SYDNEY: As they sat sharing sweets beside a swimming pool in 1999 , Shane Gould and Jessicah Schipper were simply getting along well , chatting about sport , life and “ anything else that came up . ”
Yet in Sydney next month , they will meet again by the pool , and for a short time the friends will race against each other in the 50-meter butterfly（蝶泳）in the Australian championships at Homebush Bay .
Gould , now a 47-year-old mother of four , has announced she will be making a return to elite competition（顶级赛事）to swim the one event , having set a qualifying（合格的）time of 30.32 seconds in winning gold at last year’s United States Masters championships . Her comeback comes 32 years after she won three golds at the Munich Olympics .
Schipper , now a 17-year-old from Brisbane with a bright future of going to Athens for her first Olympics , yesterday recalled（回忆）her time with Gould fie years ago .
“ I was at a national youth camp on the Gold Coast and Shane had come along to talk to us and watch us train , ” Schipper explained . “ It seemed as if we had long been good friends . I don’t know why . We just started talking and it went from there . ”
“ She had a lot to share with all of us at that camp . She told us stories about what it was like at big meets like the Olympics and what it’s like to be on an Australian team . It was really interesting . ”
Next time , things will be more serious . “ I will still be swimming in the 50m butterfly at the nationals , so there is a chance that I could actually be competing against Shane Gould , ” said Schipper , who burst onto the scene at last year’s national championships with second places in the 100m and 200m butterfly .
1. What is the passage mainly about ?
A. Stories happening in swimming competitions .
B. Two women swimmers winning Olympic golds .
C. Lessons learned from international swimming championships .
D. Friendship and competition between two swimmers .
2. Gould and Schipper are going to ________ .
A. talk about sport and life B. go back to elite competition
C. set a qualifying time and win gold D. take part in the same sports event
3. Gould won her three Olympic golds when she was ________ .
A. 15 B. 17 C. 22 D. 30
4. The underlined word “ it ” in the fifth paragraph probably refers to ________ .
A. the Olympics B. the youth camp
C. the friendship D. the Australian team
5. What Schipper said showed that she ________ .
A. was no longer Gould’s friend B. had learned a lot from Gould
C. was not interested in Gould’s stories D. would not like to compete against Gould
Some of Beijing Zoo's animals are suffering menu changes because of the bird flu spread in Asia.
Gone are the lions' and tigers' delightful “live” chicken dinners. In their menus, instead, are raw beef and mutton. While the lions and tigers go chicken less, the zoo's birds are also receiving some special and uncomfortable treatment these days. The peacocks in Befalling Safari Animal World, who used to be featured in the park and could walk around showing off their beautiful feathers, now are forced to stay in cages.
And turkeys at the Beijing Zoo—believed to be most likely to suffer from the bird flu virus have been moved out of their old home to places separate from visitors. In most cases，display areas with birds have been closed for health reasons.
Yet a good thing about the present situation is that the living conditions of the zoo's birds are being improved, with keepers keeping the display areas cleaner and not as crowded as before. Almost all zoos have done more frequent cleaning and disinfection for bird cages——measures to prevent infection.
In this special period, pigeons(鸽子)are_frowned_upon._In Beijing, many homing pigeon lovers use balconies(阳台)to build cages for birds. Most neighbours are fed up with these cages since they can produce waste and feathers. Now the city's homing pigeon organization is asking all its members to stop letting pigeons out of their cages and keep cages clean. Still, pigeons and some other birds seem less lovely to people than before.
As a Chinese newspaper put it “Doves, are you still angels？”which of the following shows the menu changes in the Beijing Zoo?
| A．The lions and tigers have “live” chicken dinners. |
| B．The lions and tigers eat raw beef and mutton. |
| C．The lions and tigers have chickens only for supper. |
| D．The lions and tigers have beef and mutton for part of meals. |
We can conclude from the text that________.
| A．turkeys have been moved out of the zoo because of the bird flu virus |
| B．peacock shows used to be free of charge |
| C．people can hardly see peacock shows in the Beijing Zoo now |
| D．homing pigeons are safe from the bird flu virus |
The underlined sentence in the text means“________”．
| A．pigeons receive the best care |
| B．people are worried about pigeons |
| C．people feel displeased with pigeons |
| D．people show no interest in pigeons |
阅读下面的短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。
Rush hour traffic is a problem in many big cities around the world. Commuters(道勤者)rush to and from their jobs in cars, buses, subways, trains, and even on bicycles. Large cities in the United States have two rush hours—one in the morning and one in the evening. But in cities in other parts of the world, there are four rush hours. In Athens and Rome, for example, many workers go home for lunch and a nap. After this midday break, they rush back to their jobs and work for a few more hours.
In Tokyo, there's a big rush hour underground. Most of the people in Tokyo take the subways. The trains are very crowded. Subway employees called packers wear white gloves and help pack the commuters into the trains when the doors place. They make sure that all purses, briefcases, clothes, and hands are inside the trains.
In Seoul, many computers prefer to take taxis to get to work. To hail_a_cab,_many people stand at crossroads and raise two fingers. This means they'll pay the cab driver double the usual fare. Some people even raise three fingers! They'll pay THREE times the normal rate.
Streets in Rome are very crowded with automobiles and mopeds(摩托自行车)during rush hours. The city can't make its streets wider, and it can't build new highways, because it doesn't want to disturb many historic sites in the city, such as the Forum and the Colosseum. It took the city fifteen years to construct a new subway system. Construction had to stop every time workers found old artifacts and discovered places of interest to archaeologists(考古学家)．
In many big cities, there are special lanes on highways for carpools. These are groups of three or more people who driver to and from work together. They share the costs of gas and parking and take turns driving into the city.
Getting to work and getting home can be difficult in many places around the world. Rush hour traffic seems to be a universal problem.Big cities have traffic problems during rush hours because there are________.
| A．special lanes on highways |
| B．many commuters |
| C．four rush hours |
| D．many cars on the street |
Most of commuters in Tokyo________.
| A．take subway trains to work |
| B．are packers |
| C．take taxis to work |
| D．carry briefcases to work |
To “hail a cab” means to________.
| A．pay double the normal rate |
| B．try to get a cab |
| C．prefer to take taxis |
| D．to stand at crossroads |
Why did it take a long time to build a subway system in Rome?
| A．Because the streets were very crowded. |
| B．Because there are many historic sites. |
| C．Because the workers discovered many artifacts and places of interest. |
| D．Because the traffic always stopped the construction. |
Commuters in carpools probably________.
| A．live in the city |
| B．take the subway to work |
| C．save money on gas and parking fees |
| D．have special license plates(牌照) |
Tokyo is one of those places that you can love and hate at the same time.
In Tokyo there are always too many people in the places where I want to be. Of course there are too many cars. The Japanese drive very fast when they can. But in Tokyo they often spend a long time in traffic jams. Tokyo is not different from London, Paris and New York in that. It is different when one wants to walk.
At certain times of the day there are a lot of people on foot in London's Oxford Street. But the streets near Ginza in Tokyo always have a lot of people on foot, and sometimes it is really difficult to walk. People are very polite; there are just too many of them.
The worst time to be in the street is at 1130 at night. That is when the nightclubs are closing and everybody wants to go home. There are 35 000 nightclubs in Tokyo, and you do not often see one that is empty.
Most people travel to and from work by train. Tokyo people buy six million train tickets every day. At most stations, trains arrive every two or three hours. There do not seem to be enough trains. Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good. They always leave and arrive on time. On a London train you would see everybody reading a newspaper. In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep, whether his journey is long or short.
In Tokyo, I stood outside the station for five minutes. Three fire- engines raced past on the way to one of the many fires that Tokyo has every day. Tokyo has so many surprises that none of them can really surprise me now. Instead, I am surprised at myself：I must go there next year on business. I know I hate the overcrowded city. But I feel like a man who is returning to his long-lost love.Tokyo is different from London in that________.
| A．it has a larger population |
| B．there are more traffic jams |
| C．it is more difficult to go somewhere on foot |
| D．night clubs are sometimes empty |
Japanese trains________.
| A．often leave and arrive on time |
| B．are often crowded |
| C．are the main means people used to travel to and from work |
| D．all of the above |
Where can you find everybody reading a newspaper?
| A．At most London train stations. |
| B．At most Tokyo train stations. |
| C．On a Tokyo train. |
| D．On a London train. |
Fires break out ________in Tokyo according to the writer.
| A．quite frequently |
| B．only several times a day |
| C．not very often |
| D．very seldom |
Which of the following is NOT true about Tokyo?
| A．The streets become more crowded at 1130 at night. |
| B．There are more trains than cars. |
| C．Fire-engines are very busy in the city. |
| D．Tokyo people are friendly. |
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(物种). That's a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for 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. 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 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，”Karemer 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 firstever 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.”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 |
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 |
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 |
From the passage we know that________.
| A．Karemer 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 visit to NASA Langley Research Center would be very exciting. You could meet NASA scientists and engineers working with wind tunnels.
Wind tunnels are basically tubes through which air—or a gas—is moved to make “wind” in the tube. This “wind” moves past objects such as airplanes or just parts from airplanes.
It s always a good idea to test a new aircraft design in a wind tunnel before you build the real aircraft. Models tested in wind tunnels will always go through design changes before engineers are satisfied with its design and test results.
Wind tunnels are constructed with some very wide sections as well as some sections much smaller in size. An “open return wind tunnel”is open at both ends of the tube. It is usually largest at one end of the tube where you may even see the fan blade(风扇片)that creates the wind. This tube gets smaller as you move away from the fan blade. The tube begins to straighten in the next part of the wind tunnel called the Test Section. This is where you place the model for testing. The tube widens again as you move away from the Test Section.
Another wind tunnel is the “closed return” design. This tunnel is completely contained inside a building. The tunnel moves in a “loop” inside the building. A fan is located in the tunnel on one side of the building and the test model is located in the tunnel's Test Section on the other side of the building.
NASCAR race teams even test their race cars in wind tunnels to test and improve a car's design. These teams work hard to reduce a car's drag. In less than 150 years, wind tunnels have allowed mankind to improve cars on the ground, aircraft in the atmosphere, and spacecrafts in space. We can only imagine what will happen with wind tunnels during the next hundred years.What could be the best title of the passage?
| A．What Are Wind Tunnels Made of? |
| B．What Is a Wind Tunnel and How It Works? |
| C．Where Can Wind Tunnels Be Found? |
| D．Why Are Wind Tunnels Used? |
Which of the following is the right shape of an “open return wind tunnel”？
In the “close return” wind tunnel, the fan is fixed________.
| A．in the Test Section on the other side of the building |
| B．next to the models in the building |
| C．at one end of the opening |
| D．on the other side of the Test Section |
By reducing a race car's drag, ________.
| A．the car will becomes lighter |
| B．the car will be easy to operate |
| C．the car will move faster |
| D．the car will look more beautiful |