NASA is moving ahead with plans to put a long-armed lander on Mars’ icy north pole to search for clues^①for 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^②to 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^③existed 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^④missions. 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:
①    clue  n. 线索
②    sample  n. 标本，样品
③    microbe  n. 微生物
④    previous  adj. 先前的

1. 1.

   The passage mainly tells readers that _________.

   1. A.
      clues of water will be found in Phoenix
   2. B.
      Phoenix will be sent to find clues of water on Mars
   3. C.
      August 2007 will see Phoenix lift off
   4. D.
      the Mars Scout program will be carried out
2. 2.

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

   1. A.
      on time
   2. B.
      behind the time
   3. C.
      out of work
   4. D.
      ahead of time
3. 3.

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

   1. A.
      in May 2008
   2. B.
      in August 2007
   3. C.
      in August 2008
   4. D.
      in September 2008
4. 4.

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

   1. A.
      rebirth
   2. B.
      death
   3. C.
      energy
   4. D.
      hope
5. 5.

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

   1. A.
      find soil samples and send them to the earth
   2. B.
      look for the icy land to dig for the soil samples
   3. C.
      take photos and send them to the earth
   4. D.
      find the remains of the Mars Polar Lander

书面表达（满分25分）

假设你班最近举行了一次班会，讨论怎样使英语学习变成一件快乐的事。请你根据下表所提示的信息，为某英语网站写一篇短文，谈谈你们的讨论情况并提出你的建议。

注意：

1．对所给要点逐一陈述，适当发挥，不要简单翻译。

    2．词数150左右。开头已经写好，不计入总词数。

3．作文中不得提及考生所在学校和本人姓名。

4．参考词汇：interact adj.互动的

Recently we had a discussion on how to make learning English relaxing and fun. _________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

我班就“有些学生在学校贴吧上发表对老师不满的言语”一事是否妥当进行讨论。下面是讨论的结果。请你以 “We should express opinions on our teachers in a right way” 为主题,写一篇报道介绍这次讨论的情况以及你的观点。　

注意：1.词数120左右；   

2.参考词汇：贴吧 post bar,  卑鄙的mean(adj.) ,  难堪的embarrassed (adj.)      

背地里behind one’s back/privately

The dams① aimed at saving Venice from the waves have been backed greatly. After eight years of argument, it plans to build 79 gates across three channels connecting the lagoon around Venice with the Adriatic Sea. The gates would be open most of the time but would be closed if there is a danger to the city.

The project, though, has run into fears that it could worsen Venice’s problems. The city throws waste into the lagoon, and environmentalists fear the dams will cause this pollution to become worse if there is no tide to wash it out regularly. But if there is a tide, the flow can wash away about 550 million cubic meters of the lagoon in a single day, which means that by leaving the dam open for only a few hours, the waste should be cleaned out.

Another piece of good news is that British scientists are confident that the dams will be able to face an expected rise in sea levels caused by global warming. The gates are designed to stand a 22-centimetre rise in sea levels, but many scientists expect a global rise in sea levels of 31cm by 2100.

However, Trevor Davies and Isabel Trigo from University of East Anglia believe the dams are unlikely to broken. Climate change will weaken the local storms in the Adriatic that are the main cause of flood risk. Floodwaters are also a seasonal danger in Venice, usually because of a combination of spring tides and strong winds.

Venice, which rests on wooden piles driven into boggy③ ground, has been sinking for centuries, worsening the encroachment by the sea.

Notes:

① dam  n.  大坝

② lagoon  n.  泻湖

③ boggy  adj.  泥泞的

④ encroachment  n.  蚕食

Choose the best answers according to the above:

1. Which of the following is the main idea of the text?

  A. Venice will not disappear into the sea.

  B. Dams are designed to protect Venice.

  C. Venice are facing dangers from the tides.

  D. Global warming makes Venice worse and worse.

2. If the project comes into use, the waste in the lagoon ______.

  A. will be washed away by the tides               B. will be sent to the higher places

  C. will be carried away by workers                D. will have to be reused by humans

3. According to the idea of Trevor Davies, the dams won’t be broken because ______.

  A. the dams are higher than the buildings in Venice

  B. there will be no tides or floods in the future

  C. the climate all over the world will soon be cold

  D. the storms in the Adriatic will be weaker in the future

4. According to the text, we can infer that Venice ______.

  A. has been sinking for hundreds of years

B. may suffer from spring tides and strong winds

  C. will be under the sea sooner or later

  D. will be a city with dams around except 78 gates

我班就“有些学生在学校贴吧上发表对老师不满的言语”一事是否妥当进行讨论。下面是讨论的结果。请你以 “We should express opinions on our teachers in a right way” 为主题,写一篇报道介绍这次讨论的情况以及你的观点。