C

Look carefully at the back of a California state quarter. A man with a walking stick is pictured there. A bird called a California condor(大秃鹫)is flying overhead. Who is this man, and why is he so important that he is featured(处于显著地位)on the back of a coin?

The man on this quarter is J ohn Muir. Even as a child, Muir loved watching nature. As a young man, he spent much of his life exploring the beauty of the wilderness. He walked more than a thousand miles across the country, through fields and woods. John Muir liked writing about the places he visited, describing their beauty.

Muir also wrote about problems. In order to create more farmland for sheep and cattle, many trees were being cut down. This made Muir unhappy and worried, because he knew that trees were important to forests and to the animals that lived in them.Muir believed that nature should be conserved(保护)instead of being changed by human beings. He wrote articles in magazines and newspapers to spread the word about conserving forests. Soon, others began to listen.

Muir wrote letters to important people, such as President Theodore Roosevelt. The president admired Muir’s love for nature. When Roosevelt came to visit Muir in California. Muir convinced(说服)the president to go camping with him for three nights under the trees so they could talk about conservation. Later, President Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of land for national forests and established(建立)five national parks. National parks are large areas of land that are protected from development. This means that people cannot build homes or businesses there. One of these parks is Yosemite National Park, the area that is featured  on the back of the California quarter.

Though it has been almost one hundred years since John Muir died, people continue his work today. His work as a conse rvationist helped us to see the beauty of our natural world. John Muir made us understand the importance of protecting our earth and our resources---then, now, and for the future.

31. Why did President Theodore Roosevelt visit John Muir?

A. Because Roosevelt loved watching nature.

B. Because Roosevelt received letters from John Muir.

C. Because Roosevelt admired John Muir’s love for nature.

D. Because Roosevelt was sad about the problems with farmland.

32. Why is John Muir featured on the back of a California state quarter?

A. Because he walked over a thousand miles across the country.

B. Because he helped people understand the importance of protecting the natural world.

C. Because he wrote articles to spread the word about conserving forests.

D. Because he once wrote several letters to President Theodore Roosevelt.

33. What is the writer’s purpose of writing this article?

A. To advise readers to become active conservationists.

B. To make us interested in the story about a great man.

C. To tell us something about an important person in history.

D. To give information about how to conserve the environment.

D

After spending years searching for a planet with life, scientists may have found one. In September 2010, a team of US scientists discovered an Earth-sized planet called Gliese 581g. It has a surface temperature neither too hot nor too cold for liquid(液态)water. Scientists think there is a chance that the planet could have life.

The planet Gliese 581g goes around a star called Gliese 581, which is about 20 light-years from Earth. That is about 194 trillion(万亿)kilometres -500 million times farther away from us than the moon.

A spacecraft traveling at a one-tenth of the speed of light would reach Gliese 581g within about 220 years. A human can’t live that long, but robotic explorers could make the job easier. However, our fastest spacec raft don’t come anywhere near that one-tenth light-speed mark.

At present, scientists don’t know what the surface might be like on Gliese 581g. What they know is that the planet is at the right distance from its star to have liquid water. It’s also at the right distance to have an atmosphere that could protect the water if it is on the surface.

Although spacecraft won’t be getting there anytime soon, one way to look for life on Gliese 581g is to turn our radio telescopes(望远镜)towards the planet and search for radiation(放射). By studying the radiation, scientists would find out about the chemicals(化学物质)around the planet and discover if Gliese 581g has an atmosphere. If it has one, studying the atmosphere would give us a good idea whether the planet has life or not. But it’ll probably be many years before we can do this properly.

People have been arguing about whether there is alien life on Gliese 581g. Any discussion about alien life is just guessing at this point, according to its discoverers.

34. What did scientists find in September 2010?

A. A planet with water.     B. A planet similar to the earth.

C. A planet without life.     D. A planet near the earth.

35. According to the article, Gliese 581g ________.

A. is at the right distance from its star     B. moves around the earth

C. is as far away from us as the moon  D. can be reached in about 220 years

36. Paragraph 5 is mainly about ______.

A. the possibility of living on Gliese 581g

B. the kinds of chemicals around Gliese 581g

C. the way of looking for life on Gliese 581g

D. the aim of studying the radiation on Gliese 581g

37. Which of the following is the best title for the passage above?

A. Gliese 581g, a Likely Living Planet     B. Gliese 581, a Likely Living Planet

C. Gliese 581g and Its Star        D. Gliese 581g and Radiation