1 . During World War I,countless soldiers were able to return home because of the protection provided by the heavy helmet.
A young officer in the U. S. Army witnessed the effectiveness of the helmet and realized its potential in a postwar industrial world. In 1919, Edward W.Bullard returned from the war to the family business,which was founded by his father Edward D. Bullard in 1898. He began developing ideas for affordable safety helmets that would protect miners. While the metal helmet was ideal for wartime conditions, it was not suitable for the mining industry. It was too big for miners to work underground and move through tight places. Plus, the cost was high So he chose to use a kind of heavy duck canvas（帆布), which was then formed to fit the human head with steam, thus named Hard Boiled Hat.He attached leather brims（帽檐） to it, and painted it black, so it would hold up to everyday wear in dirty, dangerous mines.
The hard hat was the first commercially available head protection device. Now worn by millions of workers, Bullard's hard hat revolutionized the safety-product industry, earning him a spot in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. At first, wearing a hard hat was a choice, not a requirement. That changed, however, during construction of the Hoover Dam, along the Colorado River in 1931. For the first time, employers required workers to wear hard hats.Now headquartered in Cynthiana, Kentucky,E. D. Bullard Co. is a leading manufacturer of high-quality personal protective equipment and systems worldwide, including a wide range of safety helmets. Edward W. Bullard has an eye on the future.The company plans to introduce a newline of Bullard hard hats for the industrial market.
1. What inspired Edward W.Bullard to go into the safety helmet business?| A．His ambition to make a fortune. |
| B．His great sympathy for miners. |
| C．His experience during the war. |
| D．His intention to extend his family business. |
| A．Mine owners prohibited miners from wearing it. |
| B．Miners got used to wearing canvas hats. |
| C．It didn't meet miners' taste of beauty. |
| D．It was both huge and expensive. |
| A．Generous and ambitious. | B．Creative and far-sighted. |
| C．Hard-working and kind. | D．Peace-loving and curious. |
| A．The history of the hard hat. |
| B．The life story of Edward W. Bullard. |
| C．The development of E.D.Bullard Co. |
| D．The influence of wars on people's life. |
2 . How do countries determine whose portraits to feature on their currency, and what does it tell us about their pasts? Here’s a look at banknotes from around the world and the stories behind their creation.
United States
In 1866, controversy erupted when the U.S Treasury issued a five-cent note bearing the portrait of Spencer Clark, the first chief of what is now known as the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Clark was not well liked by some members of Congress, who had accused him years earlier of fraud and “gross immortality.”
Following public outcry, Congress passed a law on April 7, 1866, which prohibited printing the “portrait or likeness of any living person” on the country’s currency. U.S. law still prohibits using the likeness of living people today, and even commemorative coins honoring a past president cannot be issued until two years after the president’s death.
In the modern era, the country celebrated past presidents and Founding Fathers on its currency－with portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Ulysses S. Grant and Benjamin Franklin gracing its banknotes.
New Zealand
New Zealand’s banknote design has been an unintentional reflection of New Zealand’s evolving self-image ever since it began issuing currency in 1934, according to historian Matthew Wright. The British dominion’s first banknotes reflected a split identity, bearing both British and local designs. The earliest series bore a portrait of Maori King Tawhaio, whose image was replaced in 1940 with Captain James Cook, the British explorer who “discovered” New Zealand.
New Zealand became a self-governing nation in 1947－yet in 1976, more than 20 years later, it was still proud of its association with Britain. Queen Elizabeth II displaced Cook on all banknotes, alongside native plants and birds.
By the late 20th century, however, New Zealand had begun to think of itself as a diverse and independent nation. In 1991, five years after winning full legal independence from Britain, New Zealand removed the Queen from all but its $20 bill and replaced her with remarkable New Zealanders－including women’s voting rights leader Kate Shepperd, mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, Maori political and cultural leader Sir Apirana Ngata, and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Rutherford－who still grace the banknotes today.
1. Why did U.S. Congress ban the portrait of any living person on the currency?| A．To solve a crime. | B．To issue a five-cent note. |
| C．To honor a past president. | D．To stop public controversy. |
| A．They are determined by the public. |
| B．They include the portraits of outstanding figures. |
| C．They symbolize the independence of the countries. |
| D．They are closely associated with local environment. |
| A．Historians affected it greatly. |
| B．The process of it was complicated. |
| C．New Zealand used to be a diverse nation. |
| D．The banknote design experienced lots of tests. |
| A．Ernest Rutherford. | B．Maori King Tawhaio. |
| C．Queen Elizabeth II. | D．Captain James Cook. |
3 . Bears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated - slept through winter, according to fossil experts.
Evidence from the bones found at one of the world's most important fossil sites suggests that our primitive ancestors may have dealt with extreme cold hundreds of thousands of years ago by hibernating.
The conclusion is based on excavations in a cave called Sima de los Hueso—the pit(坑) of bones—at Atapuerca, in northern Spain. The fossils date back more than 400,000 years and were probably from early Neanderthals or their ancestors.
In a paper published in the journal L'Anthropologie, Juan-Luis Arsuaga and Antonis Bartsiokas argue that the fossils found there show seasonal variations that suggest that bone growth was interrupted for several months of each year.
The pattern of lesions(病变) found in the human bones at the Sima cave are consistent with that found in bones of hibernating mammals, including cave bears. "A strategy of hibernation would have been the only solution for them to survive having to spend months in a cave due to the chilly conditions," the authors state.
They examine several opposite arguments. Modern Inuit and Sami people—although living in equally harsh, cold conditions—do not hibernate. So why did the people in the Sima cave do it?
The answer, say Arsuaga and Bartsiokas, is that fatty fish and reindeer fat provide Inuit and Sami people with food during winter and so preclude the need for them to hibernate. In contrast, the area around the Sima site half a million years ago would not have provided anything like enough food.
1. Why are bears and bats taken as an example?| A．To arouse readers' curiosity about the animals' fossils. |
| B．To lead to the similarity between early humans and them. |
| C．To make the conclusion of the fossil experts reasonable. |
| D．To prove our primitive ancestors hibernated. |
| A．Their bone pattern was similar to that of cave bears. |
| B．They lived in a more freezing area than Sami people. |
| C．They might have hibernated to avoid the cold. |
| D．Their life was threatened by other mammals in winter. |
| A．It's unsuitable. | B．It's helpful. |
| C．It's important. | D．It's unnecessary. |
| A．Hibernating to Survive Winter | B．Adapting to Seasonal Change |
| C．Disturbance to Bone Growth in Winter | D．Fish and Fat to Help Live |
