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The horsepower was first used two hundred years ago. James Watt had made the world’s first widely used steam engine. He had no way of telling people exactly how powerful it was, for at that time there were no units for measuring power. Watt decided to find out how much work one strong horse could do in one minute. He called that unit one horsepower. With this unit he could measure the work his steam engine could do. He discovered that a horse could lift a 3,300-pound weight 10 feet into the air in one minute. His engine could lift a 3,300 pound weight 100 feet in one minute. Because his engine did ten times as much work as the horse, Watt called it a ten-horsepower engine. 60. Watt made the world’s first ______. A. train B. engine C. steam engine D. bus 61. Watt wanted to find a way ______. A. to lift a 3,300-pound weight B. to show how useful his steam engine was C. to tell people exactly how powerful his steam engine was D. to measure the weight of his steam engine 62. What does one horsepower mean? It means ______. A. one horse’s power B. what one strong horse can do in one minute C. what one horse can do in a day D. what work one horse can do as much as possible 63. The best headline for the article is ______. A. Horsepower B. Watt’s steam engine C. A ten-horsepower engine D. The beginning of horsepower C Computers have been used in teaching for more than twenty years. But a new book says that only now are they changing education. And it predicts that a lot more is about to happen. The book is called “Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns.” “Disruptive Innovation” is a theory (理论) developed by lead author Clayton Christensen, a professor at the Harvard Business School. He says organizations almost always use new, creative technology only to continue what they already do. New technology should change organizations, he says, and disrupt them in a good way. They should use the technology to do things differently — for example, to serve more needs. The book says the needed disruptive force in education is computer-based learning. Michael Horn, another author of “Disrupting Class”, told us about a Boston public school that he visited. Every student at Lilla G. Frederick Middle School in Dorchester, Massachusetts, has a laptop computer. One class was learning about storms. Michael Horn says the laptops made it possible to truly individualize (使个人化) the lessons, to divide materials by ability level and learning style. At the end, the students all took part in a discussion led by the teacher. Computer-based learning offers a way for students to take advanced courses not offered at their school, or to retake classes they failed. It also serves those who cannot physically attend school, and students who receive home schooling. Computer-based learning includes online courses. Enrollments (招生) in online courses have grown sharply. In 2007, the United States had about one mil-lion enrollments, not including college courses. Students could be enrolled in more than one course, through schools or education companies. High school students make up about seventy percent of the enrollments. Still, nationally, only about one percent of all high school courses last year were taught online. But the authors of “Disrupting Class” predict it will be ten percent in about six years. And their research suggests that the number will be about fifty percent by 2019. And Michael Horn says the future of online learning could be even greater in developing countries. 64. Which of the following is TRUE about the book “Disrupting Class”? A. It was written by more than one author. B. It thinks the computer affects students’ studies. C. It introduces a new scientific technology to readers. D. It has been a best-seller since it was published. 65. Paragraph 4 is written to show _____. A. how modern the Boston public school is B. how clever the American students are C. how well the American teachers teach D. what computer-based learning is like 66. From the last two paragraphs, we can infer the authors of “Disrupting Class” think that _____. A. more and more students are interested in “Disrupting Class” B. those who take online courses are mainly college students C. enrollments in online courses haven’t grown recently D. more and more high school courses will be taught online 67. The passage is mainly about _____. A. a new book B. a new learning way C. some American writers D. the advantages of computers D Mrs. White lived in a town of England. Her husband died three years ago and one of her children worked in the capital and the other three lived in another town. Her husband didn’t leave her much money and she had to live a simple (简朴) life. Sometimes her children went to see her during their holidays, but they stayed with her for only two or three days. One winter morning the old woman got up early. She was going to buy some food in a shop. And when she came out, she found there was much snow in the street. She had to sweep it away. And suddenly she found a dying dog at the corner of the house. She picked it up and took it into the house quickly. She put it near the fire and gave it some milk and bread. At first the poor dog ate nothing and that afternoon it drank some milk and three days later it was all right. Now the old woman found it was a beautiful dog. And she liked it very much and took it everywhere she went. A week later she went shopping with her dog. At a bus stop a young man was eating fish and chips. The little dog became very excited (兴奋) at the smell of the man’s lunch and began jumping up at him. (责任编辑：admin) |