The first flights of the new airlines that will take tourists into space are ready to take off in 2012, and getting a seat on one is not all that different from booking a trip someplace on Earth. You can sign up on the website of, say, Virgin Galactic，the most wellknown of the new space tourism companies, or go to an approved travel agency and put down a large deposit. Soon you will be able to buy travel insurance，just as you can for any other vacation.
Until now，space tourism has been limited to the ultrawealthy. Just seven people have paid tens of millions of dollars each for a trip to the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket.
But that could change this year, when Virgin Galactic intends to start offering flights just beyond the space barrier on a rocket ship it has built, featuring five minutes of weightlessness during a twoandahalfhour tour. At $ 200,000 a seat, this will open the final frontier to far more people.
At least two other specialty airlines have jumped in as well, taking reservations and deposits for future space flights.Allianz, the big insurer, will introduce an insurance product in 2012, lending space tourism the trappings of the regular travel industry.
“Just to be able to sell space travel as a regular part of your business, really, just how cool is that？” said Lynda Turley Garrett, president of Alpine Travel of Saratoga, Calif.，who is one of 58 accredited space agents for Virgin Galactic in the United States.
In five years，Ms.Garrett has sold three seats. But she expects that to change once passengers start going up and coming down to tell their friends. “By 2017，it'll be just like scheduling a flight to L．A.，” Ms.Garrett predicted.If you want to book a flight to space in 2012, you can________.
| A．go to any travel agency |
| B．telephone Virgin Galactic |
| C．pay a visit to Allianz |
| D．sign up on the website of Virgin Galactic |
From Paragraph 2 we can know that ________.
| A．only the extremely rich people can afford the space trip |
| B．seven people have paid tens of millions of dollars for a space trip |
| C．Russia is the first country to build the space station |
| D．ordinary people are not allowed to take space tour |
Which of the following is true of Virgin Galactic?
| A．It is one of the approved space agencies. |
| B．It is a famous space tourism company. |
| C．It sells insurance products to space tourists. |
| D．Its rocket has carried space passengers successfully. |
What does the underlined word “trappings” in Paragraph 4 probably refer to?
| A．Standard uniforms. |
| B．Traditional decorations. |
| C．Symbolic signs. |
| D．Personal belongings. |
What does Ms. Garrett think of the future space travel?
| A．Common. | B．Changeable. |
| C．Flexible. | D．Reasonable. |
Have you ever complained why life is so tiring? Does the sky sometimes seem dark to you? Are your studies sometimes not successful? Well, friends, cheer up and smile all the time. If you see the world with your warm heart, you’ll find that the whole world smiles to you.
While in school, sometimes you are tired of your lessons, but have you ever noticed the happy smile on your teacher’s face when you did a good job?
One day it is fine. Just before you go out, it suddenly starts to rain. Maybe you would feel very sad and start to complain about the weather. But dear friends, why don’t you sit down and listen to the free concerts that the nature offers you? And with the timely rain, crops in the fields will grow better and better and farmers will have a good harvest.
Although everyone wants to succeed in what he tries to do, sometimes failure can’t be avoided. I think failure is not terrible, and the terrible thing is that we are afraid of it and give up hope. When we face failure, we must be confident in ourselves, draw a useful lesson from it and try our best to finish what we have decided to do. As a popular saying goes, “Failure is the mother of success”.
Attitude decides everything. With an optimistic attitude life is easy and pleasant. Let’s smile to whatever we meet and the whole world will smile to us.People sometimes complain _________.
| A．the sky is always dark |
| B．their studies are successful |
| C．they see the world with their heart |
| D．life is tiring |
When we face failure, we ___________.
| A．must be confident in ourselves |
| B．shouldn’t be afraid of it |
| C．shouldn’t give up hope |
| D．All of the above |
The best title for the passage is_______.
| A．Smile and the World Smiles to You |
| B．Complaining about Life |
| C．Failure is the Mother of Success |
| D．It is Very Hard to Succeed |
Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her seated by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading.
After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her window was dirty. Everything was unclear through the dirty window .I would say to myself, “I wonder why that woman doesn’t wash her window .It really looks terrible.”
One bright morning I decided to clean my flat, including washing the window on the inside.
Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly visible. Her window was clean!
Then it dawned on me. I had been criticizing(批评) her dirty window, but all the time I was watching hers through my own dirty window.
That was quite an important lesson for me. How often had I looked at and criticized others through the dirty window of my heart, through my own shortcomings?
Since then, whenever I wanted to judge someone, I asked myself first ,“Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?” Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world about me more clearly.The writer couldn’t see everything clearly through the window because_____.
| A．the woman’s window was dirty |
| B．the writer’s window was dirty |
| C．the woman lived nearby |
| D．the writer was near-sighted |
The writer was surprised that ________.
| A．the woman was sitting by her window |
| B．the woman’s window was clean. |
| C．the woman did cleaning in the afternoon |
| D．the woman’s window was still terrible |
“ It dawned on me” probably means “______”.
| A．I began to understand it | B．it cheered me up |
| C．I knew it grew light | D．it began to get dark |
It’s clear that________.
| A．the writer had never met the woman before |
| B．the writer often washed the window |
| C．they both worked as cleaners |
| D．they lived in a small town |
From the passage, we can learn_________.
| A．one shouldn’t criticize others very often |
| B．one should often make his windows clean |
| C．one must judge himself before he judges others |
| D．one must look at others through his dirty window |
Teachers’ Day is, interestingly, not celebrated on the same day all over the world. In some countries it is marked by a holiday, in others it is a working day.
International Teachers’ Day is celebrated on October 5. Being held ever since 1994, it is in honor of teachers' organizations worldwide. Its aim is to encourage supports for teachers and to meet the needs of students.
China―In 1939, Teachers’ Day was set for August 27, Confucius' birthday. In1951, the celebration was stopped. However, it was founded again in 1985, and the day was changed to September 10.
India―Teachers’ Day is celebrated on September 5 in honour of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second president of India, whose birthday falls on that day.
Russia―In Russia, Teachers’ Day was celebrated on the first Sunday of October between 1965 and 1994. Since 1994, the day is observed on October 5, just the same day as World Teachers’ Day.
The US―In the US, Teachers’ Day is non-official holiday. It is celebrated on the Tuesday of the first full week of May. A number of activities are organized in schools to honor teachers. The celebrations can continue for the whole week of May.
Thailand―In Thailand, National Teachers’ Day is celebrated every year on January 16. The first Teachers’ Day was held in 1957. The day is a holiday in schools.What country celebrates Teachers’ Day in October?
| A．India. | B．The US. | C．India. | D．Russia. |
Which of the following has the same meaning as the underlined word “observed”?
| A．stopped | B．celebrated | C．held | D．fell |
Which of the following is possibly true?
| A．China has celebrated Teachers’ Day since the year 1931. |
| B．Teachers’ Day is an official holiday in the United States. |
| C．Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s birthday is in September. |
| D．Teachers’ Day is a working day in schools of Thailand. |
From the passage we can learn that ________.
| A．The first Teachers’ Day was held in 1965 in Thailand. |
| B．Teachers’ Day falls on Confucius' birthday in China. |
| C．International Teachers’ Day aims to benefit the students. |
| D．Teachers’ Day is celebrated on the same day all over the world. |
By May，after three months, I had lost 22 pounds and reached my goal of 115 pounds. My friends would say “Alice you look great !” or “ How did you lose so much weight? ”. Those praises made me feel good and confident.
Soon I dropped to 110 ponds. A few of my friends told me that I need to stop dieting because I was starting to look sick. They brought me a present——a bag of chocolates, which I later gave to my sister. My mum would come to my room, with tears in her eyes, and have long chats about how harmful this diet was and begged me to stop. My dad would leave worried messages on my cell phone at school, telling me that it would do serious harm to my body.
By mid-June, when school was coming to an end, I was down to an only alive state of 95pounds. All of a sudden, I knew I had to do something. I guessed the number itself scared me. I recalled my doctor. He told me about a girl who was 95 pounds and was at the risk of dying. I knew I was putting my life at risk, but for what?
To make those who love me worried? Is it worthwhile to be thin?
Now I realize that models in magazines, TV and movies are not realistic. The price to pay for the “perfect body” is living with the dangerous and sometimes deadly eating disorder. And there are more important things to think about than how thin you are.
The author’s mother went to her room to ________.
| A．bring her some chocolates. |
| B．tell her she missed her.. |
| C．ask her to stop dieting. |
| D．talk about her studies. |
The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 probably refers to ______ .
| A．the author’s cellphone. |
| B．the author’s diet to lose weight . |
| C．the parent from the author’s friends. |
| D．the author’s father’s long chat with her. |
The author decided to stop dieting____ .
| A．when her friends told her to do so |
| B．when her father left some messages |
| C．when her weight dropped to 95 pounds |
| D．when her mother had a talk with her |
What does the writer want to tell us?
| A．It is too expensive for people to lose weight. |
| B．You will be healthy as long as you stop dieting. |
| C．There is no model with a perfect body in real life. |
| D．Being thin is not the most important thing in our life. |
Jean is a bright young woman who comes from a rich and famous family. She goes to a good university and has everything that money can buy. Well, almost everything. The problem is that Jean’s family are so busy that they can hardly find time to be with her. In fact, Jean is quite lonely. So Jean spends a lot of time on her QQ. She likes being anonymous, talking to people who do not know about her famous family and her rich life. She uses the name Linda on QQ and has made a lot of friends who she keeps in touch with quite often.
Last year Jean made a very special friend on QQ. His name was David and lived in San Francisco. David was full of stories and jokes. He and Jean had a common interest in rock music and modern dance. So it always took them hours to talk happily on QQ and sometimes they even forgot their time. Of course, they wanted to know more about each other. David sent a picture of himself: He was a tall , good looking young man with big , happy smile. As time went by, they became good friends and often sent cards and small things to each other.
When Jean’s father told her that he was going on a business trip to San Francisco, she asked him to let her go with him so that she could give David a surprise for his birthday. She would take him the latest DVD of their favorite rock singer. But when she knocked on David’s door in San Francisco, she found that her special friend was a twelve-year-old boy named Jim!Jean spends a lot of her time on QQ because she is _________.
| A．rich | B．young | C．lonely | D．a bad student |
Jean thought “David” was special because he _________.
| A．made her quite happy on QQ |
| B．was from San Francisco |
| C．was tall and good-looking |
| D．was rich |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Don’t believe those you get to know on QQ so easily |
| B．People don’t use their real names on QQ so often |
| C．Don’t go to meet those you get to know on QQ |
| D．Don’t spend much time on QQ |
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