Question

Have you ever noticed the black and white bars on a book？Do you know what they are used for?

They are bar-codes（条形码）used in most products. If you go to a supermarket，you can see almost every product with a bar-code on it. Bar-codes have information about the product, such as name and production date.It's an easy and convenient way to know about the products. Just scan the bar-code and everything is clear.

The first use of a bar-code in a supermarket checkout system was on a pack of American Wrigley Company chewing gum in 1974.Beyond supermarkets, bar-codes are needed everywhere:for renting cars, for luggage checks on a plane, for parcels(包裹) you send. Life would be rather difficult without bar-codes.Most of our things would get lost in the post.

Bar-codes change as well.Bar-codes in the past were 1-D(one-dimensional空间), but now there are 2-D bar-codes,such as QR code.Since 2009, QR has been used on Chinese train tickets. People can enter stadiums,cinemas and theaters by holding certain types of bar-codes.

With these small codes, life is getting much easier for us.

If you find these bar-code things boring, a bar-code building might be more up your street. In St Petersburg, Russia, there is a building designed like a bar-code.It looks strange, but it's actually a shopping mall. There are games too. Bar-code Monsters is a mobile phone game. You have to scan bar-codes and find the monsters!

1.Bar-codes were first used in ________.

A.1974 in the UK B.1974 in the US C.2009 in China D.2009 in Russia

2.The underlined word “scan”might mean “________” in Chinese.

A.复印 B.展示 C.描写 D.扫描

3.From Paragraph 3 and 4, we can learn that ________.

A.bar-codes are very useful in our daily life B.our things will get lost without bar-codes

C.bar-codes make our life rather difficult D.we can’t live without bar-codes

4.Which of the following is NOT true about the bar-code building?

A.It looks like a bar-code. B.It’s in St Petersburg, Russia.

C.It’s used as a shopping mall. D.Its name is Bar-code Monsters.

5.The best title of this passage is________.

A.From 1-D Bar-codes to 2-D Bar-codes B.Why Bar-codes are Black and White

C.Small Codes that Make a Big Difference D.What if the World Doesn’t Have a Bar-code

Answer 1