Thomas Adams, an American inventor, is the father of modern bubble(泡泡) gum．During the 1870s, Adams discovered a new way to make chewing gum by accident, while he was trying to find a use for chicle(糖膠樹腳)．Mr. Adams wanted to make rubber(橡膠) from chicle．

Mr. Adams worked for a long time trying to make rubber from chicle．His oldest son also helped him sometimes. But they never discovered a way to make it work. One day, Thomas Adams was in a store when he heard a young girl ask for some chewing gum．Adams and his son had been chewing chicle while they were working on the rubber, so he decided to give up trying to make rubber from the chicle and make gum instead．At that time, chewing gum was made form spruces sap(云杉樹液) ．This chewing gum didn’t taste very good．Admas thought chewing gum from chicle tasted better．He and his son wrapped small pieces of chicle in colorful paper and sold it．People everywhere began chewing his gum at once．

       Mr. Adam’s gum could make bubbles, but the bubbles were very sticky(膠粘的)．Until 1928 Walter Diemer found a way to improve chewing gum by making bubbles that were not sticky．

1．Where as Thomas Adams from?

A．The United States．                                    B．The United Kingdom．

C．Australia．                                                 D．Spain．

2．The word “wrapped” here in Chinese means “        ”．

A．掩飾                    B．遮蔽                       C．包裹                      D．覆蓋

3．What did Thomas Adams give up trying to make?

A．A new kind of paper．                             B．A new kind of rubber．

C．A new kind of chicle．                                D．A new kind of drink．

4．Which of the sentence is NOT TRUE?

A．Mr. Adams thought spruce gum didn’t taste as good as chicle gum．

B．Mr. Adams never found a way to make rubber from chilce．

C．Mr. Adams is the father of modern bubble gum．

D．Mr. Adams was the first person to sell gum．

5．What was the difference between Mr. Diemer’s gum and Mr. Adams’s gum?

A．Mr. Diemet’s gum could make bubbles．

B．Mr. Diemer’s gum was less sticky．

C．Mr. Diemer’s gum was made from tree sap．

D．Mr. Diemer’s gum was sold in colorful paper．

You and your parents can stop worrying- Edison, Pasteur, Darwin and many others were far from being "bright boys " when they were under twenty. Some of them, in the eyes of their teachers, were day- dreamers or slow pupils. So, young men or women, if you have the same experience, don' t fed disappointed.

It is always the case that parents prefer giving mere inspiring examples to encourage their children. If you take piano lessons and are not practicing hard, your parents might justly complain and show you the famous picture of little Mozart in his night- shirt, playing the piano at midnight. But the fact is that he didn’t appear to have much talent(才干)for music when he was quite young. It was not until 22 that Mozart suddenly became fired with a great liking(愛好)for music.

In the sciences, there have been thousands of people who showed great interest in certain subjects from their earliest years, and hundreds who had no idea of what they would do in the future. The well-known French chemist Pasteur displeased his parents because Louris did nothing but drew pictures and went fishing. Pasteur was twenty years old before he showed any interest in science. You have the Wright brothers, who showed great talent in engineering when they were quite young. And you have Thomas Edi-son, whose teacher tried to get him out of the class because his brain was often confused. You have the Nobel Prize Physicist Enrico Fermi, who at 17, had read enough mathematics for a doctor's degree. But there is also Charles Darwin, who hated to go to school when he was young. His farther was once so angry and shouted, "You care for nothing but shooting dogs and rat - catching. You will put your parents to shame."

So who knows what might happen in the future? It is, of course, better for the young people to know what they want to do in life . But they needn’t despair if they don ' t . There is still plenty of time and it’s never too later for success.

1. Before the age of 20, Pasture, Darwin and Edison__________.

A. were very interested in their future work .

B. were far from showing their talents .

C. showed early promise(有成功的希望)

D. failed in school.

2. To encourage their children parents are likely to give them__________

A. very excited examples        

B. real examples

C. some false examples          

D. extremely(非常) good examples

3. At the age of 22 Mozart________

A. was accidentally wounded by a fire 

B. suddenly become a great musician

C. started to play the piano at midnight  

D. became greatly interested in music

4. Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?

A. Most successful adults are failures before the age of 22.

B. Early schooling is not important for later success.

C. People who show no signs of great talent when they are young might turn out to be greatly successful as adults.

D. People who show signs of great success when they are young might turn out to be failures as adults.

5. Young people should not despair (喪失信心) if they are not successful because________.

     A. Edison and Darwin were not bright when young

     B. they have more years to live than adults

     C. they still have a lot of time to work for it

     D. no one can tell what might happen in the future