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第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A, B, C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
During an exhibition show the skills of disabled people, an armless man used his mouth and feet to repair a watch. He completed the task in just a few minutes at the show, which was held in Beijing last Saturday. Just imagine the tiny parts that make up a watch. You have to wonder how the disabled man developed such a skill.
It was reported that 28-year-old Wang Jianghai lost his arms in an accident when he was five and began learning to repair watches at the age of 17. He has repaired more than 10,000 watches in the past 11 years.
What strong self-confidence he must have to overcome the difficulties in getting this skill! What optimism he must have to face the unfairness of his hard life! And what strong determination he must have to go through the hardship in his struggle for a normal life! Such confidence, optimism and willpower are exactly the qualities many physically healthy people lack nowadays. Wang has set a good example for young people.
But today's youth seem to be more interested with their TV stars and pop singers but less interested in learning from the examples of working and studying hard to achieve higher goals. . That is undoubtedly the result of the influence of a changing social atmosphere. One must admit that there is a trend towards hedonism in our society. People are increasingly more concerned about material gains than about spiritual pursuits. While adults know they must work hard whatever way they choose to materialize the gains, the younger generation are more likely to seek ease and comforts of their senses.
This pleasure-seeking trend provides a huge market for the entertainment industry and the mass media. The media devote excessive too much coverage to anecdotes of pop and TV stars, which in turn fans wider and stronger enthusiasm for entertainment among the public, especially young people.
Ours is a developing country. Global competition in the growth of national strength presents a demand for China to be quicker in its development. We cannot afford to lose time. We need to make our economy more powerful. To meet this need, all of us should maintain our tradition of working hard and overcoming difficulties.
56. A particular mention made of Wang Jianghai’s story in the first two paragraphs _____.
A. serves as a description of the trend today  
B. serves as an introduction to the discussion
C. shows a disagreement of views    
D. show the popularity of the TV stars and pop singers
57. Which of the following is the reason for young people’s increasing interest in entertainment?
A. Young people are taught by adults to seek pleasure of senses.
B. Young people have given up our traditional value of hard working completely
C. Young people are not interested in learning from the examples of hard working at all.
D. Young people are far too much influenced by too much entertainment news in media.
58. The underlined word “hedonism” (paragraph 4) means “________”.
A. a material                                                 B. spiritual gains
C. thinking pleasure is the most important            D. amusement

 ----Do you think their table tennis team will win the first place at the coming Asian Games?

----_________.Ours is much stronger than theirs.

A. Of course     B. It depends    C. Don’t mention it    D. By no means

 ----Do you think their table tennis team will win the first place at the coming Asian Games?

----_________.Ours is much stronger than theirs.

A. Of course     B. It depends    C. Don’t mention it    D. By no means

— Do you think their table tennis team will win the first place at the coming sports meeting?

— ______. Ours is much stronger than theirs.

A．Of course         B．It depends         C．Don’t mention it   D．By no means

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 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 that stands out from the background noise.

Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy (银河星系), scientists find that 5% 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 (智能的) 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 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

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 don’t believe that there might be life on other planets.

D. Scientists are trying different ways to find signs of life on other planets.