In today's congratulatory phone call to the team behind NASA's Mars Curiosity rover , President Barack Obama made sure that if the mission discovers Martians, he'll be one of the first to know. "If in fact you do make contact with Martians, please let me know right away," Obama said during the call, "I've got a lot of things on my plate, but I expect that that will go to the top of the list. Even if they're just microbes , it will be pretty exciting." Obama also said he was impressed by the attention that's been paid to flight director Bobak Ferdowsi, the "Mohawk Guy" whose star-spangled haircut and warmhearted behavior during Curiosity's Aug. 5 landing won him Internet fame. "I, in the past, thought about getting a Mohawk myself," Obama joked. "But my team keeps on discouraging me. And now that he's received marriage proposals and thousands of new Twitter followers, I think I'm going to go back to my team and see if it makes sense." The congratulatory phone call is a tradition for the White House. But it was clear that Obama particularly enjoyed congratulating the scientists and engineers behind the amazingly successful landing of NASA's newest Mars exploration. He also said the achievement reflected the American spirit, and he gave his personal promise to protect these critical investments in science and technology. "This is the kind of thing that inspires kids across the country," he said. "They're telling their moms and dads they want to be part of a Mars mission, maybe even the first person to walk on Mars. And that kind of inspiration is the byproduct of work of the sort that you guys have done." The Curiosity rover's $2.5 billion mission focuses on studying billions of years' worth of geology on Mars and determining whether the planet was ever potentially suitable for people to live in. The mission is not specifically designed to explore life, even on the range of microbes, but it could point the way for future life-exploration experiments. What can we learn from the passage ? A) Bobak Ferdowsi got a Mohawk haircut to win great Internet fame. B) Obama called on the government and companies to invest in science. C) America's president seldom congratulates on scientific achievements. D) Children showed special interest in the landing of Curiosity.
D
English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among everyday speakers? One expert points out that the percentage of native English speakers is declining while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of people. But English will continue to remain widespread and important. However,British language scholar David Graddol says English will probably drop in dominance by the middle of this century to rank,after Chinese,about equally with Arabic,Hindi,and Urdu. "The number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise,but it isn't rising nearly as fast as the numbers of many other languages around the world,simply because the main population group has been largely in the less developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken," he says. In a recent article in the journal Science,Mr. Graddol noted that three languages that are not near the top of the list of the most widely spoken now might be there soon. These are Bengali,Tamil,and Malay,spoken in south and southeast Asia. David Crystal,the author of The Cambridge Encycloredia of the English Laeguage, says about 1. 5 billion of the world's six billion people speak it as a second tongue compared to the 400 million native speakers. But another expert on the English language says Mr. Graddol underestimates the future of its dominance. _ but nobody quite knows what's going to happen because no language has been in this position before. " he said. What should be the best title for the passage? A) English Remaining the Dominant Position B) The Future of English? Who Knows? C) Opinions from Different Experts D) The English Language Snowball Rolling Down
B
Q: Internet use appears to cause a decline in psychological well-being , according to research at Carnegie Mellon University. Even people who spent just a few hours a week on the Internet experienced more depression and loneliness than those who logged on less frequently, the two-year study showed. And it wasn't that people who were already feeling bad spent more time on the Internet, but that using the Net actually appeared to cause the bad feeling. Researchers are puzzling over the results, which were completely contrary to their expectations. They expected that the net would prove socially healthier than television, since the Net allows users to choose their information and to communicate with others. The fact that Internet use reduces time available for family and friends may account for the drop in well-being, researchers suggested. Faceless, bodiless "virtual" communication may be less psychologically satisfying than actual conversation, and the relationship formed through it may be shallower. Another possibility is that exposure to the wider world via the Net makes users less satisfied with their lives. "But it's important to remember this is not about the technology _ ; it's about how it is used," says psychologist Christine Riley of Intel, one of the study's sponsors. "It really points to the need for considering social effects in terms of how you design applications and services for technology." Internet use may cause a decline in psychological well-being because _ . A) people who were already feeling bad spend more time on the Internet B) Internet users thought the world was wider than it really was C) people were too eager to turn the "virtual" communication into reality D) people have less time for actual communication with their family and friends
A: D
Johnny the Explorer Johnny was three when he ran away from home for the first time.Somebody left the garden gate open.Johnny wandered out,crossed some fields and,two hours later,arrived in the next village.He was just able to give his name and address. By the time be was seven,Johnny used to disappear from home two to three times a year.Sometimes he covered quite long distances on foot.Sometimes he got on a bus or even a train,and simply sat there until someone asked for his ticket.Generally the police brought him home."Why do you do it?"they used to ask."I just like seeing places,"Johnny told them. Johnny continued to "see places"although everyone tried to stop him.His parents used to watch him closely,and so did his teachers;but sooner or later Johnny managed to slip away.As he grew older,his favorite trick was to hide on a long distance truck.Sometimes he trayelled hundreds of miles before anyone discovered him. It is hardly surprising that eventually Johnny managed to board a plane.He was twelve at the time.It was a cargo plane and a few hours later,Johnny found himself in Cairo.How did he get on board? No one knows! According to Johnny himself,it was easy:he just went into the airport,walked along some passages and got on board the nearest plane. In spite of all this,Johnny did well at school.He enjoyed mathematics and languages and,perhaps not surprisingly,he was especially good at geography."What do you want to be when you grow up?" his teachers asked him."An explorer!" he answered."But it,s difficult to become an explorer in this modern age,"they tried to tell him.But it was no use:Johnny knew what he wanted! Just before he left school,Johnny saw a notice in a daily paper.A long journey was about to go to Brazil to travel up the Amazon River.There were jobs for three young people"willing to work hard and with a sense of adventure".Johnny applied,and two months later,he was on his way to Brazil. From the passage,we can learn that A) Johnny worked for a daily paper B) Johnny lacked a sense of adventure C) Johnny went exploring along the Amazon River D) Johnny went to Brazil two months after he finished school
C