The Sahara Festival is a celebration of the very recent past. The three-day event is not fixed to the same dates each year, but generally takes place in November or December. It is well attended by tourists, but even better attended by locals.

    During the opening ceremonies（儀式）, after the official greetings from the government leaders, people who attend the festival begin to march smartly before the viewing stands, and white camels （駱駝）transport their riders across the sands. Horsemen from different nations display their beautiful clothes and their fine horsemanship. One following another, groups of musicians and dancers from all over the Sahara take their turn to show off their wonderful traditional culture. Groups of men in blue and yellow play horns and beat drums as they dance in different designs（傳統(tǒng)文化）. On their knees in the sand, a group of women in long dark dresses dance with their hair: their long, dark, shiny hair is thrown back and forth in the wind to the rhythm of their dance.

    The local and visiting Italian dogs are anxious to run after hares. The crowd is on its feet for the camel races. Camels and riders run far into the distance, and then return to the finish Line in front of the cheering people.

    Towards the evening, there comes the grand finale of the opening day, an extremely exciting horserace. All the riders run very fast on horseback. Some riders hang off the side of their saddles. Some even ride upside down -- their legs and feet straight up in the air -- all at full speed. Others rush down the course together, men arm in arm, on different horses. On and on they went. So fast and so wonderful!

64. The Sahara Festival is a festival which________.

A. has a very long history in North Africa          

B. is held in the same place on the same day

C. is attended mainly by the people in the Sahara

D. is celebrated mostly by travelers from different countries

65. Before the races begin, ________ take part in the activities during the opening ceremonies.

A. musicians, dancers, horses and hares                  B. camel riders, musicians, dogs and hares

C. horsemen, dancers, camels and dogs               D. musicians, officials, camels and horses

66. The underlined word "finale" in the fourth paragraph most probably means the ________of the opening day.

A. first part         B. middle          C. last part          D. whole

67. This passage mainly tells readers_______.

A. what happens on the opening day of the Sahara Festival

B. how people celebrate during the three-day Sahara Festival

C. what takes place at the closing ceremonies of the Sahara Festival

D. how animals race on the first and the last days of the Sahara Festival

CHICAGO （Reuters） - Smoking not only can wrinkle （起皺紋） the face and tarn it yellow—it can do the same to the whole body, researchers reported on Monday．

The study, published in the Archives of Dermatology, shows that smoking affects the skin all over the body—even skin protected from the sun．

"We examined non - facial skin that was protected from the sun, and found that the total number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day and the total years a person has smoked were linked with the amount of skin damage a person experienced," Dr．Yolanda Helfrich of the University of Michigan, who led the study, said in a statement．

"In participants older than 65 years, smokers had significantly more fine wrinkling than nonsmokers．Similar findings were seen in participants aged 45 to 65 years," Helfrich "s team added in their report．

The researchers tested 82 people, smokers and nonsmokers, taking pictures of the inner right arms． They ranged, in age from 22 to 91 and half were smokers．Independent judges decided how wrinkled each person' s skin was．

When skin is exposed to sunlight, notably the face, it becomes coarse, wrinkled and discolored with a pale yellow tint, Helfrich ' s team wrote．

Several previous studies have found that cigarette smoking contributes to premature（過早的）skin aging as measured by facial wrinkles, the study said, but little has been done to measure the aging of skin not exposed to light．

The report did not discuss die mechanism involved but previous research has found that cigarette smoke, among other things, causes blood vessels （血管） beneath the skin to constrict （緊縮）, reducing blood supply to the skin．

Smoking can also damage the connective tissue that supports both die skin and the internal organs,．

When your skin is exposed to sunlight long, it-becomes all of the following but _____．

    A．flexible     B．coarse           C．rough        D．discolored

How wrinkled a person's skin is doesn't relate to _____．

    A．the number of cigarettes a person smokes．    

    B．the kind and characteristics of skin

    C．how long a person smokes              

    D．how long skin is under sunlight

From the passage smoking results in skin aging mainly because _____.

    A．it will lower blood supply to skin                  

    B．it can make you feel tired

    C．it can make skin come off                       

    D．it can make blood run faster

The main purpose of the passage is to _____．

    A．inform people about the result of the study         

    B．a(chǎn)dvise people how to protect skin

    C．warn people not to smoke again                  

    D．introduce a new way of avoid skin aging

Among all the fast growing science and technology, the research of human genes, or biological engineering as people call it, is drawing more and more attention now. Sometimes it’s a hot topic discussed by people.

   The greatest thing that gene technology can do is to cure serious diseases that doctors at present can almost do nothing with, such as cancer and heart disease. Every year, millions of people are murdered by these two killers. And to date, doctors have not found an effective way to cure them. But if the gene technology is applied, not only these two diseases can be cured completely, bringing happiness and more living days to the patients, but also the great amount of money people spend on curing their diseases can be saved, therefore it benefits the economy as well. In addition, human life span(壽命) can be prolonged.

   Gene technology can help people to give birth to more healthy and clever children. Some families, with the English imperial(皇帝的) family being a good example, have hereditary(遺傳的) diseases. This means their children will for sure have the family disease, which is a great trouble for these families. In the past, doctors could do nothing about hereditary diseases. But gene technology can solve this problem perfectly. Scientists just need to find the wrong gene and correct it, and a healthy child will be born.

   Some people are worrying that the gene research can be used to manufacture(生產(chǎn)) human beings in large quantities. In the past few years, scientists have succeeded in cloning a sheep; therefore these people predict that human babies would soon be cloned. But I believe cloned babies will not come out in large quantities, for most couples in the world can have babies in very normal way. Of course, the governments must take care to control gene technology.

What does "these two killers" in the second paragraph refer to?

     A. Gene technology and another treatment of the two diseases.

     B. The two murderers who killed the cloned baby.

     C. The two diseases of cancer and heart disease.

     D. Hereditary diseases and cancer.

What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?

     A. Gene technology can help people to give birth to a baby.

     B. Gene technology can be used to clone human babies.

     C. How gene technology can be used to treat hereditary diseases.

     D. Gene technology can solve all the problems of the English imperial family.

In what way can gene technology help to treat hereditary diseases?

     A. Gene technology helps people with hereditary diseases to live longer.

     B. Using gene technology, scientists find the wrong gene and correct it.

     C. Using gene technology, human babies can be cloned.

     D. Doctors can cure cancer and heart disease with the help of gene technology.

What is the main purpose of writing this passage?

     A. Expressing the writer's idea that gene technology will benefit people.

     B. Telling people the advantages and disadvantages of gene technology.

     C. Telling the readers that gene technology will not benefit people.

     D. Explaining that gene technology will also do harm to the humanity.

The quest for success always begins with a target. As Berra once said, "You got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."

       Too many people wander through life like sleepwalkers. Each day they follow familiar routines, never asking, “What am I doing with my life?” and they don’t know what they’re doing because they lack goals.

       Goal-setting is a focusing of the will to move in a certain direction. Begin with a clear conception of what you want. Write down your goals and date them—putting them into words clarifies them. Rather than concentrating on objects to acquire and possess, focus on fulfilling your desires to do, to produce, to contribute—goal-setting that yields the true sense of satisfaction we all need.

       It’s important to visualize（想象）yourself accomplishing your goal. While losers visualize the penalties（不利）of failure, winners visualize the rewards of success. I’ve seen it among athletes, statistics contrasting air and highway safety, but it made no difference. I had read too many articles describing crash scenes and imagined these scenes vividly. I had programmed myself, without realizing it, to stay off planes.

       Then one summer I had the opportunity to fly on a private plane with friends to a resort；I didn’t want to miss out on a great vacation. So I spent two weeks imagining a smooth flight on a beautiful sunny day and an easy landing.

       When the day arrived, I was eager to go. To everyone’s surprise, I got on the plane and I loved every minute of it, and I still use the techniques I employed that day.

68．According to the passage, if you want to be successful, the first thing for you to do is _______.

       A．find the right methods     B．be careful about everything

       C．know your ability           D．have a clear goal

69．If you have a target, you will ________.

       A．wander like a sleepwalker       B．know well what you are doing

       C．do the same work every day    D．put it into words

70．The problem with the author before he overcame his fear of air travel is that ______.

       A．he didn’t know air travel is safer than highway travel

       B．he couldn’t imagine himself accomplishing his goal

       C．he read too much about plane crashes and tried to avoid flying

       D．he wanted to take a private plane instead of a public one

71．What would be the best title for this passage?

       A．Define Your Coal                   B．Visualize Rewards of Success

       C．Overcome the Fear of Air Travel    D．Sleepwalking Through Life

The question of what children learn, and how they should learn, is continually being debated and redebated. Nobody dares any longer to defend the old system, the learning of lessons parrot-fashion, the grammar-with-a-whip system, which was good enough for our grandparents. The theories of modem psychology have stepped in to argue that we must understand the need of children. Children are not just small adults; they are children who must be respected as much.

Well, you may say, this is as it should be, a good idea. But think further. What happens? "Education" becomes the responsibility not of teachers, but of psychologists (心里學家). What happens then? Teachers worry too much about the psychological implications (暗示) of their lessons, and forget about the subjects themselves. If a child dislikes a lesson, the teacher feels that it is his fault, not the child’s. So teachers worry whether history is "relevant" to modern young children. And do they dare to recount stories about violence? Or will this make the children themselves violent? Can they tell their classes about children of different races, or will this encourage racial hatred? Why teach children to write grammatical sentences? Verbal expression is better. Sums? Arithmetic? No: Real-life mathematical situations are more understandable.

You see, you can go too far. Influenced by educational theorists, who have nothing better to do than to write books about their ideas, teachers leave their teacher-training colleges filled with grand, psychological ideas about children and their needs. They make elaborate, sophisticated (精致的，復雜的) preparations and try out their "modem methods" on the long-suffering children. Since one "modem method" rapidly replaces another the poor kids will have had a good bellyful by the time they leave school. Frequently the modem methods are so sophisticated that they fail to be understood by the teachers, let alone the children; even more often, the relaxed discipline so essential for the " informal" feelings the class must have, prevents all but a handful of children from learning anything.

People do not dare defend the old system mainly because under the old system________.

A. too much grammar was taught to children

B. children were spoiled (寵壞)

C. children were treated as grown-ups

D. children were made to learn passively(被動的)

What view do the modem psychologists hold?

A. Children must be understood and respected.

B. Children are small adults and know what they need.

C. Children are better off without learning lessons.

D. Education of children is the responsibility of psychologists.

What happens when teachers pay too much attention to the psychology of their lessons?

A. They find that the children dislike the lessons.

B. They tend to blame students for their failure.

C. They do not pay enough attention to the actual lessons.

D. They no longer want to teach children history.

Grammatical sentences are regarded as unimportant because ________.

A. it is better to use verbs only

B. words are said out of natural feelings only

C. talking freely and naturally without sentences is a better form of expression

D. it is felt that formal grammar rules might cause unnatural expressions

according to the passage, the modern methods are understood by ________.

A. neither teachers nor pupils

B. only a handful of teachers and pupils

C. the more sophisticated teachers

D. everyone who enjoys the relaxed discipline of the informal classes