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第三部分：阅读理解（共两节，40分）
A
Year of Giving
Yesterday I started the Year of Giving, my first day of a year-long journey into exploring the act of giving and the meaning of charity. I chose December 15 as the starting date, which marked three years since my mother died from heart disease. She was one of the most generous people that I have ever known. She always thought of others first and certainly serves as an inspiration to me. I had a rather busy day yesterday, ironic (具有讽刺意义的) for someone who is unemployed right now. In the morning I went to the gym, and unsuccessfully got the phone call from the unemployment office for some job searching. Before I knew it, it was noon. I grabbed a quick lunch and rushed down to a meeting. On my way to Connecticut, I wondered if I would see someone that I would feel forced to give my first $ 10 to. I was running late and decided to do it afterwards.
After the meeting I had about half an hour to find the first person of my Year of Giving! I decided to check out DuPont Circle. I had met a guy there named Jerry once and thought he would willing accept my $ 10. He wasn’t there, but I did see a man sitting by himself who looked really lonely, so I approached him. Now I had to figure out what I was going to say, I think I said something like, “Hi, can I sit down here?” “I would like to know if I could give you $ 10?” He asked me to repeat what I had said, I did, then he looked at me funny, got up and left.
I then started walking south where I spotted a man standing by the bus stop on Connecticut Ave. He appeared to be in his 60s. I don’t know what drew me to him, but I thought I would make my second attempt. I was a bit nervous and asked him which bus came by that stop. Then I explained that I was starting a year-long project to give $ 10 to someone every day and that I wanted to give my $ 10 for today to him. The gentleman, I later found out that his name was Ed, responded without hesitation that he could not accept my offer and that there were many people more deserving the money than him. This was exactly one of the things that I hoped would happen. People would think of others before themselves.
56. The author set the starting date on December 15 to ____.
A.help the charity B. remember his mother
C. make an explosion D. fulfill a wish if his mum
57. In the author’s first attempt to give away the money, ____.
A. he was considered ridiculous B. he hesitated for a long time
C. he was forced to donate the money D. he had no time to take action
58. In the author’s second attempt, the gentleman refused his offer because ____.
A. he didn’t need other’s help B. he thought more for others
C. he didn’t care about money D. he wanted to get more money
59. We can refer that the author was inspired by ____.
A. true friendship B. his own kindness
C. generous donations D. human’s good nature
B
Mars on Earth
Devon Islander has always been a cold and uninhabited(无人居住的) place in the Canadian Arctic. Day after day there are high winds and the temperature is below freezing. But for the first time, despite the terrible weather conditions .Devon Islander is the new home for a group of explorers from NASA. They are living here for a months in order to train and learn how to live and work on Mars. The group’s members come from various backgrounds and nationalities, but they all have the same purpose: to find out how people can live on Mars in the future.
They have chosen Devon Islander because the environment and landscape is similar in many ways to Mars. The surface is freezing cold and the ground is rough. However, there are some differences on Mars, where the atmosphere is poisonous to breathe, Devon
Islander is easier to travel to and it has its own dangers that you won’t find on Mars. For example, you might meet a hungry polar bear on Devon Islander!
One thing the learn wants to develop is suitable clothing for Mars. This includes a space suit. The suit they are testing at the moment is strong enough but it’s too difficult and tiring. In addition, people will need to do experiment on Mars while wearing the suit so they have to be able to move around easily. One team member, Andy Overbeeke, specializes in space suit engineering. He explains: “You have to think about what they’re really going to operate in.”
Another part of daily life on Mars will be meals and food. Creating a new home on Mars requires a lot of food. So the big question is: can you grow plants in order to survive? Scientists believe that growing plants on Mars might be possible. Mars and Earth have many similarities. They both have about the same amount of dry land and a 24-hour day. However, the atmosphere on Mars is totally different, so Canadian scientist Alain Berinstain is attempting to grow plants in a special greenhouse that you could also build on Mars. The greenhouse needs to run 365 days a year, so it uses a combination of solar energy and wind power.
People living on Mars will also want their own transportation. For this, the team on Devon Island have built the “Martian Rover”. It’s a huge heavy vehicle that can travel over rocks and rough terrain. This kind of testing takes many days but so far the work has been valuable and effective. As a result, the whole team now believes their work is crucial and that it’s possible for humans to land on the planet Mars and create a home there. Addy Overbeeke adds, “We know that it’s man’s destiny to go out and do space exploration. It’s always time to think about what you want to do in the future.”
60. The explorers are living on Devon Island to ____.
A. receive a training in astronomy
B. set up an advanced research lab
C. learn how to live and work on Mars
D. make a living in an uninhabited land
61. To keep food supply on Mars, people should ____.
A. create a new home B. improve the atmosphere
C. build special greenhouses D. reduce the area of dry land
62. According to the passage, we know that ____.
A. humans may live on Mars in the future
B. Martian Rover has failed to stand the test
C. Mars and Devon Island have the same soil condition
D. scientists have mastered the method to grow plants on Mars
