Astronaut Jim Voss has enjoyed many memorable moments in his career，including three space flights and one space walk. But he recalls with special fondness a decidedly earthbound（为地球引力所束缚的）experience in the summer of 1980 when he participated in the NASA ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program. Voss， then a science teacher at West Poin，was assigned to the Marshall Space Flight Center's propulsion（推进） lab in Alabama to analyze why a hydraulic fuel pump seal （液压燃料泵的密封圈）on the space shuttle（航天飞机） was working so well when previous seals had failed. It was a seemingly tiny problem among the vast complexities of running the space program. Yet it was important to NASA because any crack in the seal could have led to destructive results for the astronauts who relied on them.
“I worked a bit with NASA engineers，” says Voss， “but I did it mostly by an analysis. I used a handheld calculator， not a computer， to do a thermodynamic（热力学的） analysis.” At the end of the summer，he，like the other NASA ASEE fellows working at Marshall，summarized his findings in a formal presentation and detailed paper. It was a valuable moment for Voss because the ASEE program gave him added understanding of NASA，deepened his desire to fly in space，and intensified his application for astronaut status.
It was not an easy process. Voss was actually passed over when he first applied for the astronaut program in 1978. Over the next nine years he reapplied repeatedly，and was finally accepted in 1987. Since then he has participated in three space missions. The 50 year old Army officer，who lives in Houston，is now in training for a four-month mission as a crew member on the International Space Station starting in July 2000.
Voss says the ASEE program is wonderful for all involved. “It brings in people from the academic world and gives NASA a special property for a particular period of time. It brings some fresh eyes and fresh ideas to NASA，and establishes a link with our colleges and universities，” Voss explains. “There's an exchange of information and an exchange of perspectives that is very important.”
For the academic side，Voss says，the ASEE program also “brings institutions of higher learning more insight into new technology. We give them an opportunity to work on real world problems and take it back to the classroom.”
66. Why was the hydraulic fuel pump seal important for the space shuttle？
A） Because previous seals all failed.
B） Because it was very complex in running the space program.
C） Because great care has to be taken of the hydraulic fuel pump sealing.
D） Because any crack in the seals would cause disastrous results for the astronauts.
67.The great significance of Voss's findings lies in_________ .
A） strengthening his determination to join in space flights
B） furthering his understanding of NASA
C） consolidating his astronaut status in NASA programs
D） Both A and B
68. How many flights will Voss have finished if his four-month mission starting in July 2000 ends up successfully？
A） Three B） Two C） Four D） Five
69. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to what Voss said on the ASEE program？
A） Fresh members from the academic world participate in the program.
B） The program brings new outlooks to NASA space programs.
C） It is important for the space scientists to exchange information and perspectives.
D） American colleges and universities are a special property of NASA.
70. What does Voss want to stress in the last paragraph？
A） The technological significance of the program.
B） The educational significance of the program.
C） The philosophical significance of the program.
D） The historical significance of the program.
第三部分阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Why You Should Celebrate Your Mistakes
When you make a mistake, big or small, cherish (珍视) it like it’s the most precious thing in the world. Because in some ways, it is.
Most of us feel bad when we make mistakes, beat ourselves up about it, feel like failures, get mad at ourselves.
And that’s only natural: most of us have been taught from a young age that mistakes are bad, that we should try to avoid mistakes. We’ve been scolded when we make mistakes—at home, school and work. Maybe not always, but probably enough times to make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction.
Yet without mistakes, we could not learn or grow. If you think about it that way, mistakes should be cherished and celebrated for being one of the most amazing things in the world: they make learning possible; they make growth and improvement possible.
By trial and error—trying things, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes—we have figured out how to make electric light, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to fly.
Mistakes make walking possible for the smallest toddler, make speech possible, make works of genius possible.
Think about how we learn: we don’t just consume information about something and instantly know it or know how to do it. You don’t just read about painting, or writing, or computer programming, or baking, or playing the piano, and know how to do them right away. Instead, you get information about something, from reading or from another person or from observing usually … then you construct a model in your mind … then you test it out by trying it in the real world … then you make mistakes … then you revise the model based on the results of your real-world experimentation … and repeat, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, until you’ve pretty much learned how to do something. That’s how we learn as babies and toddlers, and how we learn as adults. Mistakes are how we learn to do something new—because if you succeed at something, it’s probably something you already knew how to do. You haven’t really grown much from that success—at most it’s the last step on your journey, not the whole journey. Most of the journey was made up of mistakes, if it’s a good journey.
So if you value learning, if you value growing and improving, then you should value mistakes. They are amazing things that make a world of brilliance possible.
56. Why do most of us feel bad about making mistakes?
A. Because mistakes make us suffer a lot.
B. Because it’s a natural part in our life.
C. Because we’ve been taught so from a young age.
D. Because mistakes have ruined many people’s careers.
57. According to the passage, what is the right attitude to mistakes?
A. We should try to avoid making mistakes.
B. We should owe great inventions mainly to mistakes.
C. We should treat mistakes as good chances to learn.
D. We should make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction.
58. The underlined word “toddler” in Paragraph Six probably means _______.
A. a small child learning to walk B. a kindergarten child learning to draw
C. a primary pupil learning to read D. a school teenager learning to write
59. We can learn from the passage that _______.
A. most of us can really grow from success
B. growing and improving are based on mistakes
C. mistakes are the most precious things in the world
D. we read about something and know how to do it right away
My bookshelves are full of dust — and with good reason．When it comes to cleaning that part of my home, I suffer from the most serious case of avoidance (回避反应症)．
The thing is this: when I do set out to clean and re-organize my books, which seldom happens, I place myself into a really bad situation．No sooner do I take a title from the shelf, blow off the dust, and wipe down the cover than I find myself sitting on the floor with legs crossed and my back against the wall．Pretty soon books get piled up on my legs as I am reunited with old friends．
It is as if these books have voices, and each wants to say its piece．“Remember me? I was given to you when you went into the Navy, so that you would never lack for companionship,” one whispers．Another says, “I was your first book of poems, given to you before you learned to love poetry．” And a third, “I was the book that made history so attractive to you．”
Perhaps the greatest pleasure of re-organizing my books are the surprises — or better said, reunions — that occur．During my latest book-cleaning adventure, I found one that had fallen behind the shelf: “Tales of Edgar Allan Poe．” Not an unusual title, but the words written on the first page made it very special: “With Love from Mom and Dad, Christmas 1965．” What’s this? A book on the physics of lasers（激光）．It is filled with mathematical statements, and I had bought it at a library sale when I was 12, not long after the laser had been invented．I couldn’t understand a bit of it, but I did learn what “laser” meant．
What I end up with when I empty my bookshelves is a cross-section (横剖面) of my personal history．It’s like a road cut where one sees all the layers of rock going back through time to the beginning of the simplest life forms．The books I’ve read — and kept — are not just old friends．They are my résumé．
57．What could be said about the author?
A．He is too busy to tidy up his bookshelves．
B．He considers his books treasured possessions．
C．He has made a lot of notes in his books．
D．He is a lover of science books．
58．By saying that his books have voices, the author means ________ ．
A．they bring back happy memories B．they are recorded in human voice
C．they say a lot about human history D．they offer good topics for discussion
59．What does the author enjoy most from re-organizing his books?
A．Finding some missing books．
B．Putting books in good order．
C．Learning something new from the books．
D．Rediscovering interesting stories behind some books．
60．The underlined word “résumé” in the last paragraph probably means ______．
A．personal history B．precious notes
C．good companion D．simple life forms
The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen．We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential (潜能) of diet products that we stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us．We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically (身体上)．
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically．On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods．Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale (秤) instead．All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels．
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects, Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results．Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle．
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause．Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients (营养成分)．Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products．Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous．
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them．Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals．Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them
53．One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to ______．
A．try out a variety of diet food B．hesitate before they enjoy diet foods
C．pay attention to their own eating habits D．watch their weight rather than their diet
54．In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means_____．
A．losing weight is effortless B．it costs a lot to lose weight
C．diet products bring no pain D．diet products are free from calories
55．Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products _____
A．are over- consumed B．are short of chemicals
C．lack basic nutrients D．provide too much energy
56．Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
Dogs are known for their sense of smell．They can find missing people and things like bombs and illegal drugs．Now a study suggests that the animal known as man’s best friend can even find bladder（膀胱）cancer．
Cancer cells are thought to produce chemicals with unusual odors（气味）．Researchers think dogs have the ability to smell these odors, even in very small amounts, in urine（尿）．The sense of smell in dogs is thousands of times better than in humans．
The study follows reports of cases where, for example, a dog showed great interest in a growth on the leg of its owner．The man was later found to be skin cancer．Carolyn Willis led a team of researchers at Amersham Hospital in England．They trained different kinds of dogs for the experiment．The study involved urine collected from bladder cancer patients, from people with other diseases and from healthy people．Each dog was tested 8 times．In each test there were 7 samples for the dogs to smell．The dog should signal the one from a bladder cancer patient by lying down next to it．Two cocker dogs were correct 56 percent of the time．But the scientists reported an average success rate of 41 percent．The British Medical Journal published the research．In all, 36 bladder cancer patients and 108 other people took part．During training, all the dogs reportedly even identified（认出）a cancer in a person who had tested healthy before the study．Doctors found a growth on the person’s right kidney（肾）．Carolyn Willis says dogs could help scientists identify the combined chemicals produced by bladder cancer．That information could then be used to develop machines to test for the chemicals．The team also plans to use dogs to help identify markers for other kinds of cancer．
49．What’s the general idea of the text?
A．Dogs have a good sense of smell B．Dogs can help cure cancer
C．Dogs can smell cancer D．Dogs help perform experiments
50．According to the text, people who suffer bladder cancer_____
A．often have urine with unusual smell B．probably smoke cigarettes in their life
C．can easily make dogs lie down
D．are likely to die within nine years
51．The underlined word “involved” in the text is closest in meaning to _____．
A．showed B．used C．proved D．preferred
52．What can we conclude from the last paragraph?
A．Dogs can only smell bladder cancer．
B．Dogs have a good knowledge of cancer．
C．Cancer doesn’t have any sign in the beginning．
D．Scientists might invent some equipment to test cancer．
第二部分阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
Cao Min couldn’t believe she was experiencing exactly what she had seen years ago in the film “Titanic”．
Cao and her two children from Anhui Province were traveling on board the “Liaoludu 7” on February 22．They were among the first people on the ship who were rescued by lifeboats．Cao’s one-year-old son was the youngest passenger on board．
The “Liaoludu 7” was traveling in the Bohai Straits from Lvshun in Liaoning Province to the port city of Longkou in Shandong Province．It suddenly lost its power at 2:30 pm and tilted（倾斜）on its side．With 81 people on board, the ferry（渡船）began to sink．
“I was so scared that my legs couldn’t move forward．They kept shaking even when I was asked to jump onto a lifeboat,” Cao recalled．
Upon receiving the may•day appeal（紧急呼救）, China Marine Search and Rescue Centre immediately informed the State Council．The center sent eight lifeboats to the sinking ship and asked for help from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Navy and nearby fishing boats．
After more than four hours of fighting strong winds and freezing ocean water, the passengers were rescued．All but four survived．These four died after spending too long time in the freezing waters, according to a spokesperson for the Beijing-based center．
46．According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A．The film “Titanic” had been on show again in Shanghai．
B．Cao’s two-year-old son was the youngest passenger on board．
C．“Liaoludu 7” with all passengers on board survived．
D．The ferry began to sink on the way to the port of Shangdong Province．
47．The underlined word “scared” in paragraph 4 means “__________” in English．
A．anxious B．unfortunate C．frightened D．disappointed
48．From the passage we can infer that __________．
A．China Marine Search and Rescue Centre quickly carried out the rescue task
B．the center sent eight lifeboats and asked for help from the United Nations
C．the passengers were fighting strong winds and freezing ocean water for one hour
D．the ferry sank into the sea immediately it tilted on its side at 2:30 pm