Martin and his friends didn’t eat up all the food they ordered, _____ they took the rest away.

Professor Martin’s report says that children who attend a number of different schools，because their parents have to move around the country，probably make slow progress in their studies. There are also signs，says Professor Martin，that an unusually large number of such children are mentally affected.

The professor says，“It’s true，my personal feeling is that children should stay in one school. But our findings are based on research and not on any personal feelings. ”

Captain Thomas James，an Army lecturer for the past 20 years and himself a father of two，said，“I’ve never heard of such rubbish. Taking me for example. no harm is done to the education of my children，who change schools regularly—if they keep to the same system，as in our Army schools. In my experience—and I’ve known quite a few of them—Army children are as well adjusted as any others，if not more so. What the professor doesn’t appear to appreciate is the fact that in such situation children will adapt much better than grown-ups.”

When this reached Professor Martin，he said that at no time had his team suggested that all children were backward or mentally affected in some way，but simply that in their experience there was a clear tendency.

“Our findings show that while the very bright children can deal with regular changes without harming his or her general progress in studies，the majority of children suffer from constantly having to enter a new learning situation.”

Professor’s Martin’s report suggests that      

A. it may not be good for children to change schools too often

B. parents should not move around the country

C. changing schools is the reason of children making slow progress

D. more and more children are mentally affected

According to the passage，Professor Martin's personal feeling.

A. is the opposite of what his report has shown

B. is in a way supported by his research

C. has played a big part in his research

D. is based on the experience of his own children

From the passage，we can conclude that Captain James’ children_____.

A. have been affected by changing schools

B. go to ordinary state schools

C. can get used to the Army school education

D. discuss their education regularly with their father

About children and grown-ups，Captain James says that children____.

A. are generally poorly-adjusted      

B. are usually less experienced

C. can adapt much more easily             

D. can deal with changes quickly

NASA is moving ahead with plans to put a long-armed lander on Mars’ icy north pole to search for clues^① for water and possible signs of life.

The $386 million Phoenix Mars is planned to touch down in the Martian arctic in 2008. The stationary probe will use its robotic arm to dig into the icy land and pick up soil samples^② to analyze. In 2002, the Mars Odyssey orbiter spotted evidence of ice-rich soil near the arctic surface.

Scientists hope the Phoenix mission will find clues to the geologic history of water on the Red Planet and determine whether microbes^③ existed in the ice.

Phoenix will be the first mission of the Mars Scout program, a renewed, low-cost effort to study the Red Planet. “The Phoenix mission explores new territory in the northern plains of Mars analogous to the permafrost regions on Earth,” Peter Smith said.

True to its name, Phoenix rose from the ashes of previous^④ missions. The lander for Phoenix was built to fly as part of the 2001 Mars Surveyor program. But the program broke down after the well-known disappearance of the Mars Polar Lander in 1999. The Polar Lander lost contact during a landing attempt near the planet’s south pole after its rocket engine shut off prematurely, causing the spacecraft to fall about 130 feet to almost certain destruction.

The Phoenix probe had been in storage at a Lockheed Martin clean room in Denver before it was reused for its present mission. It will carry science instruments that were designed for the Mars Surveyor program including an improved panoramic camera and a trench-digging robotic arm. Phoenix will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in August 2007 and land on the planet nine months later.

Notes:

clue  n. 线索

sample  n. 标本，样品

microbe  n. 微生物

previous  adj. 先前的

The passage mainly tells readers that _________.

        A. clues of water will be found in Phoenix

        B. Phoenix will be sent to find clues of water on Mars

        C. August 2007 will see Phoenix lift off

        D. the Mars Scout program will be carried out

The underlined word “prematurely” (paragraph 5) means _________.

        A. on time     B. behind the time      C. out of work       D. ahead of time

According to the passage, we know Phoenix will land on Mars _________.

A. in May 2008            B. in August 2007   

C. in August 2008          D. in September 2008

According to the passage, the name “Phoenix” is after the meaning of _________.

        A. rebirth         B. death        C. energy        D. hope

After Phoenix lands on Mars, we can infer it will firstly _________.

        A. find soil samples and send them to the earth

        B. look for the icy land to dig for the soil samples

        C. take photos and send them to the earth

        D. find the remains of the Mars Polar Lander

She took up skating at age 85, made her first movie appearance at age 114, and held a concert in the neighborhood on her 121st birthday.
　　    When it comes to long life, Jeanne Calment is the world’s recordholder. She lived to the ripe old age of 122. So is 122 the upper limit to the human life span（寿命）? If scientists come up with some sort of pill or diet that would slow aging, could we possibly make it to 150－or beyond?
　　    Researchers don’t entirely agree on the answers. “Calment lived to 122, so it wouldn’t surprise me if someone alive today reaches 130 or 135, ”says Jerry Shay at the University of Texas.
　　    Steve Austad at the University of Texas agrees. “People can live much longer than we think, ”he says. “Experts used to say that humans couldn’t live past 110. When Calment blew past that age, they raised the number to 120. So why can’t we go higher? ”
　　    The trouble with guessing how old people can live to be is that it’s all just guessing. “Anyone can make up a number, ”says Rich Miller at the University of Michigan. “Usually the scientist who picks the highest number gets his name in Time magazine. ”
　　    Won’t new anti-aging techniques keep us alive for centuries? Any cure, says Miller, for aging would probably keep most of us kicking until about 120. Researchers are working on treatments that lengthen the life span of mice by 50 percent at most. So, if the average human life span is about 80 years, says Miller, “adding another 50 percent would get you to 120. ”
　　    So what can we conclude from this little disagreement among the researchers? That life span is flexible（有弹性的）, but there is a limit, says George Martin of the University of Washington. “We can get flies to live 50 percent longer, ”he says. “But a fly’s never going to live 150 years. ”Of course, if you became a new species （物种）, one that ages at a slower speed, that would be a different story, he adds.
　　    Does Martin really believe that humans could evolve （进化）their way to longer life? “It’s pretty cool to think about, ”he says with a smile.
【小题1】 What does the story of Jeanne Calment prove to us?

-- Was Martin sorry for what he' d done?

-- ___________. It was just like him!

      A. Never mind        B. All right       C. Not really                D. Not surprisingly