18. What made the disappearance so mysterious?

a. The control tower grew silent.　　　　　　 b. The bombers had a lot of fuel.

c. The weather was good.　　　　　　　　　　　　　 d. No strange happening was reported by other flights.

A. (a) (b) (c)　　　 　　　　 B. (a) (b) (d)　　 　　　 C. (a) (c) (d)　 　　　　 D. (b) (c) (d)

17. Which of the following fact is not true for the five Navy bombers?

A. They could not find out the direction.　　 B. A small island was in sight.

C. They could not find the sun.　　　　　　 　　　 D. They saw no other land.

16. The pilot knew that they were in trouble when ______.

A. The radio operator warned him　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

B. The emergency light was suddenly on

C. The engine failed to work　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

D. He couldn't be sure of his flying route

15. The author has a pleasure to ______.

A. make a computer game 　　　　 B. to read books　

C. to listen to good music　 　　　D. ask himself questions

E

"Calling tower," the pilot's voice crackled. "This is an emergency!" The radio operator in the control tower looked at his watch. It was 3:15 p.m. Lieutenant Charles Taylor and five Navy bombers were in trouble. "We are off course. We cannot see land…repeat…we cannot see land."

The control tower grew silent. The operator garbed (戴上) his microphone. "What is your position? We are not sure of our position," Lieutenant Taylor replied. "We seem to be lost." Taylor had over 2,500 hours of flight time. What was happening?

The tower called back: "Assume bearing(方位) due west." "We don't know which way is west," Taylor replied. "Everything is wrong…strange… We cannot be sure of any direction…Even the ocean looks odd…" The radio operator told Taylor to fly north "with the sun on the left" until he reached a Naval Air Station. Anyone could find the sun, especially a good pilot like Taylor. Soon the radio crackled again. "We have just passed over a small island," said the pilot. "No other land in sight." That was the last message Flight 19 sent to the radio tower. Five Navy bombers were lost. They had left the Naval Air Station for a routine(常规的) training flight at 2:00 p.m., December 5, 1945. Each plane had enough fuel to fly more than a thousand miles. The weather was sunny and mild. Pilots from other flights had not seen anything strange there. So what happened? How could five Navy bombers and their crews just disappear?

The search for the five bombers covered 380,000 square miles of land and sea. Hundreds of boats and planes searched large areas of the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, the mainland of Florida, and many neighboring islands. Some of the boats were aircraft carriers, destroyers, and submarines. They searched the area for weeks. Nothing was ever found. No life rafts. No wreckage. Not even an oil slick(浮油). Oil from the engines should float on the surface, even if everything else had sunk.

14. The underlined word "bother" here means ______.

A. make trouble　　　　　　 B. concern about　　　 C. disturb　　　　　 D. confuse

13. In this passage, the author tells us a fact that ______.

A. some computer games are interesting enough to attract people

B. many people fall into a dangerous pitfall

C. many people are suffering a lot from the computer games

D. computer games are pitfalls for most players

12. From the passage we know that ______.

A. the author is a fan of computer games.　

B. the author spends much time playing computer games

C. the author once played a whole night　　　　　　　　　

D. the author doesn't like playing computer games

11. According to the text, the following statements are all true except ______.

A. scientists think Titan is bigger than Mercury and Pluto

B. the information to be collected by Huygens will be sent back to Cassini, then to NASA's Deep Space Network and last to ESA controllers

C. some science team member have waited decades and seen the first of 750 images and other scientific readings from the yellow-skied moon

D. only NASA. has been working for the project of Huygens

D

I don' t know if I am missing the greatest pleasure of my life. I am no fan of computer games. Some guys forget themselves and forget day and night when they play games. For example, a colleague has been playing since 1 o’clock this morning and now it is 7 o'clock. He is still commanding his army of little people to attack strange-looking animals. Some games could be fun, 1 admit, and it is therefore understandable that such a game catches players. For example, games like Red Storm or some role-play games, you do something and try to outwit(智胜) your computer. You get some fun out of these games. It is understandable that such a game pushes you into a pitfall(陷阱) of pleasures. But some games look quite stupid and simple. Again for example, my colleague has been interested in Stone Age, a cartoon-like game rooted in prehistoric time. The game is well made, full of strange people and animals and you can play on line with partners. You can have reference books to study so as to shortcut your rivals(对手) and increase your own conquering power.

I believe some kinds of games are really created for adults. But seeing these adults play the simple games with such interest, I just wonder if there is something wrong with me and if I am losing the greatest possible fun of my life. I ask why I don' t bother playing such games and why I seem to have some aversion(讨厌) to such games. I have no answers. Certainly computer games is no my idea of a good time. I would rather listen to some music or read a book. Take music for example. Good music tops my list of pleasures. Nothing could beat music, all in a harmony of sounds and emotions. But how about games? Why an I so strongly biased(偏见) against such games?

10. What does "the yellow-skied moon" refer to?

A. Saturn.　 　 B. Titan.　　　　　　 C. The moon around the earth.　　 D. Solar System.

9. Huygens was named after 　　　　　.

A. an ESA mission manager　　　　　　　　　　　　

B. a Dutch scientist who discovered Saturn in 1655

C. an astronomer who first discovered Titan

D. scientists from NASA and the European and Italian space agencies