The magnitude 7.9 quake struck Sichuan province on May 12 at around noontime, which may have increased the human death toll because many people were at school, and the school buildings turned out to be not firm enough to collapse because of poor construction. More than 69,000 people have been confirmed dead so far, and more than 374,000 injured, with fears of further disasters because several lakes created by rockfall dams may give way and cause sudden flooding.
Clark Burchfiel, Schlumberger Professor of Geology, and Leigh Royden, professor of geology and geophysics in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT, have been doing extensive research in that region of China and the Tibetan plateau(高原) for more than two decades, but had found no signs that suggested such a large earthquake might strike the area.
The team operated 25 broadband seismograph (地震仪) stations in this region of western Sichuan for more than a year. "Nobody was thinking there would be a major earthquake in that area," Royden says. "This earthquake was quite unusual, and may have involved a simultaneously（同时发生的） severe break of two separate but neighboring faults," she continued.
The region is extremely unusual geologically, Royden says, because of the very steep slopes at the boundary between the Sichuan Basin to the east and the Tibetan plateau to the west. The altitude rises sharply by about 3,500 meters (more than two miles) over a span of only about 50 kilometers (about 30 miles).
The area where the quake occurred is part of the boundary between two of the Earth's structural plates, where the Indian and Asian plates meet in an ongoing collision that has created the Himalayan mountains and the Tibetan plateau. But in central and eastern Tibet, unlike most other areas of continental collision, much of the movement of crust（地壳） is hidden from view. Instead of thickening the entire crust by folding and faulting, the surface of the eastern Tibetan plateau is not deformed（变形的） and is being lifted upward by thickening of a weak crustal layer more than 15 km below the surface.
60. Why did the school buildings collapse in the earthquake, according to the passage?
A. They had too long a history.
B. They were poorly built.
C. They were crowded with students and teachers.
D. They were damaged by the earthquake.
61. Based on Para. 1, why does the writer think that more people will be killed or injured after 
the earthquake?
A. Because there will be more aftershocks after the major quake.
B. Because more school buildings will collapse after the quake.
C. Because destructive flooding caused by rockfall dams is likely to occur..
D. Because there was not enough medical care for the injured in the area.
62. What can we infer from this passage?
A. There was no prediction that such a large-scale quake might occur there.
B. Researchers had done little research in that area before the earthquake struck it.
C. The 5.12 earthquake was the most destructive in the world.
D. If more research had been done, the destruction could have been avoided.
63. Which one can be used as the best title for this passage?
A. The Great Disasters.
B. The Earthquake was very frightening.
C. The Causes of the earthquake.
D. An Extremely Unusual Earthquake.

四、阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
Another man-made wonder of the United States was built long before the nation was established. About 900 years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan people built villages high in the walls of canyons in Colorado, where 600 cliff dwellings are now part of the Mesa Verde National Park.     
Visitors can stand at the top of the mesas and look into the dwellings almost hidden in openings of the rock walls. The Puebloan people cut small steps into the rock, which connected buildings containing hundreds of rooms.
The rock walls have protected the buildings from severe weather in the area; therefore, they remain mostly unchanged in the hundreds of years since they were built.
Our final man-made wonder is in the northwestern city of Seattle, Washington. The Space Needle was built as the central structure for the 1962 World's Fair.           
The 184-meter-tall structure was designed by Edward Carlson, which has a wide base on the ground, with its middle narrow and a large ring-like structure on top. The structure was meant to look like a "flying saucer," a vehicle that was popular in science fiction space travel stories.  The saucer includes an observation area and eating place. The restaurant slowly turns to provide visitors with a 360 degree view of Seattle.
The Space Needle, only costing about $4,500,000, was not very costly, and was designed and completed in about a year and opened on the first day of the World's Fair.
Today, the Space Needle is the most popular place for visitors to Seattle. And it remains the internationally known symbol of the city.
56.What the passage before this one can be about?
A.Some natural wonders in the world.
B.Sightseeing in the US.
C.Some other artificial wonders in the US.
D.American geography.
57. What does the underlined word “dwelling” mean?
A. village                     B. house               C. canyon             D. step
58. Which of the following descriptions about the Space Needle is TRUE?
A. It is a man-made wonder in Washington, D.C..
B. Edward Carlson built the structure.
C. It has a ring-like structure on top.
D. It remains the internationally known symbol of the US.
59. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Visiting the US                B. Man-made wonders in the US
C. Wonders in the world              D. Famous places in the US

Because plants cannot move or talk, it is believed that they have no feelings and that they cannot receive signals from outside. However, this may not be completely true.
People who studied plants have found out that plants carry a small electrical charge (电荷). It is possible to measure this charge with a small piece of equipment called “galvanometer”. The galvanometer is placed on a leaf off the plant, and it records any changes in the electrical field of the leaf. Humans have a similar field which can change when we are shocked or frightened.
A man called Backster used a galvanometer for his studies of plants and was very surprised at his results. He found that if he had two or more plants in a room and he began to destroy one of them － perhaps by pulling off its leaves or by pulling it out of its pot － then the galvanometer on the leaves of the other plants showed a change in the electrical field. It seemed as if the plants were signalling a feeling of shock. This happened not only when Backster started to destroy plants, but also when he destroyed other living things such as insects (昆虫).
Backster said that the plants also knew if someone had destroyed a living thing some distance away, because they signalled when a man who had just cut down a tree entered the room.
Another scientist, named Sauvin, achieved similar results to Backster’s. He kept galvanometers fixed to his plants all the time and checked regularly to see what the plants were doing. If he was out of the office, he telephoned to find out about the signals the plants were sending. In this way, he found that the plants were sending out signals at the exact times when he felt strong pleasure or pain. In fact, Sauvin could cause a change in the electrical field of his plants over a distance of a few miles simply by thinking about them.
60. Why was Backster surprised at the results of his studies?
A. Because he found someone had just cut down a tree.
B. Because he destroyed a plant by pulling it out of its pot.
C. Because he found that plants could move and speak after all.
D. Because he found that plants could express feelings of shock.
61. The plants sent out signals _____.
A. only when Backster Started to destroy plants
B. when Backster destroyed plants or other living things
C. only when he destroyed things such as insects
D. only when Backster placed the galvanometer on the leaves of the plants
62. The scientist called Sauvin _____.
A. did not agree with Backster’s ideas
B. did not get the same sort of results as Backster did
C. found out some of the same things that Backster did
D. got different results from Backster’s
63. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The electrical charge plants carry may shock or frighten us.
B. A tree will signal when it has been cut down.
C. Sauvin could make his plants send out signals some distance away.
D. Plants have feelings because they can receive signals without moving.

Though “nanometer”（纳米） is now a fashionable term all over the world, few people know
exactly what it is. It has become a new favorite of manufacturers and sellers in recent years.Many “high-tech” products bearing the name “nano” have entered the market,bringing more mysterious feeling to surprised consumers.
Nanometer is a very small length unit of measure,and is very small.One millimeter is 1000 micrometers,and one micrometer is 1000 nanometers.That is,one nanometer is one billionth of a meter.Nano materials are solid materials composed of particles（粒子）or crystallites（晶体） of less than 100 nanometer in size.Then,is a cup made of nano material really any different from an ordinary cup in function as far as how it works?
Are nano cups really so wonderful?A reporter went to the Institute of Nanomedicine,which is the first such institute of such a sort in the world and the only one in China,specializing in researching the investigation  of the application of nano technology into medicine.
A water molecule（分子） is composed of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom.It can be changed only by special manipulation of the atoms. The material constituting the cup can have ananometer particles . But it cannot change the chemical and physical properties of the water contained in it.The water in the cup is still water. When people drink it,it will produce no special effect on human body.
Professor Ji who worked in the Instiute of Nanomedicine told the reporter, so far, the investigation of nano materials is still limited in the laboratory. No commercial micro products can be produced yet. With the present level of science and technology, the time of everyday goods made of nanometer materials is still years away.
The products labeled with nano marks in the market now are only traditional products coated with a thin layer of nanometer material, which makes them more abrasion resistant（耐磨）, much easier to be cleaned, or oil resisting or moth proof（防蛀）.
Professor Ji explained that nano cup is a real up. It can also be included in the list of nano products in a certain sense. But the nano up has not changed its property and function as a cup. It is not a magical medicine for curing and health care.
72．Which of the following shows the right relationship?
A．nanometer<millimeter<micrometer<meter
B．micrometer<millimeter<nanometer<meter
C．nanometer<micrometer<millimeter<meter
D．millimeter<micrometer<nanometer<meter
73．It can be inferred from the passage that       .
A．nano materials have been put into use in daily goods
B．real nano products haven’t become available for people
C．the nano cup is very effective in curing and health care
D．real nano products are being produced by some companies
74．The underlined word “properties” in the fourth paragraph probably means        .
A．possessions      B．qualities    C．reactions   D．symbols
75．What would be the best title for the passage?
A．High-tech Products  B．Nano Cups
C．Nano Materials        D．High-teach Research

With only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone(克隆) the animal and save the endangered species. That’s a move similar to what  Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”.
Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen(氮). If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.
It is estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed.”
60. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project is to _______.
A. make efforts to clone the endangered pandas 
B. save endangered animals from dying out
C. collect DNA of endangered animals to study
D. transfer the nuclear of one animal to another
61. According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of _______.
A. available panda eggs                B. host animals
C. qualified researchers                D. enough money
62. The best title for the passage may be _______.
A. China’s Success in Pandas Cloning                       
B. The First Cloned Panda in the World
C. Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas  
D. China —the Native Place of Pandas Forever
63. From the passage we know that _______.
A. Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog
B. scientists try to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit
C. Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches
D. about two thousand of species will probably die out in a century

　　A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent，increasing the brainpower they had at birth.
　　Until now，it has been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience—what psychologists call fluid intelligence—is innate and cannot be taught（though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing）.
　　But in the new study，researchers describe a method for improving this skill，along with experiments to prove it works.
　　The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory—the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it. This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence，so the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence.
　　First they measured fluid intelligence of volunteers using standard tests. Then they trained each in a complicated memory task—the child’s card game，in which they had to recall a card they saw and heard. During the course, they needed to ignore irrelevant items，monitor ongoing performance，manage two tasks at the same time and connect related items to one another in space and time.
　　The four groups experienced a half-hour of training daily for 8，12，17 and 19 days，respectively. To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills，the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training.
　　The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences，were striking. Improvement in the trained groups was a lot greater. Moreover，the longer they trained, the higher their scores were. All performers，from the weakest to the strongest，showed significant improvement.
　　“Our results show you can increase your intelligence with proper training.”said Dr Jaeggi, a co-author of the paper.“No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops，”he added，“and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains.”
67．The researchers thought the key to improving the intelligence was ______________.
A．memorizing telephone numbers
B．improving working memory
C．training in concentration
D．recalling a card
68．The following aspects of the training help increase intelligence EXCEPT___________.
A．ignoring irrelevant items
B．monitoring ongoing performance
C．managing two tasks at the same time
D．using previous experience
69．When the experiment was conducted，the researchers______________.
A．trained the four groups for the same period of time
B．only made comparisons between the four groups
C．compared the four groups with control groups
D．trained the four groups together
70．By writing the article，the writer intends to ______________.
A．inform the readers of a new study
B．call on people to be trained to increase intelligence
C．prove one’s born brainpower can be improved
D．tell people the improved intelligence will last forever

The Vienna-based researchers showed that dogs will stop doing a simple task when not rewarded if another dog, which continues to be rewarded, is present．
The experiment consisted of taking pairs of dogs and getting them to present a paw for a reward．On giving this “handshake” the dogs received a piece of food．One of the dogs was then asked to shake hands, but received no food．The other dog continued to get the food when it was asked to perform the task．
The dog without the reward quickly stopped doing the task, and showed signs of anger or stress when its partner was rewarded．
To make sure that the experiment was really showing the interaction between the dogs rather than just the frustration of not being rewarded, a similar experiment was conducted where the dogs performed the task without the partner．Here they continued to present the paw for much longer．
Dr Frederike Range from the University of Vienna says this shows that it was the presence of the rewarded partner that was the greater influence on their behaviour．
“The only difference is one gets food and the other doesn’t, they are responding to being unequally rewarded．” she said．
The researchers say this kind of behaviour, where one animal gets frustrated with what is happening with another, has only been observed in primates(灵长类) before．
Studies with various types of monkeys and chimpanzees show they react not only to seeing their partners receiving rewards when they are not, but also to the type of reward．
The dog study also looked at whether the type of reward made a difference．Dogs were given either bread or sausage, but seemed to react equally to either．Dr Range says this may be because they have been trained．
57．The dogs refused to give the paw when they_______．
A．found another dog was given nothing
B．felt they were not treated equally
C．were aware they received less food
D．were given too much reward
58．What would the dogs do if they presented their paw alone?
A．They would go on with the performance much longer．
B．They would be too shy to present their paw．
C．They would miss their partners．
D．They would compare what they got with that of others．
59．According to the passage, compared with dogs, monkeys and chimpanzees ______．
A．pay no attention to the type of reward
B．only like to play interesting games
C．pay attention to the type of reward as well as whether they are rewarded
D．care more about how they are rewarded
60．Which of the following can best summerise the passage?
A．Animals’ various ways to show anger
B．Dogs are more envious than man
C．Most animals want to be be rewarded for their work
D．Animals also have a sense of fairplay

Your cell phone holds secrets about you. Besides the names and numbers that you’ve programmed into it, traces of your DNA remain on it, according to a new study.
DNA is genetic material that appears in every cell. Like your fingerprint, your DNA is unique to you --- unless you have an identical twin. Scientists today usually analyze DNA in blood, saliva(唾液), or hair left behind at the scene of a crime. The results often help detectives identify criminals and their victims.
Meghan J. McFadden, a biologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, heard about a crime in which the suspect bled onto a cell phone and later dropped the device. This made her wonder whether traces of DNA remained on cell phones --- even when no blood was involved. To find out, she and a colleague collected flip-style(翻盖式) phones from 10 volunteers. They collected invisible traces of the users from two parts of the phone: the outside, where the user holds it, and the speaker, which is placed at the user’s ear.  
The scientists scrubbed(meaning “cleaned”) the phones using a liquid mixture made mostly of alcohol. The aim of washing was to remove all detectable traces of DNA. The owners got their phones back for another week. Then the researchers collected the phones and repeated collecting traces on each phone once more. They discovered DNA that belonged to the phone’s owner on each of the phones.
Surprisingly, DNA showed up even in swabs that were taken immediately after the phones were cleaned. That suggests that washing won’t remove all traces of evidence from a criminal’s cell phone. So cell phones can now be added to the list of clues that can help a crime-scene investigation.
【小题1】McFadden decided to find out whether people leave their DNA on their cell phones when she ____ .

There are many international organizations which work to save and protect endangered species(物种)and natural environment．If you would like more information about any of the organizations listed below, you can write to the addresses given．

The ocean contains many strange and surprising creatures. One such creature is the puffer fish. This very strange fish is probably the most poisonous creature in the ocean. The poison that this fish produces is 275 times more poisonous than the chemical which is usually used to kill rats.
The puffer fish gets its name from the way the fish protects itself from enemies. Whenever it is attacked, the fish blows up its body to three times bigger than its normal size!
Another strange thing about this fish is the fact that it can swim like other fish. Because it does not have bones like other fish, the puffer fish can only move slowly through the water as it is carried by waves.
The puffer fish also has funny teeth. These teeth stick out of the fish’s mouth and are used by the fish to open the shells of the creatures that live on the ocean floor.
This strange, ugly, and very poisonous fish is actually a very expensive kind of food in Japan. The Japanese call this fish “fugu”, and people have been known to pay $150 per person to eat a fugu meal (usually eight servings)!
Very brave people want to eat the most poisonous part of the fugu fish on purpose. They think that this part of the fish tastes the best! Strict laws have been passed to control restaurants which serve fugu; however, quite a few people have still died from eating fugu.Almost 200 people have died over the past 25 years.
When people eat fugu poison, they do not die on the spot. First, they feel a strange tickle on their lips and in their mouth. Then they can not feel anything with their fingers. Finally, they cannot move or speak. Death follows when they can no longer breathe. The poison may take only a few minutes or up to six hours to kill a person. There is no known cure for fugu poisoning.
【小题1】According to the passage, the puffer fish       .