Many people know the names Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. However, most people don't know the name of the man who invented the television, Philo Farnsworth. Philo Farnsworth was born in 1906 and grew up on a potato farm. As a boy, he loved to learn about science, and he read a lot of science books. When he was only thirteen years old, he drew a picture of a machine that could send pictures as radio sends sounds. He got the idea from the way the potatoes were planted in the field. The potatoes grew in long lines, side by side. This made a shape in Philo's mind. This shape helped Philo think of a way to send the TV picture onto a piece of glass. But he was poor, so Philo could not try to make his idea into a machine at that time. Later, Philo worked at many different jobs. He worked with trees. He worked on broken radios. He worked on trains. He also worked as a street cleaner. At last, two rich men heard about his idea for television, and they gave him the money to make it. On September 7th, 1927, they watched Philo test the machine he built. When Philo turned on the machine, a small line could be seen on the glass. Philo said, "There you have it, electric television." Later, a big company, RCA, said they had made the first television. Philo had to spend a lot of money on lawyers to fight them. Finally, he won. Then, World War Two started in 1939. During the war, Philo spent a lot of money helping the US army instead of _ his television company. After the war, other bigger, richer companies started making televisions. In the end, Philo had to sell his company. Philo Farnsworth got the idea for TV from _ . A) the radio B) science books C) potato fields D) a machine
C
An American psychotherapist Glenn Doman wrote a best-selling book calledHow to Teach Your Baby to Readin 1963. Now translated into 17 languages, this book arose from his work with brain-damaged children in Pennsylvania. Doman and his team of specialists had wondered why brain-injured children didn't improve with treatment. Then they realized that orthodox methods of treatment only relieved the symptoms, not the problem, which of course was the brain itself. So they develop a new approach. "All we do for all the children here is to give them visual, auditory and tactile stimulation with increased frequency, intensity and duration, in recognition of the orderly way in which the brain grows," says Doman. "The result was that by 1960 we had hundreds of severely brain-injured two-year-olds who could read and understand." The team had discovered that even children who had half their brains removed could, by stimulation, achieve higher IQs than the average normal child. Then the team began to think if such amazing results could be achieved with brain-damaged children, what would happen if the same treatment were given to normal children? So eight years ago the Better Baby Institute was opened for the benefit of normal children. The same stimulating environment was provided, and by the time the children left, around seven years old, they could generally speak and read three foreign languages, play a musical instrument, read three full-length books a week and do all the other things that a so-called "normal" child could do. In Doman's view, the child's passion to learn during the years up to six must be fed. He believes that, like muscles, the brain develops with use, especially so in those first few years. Nowadays, parents come from all over the world to Pennsylvania to see and learn from the workof Doman and his team; they want to discover how they can fulfill their roles as nature's teachers, by using their love, understanding and instincts for the benefit of the children. For in the words of Doman,... Parents come to the Institute because they want _ . A) their children to become as intelligent as Leonardo da Vinci B) to learn how to teach their children about nature C) to develop their own abilities to help their children D) their children to develop instincts of love and understand
C
(Q).
The black robin is one of the world's rarest birds. It is a small, wild bird, and it lives only on the island of Little Mangere, off the coast of New Zealand. In 1967 there were about fifty black robins; in 1977 there were fewer than ten. These are the only black robins left in the world. The island has many other birds, of different kinds, large and small; these seem to multiply very happily. Energetic steps are being taken to preserve the black robin. Detailed studies are going on, and a public appeal for money has been made. The idea is to buy another island nearby as a special home, a "reserve", for threatened wild life, including black robins. The organizers say that Little Mangere should then be supplied with the robin's food--it eats only one kind of seed. Thousands of the required plants are at present being cultivated in New Zealand. The public appeal is aimed at the conscience of mankind, so that the wild black robin will not die out and disappear form the earth in our time at least. Is all this concern a waste of human effort? Is it any business of ours whether the black robin survives or dies out? Are we losing our sense of what is reasonable and what is unreasonable? In the earth's long, long past, hundreds of kinds of creatures have evolved, risen to a degree of success--and died out. In the long, long future, there will be many new and different forms of life. Those creatures that adapt themselves successfully to what the earth offers will survive for a long time. Those that fail to meet the challenges will disappear early. This is nature's proven method of operation. The rule of selection--"the survival of the fittest"--is the one by which human beings have themselves arrived on the scene. We, being one of the most adaptable creatures the earth has yet produced, may last longer than most. You may take it as another rule that when, at last, human beings show signs of dying out, no other creature will extend a paw to put off our departure. On the contrary, we will be hurried out. For nature,... The writer's attitude towards the protection of the black robins is _ . A) passive B) active C) unconcerned D) optimistic
(A).
A