第3部分：概括大意与完成句子(第23～30题，每题1分，共8分)
下面的短文后有2项测试任务：(1)第23～26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第4～8段其中四段选择1个最佳标题;(2)第27～30题要求从所给的6个选项中为每个句子确定1个最佳选项。
The Mir Space Station
The Russian Mir (沙俄时代的一种村社组织) Space Station, which came down in 2001 at last after 15 years of pioneering the concept of long-term (长期的) human space flight, is remembered for its accomplishments in the human space flight history. It can be credited with many firsts in space.
During Mir’s lifetime, Russia spent about US$4.2 billion to build and maintain the station.
The Soviet Union launched Mir, which was designed to last from three to five years, on February 20, 1986, and housed 104 astronauts over 12 years and seven months, most of whom were not Russian. In fact, it became the first international space station by playing host to 62 people from 11 countries. From 1995 through 1998, seven astronauts from the United States took turns living on Mir for up to six months each. They were among the 37 Americans who visited the station during nine stopovers (中途停留) by space shuttles.
The more than 400 million the United States provided Russian for the visits not only kept Mir operating, but also gave the Americans and their partners in the international station project valuable experience in long-term flight and multinational operations.
A debate continues over Mir’s contributions to science. During its existence, Mir was the laboratory (实验室) for 23, 000 experiments and carried scientific equipment, estimated to be worth $80 million, from many nations. Experiments on Mir are credited with a range of findings, from the first solid measurement of the ration of heavy helium atoms in space to how to grow wheat in space. But for those favouring human space exploration, Mir showed that people could live and work in space long enough for a trip to Mars. The longest single stay in space is the 437.7 days that Russian astronaut Valery Polyakov spent on Mir from 1994 to 1995. And Sergie Avdeyev accumulated 747.6 days in space in three trips to the space station. The longest American stay was that of Shannon Lucid, who spent 188 days aboard Mir in 1996.
Despite the many firsts Mir accomplished, 1997 was a bad year out of 15 for Mir. In 1997, an oxygen generator (发电机) caught fire. Later, the main computer system broke down, causing the station to drift several times and there were power failures.
Most of these problems were repaired, with American help and suppliers, but Mir’s reputation as a space station was ruined.
Mir’s setbacks are nothing, though, when we compare them with its accomplishments. Mir was a tremendous success, which will be remembered as a milestone in space exploration and the space station that showed long-term human habitation in space was possible. But it’s time to move on to the next generation. The International Space Station being built will be better, but it owes a great debt to Mir.
23. Paragraph 4 ________
24. Paragraph 5 ________
25. Paragraph 6 ________
26. Paragraph 8 ________
A. Undeniable Mir’s Achievements
B. Rewards Following the U.S. Financial Injection
C. Mir’s Problem Year
D. Mir Regarded as a Complete Failure
E. Mir’s Firsts in Scientific Experiments and Space Exploration
F. A great Debt Owned to the International Space Station
27. Mir enhanced the confidence in the scientists that humans living in space for a long time was _______.
28. In Mir, the U.S. astronauts created ________.
29. When we think of Mir in terms of its achievements, its setbacks are _________.
30. The writer tend to think that Mir was _________.
A. everything
B. a great success
C. a tremendous failure
D. nothing
E. many firsts
F. quite possible
第4部分：阅读理解(第31～45题，每题3分，共45分)
下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题。请根据短文内容，为每题确定1个最佳选项。
第一篇
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. ”
31. What was discovered by NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander on Mars?
A. Vast lakes
B. Flowing rivers
C. Water in a soil sample.
D. Living things
32. Why did the first two attempts to deliver samples fail?
A. The sample vaporized away
B. Fresh material was exposed to the air
C. The samples got stuck inside the scoop
D. The robotic arm hit a hard rock
33. Which one of the following statements is NOT meant by the writer?
A. Scientists have been trying to break the ice-rich layers of soil on Mars.
B. Scientists have been surprised by how the soil on Mars behaves
C. Scientists have been trying to find out if there is life supporting material on Mars
D. Scientists have been trying to know if water ice will melt
34. Where are the scientists involved in the research from?
A. They are from America
B. They are from Canada
C. They are from both America and Canada.
D. They are from neither America nor Canada
35. Which of the following do you think is the best description of Phoenix’s Surface Stereo Imager Camera, according to your understanding of the passage?
A. It imitates human vision and is able to capture three-dimensional images.
B. It imitates human voice and is able to record slight sounds while taking photos
C. It takes clear photos that show every detail of the object
D. It is this particular type of camera that can take wide angle pictures
