49. The passage is mainly about ____________.

A. problems with technology

B. improvements in our lives caused by technology

C. changes happening to technology

D. the importance of technology

B

About ten men in every hundred have the trouble of color blindness in some way. Women are luckier, only about one in two hundred is affected(感染) in this matter. Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman.

There are different kinds of color blindness. For example, a man cannot see deep red. He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades(阴影) of green. Sometimes a person can’t tell the difference between blue and green. Only a few unlucky men may see everything in shades of green—a strange world indeed.

Color blindness in human beings is a difficult thing to explain. In only one eye there are millions of very small things called “cones(圆锥体)”. These help us to see in the bright light and to tell differences between colors. There are also millions of “rods(柱状体)”, but these are used for seeing when it is nearly dark. They show us shapes but not colors.

Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes(蚊子) like blue but do not like yellow. A red light will not attract insects, but a blue light will. Human beings also have favorite colors. Yet we are lucky. With the help of the cones in our eyes, we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the help of the rods we can see shapes at night.

50. “Color blindness” means “_________” in Chinese.

A. 盲目       B. 无色        C. 色盲      D.讨厌颜色

51. Some people say it’s safer to be driven by women because _______.

A. women drive more carefully          B. women are better at driving than men

C. women can see things more clearly     D. there are fewer color-blind women

52. With the help of the “cones”, we can __________.

A. tell different shapes       B. kill insects

C. see in the dark           D. tell orange from yellow

53. ________ show us shape at night.

A. rods     B. insects       C. cones      D. mosquitoes

C

Lijiang, Yunnan, Dec. 17(Xinhuanet)—A film directed by the famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou, made its domestic debut(国内首映式) in Lijiang, where the film was shot, in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, on Friday night.

The film, titled Riding Along for Thousands of Miles, was played by the Japanese actor TakakuraKen. It tells a story that Takada, a Japanese fisherman, fulfills(完成)the last wish of his dying son by traveling thousands of miles to China’s Yunnan Province to search for the secret behind a local opera play, called Riding Along for Thousands of Miles.

Zhang Yimou, who has been Takakura’s admirer for almost 30 years, made the film just for

fulfilling his own wish of working with Takakura Ken.

The film made its global(全球的)bedut at the opening session of the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival on Oct. 22.

Takakura, one of the best-known actors in Japan, has played roles in 204 films—including

Zhang’s—and won world recognition(认可) after starting in the 1975 Sydney Pollack hit The Yakuza(71) and in Ridley Scott’s 1989 work Black Rain.

Invested by the Beijing New Picture Edko Films, Riding Along for Thousands of Miles was

made at a cost of 60 million yuan(about 7.3 million US dollars), much less than Zhang’s two previous films, Hero and House of Flying Daggers, both had been nominates(提名)for best foreign film Oscars.

The film will be formally released in China on Dec. 22.

54. One of the famous actors in Riding Along for Thousands of Miles is____________.

A. Zhang Yimou     B. Takakura Ken      C. Takada            D. Jiang Wen

55. Riding Along For Thousands of Miles made its domestic debut in _____ and made its global debut in ____________.

A. Beijing, Tokyo     B. Lijiang, Tokyo     C. Beijing, Tokyo     D. Lijiang, London

56. ____________ is not directed by Zhang Yimou.

A. Riding Along For Thousands of Miles    B. Hero

C. Black rain                          D. House of Flying Daggers

57. 6 million yuan is about ____________ million US dollars.

A. 7       B. 7.3      C. 0.73      D. 3.7

D

As we know, it is not easy to build a satellite. Building a traditional satellite normally takes years. The costs can be as high as $ 250 million or more. Most members of the design teams have worked in the field for a long time. They hold advanced degrees in math, science, or engineering.

But things are changing. High costs, unusual educational requirements and long start-up times are no longer an obstacle to space exploration. The scientists at Stanford University have developed a new type of tiny, inexpensive earth-orbiting satellites that go from ideas to launch(发射) in a year.

So far, college students have built and launched several cube-shaped satellites, or Cubesats. At least 15 more are ready to go. Those already in orbit(轨道) take pictures, collect information and send it back to the earth, just as regular satellites do.

But you might not even have to wait until you get to college to start designing and building your own satellite. A new program called KatySat aims to get teenagers to take part. Once kids understand what satellites can do, says Ben Yuan, an engineer at Lockheed Martin in Menlo Park, Calif, the kinds of applications they’ll come up with may be countless.

“We’d like to put this technology(技术) in your hands,” he tells kids. “We’re going to teach you how to operate a satellite. Then we want to turn it over to you as a sandbox for you to play in. We want you to take the technology into new directions that we haven’t thought of yet.”

Education isn’t the only goal of CubeSats. Because these tiny, technology-filled boxes are relatively inexpensive to build and can be put together quickly, they’re perfect for testing new technologies that might one day be used on major space tasks.

The biggest challenge now is to find ways to bring the satellites back to the earth after a year or two. Otherwise, major highways of space junk could gradually increase as CubeSats become more common.

Nowdays challenge and high school students are getting a chance to learn what it takes to explore in space. Someday—perhaps a lot sooner than you imagine—you might get to design, build and launch your own satellite. If you do, you’re sure to have fun. And you might also get crazy about science for life.

58.Compared with the traditional ones, the new satellites ___________.

A. need long start-up times       B. are low-cost and small-sized

C. are very hard to operate       D. collect more information in orbit