The year was 1932. Amelia Earhart was flying alone from North America to England in a small single-engined aeroplane. At midnight, several hours after she had left Newfoundland, she ran into bad weather. To make things worse, her altimeter (高度表) failed and she didn't know how high she was flying. At night, and in a storm, a pilot is in great difficulty without an altimeter. At times. her plane nearly plunged (冲) into the sea.

      Just before dawn, there was further trouble. Amelia noticed flames coming from the engine. Would she be able to reach land? There was nothing to do except to keep going and to hope.

     In the end, Amelia Earhart did reach Ireland, and for the courage she had shown, she was warmly welcomed in England and Europe. When she retumed to the United States, she was honored by President Hoover at a special dinner in the White House. From that time on, Amelia Earhart was famous.

     What was so important about her flight? Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean alone, and she had set a record of fourteen hours and fifty-six minutes.

     In the years that followed, Amelia Earhart made several flights across the United States, and on each occasion she set a new record for flying time. Amelia Earhart made these flights to show that women had a place in aviation (航空) and that air travel was useful.

1.Which of the following statements is NOT the difficulty which Amelia Earhart met in her flight from north America to England?

A. She was caught in a storm.

B. The altimeter went out of order.

C. Her engine went wrong.

D. She lost her direction.

2.When Amelia Earhart saw flames coming from the engine. what did she do?

A. She did nothing but pr ay for herself

B. She changed her direction and landed in Ireland.

C. She continued flying.

D. She lost hope of reaching land.

3.According to the passage, what was Amelia Earhart's reason for making her flights?

A. To set a new record for flying time.

B. To be the first woman to fly around the world.

C. To show that aviation was not just for men.

D. To become famous in the world.

4.Which of the following statements was NOT mentioned?

A. She was the first woman who succeeded in flying across the Atlantic Oceanalone.

B. She showed great courage in overcoming the difficulties during the flight.

C She was warmly welcomed in England, Europe and the United States.

D. She made plans to fly around the world.

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

A. Amelia Earhart-First Across the Atlantic.

B. Amelia Earhart-Pioneer in Women's Aviation.

C. A New Record for Flying Time.

D. A Dangerous Flight from North America to England.

 

Can people change their skin colour without suffering like pop king Michael Jackson? Perhaps yes. Scientists have found the gene that determines skin colour.

The gene comes in two versions, one of which is found in 99 per cent of Europeans. The other is found in 93 to 100 per cent of Africans, researchers at Pennsylvania State University report in the latest issue of Science.

Scientists have changed the colour of a dark-striped zebrafish to uniform gold by inserting a version of  the pigment(色素) gene into a young fish. As with humans, zebrafish skin colour is determined by pigment cells, which contain melanosomes(黑色素). The number, size and darkness of melanosomes per pigment cell determines skin colour.

It appears that, like the golden zebrafish, light-skinned Europeans also have a mutation(变异) in the gene for melanosome production. This results in less pigmented skin.

However, Keith Cheng, leader of the research team, points out that the mutation is dif ferent in human and zebrafish genes.

Humans acquired dark skin in Africa about 1.5 million years ago to protect bodies from ultra-violet rays of the sun(太阳光紫外线), which can cause skin cancer.

But when modern humans leave Africa to live in northern latitudes, they need more sunlight on their skin to produce vit amin D. So the related gene changes, according to Cheng.

Asians have the same version of the gene as Africans, so they pr obably acquired their light skin through the action of some other gene that affects skin colour, said Cheng.

The new discovery could lead to medical treatments for skin cancer. It also could lead to research into ways to change skin colour without damaging it like chemical treatment did on Michael Jackson.

 

1.. The passage mainly tells us that ________.

  A. people can not change their skin colour without any pain

  B. the new discovery could lead to search into ways to change skin colour safely

  C. pop king Michael Jackson often changed his skin colour as he liked

  D. scientists have found out that people’s skin colour is determined by the gene

2.. Scientists have done an experiment on  a dark-striped zebra fish in order to ________.

  A. find the  different genes of humans’

  B. prove the humans’ skin colour is determined by the pigment gene

  C. find out the reason why the Africans’ skin colour is dark

  D. find out the ways of changing peopl’s skin colour

3.. The reason why Europeans are light-skinned is probably that ________.

  A. they are born light-skinned people

  B. light-skinned Europeans have mutation in the gene for melanosome production

  C. they have fewer activities outside

  D. they pay much attention to protecting their skin

 

For a girl who's interested in fashion, what would be the dream job? Being a model? Probably no — that's for a pencil thin who doesn't eat. One answer is, fashion stylist.

As more brands open stores in China to expand their reach, the increase in outdoor advertising might light a stylist spark in a girl's heart. Fashion magazine offices are crowded with interns (实习生), and fashionable brand HR managers get thousands of resumes of people looking for a stylist position.

"It looked too high before, but now I find it more approachable," said Xue Rui, 22, a Fudan University Chinese literature graduate who works as an assistant stylist at Hermès in Shanghai. "There is no certain principle in dressing up models, and you can try every way with your own distinct taste to make them pretty and attractive."

The attractiveness of this line of work is not only in the fabulous clothes. And it's not like it used to be: an insider's job with little recognition and even less money. Now it's a career with a profile, prospects and pay packet.

Girls can find it hard to ignore this tempt and the field is opening up to normal girls, not only style or fashion design majors. "A fashion designer knows how to make a dress pretty, but a stylist knows how to make a person beautiful, from head to toe," explained He Qing, 21, a junior in fashion design at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology.

"You have to be 'all-round': from hair and make up to clothes, shoes, and accessories(配饰) to the event," said He. "You have to know everything, and handle several things at the same time. It's challenging. That's why I love it."

It's not, however, without its downside, no matter how great you may think it is, "It's incredibly hard work," said Chen Qianzhu, a stylist at the Chinese version of Elle magazine. "You need to build good relations with various people — stars, photographers, PR managers, other media, even airlines."

You need to take care of clothes in the workplace and pay for even a tiny spot you get on them, Chen said. "The worst thing is that you might work extremely hard for a week on some serious photos, but if the chief's not satisfied, you do them all over again."

1. A fashion stylist has to do the following EXCEPT _______.

A. make every effort to dress up models

B. make a model attractive, from hair to feet

C. pay for a tiny stain happening to the clothes

D. not to eat and keep a thin figure like a pencil

2. Xue Rui, He Qing and Chen Qianzhu are mentioned in the passage in order to ______.

A. show the strengths and weaknesses of the new type of career

B. compare the different changes about the occupation

C. make the article interesting and convincing

D. support an idea by giving enough evidence

3. The underlined world 'all-round' in Paragraph 6 can be replaced by ______.

A. all-star     B. all-out        C. all-powerful      D. all-purpose

4. Where can the passage be found?

A. In a newspaper.              B. In a magazine.

C. In an advertisement.           D. In an essay written by a graduate.

Every year some 15,000 animals - mostly mice - are

shipped into the UK for research．Some leading scientists are

warning that pressure from animal rights activists is reducing the

number of animals being brought into Britain for research．All

ferry companies and all but two airlines have stopped importing

animals intended for research laboratories．

Lord Drayson, who was a minister under the last Labour government, said animal research was "regrettably" necessary and that people would "suffer and die" without it．"If we do want to have access to medicines, and I believe that we do - in a survey carried out in the past 10 years more than 87% of the general public have said that they support animal research for medical uses．And so unfortunately we do have to do this．"

However, Alistair Currie from People, for the Ethical Treatment of Animals （PETA） said researchers should work harder to come up with alternatives to animal testing．"More man 90% of drugs that pass trials in animals fail when they're given to people," he said．They either prove to be unsafe or simply ineffective．"

The BBC's Tom Fielden says animal rights campaigners have been imprisoned for taking direct action against laboratories in the past and more recently have focused on creating bad PR （public relations）．He says this has included letter-writhing and web-based campaigns against transport companies, which appear to have had an effect．

But the scientists who depend on the animals for their work have now decided to speak out to try to persuade the government and the transpon companies to stand up to the campaigners．Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, a geneticist at me National Institute for Medical Research （NIMR）, told the BBC it was important that scientists were able to import animals, so they could work together with colleagues abroad. Dominic Wells of the Royal Veterinary College （RVC） said, "The problem is that they can't be put in a suitable transport．"

63．Now animal rights campaigners are trying to affect importing animals by _______．

       A．finding alternatives to animal testing         B．creating bad public relations

       C．taking direct action against labs           D．stopping transport animals to UK

64．According to Lord Drayson, importing animals is ________．

       A．optional                                         B．necessary

       C．unreasonable                                   D．unconditional

65．Who is against importing animals for research?

       A．Alistair Currie form PETA．                B．Tom Fielden from the BBC．

       C．Robin Lovell-Badge from the NIMR．       D．Dominic Wells from the RVC．

66．Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

       A．Activists stopping direct action against imports

       B．Importing animals contributing to medicine

       C．Activists' pressure slowing animal imports

       D．No animal imports, no medical research