It was early morning. Peter Corbett helped Mark Wellman out of his wheelchair and onto the ground. They stood before El Captain, a huge rock almost 1.2 kilometers high. Mark had long dreamed to climb El Captain when he was a child. At the age of twenty—one, he had fallen while climbing a mountain, losing his legs. But he never lost his love for life.

　　Mark knew he couldn’t finish the climb alone, but his friend Peter would be there to lend a helping hand. They thought it would take them seven days to reach the top. Now Peter climbed about 30 meters up and hit a piton(岩钉）into the rock. Tying one end of a 50—meter rope to the piton, he let the other end of the rope fall down. Mark caught the rope and tied it to his belt(腰带). He next readied above his bead and tied a T—bar(丁字铁）to the rope. Mark took a deep breath, pushed the T-bar up almost as far as his arms could reach, and began the first pull-up. High above，Peter let out a cheer, “You’re on your way.”

　　For the first four days the two men progressed upward without accident. But on the fifth day，a very strong wind began to blow, making it hard for Mark to hold on to his rope. But Mark kept on pushing up the T-bar and pulling himself up.

　　It took them one more day than they had expected. But as the two heads appeared, the group of people waiting on the top went wild with joy.

　　根据材料内容选择最佳答案。

46.The underlined word “readied” in the second paragraph means______.

       A.抵达      B.够到    C.完成    D.伸出

47.While climbing, Mark       _____.

　　       A.carried the T-bar on his back and stepped upward

　　   B.pushed up the T-bar and pulled himself up

　　   C.sat in his wheelchair and pushed himself up

　　   D.held on to the rope drawn up by his friend

48.The correct order of the steps before Mark’s climbing is______.

　　　a. push up the T-bar   b. tie the rope to his belt

　　　c. hit the piton into the rock      d. tie the T-bar to the rope

　　　e. tie the rope to the piton

  A. c-e-b-d-a       B. e-c-a-b-d C. e-b-d-c-a D. b-d-e-c-a

49.Which of the following is TRUE of Mark Wellman?

　　A.He realized his dream without anyone helping him.

　　B.He was badly injured when he climbed El Captain.

　　C.He climbed up the rock about 170 meters in height each day.

　　D.He had dreamed to climb up El Captain for a long time.

50.This passage mainly shows us that______.

　　A.a good beginning is half done     B. it is never too old to learn

　　C.doing is better than saying  D. where there is a will, there is a way

When you look up into the sky at night, have you ever felt that your eyes are playing tricks on (捉弄) you? It seems that the stars are moving all the time.
Actually, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. This twinkling effect is called scintillation (交光). Scintillation happens because of air movements in the earth’s atmosphere (大气). Light is “bent (弯曲的)” when it travels through different parts of the earth’s atmosphere. As the air in the earth’s atmosphere is moving all the time, the light from the stars looks as if it is moving too.
The same thing also happens to things on the ground. On a very hot and shiny day, if you look at the road, the image in the distance is not clear and things move slightly. You can also see the same effect if you drop a rock into water. The rock appears a little unclear under the moving water.
This twinkling effect causes a lot of problems for astronomers (天文学家) since they cannot observe the stars clearly. A telescope (望远镜) was sent into space so that the air movements in the atmosphere could be avoided (避免). It took a long time to build the space telescope but finally in 1990, a huge space telescope called the Hubble Space Telescope was successfully sent into space. Since then, astronomers have many important observations that have helped people understand space better.
根据短文内容，选择最佳选项。 （10分）
【小题1】What happens to the light from the stars we see when the air in the earth’s atmosphere is moving?

阅读短文，根据意思，判断所给句子的正误。正确的写T，错误的写F。

“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly way that people in the U.S.A greet（问候） each other. But “How are you?” is also a very unusual（不寻常的） question. It’s a question that often doesn’t need an answer. The person who asks“ How are you?” hopes to hear the answer “Fine”, even if the person’s friend isn’t fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question and “Fine” isn’t really an answer. They are simply （只）other ways of saying “Hello” or “Hi”.

　　Sometimes, people also don’t say exactly（确切） what they mean. For example, when someone asks “Do you agree?”, the other person might think, “No, I disagree. I think you’re wrong...”But it isn’t very polite to disagree so strongly（强烈地）, so the other person might say “I’m not sure.” It’s a nicer way to say that you don’t agree with someone.

　　People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people.For example, many talks on the phone finish when one person say “I’ve to go now.” Often, the person who wants to hang up（挂）says: “Someone’s at the door.” “Something is burning (烧)on the stove（炉）.” The excuses（借口） might be real（真的）, or not. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn’t want to talk any more, but it isn’t polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn’t hurt （伤）the other person.

　　Whether they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, of finishing a talk, people don’t say exactly that they are thinking. It’s an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it’s part of the game of language.

1.“How are you?” is another way of saying "Hello." or" Hi."

2.It is polite to say" No. I disagree. I think you are wrong, "if you don’t agree with others.

3.When someone says "I have to go now "On the phone，it means he wants to go on talking.

4."Someone is at the door." may be an excuse for finishing a talk.

5.Sometimes people don't say exactly what they are thinking about just because they try to be nice to each other.