. ---- How long ____ at this job?

   ---- Since 1990.

A. were you employed      B. have you been employed

C. had you been employed   D. will you be employed

Jeffery Deaver looks more like a brainy villain （反派人物） in a James Bond movie than a "00" agent in Her Majesty's secret service．Best known for his thrillers starring criminalist （刑事专家） Lincoln Rhyme, Jeffery Deaver has a new mission: Bring Bond into the 21st century in a new 007 novel．
The yet-to-be-named book is cryptically （隐秘地） referred to as "Project X" by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd．, which owns the rights to Fleming's work．Most of the details surrounding Project X, to be published in May, are being kept under wraps, but under gentle coaxing （用好话劝诱） Deaver begins to spill his guts．"The novel," he says, "is set in the present day, in 2011．Bond is a young agent for the British secret service．He's 29 or 30 years old, and he's an Afghan war vet．" That in itself is big news．After all, if Bond were aging in real time — he first appeared on the screen in 1953 — the now doddering （老态龙钟的） 007 would be nearly 90．
But first up: a new stand-alone Deaver novel, Edge （Simon & Schuster, $26．99）, to be published Tuesday．It's about a federal agent who risks his life to protect a Washington police detective from a man hired to extract information from him using any means at his disposal （任由个人支配的）．
Sipping coffee while seated on a leather chair in a sitting room decorated with portraits of his dogs and show ribbons, the mild-mannered author who writes about murderers and serial killers talks about his career and the solid fan base that has allowed him to pursue writing full time since 1990．"I may not sell as many books as John Grisham（although he has sold a cool 20 million）, but I have a very loyal fan base," says Deaver, 60, who wrote some of his novels while working as a Wall Street lawyer．Deaver's initiation into the Bond family — more than 100 million 007 novels have sold worldwide — could significantly raise his profile （知名度）．
Other novelists have written Bond novels since Ian Fleming's death in 1964 — including Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and, most recently, Sebastian Faulks — but they all took place in the original era．Deaver is taking a new approach．"There's no more Cold War to fight," says Deaver, so his new Bond, of the Fleming estate, will fight "post-9/11 evil．" "I want to stay true to the original James Bond, who many people don't know much about," he says, referring to the secret agent Fleming portrayed in 14 novels, and not the movie Bond．"People know Daniel Craig, they know Pierce Brosnan, they know Roger Moore and Sean Connery, all of whom brought a great deal to the stories of 007．But the original Bond was a very dark, edgy （另类的） character．"
【小题1】Which of the following is NOT true about Jeffery Deaver?

Why do human beings still risk their lives under ground and doing one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the world？It’s an increasingly urgent question，given the recent high?profile(引人注目的) mining accidents in Sago，W.Va.and Huntington，Utah.A small group of engineers and robotics experts look forward to a day in the not?too?distant future when robots and other technology do most of the dangerous mining work.

Robotic technology，in particular，holds much promise，McAteer says，especially when it comes to mapping mines and rescuing trapped miners—the special operations of the mining industry.

One of the first mining robots was developed five years ago at Carnegie?Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.It was called Groundhog and it looked like a golf cart.It used lasers(激光器) to “see” in dark tunnels and map abandoned mines—some of the most dangerous work in the business.

The latest design is called Cave Crawler.It’s a bit smaller than Groundhog，and even more advanced.It can take photos and video and has sensors mounted(增加) that can detect the presence of dangerous gases.Incredibly，the robot has a real sense of logic.If it comes across an obstacle it gets confused.It has to think through the process and where to go next，and sometimes it throws_a_fit just like a real person.

The biggest obstacle，though，is cost.The original research project was federally funded，but that money has dried up，and it’s not clear where future funding will come from. Partly for that reason，and partly because of advances in safety，mining is not nearly as dangerous as it was in the past.Since 1990，fatalities(致命性) have declined by 67 percent and injuries by 51 percent，according to the National Mining Association.

Some experts predict that robots in mines will serve much of the same function that they do in the automotive industry.The robots do the most repetitive and dangerous jobs，but don’t eliminate(消除) the need for human workers.

1.The underlined phrase “throws a fit” in Paragraph 4 probably means “________”．

A．gets angry? B．gets sick

C．becomes hungry? D．becomes cheerful

2.We can infer from the last paragraph that ________.

A．robots in mines will serve much in the automotive industry

B．there will be no need for human workers in mines

C．the mine robots will have a very bright future

D．robots in mines have a long way to go

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A．Mining robots do most of the mining work at present.

B．Groundhog can discover the presence of dangerous gases.

C．Experts are trying to make robots save miners in danger.

D．Robots cannot do dangerous work in dark areas.

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A．Mining Accidents in America

B．Could Robots Replace Humans in Mines?

C．Cave Crawler，the Latest Robot

D．The Development of Robots

Brazil has become one. of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint ef??forts to reduce birth rates, Brazil had better results without re??ally trying, says George Martine at Harvard.

Brazil’s population growth rate dropped from 2. 99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1. 93% a year between 198 land 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2. 7 chil??dren on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.

Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (肥皂剧) and installment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in low??ering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest produc??ers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil’s most popular television net??work, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.

Although they have never really tried to work in a mes??sage towards the problems of reproduction, they describe mid??dle and upper class values: not many children, women work??ing, says Martine. They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious (有意识的) of other patterns of behaviour and other values, which were put into a very attrac??tive package.

Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. " This led to an enormous change in consumption (消费) patterns and consumption was incom??patible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Mar??tine.

according to the passage, Brazil has lowered its population growth ________.

A. by educating its citizens                 B. by careful family planning

C. by developing TV programmes                     D. by chance

according to the passage, many Third World countries

A. haven’t given much attention to birth control

B. would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate

C. haven’t yet found an effective measure to control their population

D. haven’t realized the importance of TV plays in family planning

Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil’s birth rate be??cause ________.

A. they keep people sitting long hours watching TV

B. they have gradually changed people’s way of life

C. people are drawn to their attractive package

D. they popularize birth control measures

What is Martine’s conclusion about Brazil’s population growth?

A. The increase in birth rate will increase consumption.

B. The desire for consumption helps to reduce birth rate.

C. Consumption goes with reproduction.

D. A country ‘s production is limited by its population growth.

Brazil has become one. of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint ef??forts to reduce birth rates, Brazil had better results without re??ally trying, says George Martine at Harvard.

Brazil’s population growth rate dropped from 2. 99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1. 93% a year between 198 land 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2. 7 chil??dren on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.

Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (肥皂剧) and installment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in low??ering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest produc??ers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil’s most popular television net??work, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.

Although they have never really tried to work in a mes??sage towards the problems of reproduction, they describe mid??dle and upper class values: not many children, women work??ing, says Martine. They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious (有意识的) of other patterns of behaviour and other values, which were put into a very attrac??tive package.

Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. " This led to an enormous change in consumption (消费) patterns and consumption was incom??patible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Mar??tine.

9. According to the passage, Brazil has lowered its population growth ________.

A. by educating its citizens                B. by careful family planning

C. by developing TV programmes                     D. by chance

10. According to the passage, many Third World countries

A. haven’t given much attention to birth control

B. would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate

C. haven’t yet found an effective measure to control their population

D. haven’t realized the importance of TV plays in family planning

11. Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil’s birth rate be??cause ________.

A. they keep people sitting long hours watching TV

B. they have gradually changed people’s way of life

C. people are drawn to their attractive package

D. they popularize birth control measures

12. What is Martine’s conclusion about Brazil’s population growth?

A. The increase in birth rate will increase consumption.

B. The desire for consumption helps to reduce birth rate.

C. Consumption goes with reproduction.

D. A country ‘s production is limited by its population growth.