"It was amazing, just impressive," Holly Budge, a 29-year-old British woman, said after making a safe landing at a spot 12,350 feet (3,765 meters) above sea level -- the highest "drop zone" achieved by a parachutist . "We had one minute of freefall and while we were above the clouds you could see Everest and the other high mountains popping out of the top," she said. Ms Budge and her two fellow daredevils, Wendy Smith, from New Zealand, and Neil Jones, from Canada, jumped out of an aircraft at about 29,500 feet, just higher than the peak of the world's highest mountain. They fell at speeds reaching 140mph, past the highest ridges of the snow-covering Himalayas, before each released a parachute . The jumpers wore oxygen masks to keep their lungs working as they fell. Wearing neoprene underwear was compulsory -- to prevent them from being frozen to death. The adventure, advertised by its organizers as "a feast for those who seek to stimulate all their senses to the full", appeared to have lived up to its billing. "I had never seen so many mountains before," Ms Smith said. "To be on top of the world was simply stunning ." The expedition also offered a way by which to celebrate her 30th birthday later this month, she said. Besides, her jump raised funds for charities in Britain and Nepal, including more than PS10,000 for the Hampshire Autistic Society. In the next few days the feat will be repeated by about 30 others, weather permitting. Each has paid at least PS12,675 to High and Wild, the British adventure travel company behind the project. Ms Budge said: "It was worth the money. It is something that has never been done before." The three skydivers jumped out of the plane at an altitude of about _ . A) 3765 meters B) 8993 meters C) 12,350 meters D) 29,500 meters
B
Who do you think breaks the law in our society? If you believe that only tough guys commit crimes, you may have to think again. Unlike in the movies, we can't divide the world into bad guys and model citizens. _ In the same way that diseases range from the common cold to fatal forms of cancer, crimes vary in degree. For example, smoking in an elevator will inconvenience people, but much less than threatening them with a gun. In addition to breaking the law themselves, people tolerate various levels of crime. Why can we tolerate some crimes? It may be that, by seeing others do something, we accept it more easily. For instance, most people will find it easier to speed on a highway when everybody else is driving over the speed limit. When people celebrate a sports championship, if they see someone breaking store windows, they might start breaking windows themselves or even steal from the store. So the people around us influence how much law-breaking we can tolerate. We must also wonder whether seeing violence on television or reading about it in the newspapers every day makes us tolerate crime more than we should. We become used to seeing blood on the news on television, or in full color in newspapers and magazines. Because we see thousands of dead people on TV, maybe we just try to ignore the situation behind the violence. If so many citizens tolerate violence and crime, or even commit crimes themselves, it may simply be because of the human mind. Our minds may not care about specific laws. Instead, our minds may have a system of values that usually prevents us from hurting other people to improve our own lives. Yet, when it comes to respecting the rights of a mass of anonymous individuals, we might not be so responsible. While most people would not steal a wallet containing $50, they may not mind cheating on taxes, because cheating on taxes does not hurt any one person. It hurts society, but "society" remains an abstract idea that is not as real as a neighbor or a friend's friend. When we realize that so... People tolerate violence and crime because _ . A) their behavior is the same as that of most other people B) they pay no attention to the truth behind the crimes C) most unlawful acts are not harmful to the individual D) they hold mistaken beliefs about law-breaking
D
Q: If you are afraid of the dark,it's not a big deal.It's perfectly normal to feel afraid After all,animals do too. "Fear matters,"says Karen Warkentin,an ecologist."It's a good thing," she adds, "because fear makes you do things that keep you alive." Like kids,many animals experience fear and they respond to the feeling in variety of ways.A frightened turtle pulls its head and legs inside its shell.A small fish will swim away when a big,hungry fish approaches. Some animals respond to fear in ways you might not expect.The first example is that the fear of being eaten can scare some frogs right out of their eggs. Warkentin made the surprising discovery while studying red--eyed tree frogs in Costa Rica. In this species,female frogs attach jellylike clumps of their eggs to the undersides of leaves.The leaves hang on branches that dangle over ponds.After they hatch from the eggs,the tadpoles then fall into the water,where they eventually grow into adult frogs. Tree frog eggs usually grow for 6 days before hatching.If they sense that a hungry snake is about to attack,however,they can hatch up to 2 days ahead of schedule. As the snakes are unable to swim,by falling into the water early,the tadpoles can escape. If hatching early helps protect red--eyed tree frogs from snakes,you might wonder why their eggs don't always hatch sooner.It turns out that hatching early brings its own danger.Once tadpoles land in the water,hungry fish and other animals like to eat them too.Staying in their eggs for a full 6 days,then,allows frog embryos to grow big and strong.This extra growth improves their chances of surviving in the water. What is the best title of the passage ? A) What is Fear B) Why do we feel afraid C) You feel afraid,animals do too D) Fear is a good thing
A: D
For nearly a century before there was such a thing as a space program,a view of space was possible.People could see full views of the Moon,explore Mars ,and study the outer space beauty.All of this was made possible by a small group of artist-astronomers who worked to show people how other worlds in space might look. Lucien Rudaux,a French artist,was the first to use his artistic ability and his knowledge of astronomy in art.His paintings show a mixture of skilled observations,brilliant imagination and careful attention.As a result,many of his works have come surprisingly close to actual conditions on distant planets.His painting of Mars included moonlike craters that were first photographed by the astronauts in 1965.His 1930 painting of a dust storm looks remarkably like a photograph of a storm taken by the astronauts in 1976. The artist-astronomers,including Rudaux,made people interested in outer space by painting what turned out to be exact portraits of the planets. According to the passage,artist-astronomers spent their lives _ . A) exploring the planets B) studying paintings C) painting the planets D) producing spaceships
C