A couple from Minneapolis decided to go to Florida for a long weekend to warm themselves up during one particularly icy cold winter. They planned to stay at the very same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years ago. They both had jobs, so it was decided that the husband would fly to Florida on a Thursday, and his wife would follow him the next day. Upon arriving as planned, the husband checked into the hotel. There he decided to open his laptop and send his wife an e-mail back in Minneapolis. However, he accidentally left off one letter in her address and sent the e-mail without noticing his error.
In the same time: In Houston, a woman had just returned from her husband’s funeral(葬礼). He was a minister of many years who had been “called home to glory” following a heart attack. The woman checked her e-mail, expecting message from family and friends. Upon reading the first message, she fainted(昏厥)and fell to the floor. Her son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor and saw the computer screen which read:
To: My Loving Wife
From: Your Departed Husband
Subject: I’ve arrived!
I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful(平静)as mine was.
P.S. Sure is hot down here.
【小题1】Why did the couple decide to go to Florida for weekend?

A.To visit their family and friends
B.To escape from the cold winter
C.To escape from their busy work
D.To attend a friend’s funeral
【小题2】What mistake did the husband make after checking into the hotel?
A.He checked into a wrong hotel
B.He forget to bring the laptop
C.He misspelled her wife’s address
D.He forgot to mail his letter
【小题3】The expression “called home to glory” probably suggests that the man had          .
A.gone back to his hometown
B.called his family to say hello
C.been awarded a prize
D.died and gone to heaven
【小题4】How did the woman probably feel after reading the e-mail?
A.PleasedB.AmazedC.FrightenedD.Moved
【小题5】Which of the following is true according to the text?
A.The woman’s husband died of a heart attack
B.The woman liked to chat with her friends by e-mail
C.The couple held their wedding in Florida 20 years ago.
D.His wife wouldn’t go to Florida for his error.

Sarah Williams went to a boarding school.  Here is one of the
letters she wrote to her parents from the school.
Wentworth Girls' School
Beachside
July 20th
Dearest Mom and Dad,
I'm afraid I have some very bad news for you. I have been very naughty and the school principal is very angry with me. She is going to write to you. You must come and take me away from here. She does not want me in the school any longer.
The trouble started last night when I was smoking in bed.  This is against the rules, of course. We are not supposed to smoke at all.
As I was smoking, I heard footsteps coming towards the room. I did not want a teacher to catch me smoking, so I threw the cigarette away.
Unfortunately, the cigarette fell into the waste-paper basket, which caught fire.
There was a curtain near the waste-paper basket which caught fire, too. Soon the whole room was burning.
The principal phoned for the fire department. The school is a long way from the town and by the time the fire department arrived, the whole school was in flames. Many of the girls are in the hospital.
The principal says that the fire was all my fault and you must pay for the damage. She will send you a bill for about a million dollars.
I’m very sorry about this.
Much love,
Sarah
P. S. None of the above is true, but I have failed my exams. I just want you to know how bad things could have been!
【小题1】Why did Sarah write home?

A.To tell her parents about the fire.
B.To ask for a lot of money.
C.To tell her parents she had failed her exams.
D.To tell her parents she had to leave school.
【小题2】Why did Sarah tell her parents the story about the fire?
A.She wanted to worry them.
B.She wanted to make them laugh.
C.She wanted to make them less angry at the real news.
D.She wanted to warn them about what the principal was going to do.
【小题3】The letter before the. P. S. was        .
A.mostly trueB.partly true
C.completely trueD.completely untrue

Tsunami warning system is tested
If he, the founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, were alive, Thomas Jaggar would be proud of the U.S. tsunami warning system after Friday’s devastating earthquake in Japan sent a surge (大浪,汹涌) of ocean water dashing toward the West Coast.
● WASHINGTON — So many people surged to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center website that it slowed to a crawl early Friday, unable to provide critical information to the public about the coastal impact in the U.S. of a massive earthquake in Japan.
McClatchy Washington Bureau — Mar 11 06:09 p.m.
● CHICAGO — A tsunami warning has been issued for the central and northern California coast and Oregon, the National Weather Service announced early Friday.
Chicago Tribune— Mar 11 06:07 a.m.
● HONOLULU — A tsunami warning was issued late on Thursday for Hawaii after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific near Japan, prompting state civil defense officials to order all coastal areas evacuated(把…撤出…)by 2 a.m. local time. Tsunami sirens (警报) began sounding at 9:59 p.m. on Thursday. They have sounded every hour since 11:15 p.m.
Alaska Tsunami Warning Center also issued a warning for much of the coasts of Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California.
Reuters via Yahoo! News — Mar 11 01:22 a.m.
● LOMPOC — Tsunami warning ‘a wake-up call’
A tsunami warning that led to evacuations for coastal

communities and campgrounds in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties Friday served as a successful trial for a more serious emergency, officials said after the danger passed.
The Lompoc Record — Mar 11 11:29 p.m.
● WELLINGTON — The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a warning after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific near Japan, and it said the sea level readings confirm that a tsunami has been generated and was in effect for some Pacific islands — Hawaii, China’s Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia etc.
New Straits Times — Mar 11 07:48 a.m.
— Reproduced by Yahoo Greenwich Meantime
【小题1】.
. A tsunami warning was issued for all the following states in the U.S. except for _____.

A.OhioB.CaliforniaC.OregonD.Alaska
【小题2】.
The underlined word “prompting” (in the fourth paragraph) most probably means _____.
A.promotingB.advocating C.urgingD.appealing
【小题3】.
According to the passage, the Pacific Tsunami warning was first reported by _____.
A.New Straits TimesB.Reuters via Yahoo! News
C.McClatchy Washington BureauD.Chicago Tribune
【小题4】.
In which city did the news agency issue a tsunami affecting for some other places apart from Japan and Hawaii?
A. LOMPOC.       B. WASHINGTON.      C. HONOLULU.    D. WELLINGTON.

Mandara seemed to know something big was about to happen. So she let out a yell, caught hold of her 2-year-old daughter Kibibi and climbed up into a tree. She lives at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

And on Tuesday, August 23rd, witnesses say she seemed to sense the big earthquake that shook much of the East Coast before any humans knew what was going on. And she’s not the only one. In the moments before the quake, an orangutan (猩猩) let out a loud call and then climbed to the top of her shelter.

“It’s very different from their normal call,” said Brandie Smith, the zookeeper. “The lemurs (monkey-like animals of Madagascar) will sound an alarm call if they see or hear something highly unusual.”

But you can’t see or hear an earthquake 15 minutes before it happens, can you? Maybe you can — if you’re an animal. “Animals can hear above and below our range of hearing,” said Brandie Smith. “That’s part of their special abilities. They’re more sensitive to the environment, which is how they survive.”

Primates weren’t the only animals that seemed to sense the quake before it happened. One of the elephants made a warning sound. And a huge lizard (蜥蜴) ran quickly for cover. The flamingoes (a kind of bird) gathered before the quake and stayed together until the shaking stopped.

So what kind of vibrations were the animals picking up in the moments before the quake? Scientist Susan Hough says earthquakes produce two types of waves — a weak “P” wave and then a much stronger “S” wave. The “P” stands for “primary”. And the “S” stands for “secondary”. She said she thinks the “P” wave might be what set the animals off.

Not all the animals behaved unusually before the quake. For example, Smith says the zoo’s giant pandas didn’t jump up until the shaking actually began. But many of the other animals seemed to know something was coming before it happened. “I’m not surprised at all,” Smith said.

1.Why did Mandara act strangely one day?

A.Because it sensed something unusual would happen.

B.Because its daughter Kibibi was injured.

C.Because it heard an orangutan let out a loud call.

D.Because an earthquake had happened.

2.According to Brandie Smith, _____.

A.many animals’ hearing is sharp

B.earthquakes produce two types of waves

C.primates usually gather together before a quake

D.humans can also develop the ability to sense a quake

3.Which word in the passage has a close meaning to the underlined word “cover”?

A.vibration          B.shelter            C.quake            D.range

4.Which animal seems unable to sense a quake?

A.A giant panda.      B.A flamingo.         C.A lemur.          D.A lizard.

5.What is the best title for the passage?

A.How animals survive a quake.              B.How animals differ from humans.

C.How animals behave before a quake.        D.How animals protect their young in a quake.

 

On August 5 at 10:31 p.m. PST, a rover(探测器)named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars, and I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat.

My name is Clara, and when I was in Grade 6, I won the essay contest NASA held to name its next Mars rover. The essay I wrote was not even 250 words long, but somehow it was enough to change my life.

I still remember that cold December day, sitting in a science class. I’d finished a worksheet early and decided to get a Time for Kids magazine off Mrs. Estevez’s bookshelf. It was the 2008 Invention Issue, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye. In the magazine, there was an article about a girl who named the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The article also talked about the essay contest NASA was holding to name its next Mars rover. Before I even knew anything else about it, a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind: Curiosity.

I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay. That afternoon, I raced home from the bus stop, sat down at the computer and typed until my fingers ached. It turned out that I was just in time. A few days later, and the contest would have closed.

Five months later, shortly after I had turned 12, I was watching a National Geographic special on mammoths when the phone rang. My mom answered, and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face. When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being, I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.

Curiosity is such an important part of who I am. I have always been fascinated by the stars, the planets, the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl, my grandfather and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. He’d tell me stories and point out the stars.

My grandfather lived in China, thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess some mystery.

In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like – you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.

People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars. Why do we explore? My answer to that is simple: because we can; because we’re curious; because we as human beings do not just stay holed up in one place. We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.

The curiosity rover is more than just a robot. It is more than just a titanium body and aluminum wheels. Curiosity represents the hard work, passion, love and commitment of thousands of people from all over the world who were brought together by science. Science is so awesome. It is breathtaking and mind-blowing; and sometimes, it’s just a little bit crazy. The discoveries we make about our world are incredibly humbling. They move us forward and have the potential to benefit all of mankind.

This December it will be four years of my life that have been tied to Curiosity in some way. I’ve met so many amazing people through this experience, from scientists to engineers to administrators to volunteers. Their devotion and enthusiasm inspire me greatly. My journey with Curiosity and the MSL mission team has shaped the person that I am today, as well as the person I would one day like to become.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have this amazing adventure.

And to you, I hope your curiosity takes you far.

1. The method the writer uses to begin the passage is _____.

A.telling a story                          B.giving an example

C.offering an explanation                   D.describing a scene

2.Why did the writer hurry home to finish the essay for the contest NASA held?

A.She had just gathered enough information from Time for Kids

B.She wanted to write down what flashed through her mind in time.

C.She knew from Mrs. Estevez the deadline for the contest was approaching.

D.She was afraid she might miss the chance to compete with the former winner.

3. The writer mentions her grandfather in order to show that ______.

A.she missed him very much.

B.he knew a great deal about space

C.he influenced her to love the stars

D.she treasured their happy moments

4.Which of the following serves as a summary of Paragraph 11?

A.The writer was inspired to be a volunteer by the people she met.

B.The writer owed her success to her team members’ encouragement.

C.The writer met many difficulties in her four-year life with Curiosity.

D.The writer has benefited a lot from her experience tied to Curiosity.

5.Which best describes the writer’s tone in the passage?

A.Sharp.            B.Proud.            C.Aggressive.        D.Enthusiastic.

6.What is conveyed in the passage?

A.Curiosity is important to human beings.

B.A thirst for knowledge helps one grow up.

C.Entering a contest is a way to achieve success.

D.Curiosity changes people’s attitude towards science.

 

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