The oldest and hardest cow beef may be made as tender and tasty as young and choice met. "This declaration was made by the French physicist Denis Papin in book published in 1681, which described his "New Digester" or pressure cooker.  It was a cast iron pot with an air-tight lid, which allowed liquids to boil at a higher temperature than usual, and so it cooked food in a quarter of the time.  The food was cooked by pressurized steam being forced through it at about 121degC.  All pressure cookers were made of cast iron until 1905,  when the first aluminum model was made in America. In 1938, Alfred Vischer, a man from Chicago, U. S. A., designed a simple interlocking pan and lid, and an improved pressure-tight seal --a replaceable rubber sealing ring. When Vischer's patent expired in 1954,  many companies entered the field,  and the rapid pressure cooker became popular with people with people who had little time to cook or had to supply food for unexpected guests. From the passage we can learn pressure cooker made of cast iron lasted at least   _  years. A) 300 B) 200 C) 90 D) 60
B

After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletes have gone home and the television audience has switched off, another group of athletes and fans will arrive at the host city, and another competition will begin. These are the Paralympics, the games for athletes with a disability. But in Beijing in 2008, for the first time, one of the greatest Paralympics athletes did not take part. She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thormpson. Born with spine hifida   which left her paralysed from the waist. Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7. at first, she did not like sports, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom. But in her teens, she started taking sports more seriously. She tried swimming, basketball and tennis. Eventually she found she began to love athletics, and never looked back. Indeed, Tanni's athletic career took off . In 1984, when she was 15, she pulled off a surprise victory in the 100metres at the Junior National Wheelchair Games. In 1988, Tanni went to her first Paralympic Games in Seoul. She won bronze in the 400 metres. Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelonn. Paralympics. Tanni won gold in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres relay, setting two world records in the process. In the same year she achieved the first of her six London Wheelchair Marathon victories. Tanni's success had been part motivation , part preparation, "The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter  enables me to be good at a marathon too. I train 50 weeks of the year and that keeps me prepared for whatever distance I want to see.... I am still competing at a very high level, but as I get older, things get harder and I want to retire before I fall apart." Indeed Tanni retired finally after the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007. Her wish is to coach young athletes for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In spite of ups and downs, she never takes her fate lying down. In her splendid life, she has won an amazing eleven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in series of... Which of the following sports did Tanni like before thirteen? A) Basketball B) Swimming. C) Tennis. D) Horse-riding.
D

Now we can see a man and his wife at the breakfast table. They are not speaking to each other. They haven't spoken to each other at the breakfast table for years. The husband is reading his newspaper. We can't see his face. The wife looks very worried as she gets a cup of tea ready for him. Today she is using a new kind of tea for the first time. The husband picks up his cup. He isn't interested. He tastes his tea. Suddenly he puts down his newspaper. Something is different! Can it be the tea? He takes another taste. It's wonderful. He smiles. He looks at his wife and says in surprise, "Doris, when did you cut your hair?" Doris is pleased. She answers, "Two months ago." Doris asks, " Herbie , when did your hair begin to become white?" He answers, "A long time ago." Doris says, "We have been together for many years, but we never cared about each other." Now they aren't worried any longer. Breakfast is different. Has a new kind of tea changed their lives? Herbie and Doris lived   _   before this day. A) a wonderful B) an unhappy C) an enjoyable D) a friendly

B