In the fall of 1992, when Vicki was ten, she and her father, Jim, happened to notice an advertisement for a new flight school. Her father suggested to her that since she wanted to be an astronaut, she might want to take a flying lesson, just see if she liked it. She was excited.
　　Vicki continued with her flying lessons. She was so brave and devoted that she impressed her teacher and soon passed ground school with straight—A’s. She would have passed her pilot exam, too, if she had been old enough. Instead, she’ll have to wait until she is 16 to get her pilot’s license.
　　Vicki made her first record-breaking flight in September 1993, at the age of 11. She flew a small plane across the United States, from Augusta to California. Although by law she had to have a licensed pilot at her side, he never touched the controls or helped her in any way. She was the youngest woman pilot to fly across the U.S. and the youngest pilot ever to fly across the U.S. from East to West. That direction is considered the most difficult flight because it means flying against the wind. And in fact on part of her flight she had to fight her way through strong headwinds. Because she was flying a small plane and FAA rules limited her to flying no more than eight hours each day, the trip took several days with eight stops. Her parents followed along on commercial flights, meeting her at each stop.
　　40. Which of the following is TRUE?
　　A. Jim took Vicki to the flight school.
　　B. Vicki asked her father to send her to the flight school.
　　C. Jim advised Vicki to take the flying lessons.
　　D. Vicki didn’t like the flight school.

　　41. What made Vicki’s first record-breaking flight difficult?
　　A. The strong winds.　　 B. Her age.　　 C. Her plane.　　 D.Her experience.

　　42. Vicki was the youngest pilot _____.
　　A. in history in America
　　B. to fly across the U.S. alone
　　C. to fly across the U.S. from East to West
　　D. to break the first flight record in the world

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Chinese team first lands on Antarctic icecap peak (南极冰盖最高点)

A 12-man Chinese team landed on the Antarctic icecap peak on January 18. They are the first people to reach the peak of Dome A. It is 4,039 meters above sea level (海拔).

The team built a station there to study the changes of the weather, get ice samples (标本) from 150 meters to 200 meters below, and do other studies. So far, the team has got nearly 100-meter long ice samples from a place about 300 meters under the icecap peak.

It is the first time that people have been able to get samples from the icecap peak in Antarctica and it is very important for people to study the weather changes and environmental changes in this area.

The Chinese scientists have also built a weather study system at the peak. The system can send out information about temperature, how strong the wind is, and many other things about the weather.

The Antarctic icecap makes up 70% of the earth's freshwater. By studying Dome A, scientists can get the lowest temperature of the earth and other information about the world's weather changes. We can't get this information from other places on the earth because Dome A is the best place for this kind of studies. So it is very important to land on the peak of Dome A.

1. How many Chinese first landed on the Antarctic icecap peak?

A.18. 　　　　   B.12. 　　　　     C.150. 　　　　   D.200.

2. The team has got about 100-meter long ice samples _     __.

A. from 150 meters to 200 meters below  B. from a place about 300 meters below

C. from 200 meters to 250 meters below  D. from a place about 150 meters below

3. They built a weather study system to get _    __.

A. the earth's freshwater                              B. information about the weather

C. ice samples from the peak                     D. the news about other countries

4. Choose thy right order (顺序) according to this passage.

① They built a station to study the changes of the weather.

　    ② A Chinese team landed on the Antarctic icecap peak.

③ The Chinese scientists built a weather study system.

　    ④ They got ice samples from the icecap peak.

　   A.②①④③ 　             B.②①③④ 　　　      C.③②①④ 　　        D.②③④①

6. From this passage, we can infer (推断): After the Chinese team landed on the Antarctic icecap peak, _      __.  

　　A. we can go there for holidays

　　B. the world's weather must be better and better

C. the peak will be the best place for people to live in

D. our country will do better in the world's weather research

A young father was visiting an old neighbor. They were standing in the old man’s garden, and talking about children. The young man said,“How strict should parents be with their children?”
　  The old man pointed to（指着）a string (细绳) between a big strong tree and a thin young one.
　 “Please untie (解开) that string.” said the old man. “But first pull the string tight so that（以便于）the young tree is straight again.” The young man did so. He untied the string and only found that the young tree bent（弯）over to one side.
　 Then the old man said,“There, it is the same with children. You must be strict with them. But sometimes you must untie the string to see how they are getting on. If they are not yet able to stand alone，you must tie the string tight again. But when you find that they are ready to stand alone，you can take the string away.”
【小题1】The story is about ____________.
　　    A. how to take care of young trees　   
B. how strict parents should be with their children
C. how the young father should get on with his old neighbor
【小题2】 The young man untied the string ________________.
　　    A. in order to throw it away  　　
B. so that both of the trees wouldn’t grow straight
　　    C. and found that the young tree bent over to one side
【小题3】When could the string be taken away?
　　    A. When the old man left.　  　　
B. When the young man untied it next time.
　   　C. When the young tree grew strong enough.
【小题4】 At last the old man told the young man ________________.
　　    A. that he should be strict with his children if they could not 
stand alone
　　    B. that he should always be strict with his children
　　    C. that he should be hard on his children
【小题5】We learn that the big strong tree and the thin young one are like _________.
A. the young father and the old neighbor   　　
B. parents and their children
　　     C. the old neighbor and the children of young father