Some people are lucky enough to be born with a good sense of direction and even if they have only visited a place once, they will be able to find it again years later.
I am one of those unfortunate people who have poor sense of direction and I may have visited a place time after time but I still get lost on my way there. When I was young I was so shy that I never dared ask complete strangers the way and so I used to wander round in circles and hope that by some chance I would get to the spot I was heading for.
I am no longer too shy to ask people for direction, but I often receive replies that puzzle me. Often people do not like to admit that they didn’t know their hometown and will insist on telling you the way, even if they do not know it; others, who are anxious to prove that they know their hometown very well, will give you a long list of directions which you can not possibly hope to remember, and still others do not seem to be able to tell between their left and their right and you find in the end that you are going in the opposite direction to that in which you should be going.
If anyone ever asks me the way to somewhere, I always tell them I am a stranger to the town in order to avoid giving them wrong direction but even this can have embarrassing results.
Once I was on my way to work when I was stopped by a man who asked me if I would direct him the way to the Sunlight Building. I gave my usual reply, but I had not walked on a few steps when I realized that he had asked for directions to my office building. However, at this point, I decide it was too late to turn back and search for him out of the crowd behind me as I was going to meet with someone at the office and I did not want to keep him waiting.
Imagine my embarrassment when my secretary showed in the very man who had asked for directions of my office and his astonishment when he recognized me as the person he had asked.
【小题1】What is the writer going to do when someone asks him for direction?

B
WASHINGTON – It’s a great achievement that inspires notions of robots with consciousness and independent minds.
When people or animals get hurt, they can usually compensate for minor injuries and keep limping along, but for robots, even slight damage can make them stumble and fall. However, a recently made robot has demonstrated a novel ability: it can heal its own damage.
The new robot, which looks like a splay – legged, four – footed starfish can sense injury to itself and adapt. That ability sets the new robot apart from earlier machines. Because the robot can recover from unfamiliar places. “There is a need for planetary robotic rovers to be able to fix things on their own,” says Josh Bongard, a professor in the University of Vermont, who is one of the device’s creator. “Robots on other planets must be able to continue their mission without human help if they are damaged and cannot communicate their problem back to Earth.”
A typical robot functions according to a computer program, but the new robot works differently. First, sensors in its four legs observe the robot’s movements and signals to its built – in computer. From the formation it collects, the robot creates its own programs that allow it to adapt to different situations. For example, when the researchers shortened one of the robot’s legs, the smart machine simply adjusted its way of walking – it used three legs instead of four.
The researchers are looking for other places to put the resilient robot to work. One pellicle spot is the ocean floor. That dark and dangerous undersea terrain might be a good choice for a robot the scientists call the Starfish. “We never officially named the robot, but we usually refer to it as the Starfish, even though a real starfish has five rather than four legs,” says Bongard. “Also, a real starfish  is much better than our robot at recovering from injury, because it can actually grow its legs again.” Scientists have created robots that help humans in many ways: by exploring space, fighting fires, and even performing surgery.
46．The newly designed robot distinguishes itself from the former ones because it___________
A．can communicate with people on the earth about their problems
B．works according to a certain computer program
C．can find its problems and solve them automatically
D．can explore unfamiliar places
47．An example is given in the fourth paragraph in order to explain that the robot ___________
A．is used to create new programs
B．has typical robot functions
C．has sensors to observe its movements
D．can gather information and adapt to new conditions
48．The underlined word “resilient” in the last paragraph means the robot is ___________.
A．creative    B．newly made     C．able to recover    D．informative
49．Which of the following is TURE about the robot “Starfish”?
A．It was spoken highly of by people for its special ability?
B．It will stumble and fall if damaged.
C．It can grow its legs again once they are broken.
D．It has started to work on the ocean floor.
50．What might be the best title of the passage?
A．How does the Starfish Robot work
B．Do – It – Yourself Robot Repair
C．Robots Designed to Work On Other Planets
D．New Robot Helping Us In Many Ways

Animals are natural resources that people have wasted all through our history.
Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers, for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the world forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.
Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more.
Animals are more than just beautiful and interesting. They are more than just a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance of nature (生态平衡). Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.
For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks (老鹰), the farmers’ stores of corn and grain were destroyed by rats and mice. Why? Because hawks eat rats and mice. With no hawks to keep down their numbers, the rats and mice multiplied(繁殖)quickly.
Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem. And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.
Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid (禁止) the killing of any animals or plants on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing.
【小题1】 Animals are important to us mainly because____ .

How do successful people think? What drives them? Interviews and investigations indicate that there are several keys to success that successful people share.   
First of all, successful people never blame someone or something outside of themselves for their failure to go ahead.They realize that their future lies in their own hands. They understand that they cannot control things in life, such as nature, the past and other people. But in the meantime, they are well aware that they can control their own thoughts and actions. They take responsibility for their life and regard this as one of the most empowering things they can do. Perhaps what most separate successful people from others is that they live life “on purpose”——they are doing what they believe they are put here to do．In their opinion, having a purpose in their life is the most important element that enables them to become fully functioning people．They hold that when they live their life on purpose, their main concern is to do the job right. They love what they do—and it shows. People want to do business with them because of their commitment（投身；奉献）. To live their life on purpose，successful people find a cause they believe in and create a business around it. Besides, they never easily give up.Once they have set up goals in their life, they are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.Rather than seeing it negative or depressing they use the knowledge to spur themselves on and go after what they want energetically and passionately.
【小题1】Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

How do successful people think? What drives them? Interviews and investigations indicate that there are several keys to success that successful people share．   
First of all，successful people never blame someone or something outside of themselves for their failure to go ahead．They realize that their future lies in their own hands．They understand that
they cannot control things in life，such as nature，the past and other people．But in the meantime，
they are well aware that they can control their own thoughts and actions．They take responsibility for their life and regard this as one of the most empowering things they can do．Perhaps what most
separate successful people from others is that they live life “on purpose”——they are doing what they believe they are put here to do．In their opinion，having a purpose in their life is the most important element that enables them to become fully functioning people．They hold that when they live their life on purpose，their main concern is to do the job right．They love what they do—and it shows．People want to do business with them because of their commitment(投身；献身)．To live their life on purpose，successful people find a cause they believe in and create a business around it．Besides，they never easily give up．Once they have set up goals in their life，they are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals．Rather than seeing it negative or depressing they use the knowledge to spur themselves on and go after what they want energetically and passionately．
45．Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
A．How People Live Their Life on, Purpose         
B．How People Can Be Successful -
C．How People Can Do Their Own Things           
D．How People Do Business  
46．By living life “on purpose”，successful people can __________.
A．do a lot of work                            
B．concentrate on their jobs
C．do business with many people                  
D．do all of the above mentioned
47．The underlined word “it’’ in the second paragraph refers to __________.
A．the main concern of successful people             
B．the job that successful people do
C．the commitment with which successful people do their job
D．the business that successful people do with other people
48．The underlined word “spur” in the last sentence most probably means“
A．encourage           B．excite                 C．relieve          D．force