55．If a 25 - year - old man becomes general manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it ________ .

　A. normal　　　　　　B. wonderful

C. unbelievable　　　　　D. unreasonable

No. 15

　The way people hold to the belief that a fun - filled, pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

　As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment (预担的义务), self - improvement.

　Ask a bachelor(单身汉) why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.

　Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a three - day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.

　Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

54．“Act your age” means people should ________ .

　A. be active when they are old

　B. do the right thing at the right age

　C. show respect for their parents young or old

　D. take more physical exercise suitable to their age

53．The underlined word “one” refers to ________ .

　A. a society　　　　　　B. America

　C. a place　　　　　　D. population

52．It can be learnt from the text that the aging of the population in America ________ .

　A. has made people feel younger

　B. has changed people’s social position

　C. has changed people’s understanding of age

　D. has slowed down the country’s social development

51．Which of these statements is true based on the information in the passage?

　A. The earth is one of the oldest planets in our galaxy.

　B. Most scientists believe that there is intelligent life on other planets.

　C. Scientists are trying different ways to find signs of life on other planets.

D. Scientists don’t believe that there might be life on other planets.

No. 14

　America is growing older. Fifty - eight years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. To day, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect(影响)American society in many ways-education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying of America has made us a very different society-one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior(行为) is suitable(合适)at various , ages.

　A person s age no longer tells you anything about his/her social position, marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29 - year - old university president or a 35 - year -old grandmother, or a 70 year - old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.

　Many people say, “I am much younger than my mother- or my father- was at my age. ”No one says“Act your age” any more. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.

50．The underlined word “monitor” in the passage means“ ________ ”.

　A. find　　　　　　　B. follow

　C. check　　　　　　 D. form

49．The first paragraph in this passage is mainly about ________ .

　A. how scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

　B. why scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

　C. where scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

　D. when scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

48．According to the passage, how many planets in our galaxy might be inhabitable?

　A. 5 billion．　　　　　 B. 10 billion.

　C. 15 billion.　　　　　　D. 200 billion

47．How many kinds of medicine are used for the children six years old?

　A. All of them．

　B. Three kinds of medicine.

　C. Two kinds of medicine.

D. Almost not any medicine.

No. 13

　For more than twenty years scientists have been searching for signs of life on other planets. Most of these searches have been done over the radio. The hope is that someone in outer space may be trying to get in touch with us. Scientists also have sent radio and television messages on spaceships traveling through space, on the chance that someone may be receptive to such messages.

　Scientists are using powerful radio telescopes to listen to signals from about 1, 000 stars, all within 100 light years of earth. In addition, they will scan(扫视)the entire sky to “listen” for radio messages from more distant stars. Using a computer, they will be able to monitor more than eight channels at one time. Scientists are looking for any signal they stands out from the background noise.

　Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy(银河星系), scientists find that five percent are like our sun. Perhaps half of them have a planet like earth. Such a planet would be a reasonable distance from the star for temperatures to be right for the evolution(进化)of life. Based on the inhabitable(that can be lived in)planets in our galaxy, most scientists agree that chances are likely that one or more of these planets support some life.

　However, many scientists wonder whether intelligent(有智力的)life exists on other planets. Some believe that twenty years of searching without any intelligible messages shows that no one is out there. They say that the evolution of intelligence comparable to ours is unlikely.

　Other scientists believe that our search hasn’t been long enough to rule out the possibility that intelligent life exists in our galaxy. Although our sun family is only about five billion years old, our galaxy is about 20 billion years old. In that time, some scientists think it is likely that civilization(文明)much more advanced than ours have developed. Perhaps these civilizations send us no signals; perhaps we have not recognized the signals they have sent us. If we hope to find intelligent life, these scientists believe that we have to keep looking.

46．When a person has a cold, he had better ________ .

　A. have about more than fourteen pills a day

　B. have twice a day

　C. have four times a day

　D. have nine pills a day