The fog was so heavy this morning that drivers could hardly ______ the

things just ten meters away from them.

   A. figure out        B. look out        C. make out     D. rule out

Poor health does not rule out happiness except for the ______ or those in pain.

A. severely weakening????????????? ???????????????? B. having severely weakened

C. severely weakened????????????? ???????????????? D. being severely weakened

A migraine（偏頭痛）can cause disabling pain. People may not feel back to normal for hours or even days. Migraines are most common among young adults and middle-aged people. In the United States, about eighteen percent of women and six percent of men report having migraines.

People who suffer from migraines can find that different “triggers（誘因）”in different people may get a headache started. Stress can act as a trigger. So can chocolate in some people. Many migraine sufferers say hot weather and low barometric pressure（大氣壓）can act as triggers. But researchers say they do not have much scientific evidence of that — until now.

 In a new study, a team examined the medical records of seven thousand hospital patients. The patients had visited the emergency room at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, because of a headache. More than two thousand of them had been found to have a migraine.

 The team then compared those records to weather conditions in the twenty-four hours before the hospital visits. For every increase of five degrees centigrade in air temperature, the patients had a seven and one-half percent higher risk of migraine. Decreases in barometric pressure two to three days before the visit also appeared to trigger headaches.

 The researchers found no evidence that air pollution influenced headaches. But they could not rule out the possibility of a smaller effect.

 A separate study has found that age, gender and where a person has extra body fat may affect the risk of migraine. It found that overweight people between the ages of twenty and fifty-five may have a higher risk. On average, those who were larger around the middle were more likely to have migraines than those of the same age with smaller waistlines.

 The study involved twenty-two thousand people. It was led by Lee Peterlin. She says early results suggest that losing weight in the stomach area may help younger people who experience migraines, especially women.

41. From the first paragraph, we can infer a migraine can ________.

A. make people unable to walk

B. prevent people acting normally

C. cause people to leave home for days

D. get people to suffer from mental disorder

42. The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.

A. chocolate acting as a trigger

B. stress acting as a trigger

C. hot weather and low barometric pressure acting as triggers

D. high air pressure acting as a trigger

43. According to the passage, headaches are influenced least by ________.

A. body weight                  B. barometric pressure

C. air temperature                  D. air pollution

44. In the opinion of Lee Peterlin, a person who has a migraine should ________.

A. avoid gathering fat in the stomach area

B. eat more sweet food every day

C. stay warm in good weather

D. keep away from noisy places

45. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Overweight people may have a lower risk of migraines.

B. Weather is linked to migraines.

C. Migraines are a headache for many people.

D. Women suffer more migraines than men do.

Scientists are worried that an asteroid(小行星) will possibly hit the earth in 2036. If scientists are right, planet earth is 24 years away from a major disaster.

Scientists have been monitoring the progress of a 390-metre-wide asteroid ever since it was discovered last June. They have announced that it could hit the earth, causing huge damage, in 2036.

NASA estimates that the impact from the asteroid named after Apophis and ancient Egyptian demon(魔鬼) would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear explosion over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometers would be directly affected by the explosion. The whole planet would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere.

This is the worst possible scenario(情景) of any asteroid in recorded history.

Having more than 20 years’ warning of possible impact might seem plenty of time. But scientists insist that there is actually very little time left to decide.

Luckily, however, they aren’t short on ideas for deflecting the asteroid. The favored method is also probably the easiest—throwing a spacecraft at the asteroid to change its direction. The European Space Agency plans to test this in the next decade.

One idea that seems to have no support from astronomers is the use of explosive, although this sounds more likely to the public or Hollywood producer.

At present, scientists are trying to make a better estimate of how much time we have, through more observations.

In spring of next year, there will be another chance for radar observation of Apophis. This will help astronomers calculate the orbits of the asteroid more accurately.

If, at that stage, they can’t rule out an impact with the earth in 2036, the next chance to make better observations will not be until 2016, then 2029.

“If we wait until 2029 and the worst—case scenario turns out to be true, it would seem unlikely that we’d be able to do anything about 2036,” warns Prof Fitzsimmons.

1.What does the underlined word “deflecting” most probably mean?

2.According to the scientists’ observation, _______.

3.What is the impact from Apophis if it hits the earth?

4.It can be inferred from the text that _____.

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 on outer space may be trying to get in touch with us. Scientists also have sent radio and television messages on spaceships travelling through space, on the chance that someone may be receptive to such messages.

Scientists are using powerful radio telescopes to listen to signals from about 1,000 stars, all within 100 light years of earth. In addition, they will scan the entire sky to “l(fā)isten” 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(銀河星系), scientist 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 supports some life.

However, many scientists wonder whether intelligent life exists on other planets. Some believe that twenty years of searching without any intelligible message 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 is about 20 billion years old. In that time, some scientists think it is likely that civilizations much more advanced than ours have developed. Perhaps these civilizations 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.

1. 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.

2. 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

3. The underlined word “monitor” in the second paragraph means “　　　　 ”.

A. find　 B. follow　 C. check　 D. form

4. Which of these 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 planets.

C. Scientists are trying different ways to find signs of life on other planets.

D. Scientists don’t believe that there might be life on other planets.