Scientists are worried that an asteroid(小行星) will possibly hit the earth in 2036. If scientists are right, planet earth is 24 years away from a major disaster.

Scientists have been monitoring the progress of a 390-metre-wide asteroid ever since it was discovered last June. They have announced that it could hit the earth, causing huge damage, in 2036.

NASA estimates that the impact from the asteroid named after Apophis and ancient Egyptian demon(魔鬼) would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear explosion over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometers would be directly affected by the explosion. The whole planet would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere.

This is the worst possible scenario(情景) of any asteroid in recorded history.

Having more than 20 years’ warning of possible impact might seem plenty of time. But scientists insist that there is actually very little time left to decide.

Luckily, however, they aren’t short on ideas for deflecting the asteroid. The favored method is also probably the easiest—throwing a spacecraft at the asteroid to change its direction. The European Space Agency plans to test this in the next decade.

One idea that seems to have no support from astronomers is the use of explosive, although this sounds more likely to the public or Hollywood producer.

At present, scientists are trying to make a better estimate of how much time we have, through more observations.

In spring of next year, there will be another chance for radar observation of Apophis. This will help astronomers calculate the orbits of the asteroid more accurately.

If, at that stage, they can’t rule out an impact with the earth in 2036, the next chance to make better observations will not be until 2016, then 2029.

“If we wait until 2029 and the worst—case scenario turns out to be true, it would seem unlikely that we’d be able to do anything about 2036,” warns Prof Fitzsimmons.

1.What does the underlined word “deflecting” most probably mean?

2.According to the scientists’ observation, _______.

3.What is the impact from Apophis if it hits the earth?

4.It can be inferred from the text that _____.

阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。

注意：每个空格只填一个单词。

It’s every student’s dream to do well in the national college entrance examination and enter a good university. In the eyes of students and parents, a good university should have a high ranking, and the employment rate of its graduates should be high. But be careful! The employment rate they tell you might not always be true.

Recently, people created a Chinese phrase “bei jiuye”, which has become popular on the Internet almost overnight across China. The word “bei” has a grammatical use in Chinese: it has a function similar to the passive voice in English. But now people often use it to express their doubts about something. Here, the phrase “bei jiuye” has the literal meaning of “to be hired”, but people understand that it really means “to be hired without one’s knowledge” or “be hired for jobs that may not exist at all”.

The story of “bei jiuye” goes like this. Zhao Dongdong, a graduate of a university in Shanxi province, was surprised to find that he got a job from a company he never applied to, which he wasn’t even sure was a real place. On his last day of graduation ceremonies, he was surprised to come across the employment contract.

“God! At that time, I had not landed a job yet, but they gave me an employment contract! I wondered who on earth signed the contract with the company.” When Zhao made a phone call to the company to check it out, no one answered. He was not the only one in his college who was “hired” for a job that did not exist. One of his classmates signed a contract with a company called Xi’an Beilin Industrial Corporation, which could not be found on the Internet either. In the end, it turned out that the college had faked the contract to make it seem like the employment rate for new graduates was higher than that. By doing this, the college could build up a “good” reputation that could help it attract new students. “Bei jiuye” is just one of many hot “bei” words on the Internet. See some of them in “Bonus”. The use of “bei” is a satirical (讽刺的) way for the public to express its helplessness and criticize abuses of power, some people say. People also use “bei” words to bring attention to social problems, hoping they will be noticed by authorities.

书面表达（满分25分）

对每个人而言，学习是非常重要的。请你以Being a Successful Learner为题，根据下表的提示，写一篇短文。词数：120左右。

注意：短文的开头已写，不计入总数。

Being a Successful Learner

Study is very important for every individual because we                

He wrote ________ song, which turned out to be rather popular with _______ young.

    A. a; a               B. a; the             C. the; a           D. the; the 

Much to our grief, the victims injured or killed in the terrible earthquake have reached _______ 10,000.

A. as many as         B. as far as           C. as much as       D. as long as

Only when I made it to the train station _______ that I had left my ticket at home.

    A. have I realized      B. did I realize        C. had I realized     D. would I realize

After the long journey, the Whites returned home, ___________.

A. safely but tired                          B. safe but tired         

C. safe and tiring                           D. safely and tiring

The lecture that Mr Chen made this morning gave a strong ___________ on the students.

    A. expression          B. expectation         C. impression       D. reputation

By making friends with the native speakers, one can _________ a lot of their language.

    A. take up             B. set up             C. pick up          D. put up

Mr Smith was so angry at all ________ Robert was doing _________ he walked out angrily.

A. that; what           B. that; that           C. which; which     D. what; that