Directions: Complet the following passage by filling in each blank with one word that best fits the context.

When very small dinosaur bones were found in a Germany mine people thought they were from baby dinosaurs.   48  , scientist Martin Sander's work shows that they were probably fully grown and belong to the smallest giant dinosaur species ever found.

Growth marks on dinosaur bones are similar   49   growth rings on trees. The rings are far apart while the animal is young and growing quickly.  50  get closer as growth slows. "It is exactly these tight ring marks that we found in the fossil (化石) bones," says Sander. So the fossils must have been from adult animals. 

51  was this German dinosaur so much smaller than other giant dinosaurs, which grew up to 45 metres long and weighed as much as a thousand humans?

150 million years ago, most of Germany was underwater. Scientists think that  52  water levels rose, there was less and less land and food available. The dinosaur was forced to adapt and evolved into  53  smaller animal needing  54  space and food.

Since 1998, scientists have dug up more than 1,000 dinosaur fossils in the mine. It is one of the few places in the world  55  the bones and footprints of dinosaurs have been found together.

 

______put great pressure on the local government to tell the truthfulness of the tiger photo as soon as possible.

A．The great loss of lives in the mine	B．The human cases of bird flu
C．The customers’ complaints	D．The questions from people especially experts

 

International students in Christine Rhodes’ English class in Australia share their favorite places they have visited in Australia.

Canberra, the nicest city in Australia.   

Siggi Siebold from Germany

I went for a short holiday to Canberra because my son lives there. It’s the nicest city in Australia, a little bit similar to Cairns. There’re lots of big rivers and trees around the city.

The small city of Mount Isa

Indra Ekanayake from Malaysia

I came to Mount Isa six months ago. It’s a long way from Brisbane-about 2,000 km .It’s a small city, with a population of 21,000, but it has all the basic facilities(设施)such as a hospital, six schools and supermarkets. It’s a mining city. It’s hot and gets little rain. There’re two big lakes to keep the rainwater for drinking for the city.

Lake Moondarra and a mine

Ida Robb from Indonesia

In Mount Isa, there’s a dam called Lake Moondarra. On the weekend you can go there with your friends. People go fishing and even catch a crocodile. There’s a big mine in Mount Isa. Many people come to work in the mine and earn much money. It isn’t a beautiful green place, but many people love it.

My impression(印象)of Sydney

Namfon Pitaxsin from Thailand

The fist time I came to Australia, I was happy. I traveled to Sydney. Four million people live there ,and many are  Asians. I saw the harbor (港口)，Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House and I went to see the koalas and kangaroos in Taronga Park Zoo. After that I went to the Thai restaurants. There is a revolving (旋转的) restaurant, so you can eat and see the city.

1.Why did Siggi Siebold go to Canberra?

A．Because it’s the nicest city in Australia.

B．Because her son lives there

C．Because it is similar to her hometown

D．Because there’re lots of rivers

2.According to Indra Ekanayake, Mount Isa______

A．is a famous harbor in Ausralia

B．has a large population

C．probably doesn’t have enough drinking water

D．doesn’t have enough basic facilities

3.Where is Lake Moondarra?

A．In Canberra.       B．In Mount Isa.       C．In Brisbane.        D．In Sydney

4.The first time Namfon Pitaxsin went to Australia, she________

A．saw some special Australian animals

B．met more Americans than Asians

C．ate in a revolving restaurant

D．enjoyed the music in the Opera House

5.How many cities does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Two              B．Three            C．Four.             D．Five

 

BEIJING — The rescue operations at a coal mine accident have ended with 105 miners dead．The State Council has organized an investigation team to probe (调查) into what caused the disaster in the city of Linfen, North China’s Shanxi Province．Preliminary investigations show the illegal mining of an unauthorized seam, and the number of miners who had been sent down the shaft far exceeded its capacity．

This mine was found to have long disregarded the rules to steal state coal, and did not have a list of miners employed to check the number of miners missing after the accident．

      How did such a coal mine get all the necessary licenses for production? How did it pass the three safety inspections the local government organized last month?

In response to this disaster, the Shanxi governor promised to set up hotlines for people to report illegal coal mines and rewards as high as 100,000 yuan for tip-offs．

We appreciate the action this governor has taken to solving the coal mining problems, and we believe that the reporting scheme will help to stop the existence of illegal coal mines．

But at the same time we have reason to question how governments at various levels supervise these mines．

The sad fact that such a mine with serious safety problems could pass three consecutive local government safety inspections in a month is enough to tell us how ineffective the safety inspections were．

What if these inspections were just a formality? What if the inspectors were bribed by the mine owners to turn a blind eye to the safety dangers? We can well imagine what would happen if reports about mine problems were handled by such officials．

So a thorough probe must find out who are responsible for the death of so many miners．A real safety inspection and management system must be established to guarantee that safety dangers will be removed．

1.What is NOT one of the causes of this coal mine accident?

A．The workers didn’t operate properly．

B．The mine didn’t obey the rules to mine for coal．

C．A lot more miners than allowed were working under the mine．

D．The safety inspections were ineffective．

2.According to the writer, who should be further investigated?

A．Mine owners and miners．

B．Miners’ families and mine staff．

C．Government officials and safety inspectors．

D．The Shanxi governor and miners．

3.What can we infer from the passage?

A．More than 105 miners died in the disaster．

B．Some other coal mines like this one exist in Shanxi province．

C．Safety inspectors just turned a blind eye to hidden dangers．

D．The three inspections were only a formality．

4.What does the underlined word “tip-offs” probably mean in Paragraph 4?

A．Some warnings．

B．Some money for one’s service．

C．Some secret information．

D．Some pieces of advice．