单选题   For thousands of years, people thought of glass as something beautiful to look at. Only recently have they come to think of it as something to look through. Stores display their goods in large glass windows. Glass bottles and jars that hold food and drink allow us to see the contents. Glass is used to make eyeglasses, microscopes, telescopes, and many other extremely useful and necessary objects.
    Until the Second World War, most of the glass used for optical instruments was imported from Europe. However, during the war Americans could not get European glass, and they were forced to make their own. As a result, new kinds of glasses were developed that had been previously unknown. These new effects were achieved by mixing other chemical elements with the sand. Some of these new glasses are very strong and can resist many kinds of shocks. Legend has it that a very hard glass was invented by a Roman who showed his discovery to the Emperor. When the Emperor saw the glass he feared that it would become more valuable than gold and silver, malting his treasure worthless. Therefore, he had the glassmaker killed, and the secret was not discovered again for hundreds of years.
    In the present century, safety glass was invented for use in modern cars and planes. Safety glass is made by placing a layer of plastic between two layers of plate glass. When the outside layer of glass is broken, the pieces do not scatter and injure people. Some glass of this type is strong enough to resist bullets.
    Although in recent years plastics have replaced glass under conditions where glass might be easily broken, there are new uses being developed, for the greatest advantage of glass is that its component parts are inexpensive and can be found all over the world.
单选题     With the passage of time, glass ______.
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】本题考查倒装句的理解。从文章第2句的开头only recently可知第1句和第2句是对比关系：现在的情况与以前不一样了，因此B为正确选项。选项A是对原文第2句话的曲解，虽然这句话中说到的玻璃现在被视为something to look through，但是，这句话要强调的并不是到现在人们才发现玻璃是透明的，而是要强调玻璃可以被用作工具，透过它去看别的东西。选项C中的look pleasant和选项D在文中都没有提到。
单选题     Why did Americans make their own glass during the Second World War?
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】从第2段的第1、2句可以看出，二战前美国从欧洲进口玻璃，而战时却不能从欧洲进口玻璃，也就是说，进口玻璃的渠道应是被战争中断了，因此答案应为选项A。选项D是不能进口玻璃的结果．而不是原因。其余两项都没有原文依据。
单选题     By telling the legend, the author wants to ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题考查例子与主题的关系。作者引用传说，只是为了使文章读起来更有趣。这是一个传说，不一定是真实的，因此，它不能被视为选项D所提及的历史事件，也不能证明是罗马人第一个发明坚固的玻璃，所以选项A也是不对的。选项B与本段内容无关，本段主要说明了美国人开发出新的玻璃制品的来由，并无说明美国人聪明之意。
单选题     All of the following concerning the safety glass are discussed in the text EXCEPT ______.
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】本题考查列举处，用排除法可以找出答案。第3段中除选项D外，选项A可从第1句推断，选项B可从最后一句推断，选项C可从第2句推断。
单选题     New uses of glass are being developed on the ground that ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题解题的关键在于注意最后一段中的“there are new uses being developed, for...”，这里表明了一对因果关系，for后面引出不断研发玻璃新用途的原因，由此可见，本题正确选项应为C。选项A和B中提到的玻璃的缺点虽在现实中也是有可能的，但文中并无字句说明因为这些缺点而要不断研发玻璃的新用途。