While all my classmates seem to be crazy about a one-way ticket to Mars (火星), I'd rather say Mars is
totally unsuitable for human existence. People won't have enough food supplies there, and the terrible
environment would make it impossible for them to live a long life. Besides, the journey won't be safe. Can
anybody explain to me just why people would go to Mars, never to return?
     Steve Minear, UK
     Here are the things you can think of: the desire to explore a foreign and unique environment, the excitement
of being the first humans to open up a new world, the expectation of fame and glory…For scientists there is
another reason. Their observations and research will probably lead to great scientific achievements.
     Donal Trollop, Canada
     There are already too many people on the Earth. I think that sometime before the end of the century, there
will be a human colony (殖民地) on Mars. It will happen when people finally realize that two-way trips to the
red planet Mars are unnecessary. Most of the danger of space flight is in the launches (發(fā)射) and landings.
Cutting the trip home would therefore reduce the danger of accidents, save a lot of money, and open the way
to building an everlasting human settlement on another world.
     Enough supplies can be sent on ahead. And every two years more supplies and more people will be sent to
the new colony. Mars has all the materials for a colony to produce or make everything it needs, and Mars is
far more pleasant than the other planets in the outer space.
     Paul Davies. USA

1. The main purpose of Steve Minear's writing is _____.

A. to report his classmates' discussion
B. to invite an answer to his question
C. to explain the natural state of Mars
D. to show his agreement on going to Mars

2. Which of the following best states Donal Trollop's idea?

A. There is a plan to send humans to Mars.
B. There are many reasons for going to Mars.
C. Scientists become famous by doing research on Mars.
D. It is possible to build an Earth-like environment on Mars.

3. Paul Davies points out that _____.

A. humans need only a one-way ticket to Mars
B. two-way trips to Mars will be made safe soon
C. it is easy to reduce the danger and cost of flights to Mars
D. it is cheap to build an everlasting human settlement on Mars

4. What does Paul Davies think of human existence on Mars?

A. Humans will have to bring all they need from the Earth.
B. Humans will find Mars totally unsuitable for living.
C. Humans can produce everything they need.
D. Humans can live longer in the colony on Mars.

     Being able to multitask-doing several things at the same time-is considered a welcome skill by most people.
But if we consider the situation of the young people aged from eight to eighteen, we should think again.
     What we often see nowadays is that young people juggle an ever larger number of electronic devices (電子
產品) as they study. While working, they also surf on the Internet, send out emails, answer the telephone and
listen to music on their iPods. In a sense, they are spending a significant amount of time in fruitless efforts as
they multitask.
     Multitasking is even changing the relationship between family members. As young people give so much
attention to their own worlds, they seem to have no time to spend with the other people around them. They
can no longer greet family members when they enter the house, nor can they eat at the family table.
     Multitasking also affects young people's performance at university and in the workplace. When asked about
their opinion of the effect of modern gadgets (器具) on their performance of tasks, many young people gave
a positive response (反應). However, the response from the worlds of education and business was not quite
as positive. Educators feel that multitasking by children has a serious effect on later development of study skills.
They believe that many college students now need help to improve their study skills. Similarly, employers feel
that young people entering the job market need to be taught all over again, as modern gadgets have made it
unnecessary for them to learn special skills to do their work.

1. What does the underlined word "juggle" in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?

A. Want to buy.
B. Take the place of.
C. Use at the same time.
D. Seek for information from.

2. In Paragraph 3, the author points out that _____.

A. family members do not eat at the family table
B. family member do not greet each other
C. young people live happily in their families
D. young people seldom talk with their family members

3. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. Multitasking is harmful to young people's development.
B. Young people benefit a lot from modern gadgets.
C. Multitasking is an important skill to young people.
D. Young people must learn skills for future jobs.

4. The author develops the passage mainly by _____.

A. providing typical examples
B. following the natural time order
C. comparing opinions from different fields
D. presenting a cause and analyzing its effects

     Despite the fact that it has never been seen almost everyone is familiar with the legendary unicorn
(獨角獸). Descriptions of unicorns have been found dating from ancient times. The great philosopher
Aristotle theorized that there were two types of unicorn--- the so-called Indian Ass and the Oryx, a kind
of antelope. Unicorns are often used in the logo of a noble family, town council or university as their
special sign. Even Scotland is represented by a unicorn.
     According to the legend, anyone attempting to catch a unicorn had to be extremely cautious as it has
a reputation for being very fierce. A clever trick suggested by unicorn-trappers, in order to catch this
magnificent beast without being hurt by its horn, was for the hunter to stand in front of a tree and then
to move quickly behind it as the unicorn charged. Hopefully, the creature could then be captured when
its horn was stuck in the tree.
     When hollowed out and used as a drinking-cup, the unicorn's horn was said to have the power to
offer protection against person. It was believed that nobody could be harmed-by drinking the contents
of a unicorn's horn. Right up until the French Revolution in 1789, the French court was said to have used
cups made of"unicorn" horn in order to protect the king. In addition, the horn was said to have medicinal
value, so much so that it could be sold for more than ten times the price of the same weight of gold. What,
then, was "unicorn" horn? We know at times the rhino (犀牛) was confused with this legendary creature.
A drinking-cup supposedly made of"unicorn" horn was discovered to be made of the horn of a rhino.

1. Which of the following is TRUE of the unicorn?

A. It was not historically recorded
B. Its horn was first used in France
C. It was similar to the Indian Ass and the Oryx
D. It could be the symbol of a university

2. To catch a unicorn, the unicorn-trappers had to try all of the following EXCEPT ____.

A. tempting the unicorn to attack
B. making use of the tree as a protection
C. hiding quickly behind the unicorn
D. having the unicorn horn stuck in the tree

3. The last paragraph is mainly about ____.

A. the properties of the unicorn horn
B. the users of the unicorn horn
C. the price of the unicorn horn
D. the comparison between the unicorn horn and the rhino horn

4. In the last paragraph, the word "unicorn" is in quotation marks (引號) because _____.

A. the cup is designed only for a royal family
B. the unicorn does not exist in reality
C. the unicorn is the rarest animal in the world
D. the medicinal value of the horn is appreciated

     People who have lost the ability to understand or use words due to brain damage are called aphasics (失語
癥患者). Such patients can be extremely good at something else. From the changing expressions on speakers'
faces and the tones of their voices, they can tell lies from truths.
     Doctors studying the human brain have given a number of examples of this amazing power of aphasics.
Some have even compared this power to that of a dog with an ability to find out the drugs hidden in the
baggage.
     Recently, scientists carried out tests to see if all that was said about aphasics was true. They studied a mixed
group of people. Some were normal; others were aphasics. It was proved that the aphasics were far ahead of
the normal people in recognizing false speeches-in most cases, the normal people were fooled by words, but
the aphasics were not.
     Some years ago, Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote in his book about his experiences with aphasics. He mentioned a
particular case in a hospital. Some aphasics were watching the president giving a speech on TV. Since the
president had been an actor earlier, making a good speech was no problem for him. He was trying to put his
feelings into every word of his speech.
     But his way of speaking had the opposite effect on the patients. They didn't seem to believe him. Instead,
they burst into laughter. The aphasics knew that the president did not mean a word of what he was saying.
He was lying!
     Many doctors see aphasics as people who are not completely normal because they lack the ability to
understand words. However, according to Dr. Sacks, they are more gifted than normal people. Normal people
may get carried away by words. Aphasics seem to understand human expressions better, though they cannot
understand words.

1. What is so surprising about aphasics?

A. They can fool other people.
B. They can find out the hidden drugs.
C. They can understand language better.
D. They can tell whether people are lying.

2. How did the scientists study aphasics?

A. By asking them to watch TV together.
B. By organizing them into acting groups.
C. By comparing them with normal people.
D. By giving them chances to speak on TV.

3. What do we learn from this text?

A. What ones says reflects how one feels.
B. Aphasics have richer feelings than others.
C. Normal people often tell lies in their speeches.
D. People poor at one thing can be good at another.

     Tom was one of the brightest boys in the year, with supportive parents. But when he was 15 he suddenly
stopped trying. He left school at 16 with only two scores for secondary school subjects. One of the reasons
that made it cool for him not to care was the power of his peer (同齡人) group.
     The lack of right male (男性的) role models in many of their lives - at home and particularly in the school
environment (環(huán)境)-means that their peers are the only people they have to judge themselves against.
     They don't see men succeeding in society so it doesn't occur to them that they could make something of
themselves. Without male teachers as a role model, the effect of peer actions and street culture (文化) is all-
powerful. Boys want to be part of a club. However, schools can provide the environment for change, and
provide the right role models for them. Teachers need to be trained to stop that but not in front of a child's
peers. You have to do it one to one, because that is when you see the real child.
     It's pointless sending a child home if he or she has done wrong. They see it as a welcome day off to watch
television or play computer games. Instead, schools should have a special unit where a child who has done
wrong goes for the day and gets advice about his problems - somewhere he can work away from his peers
and go home after the other children.

1. Why did Tom give up studying? 

A. He disliked his teachers.
B. His parents no longer supported him.
C. It's cool for boys of his age not to care about studies.
D. There were too many subjects in his secondary school.

2. What seems to have a bad effect on students like Tom?

A. Peer groups.
B. A special unit.
C. The student judges.
D. The home environment.

3. What should schools do to help the problem schoolboys?

A. Wait for their change patiently.
B. Train leaders of their peer groups.
C. Stop the development of street culture.
D. Give them lessons in a separate area.

4. A teacher's work is most effective with a schoolboy when he _____.

A. is with the boy alone
B. teaches the boy a lesson
C. sends the boy home as punishment
D. works together with another teacher

     The African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on earth, is of great importance to African
ecosystem (生態(tài)系統(tǒng)). Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its
environment. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna (大草原) surroundings in
which it lives, therefore setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat
(棲息地).
     It is the elephant's great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important
builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills
small trees and underbushes, and pulls branches off big trees. This results in numerous open spaces in both
deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas. In these open spaces
are numerous plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters.
     Take the rain forests for example. In their natural state, the spreading branches overhead shut out
sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants,
elephants make open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests
become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as
well.
     What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the
elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and
savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A. Disappearance of African elephants.
B. Forests and savannas as habitats for African elephants.
C. The effect of African elephants' search for food.
D. The eating habit of African elephants.

2. What does the underlined phrase "setting the terms" most probably mean?

A. Fixing the time.
B. Worsening the state.
C. Improving the quality.
D. Deciding the conditions.

3. What do we know about the open spaces in the passage?

A. They result from the destruction of rain forests.
B. They provide food mainly for African elephants.
C. They are home to many endangered animals.
D. They are attractive to plant-eating animals of different kinds.

4. The passage is developed mainly by ______.

A. showing the effect and then explaining the causes
B. pointing out similarities and differences
C. describing the changes in space order
D. giving examples

     Throughout the history of the arts, the nature of creativity has remained constant to artists. No matter
what objects they select, artists are to bring forth new forces and forms that cause change-to find poetry
where no one has ever seen or experienced it before.
     Landscape (風景) is another unchanging element of art. It can be found from ancient times through the
17th-century Dutch painters to the 19th-century romanticists and impressionists. In the 1970s Alfred Leslie,
one of the new American realists, continued this practice. Leslie sought out the same place where Thomas
Cole, a romanticist, had produced paintings of the same scene a century and a half before. Unlike Cole who
insists on a feeling of loneliness and the idea of finding peace in nature, Leslie paints what he actually sees.
In his paintings, there is no particular change in emotion, and he includes ordinary things like the highway
in the background. He also takes advantage of the latest developments of color photography (攝影術) to help
both the eye and the memory when he improves his painting back in his workroom.
     Besides, all art begs the age-old question: What is real? Each generation of artists has shown their
understanding of reality in one form or another. The impressionists saw reality in brief emotional effects, the
realists in everyday subjects and in forest scenes, and the Cro-Magnon cave people in their naturalistic
drawings of the animals in the ancient forests. To sum up, understanding reality is a necessary struggle for
artists of all periods.
      Over thousands of years the function of the arts has remained relatively constant. Past or present,
Eastern or Western, the arts are a basic part of our immediate experience. Many and different are the faces
of art, and together they express the basic need and hope of human beings.

1. The underlined word "poetry" most probably means _____.

A. an object for artistic creation
B. a　collection of poems
C. an unusual quality
D. a natural scene

2. Leslie's paintings are extraordinary because _____.

A. they are close in style to works in ancient times
B. they look like works by 19th-century painters
C. they draw attention to common things in life
D. they depend heavily on color photography

3. What is the author's opinion of artistic reality?

A. It will not be found in future works of art.
B. It does not have a long-lasting standard.
C. It is expressed in a fixed artistic form.
D. It is lacking in modern works of art.

4. What does the author suggest about the arts in the last paragraph?

A. They express people's curiosity about the past.
B. They make people interested in everyday experience.
C. They are considered important for variety in form.
D. They are regarded as a mirror of the human situation.

5. Which of the following is the main topic of the passage? .

A. History of the arts.
B. Basic questions of the arts.
C. New developments in the arts.
D. Use of modern technology in the arts

      This was no ordinary class. The students who came together were all science or engineering professors
at Cornell University. They had interrupted their research to accept an invitation to take part in an unusual
experiment:"an interesting week of poetry." This class was part of a study to answer the questions: Why is
science difficult for many nonscience students? What can teachers learn about teaching if they take a class
that is not in their field?
     The students in the poetry class listened to lectures and took notes. They had reading tasks and had to
write three short papers. All students noticed one thing-the importance of spoken words. In science and
engineering classes, the instructors put tables and drawings on the blackboard. But in this poetry class, the
instructors just talked. They didn't write anything on the board.
     The scientists and engineers noticed one similarity between science and poetry. In both subjects, students
need to find layers (層次)　of meaning. Some layers are simple, clean, and on the surface; other layers are
deeper and more difficult. This search for different levels of meaning doesn't happen much in undergraduate
(本科)　science classes, but it is important later, in graduate school. And it is always important in humanities (人文科學).
     Both the poetry instructors and their students learned something about teaching from this experience.
One poetry instructor, for example, now sees the importance of using informative as he teaches. Most of the
scientists agreed on several points. First, humanities classes might help science students to see patterns and
decide which information is important. Second, the poetry class was fun. One engineer decided, "We need to
change the way we teach engineering to make it an enjoyable experience for students."
     But perhaps the most important result of the experience was this; All of the professors began to think
about how they teach and how they cam teach better.