完形填空

What time is it? There are many ways you can (1) the time. You may have a watch on your wrist(手腕) .You can look at a clock on the wall. You can listen to the radio or (2) a number on the telephone to get the time.

I has not always been (3) to know the time. A long time ago people looked at the (4) to tell the time. They could tell the time by looking at it in the sky: morning, noon or afternoon.

Around the year 1400, people began to use the hourglass(沙漏) . It was made (5) glass with sand in it. It was wide at both ends, (6) narrow ( 窄的) in the middle. The sand ran from one end to (7) in one hour. At the end of every hour people turned the glass over ant it began (8) .

Hundreds of years later a machine called (9) was invented. After that people made (10) clocks so that they could (11) them in their pockets. These pocket clocks were called watches. Then, during the first world war (战争) men started (12) their watches on their wrists. It was easier and faster to tell the time

1.make sure       B. look at         C. write down        D. find out

2. A. call            B. read             C. count          D. write

3. A. different       B. difficult        C. easy             D. important

4. A. earth            B. sun               C. moon           D. satellite

5. A. by              B. into             C. from             D. of

6. A. so              B. and             C. but               D. or

7. A. another        B. other          C. others               D. the other

8. A. once            B. more            C. again               D. too

9. A. watch           B. clock            C. radio            D. telephone

10. A. good           B. cheap            C. beautiful            D. small

11. A. take          B. bring             C. carry                 D. get

12. A. wearing        B. inventing       C. making               D. buying

How should one invest a sum of money in these clays of inflation (通货膨胀)? Left in a bank it will hardly keep its value, however high the interest rate. Only a brave man, or a very rich one, dares to buy and sell on the Stock Market. Today it seems that one of the best ways to protect your savings, and even increase your wealth is to buy beautiful objects from the past. Here I am going to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks, which I personally consider are among the most interesting of antiques.
I sometimes wonder what a being from another planet might report back about our way of life. "The planet Earth is ruled by a mysterious creature that sits or stands in a room and makes a strange ticking sound. It has a face with twelve black marks and two hands. Men can do nothing without its permission, and it fastens its young round people's wrists so that everywhere men go they are still under its control. This creature is the real master of Earth and men are its slaves（奴隶）."
Whether or not we are slaves of time today depends on our culture and personality, but it is believed that many years ago kings kept special slaves to tell the time. Certain men were very clever at measuring（量） the time of clay according to the beating of their own hearts. They were made to stand in a fixed place and every hour or so would shout tire time. So it seems that the first clocks were human beings.
However, men quickly found more convenient and reliable（可靠的） ways of telling the time. They learned to use the shadows cast by the sun. They marked the hours on candles, used sand in hour- glasses, and invented water-clocks. Indeed, any serious student of antique should spend as much time as possible visiting palaces, stately homes and museums to see some of the finest examples of clocks from the past.
Antique clocks could be very expensive, but one of the joys of collecting clocks is that it is still possible to find quite cheap ones for your own home. After all, if you are going to be ruled by time, why not invest in air antique clock and perhaps make a future profit（收益）?
【小题1】According to the passage, collecting antique clocks____.

What time is it? There are many ways you can find out   46  . You may have a watch on your wrist(手腕). You can look at the clock on the wall. You can listen to   47  or call a number on the telephone to get the time.

It has not always been easy to know the time. A long time ago people looked at the

  48   to tell the time. They could tell the time by looking at it in the sky:morning,noon or afternoon.

Around the year 1400, people began to use the hourglass(沙漏). It was made   49   glass with sand in it. It was wide at both ends, but  50   in the middle. The sand ran from one end to     51  in one hour. At the end of every hour people turned the glass over and  52  began to run again.

Hundreds of years later a machine called   53   was invented. After that people made small clocks so that they could bring them in their  54  . These pocket clocks were called watches. Then, during the First World War men   55  wearing their watches on their wrist. It was easier and faster to tell the time.

46. A. the people       B. the time         C. the man 

47. A. teacher          B. music            C. radio

48. A. sun              B. moon             C. earth 

49. A. of               B. in               C. by    

50. A. wide             B. short            C. narrow

51. A. other            B. the other        C. another

52. A. the time         B. the glass        C. the sand

53. A. radio            B. clock            C. watch 

54. A. pockets          B. bags             C. hands 

55. A. hated            B. stopped          C. started