Space is where our future is — trips to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Most people would think that aside from comets(彗星) and stars, there is little else out there. But, since our space journey started we have left so much trash（垃圾） there that scientists are now concerned that if we don't clean it up, we may all be in mortal （致命的）danger.
The first piece of space junk was created in 1964, when the American satellite Vanguard I stopped operating and lost its connection with the ground center. However, since it kept orbiting around the Earth without any consequences, scientists became increasingly comfortable abandoning（抛弃） things that no longer served any useful purpose in space.
It is estimated （估计）that there are now over 500,000 pieces of man-made trash orbiting the Earth at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour. The junk varies from tiny pieces of paint chipped off rockets to cameras, huge fuel tanks, and even odd items like the million-dollar tool kit that astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn Piper lost during a spacewalk.
The major problem with the space trash is that it may hit working satellites and damage traveling spacecraft(飞船). Moreover, pieces of junk may collide（碰撞） with each other and break into pieces which fall back to the Earth. To avoid this, scientists have invented several ways for clearing the sky. Ground stations have been built to monitor larger pieces of space trash to prevent them from crashing into working satellites or space shuttles. Future plans include a cooperative effort among many nations to stop littering in space and to clean up the trash already there.What was the first piece of man-made space trash?
| A．A camera. | B．A tool kit. |
| C．A fuel tank. | D．A broken satellite. |
Why were scientists NOT concerned about space trash in the beginning?
| A．It no longer served any useful purpose. |
| B．It was millions of miles away from the Earth. |
| C．It did not cause any problems. |
| D．It was regarded as similar to comets and stars. |
Which of the following statements is true about space junk?
| A．It is huge, heavy machines. |
| B．It never changes position. |
| C．It floats slowly around the Earth. |
| D．It may cause problems for space shuttles. |
What has been done about the space trash problem?
A, Scientists have cleaned up most of the trash.
B. Large pieces of space trash are being closely watched.
C. Many nations have worked together to stop polluting space.
D. Ground stations are built to help store the trash properly in space.
Being a good parent is harder now than it has ever been before. In pressurized modern lives, demands to be a fulfilled individual, a good partner and a good worker, take no account of being a good parent. We haven’t left space for the nurturing parents who are expected to provide what children need. As a result, many families in the western world just don’t work.
Something will have to change. With luck, people in the future will only have children if they really want them. That should mean parenthood is seen as a much more positive promise than it is now, that parents are socially supported, and are admired for doing a good job.
The problem is that in the last generation or so we’ve come to assume that women should want and be able to everything that by tradition men have done at the same time as pretty well everything that by tradition women have done. And it’s just not possible. Since adopting a male life style is demonstrably only another form of submission（顺从）, quite a number of highly educated and economically privileged（优越的）women are now choosing to take career breaks so as to be at home with their children for longer than that poor 18 weeks.
The most welcoming trend in parenting is that men are participating more and more, even that is not free of conflict, however. Intellectually（理智上）, women want men to be equal parents and do their share. But there’s often a contradictory（矛盾的）emotion because children are the last fort of the female power in the family. “I want him to help me but this is my region and being better at it is one of the new things I’ve got as a female.” In truth, although they haven’t had generations of practice, there’s no reason why men can’t raise children as well as women. Men left to cope after bereavement or divorce, as well as some who take on the role of principal career within a partnership, are already doing it.
16.Why is it more difficult today to be good parents?
A. Because parents don’t want to face the pressure of rearing children.
B. Because children are in dependent and don’t need to be taken care of.
C. Because husbands and wives have little time to talk to each other.
D. Because people want to fulfill their own dreams, leaving no time to look after children.
17. We can learn from the passage that _______.
A. people in future will not be as interested in children as people at present
B. parenthood will be considered as a positive commitment as it is now
C. women do better in rearing children than men
D. parents will receive admiration for taking good care of children
18. Nowadays, a lot of highly educated and economically privileged women ________.
A. tend to stay at home for more than 18 weeks
B. tend to adopt a male life style
C. tend to quit their jobs and stay at home
D. tend to be submissive wives
19. It seems that in parenting , women ________.
A. are contradictory in their thoughts. B.demand equality between sexes
C. tend to leave children to their husbands. D. often quarrel with their husbands
20. The underlined word “bereavement” in the para 4 probably means _________.
A. departure of his wife. B. death of his wife
C. return of his wife D. annoyance of his wife
Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slowmoving. There are some aspects(方面) of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid. I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.
For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports — and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them — there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.
Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, you are still only half way to good health, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation(放松). It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on. Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activityphysical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other — which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.
12. Pollution, noise and stress are examples of _____.
A. causes of unfitness
B. bad features of living in towns
C. the things we can completely do away with
D. unavoidable things in town
13. We don’t get much out of separate sports because we _____.
A. don’t do them very often
B. don’t do them actively enough
C. find it hard to get out of our armchairs
D. don’t find them interesting
14. To be healthy we must _____.
A. keep fit and active B. keep fit and learn to relax
C. be active and practise Yoga D. have a sound mind
15. Our forefathers were healthy because______.
A. their way of life closely connected with both exercise and relaxation
B. they were careful to get plenty of fresh air
C. they spent most of the time out of doors
D. their environment was not polluted
BTB BUS COMPANY
The BTB BUS Company serves all parts of the city, and also provides an extensive service to nearby towns and villages.
BTB CITY BUSES are usually orange, and operate from 06∶30. There are four kinds of tickets you can use:
Tourist Ranger is the ideal(理想的) ticket for tourists and visitors to the city. The tickets are valid(有效的) for 2, 3 or 5 days, and can be used on all city buses. They cost ￡4, ￡5.5 and ￡7.50.
Monthly Season — Going to work by bus? This is the one for you! For only ￡26.5 you have the freedom of the city for a whole calendar month.
Bus Card — lasts for one day. For ￡2.50 you can travel anywhere on the bus system for one day — but you must clip your card in the machine every time you board a bus.
Single Journey — 50p, valid for just one journey. Clip the ticket when you get on the bus. Books of ten tickets also available(可获得的).
These tickets are only valid on BTB City Buses. They are available from post offices, tobacconists and BTB offices. TICKETS CANNOT BE PURCHASED ON THE BUSES.
BTB COUNTRY BUSES (which are usually blue) serve the towns of Conby, Rashville and Grill as well as numerous villages in the area. Services run from 07∶00 to 21∶30.
Tickets are bought on the bus. The minimum fare is 75p, increasing with distance. Buses depart from the main railway station and Coshley Square.
A MAP of the routes for both City and Country buses can be obtained (price 20p) from the BTB offices at the main railway station or 27 Part Square. Timetables for both services can be found at the bus stop.
9. If you are staying in the city for two days and want to see the city as much as possible, which ticket is the best for you?
A. Tourist Ranger. B. Monthly Season.
C. Bus Card. D. Single Journey.
10.Which of the following statements is not true?
A. Bus Card is the best ticket if you want to show your friend around on a Saturday.
B. Tickets for the BTB blue buses can be purchased on the buses.
C. You can buy tickets for the orange BTB buses from post offices, tobacconists, BTB offices or on the buses.
D. The four kinds of tickets are valid on BTB orange buses.
11.To catch a bus to Rashville, you should probably go to______.
A. the towns of Conby B. Coshley Square C. Grill D. BTB offices
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 multibilliondollar 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.”
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
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.
7. We can infer from the passage that________.
A. water is a crucial factor for life
B. the project will have little effect on the native lifeforms supposed to live on the Mars
C. Monica Grady is in favour of carrying out the little earth project
D. the idea turning Mars into a little earth is nothing but a science fiction
8. Which of the following supports the conclusion of microbes living in the Mars’s soil?
A. Scientists found liquid water in the Mars.
B. Scientists found signs of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
C. Scientists found a lot of good soil on the Mars.
D. Scientists found some creatures living on the Mars.
Can trees talk? Yes — but not in words. Scientists have reason to believe that trees do
communicate with each other. Not long ago, researchers learned some surprising things. First a willow tree attacked in the woods by caterpillars（毛毛虫）changed the chemistry of its leaves and made them taste so terrible that they got tired of the leaves and stopped eating them. Then even more astonishing, the tree sent out a special vapor—a signal causing its neighbors to change the chemistry of their own leaves and make them less tasty.
Communication, of course, does not need to be in words. We can talk each other by smiling, raising our shoulders and moving our hands. We know that birds and animals use a whole vocabulary of songs, sounds, and movements. Bees dance their signals, flying in certain patterns that tell other bees where to find nectar for honey. So why shouldn’t trees have ways of sending messages?
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
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
3．According to the passage, bees communicate by .
A．touching one another B．smiling one another
C．making special movement D．making unusual sound
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