B. bullies should give victims help C. victims are not equally treated D. bullies themselves also need help
8. Which of the following can be the best title of the text? A. 15-Year-Old Irish Girl Committed Suicide B. Girl’s Suicide Brings Fresh Attention to Bullying C. Cyber-Bullying Taking Off in Schools
D. How to Solve the Problem of Bullying Among Teens C
Machines in the home have a short history. Sewing machines, washing machines and tumble dries are common enough today, but a hundred years ago, few people could even imagine such things. However, inventors have designed and built a wide range of household machines since then. In most cases the inventor tried to patent his machine, to stop anyone copying it. If the machine became popular, the inventor could make a lot of money.
In 1790 the first sewing machine was patented. The inventor was an Englishman called Thomas Saint. There was nothing to match his machine for forty years, and then someone built a similar device. He was a Frenchman, Bartelemy Thimonier. Neither of these early machines worked very well, however. It wasn’t until 1846 that an inventor came up with a really efficient sewing machine. He was an American, Elias Howe and his machine was good enough to beat five skilled sewing women. He
didn’t make much money from it, however. The first commercially successful sewing machine was patented by Isaac Singer five years later.
Today, we take washing machines for granted, but there was none before 1869. The revolving drum (旋转桶 of that first machine set a pattern for the future, but it was crude by today’s standards. The drum was turned by hand, and needed a lot of effort. Eight years passed before someone produced an electric washing machine. The world had to wait even longer for a machine to dry clothes. The first spin-drier was another American invention, patented in 1924; but it was 20 years before such machines were widely used.
It was yet another American, called Bissell, who introduced the carpet sweeper. He patented the original machine back in 1876. It didn’t pick up dirt very well, but it was quicker than a dustpan and brush. Thirty-six years later, even the carpet sweeper was old-fashioned: modern homes now have a vacuum cleaner with an electric motor to suck the dust.
9. Inventors patent the inventions so as to ______. A. produce more new machines B. avoid being copied by others C. make the inventions more popular D. make more money
10. According to the article, modern inventors ______. A. had to wait for the first spin-drier for a long time B. only imitated the first washing machine
C. powered the first ever-made washing machine by electricity
D. followed the pattern of the first revolving drum but improve it much 11. The underlined word “crude” in paragraph 3 means ______. A. quite useless B. ugly-looking C. much tougher D. not skillfully made
12. The article mainly tells us about ______. A. the great inventors in the world B. the important inventions in the world C. the short history of household machines D. the importance of the machines used in the home D
People fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor in 1944, when she starred in National Velvet—the story of Velvet Brown, a young girl who wins first place in a famous horse race. At first, the producers of the movie told Taylor that she was too small to
play the part of Velvet. However, they waited for her for a few months as she exercised and trained—and added three inches to her height in four months! Her acting in National Velvet is still considered the best by a child actress.
Elizabeth Taylor was born in London in 1932. Her parents, both Americans, had moved there for business reasons. When World War II started, the Taylor moved to Beverly Hills, California, and there Elizabeth started acting in movies. After her success
as a child star, Taylor had no trouble moving into adult roles and won twice for Best Actress: Butterfield 8(1960 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966 Taylor's fame and popularity gave her a lot of power with the movie industry, so she was able to demand very high pay for her movies. In 1963, she received $1 million for her part in Cleopatra—the highest pay received by any star up to that time.
Elizabeth Taylor is a legend of our time. Like Velvet Brown in National Velvet, she has been lucky; she has beauty, fame and wealth. But she is also a hard worker. Taylor seldom acts in movies any more. Instead, she puts her time and efforts into her businesses, and into helping others —several years ago, she founded an organization that has raised more than $40 million for research and education.
13. The producers didn't let Taylor play the part of Velvet at first because they thought she ________. A. was small in size B. was too young
C. did not play well enough D. did not show much interest
14. What Elizabeth Taylor and Velvet Brown had in common was that they were both ________. A. popular all their lives B. famous actresses
C. successful when very young
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