Don't be joking. It's time to____________ your business.  

A. set out     B. take up     C. go on     D. get down

An annoying problem for humans, who like to boast (夸耀) about all the distant planets and moons we have explored, is that we've never taken a good look right under our noses．The inside of the earth is relatively close but how can we get there?

The deepest oil well enters a mere six miles into the crust (地壳)  (the center of the earth is about 4,000 miles deeper)．Russian scientists dug the deepest hole in Siberia," but bottomed out at about 7.5 miles below the surface．The Mohole project, a U.S．plan in the 1950s, called for drilling a hole 25 miles down to the boundary be??tween the hard rocks of the crust and the soft mantle (地幔)．Sadly the project involved govern??ment supporting.

It gets harder and harder to drill deep into the earth because rocks get softer and softer． Hard but easily broken at the surface, rocks become plastic at depth, and the pressure caused by the weight of the overlaying crust — about 52,800 pounds per square inch at a depth of ten miles, makes further drilling impossible.

What little we know about the inside of the earth (like the fact that there' s a crust, a mantle, and a core) comes from indirect evidence, such as the analysis of earthquakes.

So maybe it' s time for a thorough new method to explore the earth's inside．Scientist David Stevenson says we should forget about drilling holes．Instead, we should open a crack (裂缝)． 

Stevenson suggests digging a crack about a half mile long, a yard wide, and a half mile deep (not with a shovel) but with an explosion on the scale of a nuclear bomb．Next, he'd pour a few hundred thousand tons of molten (融化的) iron into the crack, along with a robot．The iron, thicker than the surrounding crust, would move downward at about 16 feet per second, carrying the robot with it and opening the crack deeper and deeper．The iron mass would drop for about a week and 2,000 miles to the outer edge of the earth core, the robot sending out data to the sur??face.

Stevenson compares his idea to space explo??ration．"We're going somewhere we haven't been before," he says．"In all possibility, there will be surprises."

This idea can probably be put in．the drawer marked with Isn't Going To Happen．The robot would have to survive temperatures that would melt pretty much anything．But Stevenson's idea may inspire a new look at an old problem．Great things can come from what seems like impossible ideas.

Going inside the earth is ________ than going into space.

A．more interesting B．more possible    C．easier            D．more challenging

How deep have we gone into the earth until now?

A．6 miles．         B．4,000 miles． C．7.5 miles．        D．25 miles.

Which of the following is TRUE about David Stevenson's idea?

A．It is an inspiring but not practical idea now．

B．It is a practical proposal that has come into use now.

C．It is a good proposal that will soon be put into practice.

D．It is a false theory that cannot be carried out at all.

What might be the most suitable title for the text?

A．An Annoying Problem for Humans

B．To the Center of the Earth

C．The Mohole Project

D．David Stevenson' s Proposal

    One afternoon，my son Adam asked me，“Are all people the same even if they are different in color?”

    I thought for a minute，and then I said，“I’ll explain, _21_ you can just wait until we make a quick 22 at the grocery store. I have something 23 to show you.＂

    At the grocery store， we 24 some apples―red，green and yellow ones．Back home．I told Adam，＂It’s time to 25 your question．”I put one apple of each 26 on the table．Then I looked at Adam, who had a 27 look on his face.

    “People are like apples．They come in all 28 colors，shapes and sizes．On the 29 ,some of the apples may not 30 look as delicious as the others．”As I was talking, Adam was 31  each one carefully.

    Then, I took each of the apples and peeled（削皮）them, 32  them back on the table, but 33 a different place.

    “okay, Adam, tell me which is which.”

    He said, “I 34  tell. They all look the same now.” “Take a bite of 35 . See if that helps you 36 which one is which.”

    He took 37 , and then a huge smile came across his face. “People are 38 like apples! They are all different, but once you 39 the outside, they’re pretty much the same on the inside.”

 He totally 40 it. I didn’t need to say or do anything else.

Here is the Eight O’clock News.
…
Chinese people spent about 120 billion yuan during the first three days of the May Golden Week last year. This year it has increased to 140 billion yuan.
The children of Beijing No.2 Middle School sang with students from Toronto in Canada to celebrate the 20th anniversary. They had been sister schools since 1986. They spent about two weeks together in Beijing. They visited the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. They took a lot of photos in Beihai Park.
Have you ever got tired of heavy shopping bags? A new shopping assistant robot which was invented by a Japanese company could be the answer. The helpful robot can follow you around and carry several bags. The robot was tested at a shopping center in February 2006.
About 500 people from different countries were in the 2006 “Rock Paper Scissors (剪刀)” World Match in Canada. This event was founded in 1842. It is said that playing this game is fun, and also a good way to solve problems among people.
…
And now it’s time for Morning Music.
【小题1】The students from Canada and Beijing No. 2 Middle School didn’t _________.

When someone says, "Well, I guess I’ll have to go to face the music", it does not mean he is planning to go to a concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this or that, and why you did not do this or that. Sour（剌耳的; 拙劣的）music, indeed, but it has to be faced.

The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. Where did the expression come from?

The first information comes from the American writer James Fennimore Cooper. He said in 1851 that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on stage. After they got their cue（提示，暗示） to go on, they often said, "It’s time to go to face the music." And that is exactly what they did--- face the orchestra (管弦乐队) which was just below the stage.

An actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of the audience that might be friendly or perhaps unfriendly especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. So, “to face the music" came to mean having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.

The other explanation comes from the army. Men had to face inspection(视 察)by their leader. The soldiers worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean--shiny enough to pass inspection? Still, the men had to go out, and face the music of the band, as well as the inspection. What else could they do?

According to the passage, the word “music" means________.

A．your boss’s criticism(批评)              B．your leader’s inspection

C．something unpleasant to be experienced    D．sour pop music

The phrase ‘to face the music" was first used by _______.

A．all the Americans       B．the American writer James Fennimore cooper

C．some American actors   D．the American orchestra

An actor might feel frightened or nervous when going on stage. One of the reasons is that ______.

A．his performance was not good at all

B．he might not remember what he should say on stage

C．he had to face the unfriendly audience

D．most of the audience might be his friends

to face the music" is also used to mean that soldiers were not willing _______.

A．to be examined about their equipment    B．to be found weak

C．to show themselves up in public         D．to be inspected by their leader

The passage is mainly about_______.

A．the meaning of the phrase ‘to face the music"  B．how to deal with something unpleasant

C．how to learn English phrase                D．how to go through difficulty