Red Roses

Red roses, as we think of them today, are the traditional symbol for love and romance and a time-honored way to say “I love you.” The red rose has long symbolized beauty and perfection, so a bouquet of red roses is the perfect way to express your deep feelings for someone special. For the budding relationship, a red rose bouquet can also signal the beginning of romantic intentions. They can send a message of commitment and an invitation to take the next step.

A.  Carnations

The meanings of carnations include fascination, distinction, and love. Like many other flowers, different messages can also be expressed with the flower’s different color varieties. Light red carnations, for example, are often used to convey admiration, whereas pink carnations are often given as a sign of gratitude. Today carnations are worn and gifted worldwide on Mothers Day and have become symbolic of purity, strength and endurance of motherhood. As a custom pink carnations are worn to honor living mothers and white carnations for the deceased mothers.

B.  Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums were cultivated in China as a flowering herb as far back as the 15th century BC. It was named from the Greek prefix chrys-, which means golden (the color of the original flowers), and –anthemion, meaning flower. Chrysanthemums can be yellow, white or even bright red. Many flower forms are available, spoon-shaped, threadlike or spiderlike. With its special meaning “Rest” associated with them, chrysanthemums are one of the traditional funeral flowers which you can even convey your sincere feelings for the deceased.

C.  Sunflowers

Sunflowers turn their heads towards the sun and this is how they got their common name. They originated in Central and South America. Sunflowers are not only pretty to look at but sunflower seeds are power-packed with healthy fats, protein, fiber, minerals, and vitamin E – all important to the nutritional quality of your diet.

D.  Purple hyacinth

The language of flowers can be found as far back as the 14th century. Every flower has a special. Purple hyacinths are a meaningful gift, perfect for expressing feelings for a friend to convey the feelings like “You are a wonderful friend and I wish you peace, prosperity and happiness” or “I am sorry. Please forgive me.”

E.  Forget – me – not

The little blue Forget Me Not flower, though quite small in size, expresses sweet memories of true and faithful love, a soft cry – “Do not forget” the sunny and cloudy days of a deep relationship. Medicinally, this plant has a strong affinity for the respiratory organs, especially the let lower lung. In some countries, it is sometimes made into syrup and given for lung affections.

再阅读以下顾客信息，然后匹配顾客与适合他们的鲜花。

56.David has just heard that one of his friends he knows has lost a favorite relative and he knows that his friend really needs to be concerned at this moment. So he calls the flower shop for flower delivery as a way to show his friendship and support during this difficult time.

57．Mary has not met her mother since she moved to Paris after the graduation from Cambridge University. When Mothers’ Day is coming this year, she wants to send something special to help her express respect and thankfulness for the virtues of motherhood.

58.True love’s difficult to find, but Catherine is fortunate enough to have found it, so she intends to give her beloved a gift on the Anniversary Day, which his regarded as an emblem of loving remembrance, faithful love, constancy and undying hope.

59.Tony met Gloria at his friend’s graduation party last weekend, and fell into love with her at the first sight. He is planning to ask her for the first official date, expecting Gloria to receive them with a sparkle in her eyes.

60.Hebe has really got a reason to send flowers to her friend Carrie who was deeply hurt by her careless mistake. What she needs to do is make an apology, showing how regretful she is. For this special occasion, she is wondering what flowers will be appropriate to send.

NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been exploring the Red Planet since 2004. But a little more than a year ago, NASA lost contact with Spirit. The space agency has tried several ways to make contact with the rover, but Spirit has not sent back any signals.
Spirit landed on Mars on January 4, 2004. Three weeks later, Opportunity arrived. Soon after, the rovers went to the opposite side of Mars. Spirit’s original mission was only designed to last for three months, but Spirit has worked for more than five years doing additional missions. Both rovers have made important discoveries about ancient Mars. They have taken thousands of images and found evidence in the rocks of a water, warmer past in Mars’ history.
Spirit is solar-powered. It got stuck in a sand trap in April 2009, trapped deep into the soil and with its wheels turning around and around but not able to move forwards or backwards. Spirit had to agree that there is nothing that can be done to change the situation—it’s never going to move again. However, even if it is a not moving station, it can still study the planet’s atmosphere and deep interior.
NASA has been concentrating on trying to position its solar panels to get as much energy from the sun as possible, or to get the rover leaning in a manner that will allow the most amount of sunlight falling on its solar panels, in order to keep it alive during the coming winter months. Engineers have planned to rock the vehicle back and forth to acquire a more favorable position. However, no matter how many efforts have been made, Spirit still could not get out of the soft soil and could not lean itself toward the sun as the Martian winter approached. Without enough energy reaching its solar panels and with so little energy in its batteries, it went into hibernation, just like a polar bear, and has not communicated with Earth since March 22, 2010.
Whatever the future holds for Spirit, its mission has been an outstanding success. When it landed on the Red Planet in January 2004, no one was really sure how long it would continue working in the cold and dusty environment. As a matter of fact, three months was its original goal.
After so many fruitless efforts, NASA scientists are losing hope of ever reconnecting with Spirit, but they will give it one more try. Ground controllers are contacting Spirit over a range of frequencies and at different times during the day in case its internal clock stopped working and it lost track of time. They also are commanding the rover to turn on its backup radio transmitter in case the main one is dead.
If this final effort to connect isn’t successful, NASA will shift the focus to its twin robot, Opportunity, which is in a different part of Mars. Opportunity is still on the move and continues to travel freely to this day. It has traveled 16.6 miles so far, and is currently rolling towards another crater it has yet to explore.
NASA has spent more than $900 million on the project but shows no sign of giving up on these determined and hard-working robots. The rovers are, though, experiencing gradual wear and tear, the expected damage to something caused by using it repeatedly over a period of time. Even before Spirit got trapped, one of its wheels had failed. And NASA says it’s just a matter of time before both robots break down completely.
【小题1】According to the passage, what can we know about Spirit?

A．It had explored Mars several times.

B．Its original mission was to work for five years.

C．It landed on Mars three weeks later than Opportunity.

D． It discovered that Mars was once a warm and wetter place.

When I was young, I went looking for gold in California．I never found enough to make me rich．But I did discover a beautiful part of the country．It was called "the Stanislau"．The Stanislau was like Heaven on Earth．It had bright green hills and deep forests where soft winds touched the trees．

       Other men, also looking for gold, had reached the Stanislau hills of California many years before I did．They had built a town in the valley with sidewalks and stores, banks and schools．They had also built pretty little houses for their families．

       At first, they found a lot of gold in the Stanislau hills．But their good luck did not last．After a few years, the gold disappeared．By the time I reached the Stanislau, all the people were gone, too．

       Grass now grew in the streets．And the little houses were covered by wild rose bushes．Only the sound of insects filled the air as I walked through the empty town that summer day so long ago．Then, 1 realized I was not alone after all．

       A man was smiling at me as he stood in front of one of the little houses．This house was not covered by wild rose bushes．A nice little garden in front of the house was full of blue and yellow flowers．White curtains hung from the windows and floated in the soft summer wind．

       Still smiling, the man opened the door of his house and signed to me．1 went inside and could not believe my eyes．I had been living for weeks in rough mining camps with other gold miners．We slept on the hard ground, ate canned beans from cold metal plates and spent our days in the difficult search for gold．

       Here in this little house, my spirit seemed to come to life again．

I saw a bright rug on the shining wooden floor．Pictures hung all around the room．And on little tables there were seashells, books and china vases full of flowers．A woman had made this house into a home．

       The pleasure I felt in my heart must have shown on my face．The man read my thoughts．"Yes," he smiled, "it is all her work．Everything in this room has felt the touch of her hand．"

       One of the pictures on the wall was not hanging straight．He noticed it and went to fix it．He stepped back several times to make sure the picture was really straight．Then he gave it a gentle touch with his hand．

1．According to the passage, the Stanislau was _____．

       A．an independent country                      B．a beautiful part of California

       C．a rough mining camp                          D．an almost bare mountain

2．The writer writes the passage mainly to _____．

       A．recall his experience in California          B．persuade people to visit the Stanislau

       C．introduce the couple he met                D．offer tips on searching for gold

3．Which of the following can best describe the couple?

       A．Ambitious but selfish．                    B．Hopeful and merciful．

       C．Warm-hearted and contented．             D．Enthusiastic but hopeless．

4．What's the correct order of the events?

       a．I went to California in search of gold．

       b．A town was built in the valley．

       c．I came to the front of a little house．

       d．The man put the picture straight．

       e．I walked through the empty town．

       A．b, a, e, c, d                               B．b, a, c, e, d

     C．a, b, e, c, d                                          D．a, b, e, d, c

LONDON Thursday July 26 (Reuters)―Eddy missed his girlfriend Anna so much he flew back to Britain from Australia to propose（求婚）to her. The problem is she did the same in the opposite direction.

       He and Anna even managed to miss each other when they sat in the same airport waiting room in Singapore at the same time to wait for connecting flights.

       Anna, heartbroken when she arrived at Eddy’s Sydney flat to find he had flown to London, told The Times: “It was as though someone was playing a cruel joke on us.”

       “He is the most romantic person I have ever known .I think our problem is that we are both quite impulsive（冲动的）people. We are always trying to surprise each other.”

       After an 11,000-mile flight across the globe, she was greeted by Eddy’s astonished roommate asking what she was doing there.

       Eddy, a 27-year-old engineer ,had taken a year off to travel round Australia .But he was missing Anna ,a 26-year-old secretary, so much he got a job on a Sydney building site（工地）and started saving for a surprise.

       He then flew home to Britain and went to her flat armed with an engagement（订婚）ring, wine and flowers.

       “I really missed Anna and I’d been thinking about her all the time. I was so excited when she phoned me from Australia,” he said.

       Eddy then asked Anna to marry him on the phone. “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but I accepted,” she said.

       Anna was given a tour of Sydney by Eddy’s friends before going back home .Eddy had to stay in Britain for two weeks because he could not change his ticket.

45．What does the last sentence of the first paragraph tell us?

       A．Anna flew to Britain from Australia to marry him.

       B．Anna flew to Australia from Britain to marry him.

       C．Anna flew to Britain from Australia to propose to him.

       D．Anna flew to Australia from Britain to propose to him.

46．The underlined word “miss” in paragraph 2 most probably means      .

       A．escape from                                        B．fail to understand

       C．fail to meet                                          D．long to see

47．Eddy got a job on a Sydney building site because he      .

       A．wanted to travel round Australia

       B．needed money to pay his daily cost

       C．was an engineer at this building site

       D．hoped to make money from this job

48．Which of the following is TRUE about Eddy and Anna according to the text?

       A．Eddy proposed to Anna on the phone and Anna accepted.

       B．Anna stayed in Australia waiting for Eddy’s arrival.

       C．Anna had a good time touring Sydney with Eddy.

       D．Eddy met Anna in the airport waiting room by chance.