Six volunteers are about to find out what it would be like to live on Mars without ever leaving the Earth. Three men and three women will spend eight months living in a special place on the side of a volcano in Hawaii. They are part of an experiment that is designed to mimic life on Mars. Their mission began on October 15, 2014. NASA says it could send astronauts to Mars as early as the 2030s. The mission would take more than two years, so NASA needs to know how people would react to living in a small group, isolated from the rest of the world, for such a long time. Some people may become depressed or bored living under those conditions. By studying people living in similar conditions here on Eares NASA hopes to learn how to choose the most suitable people for a space mission, and how to help them get along. They will live in a two-story building. The ground floor is about 86 square meters, roughly the size of a small two-bedroom apartment. It includes shared areas like kitchen, dining room, bathroom, laboratory and an exercise room. The upstairs is less than half the size of the downstairs. It contains another bathroom and six small bedrooms. The building is located in an abandoned quarry about 2,400 meters up the side of Mauna Loa, the second biggest volcano in the world. It is constantly monitored for signs of volcanic activity. NASA chose the location because the appearance looks very similar to Mars. To make it more like being on Mars in the future, they are only able to communicate by email during the experiment. Meanwhile, there will be a 20-minute delay between the time when a message is sent and that when it is received. When they go outside, they will have to suit up in full spacesuits, just as if they were on Mars. The commander is Martha Lenio, a 34-year-old Canadian. During the mission, she will run experiments on growing food. The other members have backgrounds in physics and so on. None of them are astronauts. When will the six volunteers end their mission about mimicking life on Mars? A) On June 15, 2015. B) On October 15, 2015. C) On October 15, 2030. D) On June 15, 2032.
A
(Question)
Peter Jackson, currently one of the world's most well-known directors and the unofficial face of the entire nation of New Zealand, was born on October 31, 1961 in Pukerua Bay, New Zealand. He liked to take photographs, so a family friend bought the young Jackson a super 8mm camera. He has been a filmmaker even since. At age nine he even attempted to remake his favorite film, King Kong, using his own stop-motion effect. Unlike many of the filmmakers working today, Jackson never went to film school. Instead he created his own short films with the help of family and friends. He was turned down for a job at the National Film Unit, New Zealand's government agency that produces tourist films about the country. With that avenue closed, Jackson began working other jobs to support himself, while shooting shorts on the weekend. One of these weekend films, expanded from its original ten minutes length into a feature film. The project took four years to complete (1983-1987)and was called Bad Taste. After the success of Bad Taste, Jackson became recognized as a director and the door to fame and fortune was opened. He gave up his job at a local photographer's shop and became a well-known director of horror-movies. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is obviously a huge landmark in Jackson's career, not only did the films become some of the most commercially successful of all time, _ His digital effects company, WETA Digital, became one of, if not the most respected effects company in the world; similarly, Jackson has also expressed an interest in returning to his roots and directing some lower-budget splatter films again. Jackson became recognized as a director in _ . A) 1961 B) 1970 C) 1987 D) 1969
(Answer)
C
Ques: "All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me," said Dave Gatty, an Australian farmer who spent seven days up a tree in remote bush land to escape crocodiles. Gatty, 52, said he was forced to take such drastic action after he accidentally went into a crocodile-infested area of Queensland. He only had two meat sandwiches to keep him going, as crocodiles moved beneath his tree each night until his rescue. Gatty said he decided it was safer to hold out for a rescue team than try to make a run for it. His problems began after he fell off his horse while out in the northern Australia outback. Dazed and bleeding, he climbed back on his horse and hoped it would lead him home. It was only when he regained his senses he realized that he had been taken into crocodile-infested area. "I had to get off the horse and I fell straight into a crocodile nest," he told reporters. "That frightened me. I couldn't go back, it was too far and too dangerous, so I headed to the nearest high ground and stayed there, hoping someone would come and find me before the crocs did." Gatty explained how each night two crocodiles would sit at the bottom of the tree staring at him. Although Gatty's two sandwiches ran out after three days, he was able to get running water during the day and knew rescuers were looking for him as he could see helicopters in the air above his tree. "If I hadn't seen the crocs circling me, and if I hadn't fallen into the croc nest, I would have made a push for it. But I knew the safest thing was for me to sit and wait," he said. A chocolate bar, given to him by rescuers after being moved to safety by using a winch , "was like a gourmet (delicious)meal," he said. The article can be classified as _ . A) a news story B) a scientific fiction C) a personal essay D) a literary report
Ans: A
A man called Greedy Black loved nothing but old things. He was so crazy about everything that was old and out of fashion because he was convinced that the older, the better. Always worried about losing his treasures, he kept all he had collected in an old room. It had no windows, so it was very dark, and of course, it was full of old things. One day Greedy Black went into this room to get a ladder, as he had often practiced, but slipped on something and fell against a big garden fork. The fork hit him on the head and knocked him down. Then it fell on top of him and hit him hard on the left leg. The ends of the fork then went into his long beard. He fought with the fork fiercely, and at last threw it off him, jumped up and ran out of the room. He was very angry. He had an old sword under his bed, and he now ran and got this. Then he ran back to the room, opened the door suddenly and shouted in a terrible voice, "All right, come out and fight, you and all the other forks in the world! I'm not afraid of you!" But there was no response for his challenge. So in great _ , he turned on the electric light, only to find that there was no other fork but the one that had repeatedly troubled him. After reading this story, what reflections have you got for yourself? Do you still think that keeping old things in a private place sounds sound? Or don't you believe that you have to be far away from forks because forks are the most powerful? Or what else.....? Why did the man keep old things in his room? A) He could hardly put them in any other places. B) He laid great values on old things. C) He was afraid someone would steal them. D) He wanted to let them have life.
B