The earth is the only planet that scientists are certain has life .What does the earth have that the other planets don’t ? For one thing , the earth has just the right temperature . As the third planet from the sun , the earth seems to be just the right distance away . The planets that are closer to the sun are so hot that their surfaces bake in the sun . The farthest planets are cold balls .

When the earth developed— which scientists believe may have happened about billions of years ago , many gases covered the earth . The gases caused the earth to be hot . But something wonderful happened . The temperature was just right for thick clouds to form . It rained very hard for a very long time . This gave the earth its oceans . Water made it possible for plants to grow . The plants created oxygen in the atmosphere . Oxygen is the gas that humans and animals breathe .

Only one other planet in the solar system seems to be something like the earth . That planet is Mars . Mars is smaller than the earth , and it is quite a bit cooler . But it is not too cold for humans . On some days , the temperatures are as cold as a winter day in the northern United States . If you wore a special spacesuit , you could walk around on Mars . You would have to bring your own air to breathe , though . The air on Mars is too thin to breathe . Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system . It is sixteen miles high . The highest volcano on the earth is five miles high . The most unexpected sight on Mars is dried-up river beds . Scientists believe that Mars was once much wetter that it is now . Does this mean there could have been living things on Mars ? Scientists are not sure , but there has been no sign so far .

1.It is the       on the earth that makes life possible .

A．temperature       B．water             C．oxygen           D．temperature , water and oxygen

2.The underlined phrase “ the third planet ” means       .

A．the sun           B．the earth          C．the moon         D．Mars

3.Which planet in the solar system is most like the earth ?

A．Mars .            B．Moon .            C．Sun .             D．Mars and Moon .

4.Which of the following is TRUE ?

A．The earth has a history of about 4 million years .

B．There is no air on Mars .

C．The largest volcano on Mars is over three times higher than the highest one on the earth

D．Scientists believe there are living things on Mars .

5.The best title for the passage should be        .

A．Living Things on Our Earth                 B．The Moon

C．Living Things on the Moon                 D．Mars Is Most Like the Earth

The earth is the only planet that scientists are certain has life .What does the earth have that the other planets don’t ? For one thing , the earth has just the right temperature . As the third planet from the sun , the earth seems to be just the right distance away . The planets that are closer to the sun are so hot that their surfaces bake in the sun . The farthest planets are cold balls .
When the earth developed— which scientists believe may have happened about billions of years ago , many gases covered the earth . The gases caused the earth to be hot . But something wonderful happened . The temperature was just right for thick clouds to form . It rained very hard for a very long time . This gave the earth its oceans . Water made it possible for plants to grow . The plants created oxygen in the atmosphere . Oxygen is the gas that humans and animals breathe .
Only one other planet in the solar system seems to be something like the earth . That planet is Mars . Mars is smaller than the earth , and it is quite a bit cooler . But it is not too cold for humans . On some days , the temperatures are as cold as a winter day in the northern United States . If you wore a special spacesuit , you could walk around on Mars . You would have to bring your own air to breathe , though . The air on Mars is too thin to breathe . Mars has the largest volcano in the solar system . It is sixteen miles high . The highest volcano on the earth is five miles high . The most unexpected sight on Mars is dried-up river beds . Scientists believe that Mars was once much wetter that it is now . Does this mean there could have been living things on Mars ? Scientists are not sure , but there has been no sign so far .
【小题1】It is the       on the earth that makes life possible .

●Ms Tan, you’ve referred to your new novel as your eighth book.

That’s because it took me six or seven attempts at a second novel before I started and completed this one.

●Why do you think you had so many false starts?

I would say that my reasons were wrong. I was trying to prove that I wasn’t just a mother-daughter storyteller, or I was trying to prove that I didn’t just have to write about things that were strictly Chinese or Chinese-American. Those were never the right reasons for writing those early stories. And I could never come up with other better reasons for continuing them.

●What kept you going on this book?

This book was different because it was based on my mother’s real life. The reason for writing it became more personal and emotional. After The Joy Luck Club came out, my mother was always explaining to people that she wasn’t any of the mothers in that book. And at one point she said to me, “Next book tells my true story.” And then she started telling me things I never knew before. She also told me many, many stories, because my mother doesn’t generalize(笼统地表达). The book really grew out of that.

●Have you ever visited China?

Yes. I’ve been there twice: about three years ago and then again last November, both times with my mother and my husband.

●Was it difficult to understand the Chinese-American dialect(方言) without sounding like a parody(拙劣的模仿)?

No, because it’s the language I’ve heard all my life from my mother. She speaks English as it’s direct translation from Chinese. But it’s more than that. Her language also has more imagery than English.

●Can you think of an example?

Somebody might say to me, “Don’t work so hard. You’ll kill yourself.” My mother will say to me，“Why do you press all your brains out on this page for someone else？” So it’s very vivid. That’s the way she talks.

●Have many readers told you that the Chinese mother in your book reminded them of the typical Jewish (有癖好的) mother?

Many people have told me that. I think the mother-daughter relationship is very intense(紧张) in both cases. Culturally there is an acceptance that mothers have the power to tell their children, especially their daughters, how to conduct their lives --- not simply up until the time they are 18, but for the rest of their lives. However, when children grow up in a different culture from their parents’，they tend to keep more secrets from their parents. The children think, “They just wouldn’t understand that I had to do this.” And that can really create a gap, and it can grow as the number of secrets grows.

1.Based on the questions in this interview, what do you think Ms Tan’ s profession is?

A．A journalist.        B．A story-writer.      C．An interviewer.     D．An interviewee.

2.What’ s TRUE about Tan’ s second book?

A．It’ s about her real life in America.

B．The name of the book is The Joy Luck Club.

C．It is the result of many times of carefull thought.

D．It includes many works of her mother.

3.Which question is NOT answered in the interview?

A．How does she think of her mother’ s language?

B．How many books does she plan to write?

C．When did she visit China?

D．How is generation gap created?

4.We can infer that________.

A．Tan’ s mother is a good storyteller

B．Tan plans to write another book about her mother

C．Tan plans to return to China

D．Tan’ s mother is hard to communicate with because of personality

5.The last paragraph mainly talks about________.

A．how to keep secrets from parents

B．how to deal with the mother-daughter relationship

C．how to conduct the lives

D．how the generation gap comes about

Steve Nash enjoys team success far more than personal success, and always wants to share the glory and the joy with teammates.

?? He is a self-effacing (不爱出风头的) Canadian, who grew up in hockey country. Today Steve Nash has to stand alone even if he doesn’t enjoy it. The Phoenix Sun’s point guard has to take ownership of a set of skills that sets him apart from every bigger, faster basketball player. He is considered the best basketball player in the game.

?? 31-year old Nash was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the NBA on May 8, 2005. “It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s been a long road for me and I really enjoy playing as a team, just trying to be a good teammate. That is the only way for me to highlight what I do as a basketball player.”

?? It is the first time a Canadian has won any individual NBA honor. Of the 50 winners of the MVP award, only six have been guards: Steve Nash, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, and Bob Cousy. “I’m happy for him getting the MVP, which makes us feel like we all got the MVP,” said Phoenix forward Shawn Marion.

?? He may be the only one who truly believes he can reach this level. “I always try to set goals for myself and have my own time frame to accomplish them and I never give up on anything,” he said. It is not as if Nash arrived at this point without countless hours of hard work.

?? His interests go far beyond sports and the NBA. His social conscience is such that he wore a T-shirt bearing an anti-war slogan at the NBA all-star weekend festivities in Philadelphia in 2002.

?? “A lot of great moments are when you win games with your teammates. There’s nothing like sharing something with someone else,” he said. “There is a pinnacle (顶点) of a player’s career individually. In many ways, the pinnacle of a player’s career really is defined by team wins.”

1.What does Steve Nash mean by saying the last two sentences?

A. A player’s success is decided by his / her individual efforts.

B. A player won’t succeed without a team’s support.

C. A player will succeed sooner or later.

D. A team always decides a player’s success.

2.Steve Nash feels happiest _______.

A. when he is named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA

B. when he is 30 years old

C. when he plays at the NBA all-star weekend festivities

D. when his team wins a game

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Nash is an American basketball player.

B. Nash is better at basketball than Magic Johnson.

C. Nash is the first Canadian winner of the MVP award.

D. Michael Jordan is the best of the six guards.

4. Which of the following is the main message that the passage wants to express?

A. Nash prefers team honor to personal honor.

B. Hard work will lead to the honor of the MVP of the NBA.

C. A Canadian can be an MVP of the NBA.

D. Setting goals is of importance to success.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska--The 2004 winner of Alaska’s famous 1,000-mile sled-dog race, the Iditarod, won again at age 53 to become the oldest champion in 2013, a year after his son became the youngest winner.

Mitch Seavey got his dogs to the finishing line first in 9 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes and 56 seconds. His son, Dallas Seavey, now 26, ended up ranking fourth, behind the older competitor, 43-year-old Aliy Zirkle, who followed four-time champion Jeff King, now 57.

Mitch Seavey, who lives in Seward, Alaska, operates a seasonal sled-dog touring business. The race was Mitch Seavey’s 20th Iditarod.

This year’s contest was marked by unusual conditions and unseasonable rain in the northern part of the trail, and conditions that Seavey said helped his team. “It seems like the tougher it is, the better we can do.”

He also thought highly of Zirkle, a New England immigrant（移民）who now lives in Two Rivers, Alaska. “She’s a great musher（赶狗拉雪橇的人）, and she’s going to win the Iditarod sometime, and probably more than once. We just had a little more energy, I think.” Zirkle, one of the most popular mushers, was greeted by shouts of  “Aliy, Ally” from the fans as she drove her dog team approaching the finishing line on Nome’s Front Street. “I am pretty happy to be here,” she said. “I was going for it.”

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is one of the few major U. S. sports events in which men and women compete on an equal footing. The name “Iditarod” dates from a local Athabascan term meaning “a far, distant place”. Youthful mushers in the race may have some physical advantages--they can do some things more easily. But more importantly, winning the race needs the experience in dog race.

The year’s event started on Saturday, March 2 with a ceremonial nm in Anchorage. Of the 66 mushers who started the race, 10 had dropped out of competition as of Tuesday night. For his victory, Mitch Seavey will take home $50,400 and a new truck.

1.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Mitch Seavey is the oldest competitor in the sled-dog race in 2013.

B. Mitch Seavey, who operates a touring business, is a New England immigrant.

C. Mitch Seavey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 2004 and 2013.

D. Mitch Seavey managed to help his son become the youngest winner in 2012.

2.On which day did Mitch Seavey probably win the champion in the 2013 Iditarod?

A. On Saturday, March 2.               B. On Monday, March 11.

C. On Saturday, March 9.               D. On Tuesday, March 13.

3. Who ranked the 2nd place in the 2013 Iditarod according to the passage?

A. Aliy Zirkle.     B. Dallas Seavey.

C. Mitch Seavey.     D. Jeff King.

4. According to the passage, we can learn that ________.

A. the sled-dog race is the most important sports event in the US

B. experience also has a major influence on the result of the race besides age

C. men and women can’t compete in the sled-dog race together at the same time

D. all the athletes in the sled-dog race are limited by age to win the sled-dog race