Ⅲ. 阅读理解(每小题2分,满分20分)

A

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Italy. He is best known as an artist today. One of his famous paintings is called Mona Lisa. However, Leonardo had many other natural abilities. He was also a great inventor. Many of his inventions have become important in modern day life.

Although Leonardo hated war, he invented many different machines used for war. His most special invention was the machine gun, which was produced and used in war many years later.

By watching the way birds fly，Leonardo tried to find out the secret of flying. Among his sketches(素描)we can see several objects. We consider them as modern flying machines.

Leonardo spent many hours thinking about how to make good use of time. He developed ideas for labor-saving machines like cutting machines.

Leonardo was a strange man. He didn’t eat any meat，which was very unusual in those times. He never published (发表) his ideas and scientific discoveries. He usually used mirror writing，which looks like writing in a mirror, starting from the right side of the page and moving to the left.

We have very little of his work today. Leonardo finished only a few of his paintings. He left many unfinished because he thought they were not perfect. No one in his life time knew how great Leonardo was. We now believe，however，that he was one of the cleverest men the world has ever known.

46. According to the passage, Leonardo is not only an artist but also .

A. an inventor B. an engineer C. a writer D. a musician

47. was Leonardo’s most special invention.

A. The mirror writing B. The cutting machine

C. The machine gun D. The flying machine

48. Leonardo was strange，for example， .

A. he didn’t eat any vegetables

B. he usually used mirror writing

C. he liked to publish his discoveries

D. he enjoyed drawing flying machines

49. Leonardo invented some machines to .

A. stop the war

B. help paint pictures

C. watch the birds

D. make good use of time

50. From the passage，we can learn that Leonardo was very .

A. humorous B. serious C. clever D. lonely

B

Skin-diving(轻装潜水)is a new sport today. This sport takes you into a wonderful new world. It is like a visit to the moon. When you are under the water，it is easy for you to climb big rocks，because you are no longer heavy.

Here，under water，everything is blue and green. During the day，there is plenty of light. When fish swim nearby，you can catch them with your hands.

When you have tanks of air on your back，you can stay in deep water for a long time. But you must be careful when you dive in deep water.

To catch fish is one of the most interesting parts of this sport. Besides，there are more uses for skin-diving. You can clean ships without taking them out of water. You can get many things from the deep sea.

Now you see that skin-diving is both useful and interesting.

51. Skin-diving is a popular sport. It can take you to .

A. deep water B. the mountains

C. a new world of land D. the moon

52. In deep water .

A. there is no light at all

B. there is plenty of light

C. there is a new world of land

D. it is like a visit to the moon