Even if we can’t reach an agreement, we should maintain our contact.

We can't afford a bicycle ()a car.

A. even if

B. let alone

C. let out

A.even if

B.let alone

C.let out

A. even if

B. unless

C. until

D. so long as

The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature. I regard this as the major discovery of the past hundred years of biology. It is, in its way, an illuminating piece of news. It would have amazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment to be told by any of us how little we know and how bewildering seems the way ahead. It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scope of ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of the 20th century science to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretended to understand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made up stories to fill the gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest, we are getting glimpses of how huge the questions are, and how far they are from being answered. Because of this, we are depressed. It is not so bad being ignorant if you are totally ignorant; the hard thing is knowing in some detail the reality of ignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so-bad spots, but no true light at the end of the tunnel nor even any tunnels that can yet be trusted.

But we are making a beginning, and there ought to be some satisfaction. There are probably no questions we can think up that can't be answered, sooner or later, including even the matter of consciousness; to be sure, there may well be questions we can't think up, ever, and therefore limits to the reach of human intellect, but that is another matter. Within our limits, we should be able to work our way through to all our answers, if we keep at it long enough, and pay attention.

The author claims that good science ______.

A．defies prediction

B．should study the unknown

C．should discover scientific truth

D．should offer choices rather than prescribe

Scientists, for several years, have been studying how noise affects people and animals. They are surprised by what they have learned. Peace and quiet are becoming harder to find. Noise pollution is a threat that should be looked at carefully.

There is a saying that it is so noisy that you can't hear yourself think. Doctors who study noise believe that we must sometimes hear ourselves think. If we don't, we may have headaches, other aches and pains, or even worse mental problems.

Noise adds more tension to a society that already faces enough stress.

But noise is not a new problem. In ancient Rome, people complained so much about noise that the government stopped chariots(战车) from moving through the streets at night!

Ways of making less noise are now being tested. There are even laws controlling noise. We cannot return to the "good old days" of peace and quiet. But we can reduce noise—if we shout loudly enough about it.

Why are scientists surprised by the findings in their noise study？

A．Because the world is becoming increasingly noisy.

B．Because they have learned that noise is also is also a kind of pollution.

C．Because noise is an unwanted waste for human beings.

D．Because people knew little about noise before.

Once you reach little milestones five minutes of successful patience you’ll begin to see that you do, indeed, have the capacity to be patient, even for longer periods of time. Over time, you may even become a patient person.

Being patient will help you to keep your perspective. You’ll see even a difficult situation, say your present challenge, isn't life or death but simply a minor obstacle that must be dealt with. Without patience, the same scenario can become a major emergency complete with yelling, frustration, hurt feelings, and high blood pressure. It's really not worth all that. Whether you’re needing to deal with children, your boss, or a difficult person or situation if you don’t want to sweathe small stuff, improving your patience level isa great way to start.

(1)The best title for this selection is ________.

A、The Art of Patience

B、Patience and Perspective

C、Become More Patient

D、The Effective Ways to Patience

(2)Which of the following is not TRUE？

A、Creating actual practice periods is the only effective way to deepen patience.

B、Our intention may strengthen our capacity for patience.

C、Success feeds on patience.

D、We can deepen our patience by practice.

(3)According to the passage, if we want to be patient, ________.

A、we should have 5-minute practice everyday

B、we should reach little milestones—five minutes of successful patience first

C、we could create actual practice periods and practice

D、We should be perspective

(4)With patience, ________.

A、we will see a difficult situation as death

B、we will see a difficulty situation as a minor obstacle

C、we can deal with children, your boss, or a difficult person or situation easily

D、we would never be hurt

(5)Without patience, when we see the same difficult situation, _______.

A、we will cry

B、we regard it as a major emergency

C、we will sweat

D、we will improve our patience level

And we can't even use all of that, because some of it is in the form. of icebergs and glaciers. Even worse, some of it has been polluted.

However, as things stand today, this small amount of fresh water, which is constantly being replaced by rainfall, is still enough for us. But our need_ 3__ water is increasing rapidly – almost day by day. We all have to learn how to stop wasting our previous water. One of the first steps we should _4_ is to develop ways of reusing it.

Experiments have already been done in this__ 5_ but only on a small scale. The systems that have been worked out resemble those used in spacecraft.

A、take

B、or

C、sources

D、for

E、case

Consider medicine, for instance. No one can deny that medical progress has enriched our lives tremendously. Because of medical advances, we eat better, live easier and are able to take care of ourselves more efficiently. We can cure disease with no more than one injection or a pill. If we have a serious accident, surgeons can put us back together again. If we are born with something defective, they can repair it. They can make us happy, restore our normality, ease our pain, replace worn parts and give us children. They can even bring us back from the dead. These are wonderful achievements, but there is a price we have to pay.

Because medicine has reduced infant mortality and natural death so significantly, the population has been rising steadily, in spite of serious efforts to reduce the rate of population growth. Less than a century ago in the United Stales, infant mortality claimed more than half of the newborn within the first year of life. Medical advances, however, have now reduced that rate to nearly zero. A child born in the United States today has better than a 90% chance of survival. Furthermore, medical advances have ensured that most of these infants will live to be seventy years of age or more, and even that life expectancy increases every year. The result of this progress is an enormous population increase that threatens the quality of life, brought about by progress in the medical profession.

According to this passage, " progress" doesn't always mean that______.

A．something has become stronger and better

B．something has been changed from being one thing to another

C．something has become funny

D．something turns out to be worse than before

Passage Two Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

You’re in trouble if you have to buy your own brand-name prescription drugs. Over the past decade, prices leaped by more than double the inflation rate. Treatments for chronic conditions can easily top $2,000 a month-no wonder that one in four Americans can’s afford to fill their prescriptions. The solution？ A hearty chorus of “O Canada.” North of the border, where price controls reign, those same brand-name drugs cost 50% to 80% less.

The Canadian option is fast becoming a political wake-up call, “If our neighbors can buy drugs at reasonable prices, why can’t we？ Even to whisper that thought provokes anger. “Un-American!” And-the propagandists’ trump card (王牌)—“Wreck our brilliant health-care system.” Supersize drug prices, they claim, fund the research that sparks the next generation of wonder drugs. No sky-high drug price today, no cure for cancer tomorrow. So shut up and pay up.

Common sense tells you that’s a false alternative. The reward for finding, say, a cancer cure is so huge that no one’s going to hang it up. Nevertheless, if Canada-level pricing came to the United States, the industry’s profit margins would drop and the pace of new-drug development would slow. Here lies the American dilemma. Who is all this splendid medicine for？ Should our health-care system continue its drive toward the best of the best, even though rising numbers of patients can’t afford it？ Or should we direct our wealth toward letting everyone in on today’s level of care？ Measured by saved lives, the latter is almost certainly the better course.

To defend their profits, the drug companies have warned Canadian wholesalers and pharmacies (药房) not to sell to Americans by mail, and are cutting back supplies to those who dare.

Meanwhile, the administration is playing the fear card. Officials from the Food and Drug Administration will argue that Canadian drugs might be fake, mishandled, or even a potential threat to life.

Do bad drugs fly around the Internet？ Sure-and the more we look, the more we’ll find, But I haven’t heard of any raging epidemics among the hundreds of thousands of people buying crossborder.

Most users of prescription drugs don’t worry about costs a lot. They’re sheltered by employee insurance, owing just a $20 co-pay. The financial blows rain, instead, on the uninsured, especially the chronically ill who need expensive drugs to live, This group will still include middle-income seniors on Medicare, who’ll have to dig deeply into their pockets before getting much from the new drug benefit that starts in 2006.

26. What is said about the consequence of the rocketing drug prices in the U.S.？

A) A quarter of Americans can’t afford their prescription drugs.

B) Many Americans can’t afford to see a doctor when they fall ill.

C) Many Americans have to go to Canada to get medical treatment.

D) The inflation rate has been more than doubled over the years.