高考英语复习 人教选修八 Unit 3 课文词汇语法填空 含答案

选修8 Unit 3 Inventors and inventions

THE PROBLEM OF THE SHRIKES

When I called up my mother in the countryside 1. the telephone she was very upset. "There are some snakes in our courtyard," she told me. "Snakes come near the house ______ ______ ________ (偶尔), and they seem to have made their home here, not far from the walnut tree. Can you get rid of them please?" I felt very proud. Here was a chance for .me to distinguish myself 2. inventing something merciful 3. would catch snakes but not harm them. I knew my parents would not like me to hurt these living (create)!

The first thing I did 4. (be) to see if there were any products that might help me, but there only seemed to be powders designed to kill snakes. A new approach was clearly needed. I set 4. researching the habits of snakes to find the easiest way to trap them. Luckily these reptiles are small and that made the solution easier.

Prepared 5. some research findings, I decided on three possible approaches: firstly, 6. (remove) their habitat; secondly, attracting them into a trap using male or female perfume or food; and thirdly cooling them 7. _______ that they would become sleepy and could be easily caught. I decided to use the last one. I bought an ice-cream maker which was made of stainless steel. Between the outside and the inside walls of the bowl there is some jelly, which freezes when 8. __________ (cool). I put the bowl into the fridge and waited for 24 hours. At the same time I prepared some ice-cubes.

The next morning I got up early before the sun was hot. I placed the frozen bowl over the snakes' habitat and the ice-cubes on top of the bowl 9. (keep) it cool. Finally I covered the whole thing with a large bucket. Then I waited. After two hours I removed the bucket and the bowl. The snakes were 10. (active) but they were still too fast for me. They 11. (abrupt) disappeared into a convenient hole in the wall. So I had to adjust my plan.

For the second attempt I froze the bowl and the ice-cubes again but placed them over the snakes' habitat in the evening, as the temperature was starting to cool. Then as before, I covered the bowl with the bucket and left everything overnight. Early the next morning I returned to see the result. This time 12. great caution I bent down to examine the snakes and I found them very sleepy. But once picked up, they tried to bite me. As they were poisonous snakes, I clearly needed to improve my design again.

My third attempt repeated the second procedure. The next morning I carried in my hand a small net used for catching fish. This was ______ ______ ___________ (期待) that the snakes would bite again. But monitored carefully, the snakes proved to be no trouble and all went according to plan. I collected the passive snakes and the next day we 13. (merry) released them all back into the wild.

Pressed by my friends and relations, I decided to ________ _______ ___________ (抓住机会) to get 14. (recognize) for my successful idea by sending my invention to the patent office. Only after you have had that recognition can you say that you are truly an inventor. The criteria are so strict that it is difficult to get new ideas accepted 15. they are truly novel. In addition, no invention will get a patent if it is:

◎a discovery

◎a scientific idea or mathematical model

◎literature or art

◎a game or a business

◎a computer programme

◎a new animal or plant variety

Nor will you receive a patent until a search has been made to find out that your product really is different from everyone else's. There are a large number of patent examiners, too, 16. only job is to examine whether your claim is valid or not. If it passes all the tests, your application 17. a patent will be published 18 months from the date you apply. So I have filled in the form and filed my patent application with the Patent Office. Now it's a matter of waiting and hoping. You'll know if I succeed 18. the size of my bank balance! Wish me luck!

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Scotland, 1. when he was young his family moved to Boston, USA. His mother was almost entirely deaf, 2.________ Alexander became interested in helping deaf people communicate and in deaf education. This interest led him 3. (invent) the microphone. He