The bicycle is one of the simplest yet most useful inventions in the world. The surprising thing is that it was not　36　earlier, although the great inventor Leonardo da Vinci （达芬奇） had drawn pictures for bicycles and also for flying machines and some other things. Those things were not produced until long after he died.

A person riding a bicycle uses　37　energy （能源） to make the bicycle move, and there is no pollution at all when you are riding. Even so, in developed　 38 , most people don't travel to work by bicycle. It is not because the bicycles are expensive or people feel　 39　if they ride to work. It's because　40　cars on the roads becomes larger. It certainly becomes　41　to ride a bicycle. As a result, more people put their bicycles away and go to work　42　their cars and, in this way, the situation （情形） is made worse.　43  the best way to make riding safer and more popular is to build roads only for bicycles, and to make　44 so difficult and expensive　45  drivers to take their cars into the city that they will go back to using their bicycles.

（  ）36.A. invent　　　  B. inventing　   C. invented　  　D. to invent

（  ）37.A. much　　　  B. quite a lot of　 C. very little　   D. many

（  ）38.A. world　　　  B. countries　　  C. land　　　　 D. earth

（  ）39.A. lucky　　　   B. glad　　　　 C. sorry　　　　D. tired

（  ）40.A. the number of　B. a number of　 C. this kind of   D. all kinds of

（  ）41.A. safer　　 B. more dangerous　C. much dangerous   D. safe

（  ）42.A. by　　　 B. in　　      　 C. use　　　     D. drive

（  ）43.A. Hardly　 B. May be　　    C. Perhaps　　    D. Nearly

（  ）44.A. it　　　　B. them　　　   C. us　　　　　   D. that

（  ）45.A. of　　　 B. for　　　　    C. in　　　　　　D. on

A Letter From Mar（火星）

Dear Earthmen,

I have enjoyed my stay on your interesting planet. I think I understand the life on earth now and I would like to give my impressions(印象).

First of all you live in boxes. Every morning you leave your big boxes and get into smaller boxes on wheels(轮子). All these small boxes run around and around, and finally stop to rest. You leave these boxes on wheels and go to very large tall boxes.

After resting all day you get back in your little boxes and return to your big boxes. There you sit and look at very small glowing boxes with moving pictures on the front.

There is only one thing I don’t understand. I went to a football game one day. A group of angry boys fought a little round ball. Everyone shouted but they kept fighting. They were angry, because they had been kept in boxes all day. I think.

Thanks you earthmen for this chance to get to know you.

                        Yours

       The man from Mars

（  ）46、“Your interesting planet” means      .

A、the moon       B、the earth      C、the sun    D、Mars

（  ）47、 “Big boxes” means      .

A、large wooden boxes for goods          B、streets

C、houses for people to live in            D、factories

（  ）48、 “small boxes on wheels” means          .

A、trains      B、houses      C、bicycles    D、buses and cars

（  ）49、 “very small glowing boxes with moving pictures on the front” means    .

A、TV sets    B、radios       C、films      D、game

（  ）50、The man from the Mars        .

A、was afraid of fighting         B、enjoyed playing football

C、didn’t understand football at all.  D、understand football very well

English today is very different from the English spoken long, long ago. By the 12^th century, the language had already changed very much. People then could not read writings from the year 700. The history of English has three parts— “old English”(before the year 1150), “Middle English”(up till 1500) and “Modern English”(1500 to now).

The biggest difference between old, Middle and Modern English is in vocabulary(词汇). Grammar hasn’t changed greatly, but thousands of new words have come into the language. Many of them are from French.

Another important change is pronunciation. It has changed so much that there are almost no words said the same way as in Old English.

（  ）51Today even English people them selves can hardly understand     .

A. the language  B. Old English  C. Middle English   D. Modern English

（  ）52、By what time had English changed greatly?

A. Long, long ago               B. By the year 1200

C. From the year700             D. By the 12^th century

（  ）53、The period(时期) of “Middle English” is        .

A. from 1500 to now               B. from 1150 to now

C. from 1150 to 1500              D. from 700 to 1500

（  ）54、Many English words of today came from      .

A. French    B. Old English   C. Middle English  D. the English Language

（  ）55、 “There are almost no words said the same way today as in Old English. ”means       .

A、There are thousands of new words

B、English pronunciation has already greatly

C、Grammar has not changed greatly

D、The vocabulary is different

Hundreds of years ago. life was much harder than it is today. People didn’t have modern machines. There was no modern medicine, either.

Life today has brought new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty. It kills our fish and polluted our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us talk louder and become angry more easily. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution. It’s bad for all the living things in the world.

Cars, planes and factories all polluted air so thick that it is like a quilt over a city. This kind of quilt is called smog.

Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. Factories must now clean their water before it is thrown away, they mustn’t blow dirty smoke into the air.