Flying like a bird has been the dream of humans since ancient times. Last week a group of modern birdmen put their courage on their wings and __45___ gravity (地球引力) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

   “Yes, you can buy a ticket and fly to another city. But running with your own wings and feeling your feet ready to _46___ is totally different,” Dong Fang said in an excited voice. He is one of 41 students from Hangzhou No. 14 Middle School to test their home-made aircrafts in the playground.

   __47___ by the International Bognor Birdman Competition in the UK. Ni Wangyue, a teacher in the high school is holding a similar event. The Bognor Birdman competition started in 1971 in the England costal city Bognor. People run off the end of a pier (码头) with their own aircraft in a(n) ___48___ to “fly” the furthest distance.

   “From the very beginning, I didn't expect my students to create a real plane or break any records. I told them the __49___ is more for seeing how far your imagination can stretch, ” said Ni. He was surprised to see his students create 10 different aircrafts with all kinds of material __ 50____ in the past month. Many students said that they learnt much more in the process of creating their plane than in ordinary classes.

   “We’d rather call ourselves dreamers __51___ pilots because no matter whether our wings really take off from the ground, our dream really flies,” said Dong Fang.

   Jing Yuchen and his team named their plane “Weiming E”, which __52__an unknown goose. The 17-year-old boy deeply believes their goose of steel pipe and sailcloth(帆布) will honour its name by successfully taking off.

  “Our work is much more imaginative than others. With several colourful balloons on its back and a pair of light plastic wings it is _53___ the most eye-catching work, if not the best,” said Yu Liang, another student.

   “__54___most of those home-made aircrafts cannot really take the boys flying, the boy’s braveness and creativity in this project will encourage every one of them to fly high in the future,”Ni said.

The world is not only hungry, but it is also thirsty for water．This may seem strange to you，since nearly 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered with water．But about 97 percent of this huge amount is sea water, or salt water．Man can only drink and use the other 3 percent-the fresh water from rivers，lakes，underground，and other sources．And we cannot even use all of that，because some of it is in the form of icebergs and glacier．Even worse，some of it has been polluted．
However，as things stand today, this small amount of fresh water is still enough for us．But our need for water is increasing rapidly-almost day by day．Only if we take steps to deal with this problem now can we avoid a severe worldwide water shortage later on．
We all have to learn how to stop wasting our valuable water．One of the first steps is to develop ways of reusing it．
Today in most large cities，water is used only once and then sent out into a sewer system．From there it returns to the sea or runs into underground storage tanks．But it is possible to pipe used water to a purifying plant．There it can be treated with chemicals so that it can be used again，just as if it were fresh from a spring．
But even if every large city purified and reused its water，we still would not have enough．All we'd have to do make use of the vast reserves of sea water in the world is to remove the salt．
If we take these steps we'll be in no danger of drying up．
56．The world is thirsty for water because we can only use      percent of the water covering the surface of the earth．
A．3    B．more than 3    C．less than 3    D．97
57．Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
A．As things remain unchanging，this small amount of fresh water is still enough for us．
B．Our need for water is becoming larger and larger．
C．There will be no water shortage in the future．
D．We should take steps to deal with the water shortage problem．
58．To reuse water, we should              ．
A．treat it with chemicals              B．use it only once
C．send it out into a sewer system       D．make it flow into underground tanks
59．In order to have enough water．we should also make use of          ．
A．icebergs and glaciers    B．sea water
C．rivers and lakes        D．underground water

The world is not only hungry, but it is also thirsty for water．This may seem strange to you，since nearly 70 percent of the earth's surface is covered with water．But about 97 percent of this huge amount is sea water, or salt water．Man can only drink and use the other 3 percent-the fresh water from rivers，lakes，underground，and other sources．And we cannot even use all of that，because some of it is in the form of icebergs and glacier．Even worse，some of it has been polluted．

However，as things stand today, this small amount of fresh water is still enough for us．But our need for water is increasing rapidly-almost day by day．Only if we take steps to deal with this problem now can we avoid a severe worldwide water shortage later on．

We all have to learn how to stop wasting our valuable water．One of the first steps is to develop ways of reusing it．

Today in most large cities，water is used only once and then sent out into a sewer system．From there it returns to the sea or runs into underground storage tanks．But it is possible to pipe used water to a purifying plant．There it can be treated with chemicals so that it can be used again，just as if it were fresh from a spring．

But even if every large city purified and reused its water，we still would not have enough．All we'd have to do make use of the vast reserves of sea water in the world is to remove the salt．

If we take these steps we'll be in no danger of drying up．

56．The world is thirsty for water because we can only use      percent of the water covering the surface of the earth．

A．3    B．more than 3    C．less than 3    D．97

57．Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A．As things remain unchanging，this small amount of fresh water is still enough for us．

B．Our need for water is becoming larger and larger．

C．There will be no water shortage in the future．

D．We should take steps to deal with the water shortage problem．

58．To reuse water, we should              ．

A．treat it with chemicals              B．use it only once

C．send it out into a sewer system       D．make it flow into underground tanks

59．In order to have enough water．we should also make use of          ．

A．icebergs and glaciers    B．sea water

C．rivers and lakes        D．underground water