A technique that controls immediate gas explosions by spraying them with large droplets of water is being tested by scientists at the University of Wales, United Kingdom．Instead of using the traditional fine water sprays when a gas leak is detected, the researchers have discovered that large droplets help to draw in some of the force of any explosion and provide a better way of controlling fire．

The research is based on studies made of the Piper Alpha oil rig （油井） explosion that occurred in the North Sea nine years ago killing 167 workers．The Welsh team found that by covering the gas-leak area with water droplets, the explosion and its effect can be greatly reduced．

Dr Gerand Thomas, a good lecturer in physics at the university’s Center for Explosion Studies, said that it was impossible to deal with gas explosions in the same way as fires because the whole event may only last a quarter of a second and normal water sprays do not have time to be effective．

Using the droplets of water to hold explosions resulted in the water being turned into a mist that allows some force of the explosion to be reduced．The mist slows down the combustion （燃烧） process and can stop a large amount of the gas igniting （点火,燃烧）, thus greatly reducing damage by limiting pressure development．With such a system, the operator has to decide at what point after a gas leak to activate the sprays．

The Center for Explosion Studies is the first of its kind in the UK and has been purposely-built for the study and implication of industrial explosions on land and sea．Research is developed to the causes of accidental explosions and they might be prevented．Full-sized imitative buildings can be built at the center where explosions and fires are created to test preventative equipment using sensors to monitor their efficiency．

Another area that the Welsh researchers have been looking at is how materials respond to explosions．The center also carries out research requested by individual customers．

Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

     A．Piper Alpha Oil Rig Explosion

     B．Large Droplets of Water

     C．A New Way of Controlling Gas Explosions

     D．The center for Explosion Studies

The research finds that _____ in holding immediate explosion．

     A．small water sprays are better than large droplets of water

     B．small water sprays are not as good as large droplets of water

     C．both small water sprays and large droplets of water are good

     D．neither small water sprays nor large droplets of water is good

Dr Geraint Thomas implies that ______．

     A．normal water sprays can put out fire effectively

     B．gas explosions break out more quickly than fires

     C．fires are easier to be held than explosions

     D．gas explosions break out so quickly that there is no way to control it

Which of the following is not included in the research area of the Center for Explosion Studies?

     A．To test the result of gas explosion．

     B．To get some implications of industrial explosions on land and sea．

     C．To find out how materials respond to explosions．

    D．To find out when material respond to explosions．

As dangerous as sharks may have seed to people after watching Jaws, which was released on June 20,1975, the recent disastrous decrease in their numbers show that people have proven far more dangerous to sharks.

    This disastrous decline is due in large part to commercial fishing of sharks. “The market for

shark fins（鱼翅）in East Asia opened up thanks to changes in their economy, increasing their

ability to spend money on things such as shark fin soup,” Burgess said.

However, the biggest worry for sharks and their relatives, the skates and rays, which are suffering a similar fate, “is how they are killed incidentally when fishermen try and take other fish—the problem of bycatch（渔业混获）,” Burgess explained. “They may be thrown back afterward, but they’re still dead.”

The key of the problems behind bringing sharks back is that “they’re not the same as other fish,” Burgess said, “Sharks are slow growing and slow to reach maturity. Sharks are live bearers, which means females keep their young in their body just like us, but instead of nine months, it takes 12 to 18 months or more in sharks. Also, sharks generally can’t give birth again until a year after they’ve given birth—sometimes they’re on a three-year cycle. So once you get a shark population knocked down, this ‘life in the slow lane’ means that recovery is measured in decades rather than years.”\

Burgess said, “I’m on the recovery team for it, but the recovery plan for that is over the course of 100 years. So I won’t see them recover, nor will you, nor will your children. That’s what it means when these animals go down—they’re down a long time.”

Any measures aimed at saving sharks must not only consider byeatch, “which is the real killer right now,” but also encourage interactional cooperation, Burgess said.

“Sharks are very migratory, and many species cross borders,” he said. “We can protect them only by getting many govemment to come aboard. That’s the hardest part about this.”

The text mainly tells us       .

       A．shark fins are valuable    B．sharks are dangerous

       C．bycatch brings bad effects       D．sharks are in danger

The number of sharks is decreasing mostly because of      .

       A．the film Jaws          B．commercial interests

       C．changes in economy D．shark fin soup

Bringing sharks back is difficult because      .

       A．they’re like the other fish      

       B．their reproductive rate is slow

       C．they can’t give birth again     

       D．their life cycle is only 3 years

What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

       A．Sharks live the way human beings do.

       B．It’s time many govemments cooperate.

       C．Sharks’ migration takes a very long time.

       D．Bycatch shouldn’t be forbidden by intemational laws.

The test is most probably a        .

       A．newspaper ad          B．book review

       C．science news report  D．science fiction story

As dangerous as sharks may have seed to people after watching Jaws, which was released on June 20,1975, the recent disastrous decrease in their numbers show that people have proven far more dangerous to sharks.

    This disastrous decline is due in large part to commercial fishing of sharks. “The market for

shark fins（鱼翅）in East Asia opened up thanks to changes in their economy, increasing their

ability to spend money on things such as shark fin soup,” Burgess said.

However, the biggest worry for sharks and their relatives, the skates and rays, which are suffering a similar fate, “is how they are killed incidentally when fishermen try and take other fish—the problem of bycatch（渔业混获）,” Burgess explained. “They may be thrown back afterward, but they’re still dead.”

The key of the problems behind bringing sharks back is that “they’re not the same as other fish,” Burgess said, “Sharks are slow growing and slow to reach maturity. Sharks are live bearers, which means females keep their young in their body just like us, but instead of nine months, it takes 12 to 18 months or more in sharks. Also, sharks generally can’t give birth again until a year after they’ve given birth—sometimes they’re on a three-year cycle. So once you get a shark population knocked down, this ‘life in the slow lane’ means that recovery is measured in decades rather than years.”\

Burgess said, “I’m on the recovery team for it, but the recovery plan for that is over the course of 100 years. So I won’t see them recover, nor will you, nor will your children. That’s what it means when these animals go down—they’re down a long time.”

Any measures aimed at saving sharks must not only consider byeatch, “which is the real killer right now,” but also encourage interactional cooperation, Burgess said.

“Sharks are very migratory, and many species cross borders,” he said. “We can protect them only by getting many govemment to come aboard. That’s the hardest part about this.”

The text mainly tells us       .

       A．shark fins are valuable    B．sharks are dangerous

       C．bycatch brings bad effects       D．sharks are in danger

The number of sharks is decreasing mostly because of      .

       A．the film Jaws          B．commercial interests

       C．changes in economy D．shark fin soup

Bringing sharks back is difficult because      .

       A．they’re like the other fish      

       B．their reproductive rate is slow

       C．they can’t give birth again     

       D．their life cycle is only 3 years

What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

       A．Sharks live the way human beings do.

       B．It’s time many govemments cooperate.

       C．Sharks’ migration takes a very long time.

       D．Bycatch shouldn’t be forbidden by intemational laws.

The test is most probably a        .

       A．newspaper ad          B．book review

       C．science news report  D．science fiction story

C
“The pen is more powerful than the sword.” There have been many writers who used their pens to fight things that were wrong. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of them.
She was born in the U.S.A. in 1811.One of her books not only made her famous but has been described as one that excited the world，and was helpful in causing a civil war and freeing the enslaved race. The civil war was the American Civil War of 1861，in which the Northern States fought the Southern States and finally won.
This book that shook the world was called "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Begun as a serial for the Washington anti-slavery weekly, the National Era, it focused public interest on the problem of slavery, and was deeply controversial(争议的). In writing the book, Stowe drew on her personal experience: she was familiar with slavery, the anti-slavery movement, and the underground railroad, because Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio, where Stowe had lived, was a slave state.
There was a time when every English-speaking man, woman, and child has read this novel that did so much to stop slavery. Not many people read it today, but it is still very interesting. The book has shown us how a warm-hearted writer can arouse（唤起）people's sympathies（同情）. The author herself had neither been to the Southern States nor been a slave. The Southern Americans were very angry at the book, which they said did not at all represent（描述）true state of affairs, but the Northern Americans were wildly excited over it, and were so inspired by it that they were ready to go to war to set the slaves free.
Following publication of the book, she became well- known, speaking against slavery both in America and Europe.
In 1862, when she visited President Lincoln, it was said that he greeted her as “the little lady who made this big war”: the war between the states.
49. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe was________when her world famous book was published.
A. about sixty years old                                B. around fifty years old
C. in her forties                                                D. around twenty years old
50. What do we learn about Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe from the text?
A. she had been living in a state where slaves were kept.
B. she herself encouraged the Northern Americans to go to war to set the slaves free.
C. she was better at writing than at swinging a sword.
D. she had once been a slave.
51. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book caused the civil war because________.
A. she wrote so well that Americans loved her very much.
B. she disclosed the terrible wrongs that had been done to the slaves in the Southern States.
C. the Southern Americans hated the book, while the Northern Americans liked it.
D. the book had been read by many Americans.
52. What can we learn from the text?
A. it isn’t necessary to use weapons to fight things that were wrong.
B. A writer is more helpful in a war than a soldier.
C. We must understand the importance of literature and art.
D. No war can be won without such a book as Uncle Tom's Cabin

D
Wrting artieles about films for The Front Page was my first proper job. Before then I had done bits of reviewing --- novels for other newspapers, films for a magazine and anything I was asked to do for the radio．That was how I met Tom Seaton, the first arts editor of The Front Page, who had also written for television．He hired me, but Tom was not primarily a journalist, or he would certainly have been more careful in choosing his staff．
At first, his idea was that a team of critics should take care of the art forms that didn’t require specialized knowledge: books, TV, theatre, film and radio．There would be a weekly lunch at which we would make our choices from the artistic material that Tom had decided we should cover, though there would also be guests to make the atmosphere sociable．
It all felt like a bit of dream at that time: a new newspaper and I was one of the team．It seemed so unlikely that a paper could be introduced into a crowded market．It seemed just as likely that a millionaire wanted to help me personally, and was pretending to employ me．Such was my lack of self-confidence．
Tom’s original scheme for a team of critics for the arts never took off．It was a good idea, but we didn’t get together as planned and so everything was done by phone．It turned out, too, that the general public out there preferred to associate a reviewer with a single subject area, and so I chose film．Without Tom’s initial push, though, we would hardly have come up with the present arrangement, by which I write an extended weekly piece, usually on one film．
The space I am given allows me to broaden my argument --- or forces me, in an uninteresting week, to make something out of nothing．But what is my role in the public arena? I assume that people choose what films to go to on the basis of the stars, the publicity or the director．So if a film review isn’t really a consumer guide, what is it? I certainly don’t feel I have a responsibility to be ‘right’ about a movie．Nor do I think there should be a certain number of ‘great’ and ‘bad’ films each year．All I have to do is put forward an argument．I’m not a judge, and nor would I want to be．
67．What do we learn about Tom Seaton from the first paragraph?
A．He encouraged Mark to become a writer．
B．He had worked in various areas of the media．
C．He met Mark when working for television．
D．He prefers to employ people that he knows．
68．The weekly lunches were planned in order to       .
A．help the writers get to know each other
B．provide an informal information session
C．distribute the work that had to be done
D．entertain important visitors from the arts
69．What does the author mean when he says that Tom’s plan ‘never took off’ in Paragraph 4?
A．It was unpopular.    
B．It wasted too much time.
C．It wasn’t planned properly.
D．It wasn’t put into practice.
70．Which of the following best describes what Mark says about his work?
A．His success varies from year to year．
B．He prefers to write about films he likes．
C．He can freely express his opinion．
D．He writes according to accepted rules．