[A]Theseissuescutrightacrosstraditionalreligiousdogma.Manypeopleclingtothebeliefthattheoriginofliferequiredauniquedivineact.ButiflifeonEarthisnotunique,thecaseforamiraculousoriginwouldbeundermined.ThediscoveryofevenahumblebacteriumonMars,ifitcouldbeshowntohavearisenindependentlyfromEarthlifewouldsupporttheviewthatlifeemergesnaturally.[B]Contrarytopopularbelief,speculationthatwearenotaloneintheuniverseisasoldasphilosophyitself.TheessentialstepsinthereasoningwerebasedontheatomictheoryoftheancientGreekphilosopherDemocritus.First,thelawsofnatureareuniversal.Second,thereisnothingspecialorprivilegedaboutEarth.Finally,ifsomethingispossible,naturetendstomakeithappen.Philosophyisonething,fillinginthephysicaldetailsisanother.Althoughastronomersincreasinglysuspectthatbio-friendlyplanetsmaybeabundantintheuniverse,thechemicalstepsleadingtoliferemainlargelymysterious.[C]Thereis,however,acontraryview—onethatisgainingstrengthanddirectlychallengesorthodoxbiology.Itisthatcomplexitycanemergespontaneouslythroughaprocessofself-organization.Ifmatterandenergyhaveaninbuilttendencytoamplifyandchannelorganizedcomplexity,theoddsagainsttheformationoflifeandthesubsequentevolutionofintelligencecouldbedrasticallyshortened.Therelevanceofself-organizationtobiologyremainshotlydebated.Itsuggests,however,thatalthoughtheuniverseasawholemaybedying,anopposite,progressivetrendmayalsoexistasafundamentalpropertyofnature.Theemergenceofextraterrestriallife,particularlyintelligentlife,isakeytestfortheserivalparadigms[D]Similarreasoningappliestoevolution.Accordingtotheorthodoxview,Darwinianselectionisutterlyblind.Anyimpressionthatthetransitionfrommicrobestomanrepresentsprogressispurechauvinismofourpart.Thepathofevolutionismerelyarandomwalkthroughtherealmofpossibilities.Ifthisisright,therecanbenodirectionality,noinnatedriveforward;inparticular,nopushtowardconsciousnessandintelligence.ShouldEarthbestruckbyanasteroid,destroyingallhigherlife-forms,intelligentbeings,stilllesshumanoids,wouldalmostcertainlynotarisenexttimearound.[E]Traditionally,biologistsbelievedthatlifeisafreak—theresultofazillion-to-oneaccidentalconcatenationofmolecules.Itfollowsthatthelikelihoodofitshappeningagainelsewhereinthecosmosisinfinitesimal.Thisviewpointderivesfromthesecondlawofthermodynamics,whichpredictsthattheuniverseisdying—slowlyandinexorablydegeneratingtowardastateoftotalchaos.Lifestumblesacrossthistrendonlybecauseitisapurestatisticalluck.[F]Historically,theRomanCatholicchurchregardedanydiscussionofalienlifeasheresy.SpeculatingaboutotherinhabitedworldswasonereasonphilosopherGiordanoBrunowasburnedatthestakein1600.BeliefthatmankindhasaspecialrelationshipwithGodiscentraltothemonotheisticreligions.Theexistenceofalienbeings,especiallyiftheywerefurtheradvancedthanhumansintellectuallyandspiritually,woulddisruptthiscozyview.[G]Thediscoveryoflifebeyondearthwouldtransformnotonlyoursciencebutalsoourreligions,ourbeliefsystemsandourentireworldview.Forinasense,thesearchforextraterrestriallifeisreallyasearchforourselves—whoweareandwhatourplaceisinthegrandsweepofthecosmos.

You are going to read a list of headings and a text about the Deep Impact by NASA. Choose the most suitable heading from the list for each numbered paragraph.A. Revelation of the nature of cometsB. A perfect representative of the cometsC. Hoping for the bestD. Right time and right place for the ImpactE. What to expect of this Deep Impact?F. Mystery in the heavens On Monday at 1:52 a.m. ET, a probe deployed by a NASA spacecraft 83 million miles from home will smash at 23,000 mph into an ancient comet the size of Manhattan, blasting a hole perhaps 14 stories deep. (41)______. Launched in January, NASA"s $333 million Deep Impact mission is designed to answer questions that scientists have long had about comets, the ominous icebergs of space. This is the first time any space agency has staged such a deliberate crash. Scientists hope images transmitted by the probe and its mother ship will tell them about conditions in the early solar system, when comets and planets, including Earth, were formed. The team hopes to release photos of the impact as soon as they are received from the craft. NASA and observatories across the nation will be releasing webcasts. (42)______. At the very least, NASA says, knowing how deep the probe dives into the comet could settle the debate over whether comets are compact ice cubes or porous snow cones. "We need to dig as deep a hole as possible," says mission science Chief Michael A"Hearn of the University of Maryland. Until now, the closest scientists have come to a comet was when NASA"s Stardust mission passed within 167 miles of the comet Wild 2 last year, collecting comet dust that is bound for a return to Earth in January. The most famous date with a comet occurred when an international spacecraft flotilla greeted Halley"s Comet in 1986. But these quick looks examined only the comets" dust and surface. (43)______. To the ancients, comets were harbingers of doom, celestial intruders on the perfection of the heavens that presaged disaster. Modern astronomers have looked on them more favorably, at least since Edmond Halley"s celebrated 1705 prediction of the return of Halley"s Comet in 1758 and every 75 years thereafter. Today, scientists believe Tempel 1 (named for Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel, who first spotted it in 1867 while searching for comets in the sky over Marseilles, France) and other comets are windows to the earliest days of the solar system, 4.6 billion years ago, when planets formed from the dust disk surrounding the infant sum (44)______. Deep Impact"s copper-plated "impactor"—a 39-inch long, 820-pound beer-barrel-shaped probe—will be "run over like a penny on a train track" when it crashes, A"Hearn says. The impactor is equipped with a navigation system to make sure it smacks into the comet in the right location for the flyby craft"s cameras. On Sunday, the flyby spacecraft will release the probe. Twelve minutes later, it will beat a hasty retreat with a maneuver aimed at allowing a close flyby, from 5,348 miles away, with cameras pointed. Fourteen minutes after the impact, the flyby spacecraft will scoot to within a mere 310 miles for a close-up of the damage, (45)______. Ideally, everything will line up, and the flyby spacecraft will take images of the crater caused by the impact. It will go into a "shielded" mode as ice and dust batter the craft, then emerge to take more pictures. "The realistic worst case is hitting (the comet) but not having the flyby in the right place," A"Hearn says. "Basically, we have a bullet trying to hit a second bullet with a third bullet in the right place at the right time to watch, I"d love to have a joystick(操纵杆) to control the impactor." Planetary scientists have "no idea" what sort of crater will result, McFadden says. Predictions range from a deep but skinny shaft driven into a porous snow cone to a football- stadium-sized excavation in a hard-packed ice ball. But astronomers should have their answer shortly after impact, which should settle some questions about the comet"s crust and interior. Analysis of the chemistry of that interior, based on the light spectra given off in the impact"s aftermath, could take much longer.

You are supposed to invite Dr. King to make a speech about the future development of computer science at the annual conference of your department. Write a letter to Mr. King to 1) invite him on behalf of your department, 2) tell him the time and place of the conference, and 3) promise to give him further details later. You should write about 100 words neatly. Do not sign your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. You do not need to write the address.

You are required to write a memorandum on behalf of the Students" Union, encouraging all the students and teachers on your campus to make donations for people in flooded regions of our country. In your writing, you should cover the following points: 1) difficulties confronting people in flooded areas, 2) appeals to the readers, and 3) time and place to collect the donations. You should write about 100 words.

Studythefollowingpicturecarefullyandwriteanessayofabout160—200words.Youressaymustbewrittenclearly.Youressayshouldmeettherequirementsbelow:1.Describethedrawingandinterpretitsmeaning,2.Andpointoutitsimplicationsinourlife.

BPart CDirections: Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese./B

How does literary style evolve? Surprisingly, 【C1】______lie in words with seemingly little meaning, such as "to" and "that". By analysing【C2】______writers use such "content-free" words, Daniel Rockmore and colleagues at Dartmouth College in Hanover were able to conduct the first, large-scale style analysis of literature. Content-free words are【C3】______of writing style, Rockmore says. While two authors might use the【C4】______content words to describe a similar event, they will use content-free words to【C5】______their content words in a different way. Using the Project Gutenberg digital library, Rockmore's team analysed 7733 English language works written since 1550,【C6】______how often and in what【C7】______content-free words appeared. As you might expect, they found that writers were【C8】______influenced by their predecessors. They also found that as the number of literature works grew, the influence of older works【C9】______. Authors in the【C10】______periods wrote in a very similar way to one another, the researchers found, probably because they all read the same【C11】______body of literature. But approaching the modern era,【C12】______more people were writing and more works were【C13】______from many eras and numerous styles, authors' styles were still very similar to those of their【C14】______contemporaries. "It's as if they find dialects in time," says Alex Bentley. "Content is what makes us【C15】______, but content-free words put us in different【C16】______." 【C17】______writers should be most influenced by their contemporaries【C18】______the great works of the past is interesting, Rockmore says, because it challenges the【C19】______of "classic" literature. When it comes to style【C20】______, perhaps we aren't so strongly influenced by the classics after all.

You are going to take a very important English test in a few months and are in bad need of some reference books. Write a letter to the sales department of a bookshop to ask for 1) detailed information about the books you want; 2) methods of payment; 3) time and way of delivery. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. You do not have to write the address.

Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United Nations, said he wanted next week"s summit of 170-plus heads of state and government in New York to be another "San Francisco moment"—a chance to recapture the spirit of renewal and optimism that accompanied the birth of the United Nations in California 60 years ago. He is not likely to get his way. After more than a year of investigation, Paul Volcker, a former head of America"s Federal Reserve, chose this of all weeks to publish his report on what went wrong with the UN"s oil-for-food programme in Iraq. It does not make pretty reading. The programme achieved its basic aim, which was to allow an Iraq under sanctions to sell some oil so that some of the basic food and medical needs of its people could still be met. But Mr. Volcker"s team confirms that the programme was riddled with waste, inefficiency and corruption, including among UN staff at head quarters as well as in the field. As a result, Saddam Hussein"s regime succeeded in squeezing a total illicit income of some $10 billion from the scheme, about $8 billion from smuggling and the rest from surcharges and kickbacks. Ever since the Security Council failed to endorse the war against Iraq, Mr. Annan"s critics have been calling for him to resign or be sacked for his part in the oil-for-food programme. They have had two arguments. One is that he is himself guilty of malfeasance. The other is that even if he isn"t, he was the man at the top and should therefore take the blame for a scandal that unfolded on his watch. On both counts, a case can be made that the Volcker report offers him an escape. On the first count, Mr. Volcker has found no evidence at all that the secretary-general himself did anything corrupt, even though several people close to him plainly did. On the second, the report does not say whether Mr. Annan should go for having presided over such chaos and venality. It does say that corruption down the line reflected the absence of "a strong organizational ethic" that should have permeated the leadership. But it also argues that Mr. Annan was not responsible for everything that went wrong. Though nominally the UN"s administrative boss, neither he nor his predecessors were chosen for managerial skills or provided with the tools—such as the ability to hire and fire without political interference—to be effective managers. In the case of oil-for-food, the Security Council tried to keep control through a sanctions committee of national diplomats. Having neither the Security Council nor the secretariat in clear command was a recipe for "the evasion of responsibility at all levels". If the UN were a company whose boss had made a hash of things, The Economist would call for the top man"s head. Removing a boss is a good way for shareholders to show that they want change. But since the UN is not a firm, sacking Mr. Annan over the oil-for-food programme would send the wrong signal: that it is his person and not—as the Volcker report stresses—the structure of the organization that is at the root of the problem. And because the UN is a political organization, ousting Mr. Annan would send a political signal, too. It would be read by many UN members as a punishment inflicted on the UN by America"s more strident Republicans as revenge for the Security Council"s failure to support the British and American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Write a letter to invite your best friend Jane to take part in your mother"s 60-year-old birthday and inform her of your arrangement. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Jane, ________ You should write about 100 words and do not sign your own name, using "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

Louis Armstrong sang, "When you"re smiling, the whole world smiles with you." Romantics everywhere may be surprised to learn that psychological research has proven this sentiment to be true—merely seeing a smile(or a frown, for that matter)will activate the muscles in our face that make that expression, even if we are unaware of it. Now, according to a new study in Psychological Science, simply reading certain words may also have the same effect. Psychologists Francesco Foroni from VU University Amsterdam and Gun R. Semin from the University of Utrecht conducted two experiments to see if emotion language has an influence on facial muscle activity. In the first experiment, a group of students read a series of emotion verbs(e.g., "to smile," "to cry")and adjectives(e.g., "funny," "frustrating")on a monitor, while the activity of their zygomatic major(the muscle responsible for smiles)and corrugator supercilii(which causes frowns)muscles were measured. The results showed that reading action verbs activated the corresponding muscles. For example, "to laugh" resulted in activation of the zygomatic major muscle, but did not cause any response in the muscles responsible for frowning. Interestingly, when presented with the emotion adjectives like "funny" or "frustrating" the volunteers demonstrated much lower muscle activation compared to their reactions to emotion verbs. The researchers note that muscle activity is "induced in the reader when reading verbs representing facial expressions of emotion." Can this natural bodily reaction affect our judgments? In another experiment, volunteers watched a series of cartoons and were unconsciously shown emotion verbs and adjectives after each one. They were then asked to rate how funny they thought the cartoons were. Half of the participants held a pen with their lips, to prevent them from smiling, while the remaining participants did not have their muscle movement blocked. The results reveal that even when emotion verbs are presented unconsciously, they are able to influence judgment—volunteers found cartoons to be funnier when they were preceded by smiling verbs than if they were preceded by frowning-related verbs. However, this effect only occurred in the volunteers who were able to smile—volunteers who had muscle movement blocked did not show this relationship between emotion verbs and how funny they judged the cartoons as being. The results of these experiments reveal that simply reading emotion verbs activates specific facial muscles and can influence judgments we make. The researchers note these findings suggest that "language is not merely symbolic, but also somatic ," and they conclude that "these experiments provide an important bridge between research on the neurobiological basis of language and related behavioral research."

A new study finds that blacks on death row【1】of killing whites are more likely to be executed than whites who kill minorities. It also concludes that blacks who kill【2】minorities are【3】likely to be executed than blacks who kill whites. For example, there is more than a twofold greater risk that an African-American who killed a white will be executed than a white person who kills a【4】victim. A Hispanic is at least 1.4【5】more likely to be executed【6】such an offender kills a white. The researchers of the study believe that there are two【7】explanations.. First, prosecutors often win【8】office if they win well-publicized cases. When a black kills a white, such killings gets more【9】and this idea can be【10】by many famous cases. 【11】, the court judges at the state level are often【12】to elections, called retention elections. Retention election or judicial retention within the United States court system, is a periodic process, in which the voter【13】approval or disapproval for the judges presently【14】their position, and a judge can be removed from the position if the【15】of the citizens vote him or her out. Just as the researchers【16】out, death penalty is【17】political. The findings of the study, in short, show that American justice systems clearly【18】white lives more than those of blacks or Hispanics. The researchers also say their findings【19】serious doubts about【20】that the U.S. criminal justice system is colorblind.

Success, it is often said, has many fathers—and one of the many fathers of computing, that most successful of industries, was Charles Babbage, a 19th-century British mathematician. Exasperated by errors in the mathematical tables that were widely used as calculation aids at the time, Babbage dreamed of building a mechanical engine that could produce flawless tables automatically. But his attempts to make such a machine in the 1920s failed, and the significance of his work was only rediscovered this century. Next year, at last, the first set of printed tables should emerge from a calculating "difference engine" built to Babbage"s design. Babbage will have been vindicated. But the realization of his dream will also underscore the extent to which he was a man born ahead of his time. The effort to prove that Babbage"s designs were logically and practically sound began in 1985, when a team of researchers at the Science Museum in London set out to build a difference engine in time for the 200th anniversary of Babbage"s birth in 1992. The team, led by the museum"s curator of computing, Doron Swade, constructed a monstrous device of bronze, iron and steel. It was 11 feet long, seven feet tall, weighed three tons, cost around $500 000 and took a year to piece together. And it worked perfectly, cranking out successive values of seventh-order polynomial equations to 31 significant figures. But it was incomplete. To save money, an entire section of the machine, the printer, was omitted. To Babbage, the printer was a vital part of design. Even if the engine produced the correct answers, there was still the risk that a transcription or typesetting error would result in the finished mathematical tables being inaccurate. The only way to guarantee error-free tables was to automate the printing process as well. So his plans included specifications for a printer almost as complicated as the calculating engine itself, with adjustable margins, two separate fonts, and the ability to print in two, three or four columns. In January, after years of searching for a sponsor for the printer, the Science Museum announced that a backer had been found. Nathan Myhrvold, the chief technology officer at Microsoft, agreed to pay for its construction (which is expected to cost $373,000 with one proviso: that the Science Museum team would build him an identical calculating engine and printer to decorate his new home on Lake Washington, near Seattle). Construction of the printer will begin—in full view of the public—at the Science Museum later this month. The full machine will be completed next year. It is a nice irony that Babbage"s plans should be realized only thanks to an infusion of cash from a man who got rich in the computer revolution that Babbage helped to foment. More striking still, even using 20th-century manufacturing technology the engine will have cost over $830 000 to build. Allowing for inflation, this is roughly a third of what it might have cost to build in Babbage"s day-in contrast to the cost of electronic-computer technology, which halves in price every 18 months. That suggests that, even had Babbage succeeded, a Victorian computer revolution based on mechanical technology would not necessarily have followed.

Stinking buses, their passengers pale and tired, jam the crowded streets. Drivers shout at one another and honk their horns. Smog smarts the eyes and chokes the senses. The scene is Athens at rush hour. The city of Plato and Pericles is in a sorry state of affairs, built without a plan, lacking even adequate sewerage facilities, hemmed in by mountains and the sea, its 135 square miles crammed with 3.7 million people. Even Athens" ruins are in ruin: sulfur dioxide eats away at the marble of the Parthenon and other treasures on the Acropolis. As Greek Premier Constantine Karamanlis has said, "The only solution for Athens would be to demolish half of it and start all over again". So great has been the population flow toward the city that entire hinterland villages stand vacant or nearly so. About 120,000 people from outlying provinces move to Athens every year, with the result that 40% of Greece"s citizenry are now packed into the capital. The migrants come for the few available jobs, which are usually no better than the ones they fled. At the current rate of migration, Athens by the year 2000 will have a population of 6.5 million, more than half the nation. Aside from overcrowding and poor public transport, the biggest problems confronting Athenians are noise and pollution. A government study concluded that Athens was the noisiest city in the world. Smog is almost at killing levels: 180,300mg of sulfur dioxide per cubic meter of air, or up to four times the level that the World Health Organization considers safe. Nearly half the pollution comes from cars. Despite high prices for vehicles and fuel ($2.95 per gallon), nearly 100,000 automobiles are sold in Greece each year; 3,000 driver"s licenses are issued in Athens monthly. After decades of neglect, Athens is at last getting some attention. In March a committee of representatives from all major public service ministries met to discuss a plan to unclog the city, make it livable and clean up its environment. A save-Athens ministry, which will soon begin functioning, will propose heavy taxes to discourage in-migration, a minimum of $5 billion in public spending for Athens alone, and other projects for the countryside to encourage residents to stay out. A master plan that will move many government offices to the city"s fringes is already in the works. Meanwhile, more Greeks keep moving into Athens. With few parks and precious few oxygen-producing plants, the city and its citizens are literally suffocating.

All objects of human reason or inquiry may naturally be divided into two kinds, to wit, relations of ideas, and matters of fact. (46) Of the first kind are the sciences of geometry, algebra, and arithmetic; and in short, every affirmation which is either intuitively or demonstratively certain. That the square of the hypothenuse is equal to the squares of the two sides, is a proposition which expresses a relation between these figures. (47) Propositions of this kind are discoverable by the mere operation of thought, without dependence on what is anywhere existent in the universe. Though there never were a circle or triangle in nature, the truths demonstrated by Euclid would forever retain their certainty and evidence. Matters of fact, which are the second objects of human reason, are not ascertained in the same manner; nor is our evidence of their truth, however great, of a like nature with the foregoing. The contrary of every matter of fact is still possible; because it can never imply a contradiction, and is conceived by the mind with the same facility and distinctness, as if ever so conformable to reality. (48) That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction than the affirmation, that it will rise. We should in vain, therefore, attempt to demonstrate its falsehood. Were it demonstratively false, it would imply a contradiction, and could never he distinctly conceived by the mind. It may, therefore, be a subject worthy of curiosity, to inquire what is the nature of that evidence which assures us of any real existence ad matter of fact, beyond the present testimony of our senses, or the records of our memory. (49) This part of philosophy, it is observable, has been little cultivated, either by the ancients or moderns; and therefore our doubts and errors, in the prosecution of so important an inquiry, may be the more excusable; while we march through such difficult paths without any guide or direction. (50) They may even prove useful, By exciting curiosity, and destroying that implicit faith and security, which is the poison of all reasoning and free inquiry. The discovery of defects in the common philosophy, if any such there be, will not, I presume, be a discouragement, but rather an incitement, as is usual, to attempt something more full and satisfactory than has yet been proposed to the public.

Studythefollowingsetofbarchartscarefullyandwriteacomposition.Yourcompositionshouldcovermostoftheinformationprovidedandmeettherequirementsbelow:1)根据提示概述下列4幅图；2)分析中国钢产量迅速增长的原因；3)预测世界钢产量的前景。Youshouldwriteabout160—200wordsneatly.提示：欧洲经济委员会公布了最新数字：1996年世界钢产量约为7.5亿吨，比1995年下降0.2%。中国1996年钢产量突破一亿吨大关，从而超过日本成为世界上最大的产钢国。

You are going to read an article which is followed by a list of examples or headings. Choose the most suitable one from the list A-F for each numbered position(41-45). There may be certain extra which you do not need to use. (10 points) (41) What do you need in order to be a record breaker? Sports experts agree that the single most important factor in creating a champion is genetic make-up: the possession of genes that impart an innate ability to stride, leap, burn energy efficiently or suck lots of oxygen from the air. The great athletes are genuine statistical outliers...physiological freaks, says sports scientist Craig Sharp of Brunel University in Middlesex, UK. (42) How will we find or create the next generation of champion athletes? The most likely way is to widen our search to find someone with a genetic make-up that allows him or her to surpass other athletes. When East African runners began competing internationally, for example, it became apparent that their light frames make them uniquely economical in their use of energy. (43) Have we reached the limit of human performance? No, but records are being broken by ever narrower margins. When statisticians plot how the best performance in a given event changes over time, they see the graph leveling off. And the shorter the event, the smaller are the slivers of time being shaved off. So although Paula Radcliffe has sliced whole seconds off the marathon world record, sprinters are improving by mere hundredths of a second. (44) Will we ever reach an absolute limit? Theoretically, an absolute time to how, far or fast the human body can go does, but "where it is we don"t know," says Millar. Perhaps the only way we can recognize the ultimate performance will be retrospectively, after a record has stood for years. (45) In future, will athletes simply test their limits in, new ways? As records become harder and harder to break, we may start comparing athletes by other standards, such as the number of gold medals or their performance over time. Lance Armstrong"s six consecutive wins in the Tour de France, for example, may never be surpassed." The elite might be defined by how many times they win", says Millar.A. Some experts have tried to calculate the absolute limit of performance. They take the highest value fob each crucial physiological factor ever recorded in an athlete, such as the maximum oxygen uptake, the greatest efficiency with which energy is burned and the best stamina. Then they figure out how fast someone might go if these were all combined in one body. By these calculations, we may one day see a sub-two hour marathon or even a three-and-a-half-minute mile. But the probability of finding someone with these exceptional abilities is pretty low.B. On top of this, however, training and technique are vital. They allow athletes to sculpt muscles, for example, so that they burn less energy while achieving the same speeds as others. State-of-the-art technology can be essential, particularly in sports that rely on specialized equipment, such as tennis or pole vaulting. Chance also plays a part: cool temperatures or wind might add that extra push for a runner or long jumper. Ultimately, a record-breaking performance depends on bringing all of these factors together on the right day.C. Not every sport can be accurately measured, of course. Running and jumping can be quantified with stick or stopwatch, but football and tennis performances are much harder to gauge.D. Psychology is vital. Athletes need enormous focus and drive to win. Many people think that the main barrier to breaking the four-minute mile was a psychological one: once Roger Bannister did it in 1954, several others clocked sub-four-minute times shortly afterwards. Sometimes breaking a record involves taking a risk in an event, such as breaking from the pack with a full lap to go, and that takes a certain state.E. Once scientists have identified the genes that confer a genetic advantage in sport, athletes might also be screened to pick out the ones with most genetic potential. "There are all sorts of people out there, and we don"t know what they can do", says exercise and sports scientist Carl Foster of the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse. Because the rewards are growing and competition is becoming more intense, athletes are being driven more and more towards drugs to gain the edge. Experts predict that the next generation of champions will include many loped ones. They are particularly fearful of "gene doping" in which athletes boost the performance of key genes.F. Athletes might also invent new sports to test themselves. The emergence of the triathlon in the 1970s was fuelled by runners, swimmers and cyclists looking for a new challenge; it made its debut as an Olympic event in 2000.

【F1】 Stephen Hawking, who spent his career decoding the universe and even experienced weightlessness, is urging the continuation of space exploration—for humanity' s sake. 【F2】 The 71-year-old Hawking said he did not think humans would survive another 1, 000 years "without escaping beyond our fragile planet." The British cosmologist made the remarks Tuesday before an audience of doctors, nurses and employees at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he toured a stem cell laboratory that's focused on trying to slow the progression of Lou Gehrig's disease. Hawking was diagnosed with the neurological disorder 50 years ago while a student at Cambridge University.【F3】 He recalled how he became depressed and initially didn't see a point in finishing his doctorate. But he continued to delve into his studies. "If you understand how the universe operates, you control it in a way," he said. Renowned for his work on black holes and the origins of the cosmos, Hawking is famous for bringing esoteric physics concepts to the masses through his best-selling books, including "A Brief History of Time," which sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Hawking titled his hourlong lecture to Cedars-Sinai employees "A Brief History of Mine." Hawking has survived longer than most people with Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control the muscles.【F4】 People gradually have more and more trouble breathing and moving as muscles weaken and waste away. There's no cure and no way to reverse the disease's progression. Few people with ALS live longer than a decade. Hawking receives around-the-clock care, can only communicate by twitching his cheek, and relies on a computer mounted to his wheelchair to convey his thoughts in a distinctive robotic monotone. Despite his diagnosis, Hawking has remained active. In 2007, he floated like an astronaut on an aircraft that creates weightlessness by making parabolic dives.【F5】 Hawking rattled off nuggets of advice: Look up at the stars and not down at your feet, be curious. "However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at," he said. Dr. Robert Baloh, director of Cedars-Sinai's ALS program who invited Hawking, said he had no explanation for the physicist's longevity. Baloh said he has treated patients who lived for 10 years or more. "But 50 years is unusual, to say the least," he said.

BSection I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D./B

What makes a great high school? Americans think a lot of things do, from outstanding academics or a supportive environment for students to a great football or basketball team. Still, pretty much everyone agrees teaching and learning are central to the mission. High schools are expected to prepare students for further education, work, or the military and eliminate the large gaps in achievement separating different ethnic and income groups of students. These are sensible goals. While there are many great high schools among the nearly 22,000 across the country, too many are still not getting the job done. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic students finish high school on time. Meanwhile, the National Assessment of Education Progress tests, often referred to as "the nation's report card," show significant achievement gaps separating white students from black and Hispanic high school students. These are not small differences but rather vast gaps that crush opportunity and tear at our nation's social contract. Leave aside the intrinsic value of being an educated citizen; there are practical effects as well. In 2005, the mean annual earnings were about $20,000 for a high school dropout but $54,000 for someone with a bachelor's degree. And those differences are growing wider, not lessening, as our economy becomes more knowledge and skills based. In 1975, a high school dropout earned about half as much as a college graduate, compared with about one third today. This is why U.S. News set some clear criteria for academic quality in its new ranking of American high schools. These criteria mean a lot of schools don't measure up—only 505 schools nationwide earned a silver or gold medal this year. The list illustrates at once the promise and the challenge for high schools today. Only about 1 in 8 of the schools on this list serves a student population that is more than 50 percent low income, and only about 1 in 5 has a majority of nonwhite students. Meanwhile, about 1 in 5 selects students based on academic merit, something that obviously boosts the chances of meeting the criteria. Because the U.S. News list uses more data to judge schools, it paints a clearer picture. Of course, no list is perfect. For instance, it is difficult to account for high school graduation rates because states calculate them in different ways. But this one better reflects what policymakers and parents want from high schools, as well as the challenge our nation faces to make our high schools as good as they need to be.