閱讀理解

James Rumsey was a successful businessman in Bath， Virginia in 1784 when he met George Washington. When the hero of the Revolutionary War stopped in Bath， Rumsey showed Washington his invention. It was a model of a boat using the power of a river’s current（水流）to travel against the current. The boat had a set of wheels with two long poles fastened under the boat. Rumsey placed the boat in the Potomac River and the current turned the wheels round and round quickly， which in turn， forced the poles to push against the riverbed moving the boat against the current.

Washington wrote of the invention in his diary on September 6， 1784， “The model， and its operation upon the water， which had been made to run fast， not only made me believe what I before thought， but that it might be turned to the greatest possible means of transportation.” Washington even gave Rumsey a letter stating that he had seen the boat in operation.

The following year， Washington became president of the Patowmac Company. One of Washington’s first problems was he couldn’t find anyone with experience of building canal. In July 1785， Washington remembered Rumsey’s walking boat and decided that Rumsey was the man to build the canal.

Rumsey had continued his work on the mechanical boat， but a full-scale model had not worked as well as the smaller version. The larger boat’s poles would stick or slip on the bottom of the river and when the boat moved， it lurched（蹣跚）and leaned dangerously.

As making this idea a success seemed to be slipping away， Rumsey turned his sights to a new way to allow a boat to move against the current-steam power. However， Washington employed Rumsey just as he was considering the solution. Washington hired him at an annual salary of 200 pounds.

1. What can we learn about Rumsey’s invention?

A. It turned out to be practical.

B. It was driven by water power.

C. It was a great means of transportation.

D. It had wheels to push against the riverbed.

2. Seeing the model boat， Washington ＿＿＿ .

A. drew a picture of it in his diary

B. employed Rumsey at once

C. wrote Rumsey a letter

D. took an interest in it

3. What can we learn about Rumsey from the text?

A. He managed to build the mechanical boat.

B. He became rich owing to his invention.

C. Washington trusted him very much.

D. He gave up his first idea.

4. The best title of this passage could be ＿＿＿.

A. Rumsey’s Walking Boat

B. Rumsey and Washington

C. A Successful Business Man

D. The History of the Mechanical Boat

閱讀填空

閱讀下面材料，在空白處填入適當(dāng)?shù)膬?nèi)容（1個(gè)單詞）或括號內(nèi)單詞的正確形式。

A farmer once organized a 1 (compete) between his dog and his rabbit. He dug a hole in one of his biggest fields， and 2 (hide) a carrot and a bone in it. He wanted to find out which animal would find them first.

The cheerful and optimistic rabbit threw 3 (him) into looking for the carrot， 4 (dig) here and there， totally convinced that he would find it. But the dog， after sniffing around for a bit， lay down and began to complain about how difficult it was 5 (find) one bone in such a big field.

The rabbit dug for hours， and with every new hole the dog complained even 6 (much) about how difficult this was. 7 the rabbit thought that each hole dug was one hole less that needed digging. When there was no place in the whole field 8 (leave) to dig， the rabbit dug a hole right to 9 the dog had been lying all the time. There he found the carrot and the bone.

This is how the dog lost the game. He had come to the right place 10 the very beginning but failed to find the bone because he only complained and didn’t try at all.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

短文改錯(cuò)

My secret of staying young is simply: Keeping your mind awake and you will stay young. Take an interest in the world around you. Don’t think that you are ever too old to go back school. I know a man who entered into a medical college at 70. He got her degree with honors and become a famous doctor. Other man went to a law school at 71 and is now an active lawyer. You may say that staying young is easy only for those who is living in the future. In fact， you can do it whether you care enough to try to keep your mind awake and active， which is the only ways to be always young.