The bicycle is one of the simplest and most useful inventions in the world. What is the most surprising is that it was not invented earlier, although the great inventor Leonardo da Vinci had drawn pictures for bicycles and also for flying machines and some other things. Those things were not produced until long after he died.

A person riding a bicycle uses very little energy to make the bicycle move, and there is no pollution at all when you are riding. In Chengdu, a lot of people rode bicycles to work twenty years ago. But cars instead of them now. Even so in developed countries, most people do not travel to work by bicycle. It is not because the bicycles are expensive or people feel tired if they ride to work. It is because the number of cars on the roads is becoming larger. It certainly becomes more dangerous to ride a bicycle. As a result, more people put their bicycles away and go to work in their cars. And in this way, the traffic is very crowded when people go to work by car in the morning and go home after work, the situation is becoming worse and worse.

Perhaps the best way to make riding safer and more popular is to create paths only for bicycles, and to make it so difficult and expensive for drivers to take their cars into the city that they will go back to use their bicycles. There has been a special way for bicycles on the road in Chengdu now. I think more and more people will return to ride bicycles to go to work. The air of cities will be much fresher. The sky will be a lot bluer. The people will live much happier lives.

54. Who invented the bicycle?

A. Gergy Bush.      B. Mark.      C. Leonardo da Vinci.    D. Harry Borty.

55. The traffic is very crowded ,it is because  ____________________.

A. the roads are becoming larger         B. a number of cars are on the roads 

C. there are many bicycles on the roads    D. lots of people are walking on the roads

56. Why don’t people today go to work by bicycle?

A. Because the bicycle is too expensive.   B. Because it’s very tiring to ride a bicycle.

C. Because the people dislike bicycles.    D. Because it’s very dangerous to ride a bicycle.

57. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

① The bicycles were not produced until long before he died.

② A lot of people in Chengdu rode bicycles to work 20 years ago.

③ It’s not polluted for people to ride bicycles.

④ The people in Chengdu can’t go to work with a special way by bicycle now. 

A. ① ②           B. ② ③          C. ①② ③         D. ② ③ ④

阅读下面的材料．根据要求完成66—70题。

是什么使得世界变得更小？ Inventions. Let’s take a look at the five top inventions.

Movable Type: By using Movable Type, books could be printed cheaply and easily. Bi Sheng invented Movable Type in China in the 11^th century.

Telephone: The inventor Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in 1876. “Mr Wastson, come here. I want you,” he said to his assistant over the phone line. With the famous words, the world got much smaller.

Airplane: The Wright brothers made the first powered flight in 1903. Air travel has made the faraway places suddenly become a lot closer.

Satellites: The Soviet Union sent up the world’s first satellite in 1957. This began the Space Age. Satellites have helped scientists study the earth. Much of our knowledge of the world has come from the information recorded by satellites.

Internet: When the Internet was created in 1969, only a few people knew about it. But more than 650 million people in the world use it now. The Internet has made information about anything easy to get.

66．汉译英：将短文中的汉语句子译成英语。

是什么使得世界变得更小？_____________________________________________

67．英译汉：结合上下文将短文中划线的句子译成恰当的汉语。

With the famous words, the world got much smaller.

_____________________________________________。

68—70回答问题:

68. Which of the five is the latest invention?

69. How many of the five top inventions were made in the twentieth century?

70. How do scientists study the earth according to the passage?

阅读下面的材料．根据要求完成66—70题。

是什么使得世界变得更小？ Inventions. Let’s take a look at the five top inventions.

Movable Type: By using Movable Type, books could be printed cheaply and easily. Bi Sheng invented Movable Type in China in the 11^th century.

Telephone: The inventor Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call in 1876. “Mr Wastson, come here. I want you,” he said to his assistant over the phone line. With the famous words, the world got much smaller.

Airplane: The Wright brothers made the first powered flight in 1903. Air travel has made the faraway places suddenly become a lot closer.

Satellites: The Soviet Union sent up the world’s first satellite in 1957. This began the Space Age. Satellites have helped scientists study the earth. Much of our knowledge of the world has come from the information recorded by satellites.

Internet: When the Internet was created in 1969, only a few people knew about it. But more than 650 million people in the world use it now. The Internet has made information about anything easy to get.

66．汉译英：将短文中的汉语句子译成英语。

是什么使得世界变得更小？_____________________________________________

67．英译汉：结合上下文将短文中划线的句子译成恰当的汉语。

With the famous words, the world got much smaller.

_____________________________________________。

68—70回答问题:

68. Which of the five is the latest invention?

69. How many of the five top inventions were made in the twentieth century?

70. How do scientists study the earth according to the passage?

（G=girl W=woman）

G：Life must have been difficult when you were a kid.

W：Oh, not really. 1            .

G：Well, you didn’t have many modern inventions. Like, you probably didn’t have a telephone, right?

W：Of course we did! How old do you think I am?2            .

G：How about cars? I bet cars weren’t invented yet.

W：Sure they were. Cars were invented in 1885. My family had a car. I think you need to take a history class, Alice.

G：Ha, Ha! Well, 3            .

W：No, we didn’t. The TV was invented around 1927, I think. Some friends of mine had one. But in those days, TVs were really expensive, and we couldn’t afford one.

G：And I bet you didn’t have calculators and computers and stuff. 4             We learned in school that hand-held calculators were invented in 1971 and personal computers were invented in 1976.

W：You’re right. 5            . But I do now!