Now satellites are helping to forecast (预报) the weather. They are in space, and they can reach any part
of the world. The satellites take pictures of the atmosphere (大气), because this is where the weather forms
(形成). They send these pictures to the weather stations. So meteorologists (气象学家) can see the
weather of any part of the world. From the pictures, the scientists can often say how the weather will change.
      Today, nearly five hundred weather stations in sixty countries receive satellite pictures. When they receive
new pictures, the meteorologists compare (比较) them with earlier ones. Perhaps they may find that the clouds
have changed during the last few hours. This may mean that the weather on the ground may soon change, too.
In their next weather forecast, the meteorologists can say this.
      So the weather satellites are a great help to the meteorologists. Before satellites were invented, the scientists
could forecast the weather for about 24 or 48 hours. Now they can make good forecasts for three or five days.
Soon, perhaps, they may be able to forecast the weather for a week or more ahead (提前).

1. Satellites travel _______.

A. in space
B. in the atmosphere
C. above the ground
D. above space

2. Why do we use the weather satellites to take pictures of the atmosphere? Because _______.

A. the weather satellites can do it easily
B. clouds form there
C. the weather forms there
D. the pictures can forecast the weather

3. Meteorologists forecast the weather _______.

A. when they have received satellite pictures
B. after they have compared new satellite pictures with earlier ones
C. before they received satellite pictures
D. during they study satellite pictures

4. Maybe we'll soon be able to forecast the weather for _______.

A. one day
B. two days
C. five days
D. seven days or even longer

5. The main (主要的) idea of this passage is that satellites are now used in _______.

A. taking pictures of the atmosphere
B. receiving pictures of the atmosphere
C. doing other work in many ways
D. weather forecasting

      Snow fell on the mountain. It snowed and snowed. The snow did not melt (融化). It became deep and
heavy. The snow on the bottom pressed (挤压) together, it became ice.
      The ice was very wide and thick. It began to move down the mountain. It was like a river of ice. It was a
glacier (冰河).
      Sometimes the glacier moved only a few inches (英寸) each day. As it moved, it took rocks and dirt with it.
It changed the land. In some places, it left hills. In some places, when the glacier melted, it made rivers and
lakes.
      A million years ago, there were many big glaciers. Glaciers covered many parts of the world. The glaciers
changed the land.
      Glaciers are still at work today. A glacier in the north of Canada is cutting a new path (路) down the side of
a mountain. This glacier will change the land, too.

1. The snow that fell on the mountain               .

A. became snowman
B. melted
C. became ice
D. turned to rain

2. The word in the story that means a river of ice is ________.
3. The story says, "The snow did not melt. It became deep and heavy". The word "it" means              .

4. Which of the following does this story lead you to believe?

A. There are not as many glaciers as there used to be
B. Glaciers do not change the land as they move over it.
C. Glaciers are found only in warm places.

5. How fast did the glacier move? (Which sentence is exactly like the one in your book?)

A. Sometimes the glacier moved only once a year.
B. Sometimes the glacier moved over ten miles each day.
C. Sometimes the glacier moved only a few inches each day.

6. The main idea of the whole story is that _______.

A. snow is heavy
B. the high land never changes
C. glaciers changed the land

      Big schoolbags have been a serious problem for students   1   a long time. Maybe your schoolbags is too 
  2   to carry, and it troubles you a lot when you want to find a book out to read. Now an e-textbook will   3   
you. 
        4   is said that e-textbooks are going to be used in Chinese middle schools. An e-textbook , in fact, is a
small computer. It is much lighter than a usual schoolbag and easy to carry.   5   it is as small as a book, it can
hold all the materials. The students can read the text page by page   6   the screen,   7   notes with the pointer
(屏写笔). And even "hand in" their   8   to their teachers by sending-emails.
      Some people say e-textbooks are good, but some say they may be   9   for the students' eyes.   10   do you
think of it?
1.                 2.                 3.                   4.                 5.                
6.                 7.                 8.                   9.                 10.             

    November 24, 1859 was a special day in London. On the day, many Londoners rushed to a bookstore
to buy a book that was just published. The first printing of 1,250 copies sold out on the first day.
    The popular book was The origin of Species (《物种起源》) by British naturalist Charles Darwin
(1809-1882). In the book, Darwin argued that different forms of life could change over time because of
natural selection. This means that only those who are best suited to their environment will live and reproduce.
Darwin supported his arguments with examples he found during his around-the-world trip in the 1830s.
    The book laid the foundation of modern biology. It changed how other scientists understood the
appearance of life on Earth.
    A hundred and fifty years later, Darwin's theory (理论) of natural selection still has great influence in
the world of science. But some people have a question: since medicine and modern life have made people
healthier, are we still evolving (进化) by natural selection?
    The answer is yes, according to Stephen Sterns and his team of Yale University researchers. They did
a study on 2,238 women in the US. They found that shorter, heavier women have more children then
thinner, taller ones. This trend (趋势) runs among their female children and grandchildren. So if this
continues, women in 400 years will be about 2cm shorter and a kilo heavier.
    Sterns' findings are supported by other scientists. For example, John Hawks at the University of
Wisconsin, US and his team believe they have found nearly 2,000 gene variations (基因变异) in modern
humans. Those variations allow people to drink milk, fight disease and improve brain development.

1. Was The origin of Species a popular book? 
                                                                                                          
2. When was the book published?
                                                                                                          
3. What does natural selection mean?
                                                                                                          
4. Why does the writer introduce Sterns' findings in the passage?
                                                                                                          
5. Why is Darwin's theory of natural selection important? 
                                                                                                          

     HAVE you ever thought of being able to fly around the world in a few hours though it is about 40,000
kilometers? Now, maybe you can. Last Saturday, the American X-43A airplane made its first flight. It
reached a speed of 8,000 kilometers an hour. This makes it the fastest plane in the world. X-43A is only
three to four meters long,but it's very heavy: it weights 1,270 kilos.
     HOW old cart an insect be? 400 million years! Last Wednesday, scientists found the world's oldest insect
fossil (化石) in Britain. The fossil shows that the body of the insect was as big as a piece of rice and had
wings (翅膀). In the past, people thought the earliest insect was 380 million years old.
    THERE will be a new "star" in the sky soon. China plans to send a satellite (卫星) into space by September
2009. It will stay in space for one year. It will go around the moon and take pictures. It must be very
expensive, right? That's for sure-1.4 billion yuan! 
    Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice (杂交水稻), won the World Food Prize on Monday. Yuan
developed the world's first popular and widely grown hybrid rice. Hybrid rice plants can make more rice
than the ones people grew before.

1.If the X-43A goes round the earth, it will take about ______ hours to finish the trip.

A.3
B.5
C.8
D.12

2.The newly-found insect fossil showed that the earliest insect was ______ years older than believed.

A.10 million
B.400 million
C.20 million
D.380 million

3.Which of the following about the new star is NOT true?

A.It will go into space by September 2008.
B.It will stay in space for twelve months.
C.It costs a lot.
D.It will go around the moon.

4.Yuan Longping won the World's Food Prize because he ______.

A.is the father of his children.
B.likes to eat hybrid rice.
C.developed the world's first popular and widely grown hybrid rice.
D.grows more rice than others.

5.The above paragraphs are taken from ______.

A.a story
B.an advertisement
C.an explaining writing
D.a newspaper

      Some people think that all wild animals are dangerous. In fact, few of them will eat a man if left alone. If
you meet a lion, I am sure you will run away. But even a lion will avoid (避免) a man if it is not very hungry.
Lions only kill and eat men when they have grown too old to catch their food, such as sheep and other animals.
Some animals get frightened when they only smell a man. Some of them stand and look at a man for a little while
before they run away. Others take no notice at all but quietly walk in another direction (方向). Wild animals only
eat a man when they are afraid that he tries to kill their young ones, or when they are shot at and made angry.

1. If you meet a lion which is not very hungry, ______.

A: it will become your friend quickly
B: it will try to catch you
C: it will leave you
D: you must shoot it

2. Very old wild animals are dangerous to men because ______.

A: they like to eat men
B: they can't avoid men
C: they can't catch other small animals
D: they are too old to catch men

3. Wild animals usually kill and eat _____.

A: sheep and other small animals
B: moving lions
C: humans
D: only women and children

4. Wild animals will catch and eat a man if he ______.

A: tries to run away
B: makes them angry
C: doesn't kill their young ones
D: leaves them alone

5. In the writer's eyes _______.

A: wild animals are always dangerous
B: young wild animals are dangerous
C: wild animals only eat sheep
D: wild animals are not always dangerous

      Now cities are full of cars. Some families even have two or more cars. Parking is a great problem, and so
is the traffic in the cities. Something will have to be done to change it.
      What will the cars of tomorrow be like?
      Little car may some day take the place of today's big cars. If everyone drives little cars in the future, there
will be less pollution in the air. There will also be more space for parking cars in cities, and the streets will be
less crowded. Three little cars can fit in the space now needed for one car of the usual size. 
     The little cars will cost much less to own and to drive. Driving will be safe, too. What is more, these little
cars can run about 65 kilometers per hour.
      Little cars of the future will be fine for getting around a city, but they will not be useful for long trips. If big
cars are still used along with the small ones, two sets of roads will be needed in the future. Some roads will be
used for the big, fast cars and other roads will be needed for the slower, smaller ones.

1. _______ is the big problem for those people who have cars.

A. Money
B. Parking
C. Driver
D. Waiting

2. Little cars in the futufe will bring _______ pollution in the air.

A. more
B. much
C. less
D. no

3. The little car's size may be _______ today's car's size.

A. one third of
B. two thirds of
C. as big as
D. as small as

4. People can _______ money with using the little cars.

A. spent
B. cost
C. take
D. save

5. The big cars are _______ the little cars for long trips.

A. as useful as
B. not so useful as
C. more useful than
D. less useful than