The idea that red means stop and green means has influenced our lives in more ways than just traffic signals(信号). We have been taught from a young age that the color red means danger and green means it's okay to move forward. But why were those colors chosen for traffic lights in the first place? For something we have to look at every day, why couldn't they have been prettier colors?

Well, it's import to know that before traffic lights for cars, there were traffic signals for trains. At first, railway companies used red to mean stop, white to mean go, and green to mean warn. As you could imagine, trains ran into a few problems with white meaning go. For example, one train mistook a bright star for a white light and something unexpected happened. Because of that, railway companies finally moved green meaning go and used yellow to mean warn. And it's been that way ever since.

Red has always been a color that mean danger, long before cars were even around. This most likely started because it's the color with the longest wavelength(波长) so it can be seen somewhere farther than other colors.

But, believe it or not, yellow was once used to mean stop. Back in the 1900s, some stop signs were yellow because it was too hard to see a red sign in a poorly lit area. Finally, highly reflective materials(高反射材料) were developed and red stop signs were born. Since yellow can be seen well at all times of the day, school zones, some traffic signs, and school buses continue to be printed yellow.

So next time you are impatiently waiting at a traffic light, don't get so mad at them, they've certainly come a long way.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。

1.What were traffic signals for before traffic lights for cars?

A. Trains B. Boats. C. Planes D. Bicycles

2.Which of the following colors meant go at first?

A. Red. B. Yellow. C. White. D. Green.

3.Why does red mean danger?

A. Because it's the brightest color. B. Because it can be seen far away.

C. Because railway companies say so. D. Because it has the shortest wavelength.

4.Why are school buses painted yellow?

A. Because yellow is a prettier color.

B. Because yellow once meat danger.

C. Because yellow can be seen well in daytime.

D. Because yellow means it's OK to go forward.

5.What does the text mainly tell us?

A. How important traffic lights are.

B. Which color has the longest wavelength.

C. What red, yellow and green can be used for.

D. Why traffic lights are red, yellow and green.

1.A 2.C 3.B 4.C 5.D 【解析】本文介绍了交通灯不同颜色信号所代表的意义。最开始时，以红色作为停止，绿色作为警告，白色作为通行。但是一列火车在晚上把星星误认为白色，因此发生了不好的事情，最后将红色作为停止，绿色作为通行，黄色作为警告。 1.A 细节理解题。根据it's import to know that before traffic l...

A young man entered the last interview of a company. The director found the young man’s academic grade were very good.

“Did you get any scholarships(奖学金) in school?” The director asked. “None.” The young man answered.

“Was it your father who paid for your school fees(学费)?” the director asked. “My father passed away when I was one year old, so it was my mother who paid for my school fees.” the young man answered.

“Where did your mother work?” the director asked. “My mother cleaned clothes.” the young man said. The director looked the young man’s hands. He had a pair of smooth and perfect hands.

“Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?” the director asked. “Never,” the young man answered. “I have a request,” the director said. “When you go back home today, go and clean your mother’s hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.”

The young man felt that his chance of getting the job was high. When he went back, he happily asked his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange; happy but with mixed feelings. She showed her hands to the kid. The young man cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. His tears fell as he did that. It was the first time he had noticed his mother’s hands were so wrinkled. He realized it was this pair of hands that helped him pay the fees.

The next morning, the young man went to the director’s office.“I cleaned my mother’s hands, and I know that without my mother, I would not be the person I am today.” he said.

“This is what I am looking for in my manager.” the director said. “I want a person who can appreciate (感激) ” the help of others to get things done. You get the job!”

1.What did the director ask the young man to do that night?

A. to help his mother wash the clothes B. To wash his mother’s hands

C. To chat with his mother D. To hug his mother

2.The underlined word “wrinkled” in paragraph 6 probably means ______.

A. soft B. rough C. dirty D. smooth

3.What can we learn from the passage about the young man?

A. The young man had good academic grades and got scholarships.

B. His parents worked hard to pay the fees.

C. The young man had a pair of hands that looked just like his mother’s.

D. The young man finally got the job as a manager.

4.Which of the following is wrong about the young man’s mother?

A. Her son never helped her with her work before the interview.

B. Life was difficult but she managed to support her son.

C. She couldn’t help crying when her son washed her hands that night.

D. Her son learned a lot from what she had done for him.

5.What did the director value most from the young man?

A. Working ability. B. Academic grades.

C. Communication skills. D. Appreciation.

1.B 2.B 3.D 4.C 5.D 【解析】 本文讲述了一个年轻人的求职故事，在求职中主任给年轻人上了一课，让他认识到了自己母亲对自己无私的付出。 1.句意：那天晚上主任要求年轻人做什么？A.帮妈妈洗衣服B.洗他母亲的手C.与他的母亲聊天D.拥抱他的母亲。原文“When you go back home today, go and clean your...

Mr. Guo is a teacher from Xi’an. He asked his students to hand in their homework through a QR code（二维码）. “We spent an hour or two in class learning how to generate（使产生）the codes, and in the end everything gets easier.” Said Guo. “When students finish the homework, they keep in on WeChat（微信）. Then, each student makes his own QR code and gives it to me. So I can check their work everywhere using my computer or telephone.”

The QR codes can be sent to Mr. Guo by email, QQ and WeChat. When Guo scans（扫描）his students’ QR codes, their homework appears on his phone. He finds that their homework becomes more creative（创新的）, with many pictures, music and even videos.

Guo’s students like the new way and think it is interesting. “We are living in the information age. Many students like to work with computers, which makes learning more fun.” said Tingting, a student of Guo’s.

“The paper is not easy to keep, but the code is easy to keep and share,” Guo said. “48 It is worth trying to use new technology in education. Education itself is a kind of creation. I don’t want my students to fall behind the times.”

However, some parents are worried. They are afraid that their children will spend too much time on computers and less time communicating with teachers. But in fact, it’s unnecessary. Students still need to look up information in books and write it down when they do their homework. They only use the code when they hand in their work, which doesn’t take them too much time. Also for teachers, it allows them to check the students’ work at any time. And it’s also an easy way to share homework with other students.

1.According to the passage, students can keep their homework on ______.

A. WeChat B. QQ C. email D. blog（博客）

2.Guo’s students think the new way is _______.

A. strange B. boring C. interesting D. Unnecessary

3.What does “it” in Paragraph 4 refer to（指代）：

A. The paper is not easy to keep. B. Keeping and sharing the code easily.

C. Trying to use new technology in education. D. Education itself is a kind of creation.

4.Some parents are worried, because they think their children will _______.

A. talk with teachers face to face B. spend too much time on computers or phones

C. not like the new way of handing in homework D. find the QR codes too difficult to use

5.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A. Teachers needn’t check homework any more. B. Students needn’t hand in homework any more.

C. Using QR codes makes checking homework easier. D. Some parents are worried about their children.

1.A 2.C 3.C 4.B 5.C 【解析】本文主要内容是西安的郭老师，让学生通过扫二维码交作业。这样老师检查作业更容易，可随时批阅。学生可以和其他同学共享作业。 1. 2. 3.Itis worth trying to use new technology in education.意思是“在教育中使用新技术是值得尝试的。”此句的结构是it+a...

阅读下面短文,根据短文内容,从下面方框中的A-E选项中,选择适当的选项补全短文。

As we know, there are differences between Western culture and Chinese culture.1.. Let’s look at some words about animals and plants. Most expressions in Chinese about the dog, for example, “a homeless dog”, “a mad dog”, “a running dog” and “a dog catching a mouse”, have bad meanings.2.. In English, people use the dog to describe good actions. For example, “you are a lucky dog” means you are a lucky person. And “every dog has its day” means each person has good luck sometimes. To describe a person’s serious illness, they say “sick as a dog”. The word “dog-tired” means very tired.3.. But in Western culture, “cat” is often used to describe a woman who is unkind. There are many other examples of how “cat” is used differently as well.

4.. People think the rose stands for love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is the national flower of England, America and many other countries.

5.. We can learn about many differences in cultures by comparing how some words are used.

A. However, Chinese love cats very much.

B. The words about plants and animals are used in good or bad ways in different cultures.

C. We can see differences when we pay attention to the way words are used.

D. The rose is regarded as a symbol of love in both China and some Western countries.

E. But in Western countries, dogs are considered to be honest and good friends of humans

1.C 2.E 3.A 4.D 5.B 【解析】本文通过对比不同国家对于动物和植物的一些词语使用的差异来展示背后文化的差异。 1.句意：当我们关注单词的使用方式时，我们可以看到差异。从后句的“Let’s look at some words about animals and plants.”（让我们来看看有关动物和植物的一些单词。）得知要拿单词举例子了，所以前...

根据汉语提示完成句子，一空一词（包括缩写词）

1.苏母公园被认为是眉山最美的公园之一。

The Sumu Park is___________ ___________one of the most beautiful parks in Meishan.

2.如果我们都齐心协力,我们就会完成这项任务。

If all of us___________ ___________,we’re going to finish the task.

3.我一直忙于准备明天的考试。

I am ___________ _________ for tomorrow’s exam all the time.

4.直到中考结束,山姆他放松下来。

Sam __________relax himself __________the entrance to high school exam ends.

5.“一带一路”是东西方之间交流合作的象征。

The Belt and Road is the symbol of communication and cooperation ____the East______ the West.

1. regarded as 2. pull together 3. busy preparing 4. didn’t until 5. between and 【解析】 1.“...被认作…”为“sth be regarded as…”，本题是在陈述事实，用一般现在时即可，故填regarded和as 2.“齐心协力”为“pull together”，这里...

书面表达

现在越来越多的人在网上购物，网购已成为流行趋势，二网购的利弊也成为人们讨论的焦点，请参考下面的信息，并结合就的观点些一短文，谈谈你的看法。

1.方便，可以在家买东西，不受时间限制。

2.有很大的商品信息，可以买到当地没有的商品。价格较便宜。

3.买货容易退货难；实物和图片有差距。

4.网络支付不安全。

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Now Internet Shopping is more and more popular in the world. It’s a new way of shopping. It has lots of advantages. The most important is convenient. You can shop whenever you like because the onli...

---Kate, are you only child in your family?

---Yes, but new baby is on the way.

A. a; the B. an; the C. the; a D. the; the

C 【解析】 试题句意：——凯特，你是你家唯一的孩子吗？——是的，但是一个婴儿要出生了。the only唯一的；修饰单数名词baby，故用不定冠词a，故选C。

When I am in a western restaurant I always use__hand to hold the knife and___hand to hold the fork.

A. one；the other B. the other；one C. another；one D. the other；another

A 【解析】句意：当我在西餐馆时，我通常用一只手拿刀，另一只手拿叉。another泛指（三个或三个以上中的）另一个；the other 接单数时，表示两个中的另一个；根据我们只有两只手，one--- the other--- 一个---另一个；故选A

—Tom，what do you think of the school？(易错题)

—Oh，no other school is ________ in the city.It's ________ one.

A. better；a better B. the best；the best

C. better；the best D. the best；a better

C 【解析】 试题句意：汤姆，你认为这个学校怎么样？哦，在这个城市没有其他的学校更好了，它是最好的一个。根据句意可知第一个句子是用比较级表示最高级，第二个句子用最高级。故选C。

There are floors in the building and Mr. Wang lives on the floor.

A. twelve; twelve B. twelfth; twelfth

C. twelfth; twelve D. twelve; twelfth

D 【解析】试题句意：这个高楼有十二层，王先生居住在第十二层。表示有十二层，因此用基数词；表法第十二层，用其序数词的形式。故选 D