Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5,100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn't become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren't going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modem road design.
In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a new design of road—a base layer (層) of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same lime, metal hubs (the central part of a wheel) came into being, followed by the pneumatic tyre(充氣輪胎) in 1846. Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmac roads (柏油路). As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster and faster.
【小題1】What might explain why transport wheels didn't become popular for some time?

A．The existence of transport wheels was not known.

B．Humans carried farming tools just as well.

C．Animals were a good means of transport.

D．Few knew how to use transport wheels.

【小題2】What do we know about road design from the passage?

A．It provided conditions for wheel design to develop.

B．It was easier than wheel design.

C．It was promoted by fast-moving vehicles.

D．It improved after big changes in vehicle design.

【小題3】How is the last paragraph mainly developed?

A．By giving examples.

B．By making comparisons.

C．By following time order.

D．By making classifications.

【小題4】 What is the passage mainly about?

A．The beginning of road design.

B．The history of public transport.

C．His invention of fast-moving vehicles.

D．The development of transport wheels.

Eddie’s father used to say he’d spent so many years by the ocean, breathing seawater. Now, away from that ocean, in the hospital bed, his body began to look like a beached fish. His condition went from fair to stable and from stable to serious. Friends went from saying, “He’ll be home in a day,” to “He’ll be home in a week.” In his father’s absence, Eddie helped out at the pier (碼頭), working evenings after his taxi job.
When Eddie was a teenager, if he ever complained or seemed bored with the pier, his father would shout, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later, when he’d suggested Eddie take a job there after high school, Eddie almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And before Eddie went to war, when he’d talked of marrying Marguerite and becoming an engineer, his father said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?”
And now, regardless of all that, here he was, at the pier, doing his father’s labor.
Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. It is not until much later, as the heart weakens, that children understand: their stories, and all their achievements, sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.
Finally, one night, at his mother’s urging, Eddie visited the hospital. He entered the room slowly. His father, who for years had refused to speak to Eddie, now lacked the strength to even try.
“Don’t sweat it, kid,” the other workers told him. “Your old man will pull through. He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”
When the news came that his father had died, Eddie felt the emptiest kind of anger, the kind that circles in its cage.
In the weeks that followed, Eddie’s mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he were still there. She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two. One night, when Eddie offered to help with the dishes, she said, “Your father will put them away.” Eddie put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said, softly, “Dad’s gone.”“Gone where?”
【小題1】In Paragraph four, the writer wants to say that __________.

A．Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support

B．Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents

C．Children like moving away from their parents

D．Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them

【小題2】The underlined sentence “Don’t sweat it” (Para. 6) probably means __________.

A．Don’t touch it	B．Don’t worry about it
C．Don’t let him down	D．Don’t give it up

【小題3】Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a. Eddie’s father died.
b. Eddie married Marguerite.
c. Eddie worked as a taxi driver.
d. Eddie was bored with his father’s job.

A．dbca

B．dcab

C．bcda

D．bacd

【小題4】From the last paragraph, we learn that __________.

A．Eddie’s mother liked to listen to the radio

B．Eddie and his wife lived in his mother’s apartment

C．Eddie’s mother missed her husband so much that she was at a loss

D．Eddie often helped his mother wash the dishes

We all know what it is like to be unable to turn your head because of a cold in the muscles of your neck, or because an unexpected twist has made your neck ache and stiff. Your whole body feels tight. The slightest move makes you jump with pain. Nothing could be worse than a pain in the neck. That is why we use phrase to describe some people who give you the same feeling. We have all met such people.
One is the man who always seems to be clapping his hands—often at the wrong time—during a performance in the theater. He keeps you from hearing the actors.
Even worse are those who can never arrive before the curtain goes up and play begins. They come hurrying down to your row of seats. You are comfortably settled down, with your hat and heavy coat in your lap. You must stand up to let them pass. You are proud of your self-control after they have settled into their seats…Well, what now…Good God, one of them is up again. He forgot to go to the men’s room, and once more you have to stand up, hanging on to your hat and coat to let him pass. Now, that is “a pain in the neck.”
Another, well-known to us all, is the person sitting behind you in the movies. His mouth is full of popcorn; he is chewing loudly, or talking between bites to friends next to him. None of them remain still. Up and down, back and forth, they go for another bag of popcorn, or something to drink.
Then, there is the main sitting next to you at a lunch counter smoking a smelly cigar. He wants you to enjoy it too, and blows smoke across your food into your mouth.
We must not forget the man who comes into a bus or subway car and sits down next to you, just as close as you will let him. You are reading the newspaper and he leans over and stretches his neck so that he can read the paper with you. He may even turn the paper to the next page before you are ready for it.
We also call such a person a “rubberneck”, always putting out his neck to where it does not belong, like neighbors who watch all your visitors. They enjoy invading your privacy. People have a strong dislike for rubbernecks. They hate being spied upon.
【小題1】Where can you find this passage?

A．Medicine dictionaries.	B．A travel guide.
C．Social science books.	D．Students text books.

【小題2】How do you feel when late comers walk back and forth in front of you in a cinema?

A．Disturbed.

B．Ignored.

C．Bored.

D．Relaxed.

【小題3】A “rubberneck” often                 .

A．says bad words behind people

B．quarrels face to face with neighbors

C．bargains the price with sales women

D．a(chǎn)sks about other people’s business

【小題4】Which of the follow is “a pain in the neck”?

A．Someone who helps you find your seat in a movie theatre.

B．Someone who smokes in a smoking section on a train.

C．Someone who throws trash out of his car window on the highway.

D．Someone who goes to the doctor for his severe pain on the neck.

It’s become part of the restaurant table setting: knife, fork, napkin and cell phone.
　  Distracted (思想不集中的) dining is the new concern with customers constantly texting friends, uploading a Weibo photo of the meal they’re about to chew down or emailing the boss. For many smart-phone users, it’s hard just to focus on the meal and company at hand.
　  Now, one restaurant in Los Angeles is giving diners a reason to turn off the digital world, by offering customers willing to check (寄存) their phones at the door a 5-percent discount on their bill. Owner and chef Mark Gold of Eva Restaurant, located on Beverly Boulevard near N. Gardner Street, hopes this gives customers a way to truly sit back and relax, enjoy their meal and actually talk with friends and family in person.
　  “For us, it’s really not about people disturbing other guests. Eva is home, and we want to create that environment of home, and we want people to connect again,” he explained. “It’s about two people sitting together and just connecting, without the distraction of a phone, and we’re trying to create an atmosphere where you come in and really enjoy the experience and the food and the company.”
　  Gold said applying the suggestion reminds him to avoid cell phone usage, too. “I’m guilty of it as well. When my wife and I go to dinner it seems like the cell phone is part of the table setting now. Every table you look at, it’s a wine glass, the silverware and the cell phone,” he joked.
　  The husband and wife team runs Eva, a 40-person space with European flair. Gold said a little less than half take advantage of the deal, and no one has gotten upset about it.
　  “I think once the server approaches the table and they’re presented with the offer, they like the idea of actually talking to each other again,” he said.
【小題1】When having meal in Eva Restaurant, we are not offered             on the table.[學(xué),

A．forks

B．cellphones

C．napkins

D．knives

【小題2】Why does Gold think people should not use cellphones at table?

A．Because it can cause health problems.

B．Because it will disturb other customers.

C．Because it can get a 5-percent discount on the customers’ bills.

D．Because it may prevent people communicating with their companions.

【小題3】What can we learn from the passage?

A．Many people would like to upload a photo of their food before they eat nowadays.

B．People are forbidden to use cellphones in Eva Restaurant.

C．More than half of the customers in Eva Restaurant have enjoyed the discount.

D．People can easily connect with each other anytime without using cellphones.

【小題4】What can be the best title of the passage?

A．No Cellphone at Table!

B．Focus on Your Cellphone!

C．Eva Restaurant – Home to Customers.

D．Talk Face to Face.

A relationship is defined as a state of connectedness between people. Although in today’s society with its crazy rhythm of everyday life, when people tend to live in thickly populated cities, spending most of their time in the office and hardly knowing their neighbor’s name, we still find ourselves in some kinds of relationships-with friends, family, or colleagues.?
Family relationships are the first relationships people enter. Parents and relatives influence our emotional development by creating a model that we are sometimes bound to follow all our lives, often subconsciously （潛意識(shí)地）. In day-care, at school, then in the office we spend a lot of time among fellow students and co-workers. We learn to keep business relationships, to work in a team environment, then form smaller groups of like-minded people and finally select some of them as our friends.?
What is a true friendship? How does it start? Are we destined to become friends with certain people or can we actually plan whom to be friends with？?
“Everybody‘s friend is nobody’s.” said Arthur Schopenhauer. Unlike a companionship based on belonging to the same team or group, friendship is a very personal and selective type of relationship. It calls for trust, sincerity, and emotional bonds.?
Sociologists believe that most people are looking for similarities in views, social status, and interests when choosing friends. No wonder that our friends are often people of the same age, sex, and education. Another important factor is joint activity and solidarity. This is the reason why many of us befriend our colleagues and other people who work in the same field.?
Most people would agree that a friend is someone who always listens and understands. Understanding in this context implies a lot of meanings-compassion, sympathy, and emotional closeness. It’s a process in which your friend reads your emotional state, shares your feelings, identifies himself or herself with you.
【小題1】What is the best title of this passage？_______

A．Family and Relationships

B．How to Make Friends with Colleagues

C．What is a True Friendship

D．People and Relationship

【小題2】According to the passage, which of the following affects us most when choosing friends？

A．Kindergarten.

B．Family.

C．School.

D．Office.

【小題3】 Why are our friends usually of the same age，sex，and education？

A．Because they are clever and well-behaved.

B．Because most of us are looking for similarities in views，social status, and interests when choosing friends.

C．Because they help us with our work and share our happiness and sorrow.

D．Because they cooperate with us well.

【小題4】Which of the following statements is NOT true？

A．A companionship is based on belonging to the same team or group.

B．Friendship needs trust, sincerity, and emotional bonds.

C．Relationships are friendships between people.

D．Understanding is a process in which the friend reads our emotional state, shares our feelings, identifies himself / herself with us.

Bicycle Safety
Operation  Always ride your bike in a safe, controlled manner on campus(校園). Obey rules and regulations. Watch out for walkers and other bicyclists, and always use your lights in dark conditions.
Theft Prevention  Always securely lock your bicycle to a bicycle rack---even if you are only away for a minute. Register your bike with the University Department of Public Safety. It’s fast, easy, and free. Registration permanently records your serial number, which is useful in the possible recovery of the bike stolen.
Equipment
Brakes  Make sure that they are in good working order and adjusted properly.
Helmet  A necessity, make sure your helmet meets current safety standards and fit properly.
Lights  Always have a front headlight---visible at least 500 feet in front of the bike. A taillight is a good idea.
Rules of the Road
Riding on Campus  As a bicycle rider, you have a responsibility to ride only on streets and posted bicycle paths. Riding on sidewalks or other walkways can lead to a fine. The speed limit for bicycles on campus is 15km/h, unless otherwise posted. Always give the right of ways to walkers. If you are involved in an accident, you are required to offer appropriate aid, call the Department of Public Safety and remain at the scene until the officer lets you go.
Bicycle Parking  Only park in areas reserved for bikes. Trees, handrails, hallways, and sign posts are not for bicycle parking, and parking in such posts can result in a fine.
If Things Go Wrong
If you break the rules, you will be fined. Besides violating rules while riding bicycles on campus, you could be fined for:
No bicycle registration---------------------------------------------------$25
Bicycle parking banned--------------------------------------------------$30
Blocking path with bicycle ---------------------------------------------$40
Violation of bicycle equipment requirement -------------------------$35
【小題1】Registration of your bicycle may help you _____________.

A．get your serial number	B．find your stolen bicycle
C．receive free repair services	D．settle conflicts with walkers

【小題2】According to the passage, what bike equipment is a free choice for bicycle riders?

A．Brakes.

B．A helmet.

C．A taillight.

D．A headlight.

【小題3】If you lock your bicycle to a tree on the campus, you could be fined _________.

A．$25

B．$30

C．$35

D．$40

【小題4】What is the passage mainly about?

A．Directions for bicycle tour on campus.

B．A guide for safe bicycling on campus.

C．Regulations of bicycle race on campus.

D．Rules for riding motor vehicles on campus.

Believe it or not, there is always something nice to do on weekends. If you take some time to think about your weekends and plan them carefully, they may become more exciting, refreshing and as a result more rewarding.
Throughout weekends, you can join in endless activities. You may attend a weekend course to increase your knowledge, for example, listen to a lecture on ancient Egypt. You may also try various activities, such as short countryside trip, or you may want to go skiing on a cold winter weekend.
You may invite your best friend to a picnic, tell each other jokes and enjoy each other’s company or you may invite more friends to your weekend party and have one another give a talent show.
You can help out in a local library or nursing home and do some voluntary (義務(wù)的) jobs.
You can go to a sports ground or amusement centre to play various ball games and others. You may do weekend shopping alone or with somebody. Whatever you do, I hope you have a good weekend.
【小題1】The passage mainly tells us ______.

A．why to plan weekends well

B．how to have a nice weekend

C．when to attend weekend activities

D．where to have a picnic with friends

【小題2】The author suggests doing all the activities EXCEPT ______.

A．going skiing	B．doing some shopping
C．holding a party	D．going over lessons

【小題3】According to the passage one can go to ______ as a volunteer.

A．a(chǎn) nursing home	B．a(chǎn) sports ground
C．a(chǎn) big company	D．a(chǎn) shopping centre

  You're rushing to get out of the door for a meeting, but you just can't seem to find your car keys. Or you've got tickets booked for a Caribbean cruise(坐船旅行) , but your passport disappeared. Or maybe you've just come back from a grocery store tour and realized…Hey, did I leave my baby in the checkout line?
Ok, you've probably never gone to the extremes of our last example (we hope), but most of us experience slip - ups like these on a daily basis. No matter how smart you may be, it doesn't mean your brain won't turn to Swiss cheese every so often, and no amount of e-mail reminders can help you remember where you left your TV remote or lucky penny.
But now, there is a new pair of eyeglasses that can help to find all those little things you know must be around somewhere :  Let's call it Vision 2.0.
The new glasses, which are being developed in a Japanese lab under the code name Smart Goggles,are similar to a Google search engine for your eyes. The high - tech glasses come with a camera that records everything you see on a daily basis, and boast built - in object recognition software that allows them to keep track of whatever comes across their field of vision. If you've got a collection of art sculptures that the camera can't recognize immediately, no problem :  Just say the name of each item,  and the glasses will memorize them right away.
The Smart Goggles' superb tracking abilities mean that whenever you're looking for your keys, your overdue library book, or yes, even your baby, all you have to do is to say the word and the Goggles' camera will show you the last time your desired object appeared on screen, telling exactly where you'll be able to find it.
Though the glasses are still too big for general use, the research team in Japan believes that they'll be able to make the modem glasses smaller to the size of normal glasses in the near future, making them the perfect new accessory for yourself or any other absent - minded Professor you know.
With these intelligent designs, you'll never lose anything again. Except maybe your glasses.
【小題1】The best title for the passage should be _______.

A．A Habit of Forgetting Small Things

B．Usage of New High - Tech Glasses

C．How to Find Little Things Easily

D．Glasses Will Help Find Your Things

【小題2】Which of the following is a slip - up according to the passage?

A．You can't find your watch before going to work.

B．You can't work out a math problem in given time.

C．You don't know how to deal with a naughty boy.

D．You don't know how to get to a hospital.

【小題3】Which of the following statement is true about Smart Goggles?

A．They're a search engine used on the Internet.

B．They're a camera with recognition software.

C．They're software used in computers.

D．They're sunglasses protecting our eyes.

【小題4】Where are the new glasses being developed?

A．In China.

B．In America.

C．In Japan.

D．In France.

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what "keeping up with the Joneses" is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began eaming  $  125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days.He got married and moved with his wife to a verywealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it  " Keeping up with the Joneses"  because "Jones"  is a very common name in the United States. " Keeping up with the Joneses" came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand's series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are "Joneses" in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does,  Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
【小題1】Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they______.

A．want to be as rich as their neighbors

B．want others to know or to think that they are rich

C．don't want others to know they are rich

D．want to be happy

【小題2】 It can be inferred (推斷) from the story that rich people like to_______.

A．live outside New York City	B．live in New York city
C．live in apartments	D．have many neighbors

【小題3】 According to the writer, it is ________ to keep up with the Joneses.

A．correct

B．interesting

C． impossible

D． good

You might say that one reason why Barack Obama is president of the US is that he knows how to give a good speech.
Since 2004, Obama has written and delivered thousands of speeches. These are usually praised for two reasons: he treats the audiences like intelligent（有智慧的） adults, and he is able to express complicated ideas in an easy, natural way.
Before becoming president, Obama was a lawyer, a college professor, and a successful writer---his two memories have become best-sellers.
What’s more, he has some secret weapons.
Teleprompter: Obama doesn’t go anywhere without his Teleprompter. The textbook-sized panes of glass holding the president’s prepared remarks follow him wherever he goes to speak.
Writing team: Obama has a team of people who write his speeches. The writers chat with Obama for hours about what he wants to say. They listen to recordings of past presidential speeches and seek advice from advisers. Obama usually edits(編輯)and rewrites the drafts(草稿)several times.
Tricks for lighthearted speeches:
Make fun of the guests: Obama starts his speech by gently teasing his guests. His opening lines draw the audience’s attention while giving them an opportunity to relax and laugh at themselves and each other.
Make fun of yourself: A good rule for speechmakers: If you’re going to make a joke about someone else, be sure to make one about yourself, too. Obama mocks(嘲弄) his own poor choices for filling the position of Commerce Secretary, saying, “No president in history has ever named three Commerce Secretaries this quickly.” In fact, his first two nominees（被提名人）for the position withdrew(撤出) their names for different reasons. In a process that had otherwise gone smoothly, the Obama Administration found it hard to deal with the problem of filling the Commerce seat.
【小題1】Obama made the poetic and inspiring speech in 2004 as________.

A．president	B．a(chǎn) nominee for the presidency
C．a(chǎn) senator	D．a(chǎn) secretary

【小題2】What’s the meaning of the underlined word in paragraph 2?

A．Difficult to understand.	B．Easy to understand.
C．Different from others.	D．Interesting to say.

【小題3】From the passage, we know that Obama’s secret weapons are all these EXCEPT ____.

A．a(chǎn) writing team

B．a(chǎn) teleprompter

C．humor

D．motivation

【小題4】What’s the best title of the passage？

A．Secrets of Obama’s successful speeches.

B．Obama’s successful speeches.

C．Obama’s way of making speeches.

D．Problems of Obama’s speeches.