8. What do we know about about a new "smart bin" from the first paragraph?

　　　A. It works automatically. B. It has been used widely.

　　　C. It is easy to operate. D. It is very expensive.

　　9. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refer to?

　　　A. The waste. B. The camera. C. The bin. D. The sensor.

　　10. Why is John Lewis introducing more new hi-tech recycling bins?

　　　A. To change people's behaviour. B. To satisfy increasing demands.

　　　C. To popularize new technology. D. To make them more famous.

　　11. Where will the first version of new "smart bin" be used according to Bin. E's official?

　　　A. At home. B. In the supermarket. C. In the open air. D. In the office.

　　The exact work of ancient astronomers has led to a modern observation --- our days are longer than they used to be. Not that you'd noticed: The new research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A shows that it takes the Earth a tiny bit longer these days to complete a single rotation (转动) than it did millions of years ago. It's the kind of stuff that's measured in milliseconds per century, but those milliseconds add up. Over the last thousands of years, they'd totaled several hours, which the Los Angeles Times puts this way, "If humanity had been measuring time with an atomic clock that started running back in 700 BC, today that clock would read 7 p.m. when the sun is directly overhead rather than noon. The atomic clock won't lose a second for 15 billion years." Maybe more remarkable is that the work is the result of a tireless 40-year research into ancient timekeeping records dating back 2,700 years.

Scientists led by Richard Stephenson of the UK's Durham University have been studying Babylonian clay tablets, Chinese observations made through the use of water clocks, and Arab astronomical records that tracked solar and lunar eclipses(日/月食). "The most astonishing thing about this study is the fact that we have this information at all," said a geographer not involved in the study. Researchers are