We are all busy talking about and using the Internet, but how many of us know about the history of the Internet?
　　Many people are surprised when they find that the Internet was set up(建立) in the 1960s. At that time, computers were large and expensive. Computer networks(網(wǎng)絡(luò)) didn’t work well. If one computer in the network broke down, then the whole network stopped. So a new network system(系統(tǒng)) had to be set up. It should be good enough to be used by many different computers. If part of the network was not working, information could be sent through another part. In this way the computer network system would keep on working all the time.
　　At first, the Internet was only used by the government, but, in the early 1970s, universities, hospitals and banks were allowed to use it too. However, computers were still expensive and the Internet was difficult to use. By the start of the 1990s, computers become cheaper and easier to use. Scientists had also developed software(軟件) that made “surfing(瀏覽)” the Internet more convenient (方便).
　　Today it is easy to get on-line and it is said that millions of people use the Internet every day. Sending e-mail is more and more popular among students.
The Internet has now become one of the most important parts of people’s life.
根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，選擇正確答案（10分）
【小題1】The Internet has a history of ______ years.
A、about 40             B、less than 30         C、more than 45
【小題2】Scientists set up a new network system to ______.
A、make the computer cheaper
B、make the system work well
C、make the computer go well
【小題3】The Internet was widely used in the ______.
A、1960s                B、1970s                C、1990s
【小題4】The underlined words “get on-line” in Chinese mean ______.
A、上機(jī)               B、上網(wǎng)                 C、接線
【小題5】Which of the following is NOT true?
A、People had enough softwares to get on-line fifteen years ago
B、Computers are much cheaper than before.
C、Today the Internet is used everywhere.

We each have a memory(記憶力). That’s why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can easily learn many things by heart, but some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got surprising memories.
　　A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is a small child. He hears the sounds, remembers them and he learns to speak. Some children are living with their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one can , because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy to learn a foreign language because the students have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects , too. But your memory will become better and better when you do more and more exercises.
根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，選擇正確答案（10分）
【小題1】Some people can easily learn many things by heart because      .
A、they always sleep very well
B、they have very good memorie
C、they read a lot of books
【小題2】Everybody learns his mother language     .
A、at the age of six
B、when he is a small child
C、after he goes to school
【小題3】Before a child can speak, he must     .
A、read and write
B、make sentences
C、hear and remember the sounds
【小題4】In school the students can’t learn a foreign language well because    .
A、they have no good memories
B、they have no recorders
C、they are busy with other subjects
【小題5】Your memory will become better and better     .
A、if you have plenty of good food
B、if you do more and more exercises
C、if you do morning exercises every day

DNA is the whole “map” of the human body. It is something that all humans have, and it tells the body what to do. DNA is the reason that we look like our parents, because we get some of their DNA to make our own.
People have been trying to understand the human body for a long time, In1860, Mr Mendel discovered why we look the same as other people in our family. It is because of small things called “genes”(基因) in our body. In 1953, two scientists, Watson and Crick, found out that those small parts are really messages . They’re written in the DNA with a special language.
In1961, another two scientists found the first “word” that they could understand in that language. It shows how DNA tells the cell﹙細(xì)胞﹚to build its parts. So far, scientists have found all the words in the DNA map, but we still do not understand what they all do. By understanding what just one “word ”means, we can help to save people from several illness. So the more we understand, the more doctors will be able to do.
Most people hope that this will help to make better medicine and help sick people. Other people worry that when we learn more “words” and find out more information, we will use it in the wrong way, just to make people more attractive (有吸引力的)，or stop sick people getting jobs.
【小題1】When did Mr Mendel discover why we look the same as other people in our family?
A. In 2000.     B. In 1961      C. In 1953     D In 1860
【小題2】What did the two scientists find in 1961? They found_____.

In the 13^th century, the famous Italian traveler, Marco Polo, traveled a long way to China. During his stay in China, he saw many wonderful things. One of the things he discovered was that the Chinese used paper money. In Western countries, people did not use paper money until the 15^th century. However, people in China began to use paper money in the 7^th century.
A Chinese man called Cai Lun invented paper almost 2000 years ago. He made it from wood. He took the wood from trees and made it into paper. He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book.
Now paper still comes from trees. We use a lot of paper every day. If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth. If there are no trees, there will be no paper. Every day, people throw away about 2,800 tons of paper in our city. It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day. Since it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now. If we don’t, we will not give enough time to grow more trees to take the place of those we use for paper.
So how can we save paper? We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially then we are making notes. We can choose drinks in bottles instead of those in paper packets. We can also use cotton handkerchief and not paper ones. When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags. If the shop assistant does give us a paper, we can save it and reuse it later.
Everyone can help to save paper. If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees. But we should do it now, before it is too late.
【小題1】 When he was in China, Marco Polo ________.

閱讀短文, 根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容回答問題。(共10分，每小題2分)

It's March, 2050.
Frank and Mary Smith wake up in their comfortable house in the morning and switch on the bedroom computer to get the latest news. They used to read the Times, but changed to electronic newspapers many years ago.                                                
There is the usual news about space: another space flight has returned from Mars and scientists have discovered a new planet. Then they turn to business news: the US dollar has risen greatly in Shanghai, one of the world's leading business centers. Mary tells the computer to buy 5,000 dollars, and there is a quick response that it has been done.
As they watch the screen, Mary orders one of the household robots to make coffee for them. Frank disappears into the study to join a video conference with his partners around the world. He is a computer engineer, working for several companies. This is his third job: he used to be in marketing and then television.
Mary has a quick look at the shopping channels - the usual selection of electric cars, household robots and cheap travel offers - before picking up the video phone to talk to her assistant. She also has a job and she is doing medical research. Both she and Frank used to have an office desk in London, but in 2014 they decided to move to the seaside and work from home.
Frank and Mary have one daughter, Louise, who also has her own workstation at home. She goes to school only one day a week, mainly to play with other students. Classrooms disappeared in 2030 because there was no longer any need for them: communications systems have made it much easier to learn at home.
Louise, now thirteen, is studying Chinese at present, which has become a world language as
important as English. Louise has many Chinese friends. They communicate by computer.
According to the family doctor, Louise will live to at least 130. Her wish is to work for a
few decades (十年) and then spend her time on music and painting.
【小題1】Do Frank and Mary get the latest news on the computer in the morning?
【小題2】Who makes coffee for Mary and Frank?
【小題3】What does Frank do?
【小題4】What are the two world languages in 2050?
【小題5】What do you think of Louise's life in 2050? Why?

閱讀短文，根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容回答問題。（共10分，每小題2分）
Do you want to keep your brain active and your memory strong? Here are some useful ways:
Choose the Brain Food
A proper diet will help keep your mind running strong all day long. Make sure to include plenty of fruits and green vegetables. Some of the best foods include: blueberries, blackberries, fish and fish oil, eggs, strawberries and so on.
Exercise
Get your body moving and your memory will soon follow. Exercise improves the heart’s blood flow. This, in turn, helps the brain function better and stay sharper.
Pick up a Book
The key to keeping your memory quick is to continue to challenge it. Try to always have a book in hand. After you’ve done reading a section or two, question and review the material you’ve read. Try to imagine what you’re reading. Discuss what you’ve read, and talk about it with friends or join a book club.
Develop Interest
We remember new things because we enjoy them. Find ways to make a boring subject fun by connecting it to something you already know. You can use your imagination and create a fun story behind a subject to help make it easier to remember.
Repeat after Me
When learning new information, the more you repeat it, the more likely you will be able to remember that information. Practice is the key to lasting memory.
Share with Others
Don’t keep your knowledge stored up. Teaching others is another great way to improve memory skills. Don’t be afraid of taking on new challenges. After learning something, it’s necessary to put the new information to use.
【小題1】 What will help keep the mind running strong?
【小題2】 What’s the key to keeping your memory quick?
【小題3】 Why do you remember new things?
【小題4】 How many useful ways are mentioned in the passage?
【小題5】 What does the writer tell us in the passage?

It is easy for us to tell who our family members are, but do plants recognize(識別) their own family? Some do, scientists say, according to a report by Science News in early 2010.
Guillermo P. Murphy and Susan Dudley are two plant scientists from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. They did a few experiments with Jewelweeds, a kind of flower that grows in wet, shady spots. They found that the flowers seem to know their own flower family. In their experiments, Murphy and Dudley planted jewelweeds in pots with either siblings or strangers.
When jewelweeds were planted in pots with strangers, the plants started to grow more leaves than if they had been planted alone. This response(反應(yīng))suggests that plants are competing with strangers for sunlight, since a plant with more leaves can receive more light and make more food. Jewelweeds usually grow in the shade, where sunlight is not enough.
When jewelweed seedlings(幼苗)were planted with siblings, they grew a few more branches than they usually would if they were alone – but they did not start growing lots of extra leaves. This behavior suggests the plants are more likely to share resources, rather than compete.
According to the Science News report, Jewelweeds are not the first plants that plant scientists have studied for family recognition. In 2007, Dudley and her team studied the Great Lakes sea rocket, a plant that grows on the beach – where it may be hard to get fresh water. In that experiment, the scientists found that when sea rockets were planted with siblings, they tolerated each other. But when they were planted with strangers, the sea rockets reacted by working extra hard to grow lots of roots.
Dudley says this just because sea rockets, on the beach, get plenty of sun but struggle for water – so when they’re threatened, they compete for water. Jewelweeds have plenty of water but have to compete for sunshine, so they grow more leaves.
【小題1】 What does the underlined word siblings mean?

Not all memories (記憶)are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Wars and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and mental scars. Often they appear again in dreams.
Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill(藥丸), which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce（減少）, or possibly erase(抹去) the effect of sad memories.
In November, some scientists tested a drug(藥) on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body producing chemicals(化學(xué)品) that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the mental effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are erased.
The research has caused plenty of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it.
Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers’ troubling memories after war. They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.
“Some memories can destroy(破壞) people’s lives. They come back to you when you don’t want to have them in a dream. They usually come with very sad feeling.” said Roger Pitman, a scientist of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “This could relieve(減輕) a lot of that suffering.”
But those who are against the research say that it is very dangerous to change memories because memories give us our identity(特質(zhì)). They also help us all get away from the mistakes of the past.
“All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were terrible at the time but make us who we are. I’m not sure we want to erase those memories,” said Rebecca Dresser.
【小題1】The passage is mainly about __________.

Have you ever been ill? When you are ill, you must be unhappy because your body becomes hot, and there are pains all over your body. You don’t want to work, and you stay in bed, feeling very sad.
What makes us ill? It is germs(細(xì)菌). Germs are everywhere. They are very small and you can’t find them with your eyes, but you can see them with a mi­croscope(顯微鏡). They are very very small and there could be hundreds of them on a very small thing.
Germs are always found in dirty water. When we look at dirty water under the microscope, we shall see them in it. So your father and mother will not let you drink dirty water.
Germs can be found not only in water but also in air and dust(灰塵). If you cut your finger, if some of the dust from the floor goes into the cut(割開處), some of the germs would go into your finger. Your finger would become big and red, and you will have much pain in it. Sometimes the germs would go into all of your body, and you would have pain everywhere.
【小題1】Which of the following is true?

閱讀短文，從所給的選項中選擇四個句子完成短文，使其文理通順。（有一項多余）
Imagine a normal day: you go to work, return home, and maybe buy somethings on your way home.【小題1】. For a large number of people, the answer to that question is zero.
Ever since the Industrial Revolution（工業(yè)革命）began, many changes have taken place in our world.【小題2】.
Want to buy a pair of shoes? An MP3 player? A book? It’s only a few clicks(點擊) away. Need a computer? A gift? A tennis racket? Click. No need to even leave your house.【小題3】And the quality of crops that are grown and harvested(收割) by computers is getting better.
You are probably booking (預(yù)定) your hotel room online. When can we choose our own rooms and get our keys by ourselves? We also hope that everything we want to buy at the supermarket will be ready for us when we arrive.【小題4】Researchers have already designed a robot to correctly find your preferred beer and bring it to you.
Will human jobs be completely done by robots? We don’t know. But computers are doing more and more jobs for humans.
【小題5】How many examples of ways of doing things does the author pick up to show the advantages of computers?
A. Five.  B. Four.  C. Six.  D. Three.