Science, as we think, was born when the Greek philosopher Thales asked a difficu

Science, as we think, was born when the Greekphilosopher (哲学家) Thales ( about 640-546 B.C.) asked adifficult question: What makes up our universe?

No one had a ready answer, so Thales went on studyingthe earth around him, the sky and the stars. He saw so much water on earth andso much water falling from the sky as rain that he decided water must be thebasic substance (物质) of the universe.

Other Greek thinkers became interested in thisquestion. They suggested other answers. One said that because air lies aroundthe earth, it must be air that makes up all things. Another said that fire,appearing in different forms, was the building block of the universe.

The Greek philosophers were feeling their way towardsthe ideas on which chemistry is based. Centuries later, scientists proved thatthe universe is made up of certain basic substances. But the list is much more complicatedthan the Greeks realized. We now know of 103 basic substances which we call “elements (元素)”.

1.Thales, the famous Greek philosopher, died when hewas about_________.

A．94 years old       B．106years old       C．40 years old       D．46 years old

2.The meaning of the underlined word “complicated” inthe last paragraph is “_______”.

A．not difficult       B．not simple         C．not famous        D．not different

3.From the passage we know that _______.

A．Thales askedmany questions              B．Greeks wereall philosophers

C．science beganlong ago                   D．water and airmake up all things.

4.On the whole, the passage tells about _______.

A．early triesto understand the universe       B．the famous Greek thinkers

C．water fallingfrom the sky                 D．air lying allaround the earth

5.After reading the passage, we can be surethat_______.

A．nothing everchanges in the universe

B．Thalesdecided that the basic substance of the universe was air

C．the universeis made up of four different substances

D．the earlyGreek thinkers did much valuable work for the progress of science

试题答案

【答案】

1.A

2.B

3.C

4.A

5.D

【解析】

试题