For more than twenty years scientists have been searching for signs of life on other planets. Most of these searches have been done over the radio. The hope is that someone in outer space may be trying to get in touch with us. Scientists also have sent radio and television messages on spaceships traveling through space, on the chance that someone may be receptive to such messages.

　　Scientists are using powerful radio telescopes to listen to signals from about 1, 000 stars, all within 100 light years of earth. In addition, they will scan（扫视）the entire sky to “listen” for radio messages from more distant stars. Using a computer, they will be able to monitor more than eight channels at one time. Scientists are looking for any signal they stands out from the background noise.

　　Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy（银河星系）, scientists find that five percent are like our sun. Perhaps half of them have a planet like earth. Such a planet would be a reasonable distance from the star for temperatures to be right for the evolution（进化）of life. Based on the inhabitable（that can be lived in）planets in our galaxy, most scientists agree that chances are likely that one or more of these planets support some life.

　　However, many scientists wonder whether intelligent（有智力的）life exists on other planets. Some believe that twenty years of searching without any intelligible messages shows that no one is out there. They say that the evolution of intelligence comparable to ours is unlikely.

　　Other scientists believe that our search hasn’t been long enough to rule out the possibility that intelligent life exists in our galaxy. Although our sun family is only about five billion years old, our galaxy is about 20 billion years old. In that time, some scientists think it is likely that civilization（文明）much more advanced than ours have developed. Perhaps these civilizations send us no signals; perhaps we have not recognized the signals they have sent us. If we hope to find intelligent life, these scientists believe that we have to keep looking.

According to the passage, how many planets in our galaxy might be inhabitable?

　　A. 5 billion．　　　　　　　　　　 B. 10 billion.

　　C. 15 billion.　　　　　　　　　　　D. 200 billion

The first paragraph in this passage is mainly about ________ .

　　A. how scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

　　B. why scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

　　C. where scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

　　D. when scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

The underlined word “monitor” in the passage means“ ________ ”.

　　A. find　　　　　　　　　　　　　B. follow

　　C. check　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. form

Which of these statements is true based on the information in the passage?

　　A. The earth is one of the oldest planets in our galaxy.

　　B. Most scientists believe that there is intelligent life on other planets.

　　C. Scientists are trying different ways to find signs of life on other planets.

D. Scientists don’t believe that there might be life on other planets.

　　A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent，increasing the brainpower they had at birth.
　　Until now，it has been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience—what psychologists call fluid intelligence—is innate and cannot be taught（though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing）.
　　But in the new study，researchers describe a method for improving this skill，along with experiments to prove it works.
　　The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory—the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it. This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence，so the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence.
　　First they measured fluid intelligence of volunteers using standard tests. Then they trained each in a complicated memory task—the child’s card game，in which they had to recall a card they saw and heard. During the course, they needed to ignore irrelevant items，monitor ongoing performance，manage two tasks at the same time and connect related items to one another in space and time.
　　The four groups experienced a half-hour of training daily for 8，12，17 and 19 days，respectively. To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills，the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training.
　　The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences，were striking. Improvement in the trained groups was a lot greater. Moreover，the longer they trained, the higher their scores were. All performers，from the weakest to the strongest，showed significant improvement.
　　“Our results show you can increase your intelligence with proper training.”said Dr Jaeggi, a co-author of the paper.“No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops，”he added，“and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains.”
67．The researchers thought the key to improving the intelligence was ______________.
A．memorizing telephone numbers
B．improving working memory
C．training in concentration
D．recalling a card
68．The following aspects of the training help increase intelligence EXCEPT___________.
A．ignoring irrelevant items
B．monitoring ongoing performance
C．managing two tasks at the same time
D．using previous experience
69．When the experiment was conducted，the researchers______________.
A．trained the four groups for the same period of time
B．only made comparisons between the four groups
C．compared the four groups with control groups
D．trained the four groups together
70．By writing the article，the writer intends to ______________.
A．inform the readers of a new study
B．call on people to be trained to increase intelligence
C．prove one’s born brainpower can be improved
D．tell people the improved intelligence will last forever

单词拼写 共10题，每题1分，共10分

1. I'm terribly sorry. I didn't do it on (故意)________.

2. She came up to me and started talking in such a（熟悉）________ way that I thought I must have met her before.

3.Whether you will succeed or not in doing the work depends on your (态度) ____ to it.

4. Don't be shy. If you have some questions, you must be (勇敢)_______ enough to speak it out in public.

5.Many students attended the lecture, (包括)_______our monitor.　

6. Air pollution is one of the biggest problems that we can’t (忽略)_______. We should pay more attention to it.

7. We have different ideas about the issue. That is to say we（不同意）______ with each other.

8. He found it difficult to remember the English word and failed in the English exam because of his poor English（词汇）_______.

9. It is not right to （判断）______ a person by the clothes he wears.

10. We all know that my desk-mate is too（顽固）_______ to change his mind.

Scientists who try to predict earthquakes have gotten some new helpers recently—animals.
　　That’s right, animals. Scientists have begun to understand what farmers have known for thousands of years. Animals often seem to know in advance that an earthquake is coming, and they show their fear by acting in strange ways. Before a Chinese quake in 1975, snakes awoke from their winter sleep early only to freeze to death in the cold air. Cows broke their halters (缰绳) and tried to escape. Chickens refused to enter their cage. All of this unusual behavior, as well as physical changes in the earth, warned Chinese scientists of the coming quake. They moved people away from the danger zone and saved thousands of lives.
　　One task for scientists today is to learn exactly which types of animal behavior predict quakes. It’s not an easy job. First of all not every animal reacts to the danger of an earthquake. Just before a California quake in 1977, for example, an Arabian horse became very nervous and tried to break out of his enclosure. The Australian horse next to him, however, remained perfectly calm. It’s also difficult at times to tell the difference between normal animal restlessness and “earthquake nerves”. A zoo keeper once called earthquake researchers to say that his cougar had been acting strangely. It turned out that the cat had an upset stomach.
　　A second task for scientists is to find out exactly what kind of warnings the animals receive. They know that animals sense far more of the world than humans do. Many animals can see, hear, and smell things that people do not even notice. Some can sense tiny changes in air pressure, gravity, or the magnetism of Earth. This extra sense probably helps animals predict quakes.
　　A good example of this occurred with a group of dogs. They were shut in an area that was being shaken by a series of tiny earthquakes. (Several small quakes often come before or after a large one.) Before each quake a low booming sound was heard. Each boom caused the dogs to bark wildly. Then the dogs began to bark during a silent period. A scientist who was recording quakes looked at his machine. It was acting as though there were a loud noise too. The scientist realized that the dogs had reacted to a booming noise. They also sensed the tiny quake that followed it. The machine recorded both, though humans felt and heard nothing.
In this case there was a machine to monitor what the dogs were sensing. Many times, however, our machines record nothing extraordinary, even though animals know a quake is coming. The animals might be sensing something we measure but do not recognize as a warning. Discovering what animals sense, and learning how they know it is a danger signal, is a job for future scientists.
【小题1】Through the passage the writer hopes to explore __________.

阅读理解

　　As you are receiving my note by e-mail, it’s wise to remember how easily this wonderful technology can be misused, sometimes unintentionally, with serious consequences.

　　Consider the case of the Illinois man who left the snow-filled streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher’s wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor(屏幕), let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint. At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:

　　DEAREST WIFE: JUST GOT CHECKED IN. EVERYTHING PREPARED FOR YOUR ARRIVAL TOMORROW.

　　P. S SURE IS HOT DOWN HERE.

1．From where do you think this passage comes from? It comes from ________.

[　　]

2．What does the underlined word in the first paragraph mean?

[　　]

3．How was the weather in Florida when the story happened? It was ________.

[　　]

4．Why did the old lady fall to the floor? Because ________.

[　　]

A．she was in great sorrow

B．she didn’t like to be made fun of

C．she thought the mail was from her husband who died the day before

D．she was in too poor health

5．From whom and to whom was the e-mail intended to be sent? It was intended to be sent from ________ to ________.

[　　]

A．the Illinois man…the old lady

B．the preacher…his wife

C．the Illinois man…his own wife

D．somebody unknown…the old lady