For a long time, humans have used technology (科技) to study the world around us, and Mars is the latest place we’re using machines to explore. Besides the earth, the “red planet” is seen, as the one place in our solar system most likely to have life.

Early last month, the first American robot, Spirit, landed on Mars without any problem. Opportunity, the second robot, landed on the planet more than a week ago. Scientists are very excited about these machines’ safe landing on Mars. It means that now we have an excellent chance to look for water and other signs of life. So far, the robots have found some stones that could show Mars was once a wet and warm planet.

But the trips made by Spirit and Opportunity were dangerous. Mars is often called the “death planet”, because in the past its environment has been unfriendly to the robot explorers. Before Spirit and Opportunity, nearly forty spaceships had been sent to Mars since the 1960s. Two-thirds of them failed. The first spaceship, Korabl, sent in 1962 by Russia was among them. It broke apart (分裂) near the earth.

1.For a long time humans think ________.

A. they can surely find life on Mars

B. there may be life on Mars

C. it’s too late for them to explore Mars now

D. Mars is the only planet that has life on it

2.The two robots ________.

A. have found out that it is warm and wet on Mars

B. were sent to Mars to find some stones

C. were the first two American robots that landed on Mars

D. are the only machines that have landed on Mars so far

3. The third paragraph mainly tell us ________.

A. it’s a very hard and dangerous trip for spaceships to Mars

B. two-thirds of the spaceships sent to Mars have failed

C. Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars successfully

D. Mars is called the “death planet”

Uncle Li and Uncle Wang are good friends. They live next to each other and their farms are both at the foot of the mountain. So they can help each other. But neither of them likes to use his head. They're both poor though they work hard. Most villagers have built new houses, but they still live in the low and broken houses. They never find out why.

Once Uncle Li went to town to buy some medicine for his wife. In the town he heard the apples in a city were expensive. He told Uncle Wang about it as soon as he went back. They decided to carry some apples to the city. They borrowed some money from their friends and bought nearly 1,000 kilograms of apples in the villages and carried them to the city on a tractor. Bad luck! A lot of apples has already been carried there when they arrived. A few days later they had to sell them at a low price (价格)。They felt unhappy and returned to their village.

"I can't understand why we sustained (蒙受) losses in business while others always profit (盈利)" Uncle Li asked one day.

"The tractor was too small " Uncle Wang said without thinking. "We'll carry more apples on a truck next time!"

"I agree!" said Uncle Li. "How foolish (傻的) we were !"

1. Uncle Li and Uncle Wang live in the low and broken houses because __________.

A. they hope to save money

B. they're both poor

C. their farms are at the foot of the mountain

D. they're not far from their farms

2.The two farmers had to sell their apples at a low price because ________.

A. theirs weren't as good as the others’

B. theirs were much less than the others'

C. a lot of apples had been already carried to the city

D. they forgot to carry them on a truck

3.Which of the following is true?

A. The two farmers found out why they were poor.

B. The two farmers will soon get rich.

C. Neither of the farmers is clever.

D. The two farmers decided to buy a truck.

Is the art of conversation dying? The other day, my wife     two teenage children did something we haven't        for ages. It didn't require the Internet, a TV screen, batteries or anything else for that matter. But we all       it so much we're thinking of doing it again sometime.

We had a conversation. The kind of real, live conversation that was       when I was growing up, but which seems all too rare these days. Today we have chat rooms, text messages, e-mails but we seem to be losing the         of communicating face-to-face. We all know         young people are out on a date(约会)these days, they spend most of that time       their mobile phones.  And teenagers nowadays seem to          communicating with their friends by sending text messages rather than actually       to them.

If we carry on like this, in the future, we'll lose the use of our         . What do you think? E-mail me, and who knows? Maybe we could even have a real conversation about it!

1.A. and        B.or         C.but        D.after

2.A. made        B.known    C.done      D.seen

3.A. acted        B.blamed    C.decided  D.enjoyed

4.A.common     B.careful     C.extra      D.enough

5.A.name        B.art         C.attention   D.aim

6.A. because     B.how       C.when       D.unless

7.A. buying      B.collccting   C.repairing  D.answering

8.A.dislike      B.prefer     C.admire     D.believe

9.A.writing      B.introducing C.speaking  D.hurrying

10.A. eyes      B.voices       C.mouths     D.hands

---Would you mind turning off the TV?

----____________, I am listening to an important report.

A. Of course not      B. No, not at all

C. I’m afraid not       D. Yes, I do

----Would you please ______ the paper for me and see if there are any obvious mistakes?

-----Of course I will.

A. look around  B. look through

C. look up   D. look into

The Greens used to live in London, but they ___________ in Beijing so far.

A. are used to living                      B. are used to live

C. have been used to living                D. have been used to live

My father ___________________________ when he was in his twenties.

A. would rather play basketball than to sing

B. would rather play basketball to singing

C. prefers basketball to football

D. preferred playing basketball to singing

It is dangerous ____ you  ______ a close look at the tiger in the zoo.

A. for , to have  B. for you, take

C. of  ,to have  D. of  , take

Take the paper with you. The details we ought to pay attention to ________ on it already.

A. writing          B. being written

C. are written        D. have written

This problem worried her so much that she didn’t know ___________ with it..

A. what she can do          B. what she could deal

C.  how to do             D. how to deal