Dear Xiaohua:
I’m very glad to receive your letter. From your letter, I know you have shown 【小题1】  great interest in inventing new things. That’s great. As for how to be an inventor, there is no quick answer to   【小题2】  .
Coming from different cultures and having different backgrounds, inventors do not seem to have much   【小题3】  common. But creative thinking,   【小题4】  is greatly valued, is perhaps the basic skill an inventor should have. In order to explore new possibilities, you will have to learn to break   【小题5】 from old thought patterns. When you get stuck, try to look at the problem in   【小题6】 many ways as possible. Each new   【小题7】may improve your understanding.
More importantly, always keep it in your mind  【小题8】  success is no accident. It is the result of a long process of trial and error. Above all, the main task for you is to study hard and try to learn more knowledge. This, of course, will lay a solid foundation.
Hope your future invention will make a difference.
Good luck.                                       
Yours,
Wang Li

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
This is a real life story of the engineers building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA back in 1870. The bridge was completed in 1883, after 13 years. In 1869, a creative engineer named John Roebling was   16  by an idea to build a spectacular bridge   17  New York with the Long Island.   18 , bridge-building experts throughout the world thought that this was impossible and told Roebling to forget the idea.
Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. After much discussion and persuasion he   19  to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge   20 could be built. The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway, a tragic accident took the life of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which   21  him not being able to talk or walk.
  22  his handicap, Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning   23  to complete the bridge and his mind was still as   24  as ever. He didn’t want to   25 . Suddenly an idea   26  him. All he could do was move one   27  and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he   28  developed a code of communication with his wife.
For 13 years Washington tapped out his   29  with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands for his determination not to be   30 by circumstances. It stands too as a monument to the love and   31  of his wife who for 13 years long   32  decoded（解码）the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.
Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves a(n)   33  goal. Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles(障碍) seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that   34  that seem impossible can be realized with determination and persistence(坚持), no matter what the   35 are.

Why should mankind explore space?  Why should money, time and effort be spent exploring and researching something with so few apparent benefits? Why should resources be spent on space rather than on conditions and people on Earth?  These are questions that,  understandably,  are very often asked.

Perhaps the best answer lies in our genetic makeup(基因构成) as human beings. What drove our ancestors to move from the trees into the plains,  and on into all possible areas and environments?  The wider the spread of a species,  the better its chance of survival. Perhaps the best reason for exploring space is this genetic tendency to expand wherever possible.

Nearly every successful civilization has explored,  because by doing so,  any dangers in surrounding areas can be identified and prepared for. Without knowledge,  we may be completely destroyed by the danger. With knowledge,  we can lessen its effects.

Exploration also allows minerals and other potential(潜在的）resources to be found. Even if we have no immediate need of them,  they will perhaps be useful later. Resources may be more than physical possessions. Knowledge or techniques have been acquired through exploration. The techniques may have medical applications which can improve the length or quality of our lives. We have already benefited from other spin-offs including improvements in earthquake prediction,  in satellites for weather forecasting and in communications systems. Even non-stick pans and mirrored sunglasses are by-products(副产品）of technological developments in the space industry!

While many resources are spent on what seems a small return,  the exploration of space allows creative,  brave and intelligent members of our species to focus on what may serve to save us. While space may hold many wonders and explanations of how the universe was formed or how it works,  it also holds dangers. The danger exists,  but knowledge can help human beings to survive. Without the ability to reach out across space,  the chance to save ourselves might not exist.

While Earth is the only planet known to support life, surely the adaptive ability of humans would allow us to live on other planets. It is true that the lifestyle would be different,  but human life and cultures have adapted in the past and surely could in the future.

56. Why does the author mention the questions in Paragraph 1?

A. To express his doubts.

B. To compare different ideas.

C. To introduce points for discussion.

D. To describe the conditions on Earth.

57. What is the reason for exploring space based on Paragraph 2?

A. Humans are nature-born to do so.

B. Humans have the tendency to fight.

C. Humans may find new sources of food.

D. Humans don’t like to stay in the same place.

58. The underlined word “spin-offs” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to­­_______ .

A. survival chances

B. potential resources

C. unexpected benefits

D. physical possessions

59. What makes it possible for humans to live on other planets?

A. Our genetic make up.

B. Resources on the earth.

C. The adaptive ability of humans.

D. By-products in space exploration.

60. Which of the statements can best sum up the passage? 

A. Space exploration has created many wonders.

B. Space exploration provides the best value for money.

C. Space exploration can benefit science and technology.

D. Space exploration may help us avoid potential problems on Earth.

Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A,B,C, and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
When I was little, my family used to move frequently. Before I could even get acquainted with my schoolmates, my family was on the move again. I became very  36 because of this.
But a girl with dark skin and ling shiny hair changed me. Here best characteristics are her openness and   37 . She is always smiling, like a beautiful sunflower following the sun. without doubt I enjoyed being with her and soon we became good friends. As time went by, I   38 became a happy girl. But this joyful period didn’t last long. We were admitted to different colleges. I felt like I had gone back to my always-on-the-move childhood. I felt  39 and helpless and I was afraid that I would  40 her as my best friend. She stayed calm and said to me :“Rain, you can achiever more than I do, so  1 to your dreams and make a big effort! Real friendship doesn’t fade and we will be best friends forever.” Maybe she didn’t realize what a great  42 she was to me at that time.
However, it turned out that my concerns were well-founded（有根据的）. I felt that the   43 between us was getting bigger and bigger. One day, she sent me a text message happily telling me that she had fallen in love with a handsome boy in her class.
I felt happy for her, but at the same time I was secretly worried about our friendship. I   44 her several times intending to tell her to think easefully about her relationship with the boy, but I got no more messages from her. I felt sad that perhaps our friendship would not   45 . I had almost given up hope until she visited me at my campus a week later. She looked   46 but was wearing the most beautiful smile. She gave me a big hug and said: “I’m sorry. I want to be myself and your friend forever!” We cried together, ignoring the people walking past. She told me her sad story, and we knew we had gone back to how it was before.
Now I firmly believer that distance and time can’t   47 you from a friend. If you care enough about each other, friendship never fades.

Thanks to a combination of young businessmen, large numbers of university students and revitalization (新生) efforts by the local and national governments, today’s Nanjing has an      36   of youthful exuberance (繁茂) that would have been    37   only a few decades ago.   38  , the city, a booming city of 6.5 million on the banks of the Yangtze River some 185 miles west of Shanghai, bears    39   resemblance to the former capital of China that suffered the worst cruelty and violence of World War II.
40   Nanjing has shown a remarkable capacity for reinvention during its 2,500-year history. And in recent years, the city has moved    41   its tragic past to become a vital engine of China’s economic growth, thanks    42   to its position in the middle of China’s prosperous eastern seaboard. Growth has also    43   thanks to improved ground transportation: A new bullet train linking Nanjing and Shanghai started service last year,    44   travel time between the cities from several hours to just 75 minutes, and a Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line is    45  to open later this year, with a stop in Nanjing. Within the city, two metro lines were built in the last few years; 15 more are planned to begin service by 2030.
Signs of Nanjing’s    46   wealth and optimism can be seen everywhere. In the heart of the downtown Xinjiekou district, a bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen,    47   the father of modern China, looks    48   over a busy    49   area.
There is perhaps no more    50   symbol of the city’s transformation than the Zifeng Tower, a 1,480-foot skyscraper that opened its doors last May.    51   offices, restaurants and an InterContinental hotel, the tower is the second-tallest building in China and billed as the seventh-tallest in the world.
Underlying all this development is a large Chinese and    52  student population — there are several major universities, plus a branch of Johns Hopkins’s international studies school. In fact, art and music    53   in all sorts of places.
On a larger    54  , local government officials and private investors are pushing the city as a rising center for contemporary art and architecture, hoping to attract    55   from the neon-bathed streets of its neighbor Shanghai.