Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821, on the island of St. Helena off the coast of Africa. He was 51 years old at the time. When doctors examined Napoleon’s body, they said that the former emperor of France had died from cancer of the stomach. That was the cause of death recorded in the official report. However, other doctors disagreed. One doctor who was present during the examination of the body said that Napoleon died of hepatitis. Other historians and medical experts have suggested that Napoleon died of syphilis, tuberculosis, or perhaps malaria. Now, after careful research, a British chemist thinks that Napoleon might have been poisoned -- not by a person, but by his wallpaper.

Napoleon was sent to the island of St. Helena in 1815 after he lost the battle of Waterloo. He was a prisoner on the island. Although he had servants to attend to him, he had to live in one small building. St. Helena is a very wet island, so the walls of the building were always covered with mold. Napoleon became ill from spending too much time inside his house. Almost constantly he had a fever, chills, and felt sick to his stomach. He often felt pain in his shoulders and in his side. His skin turned yellow. He got frequent headaches, and he would become dizzy and vomit(吐). None of the medicine that the doctors gave Napoleon seemed to help. They were not sure what was the matter. Finally, Napoleon was too weak to leave the house. One night, while he was sleeping, he went into a coma and died.

Many doctors who later reviewed the reports of Napoleon’s illness found that the symptoms(症状) did not show a man who suffered from stomach cancer. It seemed obvious that Napoleon had died from some other cause. In 1961, a Swedish doctor examined some of Napoleon’s hair and found a high level of arsenic, a chemical poison. Was Napoleon murdered? It is doubtful. Arsenic was used in many types of medicine during Napoleon’s time, so he might have taken the arsenic as a cure for his illness. Then, in 1982, Dr. David Jones from England began to look into the mystery and suggested that Napoleon might have breathed in arsenic which was in the air of his house. In the 1700s and 1800s, arsenic was used to make a kind of green paint used on cloth and wallpaper. If the paint was used on a wet wall, the arsenic would go into the air. A person in the room might breathe that air. After studying the wallpaper in the room where Napoleon died, Dr. Jones found high levels of arsenic in the green paint on the walls.

1.Why did Napoleon live on St. Helena?

A．He owned the island.	B．He was a prisoner there.
C．His family lived there.	D．He liked the island.

2.The official report said that Napoleon died of____________.

A．cancer

B．a coma

C． mold

D．poison

3.Napoleon suffered from the following symptoms except __________.

A. chills      B. fever      C  dizziness     D. bleeding

4.According to Dr. Jones, how did the arsenic probably get into Napoleon’s body?

A．He drank it..

B．He touched it.

C．He breathed it in.

D．He ate it

5.The passage says that                      .

A．a British doctor thinks he has found the cause of Napoleon’s death

B．many doctors have tried to guess the cause of Napoleon's death

C．Napoleon could have died from poison

D．all of the above

 

 

Pop star Britney Spears tied the knot with a childhood friend，but their two-day-old marriage was dissolved Monday shortly after Britney filed for an annulment（废除契约／婚约）．She described the marriage as “ a joke that went too far，” said one source closed to Spears．“I don’t even know if she loves him，”the source said．

     The 22-year-old diva（most important singer）walked down the aisle at a Las Vegas wedding chapel early Saturday，the reports said，marrying Jason Alexander，also 22，a childhood friend from her hometown of Kentwood，Louisiana whom she had recently begun dating．

Spears wore jeans and a baseball cap，and was escorted（护送）down the aisle by a hotel bellman，according to the People．com．

The two apparently decided to marry while partying at the Palms Casino Hotel Friday night，and did so at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas．The honeymoon was spent at the Palms，but the next night Spears was seen dining with a group that did not include the groom at a hotel steakhouse．

Raised in the US south，the pop diva started her career at a television program The Mickey Mouse Club at age 11，becoming a famous teen singer．

All four of her CDs, including most recently November’s “In the Zone，”debuted at number one on the charts．

60．The underlined phrase at the beginning of the passage mean        ．

A．begin to quarrel         B．get married   C．fall in love    D．get divorced

61．The news about Spears’s clothes was most probably taken from a（a n）        ．

A．newspaper            B．broadcast station    C．internet   D．magazine

62．People would have guessed their marriage wouldn’t last long because        ．

A．Spears was seen to have fun without her newly-married groom

B．Spears was a person forever changing her mind

C．Spears had an odd character

D．Spears had such a kind of history before

63．What made Spears most famous in the world is that         ．

A．she got married to a man who she just dated for two days．

B．she got divorced two days after her new marriage．

C．she began to appear on the stage as a teen singer．

D．she made great achievements in singing．

 

Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821, on the island of St. Helena off the coast of Africa. He was 51 years old at the time. When doctors examined Napoleon’s body, they said that the former emperor of France had died from cancer of the stomach. That was the cause of death recorded in the official report. However, other doctors disagreed. One doctor who was present during the examination of the body said that Napoleon died of hepatitis. Other historians and medical experts have suggested that Napoleon died of syphilis, tuberculosis, or perhaps malaria. Now, after careful research, a British chemist thinks that Napoleon might have been poisoned -- not by a person, but by his wallpaper.

    Napoleon was sent to the island of St. Helena in 1815 after he lost the battle of Waterloo. He was a prisoner on the island. Although he had servants to attend to him, he had to live in one small building. St. Helena is a very wet island, so the walls of the building were always covered with mold. Napoleon became ill from spending too much time inside his house. Almost constantly he had a fever, chills, and felt sick to his stomach. He often felt pain in his shoulders and in his side. His skin turned yellow. He got frequent headaches, and he would become dizzy and vomit(吐). None of the medicine that the doctors gave Napoleon seemed to help. They were not sure what was the matter. Finally, Napoleon was too weak to leave the house. One night, while he was sleeping, he went into a coma and died.

Many doctors who later reviewed the reports of Napoleon’s illness found that the symptoms(症状) did not show a man who suffered from stomach cancer. It seemed obvious that Napoleon had died from some other cause. In 1961, a Swedish doctor examined some of Napoleon’s hair and found a high level of arsenic, a chemical poison. Was Napoleon murdered? It is doubtful. Arsenic was used in many types of medicine during Napoleon’s time, so he might have taken the arsenic as a cure for his illness. Then, in 1982, Dr. David Jones from England began to look into the mystery and suggested that Napoleon might have breathed in arsenic which was in the air of his house. In the 1700s and 1800s, arsenic was used to make a kind of green paint used on cloth and wallpaper. If the paint was used on a wet wall, the arsenic would go into the air. A person in the room might breathe that air. After studying the wallpaper in the room where Napoleon died, Dr. Jones found high levels of arsenic in the green paint on the walls.

Why did Napoleon live on St. Helena?

    A. He owned the island.         B. He was a prisoner there.

    C. His family lived there.        D. He liked the island.

The official report said that Napoleon died of____________.

   A. cancer     B. a coma     C.  mold       D. poison

Napoleon suffered from the following symptoms except __________.

   A. chills      B. fever      C  dizziness     D. bleeding

According to Dr. Jones, how did the arsenic probably get into Napoleon’s body?

   A. He drank it..   B. He touched it.   C. He breathed it in.    D. He ate it

The passage says that                      .

    A. a British doctor thinks he has found the cause of Napoleon’s death

    B. many doctors have tried to guess the cause of Napoleon's death

    C. Napoleon could have died from poison

D. all of the above

Today, when a man steps on to the moon, or something new and important happens, the world learns about it immediately. What did the newspapers say about that first flight in 1903? Strangely enough, they said hardly anything about it at all. There are only a few reports about it in the papers. These reports said very little. Some of the things they said were not even correct.

In 1904 the Wrights built a second machine. They called it “Flyer No. Two”. They invited some reporters to a field near Dayton to watch them fly. Unfortunately, there was some mechanical(机械的) trouble with the plane and it did not fly at all that day. The newspapermen went away. They were disappointed and did not come back. The Wrights went on with their work. In 1905, they built an even better machine, “Flyer No Three”. They were able to stay upon the air for half an hour and more in the machine. Farmers and travelers on the road around the Dayton often saw them flying, but when three people told newspapermen about it, they refused to believe them.

The Wrights offered “Flyer No. Three” to the United States government. The government was not interested. They seemed to think the Wrights wanted money in order to build a plane. They did not understand the Wrights had already done this, and flown it as well. Experts were still saying that mechanical flight was impossible. At the end of 1905, the two brothers took their planes to pieces. The parts were put into a huge wooden box. It seemed nobody was interested.

1.The reporters were disappointed in 1904 because________.

A．the Wrights did not invite them

B．the plane could not stay long in the air

C．the plane did not fly at all that day

D．they had wanted to see a better machine

2.The U．S. government could not understand that________.

A．the Wrights had already built a machine that could fly

B．experts still thought flight was impossible

C．the Wrights wanted more money to build an airplane

D．“Flyer No. Three” was now in a wooden case

3.The Wrights took their plane to pieces because________.

A．they planned to go to Europe

B．nobody was interested

C．the government didn't give them any money

D．the newspapermen didn't report their flights

4.What does the underlined word “Flyer” mean?

A．Pilot.             B．Drive.            C．Plane.            D．Kite.

5.Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Today, people are very interested in new things.

B．People in the past talked little about new things.

C．Reporters are now as interested in new happening as in the past.

D．People in the past even told each other wrong things.

 

Today when a man steps onto the moon, or something new and important happens, the world learns about it immediately. What did the newspapers say about that first flight in 1903? Strangely enough, they said hardly anything about it at all. There were only a few reports about it in the papers. These reports said very little. Some of the things they said were not even correct. In 1904 the Rights built a second machine. They called it “Flyer No. Two”. They invited some reporters to a field near Dayton to watch them fly. Unfortunately there was some mechanical trouble with the plane and it did not fly at all that day. The newspapermen went away. They were disappointed and did not come back. The Rights went on with their work. In 1905 they built an even better machine, “Flyer No. Three”. They were able to stay up in the air for half an hour and more in this machine. They were ale to turn and climb in the air. Farmers, travelers on the roads around Dayton often saw them flying. But when these people told newspapermen about it, they refused to believe them.

The Rights offered “Flyer No.Three” to the United States Government. The Government was not interested. They seemed to think the Rights wanted money in order to build an airplane. They did not understand the Rights had already done this, and flown it as well. Experts were still saying that mechanical flight was impossible. At the end of 1905, the two brothers took their plane to pieces. The parts were put into a huge wooden case. It seemed nobody was interested.

1. What does the beginning sentence of the passage suggest?

A. The speed of information spreading today makes it possible to learn the world quickly.

B. People of today are only concerned with space exploration.

C. Reporters of today cover important events in a different way.

D. People in the past didn’t care about the outside world.

2. What can we know about “Flyer No.Three”?

A. The Rights had such a successful flight that it aroused the government’s interest.

B. The Rights were able to fly it for half an hour and even turn and climb in the air.

C. There was something wrong with the craft and it did not fly at all that day.

D. The Rights took the plane to pieces and put it into a wooden case immediately after the flight.

3. When the Rights offered “Flyer No.Three” to the United States Government, the Government_______.

A. decided to build an airport for the brothers

B. showed great interest in the machine

C. didn’t believe in the possibility of the flight

D. asked the brothers to put the machine in a wooden case

4. Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?

A. There were only a few reports about the first successful flight in the papers.

B. Some reporters were invited to watch the second flight experiment.

C. Many people witnessed the successful flight but the newspapermen refused to believe them/

D. Before 1903 no one had ever stepped on the moon.