“If there is one thing I’m sure about, it is that in a hundred years from now we will still be reading newspapers. It is not that newspapers are a necessity. Even now some people get most of their news from television or radio. Many buy a paper only on Saturday or Sunday. But for most people reading a newspaper has become a habit passed down from generation to generation.

The nature of what is news may change. What basically makes news is what affects our lives — the big political stories, the coverage of the wars, earthquakes and other disasters, will continue much the same. I think there will be more coverage of scientific research, though. It’s already happening in areas that may directly affect our lives, like genetic engineering. In the future, I think there will be more coverage of scientific explanations of why we feel as we do — as we develop a better understanding of how the brain operates and what our feelings really are.

It’s quite possible that in the next century newspapers will be transmitted(传送) electronically from Fleet Street and printed out in our own home. In fact, I’m pretty sure that how it will happen in the future. You will probably be able to choose from a menu, making up your own newspaper by picking out the things you want to read — sports and international news, etc.

I think people have got it wrong when they talk about competition between the different media. They actually feed off each other. Some people once foresaw that television would kill off newspapers, but that hasn’t happened. What is read on the printed page lasts longer than pictures on a screen or sound lost in the air. And as for the Internet, it’s never really pleasant to read something just on a screen. 

31. What is the best title for the passage?

A. The Best Way to Get News                    B. The Changes of Media

C. Make Your Own Newspaper                  D. The Future of Newspaper

32. In the writer’s opinion, in the future, _______. 

A. more big political affairs, wars and disasters will make news

B. newspapers will not be printed in publishing houses any longer

C. newspapers will cover more scientific research

D. more and more people will watch TV

33. What will probably be on in the newspaper made by yourself?

A. Sports and international news.                          B. A menu of important news.

C. The most important news.                            D. What you are interested in.

34. From the passage, we can infer _______. 

A. newspapers will win the competition among the different media

B. newspapers will stay with us together with other media

C. television will take the place of newspaper

D. the writer believe some media will die out

35. The phrase “feed off” in the last paragraph means _______. 

A. depend on                                            B. compete with

C. fight with                                            D. kill off

In July 1994 Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was struck by 21 pieces of a comet (彗星). When the fragments (碎片) landed in the southern part of the giant planet, the explosions were watched by scientists here on earth. But what if our own planet was hit by a comet?

　The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the Earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two fragments will probably hit the southern part of the Earth. The news has caused panic.

　On 17 July, a fragment four kilometers wide enters the Earth's atmosphere with a huge explosion. About half of the fragment is destroyed. But the major part survives and hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and an enormous wave is created and spreads. The wall of water rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometres an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned. The wave moves into the Indian Ocean and heads towards Asia.

　Millions of people are already dead in the southern part of the Earth, but the north won't escape for long. Tons of broken pieces are thrown into the atmosphere by the explosions. As the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later civilization has collapsed. No more than 10 million people have survived.

　Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a space fragment. The dinosaurs couldn't survive in the cold climate that followed and they became extinct. Will we meet the same end?

【小题１】55.Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the author's description of the disaster in 2094?

A. The whole world becomes extremely cold

B. All the coastal cities in Africa are destroyed

C. The visit of the comet results in wars

D. The whole mankind becomes extinct

【小题２】56.Why does the author mention dinosaurs at the end of the passage?

A. Because they could only live in the warm climate

B. Because their extinction indicates future disasters

C. Because they once dominated the earth

D. Because dinosaurs and humans never live in the same age

【小题３】57.In writing the passage, the author intends to ______.

A. give an accurate description of the possible disaster in the future

B. prove that humans will sooner or later be destroyed

C. warn of a possible disaster in the future

D. tell the historical development of the Earth

 58.It can be concluded that the passage is most probably part of a(n) ______.

A. article of popular science      B. news report

C. research paper       D. horror story

 

In July 1994 Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was struck by 21 pieces of a comet（彗星）. When the fragment（碎片）landed in the southern part of the giant planet, the explosions were watched by scientists here on earth. But what if our own planet was hit by a comet?

       The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the Earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two fragments will probably hit the southern part of the Earth. The news has caused panic.

       On 17 July, a fragment four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a huge explosion. About half of the fragment is destroyed. But the major part survives and hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and an enormous wave is created and spreads. The wall of water rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned. The wave moves into the Indian Ocean and heads towards Asia.

       Millions of people are already dead in the southern part of the Earth, but the north won’t escape for long. Tons of broken pieces are thrown into the atmosphere by the explosions. As the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later civilization has collapsed. No more than 10 million people have survived.

       Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs（恐龙）were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a space fragment. The dinosaurs couldn’t survive in the cold climate that followed and they became extinct. Will we meet the same end?

Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the author’s description of the disaster in 2094?

The whole mankind becomes extinct.

All the coastal cities in African are destroyed.

The whole world becomes extremely cold.

The visit of the comet results in wars.

Why does the author mention dinosaurs at the end of the passage?

A. Because they could only live in the warm climate.

B. Because they once dominated the Earth.

C. Because dinosaurs and humans never live in the same age.

D. Because their extinction indicates future disasters

In writing the passage, the author intends to __________.

A. give an accurate description of the possible disaster in the future

B. warn of a possible disaster in the future

C. tell the historical development of the Earth

D. prove that humans will sooner or later be destroyed

It can be concluded that the passage is most probably part of a(n) __________.

A. horror story                                                      B. news report

C. article of popular science                                     D. research paper

In July 1994 Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was struck by 21 pieces of a comet (彗星). When the fragments (碎片) landed in the southern part of the giant planet, the explosions(爆炸) were watched by scientists here on the earth. But what if our own planet was hit by a comet?

　The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the Earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two fragments will probably hit the southern part of the Earth. The news has caused panic.

　On 17 July, a fragment, four kilometers wide, enters the Earth's atmosphere with a huge explosion. About half of the fragment is destroyed. But the major part survives and hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and an enormous(巨大的) wave is created and spreads. The wall of water rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometres an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned. The wave moves into the Indian Ocean and heads towards Asia.

　Millions of people are already dead in the southern part of the Earth, but the north won't escape for long. Tons of broken pieces are thrown into the atmosphere by the explosions. As the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later civilization has collapsed(崩溃). No more than 10 million people have survived.

　Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a space fragment. The dinosaurs couldn't survive in the cold climate that followed and they became extinct. Will we meet the same end?

1.Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the author's description of the disaster in 2094?

A. The whole world becomes extremely cold

B. All the coastal cities in Africa are destroyed

C. The visit of the comet results in wars

D. The whole mankind becomes extinct

2.Why does the author mention dinosaurs at the end of the passage?

A. Because they could only live in the warm climate

B. Because their extinction indicates future disasters

C. Because they once dominated(控制) the earth

D. Because dinosaurs and humans never live in the same age

3. In writing the passage, the author intends to ______.

A. give an accurate description of the possible disaster in the future

B. prove that humans will sooner or later be destroyed

C. warn of a possible disaster in the future

D. tell the historical development of the Earth

4.It can be concluded that the passage is most probably part of a(n) ______.

A. article of popular science      B. news report

C. research paper                      D. horror story

 

In a cab, a woman seemed in such a hurry. She constantly rushed the cab driver to drive quickly. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts of getting to the airport as soon as possible that she was not aware they were going by a different route.

All of a sudden, a young man got inside the cab. He took her handbag in which she had put her visa, passport, and all the money for the trip.

The cab driver, who was in collusion with the robber, left her in the exactly middle of a dark street. She thought that she was rather unfortunate in the very situation.

During the very night, she was told a piece of shocking news. Tears came down her cheek. Flight 360, the plane that she should have got on board, had crashed. Had she not lost her important belongings, she could surely have lost the thing far more precious——her life.

Sometimes bad things really happen. There are times when nothing seems to go our way. So what should we do about it? We must get rid of all these frustrations and start all over again in the faith that we will get what we deserve. 

Don’t waste your time and energy on things that can’t be changed. Continuous worrying will only affect your health and you’ll be doing much more damage than what was previously done.

What if it was the other way round? What if we never ran out of good luck?

There was a man who won the lottery. He became greedy and wasted all his money on everything he could get his hands on.

But when he one day made it to the front page of the newspaper again, it was a different story. He had been killed because of his riches. If you attain good luck, you can never be too secure about it. Life is so unpredictable. You never know what will happen next.

Live one day at a time. We sometimes subject ourselves to unnecessary emotional trouble. But please don’t forget: sometimes misfortune can be the source of happiness. Live for the moment. Do what must be done for the present and the future will turn out just fine. Believe me. And believe in yourself. As Captain Planet always says, “The power is yours！”

1. The underlined phrase “in collusion with” in Paragraph 3 probably means “________.”

A. was forced by                              B. was fighting bravely against 

C. was doing one’s best to beg             D. had cooperated with

2. From the passage, we learn that ________.

A. robbers are sure to get what they want        

B. somebody never runs out of good luck

C. the woman was lucky to miss her flight 

D. if one feels oneself lucky, he or she will continue to be so

3. The writer presents the second example in order to ________.

A. warn people of the danger of winning the lottery

B. tell people life is unpredictable

C. encourage people to buy lottery  

D. persuade people not to be greedy

4. According to the author, which of the following choices is the correct attitude to adopt to life?

A. Never waste any time or energy because time is so limited.

B. One needn’t be worried or feel frustrated. Believe in yourself.

C. Even while everything appears to be going smoothly, we should keep fully alert.

D. Worrying about what you don’t have

5. The passage above is intended to tell us ________.

A. misfortune sometimes is a blessing

B. we should save up for a rainy day

C. fortune just goes with those prepared minds

D. both losses and gains go hand in hand