On a cold winter morning I heard someone trying to get their car out of the snow after a snowstorm. After a few minutes I realized they needed a(n) __【小題1】__, so I got dressed ,went __【小題2】__, and pushed the car. It only took about a minute and, __【小題3】__ more cold than sociable(交際的), I walked back to my apartment, __【小題4】__ really seeing the driver.
Months ___【小題5】__ I was at the corner store and the guy in front of me __【小題6】_ on paying for the beer I was buying! It felt a bit __【小題7】__ and I had to refuse repeatedly. When I __【小題8】__ the cashier she told me my stuff was already __【小題9】___ and she couldn't take my money.  
So, I was walking back home from the store and that __【小題10】__ guy is fifty feet in front of me, all the way! It __【小題11】__that he's my neighbor, living in the apartment complex(公寓大樓) just after mine!  
As we __【小題12】__ the stairs of our separate apartment buildings I __【小題13】__, "Thanks for the beer!" He replied, "__【小題14】__. Thanks for helping me push my car that time!" 
I didn't __【小題15】_ him and told him it wasn't me.  He said "Oh! Okay. Well, still ... enjoy!" 
A few days later I __【小題16】_ him getting into his car and I realized __【小題17】__ he was and that it actually had been me who __【小題18】__ him that day!
Maybe one day soon I'll tell him he bought __【小題19】__ for the right guy!
Either way, it feels nice to help, and when you put __【小題20】__ into the world, it eventually comes back to you!  

One of the world's richest men has taken a close interest in one of man’s most basic functions: visiting the toilet．Bill Gates’s charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future, which, they hope, would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world．

So, what's wrong with the traditional flush toilet? Firstly, it wastes a huge amount of potential drinking water．Secondly, they are more likely to cause pollution．This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world, where, according to United Nations estimates, unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations．Younger people are particularly at risk．Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1.5 million children a year．Finally, standard lavatories simply aren’t practical in remote areas．

The challenge set by Bill Gates was to come up with a latrine which works without running water, electricity or aseptic tank(化糞池)．It also needed to operate for less than 5 cents．28 designs were displayed at the recent Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle, USA．Among them was one which turned human waste into electricity using microwaves, another which converted human waste into charcoal, and yet another which used urine for flushing．

But the winner was a solar-powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity.The team from the California Institute of Technology（CIT）picked up a prize of $ 100,000.

But clearly Bill Gates doesn’t feel he’s flushing money down the toilet．After the Seattle event he said, “We, couldn’t be happier with the response we’ve gotten,” Gates has even pledged $370m more to the future toilet project．They hope to field test more prototypes over the next three years．

1.Why is Bill Gates paying people to invent new toilets?

A．Because he wants to test people’s sense of creativity．

B．Because he wants to improve sanitation for many people．

C．Because he thinks the traditional ones are out of fashion．

D．Because he can’t design this kind of things himself．

2.Which of the following is NOT a problem with the traditional flush toilet?

A．They waste too much water．

B．They might cause diseases．

C．They are not always practical．

D．They are too complicated to use.

3.The underlined word “l(fā)atrine” in the third paragraph might have similar meanings to the word “__ ”n the text．

A．Loo              B．sanitation          C．diarrhea          D．prototype

4.The team from CIT won the prize because their design        .

A．can change human waste into electricity

B．can turn human waste into charcoal

C．can produce power with solar energy

D．can use urine for flushing

5.If someone “flush money down the toilet”, they are       .

A．showing off their wealth

B．being angry with their work onditions

C．wasting money for nothing

D．expressing their great determination

On a cold winter morning I heard someone trying to get their car out of the snow after a snowstorm. After a few minutes I realized they needed a(n) __1.__, so I got dressed ,went __2.__, and pushed the car. It only took about a minute and, __3.__ more cold than sociable(交際的), I walked back to my apartment, __4.__ really seeing the driver.

Months ___5.__ I was at the corner store and the guy in front of me __6._ on paying for the beer I was buying! It felt a bit __7.__ and I had to refuse repeatedly. When I __8.__ the cashier she told me my stuff was already __9.___ and she couldn't take my money.  

So, I was walking back home from the store and that __10.__ guy is fifty feet in front of me, all the way! It __11.__that he's my neighbor, living in the apartment complex(公寓大樓) just after mine!  

As we __12.__ the stairs of our separate apartment buildings I __13.__, "Thanks for the beer!" He replied, "__14.__. Thanks for helping me push my car that time!" 

I didn't __15._ him and told him it wasn't me.  He said "Oh! Okay. Well, still ... enjoy!" 

A few days later I __16._ him getting into his car and I realized __17.__ he was and that it actually had been me who __18.__ him that day!

Maybe one day soon I'll tell him he bought __19.__ for the right guy!

Either way, it feels nice to help, and when you put __20.__ into the world, it eventually comes back to you!  

21.               A．entry          B．push           C．handle    D．drag

22.               A．upward         B．downstairs      C．backwards D．outside

23.               A．feeling         B．looking         C．proving   D．turning

24.               A．unless         B．until           C．without   D．by

25.               A．a(chǎn)go            B．later           C．within D．a(chǎn)way

26.               A．insisted        B．depended      C．reflected  D．held

27.               A．a(chǎn)wkward       B．joyful          C．curious    D．pleasant

28.               A．offered        B．charged        C．reached   D．rang

29.               A．turned down    B．checked out     C．set aside   D．paid for

30.               A．strange         B．same          C．great D．junior

31.               A．finds out        B．turns out       C．carries out D．works out

32.               A．walked up      B．settled down    C．dried up   D．turned around

33.               A．whispered      B．shouted        C．declared  D．a(chǎn)cknowledged

34.               A．No way         B．No wonder      C．No problem    D．No doubt

35.               A．expect         B．remember      C．mind D．a(chǎn)ppreciate

36.               A．saw           B．heard          C．observed  D．sensed

37.               A．what           B．where         C．who  D．how

38.               A．offered        B．comforted      C．rewarded  D．helped

39.               A．stuff           B．car            C．beer  D．a(chǎn)partment

40.               A．good          B．quality         C．benefit    D．energy

Mr Brown is a(n) _____ secretary in our office, for he is able to do tasks successfully, without wasting time and energy.

NASA is moving ahead with plans to put a long-armed lander on Mars’ icy north pole to search for clues^① for water and possible signs of life.

The $386 million Phoenix Mars is planned to touch down in the Martian arctic in 2008. The stationary probe will use its robotic arm to dig into the icy land and pick up soil samples^② to analyze. In 2002, the Mars Odyssey orbiter spotted evidence of ice-rich soil near the arctic surface.

Scientists hope the Phoenix mission will find clues to the geologic history of water on the Red Planet and determine whether microbes^③ existed in the ice.

Phoenix will be the first mission of the Mars Scout program, a renewed, low-cost effort to study the Red Planet. “The Phoenix mission explores new territory in the northern plains of Mars analogous to the permafrost regions on Earth,” Peter Smith said.

True to its name, Phoenix rose from the ashes of previous^④ missions. The lander for Phoenix was built to fly as part of the 2001 Mars Surveyor program. But the program broke down after the well-known disappearance of the Mars Polar Lander in 1999. The Polar Lander lost contact during a landing attempt near the planet’s south pole after its rocket engine shut off prematurely, causing the spacecraft to fall about 130 feet to almost certain destruction.

The Phoenix probe had been in storage at a Lockheed Martin clean room in Denver before it was reused for its present mission. It will carry science instruments that were designed for the Mars Surveyor program including an improved panoramic camera and a trench-digging robotic arm. Phoenix will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in August 2007 and land on the planet nine months later.

Notes:

clue  n. 線索

sample  n. 標(biāo)本，樣品

microbe  n. 微生物

previous  adj. 先前的

The passage mainly tells readers that _________.

        A. clues of water will be found in Phoenix

        B. Phoenix will be sent to find clues of water on Mars

        C. August 2007 will see Phoenix lift off

        D. the Mars Scout program will be carried out

The underlined word “prematurely” (paragraph 5) means _________.

        A. on time     B. behind the time      C. out of work       D. ahead of time

According to the passage, we know Phoenix will land on Mars _________.

A. in May 2008            B. in August 2007   

C. in August 2008          D. in September 2008

According to the passage, the name “Phoenix” is after the meaning of _________.

        A. rebirth         B. death        C. energy        D. hope

After Phoenix lands on Mars, we can infer it will firstly _________.

        A. find soil samples and send them to the earth

        B. look for the icy land to dig for the soil samples

        C. take photos and send them to the earth

        D. find the remains of the Mars Polar Lander