阅读理解People once widely believed that intelligent life existed on Mars. The 19th-century discovery of what appeared to be geometric designs cut across the surface was taken as evidence. The lines were thought to have been a system of canals that had been built to irrigate the surface. It is now clear that the "canals"—perhaps the most spectacular geologic features of Mars—are natural valleys where ancient rivers once flowed. Another fragmented idea concerns the planet''s seasonal changes in color. Once attributed to the rapid spread of some life-form, these shifts are now known to develop from the movement of fine dust in the atmosphere. By the close of the 20th century none of the many experiments conducted by spacecraft had ever found persuasive evidence of life. Nevertheless, speculation continued over the existence of some form of life, in either the present or past. In 1996 scientists discovered organic compounds and minerals in a meteorite (陨石), consisting of Martian rock, that collided with Earth around 11,000 B.C.. These compounds suggest that Mars may have been inhabited by organisms more than three billion years ago.

阅读理解Which of the following can we infer from the passage?

阅读理解Many people believe the glare from snow causes snow blindness. Yet, dark glasses or not they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snow-blindness, when exposed to several hours of "snow light". The United States Army has now determined that the glare from snow does not cause snow-blindness in troops in a snow-covered country. Rather, a man''s eyes frequently find nothing to focus on in a broad expanse of a snow-covered area. So his gaze continually shifts and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at. Finding nothing, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and the eyeballs become sore and the eye muscle aches. Nature balances this annoyance by producing more and more liquid which covers the eyeballs. The liquid covers the eyeballs in increasing quantity until vision blurs. And the result is total, even though temporary, snow-blindness. Experiments led the Army to a simple method of overcoming this problem. Scouts ahead of a main body of troops are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes, creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow-covered landscape. Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark-colored objects ahead on which they too can focus. The men following can then see something. Their gaze is arrested. Their eyes focus on a bush and having found something to see, stop searching through the snow-blanketed landscape. By focusing their attention on one object at a time, the man can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snow-blind or lost. In this way the problem of crossing a solid white area is overcome.

阅读理解The first ancient Olympics were held in 776 B.C.. The games got their name from Olympia, the Greek city where they took place. Like the Summer Olympics of today, the ancient Olympics were held every four years. Thousands of people from all over the Greek world came to watch. The main stadium held about 45,000 people. "We have accounts of visitors and pilgrims setting up tents all around the site," Lisa Cerrato of Tufts University said. During the first Olympics, there was only one competition — a 200-meter race. But over time the games grew to include wrestling, chariot racing boxing, and other sports. Women were not allowed to compete, but they had their own separate games. "The ancient athletes became celebrities (名人) , just like today. They often lived the rest of their lives being treated to free dinners." Cerrato said. "City-states even tried to steal away each other''s athletes by offering them various awards." The ancient Olympics existed until 393 AD. But the modern Olympics are still going strong.

阅读理解What tendency can we find from the chart?

阅读理解It can be concluded from the passage that ____________.

阅读理解According to the passage, will the love for physical exercise last long for Americans?

阅读理解A good modern newspaper is an extraordinary piece of reading. It is remarkable first for what it contains: the range of news from local crime to international politics, from sport to business to fashion to science, and the range of comment and special features (特定) as well, from editorial page to feature articles and interviews to criticism of books, art, theatre and music. A newspaper is even more remarkable for the way one reads it: never completely, never straight through, but always by jumping from here to there, in and out, glancing at one piece, reading another article all the way through, reading just a few paragraphs of the next. A good modern newspaper offers a variety to attract many different readers, but far more than any one reader is interested in. What brings this variety together in one place is its topicality (时事性), its immediate relation to what is happening in your world and your locality now. But immediacy and the speed of production that goes with it mean also that much of what appears in a newspaper has no more than transient (短暂的) value. For all these reasons, no two people really read the same paper: what each person does is to put together out of the pages of that day''s paper, his own selection and sequence, his own news paper. For all these reasons, reading newspapers efficiently, which means getting what you want from them without missing things you need but without wasting time, demands skill and self awareness as you modify and apply the techniques of reading.

阅读理解From the passage we can guess ______.

阅读理解Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage?

阅读理解The world''s population continues to grow. There now are about 4 billion of us on earth. That could reach 6 billion by the end of the century and 11 billion in another 75 years. Experts long have been concerned about such growth. Where will we find the food, water, jobs, houses, schools and health care for all these people? A major new study shows that the situation may be changing. A large and rapid drop in the world''s birth rate has taken place during the past 10 years. Families generally are smaller now than they were a few years ago. It is happening in both developing and industrial nations. Researchers said they found a number of reasons for this. More men and women are waiting longer to get married and are using birth control devices and methods to prevent or delay pregnancy. More women are going to school or working at jobs away form their homes instead of having children. And more governments, especially in developing nations, now support family planning programs to reduce population growth. China is one of the nations that has made great progress in reducing its population growth. China has already cut its rate of population growth by about one half since 1970. China now urges each family to have no more than one child. And it hopes to reach zero population growth, the number of births equaling the number of deaths, by the year 2000. Several nations in Europe already have fewer births than deaths. Experts said that these nations could face a serious shortage of workers in the future. And the persons who are working could face much higher taxes to help support the growing number of retired people.

阅读理解What characteristic can be found from the table?

阅读理解At the International Snow Sculpture Championships in Colorado on January 21, people will carve the white stuff into art. Planning begins months before the first snow falls. Teams submit applications and sketches of their sculptures in July. Then, a panel of judges chooses 14 teams for the championship. The rules are simple: Electric tools are not allowed. Teams carve snow with everything but the results are not entirely in the sculptors'' hands. "If it is extremely sunny and warm," De Wall, the competition''s director of public relations, explained. "We will erect old sails from sailboats into the air to block the sun from melting the sculptures." "If is snows," she continued, "teams have to work extra hard to scrape (刮掉) the new snow off their work." The judges look for creativity, technical skill, and overall impact on the viewer. The winner does not receive any money. "There is no cash prize because the event began with the concept of global camaraderie (情谊) ," De Wall explained. "Instead of focusing on money," she continued. "Winners revel (纵情) in the friendship, the art, and the work."

阅读理解According to a recent study, loneliness_____.

阅读理解Amtrak (美国铁路客运公司) was experiencing a downswing in riders hip (客运量) along the lines comprising its rail system. Of major concern to Amtrak and its advertising agency DDB Needham, were the long-distance western routes where ridership had been declining significantly. At one time, trains were the only practical way to cross the vast areas of the west. Trains were fast, very luxurious, and quite convenient compared to other forms of transportation existing at the time. However, times change and the automobile became America''s standard of convenience. Also, air travel had easily established itself as the fastest method of traveling great distances. Therefore, the task for DDB Needham was to encourage consumers to consider other aspects of train travel in order to change their attitudes and increase the likelihood that trains would be considered for travel in the west. Two portions of the total market were targeted: 1) anxious fliers—those concerned with safety, relaxation, and cleanliness and 2) travel-lovers—those viewing themselves as relaxed, casual, and interested in the travel experience as part of their vacation. The agency then developed a campaign that focused on travel experiences such as freedom, escape, relaxation, and enjoyment of the great western outdoors. It stressed experiences gained by using the trains and portrayed western train trips as wonderful adventures. Advertisements showed pictures of the beautiful scenery that could be enjoyed along some of the more famous western routes and emphasized the romantic names of some of these trains(Empire Builder, etc.).These ads were strategically placed among family-oriented TV shows and programs involving nature and America in order to most effectively reach target audiences. Results were impressive. The Empire Builder, which was focused on in one ad, enjoyed a 15 percent increase in profits on its Chicago to Seattle route.

阅读理解The flat offered in D __________ .

阅读理解The passage is mainly written to _______.

阅读理解The last paragraph implies that ______.