Why should mankind explore space? Why should money, time and effort be spent exploring and researching something with so few apparent benefits? Why should resources be spent on space rather than on conditions and people on Earth? These are questions that, understandably, are very often asked.
Perhaps the best answer lies in our genetic makeup(基因构成) as human beings. What drove our ancestors to move from the trees into the plains, and on into all possible areas and environments? The wider the spread of a species, the better its chance of survival. Perhaps the best reason for exploring space is this genetic tendency to expand wherever possible.
Nearly every successful civilization has explored, because by doing so, any dangers in surrounding areas can be identified and prepared for. Without knowledge, we may be completely destroyed by the danger. With knowledge, we can lessen its effects.
Exploration also allows minerals and other potential (潜在的) resources to be found. Even if we have no immediate need of them, they will perhaps be useful later. Resources may be more than physical possessions. Knowledge or techniques have been acquired through exploration. The techniques may have medical applications which can improve the length or quality of our lives. We have already benefited from other spin-offs including improvements in earthquake prediction, in satellites for weather forecasting and in communications systems. Even non-stick pans and mirrored sunglasses are by-products (副产品) of technological developments in the space.
While many resources are spent on what seems a small return, the exploration of s
pace allows creative, brave and intelligent members of our species to focus on what may serve to save us. While space may hold many wonders and explanations of how the universe was formed or how it works, it also holds dangers. The danger exists, but knowledge can help human being to survive. Without the ability to reach out across space, the chance to save ourselves might not exist.
While Earth is the only planet known to support life, surely the adaptive ability of humans would allow us to live on other planets. It is true that the lifestyle would be different, but human life and cultures have adapted in the past and surely could in the future.Why does the author mention the questions in Paragraph 1?
| A．To express his doubts. | B．To compare different ideas. |
| C．To introduce points for discussion. | D．To describe the conditions on Earth. |
What is the reason for exploring space based on Paragraph 2?
| A．Humans are nature-born to do so. |
| B．Humans have the tendency to fight. |
| C．Humans may find new sources of food. |
| D．Humans don’t like to stay in the same place. |
The underlined word “spin-offs” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to______.
| A．survival chances | B．unexpected benefits |
| C．potential resources | D．physical possessions |
What makes it possible for humans to live on other planets?
| A．The adaptive ability of humans. | B．Resources on the earth.. |
| C．Our genetic makeup. | D．By-products in space exploration. |
Which of the statements can best sum up the passage?
| A．Space exploration has created many wonders. |
| B．Space exploration provided the best value for money. |
| C．Space exploration can benefit science and technology. |
| D．Space exploration may help us avoid potential problems on Earth. |
At the time, I would go out in the evening with my parents. But this time I had borrowed a bicycle from a friend of mine. I didn’t know why, but once I was on my own bicycle, a kind of free feeling flooded through me. The faster I rode, the faster I wanted to go! Far ahead, I rode as if my life depended on it, head down, hands grasping the handbars. I meant to get to Jinghai Bar as fast as I could. . .
Oh! My hands! Don’t come any closer. . . Don’t touch me! That poor doctor just couldn’t get my gloves off. Each time he took a step towards me, I broke into painful shouting. Much later, I discovered that I had crashed(碰撞)heavily with another bicycle, and I hadn’t spoken one word of sense for at least three hours! After some time, my mother arrived at the hospital, her face as white as a sheet, and gave me a hug(拥抱), only then did the doctor begin to stitch(缝合)my head wound, not only did he merrily cut off a long lock of my hair, but used no anaesthetic(麻药)either! Later, I seemed to hear faraway voices saying that my right hand was broken. I almost burst into tears. How would I ever play the piano again? On her way to Jinghai Bar, the writer felt .
| A．nervous | B．comfortable |
| C．light-hearted | D．upset |
Why did the writer ride a bicycle to Jinghai Bar that evening?
| A．Because she wanted to attend a party on time. |
| B．Because she wanted to meet her friend who was waiting for her there. |
| C．Because she just wanted to join some of her friends and drink some wine. |
| D．We are not quite sure about what she was really going there for. |
What did the writer think of the doctor?
| A．Friendly. | B．Cruel. |
| C．Hard-working. | D．Kind. |
One thing is sure, that is, before she was wounded she .
| A．often went to Jinghai Bar with her friends |
| B．liked playing the piano |
| C．didn’t like any doctors at all |
| D．would burst into tears when she was in trouble |
Every people uses its own special word to show its ideas and feelings. Some of these expressions are commonly used for many years. Others are popular for just a short time. One such American expression is “Where’s the beef? ”It is used when something is not as good as it is said to be. In the early 1980s“Where’s the beef? ”was one of the most popular expressions in the United States. It seemed as if everyone using it at the time. 
Beef, of course, is the meat from a cow, and this kind of food is more popular in America than a hamburger made from beef. In the 1960s a businessman named Ray began building small restaurants that sold hamburgers at a low price. Ray called this “McDonald’s”. Ray became one of the richest businessmen at last in America.
Other business people watched his success. Some of them opened their own hamburger restaurants. One company called “Wendy’s” said its hamburgers were bigger than those sold by McDonald’s or anyone else. The Wendy’s Company began to use the expression “Where’s the beef ? ”to make people know that Wendy’s hamburgers were the biggest. The Wendy’s television advertisement showed three old women eating hamburgers. The bread that covered the meat was very big, but inside there was only a bit of meat. One of the women said she would not eat a hamburger with such a little piece of beef. “Where’s the beef? ”she shouted in a funny way. The advertisement for Wendy’s hamburger restaurants was success. As we said, it seemed everyone began using the expression “Where’s the beef? ”. started McDonald’s restaurant.
| A．Ray | B．McDonald |
| C．Wendy | D．Three old women |
Other people wanted to open hamburger restaurants because they thought
.
| A．they could sell hamburgers at a low price |
| B．hamburgers were easy to make |
| C．beef was very popular in America |
| D．they could make a lot of money |
Wendy’s made the expression known to everybody .
| A．with many old women eating hamburgers |
| B．by a television advertisement |
| C．while selling bread with a bit of meat in it |
| D．at McDonald’s restaurant |
We can learn from the passage that the expression “Where’s the beef ? ” means .
| A．The beef in hamburgers is not as much as it is said to be |
| B．The hamburgers are not as good as they are said to be |
| C．It is used when something is not as good as it is said to be |
| D．Wendy’s is the biggest |
One night in March 1999, a man was driving from California to Oregon, US, to visit some friends. He had stopped his car to have some food when he started to hear strange noises. Turning on the headlights, he saw an 8-foot-tall creature covered in thick, dark hair. The creature stared at him for a minute, turned in the road and walked off slowly into the woods. 
In the past 50 years alone, there have been thousands of reported sightings of similar creatures in the US, Canada, the Himalayas(喜马拉雅山地区)and even Hubei Province in China. The creature is known as bigfoot.
Bigfoot is said to be a very tall(between 2 and 4. 5 metres), ape-like(类人猿似的)creature that is covered in hair and walks upright on two legs. It is very wary(警惕的)of human beings.
Believers think bigfoot is a direct descendent(后代)of ancient gigantopithecus(巨猿). But it remains one of the planet’s undiscovered secrets. There is a little evidence(证据)to support the believers’ theory: traces of hair, footprints and body prints as well as the reported sightings. Some people have even showed what they say with photos or films of bigfoot.
But so far, no one has found bones or any other definite proof that the giant creature exists.
As a result many people believe the evidence is just part of a big trick.
The footprints are easy to make and they say: all you need to do is to make two large feet out of plaster(石膏), attach them to the bottom of your shoes and walk with big steps. As for the photos and films, they are just people dressed in ape suits.
They also say the sightings are not real, just people making mistakes. For example, bigfoot could be a bear living in the wild that sometimes stands up on its back legs. So far what we can be sure about is that .
| A．there exist savages(野人)in several places in the world |
| B．there are some traces of hair, footprints and body prints of the “bigfoot” |
| C．bigfoot is a direct descendent of ancient gigantopithecus |
| D．all the big foot discovered have the same look |
It was in that man first found the ape-like creature.
| A．1999 | B．the 1960’s |
| C．the 1950’s | D．the 1940’s |
The article infers but doesn’t say so that some people bigfoot’s existence.
| A．may fool the world into believing |
| B．have definite evidences to prove |
| C．refuse to believe |
| D．will soon offer proofs of |
If bigfoot is just a misunderstanding, what they saw might NOT be .
| A．apes |
| B．bears |
| C．gigantopithecus |
| D．people dressed in animal skins |
There has been an outpouring of love for a 23-year-old disabled woman whose dog was killed in front of her while a groomer(美容师)tried to trim(修剪)its claws. 
Calls and e-mails came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Arizona as well as Oakland and Macomb counties, offering Laurie Crouch, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis(硬化症), everything from dogs to money, such as that from Jason Daly of Roseville who said, “I would like to buy her a new dog. ”
A story about the death of Crouch’s pet, Gooch, was printed on the front page of Macomb Daily. Crouch said a groomer tied Gooch up with a collar, and then she and a man sat on the dog to trim its nails. Gooch died after one claw was trimmed.
Crouch yelled at the groomer to stop when she saw Gooch was struggling to breathe, but she said she was ignored. “If I could have walked, I would have put my hands on her and pulled her off my dog and physically stopped her, but I can’t do that. ”Gooch was not a trained service animal, but naturally helped Crouch by picking up things for her.
“This case is absolute animal abuse(虐待), ”Larry Obrecht, division manager of the Oakland County Animal Shelter in Auburn Hills said.
People who read the story contacted Oakland Press to offer help. A message, from Rebecca Amett of Giggles N Wiggles Puppy Rescue in Roseville, said, “We have puppies to donate and want to help the young woman who lost her service dog. ”
“When Gooch was with me I was happy, ”Crouch said, “I think I can be happy again but no animal can replace Gooch. There’s never going to be another Gooch out there but I think I will find a dog that can bring me joy again. ”People called and emailed to .
| A．give their angry voice to the groomer |
| B．offer help and care to Laurie Crouch |
| C．tell Crouch how to punish the groomer |
| D．offer a cure for Crouch’s disease |
Gooch died mainly because .
| A．the groomer was careless |
| B．the groomer didn’t know how to trim the dog’s nails |
| C．the groomer sat on the dog with another man |
| D．the dog was wearing a collar |
What do we know about Crouch’s dog?
| A．It was a specially trained service dog. |
| B．It was trained to do many things for people. |
| C．It was Crouch’s only friend. |
| D．It could offer some help to Crouch. |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．A disabled woman’s service dog. |
| B．A cruel groomer killed a disabled woman’s dog. |
| C．People’s love for a disabled woman who lost her dog. |
| D．A disabled woman loves to have the dog as company. |
Ten years ago, with only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China was desperately trying to clone(克隆)the animal and save the endangered species(物种). That was a move similar to what Texas A & M University researchers had been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”(诺亚方舟).
Noah’s Ark was 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, said there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future. 
It was estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds reptiles would become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, was 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 were then trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nucleus 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 believed. “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, ”added Kraemer, who was 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. ”
At present, the project has worked. The number of the pandas has increased to more than 1, 500. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project was 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 nucleus 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．Kraemer and his team had succeeded in cloning a dog |
| B．scientists tried to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit |
| C．Kraemer would work with Chinese scientists in clone researches |
| D．about two thousand species would probably die out in a century |