Father of TV

Invention of television began in 1922 in Rigby, Idaho, the hometown of Philo Farnsworth. At the age of 16, Philo was a very shy boy. Only his science teacher, Justin Tolman, realized that Philo was a special person.

    One day after school Mr. Tolman found Philo in the classroom. The boy was making drawings on the chalkboard.

   “What are you doing?” Mr. Tolman asked with interest, “What are these drawings?”

   “I want to invent things,” Philo answered, “and these are the drawings of one of my first inventions. I have an idea for a way of sending pictures through the air. Please, just let me tell you about it. You are the only person who can understand what I have done.” In the school library Philo had read about a man who had worked on an idea for television, but had failed. Philo was sure that his own idea was better and that he could succeed.

   Mr. Tolman was not sure and asked Philo many questions about the drawings. Giving facts and figures, Philo answered every question.

   In 1926, Philo sent his drawings to Washington, along with a letter asking for the patent rights on television. Since then, television has become an important business all over the world.

1.When he lived in his hometown, Philo was _______.

A. quite different from others                B. an active boy

C. an inventor                            D. a hard-working boy

2.When Philo said “You are the only person who can understand what I have done.” In Paragraph 4, his mood was ________.

A. discouraged        B. trusting           C. guilty            D. hopeless

3.It took Philo ____ to invent the television.

A. 2 years            B. 6 years           C. 4 years           D. 8 years

4.When Mr. Tolman saw Philo’s drawing, he _______.

A. did not believe it was Philo’s invention

B. believed Philo could succeed

C. believed Philo was a special person

D. did not believe Philo could succeed

 

Robeson was born in a very poor family.At seven,he had to pick coal in a deserted mine near his home,then he sold   26   he had picked and earned a few coins to help his parents.He had

  27  schooling,for being so poor,how could they   28   school fees?

When he was fifteen,he worked   29   a servant in a school.Looking at other children studying in the classroom,he felt   30  for himself.How he   31   to have the same chance!He decided to study by   32   .In the daytime,after the sweeping and cleaning was over,he   33  

stand by the window outside the classroom trying to catch what the teacher said.At night,he tried his best to remember what he   34  during the day.He worked   35   hard at his lessons that he sometimes had just three or four hours to sleep.The more he learned,the greater   36   he showed in his lessons.A maths teacher discovered him and came to like this diligent boy and   37  him to sit at the back of the class.In one exam,he was the   38  one in the whole school who reached the highest grade.He would have been given the scholarship if he   39   a regular student of the school.

Robeson   40  rough six long years with his study of maths and wrote several articles which captured the   41  of some university professors.They admired his talent   42   his diligence.To give him a good chance,they hired him as a librarian and   43   him free guidance.Robeson felt  44  ,for he was sure that before him there was a broad road   45   success.

26.A.whether                B.which                       C.that                           D.what

27.A.many                   B.few                           C.little                         D.much

28.A.buy                      B.afford                       C.send                          D.read

29.A.as                        B.like                           C.for                            D.by

30.A.angry                   B.ashamed                    C.proud                        D.sorry

31.A.hated                    B.decided                     C.wished                      D.regretted

32.A.the teacher            B.himself                            C.his parents                 D.his schoolmates

33.A.could                   B.ought to                    C.should                       D.would

34.A.had learned                                              B.has been taught

C.has heard                                                      D.had been written down

35.A.very                            B.so                             C.too                           D.quite

36.A.joy                       B.interest                      C.time                          D.taste

37.A.allowed                B.agreed                       C.let                                   D.refused

38.A.worst                   B.only                          C.last                           D.laziest

39.A.had been               B.has been                    C.is                              D.was

40.A.learned                 B.listened                     C.mastered                   D.struggled

41.A.notice                   B.influence                   C.eyes                          D.attention

42.A.except for             B.according to                     C.as well as                  D.in spite of

43.A.taught                  B.offered                      C.lent                           D.sent

44.A.sad                       B.angry                        C.happy                       D.disappointed

45.A.leading to             B.coming from             C.made of                    D.covered with

Respect your teachers．   

First of all，students should respect the teachers．They should pay attention in the classes．That means to salute him，to stand from his chair when the teacher enters the classroom etc．Attend any lesson attentively．In class of a certain subject or teacher you don’t like very much，if it’s total anarchy，how can we talk about respect?

Play by the rules．

If your teacher wants you to use wide-lined paper--do it ! If she tells you to sharpen your pencils only before class starts，listen to her．If she doesn’t accept late homework，do yours on time．Sometimes classroom rules seem strict or even silly，but most teachers know what’s necessary to make things run smoothly，what it takes to let the learning begin．And the better the learning environment，the smarter you’ll be!

Expect her／him to like you．

Teachers are teachers because they like kids．Given the chance，most teachers want to be your friends too．Respect your teacher，but don’t be afraid of her／him．She／He wants you to have a great school year just as much as you want to have!

Put first things first．

Friends are a fun part of school．But they’re not the most important part．When your teacher is teaching，give her／him your full attention．Even when it's hard to do．— recess_ will come soon enough，and that’s the time for playing with your friends．

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

A．Advice Before You Go To School	B．What You Should Do At School
C．How To Get Along With Your Teacher	D．How To Plan Your Time At School

2.What do you think the title of the second paragraph“ Play by the rules’’ mean ?

A．Don’t play if you haven’t completed your homework．	B．Follow what the teacher says．
C．Work is work and play is play．	D．Make the learning environment as good as possible．

3.According to the last paragraph，what do you think the first thing is?

A．The teacher．	B．The teacher’s lecture．
C．The students．	D．Friends．

4.The underlined word “recess” most probably means ______  ．

A．break

B．play

C．parents

D．news

 

My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own, some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.

My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six-week period, to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make a joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.

So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.

1.The passage mainly discusses ________.

A. teaching                     B. literature                    C. humor                D. knowledge

2.The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. funny                B. tiring                          C. inspiring                       D. brilliant

3.The English teacher the writer disliked most ________.

A. was not able to make students laugh                   B. hurt his student’s feelings

C. didn’t let his students do the grading                  D. had no sense of humor

 

“Linda, if beating yourself up were an Olympic sport, you’d win a gold medal!”

Annabel, my close friend, stunned me with that frank observation after I told her how I had mishandled a situation with a student in a third-grade class where I was substituting. “I should never have let him go to the boy’s room without a pass! It was my fault he got into trouble with the hall monitor! I’m so stupid!”

My friend burst out laughing, and then made her “Olympic” comment. After a brief period of reflection I had to admit that she was right. I did put myself down an awful lot. Why, just during the previous day I had called myself “a slob” for having some papers spread out on my desk, “ugly” when I left the house without makeup and “an idiot” when I left the house for an emergency substitute job without my emergency lesson plan.

In a more reflective tone, Annabel said, “I once took a workshop at church where the woman in charge had us list all the mean things we say about ourselves.”

“How many did you have on your list?” I asked.

“Fifteen,” she confessed. “But then the teacher said, ‘Now turn to the person next to you and say all the items on your list as if you were speaking to that person!’ ”

My jaw dropped. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. Nobody did. We all just sat there, until I said, ‘I could never say these things to anyone else!’ ”

“And our teacher replied, ‘Well, if you can’t say them to anyone else, then don’t ever say them to yourself!’ ”

My friend had a point. I would never insult a child of God---and I’m God’s child, too!

God, today let me be as kind to myself as I would be to another of Your children.

What does Annabel mean by the first sentence of the passage?

  A. The writer is a good athlete.      B. The writer scolds herself too much.

  C. She is encouraging the writer.      D. A gold medal is not a big deal.

What does the writer intends to tell us through the second and third paragraphs?

  A. She has low self-esteem over some small things.

  B. She often makes serious mistakes in daily life.

  C. She is a third-grade teacher.

  D. She cares too much about her appearance.

We can infer that the underlined word “slob” might be _____.

  A. something untidy         B. someone dangerous

  C. something dirty           D. someone lazy

What does the writer mean by the last sentence of the passage?

  A. She is ready to turn to God for help.

  B. She will be kind to all children.

  C. She won’t insult herself as well as others.

  D. She is willing to be a child of God.