42. ________ have light of their own.

A. The sun and the moon B. The sun and the stars

C.The stars and the earth D. The moon and the earth

43. Which of the following is true?

A. All the things you can see give off light.

B. Light from the book is much shorter than that from the moon.

C. Light travels so fast that there is no time for you to read.

D. The moment you open your eyes the light from the book travels to your eyes.

C

For thousands of years, we have looked for way to measure time. Early humans found that the regular movement of the sun, the earth, the moon and the stars made good ways to measure time. The rising and setting of the sun were used to distinguish(区别) day from night.

But eventually, people needed to tell time more accurately, or exactly. So by using the sun’s position in the sky, they divided the day into dawn morning, midday and evening.

Then it was noted that the sun cast a changing shadow(阴影) as it moved across the sky. Time could be told more accurately by setting up a stick and making the positions of the sun’s shadow. It was the ancient Greeks who divided each position of this “sundial(日晷)” into hours.

But the sun doesn’t always shine so. For the past 6000 years, many other ways of keeping time have been tried. Slow-burning candles were divided into hours, and the hourglass was invented. When all the sand in the top of an hourglass has shifted to the bottom, an hour has passed.

Later, the pendulum(钟摆), with its regular back-and-forth movement of weights, was used to move the hands on a clock pendulums are still used in grandfather clocks.

Today, even more accurate clocks are in use, such as battery-operated quartz clocks, digital clocks and clocks run by electrical turning forks and tiny atoms. These atomic clocks are the most accurate clocks ever invented. The exact time can be kept to within one second a century.

44. When something is very exact, it is said to be __________.

A. slow B. accurate C. fast D. of poor quality

45. Humans in the old days used __________ to tell day from night.

A. the rising and setting of the sun B. battery-operated quartz clocks

C. atomic clocks D. digital clocks

46. A sundial works by __________.

A. tracking the movement of the stars around the sun

B. marking a shadow cast by the moving sun

C. burning candle in the sunlight

D. watching the stars

47. Which of the following was NOT used in the past to measure time?

A. An hourglass. B. A sundial. C. Digital clocks. D. A pendulums.

D

Rome has the Forum. London has Speaker’s Corner. Now always-on-the-go New Yorkers have Liz and Bill.

Liz and Bill, two college graduates in their early twenties, have spent a whole year trying to have thousands of people talk to them in subway stations and on busy street corners. Just talk.

Using a 2-foot-tall sign that says, “Talk to me.” They attract conversationalists, who one evening included a mental patient, and men in business suits.

They don’t collect money. They don’t push religion(宗教). So what’s the point?

“To see what happens,” said Liz, “We simply enjoy life with open communication.”

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, they decided to walk from New York City to Washington, a 270-mile trip. They found they loved talking to people along the way and wanted to continue talking with strangers after their return.

“It started as a crazy idea,” Liz said. “We were so curious about all the strangers walking by with their life stories. People will talk to us about anything: their jobs, their clothes, their childhood experiences, anything.”

Denise wanted to talk about an exam she was about to take. She had stopped by for the second time in two days, to let the two listeners know how it went.

Marcia had lost her husband in a serious disease, “That was very heavy on my mind,” Marcia said. “To be able to talk about it to total strangers was very good,” she explained.

To celebrate a year of talking, the two held a get-together in a city park for all the people they had met over the past year. A few hundred people showed up, as well as some television cameramen and reporters.

They may plan more parties or try to attract more people to join their informal talks. Some publishers have expressed interest in a book, something they say they’ll consider.

48. What did Liz and Bill start doing after September 2001?

A. Chatting with people. B. Setting up street signs.

C. Telling stories to strangers. D. Organizing a speaker’s corner.

49. What they have been doing can be described as __________.

A. pointless B. normal C. crazy D. successful

50. Why are Denise and Marcia mentioned in the text?

A. They knew Liz and Bill very well.

B. They happened to meet the writer of the text.

C. They organized the get-together in the city park.

D. They are examples of those who talked to Liz and Bill.

51. What will Liz and Bill do in the future?

A. Go in for publishing. B. Do more television programs.

C. Continue what they are doing. D. Spend more time reading books.

E

Weekend one-day out

A walk along the Wall

Beijing Hikers is organizing a hike in a village along the Great Wall in Changping District, north of downtown Beijing.