We all love new inventions. 1 _________________________________________________. But have all these inventions really improved the quality of our lives? Picture this: You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings and a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen. 2 _______________________________________________. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How happy do you feel? Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, with no telephone, no car, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? 3 ________________________________________________________________.

   One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10and Thomas, 7. spent nine weeks in a house of the 1940s. 4 _________________________________________. The grandmother, Lyn, said, “5__________________________________________________”. The boys said they fought less. Probably, they said, because there was less to fight over. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy, beer-drinking granny to one who cooked things”.

A. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phone. B. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. C. Perhaps because they live simpler lives. D. The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes. E. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives.

   We all love new inventions. 1 _________________________________________________. But have all these inventions really improved the quality of our lives? Picture this: You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings and a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen. 2 _______________________________________________. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How happy do you feel? Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, with no telephone, no car, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? 3 ________________________________________________________________.

   One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10and Thomas, 7. spent nine weeks in a house of the 1940s. 4 _________________________________________. The grandmother, Lyn, said, “5__________________________________________________”. The boys said they fought less. Probably, they said, because there was less to fight over. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy, beer-drinking granny to one who cooked things”.

A. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phone. B. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. C. Perhaps because they live simpler lives. D. The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes. E. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives.

Miss Bai is our science teacher. She has a strange way to make her classes interesting and lively. She often shows us how to make things like planes, trains, cars, boats and robots.

Do you know what a robot is? A robot is a machine. It looks like a man and it can do different kinds of work.

Look at that robot! We like it very much because it can do a lot of things. It’s now cleaning the windows of an office building. It’s not easy for workers to do this because the building is very tall. It’s dangerous for people to do this kind of work.

Thanks to the robot, people don’t have to do heavy or dangerous work any more. It’s really a great help to us.

51. “What does Miss Bai do?” “She’s ________.”

        A. a worker        B. a cleaner       C. a teacher

52. What does “robot” mean in Chinese?

       A. 计算机         B. 机器人        C. 清洁工

53. Who can clean the windows of the tall buildings more easily?

       A. The robots.       B. The workers.       C.  Nobody.

54. What is not mentioned(提到) in this article?

       A. Robots.         B. Subway.         C. Boats.

55. “Why do we say the robot is really a great help to us?” “Because ________.”

       A. it helps make things         B. it’s useful and do different kinds of work

       C. it can clean windows

　　Hundreds of years ago, life was much harder than it is today. People didn't have modern machines. There was no modern medicine, either.

　　Life today has brought new problems. The biggest one is pollution. Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty. It kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us talk louder and becomes angry more easily. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution. It's bad to all living things in the world.

　　Cars, planes and factories all pollute our air every day. Sometimes the polluted sir is so thick that it is like a quilt over a city. This kind of quilt is covered smog (雾) .

　　Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. Factories must now clean their water before it is poured out; they mustn't blow dirty gases into the air.

　　We need to do many other things. We can put waste things in the dustbin and do not throw it on the ground. We can go to work by bus or with our friends in the same car. If there are fewer people driving, there will be less pollution.

　　Rules are not enough. Every person must help to fight pollution.

(1) Hundreds of years ago, life was much harder than it is today because ________.

[　　]

A．there were not any modern machines

B．there was no modern machine

C．A or B

D．there are not many people

(2) What is the biggest problem in today's life?

[　　]

(3) The most serious kind of pollution is ________.

[　　]

(4) Factories must clean their water ________.

[　　]

A．before they are thrown away

B．what they are thrown away

C．after it is poured out

D．before it is poured out

(5) From the passage we know that ________.

[　　]

A．a few years ago there was no smog at all

B．today people don't have to talk to each other loudly

C．we can drink water from the polluted rivers and lakes

D．people are making rules to fight pollution