Fire can help people in many ways. But it can also be very harmful. Fire can make water hot and house warm, give light and cook food. But fire can burn (燃燒) things, too. It can make trees, houses, animals and other things catch fire (起火). If some people can't run away from fire, it can kill them. This happens in every country every year.

Sometimes big fire can burn forests. A month ago, a large forest fire broke out in Yunnan Province. It lasted nearly half a month. The forest in Heilongjiang Province and the grassland in Inner Mongolia caught fire in May, 2006. After more than ten days' fight, over 30,000 people and soldiers put out (撲滅) the fire at last.

Nobody knows clearly when people began to make fire, but there are many interesting stories about the first time a man or a woman started a fire. One story from Australia tells about a man who went to the sun and brought fire down a long time ago. Today people know how to make a fire with matches (火柴). Children sometimes like to play with them. But matches can be very dangerous. The match can burn a piece of paper and then it can burn a house. A small fire can become a big fire, and destroy many things. Fire kills many people every year. So you must be careful with fire.

1.The main idea of the passage is that _________.

2.Matches can be dangerous because _________.

3.The word “destroy” in the passage means ________in Chinese.

4.The writer of the passage wants to tell us that ________.

One of the most famous scientists to study adaptations (適應能力) was Charles Darwin (達爾文). He was born in England in 1809. He wasn't the best student in his school, but when he was 16, his father sent him to a medical school. Charles liked spending time outdoors observing (觀察) nature more than attending medical classes and dropped out(輟學) without graduating.

??? Next, Charles' father sent him to school to become a minister (牧師). This time he made it to graduation. But he didn't want to do the work of a minister. His friends encouraged him to follow his interest in science.

??? After graduation, Charles was invited to sail on the Beagle as an unpaid scientist. He wasn't the first choice, but he was the lucky one to go. The Beagle was to travel to South America and then around the world. The crew's task was to make maps of the places they visited.

??? On December 27th, 1831 Charles Darwin sailed from England on the Beagle. The trip was planned to last two years. In fact, it lasted five. During this time, he saw many amazing things. He collected lots of plants and animals and took them back to England to study.

??? Twenty-three years later, Darwin published a scientific paper with another man named Wallace. Darwin described how some animals have adaptations that help them survive. They are passed on to offspring (后代). Darwin’s ideas about adaptations are still very important to the study of living things.

1.Darwin was very interested in _____.

A. attending medical classes???????????? B. the work of a minister

C. sailing around the world????????????? D. science

2.The Beagle was a(an) _____.

A. ship?????????????? B. plane??????????? C. plant???????? D. animal

3.When Darwin published the scientific paper, he was _____ years old.

A. twenty-three??????? B. twenty-two?????? C. forty-five????? D. fifty

4.The underlined word "they" in the last paragraph refers to (指的是) _____.

A. adaptations??????????????????????? B. Darwin and Wallace

C. animals?????????????????????????? D. Darwin's ideas

5.Which of the following is true?

A. Darwin graduated from a medical school.

B. Some animals have adaptations so that they can survive.

C. Darwin published a scientific paper by himself.

D. Darwin was first chosen to sail on the Beagle.

—______did Prince William's wedding（婚禮） last?

—It lasted for about 5 hours.

A. How far  b. How long  C. How soon  D. How often

—______did Prince William's wedding（婚禮） last?

—It lasted for about 5 hours.

A. How far  b. How long  C. How soon  D. How often

Three men traveling on a train began a conversition about the world's greatest wonders.

“ In my opinion,” the first man said, “ the Egyptian pyramids are the world’s greatest wonder. Although they were built thousands of years ago, they are still standing. And remember: the people who built them had only simple tools. They didn’t have the kind of machinery that builders and engineers have today.

“ I agree that the Egyptian pyramids are wonderful,” the second man said, “ But I don’t think they’re the greatest wonder. I believe computers are more wonderful than the pyramids. They have taken people to the moon and brought them back safely. They carry out mathematical calculations in seconds that would take a person a hundred years to do.”

He turned to the third man and asked, “ What do you think is the greatest wonder in the world?”

The third man thought for a long time, then he said, “ Well, I agree that the pyramids are wonderful, and I agree that computers are wonderful, too. However, in my opinion, the most wonderful thing in the world is the thermos(保溫瓶).”

And he took a thermos out of his bag and held it up.

The other two men were very surprised. “ A thermos?” they exclaimed(大聲說), “ But that’s a simple thing.”

“ Oh, no, it’s not,” the third man said, “ in the winter you put in a hot drink and it stays hot, in the summer you put in a cold drink and it stays cold. How does the thermos know whether it is winter or summer?”

1.The travelers passed the time on the train by talking about _______.

2.The three men could not agree on what the world’s greatest wonder was because _______.

3. The first man thought the pyramids were the most wonderful things in the world because _______.

4.The third man thought a thermos was the most wonderful thing in the world because _______.

5.The third man was not very clever because _______.