pot－then the galvanometer on the leaves of the other plants showed a change in the electrical field. It seemed as if the plants were signaling a feeling of shock. This happened not only when Backster started to destroy plants, but also when he destroyed other living thing such as insects (昆虫).
Backster said that the plants also knew if someone had destroyed a living thing some distance away, because they signalled when a man who had just cut down a tree entered the room.
Another scientist, named Sauvin, achieved similar results to Backster’s. He kept galvanometers fixed on his plants all the time and checked regularly to see what the plants were doing. If he was out of the office, he telephoned to find out about the signals the plants were sending. In this way, he found that the plants were sending out signals at the exact times when he felt strong pleasure or pain. In fact, Sauvin could cause a change in the electrical field of his plants over a distance of a few miles simply by thinking about them.
1.Backster was surprised at the results of his studies because _____.
A. he destroyed an insect
B. he destroyed a plant by pulling off its leaves
C. he found that plants could express feelings of shock
D. he found that plants could move and speak after all
2.The plants sent out signals _____.
A. only when Backster Started to destroy plants
B. when Backster destroyed plants or other living things
C. only when he destroyed things such as insects
D. only when Backster placed the galvanometer on the leaves of the plants
3.The scientist called Sauvin _____.
A. did not agree with Backster’s ideas
B. did not get the same sort of results as Backster did
C. got different results from Backster’s
D. found out some of the same things that Backster did
4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Sauvin could make his plants send out signals some distance away.
B. A tree will signal when it has been cut down.
C. The electrical charge plants carry may shock or frighten us.
D. Plants have feelings because they can receive signals without moving.
My elder brother Steve, in the absence of my father who died when I was six, gave me important lessons in values that helped me grow into an adult.
For instance, Steve taught me to face the results of my behavior. Once when I returned in tears from a Saturday baseball game, it was Steve who took the time to ask me what happened. When I explained that my baseball had soared through Mrs. Holt’s basement window, breaking the glass with a crash, Steve encouraged me to apologize to her. After all, I should have been playing in the park down Fifth Street and not in the path between buildings. Although my knees knocked as I explained to Mrs. Holt, I offered to pay for the window from my pocket money if she would return my ball. I also learned from Steve that personal property(财产) is a sacred thing. After I found a shiny silver pen in my fifth-grade classroom, I wanted to keep it, but Steve explained that it might be important to someone else in spite of the fact that it had little value. He reminded me of how much I’d hate to lose to someone else the small dog my father carved from a piece of cheap wood. I returned the pen to my teacher, Mrs. Davids, and still remembered the smell of her perfume as she patted me on the shoulder. Yet of all the instructions Steve gave me, his respect for life is the most vivid in my mind.
When I was twelve, I killed an old brown sparrow in the yard with a BB gun. Excited with my skill, I screamed to Steve to come from the house to take a look. I shall never forget the way he stood for a long moment and stared at the bird on the ground. Then in a dead, quiet voice, he asked, “Did it hurt you first, Mark?” I didn’t know what to answer. He continued with his eyes firm, “The only time you should even think of hurting a living thing is when it hurts you first. And then you think a long, long time.” I really felt terrible then, but that moment stands out as the most important lesson my brother taught me.
1.What is the main subject of the passage?
A. The relationship between mark and Steve.
B. The important lesson Mark learned in school
C. Steve’s important role in mark’s growing process.
D. Mark and Steve’s respect for living things.
2. In the story about the pen, which of the following lessons did Steve teach his brother?
A. Respect for personal property.
B. Respect for life.
C. Sympathy for people with problems.
D. The value of honesty.
3. According to the writer, which was the most important lesson Steve taught his young brother?
A. Respect for living things.
B. Responsibility for one’s actions.
C. The value of the honesty.
D. Care for the property of others.
假设你是育才中学学生会主席李华。你校将举办一次英语演讲比赛(speech contest)，希望附近某大学的外籍教师Smith女士来做评委。请参照以下比赛通知给她写一封信。
英语演讲比赛
主题：人与自然(“Man and Nature”)
时间：6月15日下午2：00～5：00
地点：501教室
参赛选手：10名学生
联系人：李华(电话44876655)
欢迎大家光临!
注意：词数80左右。（开头已给出，不计词数。）
Dear Ms. Smith,
I’m Li Hua, Chairman of the Student Union of Yucai Middle School, which is close to your university. __________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
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With best wishes,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处, 多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Last Sunday morning, I was having a walk in the park near my home while I came across some people making a new film with one of my favorite actor. I didn’t have my camera with me at that time, but I rushed back home to get it. Unfortunate, by the time I got back, they had finished the scene and the actor couldn’t be seen everywhere. I was really disappointed and about to leave when he walked out a building. He were right there in the front of me! I couldn’t believe my luck—not only did I had my photo taken with her, but also he signed his name on my shirt!
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。
Once there lived a rich man, __1.__ wanted to do something for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out ___2.__they deserved his help.
In the center of the main road into the town, he placed __3.__ very large stone. Then he __4.__(hide) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.
“Who put this stone in the center of the road？” said the old man，but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way. __5.__ man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove __6.__. Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone，__7.__(say) to himself: “The night will be very dark. Some ___8.__ (neighbor) will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”
Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his __9._(strong) to move it，only to find a bag of money under the stone. Imagine ___10.___ surprised he was!
