Mars Was Not Always Bitterly Cold
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have reported evidence that Mars was warmer and wetter long ago than it is today. The Caltech scientists say they have directly established the temperature of Mars four billion years ago. At least, they established the surface temperature on part of the planet at that time. The researchers say it is the first such evidence to be discovered and presented.
The Caltech scientists say carbonate（碳酸盐） minerals formed on Mars at about eighteen degrees Celsius. They reached the finding after studying a meteorite（陨石） that had its beginnings near the Martian surface.
Today, the average temperature on Mars is sixty-three degrees below zero Celsius.
The finding was reported on the website of the National Academy of Sciences. Caltech Assistant Professor Woody Fischer helped to prepare the report. He says eighteen degrees Celsius is not especially cold or hot. He says this makes the finding extremely interesting. Knowing the temperature can give scientists an idea of the climate on Mars long ago. It can also help them decide whether the planet had liquid water. Spacecraft orbiting Mars have shown what appear to be rivers, lakebeds and mineral deposits. These pictures suggest that, at one time, water did flow there. Mars Rover vehicles and other spacecraft have confirmed the information.
Caltech Geology Professor John Eiler was another writer of the report. He says knowing the temperature of Mars from long ago provides valuable information. It shows that early in the planet's history, at least part of Mars could support a climate like that of Earth.
The meteorite the scientists examined is one of the oldest known rocks in the world. It is called the Allan Hills meteorite. Its name came from the place in Antarctica where it was found in 1984. The meteorite is believed to have blown loose from the Mars' surface when another space rock struck its "home." The underlined word “establish” in Paragraph 1 probably means “___________”.
| A．to set up |
| B．to make people accept a belief |
| C．to discover or prove |
| D．to start having a relationship with others |
How did the scientists reach the finding?
| A．By studying Allan Hills meteorite. |
| B．By using spacecraft orbiting Mars. |
| C．By studying minerals gathered on Mars |
| D．By studying a meteorite on the Martian surface. |
According to the fourth paragraph, what have spacecraft orbiting Mars done?
| A．Measuring the temperature of Mars. |
| B．Taking photos of the surface of Mars. |
| C．Confirming that there is water flowing on Mars. |
| D．Finding where human beings will probably land on Mars. |
How did Allan Hills meteorite get its name?
| A．From its original place on Mars. |
| B．From where it was found on the earth. |
| C．From the name of the scientist who found it. |
| D．From the name of the aircraft that discovered it |
Where can we most probably read this passage?
| A．In a biography of scientists. |
| B．In a geography magazine. |
| C．In an environment report. |
| D．In a science report. |
B
Owning a smartphone may not be as smart as you think．They may let you surf the Internet，listen to music and snap photos wherever you are...but they also turn you into a workaholic，it seems．A study suggests that，by giving you access to emails at all times．the all-singing．all-dancing mobile phone adds as much as two hours to your working day．
Researchers found that Britons work an additional 460hours a year on average as they are able to respond to emails on their mobiles．The study by technology retailer Pixmania，reveals the average UK working day is between nine and ten hours，but a further two hours is spent responding to or sending work emails，or making work calls．Almost one in ten admits spending up to three hours outside their normal working day checking work emails．Some workers confess they are on call almost 24 hours a day，with nine out
of ten saying they take work emails and calls outside their normal working hours．Nearly two-thirds say they often check work emails just before they go to bed and as soon as they wake up，while over a third have replied to one in the middle of the night．
Ghadi Hobeika，marketing director of Pixmania，said：“The ability to access literally millions of apps，keep in contact via social networks and take photos and video as well as text and call has
made smartphones valuable for many people．However，there are drawbacks．Many companies expect their employees to be on call 24 hours a day，seven days a week，and smartphones mean that people literally cannot get away from work．The more constantly in contact we become。The more is expected of us in a work capacity．”
The text is probably taken from ．
| A．a scientific report |
| B．a financial report |
| C．a newspaper |
| D．a literary journal |
The underlined word “drawbacks” in the last paragraph probably means ．
| A．advantages | B．faults |
| C．mistakes | D．features |
Ghadi may agree that ．
| A．employees are supposed to be on call 24 hours a day |
| B．the ability to access many apps made smartphones worthless |
| C．smartphones might turn a person into a workaholic |
| D．people literally cannot get away from work without smartphones |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Smartphones are lengthening working hours． |
| B．Smartphones are becoming valuable for many people． |
| C．Britons work art additional 460 hours a year on average． |
| D．Smartphones are more beneficial to our life than we think． |
A
A month after Hurricane Katrina，I returned home in New Orleans．There lay my house，reduced to waist-high rains，smelly and dirty．Before the trip，I’d had my car fixed．When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill．she noticed my Louisiana license plate．“You from New Orleans?”she asked．I said l was，
“No charge．”She said，and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet．The next day I went for a haircut，and the same thing happened．
As my wife was studying in Florid，we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage(抵押贷款)on our ruined house．We looked at many places，but none was satisfactory．We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while，when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California．He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings forState，an online
magazine and wanted to give us(“noconditions attached”)a new house across the lake from New Orleans．It sounded too good to be true，but I replied，thanking him for his exceptional generosity，that we had no plans to go back．Then a poet of the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year-paid leave．The rent was rather reasonable．Imentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy，and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months．
Throughout this painful experience，the kindness of strangers backs my faith in humanity．It’s almostworthlosing you worldly possessions to be reminded that people really want to be kind when given a channel．
Which one shows the right time order?
①James Kennedy sent us a check．
②A poet offered his house to us．
③Our home was reduced to ruins．
④The garage employee charged us nothing．
⑤We came back to New Orleans．
| A．④③⑤①② | B．③④⑤②① |
| C．④③⑤②① | D．③④⑤①② |
What do you know about James Kennedy?
| A．He was a friend of the writer． |
| B．He offered the writer a house in California． |
| C．He worked for an online magazine． |
| D．He was concerned about the writer’s sufferings． |
It can be inferred from the passage that ．
| A．The mortgage on the ruined house didn’t needto be paid off |
| B．The house rents in New Orleans were reasonable after the hurricane |
| C．The writer rebuilt his faith in humanity by losing his worldly possessions |
| D．The writer made it through the painful period with people's kindness |
How is the passage developed?
| A．By showing contrasting facts． |
| B．By making classification |
| C．By giving examples． |
| D．By analyzing causes and effects． |
The moral view of violence, labeling it as bad and wrong, has done little to end it. The alternative view is to release our judgments and see violence for what it is: a form of suffering. This is a difficult change for many people. Not only are they in the habit of making knee-jerk(下意识的) judgments, but violent people cause harm, and therefore their suffering seems to deserve less sympathy.
You hurt me, so why should I have sympathy for you? It should be the other way around. Does it take a saint(圣人) to make the change from strong anger to sympathy?
Turning points arrive when we can make a choice not to suffer in silence. We then strike a soul bargain that is fearful but necessary. The bargain is that redemption(解救) is possible through love. The absence of love is absolutely the problem, and love is absolutely the solution. We don’t have to reach into another area to locate the magic power of love that is available to us here and now.
The problem is that love comes through a fallible human being. The rule is constant work on the spiritual path to clear away the obstacles that prevent love from coming through us. The work is much more like working on blocked pipe system than it is like copying a saint.
Hope is the emotion that keeps this dogged work even when results seem to be slow or impossible. Can I love the terrorist who harms my country? Can I love the criminal who wants to harm me? At the level of the soul I already do, and the spiritual path is a means to arrive at that level.
No one is required to leap into sudden sympathy for terrorists, or even to announce publicly that our enemies deserve love. But in our souls each of us harbors the knowledge that only love is going to bring violence to an end. No matter how you and I live our outward lives, our spiritual lives must remain devoted to that vision.Which one is NOT true for moral view of violence?
| A．It thinks violence is bad and wrong. |
| B．It plays an important role in ending violence. |
| C．It is a knee-jerk judgment of people. |
| D．It thinks violent people deserve less sympathy. |
Why should violent people deserve sympathy?
| A．Because we should perform like a saint. |
| B．Because love is absolutely the solution. |
| C．Because our spiritual lives must remain devoted to that vision. |
| D．Because they are first in suffering then choose violence, so they need love. |
What's the meaning "The problem is that love comes through a fallible human being"?
| A．Human being is full of love. |
| B．It is difficult and long way. |
| C．Human being is easy to make friends. |
| D．It's a problem to get love from an imperfect huan being. |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Violence Is Harmful to Us |
| B．Love Can End Violence |
| C．Change Our View of Violence |
| D．Our Soul Needs Purifying |
When travelers think of an Adriatic cruise, scenes of Venice, Italy—its canals, bridges, piazzas, and stunning architecture—come to mind. It's one of the most popular cruise destinations in Europe. And for many, the sail-away from Venice, through its Giudecca Canal, is an awe-inspiring experience.
Venice may be known as La Serenissima, or "the most peaceful," which, however, isn't entirely accurate these days. Venetians have been increasingly concerned about the impact of tourism and the potential for an environmental disaster off its shoreline due to the number of cruise ships that enter and exit its lagoon(泻湖).
That's why earlier last month, Venice announced a new policy to forbid the transit(穿越) of cruise ships to the city via the Giudecca Canal. It's not that the city wants to shun the cruise industry altogether: It simply wants to force traffic further away from the landmarks along the shoreline. City officials say that most ships will now transit the Contorta Sant'Angelo Canal.
Additionally, the city is clamping down on the size of ships that can visit Venice, as well as the total number of ships that call on it on a daily basis. As of January 2014, Venice plans to reduce the visitations of larger ships (those that are 40,000 tons or heavier) by 20 percent. This effectively caps the number of ships that can enter per day to five. In November, ships heavier than 96,000 tons will not be allowed to enter Guidecca Canal at all.
How the city plans to carry out the new five-ships-per-day rule remains to be seen and have yet to be announced. Which ships will be allowed passage? Will it be first-come, first-served? However they proceed, cruise line executives want their passengers to know that Venice will remain a regular port of call—even if the transit to and from the city must evolve.Before last month, toursits left Venice by ship through ______.
| A．the Giudecca Canal |
| B．La Serenissima |
| C．the Contorta Sant'Angelo Canal |
| D．the Adriatic Sea |
The new policy was issued in order to_____________.
| A．stress the accuracy of Venice's fame for peace |
| B．reduce the damage to Venice's environment |
| C．depend less on the crusie industry |
| D．limit the number of tourists |
It can be learned from the passage that _____________.
| A．People in Venice are complaining about the toursits' behaviors. |
| B．Venetians are often bothered by noise and pollution. |
| C．The city government has announced the concrete ways to carry out the new five-ships-per-day rule. |
| D．The new policy will not discourage the tourism from developing. |
What does the underlined phrase "clapming down on" mean?
| A．limiting | B．abandoning |
| C．banning | D．punishing |
In spite of the uncertainty of the economy, the movie industry has been stricken by a box-office outburst. Suddenly it seems as if everyone is going to the movies, with ticket sales this year up 17.5 percent, to $1.7 billion.
And it is not just because ticket prices are higher. Attendance has also jumped, by nearly 16 percent. If that pace continues through the year, it would amount to the biggest box-office increase in at least two decades.
Americans, for the moment, just want to hide in a very dark place. People want to forget their troubles, and they want to be with other people. Helping feed the outburst is the mix of movies, which have been more audience-friendly in recent months as the studios have tried to adjust after the discouraging sales of more serious films.
As she stood in line at the 18-screen Bridge theater complex here on Thursday to buy weekend tickets for “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience,” Angel Hernandez was not thinking much about escaping reality. Instead, Ms. Hernandez, a Los Angeles parking lot attendant and mother of four young girls, was focused on one very specific reality: her wallet.
“Spending hundreds of dollars to take them to Disneyland is ridiculous right now,” she said. “For $60 and some candy money I can still be a good mom and give them a little fun.”
A lot of parents may have been thinking the same thing Friday, as “Jonas Brothers” sold out more than 800 theaters, and was expected to sell a powerful $25 million or more in tickets.
The film industry appears to have had a hand in its recent good luck. Over the last year or two, studios have released movies that are happier, scarier or just less depressing than what came before. After poor results for a rush of serious dramas built around the Middle East, Hollywood got back to comedies.Which of the following is not a reason for the improvement of the movie industry?
| A．A growing number of people are going to the cinema. |
| B．People are richer with the development of economy. |
| C．More comedies are made than serious films. |
| D．People have to pay more to watch a movie. |
Ms. Hernandez purchased the movie tickets because ________.
| A．she tried to escape reality |
| B．she was a crazy movie fan |
| C．she was fond of Disneyland |
| D．she wanted to please her kids |
According to the text, which of the following number is not used to describe the shooting up of the movie industry?
| A．17.5% | B．$1.7 billion |
| C．$60 | D．$25 million |
The passage is developed mainly by ________.
| A．presenting the effect and analyzing the causes |
| B．following the order of time |
| C．describing problems and drawing a conclusion |
| D．making comparison of ideas |
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