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.
There's no end of dangerous sports to try out in Southern Africa — bungee jumping, skydiving, water rafting. But for a new rush, how about swimming face to face with a killer shark?
The public seems interested in finding danger in this activity. Cape Town's aquarium has been filled with divers who want to swim with the sharks since it opened its tanks to paying visitors last month. Around70 tourists aged between 12 and 40 have paid 275rand (US $55) each to spend up to an hour with Maxine，Dee and Floyd, the aquarium's three sharks.
And conservationists say the project should help change the damage done to the shark's image by the popular movie Jaws.
“People will always pay money to be a bit daring, ”said Paul Loetter , an aquarium diver. “Most people think every shark is dangerous, but they've got the wrong idea. ”
Each visitor can swim with the sharks and other fish that share their tank, guarded by aquarium divers armed only with a stick to keep off any over-friendly sharks.
“This is part of a communication and education programme to show sharks are not as bad as everyone makes out, ”said Tony McGyre , operations manager at the aquarium.
Len Compagno , head of the South African shark research center, agreed. "It's no joke to play around with a big dog. In the same way, a three-metre-long shark could put a few holes in you，" he said. We may infer that in the movie Jaws __________.
| A．sharks are hunted everywhere |
| B．sharks kill other sea animals |
| C．sharks are disappearing in the sea |
| D．sharks are man eaters |
What Len Compagno said really means that __________
| A．you had better be careful when you get close to sharks |
| B．you needn't be too serious about sharks |
| C．sharks are more dangerous than big dogs |
| D．sharks are as friendly to people as dogs |
The writer's purpose in writing the passage is to tell us that __________
| A．sharks are not as bad as everyone makes out |
| B．people will always pay money to be a bit daring |
| C．there's no end of dangerous sports in Southern Africa |
| D．the public seems interested in finding danger in swimming with a killer shark |
We can learn that Maxine , Dee and Floyd are __________
| A．workers in the aquarium |
| B．the aquarium's three sharks |
| C．conservationists |
| D．divers in the aquarium |
Dolphins are not fish, but warm-blooded animals. They live in groups, and speak to each other in their own language. In this they are like other animals, such as bees and birds. But dolphins are very different from almost all land animals. Their brain is nearly the same size as our own, and they live a long time—at least twenty or thirty years.
Like some other animals, dolphins use sound to help them find their way around. They also make these sounds to talk to each other and to help them find food. We now know they do not use their ears to receive these sounds, but the lower part of the mouth, called the jaw.
Strangely, dolphins seem to like man, and for thousands of years there have been stories about the dolphin and its friendship with people. There is a story about sailors in the 19th century. In a dangerous part of the sea off the coast of New Zealand, they learnt to look for a dolphin called Jack. From 1871 to1903 Jack met every boat in the area and showed it the way. Then in 1903 a passenger on a boat called The Penguin shot and wounded (伤害）Jack. He re-covered and for nine years more continued to guide all ships through the area—except for The Penguin.
Today, some people continue to kill dolphins, but many countries of the world now protect them and in these places it is against the law to kill them. Dolphins are different from many other animals in that they __________.
| A．live in groups |
| B．have large brains |
| C．are warm-blooded |
| D．have their own language |
Why did the sailors off the coast of New Zealand look for Jack?
| A．He was lonely and liked to be with people. |
| B．They enjoyed playing with him. |
| C．He was seriously wounded. |
| D．They wanted his help. |
By telling the story of Jack the writer wanted to show that __________.
| A．dolphins are friendly and clever |
| B．people are cruel to animals |
| C．Jack is different from other dolphins |
| D．dolphins should be protected by law |
Many views are held as to whether or not sharks will attack man. Some people believe that a shark will attack man only when he is near the shark in the wa-ter. Others take the position (见解）that sharks never attack man. The facts show that the truth is between these two positions.
There are thirty-two kinds of sharks, and only three are dangerous to man. These are the hammer head shark, the tiger shark, and the white shark. All sharks are easily frightened and are much more afraid of man than man afraid of them. They have a keen(敏锐的）sense of smell even from a place that is a fairly long way away. The smell of blood excites them, then they may attack human beings.
If such an attack does take place，however , it is done blindly because the shark
happens to be excited by the smell of blood. This is very different from the manner in which a lion or a tiger will attack its victim(受害者）in the woods. The one acts without thinking while the other acts with the greatest care. What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Sharks and other animals |
| B．Sharks' attack on man |
| C．Why does blood excite sharks |
| D．Sharks, the most dangerous of all the fishes |
The main difference between the manner in which a lion attacks its victim and a shark attacks a man is __________
| A．in the speed of the attack |
| B．that the lion is careful with the attack, but the shark acts without thinking |
| C．that the lion is more cruel than the shark |
| D．that the shark's attack is less sudden |
From the passage, we learn __________.
| A．none of the sharks are dangerous to man |
| B．all kinds of sharks aren't afraid of man |
| C．there are only two views of sharks' attack on man |
| D．the writer of the passage agrees to the two views |
Why does a shark attack a man blindly?
| A．The shark is easy to be frightened. |
| B．The shark has a keen sense of smell. |
| C．The shark has just been excited by the smell of blood. |
| D．The shark always protects itself by attacking the others. |
“The noise made by boats of whale watching tourists may be causing communication problems for the animals, "British researchers said last week.
Whale watching is a popular tourist activity in places where groups of killer whales (虎鲸）live. Every day, dozens of boats filled with tourists go to watch the beautiful animals. Unfortunately, the engines of the boats make a lot of noise，and that may cause problems for the whales, according to a report in the US science magazine Nature.
The whales travel in groups, and communicate with each other through sonic (声波的）calls that some scientists refer to as singing. The sounds of the boat engines may be creating too much background noise for the whales to be able to hear each other.
The researchers listened to recordings of whale calls made between 15 and 25 years ago, before whale watching became popular. These were com-pared to more recent recordings.
They found that the animals have started to sing for longer than they used to, like a person shouting to a friend across a noisy room.
It is believed that the whales are trying to communicate hunting or breeding (繁殖）information. Scientists said that, if this is prevented, the future of the world's whale population could be in danger.
"Animals become slow in mind and repeat them-selves in noisy areas，" said Volker Deecke , a Canadi-an biologist. “They have to say things twice or three times in order to be understood. ”
The killer whales studied were living off the coast of northwestern America. The number of killer whales in this area has been falling for several years, but scientists are not sure why. The passage mainly tells us __________.
| A．the problems of whale watching |
| B．how killer whales communicate with each other |
| C．the reduced population of killer whales caused by whale watching |
| D．hearing problems of the killer whales caused by whale watching |
Now in a noisy background, the killer whales have to __________
| A．sing in a louder voice |
| B．sing longer |
| C．travel in smaller groups |
| D．get nearer to each other |
Scientists believe that killer whales sing to __________
| A．warn each other of dangers |
| B．keep in the same group |
| C．send useful information |
| D．enjoy themselves |
From the passage, we can feel that the author is __________.
| A．angry |
| B．hopeful |
| C．worried |
| D．disappointed |
Which of the following is the possible result of whale watching?
| A．Fewer fish in the ocean. |
| B．Misunderstanding between the whales. |
| C．Reduced number of the whales in the area. |
| D．Serious water pollution along the coast. |
According to the US government, wind farms off the Pacific coast could produce 900 gigawatts of electricity every year. Unfortunately, the water there is far too deep for even the tallest windmills (see pic-ture) to touch bottom. An experiment under way off the coast of Norway, however, could help put them anywhere.
The project, called Hywind, is the world's first large-scale deep-water wind turbine (涡轮发电机). Although it
uses a fairly standard 152-ton,2. 3-megawatt turbine, Hywind represents totally new technology. The turbine will be fixed 213 feet above the water on a floating spar (鄉 picture )，a technology Hywind's creator, the Norwegian company Statoil Hydro , has developed recently. The steel spar, which is filled with stones and goes 328 feet below the sea surface, will be tied to the ocean floor by three cables (缆索）；these will keep the spar stable and prevent the turbine from moving up and down in the waves. Hywind's stability (稳定性）in the cold and rough sea would prove that even the deepest corners of the ocean are suitable for wind power. If all goes according to plan, the turbine will start producing electricity six miles off the coast of southwestern Norway as early as September.
To produce electricity on a large scale, a commercial wind farm will have to use bigger turbines than Hywind does, but it's difficult enough to balance such a large turbine so high on a floating spar in the middle of the ocean. To make that turbine heavier, the whole spar's centre of gravity must be moved much closer to the ocean's surface. To do that, the company plans to design a new kind of wind turbine, one whose gearbox (变速箱）sits at sea level rather than behind the blades (see picture).
Hywind is a test run, but the benefits for perfecting floating wind-farm technology could be extremely large. Out at sea, the wind is often stronger and steadier than close to shore, where all existing offshore windmills are planted. Deepsea farms are in-visible from land, which helps overcome the windmill-as -eyesore objection. If the technology catches on, it will open up vast areas of the planet，s surface to one of the best low-carbon power sources available. The Hywind project uses totally new technology to ensure the stability of __________.
| A．the cables which tie the spar to the ocean floor |
| B．the spar which is floating in deep-sea water |
| C．the blades driven by strong and steady sea wind |
| D．the stones filled in the spar below the sea surface |
To balance a bigger turbine high on a floating spar, a new type of turbine is to be designed with its gearbox sitting __________
| A．on the sea floor |
| B．on the spar top |
| C．at sea level |
| D．behind the blades |
Wide applications of deepwater wind power tech-nology can __________
| A．solve the technical problems of deepwater windmills |
| B．make financial profits by producing more tur-bines |
| C．settle the arguments about environmental prob-lems |
| D．explore low-carbon power resources available at sea |
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