第三部分：阅读理解(共20小题：每小题2分，满分40分)

阅读下列短文，从每篇短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we don’t educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life. In some modern countries, it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all—whether rich or poor, clever or stupid-one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation.　But we can already see that free education for all is not enough. We find in some countries a far larger number of people with university degrees; they refuse to do what they think “low” work, and in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor. We can live without education, but we die if we have no food.If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses,we should get terrible disease in our towns…

In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must have education in such a way: Firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability and secondly, we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society and that it is very bad to be ashamed of one’s work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.

51. The writer of the passage thinks that________.

A. education can settle most of the world’s problems

B. free education for all probably leads to a perfect world

C. free education won’t help to solve social problems

D. all the social problems can’t be solved by education

52. The writer wants to prove that________.

A. our society needs all kinds of jobs  B. our society needs free education for all

C. a farmer is more important than a professor

D. people with university degrees refuse to do what they think “low” work

53. The purpose of education is________.

A. to choose a system of education  B. to prepare children mainly for their future work

C. to let everyone receive education fit for him

D. to build a perfect world

54. The passage tells us about________of education.

A. the means  B. the systems   C. the value           D. the types

B

Most of the scientists worked with microscopes, telescopes or some kinds of laboratory equipment. They did experiments in order to solve the problems they were working on, or find the answers they were looking for.

Albert Einstein was a different kind of scientist. He was a theoretical physicist. He did not do experiments to prove his theory. He just wrote a lot of mathematical formulas(数学公式).

Some of Einstein’s theories were so far ahead of the time that they could not be tested until years later when better scientific instruments and equipment had been invented. For instance, one theory pointed out the existence of a certain star that nobody had ever seen.He could draw the conclusion from his famous Theory of Relativity. Finally Einstein’s theory proved to be correct.

Albert Einstein gave the world many new mathematical formulas that helped explain the laws of the universe. No one in history has done so much as Einstein to help us understand such mysterious things as light, energy, motion, gravity, space and time.

55. The passage seems to tell us mainly that________.

A. most of the scientists work with some kinds of laboratory equipment

B. without certain equipment scientists can not solve the problems they are working on

C. Albert Einstein was a scientist who worked in a much different way from other scientists

D. Albert Einstein helped us understand a lot of mysterious things in the universe

56. Einstein’s theory could not be proved at that time because________.

A. he only wrote mathematical formulas  B.other scientists were not good enough

C. there was not good enough scientific equipment

D. his theory was about mysterious things in the universe

57. Einstein knew a certain star existed in the universe________.

A. according to his Theory of Relativity? B. by doing a number of experiments

C. because he saw it one night by accident  D. with the help of a powerful telescope

58. The last paragraph suggests that________.

A. Einstein thought of many new mathematical formulas

B. Einstein made great contributions to the world

C. nobody else can help us understand the world better

D. the laws of the universe are not easily explained

C

For more than twenty 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 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 earth. In addition, they will scan(扫视)the entire sky to “listen” for radio messages from more distant stars. Using a computer, they will be able to monitor more than eight channels at one time. Scientists are looking for any signal that stands out from the background noise.

Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy(银河星系), scientists find that five percent are like our sun. Perhaps half of them have a planet like earth. Such a planet would be a reasonable distance from the star for temperatures to be right for the evolution(进化)of life. Based on the inhabitable(that can be lived in)planets in our galaxy, most scientists agree that chances are likely that one or more of these planets support some life.

However, many scientists wonder whether intelligent(有智力的)life exists on other planets. Some believe that twenty years of searching without any intelligible messages shows that no one is out there. They say that the evolution of intelligence comparable to ours is unlikely.

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 civilization(文明)much more advanced than ours have developed. 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.

59. According to the passage, how many planets in our galaxy might be inhabitable?

A. 5 billion.　  B. 10 billion.   C. 15 billion.　　 　 D. 200 billion

60. The first paragraph in this passage is mainly about ________ .

A. how scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

B. why scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

C. where scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

D. when scientists are looking for signs of life on other planets

61. The underlined word “monitor” in the passage means “________”.

A. find　　　　　 B. follow　   C. check　　　　　  D. form

62. Which of these statements is true based on the information in the passage?

A. The earth is one of the oldest planets in our galaxy.

B. Most scientists believe that there is intelligent life on other planets.

C. Scientists are trying different ways to find signs of life on other planets.

D. Scientists don’t believe that there might be life on other planets.