LONDON — Britain awoke on Easter Monday to a period of mourning for the Queen Mother, who died over the weekend after a life spanning a century of noisy and evident change. The 101-year-old royal matriarch died in her sleep last Saturday with Queen Elizabeth, her elder and only surviving daughter, at her bedside. For a woman who was one of the best-known figures in Britain for more than 80 years — from the era of tinted portraits on tin biscuit boxes and cigarette cards to the age of the Internet, the Queen Mother remained an enigmatic(不可思议的) and elusive(躲避的) figure.

She achieved such a respect through aeons(永世, 亿万年) of, first, fawning and, later, intrusive media fascination, by remaining almost entirely silent. Her private thoughts were never paraded(炫耀) in public. What the public saw was a charming and benign elderly lady, adept at winning the admiration of press photographers, whom she always favoured with a particular smile.

CHINA’s third unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou Ⅲ, landed safely in central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Monday afternoon, after orbiting the earth 108 times in slightly less than a week. The craft, which lifted off from Jiuquan in Gansu Province last Monday night, landed after successfully conducting a chain of flight and scientific experiments over a period of 162 hours.

A powerful earthquake jolted Taiwan, killing five construction workers, authorities(官方) said. Over 200 injuries ware reported across the island, mostly minor, as a result of Sunday’s 7.5-magnitude quake. The quake was centred off Hualien, 180 kilometres east of Taipei. It struck at 2:53 pm and lasted for nearly a minute.

1. Which of the following statements is true according to the news?

　　A. The Queen Mother died on Easter Monday alone.

　　B. The Queen Mother was an attractive person in her political life.

　　C. The British people felt sorry for the death of the Queen Mother.

　　D. The Queen Mother was suffering a lot when she was dying.

　　2. It can be inferred that _______.

　　A. the craft landed in central Inner Mongolia unexpectedly

　　B. it took the craft at least 2 hours to orbit the earth once

　　C. the Chinese scientists did a lot of experiments in space

　　D. China was successful in sending an unmanned spacecraft into space

3. The third news mainly talks about the _______ in Taiwan.

    A. political matters                         B. social problems

　　C. unexpected damage                     D. construction workers

   Many scientists are now exploring the idea of going to live on Mars. Some other scientists from the MASA AMES Center(美国宇航局) have already started the creation of a “Mars town” and many others are in fact already experimenting with it. Of course, these experiments are done on Earth itself but this “Mars town” has an environment practically like that of Mars.

  The astronauts working in these towns wear their space suit and also do everything they would really have to carry out if they ever go to Mars in the future.

   But Mars would be like Earth, a temporary（临时的） place for humans. When the Sun starts swallowing up(吞掉) the planets, Mars will disappear only hours after Earth. So Mars only seems to be the ideal place to spread the human beings. It is also a good location to send humans if ever there is a disaster on Earth. By saying disaster, I mean asteroids(小行星) hitting and things like that.

   If we humans do not want to disappear when Earth or Mars gets swallowed up, we will have to go and live beyond the solar system. But are there any planets outside our solar system prepared to support life? Astronomers’ answer is:

   “If Earth can support life, why can’t other planets do the same too? Astronomers have already discovered a Jupiter(木星)- like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, so why not an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star?

   To achieve this goal though, many other problems have to be taken into consideration. How do we transform(改造) a dusty planet like Mars into one more or less like our Earth? How should we go on? There is still a long way to go.

The “Mars town” mentioned in the passage is ___________

   A. a research base on Mars.

   B. an experimental lab built on Earth.

   C. a strange place on Mars .

   D. a town existing in scientists’ imagination

We can know from the passage that astronomers probably think ____________

   A. it is impossible to transport humans to other planets.

   B. there may be an Earth-like planet outside the solar system

   C. humans will move to the new-found Jupiter-like planet

   D. there’s no need for humans to move beyond the solar system.

Why would Mars only be a temporary(临时) place for humans?

   A. The conditions there would be too hard for the human beings

   B. There would be more disasters like asteroids hitting.

   C .It would disappear when Earth disappeared.

   D. It would be too hot to live on.

The underlined word “orbiting” in the fifth paragraph is closest in meaning to “________”

   A. moving around           B. getting close to

   C. passing by quickly        D. going through

Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

   A. Mars Town                           B. Living on Mars

   C. The Future of Earth                    D. Where to live in the Future

第二节：信息匹配（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）

请阅读下面应用文和相关信息，按照要求进行匹配，并在答题卡上将对应题号的相应选项字母涂黑。

首先，请阅读下列广告信息：

A. ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTER

Classes for beginners for 3 months.

Focus on grammar as well as writing and oral English.

3:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Small classes with maximum 8 students

Course fee: $300(10% discount for the first to enroll)

Tel: 22325445

B. HALIFAX PLAYHOUSE

Ring’s Cross Street, Halifax.

Oct. 10th –17th on Golden Pond by Emest Thompson.

This is a magical comedy about real people. A well-acted play for everyone.

Don’t miss it.

Performances:7:30 p.m.

Admission:$3.

Tel:3659 9988

C:LONDON COLLEGE OF ENGLISH

Classes for foreign students of all levels.

3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year course.

Focus on spoken language.

Open through all year from 8:00 a. m. to 5:00 p.m.

Small class with maximum 12 students.

Course fee for English for one year: $1,200

Discount at shorter period of study.

Tel: 22342381

D:EXHIBITIONS OF OIL PAINTINGS

Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Art

A combination of Eastern and Western Art

8:00 am to 5:00 p.m. from January 3th to 19th

Admission:$2 for adults, $1 for students

Tel:33569875

E: WESTERN ART SHOW

China National Art Museum

European modern art, Chinese art and African ancient art.

Open from 7:30 am to 4:00pm from January 6 th to 20 th

Admission: $3 for adults, $1.5 for middle school students.

Tel:25545569

F: GRAND THEATRE

Oxford Street, Leeds.

Restaurant and Café.

Sept. 1-19

Admission: Tues-Thurs. $2-6; Fri. & Sat. $4-8

Sue Townsend’s musical play.

Performances: Evenings 7:45. October 10-17, at 2:30 p.m. No Monday performance.

All kinds of drinks offered

Tel: 52011611

然后请阅读下列Wendy 等人的信息，并匹配各人所需要联系的电话号码：

56. Wendy, a student who is interested in comedy and performing, happens to be free on Oct. 12th and wants to relax herself by enjoying some performances, but she has no more than $4.

57 Carol happens to be free on October 15th and plans to enjoy some performances while having a cup of coffee.

58. Jenny,a student who is a major in art is interested in Italian art as well as Chinese ,will be  free after school at 4:30.

59.Tom will go to study in the USA for a master’s degree. He wants to have a full-time special training for several months to improve his oral English.

60.Mark,a worker of an export company,needs to improve his writing and oral English. He can only go to the training class after work every day.

56. Wendy            A. 22325445

57 .Carol                     B. 3659 9988

58. Jenny                        C. 22342381

59.Tom                    D. 33569875

60. Mark                     E. 25545569

F. 52011611

 

Most people, when they travel to space, would like to stay in orbit for a few days of more. And this stands to reason, if you’re paying $20,000 for your trip to orbit! Strain order for tourism to reach its full potential there’s going to be a need for orbital accommodation---or space hotels. What would a space hotel actually be like to visit? Hotels in orbit will offer the services you expect from a hotel------private rooms, meals, bars. But they’ll also offer two unique experiences: impressive views----of Earth and space---and the endless entertainment of living in zero gravity---including sports and other activities that make use of this.

The hotels themselves will vary greatly----from being quite simple in the early days to huge luxury structure at a later date. It’s actually surprising that as later as 1997, very few designs for space hotels were published. This is mainly because those who might be expected to design them haven’t expected launch costs to come down far enough to make them possible.

    Lots of people who’ve been to space have described vividly what it’s like to live in zero gravity. There are obviously all sort of possibilities for dancing, gymnastics, and zero-G sports. Luckily, you don’t need to sleep much living in zero gravity, so you’ll have plenty of time for relaxing by hanging out in a bar with a window looking down at the turning Earth below.

    Of course all good things have come to an end. Unfortunately, And so after a few days you’ll find yourself heading back enough you’ll be much more expert at exercising in zero gravity than you were when you arrived. You’ll be thinking how soon you can save up enough to get back up again---or maybe you should change jobs to get to work in an orbiting hotel.

When traveling in space, most people would like to stay in orbit for a few days because _______.

A. It is expensive to travel in space 

B. they would find the possible life in other star systems

C. they could enjoy the luxury of space hotels

D. they want to realise the full potential of tourism

Which of the following is a unique experience that space hotels will offer?

A. The gravitational pull                   B. The special views.

C. The relaxation in a bar                  D. The space walk.

Which of the following is not discussed in the passage?

A. When was the space traveling made possible?

B. What are the unique experiences that space hotels will offer?

C. Why were there not many published designs for space hotels?

D. How can the travelers enjoy themselves in space hotels?

This passage is mainly about ________.

A. traveling in space                     B. the ways of living in space hotels

C. zero gravity and space hotels            D. the description of space hotels

A Chinese rocket carrying a probe（探测器）destined（预定） for the moon has been sent into space.

A Long March 3C rocket with the Chang’e -2 probe took off from Xichang launch centre at about 11: 00 GMT.

The rocket will shoot the craft into the trans-lunar orbit（绕月轨道）,  after which the satellite is expected to reach the moon in about five days.  Chang’e -2 will be used to test key technologies and collect data for future landings.  China says it will send a rover（漫游者） on its next mission,  and it also has ambitions to put humans on the surface of the lunar body at some future date.  The Xinhua News Agency said Chang’e -2 would circle just 15 km (nine miles) above the rocky terrain（地带）in order to take photographs of possible landing locations.

It is China’s second lunar probe—the first was launched in 2007. The craft stayed in space for 16 months before being intentionally crashed onto the moon’s surface. China launched its first manned flight into low-earth orbit in 2003; and two more followed, with the most recent one in 2008.  So far, only three countries have managed to independently send humans into space: China, Russia and the US.

In 2008, a Chinese astronaut, fighter pilot Zhai Zhigang, performed a spacewalk—the first in China’s history. He stayed outside the Shenzhou-7 capsule for 15 minutes; the exercise was seen as the key to China’s ambition to build an orbiting station in the near future.

71. What’s Chang’e -2’s main task according to this passage?

A. Landing on the moon just as the first lunar probe.

B. Comparing with the first lunar probe.

C. Competing with Russia’s and the US’s space crafts.

D. Testing technologies and collecting data for future landings.

72. Which of the following about Chang’e -2 is TRUE?

A. Its travel to the moon lasts about five days.

B. It will put humans on the surface of the moon.

C. It travels with Long March 3C rocket all the way.

D. It will take photographs of the moon on the trans-lunar orbit.

73. China’s first lunar probe_______ .

A. was launched in 2008

B. landed on the moon safely at last

C. took Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang to the moon in 2007

D. accomplished its task in less than one and a half years in space

74. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. China Launches Moon Mission

B. Chang’e -2 Is More Advanced than Shenzhou-7

C. China’s Space Program Makes Great Progress

D. China Equals Russia and the US in Space Technologies

75. The underlined word“craft” in the third paragraph refers to_______.

A. Chang’e -1 probe

B. Chang’e -2 probe

C. a rover

D. the Shenzhou-7 capsule