Three Chinese astronauts on June 24 successfully completed a manual docking between the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and the orbiting Tiangong-1 lab module, the first such attempt in China's history of space exploration. It means China has completely grasped space rendezvous and docking technologies and the country is fully capable of transporting humans and cargo to an orbiter in space, which is essential for building a space station in 2020.
Astronaut Liu Wang, assisted by his teammates Jing Haipeng and Liu Yang, controlled the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft to dock with the Tiangong-1 space lab module at 12:48 p.m., which were reconnected about seven minutes later. About one and a half hours before the docking, Shenzhou-9 parted from Tiangong-1 to a berth point 400 meters away from the module. To leave room for adjustments, engineers set up four berth points for the spaceship on the same orbit 5 km, 400 meters, 140 meters and 30 meters away from the orbiting lab.
“The manual docking was beautifully conducted. The manual docking was completed in only 7 minutes, 3 minutes faster than the automatic docking.” said Liu Weibo, who is responsible for China's astronaut system.
Liu explained to Xinhua the three factors behind today's manual docking success. Firstly, Liu Wang has grasped the sophisticated manual docking technologies very well and his psychological status has been sound. Secondly, the three astronauts were in close cooperation. Thirdly, the domestically-made docking system was reliable, he said.
The astronauts, 343 km away from Earth, were also greeted by Chinese oceanauts from the Mariana Trench, 7,020 meters beneath the Pacific Ocean, where they just broke the country's dive record in a manned submersible on Sunday morning.
"We hope the manual docking is a great success and wish for brilliant achievements in China's manned space and manned deep-sea dive causes," read the message sent by the three oceanauts aboard the manned submersible Jiaolong.
Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space program, said Sunday the manual space docking was "a complete success." She told a press conference in Beijing that the three Chinese astronauts had already re-entered the space lab module to continue their scientific experiments.
The manual docking is a significant step for China's manned space program that celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, as China has fully grasped space travel, space walk and space rendezvous and docking technologies that are essential to building a space station. China is the third country, after the United States and Russia, to acquire technologies and skills necessary for space rendezvous and docking and be able to supply manpower and material to an orbiting module via different docking methods.What does the underlined part refer to in the first paragraph 1?
| A．space exploration |
| B．Three Chinese astronauts in space |
| C．the successful manual docking |
| D．building a space station |
Which of the following is not right according to the passage?
| A．China is completely able to transport humans and cargo to an orbiter in space. |
| B．The manual docking was completed in almost the same minutes as the automatic docking. |
| C．Engineers set up four berth points for the spaceship in order to leave room for adjustments. |
| D．The astronauts received greetings from Chinese oceanauts from beneath the Pacific Ocean. |
According to Liu Weibo, which of the following is not the factor contributing to the successful docking?
| A．Liu Yang has grasped the sophisticated manual docking technologies very well |
| B．The astronaut’s psychological status has been in good condition. |
| C．The three astronauts cooperated with other closely. |
| D．The domestically-made docking system was reliable. |
The successful manual docking means a lot to China except______.
| A．It is essential for building a space station in the future. |
| B．Chinese people can wish for more brilliant achievements in China's manned fields. |
| C．China can compete with the US and Russia to be the best in the world. |
| D．China can use another way to supply manpower and material to an orbiting module. |
Millions of years ago dinosaurs (恐龙) lived on the earth. In the days of dinosaurs the whole earth was warm and wet. There were green forests and they could find enough to eat. Later, parts of the earth became cold and dry. and the forests there died. Then dinosaurs could not find enough to eat. This must be one reason why dinosaurs died out.
We can guess another reason. New kinds of animals came on the earth. Some had big brains and were fast and strong. They could kill dinosaurs. There may be other reasons that we don’t know about yet. Scientists are trying to make more discoveries about dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs were of many sizes and shapes (形状). Some were as small as chickens, while some were about 90 feet long.
There were also terrible fights between dinosaurs. They might have happened more than 100 million years ago. Though there was no man to see any of the fights, we can be told by the animal’s footprints (足迹) that fight did take place. According to the passage, dinosaurs did exist only ______on the earth.
| A．for millions of years | B．millions of years ago |
| C．more than 100 millions years ago | D．when it was warm and wet somewhere |
One reason why dinosaurs died out is that______.
| A．there were too many dinosaurs |
| B．parts of the earth became cold and dry |
| C．the dead forests there could not supply them with enough food |
| D．they couldn’t find enough to eat |
One more reason may be that ______.
| A．new kinds of animals came on the earth |
| B．some fast and strong animals with big brains could kill them |
| C．some dinosaurs were as small as chickens |
| D．some big dinosaurs died in the fights |
We can see from this passage ______.
| A．scientists are trying to make some dinosaurs | B．dinosaurs are dangerous enough |
| C．dinosaurs are worth studying | D．scientists know nothing about dinosaurs |
Do you know that a fast reader can get the ideas better than a slow reader can? Of course, you save time by reading fast, but this is not the main reason for fast reading. The main reason is that you understand better what you are reading when you read fast.
As your eyes move along the line of print, they make fixations (固定) or pauses. It is important that you see several words at a fixation. It is also important that your eyes leave a group of words quickly and move on to another group. The number of letters or words that you see at a fixation is called your eye span. Pay more attention to improving your rate of reading. With practice you can learn to read faster than you usually read.
The way in which you read always depends on what you are reading and for what purpose. You should know the different ways of reading so that you can apply whatever method that is necessary. Here are four ways of reading:
(1) Skimming is an important kind of reading. This method can be used when you wish to review something that you have forgotten. You can skim to get the main points.
(2) Rapid first reading and then rereading certain parts carefully is important. You may use this type of reading to study a science lesson or a history lesson.
(3) You need to do careful reading and rereading sometimes. This type of reading is necessary for making an intensive (精深的) study of your school subjects, solving Maths problems or reading directions.
(4) Rapid reading is used when reading stories for enjoyment. you may also do rapid reading when reviewing material that you already know well.The main reason for reading fast is that you can _______what you are fast reading.
| A．get the ideas | B．save time | C．understand better | D．learn well |
The way of reading always depends on _______.
| A．the method that you like | B．your reading material |
| C．your reading purpose | D．both B and C |
The underlined word "skimming" in the fourth paragraph means _______.
| A．reading very fast | B．looking carefully |
| C．reading only the main points | D．reading some parts of the material |
Careful reading is an important kind of reading _________.
| A．when you read a story for enjoyment |
| B．when you go over a lesson that you have already known well |
| C．when you read the directions before using a camera which is expensive |
| D．when you wish to find a lost place that you have read |
Increasingly, Americans are becoming their own doctors, by going online to diagnose their symptoms, order home health tests or medical devices, or even self-treat their illnesses with drugs from Internet pharmacies(药店). Some avoid doctors because of the high cost of medical care, especially if they lack health insurance. Or they may stay because they find it embarrassing to discuss their weight, alcohol consumption or couch potato habits. Patients may also fear what they might learn about their health, or they distrust physicians because of negative experiences in the past. But playing doctor can also be a deadly game.
Every day, more than six million Americans turn to the Internet for medical answers – most of them aren’t nearly skeptical enough of what they find. A 2002 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 72 percent of those surveyed believe all or most of what they read on health websites. They shouldn’t. Look up “headache”, and the chances of finding reliable and complete information, free from a motivation for commercial gain, are only one in ten, reports an April 2005 Brown Medical School study. Of the 169 websites the researchers rated, only 16 scored as “high quality”. Recent studies found faulty facts about all sorts of other disorders, causing one research team to warn that a large amount of incomplete, inaccurate and even dangerous information exists on the Internet.
The problem is most people don’t know the safe way to surf the Web. “They use a search engine like Google, get 18 trillion choices and start clicking. But that’s risky, because almost anybody can put up a site that looks authoritative(权威的), so it’d hard to know if what you’re reading is reasonable or not,” says Dr. Sarah Bass from the National Cancer Institute. According to the text, an increasing number of American _____.
| A．are suffering from mental disorders |
| B．turn to Internet pharmacies for help |
| C．like to play deadly games with doctors |
| D．are skeptical about surfing medical websites |
Some Americans stay away from doctors because they _____.
| A．find medical devices easy to operate |
| B．prefer to be diagnosed online by doctors |
| C．are afraid to face the truth of their health |
| D．are afraid to misuse their health insurance |
According to the study of Brown Medical School, ______.
| A．more than 6 million Americans distrust doctors |
| B．only 1/10 of medical websites aim to make a profit |
| C．about 1/10 of the websites surveyed are of high quality |
| D．72% of health websites offer incomplete and faulty facts |
Which of the following is the author’s main argument?
| A．It’s cheap to self-treat your own illness. |
| B．It’s embarrassing to discuss your bad habits. |
| C．It’s reasonable to put up a medical website. |
| D．It’s dangerous to be your own doctor. |
FILM DESCRIPTIONS
Back to the Future
With the help of a local inventor’s time machine, Marty travels back to the 1950s. There his 80s hipness stands out, and he inadvertently interferes with the fledgling romance of his parents-to-be. Can Marty keep them together? He’d better, or his own future will fade away. Featuring: Christopher Lloyd, Michael J.Fox. A universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 55 min.
Beethoven’s 2nd
In this sequel to the popular Beethoven, our canine hero falls for Missy, who soon has puppies. Missy’s greedy owner, Regina, who sees only money in the little purebreds, separates mom and pups from Beethoven. His owners rescue the puppies, but Regina still has Missy. Featuring: Charles Grodin, Bonnie Hunt. A Universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 26 min.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Despite the popularity of his treats, candy maker Willy Wonka shuts himself inside his factory. But then Willy holds a contest, offering five lucky children the chance to see his company. Poor but pleasant Charlie Bucket finds a ticket, as do four less-deserving children. Featuring:
Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore. A Warner Bros. Release, 1 hr. 56 min.
Cinderella Man
Based on actual events, this film follows the life of Jim Braddock, a boxer in New York City during the Great Depression. After a series of losses, Braddock is forced into retirement. But he never gives up his boxing dream, and neither does his manager. Featuring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger. A Universal Pictures release, 2 hr. 14 min.
Liar Liar
Lawyer Fletcher Reede has never told the truth in his life. Then his son makes a birthday wish that his dad would stop lying for 24 hours. Suddenly, Fletcher’s mouth spouts everything he thinks. His compulsion brings disaster to courtroom, where he must defend a client whose case was built on lies. Featuring: Jim Carrey, Justin Cooper. A Universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 25 min. Which of the following is probably the name of a dog?
| A．Marty. | B．Missy. | C．Fletcher. | D．Charlie |
Willy Wonka is _______.
| A．a boxer who suffers a series of losses |
| B．a lawyer who has never told the truth |
| C．a man who runs a chocolate factory |
| D．a man who invents a time machine |
Which film is about the life of a real person?
| A．Beethoven’s 2nd | B．Charlie and the Chocolate Factory |
| C．Cinderella Man | D．Liar Liar |
November not only marks the publication of Toni Morrison’s eagerly anticipated(期待) eighth novel, Love, but it is also the tenth anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Literature. Morrison is the first black woman to receive a Nobel, and so honored before her in literature are only two black men:Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, poet and novelist, in 1986; and Derek Walcott, the Caribbean-born poet, in 1992. But Morrison is also the first and only American-born Nobel prizewinner for literature since 1962, the year novelist John steinbeck received the award.
Like Song of Solomon, Love is a multigenerational story, revealing the personal and communal legacy() of an outstanding black family. As Morrison scholars will tell you, Love is the third volume of a literary master’s trilogy(三部曲)investigating the many complexities of love. This trilogy began with Beloved(1988), which deals with a black mother’s love under slavery and in freedom. Jazzy(1993), the second volume, tells a story of romantic love in 1920s Harlem. This latest novel looks back from the 1970s to the 1940s and 50s.
The emotional center of Love is Bill Cosey, the former owner and host of the shabby Cosey’s Hotel and Resort in Silk, North Carolina, described in the novel as “the best and best-known vacation sport for colored folk on the East Coast.” We get to know Cosey through the memories of five women who survive and love him: his granddaughter, his widow, two former employees, and a homeless young girl.
The latest novel, Love, had been described in the promotional material from her publisher as “Morrison’s most accessible work since Song of Solomon.” This comparison to her third novel, published in 1977, was an effective selling point. What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Toni Morrison’s latest novels |
| B．Toni Morrison and her trilogy |
| C．Toni Morrison and her novel Love |
| D．Toni Morrison, the Nobel prizewinner |
What can we learn about John Steinbeck?
| A．He was a black writer. |
| B．He was born in America. |
| C．He received the Nobel Prize after Morrison |
| D．He was the first American novelist to win a Nobel |
The similarity between Love and Song of Solomon is that they both _____.
| A．belong to the same trilogy together with Beloved |
| B．concern families of more than one generation |
| C．deal with life of blacks under slavery |
| D．investigate life in 1920s Harlem |
The novel Love mainly describes ______.
| A．the best-known vacation spot for blacks |
| B．the life of an outstanding black family under slavery |
| C．the miserable experience of the five women in Harlem |
| D．the memories of five women about Bill Cosey |