Miss Lucas lived in South Carolina and liked trying new things. Her father did not live in Carolina. He was on one of the islands of the West Indies.
Her father1her some seeds of the indigo plant (槐蓝属植物). She planted some of them in March, but there came a frost (霜冻). The indigo plants all2because of it.
But Miss Lucas did not give up. She planted some more seeds in April. They grew very well until a3found them. The worm wished to try new things too. So it4the indigo plants. Miss Lucas5again. Once more she planted some seeds. This time the plants grew very6.
Miss Lucas wrote to her father about it. He sent her a man. The man7how to get the indigo (靛蓝染料) out of the plants. He tried not to8Miss Lucas how to make the indigo. He did not want the people in Carolina to learn how to make it. He was worried that his own people would not get so much money for9indigo.
But Miss Lucas watched him closely. She finally found out how the indigo could be made. People in South Carolina became 10. because of the indigo plants.
Tim Berners-Lee is not the most famous inventor in the world. However, his invention has changed our lives.
He was born in London, England in 1955. When he was a small boy, Tim was interested in playing with electrical things. He studied science at Oxford University. He made his first computer from an old television at the age of 21.
Tim started working on early computers. At that time, they were much bigger than now. He worked in England then Switzerland. Tim was really interested in two things, computers and how the brain works. How could the brain connect so many facts so quickly? He had to work with people all over the world. They shared information about computers. It was hard to manage all the information. He answered the same questions again and again. It took a lot of time. It was even difficult for computers in the same office in Switzerland to share information, Tim also forgot things easily. Could a computer work like a brain? Could it “talk” to other computers?
There was an Internet already but it was difficult to use. In 1989, Tim Berners—Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) all by himself. This had a special language that helped computers talk to each other on the Internet. When people wanted to share information with others, they used the World Wide Web. The Internet grew quickly after that.
Tim Berners—Lee doesn't think he did anything special. He says that all of the ideas about the Internet were already there. All he did was to put them together. He says that many other people worked together to make the Internet what it is today.
Most inventors want to become rich. But Tim gave away the World Wide Web for nothing. He now works in America. He helps people share technology and wants the Internet to be free for everyone to use. Maybe he is the most important but least famous inventor in the world today!
a. Tim worked in England.
b. Tim worked in Switzerland.
c. Tim made his first computer.
d. Tim invented the World Wide Web.
e. Tim studied science at Oxford University.
Many supermarkets have potato chips today, and many people like buying them. However, do you know where these little snacks come from?
It all started in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1853. A new restaurant opened, and George Crum was the chef (主厨) of the restaurant. He made excellent French—fried potatoes.
One night, however, a guest didn't want to eat the potatoes, and he complained they were too thick. Chef Crum cooked thinner potatoes, but the guest refused those too. Crum felt angry and he decided to teach the man a lesson.
Crum made potatoes as thin as paper. He threw them into cold water, and then threw them into boiling grease (动物油脂) . Crum put some salt onto them and gave them to the guest. To Crum's surprise, the man loved them. The next day “Saratoga chips” showed up on the menu.
Because it took a long time to peel (去皮) the potatoes by hand, Crum's Saratoga chips remained a dinner dish served mainly in the northern states. It wasn't until the 1920s that a mechanical potato peeler came out and mass production of potato chips became possible.
a. Crum made potatoes as thin as paper.
b. George Crum was the chef of a new restaurant.
c. A mechanical potato peeler came out.
d. Chef Crum cooked thinner potatoes.
e. “Saratoga chips” showed up on the menu.
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French scientist Pierre Curie lived from 1859 to 1906, while Marie Curie lived from 1867 to 1934. They met at the Sorbonne where Marie was a student and Pierre was a professor (教授) of physics. Together, they discovered "Radium". They won the 1903 Nobel Prize for physics. Marie Curie was the first woman who became a physics professor at the Sorbonne. And in 1911, she won a second Nobel Prize for chemistry. |
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Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor who lived from 1847 to 1931 and invented over 1,000 inventions in his lifetime. Two of the most important inventions were the light bulb and the phonograph (留声机), the first thing to record sound. Edison set up a lab in New Jersey in 1876. He made a lot of money by selling one of his earlier inventions. |
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Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi lived from 1874 to 1937. His most important invention was a wireless telegraph (无线电报). In 1899, he invented a machine that made it possible to send wireless messages across the country. In 1901, his machine made it possible for the first message to be sent across the Atlantic Ocean. Marconi won the 1909 Noble Prize for physics. |
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Alexander Bell invented one of the most widely (广泛的) used inventions of all times—the telephone. He lived from 1847 to 1922, first in Edinburgh, Scotland, then in Canada, and finally in the United States. He invented the first telephone in 1876 which made it possible for voices to be sent. Bell was also interested in inventions which helped the people who couldn't hear well. |
Firhall, a village in Scotland, was built in 2003. It is said that people living there must obey (遵守) some rules.
They can't feed animals in the village and each family is allowed to have only one dog. Even children are stopped from living in the village for long. So it is a place called "child-hating ogres (魔鬼)". Villagers living there must be over 45 years old. Children and grandchildren can visit and stay here, but there are even limits (限制) on how often this happens.
But in fact, things are not so serious as it seems. People in Firhall say that the village only wants to offer peace and quietness to people there.
A manager named Ann in Firhall said that many of those who chose to live in the village had grandchildren and they were always welcome to live. "Living here makes us feel peaceful and quiet and this is what many of us look forward to as we are getting older," she added. "We choose Firhall because of the low house prices here and the location of the village. It is near Inverness Airport," said Jimmy, a retired (退休的) engineer. He also said that Firhall was a beautiful place and there was golf and other kinds of sports there. And that is the reason why he bought the house in Firhall.
Many American presidents were born in poor families. They (spend) their childhood in wooden (木制的) rooms. They got little (educate). Washington and Lincoln, for example, never went to school. They taught (them). Lincoln once did jobs as a worker, a shopkeeper a post officer in his early (year). Besides, a number of US presidents had experiences in the army, such as Grant and Eisenhower. Grant was general (将军). It (happen) that they came from same school—West Point Military Academy (西点军校). However, these (difficulty) experiences had a great effect their life and helped them succeed.
"Dad! Dad! What's that in the lake? shouted Jim Ayton surprisingly.It was a summer evening in 1963. Jim was working on his father's farm by LochNess, a lake in Scotland, when he looked up to see a strange creature movingslowly down he lake. It was huge! Jim had never seen anything like it before.
Two men nearby heard Jim's shout and rushed to join him and his father.They were all excited and wanted to take a closer look. They ran to the lake,climbed into a boat and headed straight towards the creature.
The creature's head looked a bit like a horse's head, only bigger. Itsneck was nearly 2 metres, as tall as a fully grown man. Its body was as long asa bus. It had four flippers (鳍足) and a long, powerful tail. Could it be the Loch Ness monster thatpeople had talked about for years?
Suddenly, the creature rose out of the water. Then it dived into wateragain. A huge wave hit the small boat. It rocked and turned around. Had thecreature seen the men? Was it coming over?
A few seconds later, the creature slowly went away. The monster seemed morescared than angry! Then it was gone. The men searched and searched for it butthey never saw it again.
