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The plan: turn Mars into a blue world with streams and green fields, and then fill it with creatures (生物) from the earth. This idea may sound like something from a science fiction (科幻小说), but it is actually being taken seriously by many researchers.
This suggested future for the “red planet” will be the main topic for discussion at an international conference hosted by NASA (美国宇航局) this week. Leading researchers as well as science fiction writers will attend the event. It comes as NASA is preparing a multi?billion?dollar Mars research programme. “Turning Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction,”said Dr Michael Meyer, NASA’s senior scientist for astrobiology (太空生物学). “Now, with scientists exploring the reality, we can ask what are the real possibilities of changing Mars.”
Most scientists agree that Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money would be needed to achieve this goal.
But many experts are shocked by the idea. “We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed and now we are talking about ruining another planet,” said Paul Murdin, of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK. Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident they will find Martian life forms. Europe and America’s robot explorers have found proof that water, mixed with soil, exists in large amounts on the planet.
In addition, two different groups of scientists announced on March 28 that they had found signs of methane (甲烷) in the Martian atmosphere (大气). The gas is a waste product of living creatures and could be produced by microbes (微生物) living in the red planet’s soil.
But scientists such as Dr Lisa Pratt, a biologist at Indiana University, say that these microbes will be put in danger by the little earth project. “Before we have even discovered if there is life on Mars, we are talking about carrying out projects that would destroy all these native lifeforms, all the strange microbes that we hope to find buried in the soil,” said Dr Pratt. This view is shared by Monica Grady, a planetary scientist at the Natural History Museum, London. “We cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious information we are looking for.” she said， “This is just wrong.”
5. The passage is about________.
A. a plan turning Mars into a little earth
B. the necessity of changing Mars
C. Mars supporting life
D. finding water in the Mars
6. Which of the following is NOT the reason why some scientists are against the plan?
A. The project would wipe out all the native lifeforms on the Mars.
B. The project will cost too much money and work.
C. We would ruin Mars.
D. We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed.
7. We can infer from the passage that________.
A. water is a crucial factor for life
B. the project will have little effect on the native lifeforms supposed to live on the Mars
C. Monica Grady is in favour of carrying out the little earth project
D. the idea turning Mars into a little earth is nothing but a science fiction
8. Which of the following supports the conclusion of microbes living in the Mars’s soil?
A. Scientists found liquid water in the Mars.
B. Scientists found signs of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
C. Scientists found a lot of good soil on the Mars.
D. Scientists found some creatures living on the Mars.
查看习题详情和答案>>I was no one special in Miss Roberts' class.I don't remember any one special bit of wisdom she passed on.Yet I cannot forget her respect for language,for ideas and for her students.I realize now,many years later,that she is a selfless teacher.I'd like to say something to her,but I don't want to pull her from a class.
The drama teacher brings Miss Roberts into the hallway where stands this 32-year-old man she last saw at 18.“I'm Mark Medoff,”I tell her.“You were my 12th grade English teacher in 1981.”She raises her head,as if this angle(角度) might bring back her memory.And then,though armed with a message I want to deliver in some perfect words,I can't think up anything more memorable than this,“I want you to know,”I say,“you were important to me.”
And there in the hallway,this slight and lovely woman,now nearing a retirement age, this teacher who doesn't remember me,begins to weep;she holds me in her arms.
Remembering this moment,I began to sense that everything I will ever know,everything I will ever pass on to my students,to my children,is an inseparable part of a treasure of our shared wonder and hope that we can,must,make ourselves better.
Irene Roberts holds me in her arms and through her tears whispers against my cheek,“Thank you.”And then,with a quick look into my forgotten face,she disappears back into her classroom,returns to what she has done thousands of days through all the years of my absence.
On reflection,maybe those were,after all,just the right words to say to Irene Roberts. Maybe they are the very words I would like to speak to all those teachers I carry through my life as part of me,the very words I would like spoken to me one day by some returning student:“I want you to know you were important to me.”
1.The writer of this passage is most probably ________.
A.a college student of drama
B.a 32-year-old actor
C.a high school student
D.a drama teacher
2.What the writer remembers most about his teacher is________.
A.her wisdom
B.her devotion to teaching
C.her way of teaching drama
D.her encouraging words
3.When the writer saw Miss Roberts,he ________.
A.held her in his arms
B.could hardly recognize her
C.talked a lot with her
D.successfully expressed his true feelings
4.According to the writer,the most important thing is ________.
A.self-improvement
B.a good memory
C.good health
D.good school grades
查看习题详情和答案>>The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic(赞同的) audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, “High school English teachers are not doing their jobs.” He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at a grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.
My topic is not standards nor its decline(降低). What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.
My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies (缺陷). But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.
The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.
Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not perceived(察觉) as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar(特有的) to today’s young people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not commit offenses against the language.
The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that _____.
A. the language of the younger generation is usually inferior(差的) to that of the older
generation
B. the students had a poor command of English because they didn’t work hard enough
C. he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for sixteen
years
D. English teachers should be held responsible for the students’ poor command of English
In the author’s opinion, the speaker ______.
A. gave a correct judgment of the English level of the students
B. had exaggerated(夸大) the language problems of the students
C. was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs
D. could think and speak intelligently
The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is ______.
A. neutral B. positive C. critical D. compromising
It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
A. it is justifiable(有理由的) to include English as a school subject
B. the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level
C. English language teaching is by no means an easy job
D. language improvement needs time and effort
In the passage the author argues that ______.
A. it is unfair to blame the English teachers for the language deficiencies of the students
B. young people would not commit offences against the language if the teachers did their
jobs properly
C. to eliminate(消除) language deficiencies one must have sensitive eyes and ears
D. to improve the standard of English requires the effort of several generations
查看习题详情和答案>>第三部分阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
(A)
Fang Wei had planned to study in Britain for his master's degree,but had to keep putting it off. These days,however,Fang is quite happy about the delay since the exchange rate of the British pound against the RMB has been descending.
“The change means I can save a large sum of money for my studies.” said Fang. “I pay a lot of attention to the poundtoRMB exchange rate every day now.” Last Tuesday the rate broke the 10yuan mark for the first time since 2005.
So，what is an exchange rate？
This is the standard term for the comparison of two currencies and tells how much one currency is worth when measured by the other. For example,the poundtoRMB exchange rate last Wednesday was 9.88，meaning that one pound was worth the same as 9.88 yuan.
But how could this affect our lives？
The exchange rate is important for anyone wanting to travel to or study in a foreign country.
A higher RMB value is good news for Chinese tourists and students. That's because any given amount of RMB can be exchanged for a larger amount of foreign money than with a lower RMB value. It therefore buys more abroad.
For example,according to Chinese agencies that handle study abroad,the cost for university study in Britain used to be around 20,000 pounds a year. At the beginning of 2008，when the poundtoRMB exchange rate stood at 14,Chinese students had to have 280,000 yuan for a year. But now that the rate has fallen to less than 10 yuan，200,000 yuan is enough for a year in Britain.
However，the stronger yuan may be bad news for Chinese exporters. A rising RMB means that Chinese products are becoming expensive and less attractive on foreign markets.
56.Why did Fang Wei have to put off his study in Britain？
A. Because he didn't have enough money.
B. Because the exchange rate of the poundtoRMB was too high.
C. Because he didn't get the letter from the university he had applied for.
D. The passage didn't tell us.
57.What's the meaning of the underlined word “descending” in Paragraph 1？
A. Turning down. B. Putting off.
C. Falling down. D. Going up.
58.If the poundtoRMB exchange rate was 12, Fang Wei would have paid 240,000 yuan for a year's study. Now the rate is 9.6，how much can he save if he goes to study in Britain？
A.46,000 yuan. B.42,800 yuan.
C.192,000 yuan. D.48,000 yuan.
59 .When RMB has a higher value in the currency exchange market，the following are right except that .
A. it shows we have a strong economic potential
B. it indicates we have a stable political environment
C. it will help our export business
D. it is beneficial for Chinese students and travelers to foreign countries
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56yearold becomes 1st woman to swim Atlantic
(AP)－Jennifer Figge pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand, excited and exhausted as she touched land this week for the first time in almost a month. Reaching a beach in Trinidad, she became the first woman on record to swim across the Atlantic Ocean—a dream she'd had since the early 1960s,when a stormy transAtlantic (飞越大西洋) flight got her thinking she could wear a life vest and swim the rest of the way if needed.
The 56yearold left the Cape Verde Islands off Africa's western coast on Jan.12,2009, swimming 19 out of 25 days battling waves of up to 30 feet.The distance from Cape Verde to Trinidad is about 700 miles.Crewmembers are still computing exactly how many miles she swam.
The original plan was for her to swim to the Bahamas—a distance of about 2,100 miles—but inclement (恶劣的) weather forced her to change her plans and she arrived at Trinidad on Feb.5.She now plans to swim from Trinidad to the British Virgin Islands,ending her voyage at the Bitter End Yacht Club in late February.
Her journey came a decade after French swimmer Benoit Lecomte made the first known solo transAtlantic swim,covering nearly 4,000 miles from Massachusetts to France in 73 days.No woman on record had made the crossing.
Figge wore a red cap and wet suit,with her only goodluck charm (护身符) underneath:an old,red shirt to guard against chafing (磨痛),signed by friends,relatives and her father,who recently died.The other cherished (珍惜) possession she kept onboard was a picture of Gertrude Ederle,an American who became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.“We have a few things in common,”Figge said,“She wore a red hat and she was of German descent (血统).We both talked to the sea,and neither one of us wanted to get out.”
1.When did Jennifer Figge want to swim across the Atlantic Ocean？
A．After she reached a beach in Trinidad.
B．After she pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand.
C．After her stormy transAtlantic flight in the early 1960s.
D．After her graduation from a university.
2.Jennifer Figge had to change her plans .
A．because she wanted to shorten her voyage
B．because of bad weather conditions
C．because she wanted to end her voyage in late February
D．because she wanted to set a new world record
3.When did Benoit Lecomte probably make the first known solo transAtlantic swim？
A．In 1999. B．In 1988. C．In 1978 . D．In 1968.
4.For what purpose did Jennifer Figge keep a photo of Gertrude Ederle？
A．Figge would like to follow her example.
B．She had the same red cap as Figge always wore.
C．Figge also wanted to swim across the English Channel.
D．They were both born in Germany.
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