Bicycles are a great way to get around. They’re fun to ride, especially down hills. And, as you speed along the road, you might also think of ways in which you could improve your bike— make it safer, more efficient, or more comfortable. In fact, the two-wheeled machines make for some cool science projects.
This year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), held last May in Cleveland, featured（had）three bicycle projects from three countries. Like many of the other experiments presented at ISEF, the bike projects showed that some of the most interesting scientific research often begins by taking a closer look at things you care about.
Renato Angulo Chu had even grander ambitions. The 12th-grader from Lima, Peru, wanted to address some of his country's economic troubles.
"I see a problem in my country," Renato said. "If you go to the forests in Peru, in some places you cannot find electricity. If you go with my bicycle, you can turn on the lights."
Renato, 16, spent 3 years designing his special Multibike. The device looks like a fixed exercise bike. It has wires fixed along the frame and a blender strapped (fastened) to the back. Turning the pedals operates the blender. The same principle can be used to sharpen knives or sweep city streets.
The Multibike can work either as a fixed bike or as a bicycle able to travel city streets and country roads. It's made from inexpensive materials, and the user gets exercise while pedaling to operate a machine.
"You pedal the bike, and you can mix any drink you want," Renato said. More importantly, he added, the same concept could be used to bring light to houses in remote regions of the rainforest.
【小題1】What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．Bikes should be made more comfortable to ride.

B．You can improve your bicycle for science research.

C．Many inventions are connected with the bicycle.

D．Bicycles are the best way to go about

【小題2】Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．ISEF is an exhibiton displaying bicycle experiments designed by students.

B．Looking closely at things you are concerned about can lead to scientific research.

C．Renato’s improvement of the bicycle has solved the country’s great problem.

D．Renato’s special bicycle will soon be put into use in remote areas.’

【小題3】The underlined word “address” in the third paragraph probably has the same meaning as _______.

A．make address written

B．give up

C．work at

D．speak at

【小題4】Renato’s special Multibike has all the following  EXCEPT  ________.

A．making knives sharp	B．mixing any kind of drinks
C．producing electricity	D．operating a machine with its own electricity

【小題5】It can be inferred that Renato’s special bicycle is mainly designed for ________.

A．distant areas in the rainforest without electricity.

B．the use of his own family to make life easier.

C．the competition of ISEF to win money to support remote rainforests

D．enough exercise by pedaling it

A new study of 8,000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily, it is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love(早戀) may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression(憂郁癥). The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all.
The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “l(fā)oss of self”. According to the study, even though boys would say “l(fā)ose themselves in a romantic relationship”, this “l(fā)oss of self” is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won’t tell that to their parents.
Dr. Marianm Kaufman, an expert on young people problems, says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression.
She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up, it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends, attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.
Parents should watch for signs of depression---eating or mood changes---and if they see signs from their daughter or son, they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age. Love will always make us feel young, but only maturity(成熟) gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.
【小題1】What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Puppy love may bring young people depression.

B．Parents should forbid their children’s love lives.

C．Romance is a two-edged sword for adults.

D．Romance is good for young people.

【小題2】Which of the following is more likely to have depression?

A．Young people who have a strong sense of self.

B．Young boys whose parents watch for their behavior.

C．Young girls who always hide their feelings and opinions.

D．Careless parents whose children are deep in love.

【小題3】What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Lacking love can lead young people to grow up more quickly.

B．Early love makes young people keep close to their friends and parents.

C．Parents should help their children to be aware of the signs of depression.

D．The older a woman is, the less likely she seems to lose herself in romance.

【小題4】What’s the author’s attitude towards puppy love?

A．Confused.

B．Disapproving.

C．Disinterested.

D．Scared.

At a psychology conference in England years ago, a woman said to me: “I’ll knock you up in the morning.” I was taken aback by her strange suggestion, but it occurred to me that I might not have understood what she really meant. As it turned out, what she had meant was, “I’ll knock on your door in the morning so that we can meet for breakfast to discuss the panel we’re on.”
This example of the difference in the meaning of “knock you up” in British and American English shows the complicated situations that can result from cultural misunderstandings. A cultural misunderstanding occurs when something — a word, gesture, object, social context, or almost anything you can think of — has a different meaning in two cultures. Sometimes the misunderstandings get resolved, sometimes they lead nowhere, and sometimes they can become the starting point of something much more extreme, from love to war.
Race is one area where cultural misunderstandings are common. We Americans tend to assume that racial categories are biological rather than social, so it may not occur to us that people from other cultures have a different set of racial concepts and classify themselves and us differently. Some African Americans complain that certain immigrants from other countries, such as Haiti or Jamaica, “act as if they aren’t black.” The cultural misunderstanding is that, in the immigrants’ countries of origin, they would never describe themselves as “black”. This doesn’t mean that they think they are white. It just means that their cultures have more categories, like marabou or grimaud in Haiti, or fair or brown in Jamaica, than are used in the United States. Meanwhile, white people in America, unaware of this cultural diversity, sometimes refer to all darker-skinned people as “black” without realizing that an issue exists.
Resolving cultural misunderstandings can clear the air or even lead to laughter. Sometimes, though, when it comes to race, unidentified cultural misunderstandings can create tension, unhappiness and distrust.
【小題1】The main purpose of the first paragraph is to       .

A．show that language misunderstandings would cause big problems

B．show the differences between British and American English

C．explain in general what cultural misunderstandings are

D．introduce the idea of cultural misunderstandings with a story

【小題2】The underlined word “resolved” probably means       .

A．complicated

B．settled

C．a(chǎn)ccepted

D．noticed

【小題3】We can learn from the passage that cultural misunderstandings      .

A．mostly come from body language

B．a(chǎn)re the most serious social problem in the US

C．can cause negative feelings among people

D．can be cleared up with laughter

【小題4】What is the author’s opinion about cultural misunderstandings?

A．There’s no need to notice racial differences.

B．Haitians prefer to be described as fair or brown.

C．Cultural misunderstandings based on racial categories may be difficult to spot.

D．Americans are especially likely to misunderstand people from other cultures.

I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.
I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.
It takes confidence to make a new start — there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a novel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.
Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.
The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal—that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.
It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck—of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract（合同）of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding（有回報(bào)的）.
【小題1】What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．I was waiting for good fortune.

B．I was trying to find an admirable job.

C．I was being aimless about a suitable job.

D．I was doing several jobs for more pay at a time.

【小題2】The author decided to write a novel ______ .

A．to finish the writing course

B．to realize her own dream

C．to satisfy readers’ wish

D．to earn more money

【小題3】How did the writer feel halfway with the novel?

A．Disturbed.

B．Ashamed.

C．Confident.

D．Uncertain.

【小題4】What does the author mainly want to tell readers in the last paragraph?

A．It pays to stick to one’s goal.

B．Hard work can lead to success.

C．She feels like being unexpectedly lucky.

D．There is no end in sight when starting to do something.

Did you ever wonder how some of your favorite foods, products or toys came about? Believe it or not, they may have been an accident, or a failure of some other intention. Below, we found three mistakes we’re thankful for turned out to be what they are.
1. Most historians hold that the Chinese invented fireworks in the 9th century when they
discovered how to make gunpowder. Story has it that a Chinese cook accidentally mixed together what were then considered common kitchen items and noticed they burnt. When put tightly in a bamboo tube and lit, it blew up.
2. In May of 1886, a law led John Pemberton, a pharmacist（藥劑師）, to rewrite the formula(配方) for "Pemberton’s French Wine Coca,” his popular headache treatment. Containing sugar instead of wine as a sweetener, the outcome became something for Coke, which was later mixed with carbonated water. His bookkeeper suggested the name Coca-Cola because he thought the two C’s would look good together, which is how what we call Coca-Cola, a world –wide drink came into being.
3. During World War II, scientists at the University of Birmingham invented the magnetron—an important heat-producing part of the microwave oven(微波爐). While working for Raytheon Corporation after the war, the American engineer Percy Spencer was testing the magnetron when a chocolate bar in his pocket melted. He went on to test other foods including popcorn kernels, and found it to be a much more efficient way to cook. In 1947 Raytheon came out with the first restaurant microwave oven, which was six feet tall and weighed 750 lbs.   
【小題1】The right time order of the three inventions, according to the passage, should be_________.

A．fireworks, the microwave and Coca-Cola

B．fireworks ,Coca-Cola and the microwave

C．Coca-Cola , fireworks and the microwave

D．the microwave, Coca-Cola and fireworks

【小題2】Percy Spencer found the microwave efficient in cooking when he was _______.

A．looking for a way to melt his chocolate

B．trying to know how a magnetron could cook

C．working to know how the magnetron works

D．a(chǎn)sked to invent a restaurant microwave oven

【小題3】What can we learn from the above invention stories? 

A．Experiments make great inventors of our time.

B．Nothing is impossible if one tries each day.

C．Inventors come out of hard work at any time.

D．A small incident may lead to a great invention.

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

A．What great inventions they are!	B．Inventions from Three Countries.
C．Stories of Accidental Inventions.	D．The Human Inventions of time.