If your cellphone suddenly stops working, don’t blame the service provider．The malfunction（故障） might well have been caused by something bigger -- a solar storm．Experts expect that Earth will see more solar activity in the near future．The malfunction of electronic devices will just one of the effects．
Sunspots（太阳黑子） serve as an indicator of the sun’s activity．For the past two years, sunspots have mostly been missing．Their absence, the most prolonged in nearly 100 years, has taken even seasoned sun watchers by surprise．
When the number of sunspots drops at the end of each 11-year cycle, solar storms die down and all become much calmer. This “solar minimum” doesn’t last long. Within a year, sunspots and solar storms begin to build toward a new crescendo, the next solar maximum.
What’s special about this latest cycle is that the sun is having trouble starting the next solar cycle. The sun began to calm down in late 2007, so no one expected many sunspots in 2008. They should return in 2010. Scientists have predicted that the next solar cycle could be the most active on record: more sunspots and more solar storms. However, sunspots are mostly missing now.
Since the earth is in close contact with the sun, strong solar activities can bring trouble to our life. People of the 21st century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. Air travel and radio communications can be affected by strong solar activities. A big solar storm could cause 20 times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.
What the sun will do next is beyond our ability to predict. Most astronomers think that the solar cycle will go on but at low level. However, there is also evidence that the sun is losing its ability to produce sunspots. By 2015, they could be gone altogether.
【小题1】The sun watcher feel surprised at            .

International experts meeting in Australia say global carbon emissions (排放) can be reduced by more than 50 percent through simple energy saving measures. People at a conference in Australia, which increasingly relies on coal for power, say that reducing power consumption is an affordable way to both cut energy costs and reduce pollution.
While many nations turn to cheap and dirty energy sources, such as coal, to meet their increasing energy needs, analysts in Australia say the best way to meet those needs is to improve energy efficiency.
A range of simple solutions include using energy-efficient homes, household appliances and lighting, and driving electric cars. Encouraging homeowners and office workers to switch off their televisions and computers at the end of the day is also seen as an effective way to save electricity.
Grayson Heffner, from the Paris-based International Energy Agency, says reducing consumption could greatly cut global carbon emissions. He calls efficiency strategies (策略) the “soft giant” of clean energy.
“We forecast that energy efficiency will deliver something like three-quarters of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions over the next 20 years. So in the short term energy efficiency is the main way that we reduce greenhouse gas emissions but oftentimes it is not so importantly stressed in the discussions,” said Heffner.
Energy experts working in China say the government is making significant cuts in power usage.
Wan Xingwang, a Beijing-based representative of the Energy Foundation, a U.S. non-government organization, says the results have been impressive.
“In the past five years China achieved about 19.1 percent of energy reduction of its GDP. That translates to something like more than 600 million tons of coal savings,” said Wan Xingwang.
While most nations have some sort of government-sponsored energy efficiency programs, energy analysts say initiatives (主动性) by individuals and companies can also help cut demand.
Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, a non-profit group based in Washington, says other developing nations are recognizing the benefits of cutting power consumption and taking action.
【小题1】To increase their energy supplies, many nations _____________________.

Sometime early in the next century, human beings will move to Mars．They will live there for about a year, and then will be replaced with another group of pioneers．Building the base on Mars will advance our knowledge of the solar system and aid in our understanding of the earth．
We already know that Mars resembles the earth in many aspects: general size, presence of water, length of day, range of temperatures．These resemblances have caused many people to consider a centuries-long project: to terraform Mars．Terraforming means altering a planet’s surface so that Earth’s life forms can survive there．This concept, previously found only in science fiction is now being seriously considered by scientists．
Terraforming Mars is theoretically simple: add nitrogen and oxygen to the atmosphere; pump water to the surface; and add the earth’s plants and animals in the order in which they developed on Earth．But it will take at least 300 years．
Some people think that such a project is too huge for humans to undertake, but there are very good reasons to make the attempt．The earth now contains some 6 billion people, and no one has any idea of how many humans the earth can support．Our very existence and numbers are threatening many other species．We also have had some experience with terraforming our own planet: altering the landscape, the atmosphere and the climate．Currently terraforming Earth has become a wiser activity as we try to control global warming, air and water pollution, and preserve some natural living places．
Small as the possibility of such a project is, it is not impossible．Even if earth-bound societies come and go in the next 300 years, the project can continue through the work of the Mars settlers without the need for constant backing from the earth．
The future existence of all the people in our world may very well depend upon our ability to terraform Mars．
【小题1】What would be the best title for this passage?

  Ed Jocelyn and Andy McEwen might have appeared to be a bit mad---the two set off on their own “Long March” through the remotest regions of China on October 16. The idea was to take a year to retrace one of the epic movements of modern military history.

   The two British men in their mid-30s were working as editors in Beijing when they decided to reexperience the tales of the original marches. “We hold these people in such respect,” McEwen says.

   They plan to keep diaries but will not share the contents during the trip. “When we get to the end we’ll put our heads together and try and come up with a book,” Jocelyn said.

   Their trip has had some auspicious beginning, they have already met two Long March veterans(老战士) in less than a month of travel.

   In this modern version, the pair are aided by high-tech equipment including a satellite phone, mini-computer, video camera and solar panels to recharge batteries. A mountain tent and portable stove will help them in the remoter stretches.

   They plan to average 35-40 kilometers a day, and rest about every third day. Ed admitted that their trip would be very tough.

   If they succeed, they will be the first foreigners to complete the entire Long March route since Otto Braun, the German military advisor who accompanied the Red Army on the Long March.

This text is mainly about           .

  A．high-tech equipment helpful to the Long March   

  B．first foreigners to walk the Long March

  C．British recall of the Long March spirit

  D．British editors’ adventure original in China       

The underlined word “auspicious” most probably means           .

   A．friendly        B．favourable      C．strange       D．surprising

Which of the following statements is NOT true about the two foreigners?

 A．They will use anything modern on the way.

 B．They will do some cooking by themselves.

 C．They’re planning to have a book published one year later.

 D．They will send off news about what happens day by day.

When we look at the sky and see a bright light moving quickly across it or coming towards the earth, we talk about seeing a “shooting star” or a “falling star”. These moving lights are not, in fact, stars at all. They are small pieces of matter from outer space, which burn up as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The correct name of them is meteoroids. Any pieces that make it to the Earth’s surface without completely burning up are known as meteorites. A meteor is actually the name given to the light we see when a meteoroid is burning up.
When a meteorite hits the Earth at speeds between 11 and 72 kilometers a second, it can do amazing damage. A very large meteorite could knock the earth out of its orbit. If this happened, all life on Earth would probably become extinct（灭绝）. The path we follow around the Sun would change and as a result the Earth would become either much hotter or much colder. This change in temperature would affect sea levels and the amount of water in rivers. There would either be huge floods, which would cover most of the land with water, or the oceans would dry up and there would be a drought, which means a long period of time without rain. Either way, nothing could survive. If a large meteorite landed in the sea it would almost certainly cause tsunamis, which would race towards the land, destroying everything in their paths.
Although it is unlikely the Earth will be struck by a meteorite large enough to do that kind of damage, there is evidence of fairly large meteorites hitting the Earth in the past. In 1908 a large area of forest in Tunguska, Siberia was destroyed by a meteorite that came apart just before it hit the ground. The moon, however, has about three billion craters陨石坑caused by meteorites impacting影响 its surface. The reason more meteorites have reached the surface of the moon than the surface of the Earth is that the moon does not have enough atmosphere for the meteorites to burn up in. some of the meteorites that have reached the Earth’s surface have done considerable damage. Some scientists believe it was a change of climate caused by meteorites hitting the Earth that resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs and other large prehistoric animals.
Scientists are especially interested in meteorites because they contain information about the solar system. It is widely believed by scientists that most meteorites are produced by collisions（碰撞） between asteroids (small planets). These collisions probably happened many billions of years ago. This means the physical and chemical structure of a meteorite can give scientists information about the early days of the universe.
【小题1】          The story is about ___.