If the rose can be said to be a special flower, then the apple can be said to be a special fruit. It is very important in American culture. American stories speak of Johnny Appleseed, who went throughout America collecting apple seeds and planting apple trees. He had a great love for nature and went through fields and farms adding richness and beauty to the country.
One of the first sayings taught to school children is, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” This short saying encourages children to eat fresh fruit to keep healthy. If someone always says good words to a person, people will call him an “apple polisher”. This, however, is not a good name. If someone is very dear to us, we say that he or she is the “apple of our eye”.
Most people believe that the fruit which Eve gave to Adam was an apple, even though the Bible(圣經(jīng)) never says so. The apple, therefore, is a deep part of the language and stories of America.
An apple is also delicious. Apples can be cooked in many ways, used as a dessert, and made into sweet juice.
In many parts of the country during the harvest season, a popular activity is to go into an apple garden to pick apples. Washington, D. C. and New York are both famous for their apples.
Finally, when it’s time to take a vacation to American cities, one can always visit New York, which is “the biggest apple” of all the American cities.
【小題1】What does the underlined phrase “apple polisher” mean?

Soon computers and other machines will be able to remember you by looking at your eyes! The programme works because everyone’s eyes are different. So in the future you won’t have to remember a number when you want to use a machine or take money out of a bank. You’ll just have to look at the machine and it will be able to tell who you are.
The eye-recognition（識別）programme is already being tested in shops and banks in the USA, Britain, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Soon, this technology will take the place of all other ways of finding out who people are.
However, scientists are working on other systems. Machines will soon be able to know you from the shape of your face or hand or even your smell! We already have machines that can tell who you are from your voice or the mark made by your finger.
Eye-recognition is better than other kinds because your eyes don’t change as you get older, or get dirty like hands or fingers. And even twins have different eyes, so the programme can be up to 94％ correct, depending on how good the technology is. Some programmes may only be right  51％ of the time. In Britain, it was found that 91％ of people who had tried it said that they liked the idea of eye-recognition. In the future your computer will be looking at you in the eye. So smile!
【小題1】How does the eye-recognition programme work?

What will the house of the future look like? Architects (建筑師) believe that there are all possibilities. The only thing for sure is that the house will be as green as possible.
The tree house
Many architects in the world would like to build a “tree house.” Like a leaf, the surface (表面) of the house collects sunlight during the day. The energy can be used to heat water, produce electricity, and even create fresh air for the home. The “root” of the house is deep under the ground.
The lizard (蜥蜴) house
Like a lizard, changing color with the weather is the most important design of a lizard house. When it’s in the bright sun, the cover of the house will turn dark to protect it from strong heat. During dark days, it turns white and takes in as much light and heat as possible to produce energy.
Meals at home
It has gardens on the outside wall of the house. People can plant tomatoes, carrots and green tea on them. So every day in the morning, you just need to walk outside and collect your meals.
Learning from the past
Looking to the future isn’t the only way to be green. Sometimes, ancient techniques (古老的技術(shù)) can also help cut down energy use. For example, a chimney can be a useful air conditioner because it is easier for hot air to flow out at the chimney.
【小題1】We can heat water, produce electricity or create fresh air for the home _________.

Photography is about taking photographs. In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business. But he was not a good artist. So he invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden. That was the first photograph.
The next important date in the history of photograph was 1837. That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his studio. He used a new kind of camera and a different process. In his pictures, you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest details. This kind of photograph was called a daguerreotype.
Soon, other people began to use Daguerre’s process. Travelers brought back daguerreotypes from all around the world. People photographed famous buildings, cities and mountains.
In about 1840, the process was improved. The photographers could take pictures of people and moving things. The process was not simple. The photographers had to carry lots of films and processing equipment(設(shè)備). But this did not stop the photographers, especially in the United States.
Mathew Brady was a well-known American photographer. He took many pictures of famous people. The pictures were unusual because they were very life-like and full of personality. Brady was also the first person to take pictures of war. His 1862 Civil War pictures showed dead soldiers and destroyed cities. They made the war seem more real and more terrible.
In the 1880s, new inventions began to change photograph. Photographers could buy films readymade in rolls(卷). So they did not have to make the film themselves. Also, they did not have to process(沖洗) the film at once. They could bring it back to their studios and develop it later. They did not have to carry lots of equipment. And finally, the invention of the small hand-held camera made photography less expensive.
Photography is also a form of art. Some photographs were not just copies of the real world. They showed ideas and feelings, like other art forms.
Title: The    1  of Photography

China launched its first space lab module Tiangong-1 on the evening of September 29, 2011, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.
President Hu Jintao praised the successful launch of China's first space lab module Tiangong-1, and shook hands with the staff of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.
Premier Wen Jiabao and He Guoqiang also shook hands with the staff at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to congratulate on the success.
Tiangong-1, which is scheduled to dock(與……對接) with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft later this year, will pave the way for building China's first space station.
During its two-year service life, Tiangong-1 will mainly conduct four tasks, such as experiments of autonomous rendezvous(自主交會) and docking procedures(程序) with the Shenzhou-8, -9, and -10 spacecrafts in the coming launches, aiming to establish the country's first space lab, according to Wu Ping, spokesperson for China's national space administration.
According to the plan for China's manned space program, the Shenzhou-10 will be a manned spacecraft, possibly carrying a female Chinese astronaut who will test manual space rendezvous and docking with the Tiangong-1.
Functioning as a target spacecraft, Tiangong-1 is expected to become China's first space laboratory when it connects to the above mentioned spaceships.
【小題1】When Tiangong-1 was launched, _____were at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.  

Last weekend, twenty thousand people gathered in the state of Georgia to watch students from twenty-eight countries compete with robots they built. More than ten thousand students and more than five hundred robots took part in the competition.

Almost one thousand and seven hundred high school teams entered a level of competition called LUNACY. The competitors came from eleven countries, including the United States. In January, the organization sent the same supplies for robots to each team. The teams had six weeks to build robots that could compete in the LUNACY game. The playing area had six robots, three on each team. Each robot had a trailer(拖車) connected to it. The robots had to pick up large balls and throw them into the trailers of opposing robots. The robots were moving on a surface where they could slide(滑行). A team from California won the competition.
A second competition involved building a robot that could travel on uneven(不平坦的) surfaces, move objects with unusual shapes and withstand(承受) physical stress.
Another competition was for younger students, aged nine to fourteen years old. Eighty-four teams from twenty-seven countries competed with robots made with LEGO products. They had to design, build and program robots to explore the Earth’s climates.
【小題1】The competitors coming from _______countries entered a level of competition called LUNACY.

Scientists believe in the near future a new kind of car that can not only drive on the road, but also fly in the sky will serve the people, it is called “flying-driving vehicle”.
Since the turn of the 20th century, there have been many hundreds of designs for flying-driving vehicles. And some of them have actually been built and flown. But “Transition” is the closest to people.
Transition was designed in 2006, and the first road and flight tests took place in 2009. Transition is designed to really be a general airplane, which can fold up（折疊）fully its wings, drive down the road and park in a single-car garage（車庫）.
Transition can climb to more than 3000 meters high. It can carry two people at speeds over 160 kilometers an hour in the air. And on the ground it can drive at highway speeds, about 113 kilometers an hour.
Scientists expect Transition to reach market at the end of 2012, at a price of around 25, 0000 dollars. Mr. Carl Dietrich says nearly 100 people have already signed up as buyers. He hopes to sell as many as 1000 a year in the near future.
【小題1】We learn from the passage that Transition is ________.
A. a flying car         B. a helicopter        C. a high-speed plane
【小題2】________ shows us the way of Transition driving down the road.
A.                         B.                         C.

【小題3】According to the passage, Transition ________.
A. takes up small room
B. can park over the water
C. flies in the sky only
【小題4】Which of the following statements is TRUE according to this passage?
A. Transition can carry 2 people at speeds over 113 km/h in the air.
B. Mr. Carl Dietrich has sold as many as 1000 Transition so far.
C. Scientists expect Transition to serve the people at the end of 2012
【小題5】The fourth paragraph(段落) mainly tells us about the __________ of Transition.
A. price                        B. speed                    C. Design

Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of US technology giant Apple, has died at the age of 56. Mr Jobs had announced he was suffering from cancer in 2004. Apple said he had been "the source of countless innovations（創(chuàng)新）that enrich and improve all of our lives" and had made the world "immeasurably（無法衡量的）better".
Tributes(贊美之辭) have been made by technology company bosses and world leaders, with US President Barack Obama saying the world had "lost a visionary（有遠(yuǎn)見卓識的人）". "Steve was among the greatest of American innovators —— brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it," said Mr Obama.
A statement from Mr Jobs's family said they were with him when he died peacefully on Wednesday. "In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he loved his family deeply," they said, requesting privacy and thanking those who had "shared their wishes and prayers" during his final year.
Apple said the company had "lost a visionary and creative genius(天才) and the world have lost an amazing human being". Tim Cook, who was made Apple's CEO after Mr Jobs stood down in August, said his predecessor had left behind "a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple". Flags are being flown at half mast outside the Apple headquarters（總部） in Cupertino, California, while fans of the company have left tributes outside Apple shops around the world.
The heads of other leading technology companies have also paid tribute, including Microsoft boss Bill Gates, who said "For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been a great honour. I will miss Steve very much."
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg thanks Mr Jobs for "showing that what you build can change the world" while Sony Corp president and CEO Howard Stringer said: "The digital age has lost its leading light." South Korea's Samsung, which is involved in a case with Apple over patents(專利), admired Mr Jobs for his "Completely new and different changes to the IT industry".
【小題1】Hearing of Steve Jobs’ death, the heads of other leading technology companies have paid tribute and __________.

Think stars don’t move? Think again! When you look at the sky at night, the stars may appear to stay in the same place. But stars are always on the move—they are just so far away that the movement is hard to see.
But some stars move in ways that appear to be strange to be real. In 2005, astronomer Warren Brown found one of these space oddities(奇特). It was located on the outer edge of the Milky Way, the galaxy(星系) we live in. The star was speeding away like nothing he’d ever seen. “It seemed unbelievable. No star in the galaxy has a speed like that,” Brown remembers. “I thought, oh my goodness, I have something kind of special here.”
No one had ever seen a star like this one. What does a scientist do when the results don’t make sense?
Brown didn’t give up. Instead, he kept looking. And he kept finding more of these strange and speedy stars, called hypervelocity stars. Hyper means “above” and velocity has to do with speed. He and his team just found six more of these “above speed” stars, bringing to the total of 16. And, he says, he’s found even more, and is just waiting for the scientific community to confirm them.
【小題1】In 2005, astronomer Warren Brown found___________.

Have you ever stayed in a hotel? Most Chinese hotel often provide guests with things like disposable(一次性的)toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and slippers. Many guests like the idea because they don’t have to bring their own.  But ,if you travel to Beijing, remember to bring your own things.  Starting from June, some hotels in Beijing will no longer provide guests with these disposables.  They want to ask people to use fewer disposable things.
Many disposable things are made of plastic.  People throw them away after only using them once.  It is a waste of natural resources(資源)and is very bad for the environment.  Do you know that one Chinese person makes as much as as 400kg of waste a year? Most of that waste comes from disposable things.  In Beijing, people throw away about 19,000 tons of plastic bags and 1,320 tons of plastic lunch bowls every year! Plastic can take between 100 and 400 years to bread down.  So wherever you travel, bring your own things and use them again and again.
Back at home and school, you can also do something to make our world a better place.  Try to do these things in your daily life: use cloth shopping bags, not plastic ones. After using a plastic bag, wash it out and let it dry.  Then you can use it over and over again.  Do not use paper cups.  At your school canteen(食堂). use your own bowl and chopsticks instead of(代替) disposable ones.
【小題1】Which of the following may still be provided(被提供) in Beijing hotels after June?