For more than twenty years scientists have been searching for signs of life on other planets. Most of these searches have been done over the radio. The hope is that someone in outer space may be trying to get in touch with us. Scientists also have sent radio and television messages on spaceships traveling through space, on the chance that someone may be receptive （善于接受的） to such messages.
Scientists are using powerful radio telescope to listen to signals from about 1,000 stars, all within 100 light years of earth. In addition, they will scan (扫视) the entire sky to “listen” for radio messages from more distant stars. Using a computer, they will be able to monitor more than eight channels at one time. Scientists are looking for any signal that stands out from the background noise.
Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy （银河星系）, scientists find that five percent are like our sun. Perhaps half of them have a planet like earth. Such a planet would be a reasonable distance from the star for temperatures to be right for the evolution of life. Based on the inhabitable (that can be lived in) planets in our galaxy, most scientists agree that chances are likely that one or more of these planets support some life.
However, many scientists wonder whether intelligent （有智力的） life exists on other planets. Some believe that twenty years of searching without any intelligible （可理解的） messages shows that no one is out there. They say that the evolution of intelligence comparable to ours is unlikely.
Other scientists believe that our search hasn’t been long enough to rule out the possibility that intelligent life exists in our galaxy. Although our sun family in only about five billion years old, our galaxy is about 20 billions years old. In that time, some scientists think it is likely that civilizations are much more advanced than ours. Perhaps these civilizations （文明） send us no signals; perhaps we have not recognized the signals they have sent us. If we hope to find intelligent life, these scientists believe that we have to keep looking.According to the passage, how many planets in our galaxy might be inhabitable?
| A．5 billion | B．10 billion | C．15 billion | D．200 billion |
The first paragraph in this passage is mainly about ______.
| A．how scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets |
| B．why scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets |
| C．where scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets |
| D．when scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets |
The underlined word “monitor” in the passage means “______”.
| A．find | B．follow | C．check | D．form |
Which of the statements is TRUE based on the information in the passage?
| A．The earth is one of the oldest planets in our galaxy. |
| B．Most scientists believe that there is intelligent life on other planet. |
| C．Scientists are trying different ways to find signs of life on other planet. |
| D．Scientists don’t believe that there might be life on other planets. |
A
Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”
“Oh, you’re such a good man.” She said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice(临终医院). I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter(计价器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
At dawn, she suddenly said,” I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“Nothing.” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto e tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to ______.
| A．show she was familiar with the city | B．see some places for the last time |
| C．let the driver earn more money | D．reach the destination on time |
The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he ______.
| A．wanted to do her a favor | B．shut off the meter by mistake |
| C．had received her payment in advance | D．was in a hurry to take other passengers |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．Giving is always a pleasure. | B．People should respect each other. |
| C．An act of kindness can bring people great joy. | |
| D．People should learn to appreciate others’ concern. |
Thirteen vehicles lined up last March to race across the Mojave Desert, seeking a million in prize money. To win, they had to finish the 142-mile race in less than 10 hours. Teams and watchers knew there might be no winner at all, because these vehicles were missing a key part －drivers.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, organized the race as part of a push to develop robotic vehicles for future battlefields. But the Grand Challenge, as it was called, just proved how difficult it is to get a car to speed across an unfamiliar desert without human guidance. One had its brake lock up in the starting area. Another began by throwing itself onto a wall. Another got tied up by bushes near the road after 1.9 miles.
One turned upside down. One took off in entirely the wrong direction and had to be disabled by remote (远距离的) control. One went a little more than a mile and rushed into a fence; another managed to go for six miles but stuck on a rock. The “winner,” if there was any, reached 7.8 miles before it ran into a long, narrow hole, and the front wheels caught on fire.
“You get a lot of respect for natural abilities of the living things,” says Reinhold Behringer, who helped design two of the car-size vehicles for a company called Sci-Autonics. “Even ants (蚂蚁) can do all these tasks effortlessly . It’s very hard for us to put these abilities into our machines.”
The robotic vehicles, though with necessary modern equipment such as advanced computers and GPS guidance, had trouble figuring out fast enough the blocks ahead that a two-year-old human recognizes immediately, Sure, that very young child, who has just only learned to walk, may not think to wipe apple juice off her face, but she already knows that when there’s a cookie in the kitchen she has to climb up the table, and that when she gets to the cookie it will taste good. She is more advanced, even months old, than any machine humans have designed.Watchers doubted if any of the vehicles could finish the race because .
| A．they did not have any human guidance |
| B．the road was not familiar to the drivers |
| C．the distance was too long for the vehicles |
| D．the prize money was unattractive to the drivers |
DARPA organized the race in order to .
| A．raise money for producing more robotic vehicles |
| B．push the development of vehicle industry |
| C．train more people to drive in the desert |
| D．improve the vehicles for future wars |
From the passage we know “robotic vehicles” are a kind of machines that .
| A．can do effortlessly whatever tasks living thing can |
| B．can take part in a race across 142 miles with a time limit |
| C．can show off their ability to turn themselves upside down |
| D．can move from place to place without being driven by human beings |
In the race, the greatest distance one robotic vehicle covered was .
| A．about eight miles | B．six miles |
| C．almost two miles | D．about one mile |
In the last paragraph, the writer implies that there is a long way to go .
| A．for a robotic vehicle to finish a 142-mile race without any difficulties |
| B．for a little child who has just learned to walk to reach the cookie on the table |
| C．for a robotic vehicle to deal with a simple problem that a little child can solve |
| D．for a little child to understand the importance of wiping apple juice off its face |
MONTREAL (Reuters) – Crossing the US-Canada border（边界）to go to church on a Sunday cost a US citizen ＄10,000 for breaking Washington’s strict new security（安全）rules.
The expensive trip to church was a surprise for Richard Albert, who lives right on the Canadian border. Like the other half-dozen people of Township 15, crossing the border is a daily occurrence for Albert. The nearby Quebec village of St. Pamphile is where they shop, eat and go to church.
There are many such situations in these areas along the largely unguarded 5,530-mile border between Canada and the US-which in some cases actually runs down the middle of streets or through buildings.
As a result, Albert says he did not expect any problems three weeks ago when he returned home to the US after attending church in Canada, as usual. The US customs（海关）station in this area is closed on Sundays, so be just drove around the locked gate, as he had done every weekend since the gate appeared last May, following a tightening of border security. Two days later. Albert was told to go to the customs office, where an officer told him be had been caught on carnera crossing the border illegally（非法）.
Ottawa has given out special passes to some 300 US citizens in that area so they can enter the country when Canadian customs stations are closed, but the US stopped a similar program last May. That forces the people to a 200-mile detour along hilly roads to get home through another border checkpoint.
Albert has requested that the customs office change their decisions on the fine, but he has not attended a Sunday church since. “I feel like I’m living in a prison,” he said.We learn from the text that Richard Albert is .
| A．an American living in Township 15 | B．a Canadian living in a Quebec village |
| C．a Canadian working in a customs station | D．an American working in a Canadian church |
Albert was fined because he .
| A．failed to obey traffic rules | B．broke the American security rules |
| C．worked in St. Pamphile without a pass | D．damaged the gate of the customs office |
The underlined word “detour” in paragraph 5 means .
| A．a drive through the town | B．a race across the fields |
| C．a roundabout way of travelling | D．a journey in the mountain area |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．A Cross-country Trip | B．A Special Border Pass |
| C．An Unguarded Border | D．An Expensive Church Visit |
Three months after the government stopped issuing（发放）or renewing permits for Internet cafes because of security（安全）concerns, some cafe owners are having financial（经济的）concerns of their own.
The permits were stopped suddenly three months ago by the government until new safeguards could be put in place to prevent misuse of the information superhighway, but for cafe owners it’s a business breakdown with no fix in sight.
“I handed in a request to open up an Internet cafe and received the conditions,” said the businessman Obeidallah. “I rented a place in the Sharafiah district at SR45,000 and prepared the place with equipment that cost me more than SR100,000. When I went to the local government after finishing everything, I was surprised to find that they’d stopped issuing permits for Internet cafes.”
Having an Internet cafe without Internet is much like having a coffee shop without coffee. “I’m avoiding closing the place, but it’s been more than three months with the situation ongoing as it is.” Obeidallah said. “Who will bear the losses caused by the permit issue?”
The decision took many cafe owners by surprise. “I asked to open an Internet cafe, and I was handed a list of all the things that were needed to follow through, such as a sign for the place, filling out forms,” said Hassan Al-Harbi.
“I did all that was asked and rented a place. And after the Haj vacation I went to the local government and they surprised me, saying that there are new rules that forbid the issuing of any more Internet cafe permits and that one can’t even renew his permit. I’ve lost more than SR80,000,” Al-harbi added.
As for the government, officials say a method to deal with it is on the way. But security concerns come before profit（盈利）.The government stopped issuing or renewing permits for Internet cafes .
| A．to prevent misuse of new safeguards in Internet cafes |
| B．to make cafe owners earn less profit from their business |
| C．to stop the use of the information superhighway on Internet |
| D．to make sure of the proper use of the information superhighway |
The government’s decision led to the fact that many cafe owners .
| A．suffered heavy financial losses |
| B．asked to open up Internet cafes |
| C．continued to operate Internet cafes |
| D．asked the government for payment |
The underlined phrase in the last paragraph “on the way” means .
| A．to be studied |
| B．to be put into practice |
| C．to be changed |
| D．to be improved |
The cafe owners found the government’s decision .
| A．surprising and unacceptable |
| B．understandable and acceptable |
| C．reasonable but surprising |
| D．surprising but acceptable |
Across the world, 1.1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. More than 2.5 billion people lack basic sanitation.(卫生设备)
The combination proves deadly. Each year, diseases related to inadequate water and sanitation kill between 2 and 5 million people and cause an estimated 80 percent of all sicknesses in the developing world. Safe drinking water is a precondition for health and the fight against child death rate, inequality between men and women, and poverty.
Consider these facts:
●The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 kilometers.
●Only 58 percent of children in sub-Saharan Africa are drinking safe water. and only 37 percent of children in South Asia have access to even a basic toilet.
●Each year in India alone, 73 million working days are lost to water-borne diseases.
Here are three ways you can help:
1)Write Congress
Current U.S. foreign aid for drinking water and sanitation budgets only one dollar per year per American citizen. Few members of Congress have ever received a letter from voters about clean drinking water abroad.
2)Sponsor a project with a faith-based organization
Many U.S. religious groups already sponsor water and sanitation projects, working with partner organizations abroad. Simply put a single project by a U.S. organization can make safe water a reality for thousands of people.
3)Support nonprofit water organizations
Numerous U.S.-based nonprofits work skillfully abroad in community-led projects related to drinking water and sanitation. Like the sample of non-profits noted as follows, some organizations are large, other small-scale, some operate worldwide, others are devoted to certain areas in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. Support them generously.
The three facts presented in the passage are used to illustrate that________.
| A．poverty can result in water-borne diseases |
| B．people have no access to clean drinking water |
| C．women’s rights are denied in some developing countries |
| D．safe drinking water should be a primary concern |
The intended readers of the passage are________.
| A． Americans |
| B．overseas sponsors |
| C． Congressmen |
| D． U.S.-based water organizations |
The main purpose of the passage is to call on people to _________.
| A．get rid of water-related diseases in developing countries |
| B．donate money to people short of water through religious groups |
| C．fight against the worldwide water shortage and sanitation problem |
| D．take joint action in support of some nonprofit water organizations |
What information will probably be provided following the last paragraph?
| A．A variety of companies and their worldwide operation. |
| B．A list of nonprofit water organizations to make contact with. |
| C．Some ways to get financial aids from U.S. Congress. |
| D．A few water resources exploited by some world-famous organizations. |
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