Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that perfect portable bike would be “like a magic carpet... You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag". Then he paused: “But you'll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel."
It was a rare --- indeed unique --- occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame(框架) that split into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout's Wonderful Bag, a leather case.
Grout's aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn't that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout's day, tyres were solid, which made the business of splitting a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn't do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated tyre.
So, in a 21st-century context, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons , has developed a wheel that can be squashed(挤压)into something like a slender ellipse(椭圆 ) . Throughout, the tyre remains inflated.
Will the young Fitzsimons's folding wheel make it into production? I haven’t the foggiest idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It’s as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there's plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than £1,000 that can be knocked  down so small that can be carried on a plane -- minus wheels, of course --as hand baggage.
Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie's imagination? No. But it's progress.
57. We can infer form Paragraph 1 that the Brompton folding bike____.
A. was portable                            B. had a folding wheel.
C. could be put in a pocket.                  D. looked like a magic carpet
58. We can learn from the text that the wheels of the Group Portable_______.
A. were difficult to separate.                         B. could be split into 6 pieces.
C. were fitted with solid tyres.               D. were hard to carry on a train.
59. We can learn from the text that Fitzsimons`s invention_______.
A. kept the tyres as whole piece.                    B. was made into production soon.
C. left little room for improvement.                D. changed our views on bag design.
60. Which of following would be best title for the text?
A. Three folding bike inventors.                    B. The making of a folding bike
C. Progress in folding bike design                 D. Ways of separating a bike wheel

Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that perfect portable bike would be “like a magic carpet... You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag". Then he paused: “But you'll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel."

It was a rare --- indeed unique --- occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame(框架) that split into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout's Wonderful Bag, a leather case.

Grout's aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn't that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout's day, tyres were solid, which made the business of splitting a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn't do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated tyre.

So, in a 21st-century context, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons , has developed a wheel that can be squashed(挤压)into something like a slender ellipse(椭圆 ) . Throughout, the tyre remains inflated.

Will the young Fitzsimons's folding wheel make it into production? I haven’t the foggiest idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It’s as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there's plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than ??1,000 that can be knocked  down so small that can be carried on a plane -- minus wheels, of course --as hand baggage.

Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie's imagination? No. But it's progress.

57. We can infer form Paragraph 1 that the Brompton folding bike____.

   A. was portable                            B. had a folding wheel.

   C. could be put in a pocket.                  D. looked like a magic carpet

58. We can learn from the text that the wheels of the Group Portable_______.

A. were difficult to separate.                          B. could be split into 6 pieces.

C. were fitted with solid tyres.               D. were hard to carry on a train.

59. We can learn from the text that Fitzsimons`s invention_______.

A. kept the tyres as whole piece.                     B. was made into production soon.

C. left little room for improvement.                 D. changed our views on bag design.

60. Which of following would be best title for the text?

A. Three folding bike inventors.                     B. The making of a folding bike

   C. Progress in folding bike design             D. Ways of separating a bike wheel

   Astronauts’ meals have come a long way from the free-dried powders and semi-liquid pastes of decades ago，now US scientists want to grow vegetables in mini-greenhouses on the moon．

   Scientists say they are looking forward to a time when residents of future lunar or even Martian outsteps will be able to dine on fresh vegetables．Paragon Space Development Corporation has unveiled what it called the first step toward growing flowers——and eventually food—on the moon.

   This is a sealed greenhouse that looks like a bell jar encased in a 46-cm triangular aluminium frame(三角铝框架)．It is designed to safely land a laboratory plant on the lunar surface，and protect it while it grows．

   The miniature greenhouse is to be launched into space by Odyssey Moon Ltd, a participant in the Google Lunar X Prize. This competition offers $20 million to any entrant(参加者) who can launch，land and operate a rover（漫游）on the lunar surface.

   Paragon officials say future testing of the“Lunar Oasis”will be driven by Odyssey’s flight schedule，which will not happen until 2012 at the earliest．

   When it does lift off the greehouse will contain the seeds of Brassica, a hardy plant related to Brussels sprouts and cabbage．Because Brassica goes from seed to flower in just 14 days，it can complete its life cycle in a single lunar night

   “Colonizing the Moon or Mars seems so far away，but it is important that we do this research now，” Paragon president Jane Poynter said．

    “It takes a long time to get a lot of research，and to get integrated，reliable efficient systems before colonists move in．”she said．

1.The article is written mainly to _________.

    A. predict the astronauts’meals in the future

    B. introduce an experiment“Lunar Oasis’’

    C. tell us the future development of astronomy

    D. focus on the human’s great progress

2.The article implies that __________.

    A. astronauts ean grow flowers in space at present

    B. Paragon and NASA will carry out the test separately

    C. Lunar Oasis is a series of experiments carried out in space

    D. the earliest testing of the Lunar Oasis may be in 2012

3.The underlined word “colonists”in the last paragraph probably has the meaning of _______.

    A. plants    B. wild beasts    C. human beings   D. scientists

4.The seeds of Brassica will be contained in the greenhouse mainly because _______.

    A. their life cycle is much shorter

    B. they are more nutritious than other food

    C. they are related to Brussels sporouts and cabbage

    D. they are very delicious

第一节：短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

If someone asks you how you can make you always 5._______

happy, you will perhaps find rather difficult to give him   6._______

a proper answer．Did you remember the old saying“No    7._______

human being can really happy who is not giving or trying    8._______

to give happiness to others”? If you will always think of  9._______

taking more from others and give them less，you won’t be   10._______

able to have happiness in your life even you are very rich. 11._______

Here’s an article for you. If each of you follow it, there 12._______

will be all end of many unhappy days of yours．So you should    13._______

learn to give up your own interests when necessarily to do so.  14._______

   Astronauts’ meals have come a long way from the free-dried powders and semi-liquid pastes of decades ago，now US scientists want to grow vegetables in mini-greenhouses on the moon．

   Scientists say they are looking forward to a time when residents of future lunar or even Martian outsteps will be able to dine on fresh vegetables．Paragon Space Development Corporation has unveiled what it called the first step toward growing flowers——and eventually food—on the moon.

   This is a sealed greenhouse that looks like a bell jar encased in a 46-cm triangular aluminium frame(三角铝框架)．It is designed to safely land a laboratory plant on the lunar surface，and protect it while it grows．

   The miniature greenhouse is to be launched into space by Odyssey Moon Ltd, a participant in the Google Lunar X Prize. This competition offers $20 million to any entrant(参加者) who can launch，land and operate a rover（漫游）on the lunar surface.

   Paragon officials say future testing of the“Lunar Oasis”will be driven by Odyssey’s flight schedule，which will not happen until 2012 at the earliest．

   When it does lift off the greehouse will contain the seeds of Brassica, a hardy plant related to Brussels sprouts and cabbage．Because Brassica goes from seed to flower in just 14 days，it can complete its life cycle in a single lunar night

   “Colonizing the Moon or Mars seems so far away，but it is important that we do this research now，” Paragon president Jane Poynter said．

    “It takes a long time to get a lot of research，and to get integrated，reliable efficient systems before colonists move in．”she said．

1. The article is written mainly to _________.

    A. predict the astronauts’meals in the future

    B. introduce an experiment“Lunar Oasis’’

    C. tell us the future development of astronomy

    D. focus on the human’s great progress

2. The article implies that __________.

    A. astronauts ean grow flowers in space at present

    B. Paragon and NASA will carry out the test separately

    C. Lunar Oasis is a series of experiments carried out in space

    D. the earliest testing of the Lunar Oasis may be in 2012

3. The underlined word “colonists”in the last paragraph probably has the meaning of _______.

    A. plants    B. wild beasts    C. human beings   D. scientists

4. The seeds of Brassica will be contained in the greenhouse mainly because _______.

    A. their life cycle is much shorter

    B. they are more nutritious than other food

    C. they are related to Brussels sporouts and cabbage

    D. they are very delicious

   Astronauts’ meals have come a long way from the free-dried powders and semi-liquid pastes of decades ago，now US scientists want to grow vegetables in mini-greenhouses on the moon．

   Scientists say they are looking forward to a time when residents of future lunar or even Martian outsteps will be able to dine on fresh vegetables．Paragon Space Development Corporation has unveiled what it called the first step toward growing flowers——and eventually food—on the moon.

   This is a sealed greenhouse that looks like a bell jar encased in a 46-cm triangular aluminium frame(三角铝框架)．It is designed to safely land a laboratory plant on the lunar surface，and protect it while it grows．

   The miniature greenhouse is to be launched into space by Odyssey Moon Ltd, a participant in the Google Lunar X Prize. This competition offers $20 million to any entrant(参加者) who can launch，land and operate a rover（漫游）on the lunar surface.

   Paragon officials say future testing of the“Lunar Oasis”will be driven by Odyssey’s flight schedule，which will not happen until 2012 at the earliest．

   When it does lift off the greehouse will contain the seeds of Brassica, a hardy plant related to Brussels sprouts and cabbage．Because Brassica goes from seed to flower in just 14 days，it can complete its life cycle in a single lunar night

   “Colonizing the Moon or Mars seems so far away，but it is important that we do this research now，” Paragon president Jane Poynter said．

    “It takes a long time to get a lot of research，and to get integrated，reliable efficient systems before colonists move in．”she said．

72. The article is written mainly to _________.

    A. predict the astronauts’meals in the future

    B. introduce an experiment“Lunar Oasis’’

    C. tell us the future development of astronomy

    D. focus on the human’s great progress

73. The article implies that __________.

    A. astronauts ean grow flowers in space at present

    B. Paragon and NASA will carry out the test separately

    C. Lunar Oasis is a series of experiments carried out in space

    D. the earliest testing of the Lunar Oasis may be in 2012

74. The underlined word “colonists”in the last paragraph probably has the meaning of _______.

    A. plants    B. wild beasts    C. human beings   D. scientists

75. The seeds of Brassica will be contained in the greenhouse mainly because _______.

    A. their life cycle is much shorter

    B. they are more nutritious than other food

    C. they are related to Brussels sporouts and cabbage

    D. they are very delicious