每题3分，共45分 1、 How to Start a Small Business in the US People from other countries often take America as the “land of opportunity”. Americans, too, believe that the country gives no end of chances to those who want to open their own businesses. Today, many Americans are still trying hard to become small business people, although only one out of two remains in operation after the first two years. Many people start their small businesses for the wrong reasons. They want to get away from the paper work of their present jobs, or to exchange the responsibility of their present jobs for free life styles. But more, not less, paper work and responsibility come with ownership of a small business. Thomas is the owner of the news magazine Mother Earth, which is now quite successful. He says that he had to work sixty hours without stopping when he was trying to bring out the first issue. Thomas had waited for years after he came up with the idea for Mother Earth. During that time, he collected as much information as he could about his business. He borrowed books from the library, talked to successful people in the field, and began planning carefully the amount of money and the kinds and numbers of supplies he would need. When he finally opened with a capital of $1，500，he set up his office in the kitchen and his printing press in the garage. Owing to his devotion(投入)to business, his talent, and his skill in management, Mother Earth? now has a circulation(发行量) of 300，000. Not all small businesses are doing as fine as Mother Earth as 50% of the 450, 000 that start in America every year fail. Still, 95% of businesses in the US can be called “small”. Altogether these businesses amount to 40% of America’s gross national product(国民生产总值).
参考答案： D
答案解析： Only half of them continue to operate after the first two years.
1According to the passage, which of the following is true of the small businesses in the U. S. ?
参考答案： B
答案解析： do less paper work or take less responsibility.
2According to paragraph 2, many people start small businesses in order to
参考答案： C
答案解析： He made investigations and drew up a plan.
3What preparations did Thomas make before he started his business?
参考答案： A
答案解析： his talent, his skill in management, and his devotion to his work.
4Thomas’success can be attributed to
参考答案： D
答案解析： 95%.
5How many businesses in the U. S. can be called “small”?
2、 U.S. Scientists Confirm Water on Mars NASA scientists said that Mars was covered once by vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life. Laboratory tests aboard NASA''s Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander''s robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples. "We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. "This is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted." The robotic arm is a critical part of the Phoenix Mars mission. It is needed to trench into the icy layers of northern polar Mars and deliver samples to instruments that will analyze what Mars is made of, what its water is like, and whether it is or has ever been a possible habitat for life. The soil sample came from a trench approximately 2 inches deep. When the robotic arm first reached that depth, it hit a hard layer of frozen soil. Two attempts to deliver samples of icy soil on days when fresh material was exposed were foiled when the samples became stuck inside the scoop. Most of the material in Wednesday''s sample had been exposed to the air for two days, letting some of the water in the sample vaporize away and making the soil easier to handle. "Mars is giving us some surprises," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "We''re excited because surprises are where discoveries come from. One surprise is how the soil is behaving. The ice-rich layers stick to the scoop when poised in the sun above the deck, different from what we expected, from all the Mars simulation testing we''ve done so far." Since landing on May 25, Phoenix has been studying soil with a chemistry lab, TEGA, a microscope, a conductivity probe and cameras. The science team is trying to determine whether the water ice ever thaws enough to be available for biology and if carbon-containing chemicals and other raw materials for life are present. The mission is examining the sky as well as the ground. A Canadian instrument is using a laser beam to study dust and clouds overhead. "It''s a 30-watt light bulb giving us a laser show on Mars," said Victoria Hipkin of the Canadian Space Agency. A full-circle, color panorama of Phoenix''s surroundings also has been completed by the spacecraft. "The details and patterns we see in the ground show an ice-dominated terrain as far as the eye can see," said Mark Lemmon of Texas A & M University, lead scientist for Phoenix''s Surface Stereo Imager camera. "They help us plan measurements we''re making within reach of the robotic arm and interpret those measurements on a wider scale."
参考答案： C
答案解析： Water in a soil sample.
1What was discovered by NASA''s Phoenix Mars Lander on Mars?
参考答案： C
答案解析： The samples got stuck inside the scoop.
2Why did the first two attempts to deliver samples fail?
参考答案： A
答案解析： Scientists have been trying to break the ice-rich layers of soil on Mars.
3Which one of the following statements is NOT meant by the writer?
参考答案： C
答案解析： They are from both America and Canada.
4Where are the scientists involved in the research from?
参考答案： A
答案解析： It imitates human vision and is able to capture three-dimensional images.
5Which of the following do you think is the best description of Phoenix''s Surface Stereo Imager camera, according to your understanding of the passage?
3、 Black Holes Trigger Stars to Self-Destruct Scientists have long understood that super massive black holes weighing millions or billions of suns can tear apart stars that come too close. The black hole''s gravity pulls harder on the nearest part of the star, an imbalance that pulls the star apart over a period of minutes or hours, once it gets close enough. Scientists say this uneven pulling is not the only hazard facing the star. The strain of these unbalanced forces can also trigger a nuclear explosion powerful enough to destroy the star from within. Matthieu Brassart and Jean-Pierre Luminet of the Observatoire de Paris in Meudon, France1, carried out computer simulations of the final moments of such an unfortunate star''s life, as it veered towards a super massive black hole. When the star gets close enough, the uneven forces flatten it into a pancake shape. Some previous studies had suggested this flattening would increase the density and temperature inside the star enough to trigger intense nuclear reactions that would tear it apart. But other studies had suggested that the picture would be complicated by shock waves generated during the flattening process and that no nuclear explosion should occur. The new simulations investigated the effects of shock waves in detail, and found that even when their effects are included, the conditions favor a nuclear explosion. "There will be an explosion of the star — it will be completely destroyed," Brassart says. Although the explosion obliterates the star, it saves some of the star''s matter from being devoured by the black hole. The explosion is powerful enough to hurl much of the star''s matter out of the black hole''s reach, he says. The devouring of stars by black holes may already have been observed, although at a much later stage. It is thought that several months after the event that rips the star apart, its matter starts swirling into the hole itself. It heats up as it does so, releasing ultraviolet light and X-rays. If stars disrupted near black holes really do explode, then they could in principle allow these events to be detected at a much earlier stage, says Jules Halpern of Columbia University in New York, US2. "It may make it possible to see the disruption of that star immediately if it gets hot enough," he says. Brassart agrees. "Perhaps it can be observed in the X-rays and gamma rays, but it''s something that needs to be more studied," he says. Supernova researcher Chris Fryer of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, US3 , says the deaths of these stars are difficult to simulate, and he is not sure whether the researchers have proven their Case that they explode in the process.
参考答案： C
答案解析： The black hole could dwindle its size considerably,
1Something destructive could happen to a star that gets too close to a black hole. Which of the following destructive statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?
参考答案： A
答案解析： whether nuclear reaction would occur.
2According to the third paragraph, researchers differed from each other in the problem of
参考答案： D
答案解析： The black hole would completely devour the star.
3According to the fourth paragraph, which of the following is NOT true?
参考答案： C
答案解析： The torn star''s matter will swirl into the black hole.
4What will happen several months after the explosion of the star?
参考答案： B
答案解析： Tearing apart
5According to the context, the word "disruption" in Paragraph: 6 means
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