The Human Genome(基因组) Project, a great $3 billion, 15-year task aimed at drawing the genetic map of humans, is now more than 90 percent completed. The scientific and medical communities are very excited about the chances genetic research provides for getting rid of diseases and prolonging(延长)human life. But those communities and policy makers are also careful about the scientific door they are opening as the project uncovers the mysteries of life.

For the last few years, the genetic advances in the fast developing field of biotechnology have provided material for all kinds of work, but the developments of modern science in unlocking the secrets of human genetic code have opened a world of possibilities for human health, as well as for the population imagination.

While European and Japanese researchers are making rapid progress in decoding human DNA, the leading organization for genetic research in the Untied States, which began in 1990, is “unlocking the code” of the human body to learn how to defeat fatal diseases. Already, the Human Genome Project has become widely known and praised for finding the genes connected with as yet terrible diseases, and making progress toward separating the genes that show a sign of breast cancer(乳腺癌)or AIDS.

Once these genes are found and studied, researchers can develop new ways to attack infections, and genetic diseases. Medical companies are very interested in mapping the human genome, as they expect to develop a lot of new drugs for these illnesses.

1.Why did the scientists work so hard at mapping the human genome?

2.According to the passage, which of the following countries is the most advanced in genetic research?

3.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

4.What is mainly talked about in this passage?

Have you ever heard a news reporter talk about DNA? Reporters talk about DNA found at the scene of a crime. They talk about police finding DNA “fingerprints.” Police sometimes use DNA as a clue to find out who committed the crime.

DNA is a substance（物质） that makes up genes. Everything alive has genes. Plans have genes. Animals have genes. You have genes.

Genes are the basic units of heredity（遗传）. Heredity means all the characteristics you inherit from your parents. You get your genes from your parents. You inherit half of your genes from your mother. You inherit half of your genes from your father.

Genes are a kind of code. A tree’s genes tell what shape its leaves will be. A cat’s genes tell what color its fur will be. Your genes tell what color your eyes will be. Your genes tell what color your hair will be. Everything about you comes from the code in your genes.

Genes line up on strands（链） called chromosomes（染色体） in cells. Everything alive is made up of cells. Chromosomes are in the center, or nucleus, of cells.

Different parts of you are made of different kinds of cells. Your muscles are made of muscle celIs. Your skin is made of skin cells. The code in your genes tells your body to make different kinds of cells. The genes in each cell tell the cell how to work. They tell the cell when to make new copies of itself.

An Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel first saw inherited patterns in pea plants. He experimented with pea plants in the 1860s. One of the things, or traits（特质）， Mendel studied was what makes some pea plants tall and some short. He said that the traits must come from units of heredity passed from the parent plants. These units were later called genes.

In the mid-1900s, scientists discovered that genes are made of DNA. In the 1970s, scientists learned how to change DNA with genetic engineering. Scientists also learned that problems with certain genes cause diseases. Muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, and hemophilia are some genetic diseases-diseases caused by problems in genes. Today, scientists are looking for ways to cure genetic diseases by changing genes through a process called gene therapy.

What is DNA?

A. DNA is a kind of gene.

B.. DNA is a substance that makes up genes.

C. DNA is the basic unit of heredity.

D. DNA is a measure to protect crime.

Which of the following about genes is correct according to the passage?

A. Plants, animals and human beings have the same genes.

B. Half people inherit all genes from their mother, others from their father.

C. Genes decide the trees shapes, the cats’ fur color and our eyes’ color as well.

D. Genes will give you a code when you need them.

Where are genes?

A. Genes lining up on strands called chromosomes are in the center of cells.

B. Genes hide in everything alive in your body.

C. Genes can be nowhere but in your mind, controlling all your actions.

D. Genes travel in your body and help cope skin, muscle, and eyes.

An Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel         .

A. first saw inherited patterns in people

B. was interested in why plants were different

C. first called the units of heredity from parents genes

D. was the first who discovered genes

We can conclude that         .

A. scientists were less intelligent than monks in 1900s

B. some genes are bad and can cause diseases

C. we don’t need to worry about genetic diseases any longer

D. the discovery of genes may be of great help in our daily life

 Watercolor is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men who discovered they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the walls of caves by mixing the natural colors found in the earth with water.

Fresco (壁画), one of the greatest of all art forms, is done with watercolor. It is created by mixing paints and water and applying these to wet plaster （灰泥）. Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelo’s heroic ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, very few know that they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolor painting in the world.

The invention of oil painting by the Flemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go downhill, and for the next several centuries watercolor was used mainly for doing sketches（草图）or as a tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolor as a serious art form. The English have a widely-known love for outdoors and also small private pictures. The softness of watercolor had a remarkably strong attraction for them.

The popularity of watercolor continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States passed England as the center for watercolor, producing such well-known watercolor artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth.

1.The purpose of the passage is to introduce ________.

A. the gradual weakness of fresco painting

B. oil’s power or influence over watercolor

C. the discovery of watercolor in England

D. the start and development of watercolor

2.In the 16^th and 17^th centuries the artists thought ________.

A. watercolor was softer, and thus better.

B. Oil painting lasted longer, and was better.

C. Watercolor wasn’t fit for finished works

D. Watercolor was too hard to use in any works.

3.According to the passage, watercolor painting was put back in England because ______.

A. it was easy to use outdoors     B. it was a strong medium（媒介）

C. it was extremely bright in color.  D. it was suited for popular tastes

4. What would the next paragraph most probably talk about?

   A. The works of famous US watercolor artists.

   B. Modern American oil painters.

   C. The weaknesses of oil as popular paints

   D. Techniques of producing watercolor

Construction workers in Southern California have made a wild discovery. They were digging at a building site in San Timoteo Canyon (峡谷) when they unearthed hundreds of ancient animal fossils. Researchers say the bones hold important clues about the history of the region.
Nearly 1, 500 fossils were recovered from the dusty canyon. The remains are about 1.4 million years old. They include the bones of a new species of deer, several small rodents (啮齿目动物) and more. A giant cat fossil was also found. Scientists believe the animal was an ancestor of the saber- toothed tiger. Signs of plant life were uncovered as well.
“This is a huge find,” says Rick Greenwood, a scientist studying the site. “I don’t think most people had any idea that those types of animals were wandering around here more than a million years ago.”
San Timoteo Canyon is located about 85 miles from Los Angeles. The area of the canyon where the fossils were found was once part of a green river valley. Today, the region is dry and plant life is rare.
Most of the fossils are well preserved. Experts say a muddy lake bed may have trapped thirty animals that wandered over for a drink. The mud helped to protect the animal fossils.
The remains are a million years older than those discovered at the famous La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Scientists studying the bones will be able to learn more about how the animals adapted to changes in the environment.
“We have a confused view of what this time period was like, ” says another scientist. “A discovery like this could really be an important contribution.”
About 35 different animal species are represented in the fossil collection. Scientists began removing bones from the site last fall. The project was completed this summer. Starting next year, the fossils will be on display at the Western Science Center in the nearby city of Hemet, California.
【小题1】
What does the passage mainly focus on?

GUATEMALA CITY（Reuters）---- A fish that lives in mangrove swamps（红树沼泽）across the Americas can live out of water for months at a time, similar to how animals adapted（适应）to land millions of years ago, a new study shows.

   The Mangrove Rivulus, a type of small killifish, lives in small pools of water in a certain type of empty nut or even old beer cans in the mangrove swamps of Belize, the United States and Brazil. When their living place dries up, they live on the land in logs（圆木）, said Scott Taylor, a researcher at the Brevard Endangered Lands Program in Florida .

   The fish, whose scientific name is Rivulus marmoratus, can grow as large as three inches. They group together in logs and breathe air through their skin until they can find water again.

   The new scientific discovery came after a trip to Belize.

   “We kicked over a log and the fish just came crowding out,” Taylor told Reuters in neighboring Guatemala by telephone. He said he will make his study on the fish known to the public in an American magazine early next year.

   In lab tests, Taylor said he found the fish can live up to 66 days out of water without eating.

   Some other fish can live out of water for a short period of time. The walking catfish found in Southeast Asia can stay on land for hours at a time, while lungfish found in Australia, Africa and South America can live out of water, but only in an inactive state. But no other known fish can be out of water as long as the Mangrove Rivulus and remain active, according to Patricia Wright, a biologist at Canada’s University of Guelph.

   Further studies of the fish may tell how animals changed over time.

   “These animals live in conditions similar to those that existed millions of years ago, when animals began making the transition（过渡）form water onto land, ” Wright said.

49. The Mangrove Rivulus is a type of fish that ________.

   A. likes eating nuts

   B. prefers living in dry places

   C. is the longest living fish on earth

   D. can stay alive for two months out of water

50. Who will write up a report on mangrove Rivulus?

   A. Patricia Wright.

   B. Researchers in Guatemala.

   C. Scientists from Belize.

   D. Scott Taylor.

51. According to the text, lungfish can __________.

   A. breathe through its skin

   B. move freely on dry land

   C. remain alive out of water

   D. be as active on land as in water

52. What can we say about the discovery of Mangrove Rivulus?

   A. It was made quite by accident.

   B. It was based on a lab test of sea life.

   C. It was supported by an American magazine.

   D. It was helped by Patricia Wright.