完形填空

　　During the dust-blown thirties, everyone fell on hard times. The year 1 10, we drew names at our little school to see whom we'd 2 Christmas gifts with. I picked Helen's name. Helen was a new girl. Her family 3 in a house someone had deserted.

　　Every day Helen wore the 4 brown dress to school, some of the neighbors whispered that Helen's daddy was 5 , and that he drank. Some didn't 6 want their kids to be friends with Helen.

　　One day in December I said to Mom,“Wouldn't it be nice to get Helen a 7 for Christmas?”Mom agreed, 8 I could see from her expression that there was no extra money for material. She had bought the material for me and my sisters and our dresses were almost 9 “There must be a way,”I 10 . Mom hugged me.“I wish there was a way,”she said.

　　The next morning Mom called me into the kitchen.“I have a(an) 11 ,”she said.“You and Helen are the same 12 . If you gave her your new red dress, I could fix you up the wool plaid（格子花呢）one that your cousin Esther sent.”I got a special feeling in my stomach. Give Helen my new dress? 13 I could respond, Mom said quickly,“I'll go ahead and fix the plaid dress and you can give her that, so she will have a 14 dress to wear for Christmas.”

　　“Give the red dress to Helen,”I said.“I want her to have it.” “Are you 15 ?” “I am sure. Absolutely.”When Helen came into the room Mom handed her the new red dress. A look of 16 filled Helen's face. She hugged Mom. Helen took it and 17 it in front of her.“Thank you, thank you, thank--”she said to me.“I'm so 18 .”I was feeling happy, too. Helen moved away shortly after that and I never 19 her again. Me, the plaid dress became one of my 20 . 

　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.

　　①Brain-injured boy set for ￡ 1.75m payout

　　A YOUNGSTER who was knocked off his bicycle by a taxi and left with a serious brain injury is set to be awarded ￡ 1.75 million.

　　Fourteen-year-old George Currie, from Dalkeith, was living in country Durham with his parents Allister and Paula at the time of the accident in September 1993.

　　George, who was then three years old, was riding his small tricycle along the pavement when he lost control and swerved on to the road into the path of an on-coming taxi.

　　The driver's insurance company has now ac cepted responsibility for the accident and New Castle County Court is expected to rule on the payout on Monday.

　　②Boating accidents reduce

　　Lee and Collier counties tied at No. 10 for boating accidents in Florida in 2004, an improvement for both.

　　But because the counties remained in the top 10 among Florida's 67 counties, safety continues to be a concern, officials said.

　　③Teens react to new law on driving permit

　　Lawmakers may hope to make teenage drivers drive more safely, but some local teens behind the wheel feel angry following the passing of Senace Bill 36 last week.

　　SB 36 is a law that limits times new teen drivers can drive and the number of passengers

　　④Road accidents take costly toll

　　Traffic accidents kill more than one million people each year, injure tens of millions more and cost developing countries twice as much as they receive in international aid, the leader of a research body said Wednesday.

　　The figures have led experts to form an international road safety network to choose the most important research areas, inform policy makers and help develop ways to prevent accidents, particularly in poor nations.

　　pavement: 人行道

　　swerve: 突然转

　　insurance: 保险.

　　Florida counties with the most accidents in 2004:

　　1．Monroe (98)

　　2．Palm Beach (65)

　　3．Pinellas (64)

　　4．Broward (59)

　　5．Miami-Dade (54)

　　6．Okaloosa (34)

　　7．Orange (24)

　　8．Bay (22)

　　9．Lee (21)

　　10．Collier (21)

(1) What does Passage ① tell us about the boy?

[　　]

A．He was injured in the head when he was 14.

B．He has waited for the payout for a long time.

C．He has lived in the same place since the accident.

D．He was run over by a taxi when riding on the pavement.

(2) What can we learn about Lee and Collier counties from Passage ②?

[　　]

A．They both became safe places.

B．They won the same place in race.

C．They had the same number of accidents.

D．They joined hands in reducing accidents.

(3) Which passage would give more information on the prevention of road accidents?

[　　]

完形填空

　　There was a rich foreign merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and 1 her with best clothes and 2 her to delicious food.

　　He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He's very proud of her and always wanted to 3 her to his friends.

　　He, too, loved his 2nd wife. 4 the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his 2nd wife and she 5 always help him out.

　　Now, the merchant's 1st wife had made great contributions to his business. However, the merchant did not love her and 6 she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

　　One day, the merchant fell ill. He knew that he was going to die 7 . He told himself,“Now I have 4 wives with me. 8 when I die, I'll be alone. How 9 I'll be!”

　　Thus, he asked the 4th wife,“I 10 you most. Now that I'm dying, will you 11 me and keep me company?” “No way!” replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word.

　　The 12 merchant then asked the 3rd wife,“I have loved you so much for all my life. Will you follow me and keep me company?” “ 13 !”replied the 3rd wife.“Life is so good over here! I'm going to 14 when you die!”

　　He then asked the 2nd wife,“I 15 turned to you for help. Now I need you help again. Will you follow me and keep me company?” “I'm sorry, I can't 16 you out this time!”replied the 2nd wife.

　　Then a voice 17 out,“I'll leave with you. I'll follow you no matter 18 you go.”Brokenhearted, the merchant said,“I 19 have taken much better care of you while I could have !”

　　　　20 ,we all have 4 wives in our lives: our body, our possessions, our friends, and our soul. We should take good care of our soul all our life.