Six Americans are working on a new highway. But this highway won't have any traffic．It's an "ice highway" to the South Pole.

The team has just finished a second year of work on the 1,020-mile highway. "The road is the greatest single footprint of activity we've seen in the Antarctic (南極洲)," said Alan Hemmings, an Australian environmentalist.

The highway will provide a new way for supplies to be trekked (拉, 搬) across the earth on tractor-pulled sleds (雪橇). This method will use a lot less fuel than an aircraft, the current (當(dāng)前的) way that scientists and supplies reach the Amundsen-Scott Base, a U.S. research station in the South Pole. The highway will also allow for equipment that is too big for planes to carry to be brought to Antarctica．Even with these benefits, there is one disadvantage—a round trip on the road will be 30 days, compared to a few hours by plane.

Making this 20-foot-wide road isn't easy, and it takes a lot of time. The crew (工作隊) has been working on the road for two summers, when it's warmer and easier to work with the ice. It probably won't be completed until 2006.

Crevasses (裂縫), or cracks, in the land often make the construction difficult. Crevasses are kind of like pot holes that form when surface ice is stretched．This can be very dangerous, especially when the crevasses are hidden under a layer (層) of snow and can't be seen.

"Last year it took us three months to go three miles across a crevasse field, full of dangerous, hidden crevasses," said the project's manager, John Wright. Each year, more crevasses appear and they have to be filled with snow and ice so the road is safe for travel. The road will also be lined with green flags so travelers know where the safe surface is.

It will probably take ______ years to complete the ice highway.

       A．2     B．4      C．6      D．8

When it is finished, the highway will not be used for ______.

       A．giving supplies to the research station in the South Pole

       B．taking scientists to the South Pole

       C．taking travelers to a tour of Antarctic

       D．bringing huge equipment to Antarctic

How many miles can be covered at most each day if you take the ice highway to the South

Pole?

       A．30.    B．34.    C．68.    D．88.

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

       A．Other crevasses won’t appear if a crevasse has been filled.

       B．Many new crevasses will form after a crevasse has been filled.

       C．Travelers can drive their sleds on the ice highway freely.

       D．There will be less danger if the crevasses are covered by snow.

The houses ________ the streets were small and white.

1. A.
   lined
2. B.
   to line
3. C.
   lining
4. D.
   to be lined

CHICAGO --Bill Clinton's eagerly awaited memoir(自傳), My Life, will be published this June, and is sure to ignite（點燃）a firestorm of interest in an already politically charged election year. Bill Clinton said that most presidential memoirs are thought to be "dull and self-serving, but I hope mine is interesting and self-serving.”

My Life, which is being published by Knopf and will sell for $ 35, is expected by many industry watchers to rise to the top of the best-seller lists.

Clinton said the book tells the story of his life from his birth and childhood in Arkansas to his years in the White House. From the book readers can have a look at his successes and setbacks.

He tells the story “as it happens to me, so you see what it's like to be president ... to see how everything happens at once.”

Without offering specifics or mentioning Monica Lewinsky, Clinton said, "I don't spare myself" in the book.

"I have no idea if this is a great book," he said, "but it's a pretty good story. "

Clinton was reportedly paid an advance of $10 million for the book, which was supposed to be done a year ago.

"The minute that book goes on sale, people will be lined up buying the book," said Bob Wietrak, a vice-president（副總統(tǒng)）and chief merchant for Barnes & Noble.

Some predict the 957-page book will be one of the few presidential memoirs to fly off shelves.

Booksellers have already taken pre-orders. The 1.5 million-copy first printing is bigger than the first run for Hillary Clinton's memoir Living History, which sold 1.8 million copies.

56. Which of the following statements is NOT true about the book My Life?

A. It will come out in June.  B. It has 957 pages in all.

C. It is priced at $ 35.  D. It will be published by Barnes & Noble

57. Readers will not find much information about        in the book.

A. Clinton's childhood  B. Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky

C. Clinton's political life   D. Clinton’s presidential election

58. The underlined word "setback" means              .

A. a change from worse to better   B. a change from better to worse

C. a change from worse to worst          D. a change better to best

59. What can we learn about the sale of book?

A. The whole printing will be bigger than that of Hillary Clinton's Living History

B. Some booksellers have placed orders beforehand.

C. The book will be taken off the shelves after it meets failure.

D. People have to place an order for the book before it comes out.

The houses ________ the streets were small and white.

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