NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been exploring the Red Planet since 2004. But a little more than a year ago, NASA lost contact with Spirit. The space agency has tried several ways to make contact with the rover, but Spirit has not sent back any signals.
Spirit landed on Mars on January 4, 2004. Three weeks later, Opportunity arrived. Soon after, the rovers went to the opposite side of Mars. Spirit’s original mission was only designed to last for three months, but Spirit has worked for more than five years doing additional missions. Both rovers have made important discoveries about ancient Mars. They have taken thousands of images and found evidence in the rocks of a water, warmer past in Mars’ history.
Spirit is solar-powered. It got stuck in a sand trap in April 2009, trapped deep into the soil and with its wheels turning around and around but not able to move forwards or backwards. Spirit had to agree that there is nothing that can be done to change the situation—it’s never going to move again. However, even if it is a not moving station, it can still study the planet’s atmosphere and deep interior.
NASA has been concentrating on trying to position its solar panels to get as much energy from the sun as possible, or to get the rover leaning in a manner that will allow the most amount of sunlight falling on its solar panels, in order to keep it alive during the coming winter months. Engineers have planned to rock the vehicle back and forth to acquire a more favorable position. However, no matter how many efforts have been made, Spirit still could not get out of the soft soil and could not lean itself toward the sun as the Martian winter approached. Without enough energy reaching its solar panels and with so little energy in its batteries, it went into hibernation, just like a polar bear, and has not communicated with Earth since March 22, 2010.
Whatever the future holds for Spirit, its mission has been an outstanding success. When it landed on the Red Planet in January 2004, no one was really sure how long it would continue working in the cold and dusty environment. As a matter of fact, three months was its original goal.
After so many fruitless efforts, NASA scientists are losing hope of ever reconnecting with Spirit, but they will give it one more try. Ground controllers are contacting Spirit over a range of frequencies and at different times during the day in case its internal clock stopped working and it lost track of time. They also are commanding the rover to turn on its backup radio transmitter in case the main one is dead.
If this final effort to connect isn’t successful, NASA will shift the focus to its twin robot, Opportunity, which is in a different part of Mars. Opportunity is still on the move and continues to travel freely to this day. It has traveled 16.6 miles so far, and is currently rolling towards another crater it has yet to explore.
NASA has spent more than $900 million on the project but shows no sign of giving up on these determined and hard-working robots. The rovers are, though, experiencing gradual wear and tear, the expected damage to something caused by using it repeatedly over a period of time. Even before Spirit got trapped, one of its wheels had failed. And NASA says it’s just a matter of time before both robots break down completely.
【小题1】According to the passage, what can we know about Spirit?

A．It had explored Mars several times.

B．Its original mission was to work for five years.

C．It landed on Mars three weeks later than Opportunity.

D． It discovered that Mars was once a warm and wetter place.

On May 29, 1973, Thomas Bradley, a black man, was elected mayor of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the third largest city in the United States, with a population of three million. About sixteen percent of the city’s population are black.

News of this election appeared on the front pages of newspapers everywhere in the United States. Here is how one major newspaper reported the event:

LOS ANGELES ELECTS BRADLEY MAYOR UNSEATING YORTYBLACK WINS 56% OF VOTES

Bradley called his victory over Yorty “the fulfillment (实现) of a dream”. During his childhood and youth, people had kept telling him, “You can’t do this, you can’t go there, because you are a Negro.” Nevertheless he had won a decisive victory over a man who had been won 43.7 percent.

Los Angeles voters have had many opportunities to judge. Thomas Bradley had to form an opinion of him. The son of a poor farmer Texas, he joined the Los Angeles police force in 1940. During his twenty-one years on the police force he earned a law degree by attending school at night. He was elected to the city council (市政厅) ten years ago.

At the time of the Los Angeles election, three other American cities already had black mayors, but none of those cities had as large a population as Los Angeles. Besides, the percentage of blacks in those other cities was much larger. Cleveland, Ohio, had thirty-six percent black when Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967. In the same year Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Cary. In Newark, New Jersey, sixty percent of the population were black when Kenneth Gibson was elected in 1970. Thus election of a black mayor in those cities was not very surprising.

In Los Angeles thousands of white citizens voted for Thomas Bradley because they believed he would be a better mayor than the white candidate(候选人). Bradley had spent forty-eight of his fifty-five years in Los Angeles. Four years ago Bradley lost mayoral election to Yorty. This time Bradley won.

In the author’s opinion, it was surprising that _______.

A. the whites would vote for a black mayor

B. a black mayor would be elected in such a large city

C. a black from a poor farmer’s family could be elected mayor of Los Angeles

D. there would be so many black mayors

From the passage we can infer that people ________.

A. voted for Bradley because of his black color

B. didn’t care much about his color when they voted

C. voted for him to give a chance to fulfill his dream

D. voted for Bradley because they trust him

Bradley hit the front page headline for _______.

A. he was the first black mayor in history

B. he was the first black mayor in the south of USA

C. he was the first black mayor of one of the largest cities in USA

D. a poor farmer’s son could also win an important election

From Bradley’s victory in the election we can see that ________.

A. blacks had equal rights as whites in the USA

B. black people’s situation began to be improving much more than before

C. one can be successful through hard work in the USA no matter what color he is

D. it is certain that someday the USA will have a black president

完形填空（共20小题；每题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从后面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，并在答题卡上将该项的标号涂黑。
High school seems bigger.There are  36 kids and it’s a totally new environment. It could be a  37 time for new students,  38 ,in fact,it isn’t really that bad.
The first day of course is always terrifying,but,then again,the first day of middle school was probably the  39 .Of course you might get lost during the first few days  40 your classes,but after a while what seems like a large school really isn’t.
One thing that’s really cool about high school is that there are so many more classes that you can  41 .For example,if you like  42 ,there are many art classes.At the same time,there are  43 classes,which you can’t take in middle school  44 photography and psychology(心理学).There are many new things in high school that make it much more  45 .
In high school,you’re able to join more clubs,play more sports,and take part in more  46 ,and at the same time make new friends with kids with the same  47 as you.Also, these activities can give you a  48 to learn something that you might not have had the opportunity to learn in  49 .
High school is different  50 everyone,but there’s one thing that’s  51 .You’re going to have just as much fun here as you  52 before.But having fun isn’t enough though! You’re  53 so you have to be more responsible.Everything changes when you get  54 ,but the changes aren’t that bad.You  55 worry too much about growing up.
【小题1】.

【小题4】

A．different B．same C．rich D．difficult

七．阅读理解 (20分)
A
February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.
   On the 14th day, it is a custom for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals! This is what you see on Valentine’s Day, a day named after Valentine who was a priest in the third century Rome. When the emperor decided that single men could become better soldiers than those with wives, he didn’t allow marriage.
   But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor sentenced him to death. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed “From your Valentine”, an expression that is still in use today. Valentine died for what he believed in and so he was made a Saint (圣徒), as well as becoming one of history’s most romantic characters.
   Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is also popular among Chinese young people. Some students are planning to make Valentine’s cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart-shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share in the spirit of St. Valentine.
1. Which of the following is not a custom for a boy to do on Valentine’s Day?
   A. to take his girlfriend out to dinner
   B. to buy his girlfriend flowers and chocolates     
   C. to make Valentine’s cards for teachers and friends
   D. to spell out his girlfriend’s name with rose petals
2. Why did the emperor in Rome not allow marriage in his country?
   A. Because there were few women in his country at that time.
   B. Because he thought men without wives could be better soldiers.
   C. Because there wasn’t enough food for so many people.
   D. Because he wanted to control the birth rate.
3. Valentine was put into prison because ______.
   A. he killed one of the soldiers 
   B. he stole a lot of food
   C. he didn’t obey the emperor’s order   
   D. he didn’t want to be a soldier
4. The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.
   A. students in China send cards to their teachers
   B. it is a good idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China
   C. it is interesting to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China
   D. Valentine’s Day is also popular in China now
5. The best title for this passage should be ______.
   A. Valentine’s Day                  B. A Brave Priest  
   C. Valentine’s Day in China          D. A Romantic Man