阅读理解。 In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business. Bu
题型：期末题难度：来源：
invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his yard. That was the
first photograph.
The next important date in the history of photography was 1837. That year, Daguerre, another French, took
a picture of his studio. He used a new kind of camera and a different process. In his pictures, you could see
everything very clearly, even the smallest details. This kind of photograph was called a daguerreotype.
Soon, other people began to use Daguerre"s process. Travelers brought back daguerreotypes from all around
the world. People photographed famous buildings, cities and mountains.
In about 1840, the process was improved. Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving
things. The process was not simple. The photographers had to carry lots of films and processing equipment.
But this did not stop the photographers, especially in the United States. After 1840s daguerreotype artists were
popular in most cities.
Mathew Brady was a well-known American photographer. He took many pictures of famous people. The
pictures were unusual because they were very life-like and full of personality (个性).
Brady was also the first person to take pictures of war. His 1862 Civil War pictures showed dead soldiers
and ruined cities. They made the war seem more real and more terrible.
In the 1880s, new inventions began to change photography. Photographers could buy films readymade in
rolls (卷). So they did not have to make the film themselves. Also, they did not have to process the film
immediately. They could bring it back to their studios and develop it later meaning that they did not have to
carry lots of equipment. And finally, the invention of the small handheld camera made photography less
expensive.
With the small camera, anyone could be a photographer. People began to use cameras just for fun. They
took pictures of their families, friends and favorite places. They called these pictures "snapshot".
Photographs became very popular in newspapers in the 1890s. Soon magazines and books also used
documentary photographs. These pictures showed true events and people. They were much more real than
drawing.
Photography also turned into a form of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photographs were not
just copies of the real world. They showed ideas and feelings, like other art forms.
B. a kind of new art-photography
C. the development of photography
D. the important dates in the history of photography
B. an American photographer in the 1860s
C. a German reporter in the 1880s
D. a French artist in the 1890s
B. keep a record of real life
C. take photos of the famous people
D. show ideas and feelings in pictures
答案
举一反三
of direction. By trying out ideas and solving problems one by one, they are now getting closer to one answer.
One funny idea is that animals might have a built-in compass (指南针).
Our earth itself is a big magnet (磁体). So a little magnetic needle that swings freely lines itself with the
big earth magnet to point north and south. When people discovered that idea about a thousand years ago and
invented the compass, it allowed sailors to navigate (航海) on ocean voyages, even under cloudy skies.
Actually the idea of the living compass came just from observing animals in nature.
Many birds migrate twice a year between their summer homes and winter homes. Some of them fly for
thousands of kilometers and mostly at night. Experiments have shown that some birds can recognize star
patterns. But they can keep on course even under cloudy skies. How can they do that?
A common bird that does not migrate but is great at finding its way home is the homing pigeon. Not all
pigeons can find their way home. Those that can are very good at it, and they have been widely studied.
One interesting experiment was to attach little magnets to the birds" heads to block their magnetic sense-just
as a loud radio can keep you from hearing a call to dinner. On sunny days, that did not fool the pigeons.
Evidently they can use the sun to tell which way they are going. But on cloudy days, the pigeons with magnets
could not find their way. It was as if the magnets had blocked their magnetic sense.
Similar experiments with the same kind of results were done with honeybees. These insects also seem to
have a special sense of direction.
In spite of the experiments, the idea of an animal compass seemed pretty extraordinary. How would an
animal get the magnetic stuff for a compass?
An answer came from an unexpected source. A scientist was studying bacteria that lived in the mud of
ponds and marshes. He found accidentally little rod-like bacteria that all swam together in one direction-north.
Further study showed that each little bacterium had a chain of dense particles inside, which proved magnetic.
The bacteria had made themselves into little magnets that could line up with the earth"s magnet.
The big news was that a living thing, even a simple bacterium, can make magnetite. That led to a search to
see whether animals might have it. By using a special instrument called magnetometer, scientists were able to
find magnetite in bees and birds, and even in fish. In each animal, except for the bee, the magnetic stuff was
always in or close to the brain.
Thus, the idea of a built-in animal compass began to seem reasonable.
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