Passage 41 Three men got to the Dover Railway Station a few minutes after nine o’clock one evening. They asked a guard, "What time is the next train for London" The guard said, "You’ve just missed one. A train goes every hour. The next one is at ten o’clock." "That’s all right," they said. "We’ll go and have a drink." So off they went to a bar. A minute or two after ten o’clock they came running and asked the guard. "Has the train gone" "Yes," the guard said. "It went at ten, and I told you. The next one is at eleven o’clock." "That’s all right," they said again. "We’ll go and have another drink." So they went back to the bar. They missed the eleven o’clock train in the same way. Then the guard said, "No, the next train is the last one. If you miss that train, you won’t get to London tonight." (41) Twelve o’clock came, and the last train was just starting out when the three of them came out of the bar running as fast as they could. Two of them got on the train just as it was leaving but the third one didn’t run fast enough, and the train went out leaving him behind. He stood there looking at the train and laughing, as if to miss a train was the best joke in the world. The guard went up to him and said, "I told you that this was the last train. Why didn’t you come earlier" The man kept laughing until tears came into his eyes. Then he caught hold of the guard and said, "Did you see the two men get into the train and leave me here" "Yes, I did." "Well, I was the only one to leave for London. They were here only to see me off!" The three men failed to catch the train because______.
A. they had a drink
B. they went to the bar
C. they left the bar too late
D. the train left too soon
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Passage 44 For more than thirty years scientists have been searching for signs of life on other planets. Most of these searches have been done over the radio. The hope is that someone in outer space may be trying to get in touch with us. Scientists also have sent radio and television messages, as well as messages on spaceships traveling through space, on the chance that someone may be receptive to such messages. Scientists are using powerful radio telescopes to "listen" to signals from about 1,000 stars, all within 100 light years of the earth. In addition, they will scan the entire sky to listen for radio messages from more distant stars. Using a computer, they will be able to monitor more than eight million channels at a time. Scientists are looking for any signal that stands out from the background noise. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, scientists find that five percent of the stars are like our sun. Perhaps half of them have a planet like the earth. Such a planet would be a reasonable distance from the star for the temperatures to be right for the evolution of life. Believing that there are the inhabitable (that can be lived in) planets in our galaxy, most scientists agree that chances are that one or more of these planets support some life. However, many scientists wonder whether intelligent life exists on other planets. Some believe that thirty years of searching without any intelligent messages show that no one is out there. They say that the evolution of intelligence comparable to ours is unlikely. (44) Other scientists believe that our search hasn’t been long enough to rule out the possibility that intelligent life exists in our galaxy. Although our sun family is only about five billion years old, our galaxy is about 20 billion years old. In that time some scientists think it is likely that civilizations are much more advanced than ours. Perhaps these civilizations send us no signals; perhaps we have not recognized the signals they have sent us. If we hope to find intelligent life, these scientists believe that we have to keep looking. The underlined phrase "on the chance" in the first paragraph means
A. by chance
B. if possible
C. in the hope
D. for certain
Passage 38 Animals do many useful and entertaining jobs. (38) Dogs are particularly valuable in guiding the blind (a trained dog can learn never to cross a busy street when cars are coming, even if his master commands him to do so), protecting property, finding lost people, and hunting criminals. Horses are used in guarding herds, carrying men in lands where there are no roads, and helping farmers plow fields. Pigeons have long been used to carry message. Wild animals from the jungles, forests and seas are very popular performers in circuses and movies. People realize that, although animals may not have the same intelligence as human beings, they are smart enough to learn certain things. The first thing a dog is taught is to obey. It should not take too long for him to learn commands. Simple orders, such as "sit, lie down, stay there, come here" can even be taught by a child. Training a dog to be a watchdog often produces unexpected results. Some dogs quickly learn the difference between unwanted people and friends. This is because their masters welcome friends and invite them into their houses. However, some dogs will always attack the postmen who come to deliver letters. One explanation for this behavior is that, although the postman comes to the house frequently, he never enters the house. Therefore, the dog thinks the postman is someone who is not wanted, but keeps coming back anyway. Masters of dogs who attack postmen can easily show the dogs that the postman is a friend and the dog does not need to treat him as an unwanted person. A dog is quite ready to do what his master wishes. And a dog is always happy when he is praised for proper understanding. Which of the following shows that training a watchdog often brings about unex-pected result
A. Some dogs attack guests.
B. Some dogs don’t know the postmen.
C. Some dogs just sit and stay there.
D. Some dogs will attack the postmen.
Passage 44 For more than thirty years scientists have been searching for signs of life on other planets. Most of these searches have been done over the radio. The hope is that someone in outer space may be trying to get in touch with us. Scientists also have sent radio and television messages, as well as messages on spaceships traveling through space, on the chance that someone may be receptive to such messages. Scientists are using powerful radio telescopes to "listen" to signals from about 1,000 stars, all within 100 light years of the earth. In addition, they will scan the entire sky to listen for radio messages from more distant stars. Using a computer, they will be able to monitor more than eight million channels at a time. Scientists are looking for any signal that stands out from the background noise. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, scientists find that five percent of the stars are like our sun. Perhaps half of them have a planet like the earth. Such a planet would be a reasonable distance from the star for the temperatures to be right for the evolution of life. Believing that there are the inhabitable (that can be lived in) planets in our galaxy, most scientists agree that chances are that one or more of these planets support some life. However, many scientists wonder whether intelligent life exists on other planets. Some believe that thirty years of searching without any intelligent messages show that no one is out there. They say that the evolution of intelligence comparable to ours is unlikely. (44) Other scientists believe that our search hasn’t been long enough to rule out the possibility that intelligent life exists in our galaxy. Although our sun family is only about five billion years old, our galaxy is about 20 billion years old. In that time some scientists think it is likely that civilizations are much more advanced than ours. Perhaps these civilizations send us no signals; perhaps we have not recognized the signals they have sent us. If we hope to find intelligent life, these scientists believe that we have to keep looking. Some scientists think there might be more advanced civilizations on other planets because______.
A. some planets support more advanced civilizations
B. some civilizations have sent us signals we can’t recognize
C. the evolution of intelligence on other planets is unlike ours
D. some planets in our galaxy are much older than the earth
Passage 34 Americans and Arabs are different in their space habits. Arabs prefer close contact.Dr. Hall has explained that the Arabs belong to a touch culture and in conversation, they always envelop the other person. They hold his hand, look into his eyes, and bathe him in their breath. Dr. Hall’s interest in man’s use of space developed in the early nineteen fifties when he was Director of the Point Four training program at the Foreign Service Institute. In talking with Americans who had lived overseas, he found that many of them had been highly uncomfortable because of cultural differences. Such discomfort is usually referred to as culture shock. The problem is that, relatively speaking, Americans live in a non-contact culture. Partly, this is a product of our puritan heritage (清教徒文化遗产). Dr. Hall points out that we spend years teaching our children not to crowd in and lean on us. (34) And in situations where we ourselves are forced to stand close to another person on crowded subways, for example, we turn our eyes away, and if actual body contact is involved, tense the muscles on the contact side. Most of us feel very strongly that this is the only proper way to behave. It is true that______.
A. a non-contact culture is usually referred to as culture shock
B. there is evidence that Americans belong to a touch culture
C. there is evidence that Arabs share a non-contact culture
D. our use of space is influenced by our cultures