___ is believed ___ more and more people would fly to the moon in the future.

    A. That, like  B. This, as   C.It, that    D.Man, when

American’s genius with high technology may have put men on the moon, but there is growing doubt about its ability to solve human problems closer to home.

In fact, a slight but significant change from purely technological solutions is already under way as scientists insist that answers to the world’s problems will not come from an attractive exhibition of electronics and machines. Instead, as they see it, solutions must develop from a better understanding of the humans that drive the system and from a fuller appreciation of the limits and potential(潜能) of the earth’s resources.

What this means is an increased emphasis on the life and earth sciences, on sociology, psychology, economics and even philosophy.

More and more of the best minds in science, particularly young researchers, are being drawn into these developing fields.

All this is not to say that technological creativity will not play a critical role in solving energy and food shortages, or that answers to environmental difficulties will not come from further advances in the same technologies that may have helped cause the problems.

Where the real challenge lies, in the view of the new generation of scientists, is in finding ways to produce goods and meet the world’s needs, using less of the raw materials that are becoming short.

Which of the following would the author probably agree with?

       A. The environment crisis will not be solved unless we stop using virgin（原始）materials.

       B. In scientific research, a higher priority（优先）should be given to understanding all living systems.

       C. Exploration of outer space will finally lead to an improvement on human living conditions.

       D. U. S. high-technology companies are welcoming this new change in scientific research.

Which of the following best expresses the main idea?

       A. a growing number of Americans are doubtful about what high technology can do in solving the world’s problems.

       B. Many scientists are beginning to believe that the better understanding of human beings will play a more decisive role in solving the world’s problems.

       C. More and more young scientists are trying their best to find new ways to solve the world’s problems.

       D. Technological creativity will still play a very important part in solving the world’s problems.

Young scientists demand that in order to satisfy human needs ________.

       A. existing products be improved.

       B. more complex machines and electronic equipment be designed.

       C. ways be found to produce better goods using fewer raw materials.

       D. any new invention and innovation be encouraged in technology

In the passage “Human problems” or “world problems” refers mainly to ______.

       A. global food shortage                                     B. resources depletion（耗尽）

       C. environmental pollution                                D. all of the above

The author states all the following CXCEPT that _______.

       A. the development of present techniques cannot provide any answers to today’s problems.

       B. an increasing number of young scientists are taking a great interest in biological and social sciences.

       C. many scientists have come to understand the limits of natural resources.

       D. many scientists argue that high technology is something but not everything.

Most of the 20th century has been a development on the Industrial Revolution taken to an extreme: people now own more products than ever before; there are enough unclear weapons to destroy the earth several times over; there is hardly any forest left and pollution has got to the point where we buy water. Within a few years I predict you will be able to buy air. (There once was a time when you didn’t need to buy food or shelter either.)

Important developments in the last century are the breading down of the class structures left over from the Industrial Revolution stage, bringing with it the empowerment of the “common man ”: the working day is set by law to only 8 hours a day, everyone has the vote, the media has less obvious government control, people have landed on the moon, sent spacecrafts to Mars and so on. Families have also shrunk drastically（强烈地）; the nuclear family came about, and especially in the last half of the 20th century, one-parent families are becoming more common. This shrinking in the size of the family shows the increased independence of people—once upon a time people had to live in large groups to survive.

As humans have “become the gods”, they have realized their individuality and independence and taken their control of the world to an extreme. In many countries the land is almost completely used in the land is almost completely used in the production of food and as living space and they live in small cities which are entirely human constructed, made from materials which are also entirely human constructed(concrete, bricks) with hardly any remains of nature. Weeds are poisoned because they are messy; even parks have trees grown in tidy lines; grass is mowed to keep it short and so on. I think the massive drug “problem” troubling people is a result of too much of this influence, humans needing to escape the stark world they have created by entering fantasy worlds.

Over the last 100 years, the 20th century consciousness has spread throughout the world; most of Asia has been thoroughly “Westernized”, and most of the Third World is being overrun by western ways of doing things and living.

What’s the author most concerned about?

A．The influence of pollution.    

B．Strong effects of development.

       C．Changed positions of humans as gods.   

       D．The process of the Industrial Revolution.

What is the author’s attitude towards the changes of the 20th century?   

A．Objective. B．Tolerant.   C．Vague.     D．Negative.

What does the underlined word “stark” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Unfair.     B．Illegal.     C．Dull. D．Violent.

What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Men’s individuality is over controlled.

B．People have damaged nature too much.

C．Men’s independence is partially limited.

D．People show concern for nuclear families.

The Donkey Mobile Library

It is a bright morning in the Ethiopian countryside. Yohannes walks beside a pair of donkeys that are pulling a two-wheeled cart. They arrive at the agricultural town of Awassa where Yohannes opens the sides of the cart to display, not the usual vegetables or tools, but children’s books. This is the Donkey Mobile Library, the first of its kind in Ethiopia and one of only a few in the world.

Yohannes was born in Ethiopia, North Africa, but trained to be a librarian in the USA and returned to Ethiopia years ago. The cart is full of picture books donated by American libraries, teachers and school children.

Yohannes arranges small painted benches in the shade of the trees, and suddenly Ethiopian children come shouting and racing down every road and path. It’s mobile library day! They circle the bookshelves with great excitement. Until the Donkey Mobile Library began its regular two-monthly visits, many of these children had never seen a book.

“Without books, education is very dull, like food without salt. You can survive but you can’t really come alive,” says Yohannes. “The ability to read is the basis for greater productivity, better health and longer life. Even though the children lack material goods, with books they can imagine a world of possibilities.”

Yohannes first worked in the children’s section of the main library in America. Surrounded by books he had never seen before, he realized how joyful and imaginative children’s literature is. He says, “I always thought of Ethiopia. But how could I bring children’s books to my home country when it had almost no libraries to keep the books in?”

He contacted Jane Kurtz, a writer born in America but brought up in Ethiopia, and together they created the Donkey Mobile Library. The children say that the Library has given them ideas about what they might do in the future. A child called Dareje wants to be a scientist and find a cure for life-threatening diseases. An eleven year-old girl, Fikerte, wants to do research about the moon and discover new facts about outer space. Tamrat, aged 10, comes every time.

“What brings you back here time and time again?” the librarian asks him.

“The stories,” Tamrat replies instantly. 

1.How do the children feel when they see the Donkey Mobile Library?

A．Curious.          B．Surprised.         C．Interested.        D．Excited.

2.We can conclude from the passage that      .

A．Ethiopian children have no idea about their future

B．Yohannes and Kurtz share similar life experiences

C．donkey carts in Awassa usually carry vegetables and tools

D．most books in the Donkey Mobile Library were bought in America

3.According to the passage, the Donkey Mobile Library      .

A．visits the countryside every day            B．benefits Ethiopian children a lot

C．was created by Yohannes himself           D．was the first of its kind in the world

4.Where is the passage most likely to have been taken from?

A．A news report.     B．A book review.      C．A historical story.    D．An advertisement.

 

Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.

That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”

Mr. Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.

The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities(优先考虑的事) changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”

As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”

The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom they would be ‘intimate’ with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.

“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”

Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”

1.What can the “conversations” be best described as?

A．Deep and one-on-one.                   B．Sensitive and mad.

C．Instant and inspiring.                     D．Ordinary and encouraging.

2.In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.

A．pair freely with anyone they like

B．have a guided talk for a set of period of time

C．ask questions they themselves would not answer

D．wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features.

3.In paragraph 6, “they would be ‘intimate’” is closest in meaning to “______”.

A．they would have physical contact           B．they would have in-depth talk

C．they would be close friends               D．they would exchange basic information

4.From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.

A．an attempt to promote thinking interaction

B．one of the maddest activities ever conducted

C．a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas

D．an effort to give people a chance of talking freely