Recently，a solar powered（太阳能动力的）plane took to the sky for the first time. It had passed an important test on the way to travel around the world. The plane took off from an airport in Switzerland（瑞士）at 45km an hour. It slowly rose above the fields and into the sky.
“There has never been an airplane of that kind that could fly — never an airplane so big, so light, using so little energy,” said Bertrand Piccard, a leader of the project.
During the 90-minute flight, the plane did several turns. It climbed nearly 1.6k above the countryside. Engineers plan to test a night flight before July. Then they will use the results of the tests to build a second plane. They plan to travel around the world in that plane in 2012.
The plane flies at 70 km an hour. That is faster than a bike and slower than a car. Piccard and pilot Andre Borschberg will take the plane around the world. The pilots will keep the plane in the air for up to five days at a time. We want to fly it day and night with no fuel (燃料),” Piccard said
【小题1】How long did the first flight of the solar powered plane last？

There are about 80,000,000 mines*  under the ground in more . than 60 countries. It is difficult and dangerous to clear these rnines, About 50  people including many children were’ killed ‘or htirt each iay.  In 2003,  APOPO,  a Dutch research com pan y that uains the an imals, came up with the-idea of s\ng rats to search for the mines.

The animal trainers ‘found that a kind of rats from Africa were clever and had.a sharp*  sense of smell.  The rats were about 75 cm long and.weighed about l.35 kg, light enough to run across a minefield without setting off the mines.

  In January 2004, the APOPO started this project. First, the trainers let the 4-week-old baby rats get familiar with humans. A few weeks later, the rats were no Ionger afraid of people and ‘the things around them. Then they were trained to connect a click* sound with food. After the rats had leamed that, the trainers then taught them to tell the difference between the smell of mines and other smells. When the rats could do it, the click was sounded and they were given a bit of banana.  The method was called clicker training. “The training isn’t easy, said trainer Abdullah Mchomvu.  “You have to be patient. Sometimes I get angry, but then again, I tell myself these are animals.”

  After nine months’  training, the rats were taken to a minefiel山  They’ran across the minefield, stopped, sat and scratched the ground to tell the deminers*  that they smelt out’a mine.  Then the mine was cleared. It had  taken two ‘deminers  a day to clear a 200㎡ . minefield,  but with the help of two rats ‘they could finish it in two hours.

  The rats and ~he deminers saved thousands of lives,  “The rats did this job much better than we expected. So far they have helped to make almost 2,000,000㎡ of land safe. They are heroes,” said Bart Weeqens, the head of the APOPO.

1. The APOPO trained the rats to search for     .

A. children    B. animals      C. mines     D. bananas

2. While training the rats, the trainers have to be

A. patient     B. clever        C. brave         D. serious

3. How long did the training last?

A. Two hours.    B. One day.    C. Four weeks.    D. Nine months.

4.Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A. Each day about 200 people were killed or hurt by mines,

B.The APOPO started to train the rats in January 2004.

C. The trainers gave the rats food after they smelt out a mine.

D.The rats and the deminers saved thousands of lives.

There are about 80,000,000 mines*  under the ground in more . than 60 countries. It is difficult and dangerous to clear these rnines, About 50  people including many children were’ killed ‘or htirt each iay.  In 2003,  APOPO,  a Dutch research com pan y that uains the an imals, came up with the-idea of s\ng rats to search for the mines.
The animal trainers ‘found that a kind of rats from Africa were clever and had.a sharp*  sense of smell.  The rats were about 75 cm long and.weighed about l.35 kg, light enough to run across a minefield without setting off the mines.
In January 2004, the APOPO started this project. First, the trainers let the 4-week-old baby rats get familiar with humans. A few weeks later, the rats were no Ionger afraid of people and ‘the things around them. Then they were trained to connect a click* sound with food. After the rats had leamed that, the trainers then taught them to tell the difference between the smell of mines and other smells. When the rats could do it, the click was sounded and they were given a bit of banana.  The method was called clicker training. “The training isn’t easy, said trainer Abdullah Mchomvu.  “You have to be patient. Sometimes I get angry, but then again, I tell myself these are animals.”
After nine months’training, the rats were taken to a minefield. They’ran across the minefield, stopped, sat and scratched the ground to tell the deminers*  that they smelt out’a mine.  Then the mine was cleared. It had  taken two ‘deminers  a day to clear a 200㎡ . minefield, but with the help of two rats ‘they could finish it in two hours.
The rats and the deminers saved thousands of lives, “The rats did this job much better than we expected. So far they have helped to make almost 2,000,000㎡ of land safe. They are heroes,” said Bart Weeqens, the head of the APOPO.
【小题1】 The APOPO trained the rats to search for     .

选择方框中所给词的适当形式填空

take   anything   visit    how many   how much   when

how   start   last    do some shopping

1.Please ________ it to my bedroom. I don’t want it here.

2.Listen ! I’m sure I can hear ________ outside.

3.They wanted _______ to the farthest island.

4._______ queens did you see?

5._______ money do you have now?

6.Please tell him to call me ________ he comes back.

7.______ did you go to school yesterday?

8.The meeting ________ at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon.

9.How long did the rain _______ last night?

10.I _______ with my friends yesterday.

Monday, April 17

Dear Gramps,

    I was so upset last week when somebody stole my Super Racer from the park by your house. I called up the toy company but they said they have only red, blue and green racers. Dad called Cobb's Toy Store today and found out they might have purple ones. Can we go there when I come to visit you next week?You and I were only gone for a few minutes to the shop down the street to get ice-cream and cookies. Maybe the thief was watching us. Mum was surprised when I told her the racer was stolen. She said she used to leave things at the park all the time when she was young. Once she even left her bicycle for two days near the swimming pool.

    Tell Grandma that I like the food she made last time. Ask Grandma if we can have pancakes with sugar for breakfast when I come this time. I have packed in my towel, comb and soap. Tell her this time I won't forget to pack in my toothbrush.

Love

Toby

1.This letter is written by________.

A.Gramps    B.Toby     C. Toby's Dad      D.Toby's Mum

2.The writer wants to have a________racer.

A. red    B.blue     C.green     D.purple

3.How long did the writer leave his Super Racer at the park?

A. Two days.   B.Over a week   C. A few minutes    D.All the time

4.From the letter, we know Supper Racer is__________.

A.a toy    B. an ice-cream     C. a bicycle    D. a pancake

5.Which of the following is TRUE according to the letter?

A.The writer visited Gramps quite often.

B.Cobb's Toy Store is far from Gramp's house.

C.The writer took his toothbrush with him on his last visit.

D.There were lots of thieves when Tony's mum was young.