1 . How do we know the time? A clock, a watch or a mobile phone can help us. However, many years ago there were no clocks and knowing the time was not so easy. Over the centuries people have developed different ways of telling the time.
About 5, 500 years ago, the Egyptians invented the sun clock. This was a tall stone building. Its shadow(影子) showed the movement of the sun. So people were able to know midday. The Egyptians made a sundial about 3, 500 years ago. It was smaller than the sun clock and could let people know the time for half a day. On cloudy days or at night it was impossible to tell the time with a sun clock or a sundial. Water clocks were the first clocks not to use the sun. The idea is simple. Water flows(流动) from one bottle to another. When the water reaches a certain level, it shows the hours. The Egyptians used water clocks about 3, 400 years ago. These clocks were popular in the Middle East and China. But they failed to make people know the exact time.
In the 13th century, the mechanical clock was invented. This was more exact, but it was expensive to make one. Over the next few centuries it was developed. For example, springs(发条) were added around 1500. This enabled people to get the correct time and allowed clocks to be smaller. In 1927, the first quartz clock was developed. Clocks became cheaper to build. It’s also cheaper for ordinary people to own a clock. People began depending on them more and more to run business, markets and so on. More recently, in 1956, came the digital clock. And nowadays satellites send our mobile phones the time to the exact second.
There has been a lot of progress in timekeeping. Clocks are always changing but some things never change. Many of us still have trouble getting out of bed on time and not being late for school or work.
1. According to the passage, we can’t use ________ to tell the time on a rainy day.| A．water clock | B．sun clock | C．digital clock | D．mechanical clock |
| A．现代的 | B．特殊的 | C．富有的 | D．普通的 |
| A．Four. | B．Five. | C．Six. | D．Seven. |
(①=paragraph 1 ②= pargaph 2,…)
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．The importance of time. | B．The development of timekeeping. |
| C．The inventions of clocks. | D．The history of a digital clock. |
2 . It was a cold， dark night in November， and it was raining. It was six o’clock and people were going home from work. Diana left her bank in a hurry， but she wasn’t going home. She was driving to her friend Daniel’s house to have dinner.
a. Suddenly she hit something in the road. She stopped， and got out of the car. It was a cat， but it was dead. So she got back in the car.
b. Diana went on with her drive. She looked in the mirror and saw a black truck behind her. It was very near. She began to feel a bit afraid. It was following her! Then the seven o’clock news started on the radio. “The police are looking for a murderer who ran away from a north London prison last night. He is very dangerous...” Now Diana was really afraid.
c. At ten to seven， Diana was driving along the Al Road. Her friend Daniel was a farmer and he lived 30km north of London. She was listening to the radio， and beginning to free herself after a hard day at the office.
d. When the doorbell rang， Daniel was making dinner. He heard Diana shouting， quickly took his gun， and ran to the door. At that moment， the black truck stopped next to Dinana’s car. A tall man got out. It was Daniel’s father.
e. She began to drive faster， but the truck drove faster too. It was right behind her: She left the Al Road but the black truck followed her. Now Diana was terrified. At last she arrived at Daniel s farm. She ran up to the house， and rang the doorbell. “Help， help， Daniel，” she shouted.
1. Choose the right order of the whole story.| A．c-b-a-e-d | B．c-a-b-e-d | C．a-b-c-e-d | D．c-e-b-a-d |
| A．fifty minutes | B．an hour | C．more than an hour | D．half an hour |
| A．hit the cat | B．saw the police | C．found the truck | D．heard the news |
| A．a bank | B．a police station | C．a farm | D．school |
| A．he wanted to kill Diana | B．he wanted to have dinner with her |
| C．he arrived home | D．he was Daniel’s friend |
3 . David was bankrupt(城产). He was trying to figure out how to make some money. "Maybe my insurance policy(险单)can save me," he thought. So he made a plan.
On a Saturday evening, as it got dark outside, he put on a pair of dirty boots and walked through his house. He left many dirty footprints. He went back the way he came while wearing socks. He cut the boots into pieces and flushed (冲走) them down the toilet.
At 1l p.m, he took a pistol (手枪) from his bedside table and went down his hallway without shoes. He fired three shots down the hallway. Then he walked to the other end of the hallway and fired two shots in the opposite direction.
His neighbors soon called the police. Three police officers came to David's house just minutes later.
I can t really tell you much. I was woken by a noise on the ground floor of my home.I took my pistol and went downstairs. Halfway down the stairs. I saw a shadow of a man. I shouted “Stop or I'll shoot."
“He shot at me three times and l shot back twice. The shadow disappeared into the kitchen. More than 15,000 pounds in cash have been stolen from my safe(保险柜)," David said.
After collecting the footprints and bullies （子弹）in the wall, the officers left. The next day. the police called,"Please get dressed. David,We have to bring you to the police station and ask you about the lies you told us yesterday."
Do you know how the police knew David was lying?.
1. According to the passage,we can learn that| A．David carried out his plan on a Sunday evening. | B．David fired five shots in total on that evening. |
| C．David himself called the police after shooting. | D．the thief stole over 15,000 pounds from David. |
| A．Boots | B．Socks | C．Pistols. | D．Bullies. |
a. David took a pistol and went down the hallway.
b. David wore dirty boots and left many footprints.
c. The police got a call and arrived soon.
d. David fired shots in different directions.
| A．acbd | B．abcd | C．badc | D．bdac |
| A．They found the dirty boots from David's bedside table. |
| B．They found there was no money in David's safe. |
| C．They found the bullies came from the same pistol. |
| D．They found David wore dirty socks on that evening. |
One rainy day, King Robert lay in a cave (洞穴). He thought that he was not good enough to be a king. He was so worried that he didn’t even see a spider near him. He looked up when he saw the spider climbing. It was trying to climb up to its web at the top of the cave but it fell down.
“How sad!” thought King Robert. “The spider is like me. It’s not strong enough.”
He watched while the spider tried again. It fell down a second time.
“Be careful little spider, or you might die,” he said. “Life is so hard. You’ll never
get back to your web.” But the spider tried again and again. King Robert watched while it slowly climbed back to its web. After an hour, the spider got to the web.
“You are such a great spider,” he said. “If you can keep trying, I can too. I must carry on fighting. I won’t let the English win.” Then his army grew strong and they stopped the English army successfully.
1. Why was it difficult for the Scots to fight the English?
| A．Because the Scots were too weak. |
| B．Because the King of England was very smart. |
| C．Because the English army was very strong. |
| D．Because the King of Scotland was not good enough. |
| A．On the wall of the cave. |
| B．At the entrance of the cave. |
| C．In the middle of the cave. |
| D．At the top of the cave. |
| A．It was clever. |
| B．It was careless. |
| C．It was not that strong. |
| D．It was great. |
a. The spider got to its web.
b. The spider fell down many times.
c. King Robert got his army to be strong enough to fight the English.
d. King Robert saw a spider trying to climb up to its web in a cave.
e. King Robert thought he should be like the spider.
| A．d-b-a-e-c |
| B．c-d-b-a-e |
| C．d-e-b-a-c |
| D．c-d-e-b-a |
| A．We have to be strong if we want to win. |
| B．Keep trying and we will get what we want. |
| C．Try to find an easier way when we meet difficulties. |
| D．Life is so hard and sometimes we have to give up something. |
