6. Which of the following is NOT the reason why some scientists are against the plan?

A. The project would wipe out all the native lifeforms on the Mars.

B. The project will cost too much money and work.

C. We would ruin Mars.

D. We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed.　

5. The passage is about________.

A. a plan turning Mars into a little earth

B. the necessity of changing Mars

C. Mars supporting life

D. finding water in the Mars

4．B　 观点说明题。作者通过列举人、鸟、蜜蜂的非语言性的交流，认为树发出蒸汽的方式也是一种交流是合乎情理的。

B

　The plan: turn Mars into a blue world with streams and green fields, and then fill it with creatures (生物) from the earth. This idea may sound like something from a science fiction (科幻小说), but it is actually being taken seriously by many researchers.

　This suggested future for the “red planet” will be the main topic for discussion at an international conference hosted by NASA (美国宇航局) this week. Leading researchers as well as science fiction writers will attend the event. It comes as NASA is preparing a multibilliondollar Mars research programme. “Turning Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction,”said Dr Michael Meyer, NASA’s senior scientist for astrobiology (太空生物学). “Now, with scientists exploring the reality, we can ask what are the real possibilities of changing Mars.”

　 Most scientists agree that Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money would be needed to achieve this goal.

　But many experts are shocked by the idea. “We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed and now we are talking about ruining another planet,” said Paul Murdin, of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK. Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident they will find Martian life forms. Europe and America’s robot explorers have found proof that water, mixed with soil, exists in large amounts on the planet.

　 In addition, two different groups of scientists announced on March 28 that they had found signs of methane (甲烷) in the Martian atmosphere (大气). The gas is a waste product of living creatures and could be produced by microbes (微生物) living in the red planet’s soil.

　But scientists such as Dr Lisa Pratt, a biologist at Indiana University, say that these microbes will be put in danger by the little earth project. “Before we have even discovered if there is life on Mars, we are talking about carrying out projects that would destroy all these native lifeforms, all the strange microbes that we hope to find buried in the soil,” said Dr Pratt. This view is shared by Monica Grady, a planetary scientist at the Natural History Museum, London. “We cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious information we are looking for.” she said， “This is just wrong.”

3．C　 细节理解题。从第二段倒数第二句得出。

2．B　 细节理解题。从第一段最后一句得出。

1．A　 细节理解题。答案从第一段第五句中查找。

4．The author believes that the incident described in the passage　　　　 .

A．cannot be taken seriously　　 　　　B．seems completely reasonable

C．should no longer be permitted　　　 D．must be checked more thorough

[解题导语]本篇科普文章讲述了柳树通过发出一种特别水蒸汽来同临居进行交流。作者认为象人类微笑，鸟儿唱歌，蜜蜂跳舞一样，树也有传送信息的方式。

[答案与解析]

3．According to the passage, bees communicate by　　　　 .

A．touching one another　　　　　　 B．smiling one another

C．making special movement　　　　 D．making unusual sound

2．According to the passage, the willow tree was able to communicate with each other by　　　 .

A．waving its branches　　　　　　　 B．giving off a special vapor

C．dropping its leaves　　　　　　　 D．changing the color of its trunk

1．It can be inferred from the passage that caterpillars do not feed on leaves that　　　　　 .

A．have an unpleasant taste

B．are lying on the ground

C．have an unfamiliar shape

D．bees don’t like