Friendship is one of the basic bonds (纽带...

NASA’s Mars detector (探测器), Opportunity, succeeded in finding signs that water once existed on the planet. Opportunity landed on Mars in January. Scientists now believe that the planet could once have supported life.

This discovery was chosen by Science, one of the world’s leading magazines, as the most important scientific achievement of 2004 last Friday.

“This little, wheeled, one-armed box went around another planet and has done something no human has ever managed,” according to Science. “It has discovered another place in the universe where life could once have existed.”

“Although we still can’t say that life could have existed in this environment, it is now certain that there was water on Mars,” said Steve Squyres, one of the scientists working on the Mars mission. The evidence comes from pictures and chemical readings taken by Opportunity. It includes marks on rocks like those caused by flowing water on Earth and salty chemicals like those found in dried-out sea-beds. Scientists said the new evidence proved beyond doubt that water has existed on Mars. But it is still unknown whether the water on Mars was like an ocean or justice.

While Opportunity has not found any signs of life, the presence of water means life is possible. “In everything we know about life on Earth, there is no example without liquid water,” Squyres said. “So water is important for the search for life on Mars.”

Researchers agree that a future mission (任务) should bring back physical samples (样品). But some scientists worry about the risk that this could introduce dangerous foreign creatures to Earth. “The problem here is how to get the samples back,” Squyres replied. “I think it is our responsibility to limit any risk.”

1.________ prove that water existed on Mars.

2.Which of the following is TURE according to the text?

3.How did scientists draw the conclusion that there was water on Mars?

4.It can be inferred that, if the creatures from Mars came to Earth, ________.

An idea that started in Seattle's public library has spread throughout America and beyond. The concept is simple: help to build a sense of community in a city by getting everyone to read the same book at the same time.

In addition to encouraging reading as a pursuit(追求) to be enjoyed by all, the program allows strangers to communicate by discussing the book on the bus, as well as promoting reading as an experience to be shared in families and schools. The idea came from Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl who launched(发起) the "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book " project in 1998. Her original program used author visits, study guides and book discussion groups to bring people together with a book, but the idea has since expanded to many other American cities, and even to Hong Kong.

In Chicago, the mayor(市长) appeared on television to announce the choice of To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book in the "One Book, One Chicago" program. As a result, reading clubs and neighborhood groups sprang up around the city. Across the US, stories emerged of parents and children reading to each other at night and strangers chatting away on the bus about plot and character.

The only problem arose in New York, where local readers could not decide on one book to represent the huge and diverse population. This may show that the idea works best in medium-sized cities or large towns, where a greater sense of unity can be achieved. Or it may show that New Yorkers rather missed the point, putting all their energy and passion into the choice of the book rather than discussion about a book itself.

Ultimately, as Nancy points out, the level of success is not measured by how many people read a book, but by how many people are enriched by the process, or have enjoyed speaking to someone with whom they would not otherwise have shared a word.

1.What is the purpose of the project launched by Nancy?

2.According to the passage, where would the project be more easily carried out?

3.The underlined words “shared a word” in Paragraph 5 probably mean      .

4.According to Nancy, the degree of success of the project is judged by       .

It was graduation day at the university where I work and a beautiful day quite unlike the first graduation I attended as a young professor．On that cold day years ago, as we watched the students walking into the hall, one of my colleagues turned to me and said, "Graduation will be one of the happiest and one of the saddest time of your life．" At my inquiry, he answered, "Because the students you have gotten to know have to leave．"

As years went by, my previous confusion about my colleague's words no longer existed．When I came across naughty students, I have had to rethink why I chose to be a teacher．It obviously isn't the money．Once a former computer science student of mine called me, asking me if I wanted to have a change．He was working at Nintendo Corporation．His salary was higher than my current one, though I have more education and have worked for over a decade．With my programming skills, he said he could get me hired．I thanked him, but declined his kind offer．

A few days before this current graduation, while working on final grades, I found a note a student had slipped in with her homework．She thanked me for being her teacher and said the things she had learned in my class—not about math, but about life—would be things she would remember long after the math skills had faded away．As I finished reading, I remembered why I had become a teacher．

Now, on this sunny graduation day, as I again observed the sea of blue hats and gowns, I did so with renewed dedication （奉献） and a deeper sense of satisfaction—I will always be grateful that I am a teacher．

1.Hearing his colleague's description of graduation for the first time, the author __________．

2.The computer science student called up the author because he___________．

3.The underlined part “blue hats and gowns” refers to___________．

4.The author wrote this passage to __________．

I moved to a new neighborhood two months ago. In the house with a large  21  across the road lived a taxi driver, a single parent with two school-age children. At the end of the day, he would  22  his taxi on the road. I  23  why he did not park it in the garage.

Then one day I learnt that he had another car in his garage. In the afternoon he would come home  24  work, leave his taxi and go out for his  25  affairs in his other car, not in his taxi. I felt it was  26 . 

I was curious to see his personal car but did not make it until I  27  to be outside one evening two weeks  28  ,when the garage door was  29   and he drove out in his “own” car: a Rolls-Royce（劳斯莱斯）! It shook me completely  30  I realized what that meant. You see, he was a taxi driver. But 31   inside, he saw himself as something else: a Rolls-Royce owner and a（n）32  . He drove others in his taxi but himself and his children in his Rolls-Royce. The world looked at his taxi and  33   him a taxi driver. But for him, a taxi was just something he drove for a living. Rolls-Royce was something he drove for a（n）34  . 

We go to bed every night and  35   every morning as parents or children, not as bankers, CEOs or professors. We go for a  36   as close friends or go for a vacation as a  37 . We love life as it is. Yet often, we base our entire happiness and success on how high we  38   the social ladder—how much bigger and better a  39 we have. And we ignore our Rolls-Royce, by keeping it dusty in our garage. We should focus more on  40  we are than what we do! 

Not until he called the secretary three times _________ that the manager went to an important meeting.