A woman came out of her house and saw three old men sitting in her front yard. She said, "I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat." 
"Is the man of the house home?” they asked. "No", she replied, "He’s out." "Then we cannot come in", they replied.
In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. "Go to tell them I am home and invite them in!" The woman went out and invited the men in. "We do not go into a house together," they replied. "Why is that?" she asked. 
One of the old men explained that their names were Wealth(财富), Success and Love. Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home." 
The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed and he suggested inviting Wealth to fill their home with wealth. And his wife wanted to invite Success; but their daughter-in-law suggested they should invite Love so that their home would be filled with love. At last the husband said to his wife. "Go out and invite Love to be our guest."
The woman went out and asked the three old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest." 
Love got up and started walking toward the house. 
The other two also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?" 
The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would have stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!" 
【小题1】The best title for this passage would be __________.

A．A Woman and Three Men	B．Wealth, Success and Love
C．A Strange Thing Happened to a Woman	D．A Husband and his Wife

【小题2】The woman asked the three men to come in and have something to eat because _________.

A．she was a warm-hearted woman	B．they were her neighbors
C．they asked her to do	D．they were her friends

【小题3】Who does the underlined word “the man” in the second paragraph refer to?

A．The woman’s son.	B．The woman’s father.
C．The woman’s son-in-law（女婿）	D．The woman’s husband.

【小题4】It can be inferred（推断）from the passage that __________.

A．The three old men are brothers and they can’t be separated.

B．The husband will refuse them in.

C．The wife will be scolded by the husband.

D．If a person has love, he will own everything.

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.
They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.
Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”
(392 words)
【小题1】The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.

A．they had no model in their mind

B．they did not have sufficient time

C．they had no ready-made components

D．they could not assemble the components

【小题2】It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly __________.

A．consists of a flight device and a control system

B．can just fly in limited areas at the present time

C．can collect information from many sources

D．has been put into wide application

【小题3】Which of the following can be learned from the passage?

A．The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.

B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.

C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.

D．Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.

【小题4】Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Father of Robotic Fly

B．Inspiration from Engineering Science

C．Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect

D．Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.

“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.

They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.

While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.

Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”

(392 words)

1.The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.

A．they had no model in their mind

B．they did not have sufficient time

C．they had no ready-made components

D．they could not assemble the components

2.It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly __________.

A．consists of a flight device and a control system

B．can just fly in limited areas at the present time

C．can collect information from many sources

D．has been put into wide application

3.Which of the following can be learned from the passage?

A．The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.

B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.

C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.

D．Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.

4.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Father of Robotic Fly

B．Inspiration from Engineering Science

C．Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect

D．Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study

 

How do you feel about watching other people work?

Nothing is more refreshing on a warm summer day than watching someone else work.

Right now, I’m sitting on my porch and watching young Beth baling（打捆）the big field on top of the hill. She’s been haying that field for over ten years. I know: I put her on the tractor when she was just twelve years old.

She picked a great day for baling. It’s not too hot, and there’s a nice breeze. On Monday, when she cut the field, it was so hot I thought the corn would start popping in the field. Didn’t stop her, though. She just stuck that big hat on her head, wrapped a wet handkerchief around her neck, and set to work. I remember when I would have done the same thing.

While I’m here sucking a lemonade, Beth is driving the “hay(干草) train,” a tractor pulling a baler and an old wagon. You’d think someone her size would never be able to see over the tractor. But somehow she manages. When she’s finished, her tracks are very straight.

The whole time she’s haying, that dog of hers is working just as hard, running along beside her like he’s afraid she’ll drive away without him. Beth sure knew what she was doing when she trained him.

The way the machine works is pure poetry. Each row is pushed into shape. When just enough hay is in a bale, it is wrapped up and fastened together. A second or so later, the bale comes flying out and into the old wagon. The person who invented that machine sure was some kind of genius.

That’s not to say it works perfectly. Every once in a while a bale misses the mark, especially when you are turning the machine at the end of a row. That means, of course, that you have to go back and pick up those bales and throw them into the wagon.

I can remember when Beth’s mother was her age. She looked an awful lot like Beth does now. Makes a man proud to see his daughter and granddaughter taking such good care of themselves.

Well, I suppose I should get up and fill this glass again. Not much fun sitting here with an empty glass.

56. We can learn from the passage that at some time in the past the author ______.

　 A. bought the tractor for Beth　　 　　　　　　　　　　 B. forced Beth to work at an early age

　 C. worked in the field like Beth　　　　　　 D. trained the dog to help Beth work

57. In the eyes of the author, the sight of Beth baling hay is _______.

　 A. uncommon　　　 B. beautiful　　　　 C. unforgettable　　　 D. changeable　　　

58. Before thrown into the wagon, the hay must be _______.

A. tied up　　　　　 B. dried up　　　　　 C. cut up　　　　　　 D. lined up　

59. Who do you think is telling this story?

A. Beth’s mother.　　 B. Beth’s father. 　　 C. Beth’s grandmother. 　 D. Beth’s grandfather.