1 . In 2011, the old style Malta buses were taken off the road and replaced by modern vehicles. Most of the old buses were deserted, a few were sold, and about 100 of them were put into storage in the hope of showing them in a museum at some stage.
A pre-2011 visit to Malta wouldn’t have been complete without a ride on one of the colorful buses. Until 1973 you could tell the destination of the bus just by looking at its color--Sliema was green and white, Zabbar was red and white with a blue stripe(条纹)etc. Later, the buses all had numbers. For a while, they were all painted green and white before the ‘final’ orange, yellow and white.
In their prime, walking around the Triton fountain at the Valletta bus station, you would have found it very difficult to see two buses of exactly the same design. Most of them had locally built bodies. On the front of the buses carried names like Dodge, Leyland, Bedford etc. You were equally likely to find football pennants(锦旗)and the like decorating the cabs. Real bus experts would have recognized that these were there mainly for decorative reasons, and were seldom an exact idea of the vehicle’s origins.
Nowadays much more modern buses are to be found at the Floriana bus station. They are more environmentally friendly and possibly even more comfortable than the older types. However, I miss the old buses. I remember, when you boarded your bus, you had to prepare the correct change to pay the usually bad-tempered driver as you got on. If you were seated anywhere near the front, you would have noticed that most drivers sat well to the right of their steering wheel. The reason for this, as any Maltese would tell you, was to leave space for their pet to sit alongside them. I wonder where the pet sits these days.
1. What makes a pre-2011 visit to Malta special according to Paragraph 2?| A．Traveling in colorful buses. |
| B．Using buses with stripes. |
| C．Painting buses bright colors. |
| D．Telling destinations by different colors. |
| A．the most painful time. | B．the loudest time. |
| C．the most disappointing time. | D．the strongest time. |
| A．They were of the same pattern. |
| B．The decorations showed their origin. |
| C．Most were uniquely designed. |
| D．Only football pennants decorated the cabs. |
| A．Comfortable. | B．Environment-friendly. |
| C．Safe. | D．Memorable. |
2 . “How are you feeling, Klinker?” Dr. Blooper asked his new robot. “Well, I can see out of one eye,” said Klinker. “I can hear out of one ear. But my left shoulder keeps falling down, my belly has a hole in it, one knee feels funny, and my fingers are missing something at the ends. Otherwise, I feel fine.”
Dr. Blooper laughed. “ I have made a list of your missing parts,” he said. “When I have finished my experiment, I will buy them. Then you will be finished, and I will let you see yourself in the mirror.” Dr. Blooper went into the next laboratory.
After a few minutes Klinker began to feel bored. He looked at the list. Suddenly he had an idea. “I will surprise Dr. Blooper and buy these things myself,” Klinker said.
Klinker came to the store. He chose a small blue ball and a toy drum and gave them to the clerk. “Please charge these to Dr. Blooper,” he said. Then he chose a knife with a sharp blade(刀片), ten long steel nails and a small red button. “This is going to be easy,” he said. “One thing is for sure ---I have a good brain. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.”
When Klinker got back, he had an idea.“I will put all my parts together by myself,” he said. “What a surprise Dr. Blooper will have!” After he finished, he was about to look in the mirror when Dr. Blooper walked into the room. He stared at Klinker. “No wonder you are so surprised,” said the happy robot. “I have finished myself. I have an eyeball, a shoulder blade, fingernails, a belly button, and a kneecap. But I still don't feel quite right.”
Dr. Blooper patted Klinker on the head. “I will fix you right away,” he said. “I think I will adjust your brain, just a little.”
1. The first two paragraphs suggest that ________.| A．Dr. Blooper needed to experiment on Klinker. | B．Klinker lost something in the experiment. |
| C．Klinker was in fact an unfinished robot. | D．Klinker worked as an assistant in the lab. |
| A．refused to pay for things he bought. | B．went secretly out of the laboratory. |
| C．chose everything he needed carefully. | D．was confident of his intelligence. |
| A．was still unsatisfied with himself. | B．felt proud in front of the mirror. |
| C．was surprised at his own image. | D．went to greet Dr. Blooper gladly. |
3 . What will man be like in the future? How about in 5,000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make a guess, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today.
Let's give an example. Man, even 500 years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on the average, men are about three inches taller. 500 years is a relatively short period of time, so we may guess that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain's capacity(容量). As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more---and finally we shall need even larger ones!
But what about hair? It will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald.
Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at!
| A．Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. |
| B．This probably brings about mental changes. |
| C．These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. |
| D．This is likely to bring about physical changes, too. |
| E．That's because man is slowly changing all the time. |
| F．As a result, future man will have little in common with us. |
| G．In spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. |
