There have been many great inventions or things that changed the way we live. The first great invention was the one that is still very important today——the wheel. This made it easier to carry heavy things and to travel long distance.
For hundreds of years after that there were few inventions that as much effect as the wheel . Then in the early 1800s the world started to change. There was little unknown land left in the world. People didn’t have to explore much any more. They began to work instead to make life better.
In the second half of the 19^th century many great inventions were made. Among them were the camera, the light and the radio. These all play a big part in our daily life today.
The first part of the 20^th century saw more great inventions. The helicopter in 1909, movies with sound in 1926, the computer in 1928, jet planes in 1930. This was also a time when a new material was first made. Nylon came out in 1935. It changed the kind of clothes people wore.
The middle part of the 20^th century brought new ways to help people get over diseases. They worked very well. They made people healthier and allowed them to live longer. By the 1960s most people could expect to live to be at least 60.
By this time most people in developed countries had a very good life. Of course new inventions continued to be made. But man now had a desire(渴望) to explore again. The earth was known to man but the stars were not. Man began looking for ways to go into space. Russia made the first step. Then United States took a step. Since then other countries , including China and Japan, have made their own steps into space.
In 1969 man took his biggest step away from earth. Americans first walked on the moon. This is certainly just a beginning, though. New inventions will some day allow us to do things we have never yet dreamed of.
【小题1】This passage talks mainly about         .

A．why cars were very important

B．when light was invented

C．how inventions affect people’s daily life

D．which country made the first step into space

【小题2】According to the passage man didn’t have a desire to explore a lot         .

A．at the beginning of 1800s	B．in the 1960s
C．since the 1900s	D．from the 1800s to 1960s

【小题3】In the 1800s, people began to work in order to make      

A．explorations

B．their life better

C．discoveries

D．a trip to space

【小题4】 Nylon came out of five years later than        .

A．radio

B．camera

C．jet planes

D．movies

【小题5】 People can live longer lives because        that help cure diseases have worked very well.

A．doctors

B．new ways

C．medicines

D．new hospitals

选词填空，根据文章内容，选用所给单词的适当形式填空。其中有两个是多余的。

they，be，tell，luck，slow，say，order，come，take，put，he，watch

A little old man and his wife walked  1. into McDonald’s on one cold winter evening. They took a table near the back wall, and then the little old man walked to the cashier(收银处)  2. food. After a while, he got the food back.

There  3. one hamburger, some French fries and one drink. The little old man carefully divided the hamburger in half and the French fries into two piles. Then he neatly    4. the half of the food in front of his wife. Both he and  5. wife took a sip(一小口) of the drink. “How poor the old couple was!” the people around them might think. As the old man started to eat his hamburger and his French fries, his wife sat there   6.   him. They took turns to drink. A young man   7.  over and offered to buy another meal for   8.. But they refused politely and said they got used to sharing(分享) everything.

Then a young lady asked the wife. “Excuse me, Madam. Why aren’t you eating? You    9.   that you shared everything. Then, could you  10. me what you are waiting for?” She answered in a smile, “The teeth.”

 

One day a woman got into her car and started driving home after work. Just at that time, she saw a __26__ car behind her. The driver was a __27__. When she turned left, the yellow car turned left. When she turned __28__, the yellow car turned right, too. When she stopped at the traffic lights, the yellow car stopped __29__ her..

      The woman was __30__, so she drove quickly to __31__. When she arrived, she was very __32__ to see that the yellow car stooped behind her again. But she felt __33__ because she saw a policeman standing outside the police station. She jumped out of her car at once and __34__ to the policeman. She asked the policeman to arrest（逮捕）the man in the yellow car, then the police man walked to the man.

      The man didn’t run away. He just __35__ and said to the woman, “I want to give this purse back to you. I think you dropped it on the street.”

1.A. red                          B. yellow                     C. black

2.A. man                         B. woman                    C. policeman

3.A. left                       B. back                       C. right

4. A. opposite                   B. before                     C. behind

5. A. anxious                   B. scared                     C. pleased

6. A. the police station            B. her office                C. her home

7. A. interested                  B. excited                    C. surprised

8. A. sad                       B. safe                        C. dangerous

9.A. ran                       B. run                         C. runs

10.A. cried                     B. laughed                   C. smiled