For over one hundred and fifty years, Americans of all social classes have worn blue jeans. Since they were invented by Levi Strauss, they have become a symbol of American consumer culture. Whether they are worn for work or for fashion today, Strauss’ invention continues to be popular not only among Americans but also among people around the world.
Levi Strauss was born in Germany in 1829.
Strauss did not want to be a person who searched an area for minerals. Instead, he knew he could make a good living by selling supplies to the miners. At first, he planned to sell sewing supplies and cloth.
In 1873, Strauss received a letter from a Jewish tailor named Jacob Davis who had invented a process of connecting pockets with copper rivets(铆钉). This made the pants last a long time. Because Davis did not have the money to patent his idea, he offered to share it with Strauss if Strauss would agree to pay for the patent.
By the time Strauss died in 1902, he had made a great contribution to American fashion.
He also made a great contribution to America's clothing industry. The business has been growing ever since and Levi Strauss' company is now one of the largest clothing companies in the world.
| A．As a young boy, he moved with his family to the United States. |
| B．Nobody knew what kind of material was suitable. |
| C．He did and Levi jeans have been made with metal rivets ever since. |
| D．However, he did not get much business for those products. |
| E．As the business grew, Strauss got much money from it. |
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【推荐1】Scientists have found amounts of water molecules inside rocks and soil samples from Mars before. But an ancient meteorite (陨石) found recently contains 10 times more water and much more oxygen than any Martian I meteorite ever before discovered.
What’s so wild about this wet discovery? It could mean that the Red Planet once had enough water to have liquid flowing on the planet’s surface.
It was once believed that if Mars ever had water at all, its water would have been small amounts of ice below the surface or existing in the soil only as hydrogen and oxygen---the elements that make up water. But recent discoveries have shown that Mars probably had a much wetter history than formerly thought.
The meteorite, nicknamed Black Beauty, was found in Africa’s Sahara Desert in 2011. Only about 110 meteorites from Mars have ever been found. Scientists believe most Martian meteorites arrived on our planet during one large asteroid crash (小行星碰撞) that sent rocks falling toward Earth long ago.
Black Beauty is about 2.1 billion years old. Its discovery is the first time scientists have been able to study such an ancient Martian rock. It’s also one of the first times scientists have been able to study a piece of the panel’s ancient surface.
The sample’s water molecules were sent out when scientists heated the meteorite to analyze it. Scientists think the meteorite’s hydrogen and oxygen molecules are so plentiful because water flowing on Mars at the time this meteorite fell to Earth, or because these molecules were once sealed in large quantities in Mars’s crust.
Black Beauty might do more than just unlock secrets from the Red Planet’s past. These discoveries could also help scientists understand new data about Mars that’s being sent from the robotic rovers currently gathering information on the planet.
1. People used to think that .| A．there was little water on Mars | B．Mars had a lot of flowing water |
| C．a large quantity of ice was Mars | D．Mars was much wetter than Earth |
| A．It was discovered in Seattle in the USA. | B．It is the biggest of 110 meteorites from Mars. |
| C．It landed on Earth after an asteroid crash. | D．It has a history of 2.1 million years. |
| A．By cutting it into pieces. | B．By dipping it into water. |
| C．By burning it on a fire. | D．By burying it into a desert. |
| A．a rock from the center of Mars. | B．a major Martian meteorite discovery |
| C．a new discovery on the Red Planet | D．a number of meteorites from Red Plane |
【推荐2】If two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are correct, people will still be driving gasoline powered cars 50 years from now, giving out heat-trapping carbon dioxide(二氧化碳) into the atmosphere—and yet that carbon dioxide will not contribute to global warming.
In a proposal by two scientists, vehicle emissions(排放) would no longer contribute to global warming. The scientists, F. Jeffrey Martin and William L. Kubic Jr., are proposing a concept, which they have named Green Freedom, for removing carbon dioxide from the air and turning it back into gasoline.
The idea is simple. Air would be blown over a liquid solution of potassium carbonate, which would absorb the carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide would then be put to chemical reactions that would turn it into fuel(燃料): gasoline or jet fuel.
This process could change carbon dioxide from an unwanted, climate-changing pollutant into a vast resource for renewable fuels. The cycle—equal amounts of carbon dioxide produced and removed—would mean that cars, trucks and airplanes using the synthetic(合成的) fuels would no longer be contributing to global warming.
Although they have not yet built a synthetic fuel factory, or even a small model, the scientists say it is all based on existing technology. “Everything in the concept has been built, is operating or has a close cousin that is operating.” Dr. Martin said.
The Los Alamos proposal does not go against any laws of physics, and other scientists who have independently suggested similar ideas. Dr. Martin said he and Dr. Kubic had worked out their concept in more detail than former proposals.
There is, however, a major fact that explains why no one has built a carbon-dioxide-to-gasoline factory: it requires a great deal of energy.
According to their analysis, their concept, which would cost about $5 billion to build, could produce gasoline at an operating cost of $1.40 a gallon and would turn economically practical when the price at the pump hits $4.60 a gallon.
Other scientists said the Los Alamos proposal perhaps looked promising but could not evaluate it fully because the details had not been published. “It’s definitely worth pursuing,” said Martin I. Hoffert, a professor of physics at New York University. “It’s not that new an idea. It has a couple of pieces to it that are interesting.”
1. What is the value of the scientists’ proposal?| A．It increases the productivity of a fuel factory |
| B．It decreases the cost of producing gasoline |
| C．It reduces the pollution caused by car driving |
| D．It promotes a new idea of environmental protection |
| A．has been popular for so long |
| B．has been ignored by many people |
| C．is not appropriate for practice |
| D．will be put into practice in the near future |
| A．There is no theoretical basis. |
| B．It is not economically practical. |
| C．There is no solution to some technical problems. |
| D．Only a few scientists support the idea. |
【推荐3】Do you remember the first stop-motion movie, with a galloping(飞奔)horse? Eadweard Muybridge made it in 1872, and the funny thing is—the first stop-motion movie was made because of a bet. The question was: do all four of the horse’s hooves (蹄)leave the ground at the same time at any point of the gallop? And Leland Stanford, the founder of the Stanford University, hired Muybridge to help him settle the bet.
Stanford claimed that, at some point of the gallop, all four of the horse’s hooves are in the air. Some of his colleagues took a common stand that one foot is always on the ground. It was a popularly debated question of the time, and it was Muybridge’s task to provide the answer using his photographic knowledge.
Now, you can imagine that cameras in 1872 couldn’t really capture the things moving quickly. Movie cameras still didn’t exist, so it was out of the question. So, Muybridge had to get creative. He experimented with a set of 12 cameras. He used them to photograph a galloping horse in a series of shots. His initial efforts seemed to prove that Stanford was right, but he still didn’t have the process perfected.
In 1878, Muybridge raised his creativity and skill on a new level. He set twelve wired triggers (触发器) connected to shutters (快门) for cameras. He placed them evenly along the race track to capture the galloping horse. As the horse galloped the race track, it set off the triggers and made every camera take a photo with less than half a second difference.
The photos showed that Leland Stanford was right, and obviously, he won the bet. But this invention was a winning situation for all of us. Muybridge later invented a zoopraxiscope, which was a bit like the GIFs that people now post on social media and is considered an early device for displaying motion pictures. Thanks to photography and his invention, the cinema was born.
1. Which of the following words best describes the invention of the first stop-motion movie?| A．Difficult. | B．Unexpected. |
| C．Serious. | D．Interesting. |
| A．Because he was lacking in devices. |
| B．Because he was afraid of failure. |
| C．Because he was short of experience. |
| D．Because he was interested in experiment. |
| A．Twelve horses galloped at the same time. |
| B．Muybridge invented GIF in the experiment. |
| C．One camera was used to take photos in the first attempt. |
| D．The triggers were set off by the horse in the second attempt. |
| A．A special history of cinema. | B．A popular study about horses. |
| C．A bet inspired the birth of cinema. | D．A question led to great experiments. |
