Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem. It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle. Despite his exhaustion, Howe slept badly. He tossed and turned. Then he had a nightmare He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle. The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They came up towards him with their spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was a hole in the tip of each spear. The inventor awoke from the dream, realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem. Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make a small hole in the center of the needle and have the thread run through it. This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practical sewing machine. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams. So did the great physicist Albert Einstein. To appreciate the value of dreams, you have to understand what happens when you are asleep. Even then, a part of your mind is still working. This unconscious , but still active part digests your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day. However, the unconscious part expresses itself through its own logic and its own language.. It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimes called "secret messages to ourselves". Which of the following was the main problem for Elias Howe to design a sewing machine? A) Deciding the kind of thread to use for the machine. B) Making the thread run smoothly around the needle. C) Designing a needle which would not easily break. D) Finding the proper place to put the needle.
B
(Question)
Every student can learn rope jumping. You can jump alone or with your classmate. You can also help turn a long rope for many others to jump over, one at a time. If you jump alone, you will need a short rope and it will be just enough for your height. Try ropes of different lengths until you find a right one for your size. A rope should be turned slowly. It must also be turned high enough to let you jump freely and safely. Turning the rope freely and safely needs careful timing. In rope jumping, timing means turning the rope slowly enough for you to jump over at the right time without its striking your feet. When you jump rope, your heart beats faster and your face has a healthy color1. But if you jump too many times at first, you will get fired. You must learn when to stop for a rest before you jump again, If you practice, you can increase the number of limes you jumpers without resting. Which of the following is true? A) A rope must be turned as slowly as possible. B) A rope must be turned as high as possible. C) People can do rope jumping without resting. D) Careful timing is needed to turn a rope.
(Answer)
D
Ques: If a diver surfaces too quickly, he may suffer the bends. Nitrogen dissolved in his blood is suddenly liberated by the reduction of pressure. The consequence, if the bubbles accumulate in a joint, is sharp pain and a bent body -- thus the name. If the bubbles form in his lungs or brain, the consequence can be death. Other air-breathing animals also suffer this decompression sickness if they surface too fast: whales, for example. And so, long ago, did ichthyosaurs . That these ancient sea-animals got the bends can be seen from their bones. If bubbles of nitrogen form inside the bone they can cut off its blood supply. This kills the cells in the bone, and consequently weakens it, sometimes to the point of collapse. Fossil bones that have caved in on themselves are thus a sign that the animal once had the bends. Bruce Rothschild of the University of Kansas knew all this when he began a suty of ichthyosaurs bones to find out how widespread the problem was in the past. What he particularly wanted to investigate was how ichthyosaurs adapted to the problem of decompession over the 150 milllion years. To this end, he and his colleagues traveled the world's natural-history museums, looking at hundreds of ichthyosaurs from the Trassic period and from the later Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. When he started, he assumed that signs of the bends would be rarer in younger fossils, reflecting their gradual evolution of measures to deal with decompression. Instead, he was astonished to discover the opposite. More than 15% of Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosaurs had suffered the bends before the died, but not a single Trassic specimen showed evidence of that sort of injury. If ichthyosaurs did evolve an anti-decompression means, they clearly did so quickly -- and, most strangly, they lost it afterwards. But that is not what Dr Rothchild thinks happened. He suspects it was evolution in other animals that caused the change. Whales that suffer the bends often do so because they have sufaced to escape a predator such... Which of the following is a typical symptom of the bends? A) A twisted body. B) A gradual decrease in blood supply. C) A sudden release of nitrogen in blood. D) A drop in blood presure.
Ans: A
Question: When you put down your pens at the end of the college entrance exam, 12 hard years of study will have come to an end. Forget your studies for a while. It's time to enjoy yourselves! There are many ways to celebrate this special month of graduation. You can have photos taken with your classmates and teachers, or dine out together and exchange gifts. High school students in western countries such as the United States and Canada usually have party to _ their graduation. It's to mark the time when kids turn into young men and women. After the party, teenagers either go to college or find a job. It means they will no longer depend on their parents as before. As the party, boys usually dress in dinner jackets and bow ties, though many different types of formal clothes are worn. Girls traditionally wear formal dresses, or dress to shock or be noticed, in shiny or brightly colored materials. Common party activities include dining, dancing, the crowing of a ball king and queen, and just talking to friends. In some cases, high school students collect funds for their class party through the four years of their high school. High schools in or near large cities may rent big rooms at expensive hotels or,to be unusual, on a pleasure boat.But often costs are out by simply using the school gym.Students make a lot of effort to decorate the gym to make the event special.The music played at the party will be the most popular kinds,like rock and hip-hop. Sometimes teachers and parents also go to the party,but others like to go with friends,to whom they are soon going to say goodbye. What does the party mean, for western high school students that are about to graduate? A) They are adults and will not depend on parents. B) These teenagers can find a job to support themselves. C) They have grown up and need friends' help. D) They have finished high school and will go to college.
Answer:
A