17—— I’d like＿＿＿＿＿information about the management of your hotel, please．

—— Well, you could have ＿＿＿＿＿ word with the manager． He might be helpful．

A．some； a           B．an； some  C．some； some         D．an； a

C
Our brains work in complex and strange ways．There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40,000 years, but who cannot add two plus two．Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once, but they cannot read or write．
Dr．J．Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887．He called these people idiot savants．An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental impairment （损伤） , such as in autism or retardation．At the same time, the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills, which are unusual for most people．The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics, or having a photographic memory．
One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr．Benjamin Rush, an American doctor．His patient, Thomas Fuller, was brought to Virginia as a slave in 1724．It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds．Despite this ability, he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write．
Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s．Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words, but he played 5 ,000 musical pieces beautifully．
In the excellent movie Rain Man, made in 1988 and available on video cassette, Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise, with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly．
Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment．Yet not all brain impairment leads to savant skills．Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills．However few people wish to participate in such experiments．There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain．The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate．Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots．
63．What does the passage mainly talk about?
A．Idiot savants have areas of outstanding abilities．
B．Human Beings have complicated thinking process．
C．The brains of the idiot savants are partly impaired．
D．The reasons why people have wonderful skills vary．
64．Which of the following can be done by Rain Man?
A．He can play wonderful pieces of classical music．
B．He can guess out exactly the length of a man's life．
C．He can memorize the contents of the pictures fast．
D．He can count matches dropped on the floor quickly．
65．What can you infer from the passage?
A．Idiot savants have real talents for art and math．
B．Dr．Down is the first person who found idiot savants．
C．Few people wish to risk becoming savants by brain operations．
D．Intentional left brain impairments will surely lead to idiot savants．
66．Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

1—5refer to paragraph 1—5.

C
Tech-Camp
6 Devon Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong a technology day camp for students 12-17.
About Tech-Camp
Tech-Camp is a day camp with a focus on computers and electronic technology. We offer 2-week summer programmes for students of 12-17 years of age. We have a computer lab with the latest and fastest equipment, an electronics lab and a video production studio. Our staff is special, too. Our programme leaders are experts in computer and electronics, of course, but they are also people who care about children and enjoy working with them.
The Benefits of Tech-Camp
In all of our programmes, we show students how to work in teams and how to solve problems by themselves. We encourage them to think creatively(有创造性地).
What students will do at Tech-Camp
Each day Tech-camp is filled with useful, interesting and challenging activities. For example, in the Computer Programme, students lean the basic computer programming, and how to use the Internet. In the Tech-Camp Programme, they make radio-controlled model cars and produce their own short videos.

C    

                              D

The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet (彗星) is heading towards the Earth . Most of it will miss our planet , but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the Earth .

On 17 July , a piece four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere (大气层) with a massive explosion . About half of the piece is destroyed , but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound . The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the sea bed . Huge waves are created and spread outwards from the hole . The wall of water , a kilometer high , rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour . Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people re drowned .

Before the waves reach South America , the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina . Earthquakes and volcanoes are set off in the Andes Mountains . The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean . The cities of Los Angeles , San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes . Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won’t escape for long . Because of the explosions , the sun is hidden by clouds of dust , temperatures around the world fall to almost zero .Crops are ruined . The sun won’t be seen again for many years . Wars break out as countries fight for food . A year later , no more than 10 million people remain alive .

Could it really happen ? In fact , it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth . The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years . Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared . Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space . The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out . Will we meet the same end ?

1.What is mainly described in the passage ?

2.When the first piece hits the South Atlantic , it causes           .

3.Why can’t the northern half of the earth escape for long ?