A 7.0 magnitude（級）earthquake killed more than 230,000 people in Haiti. Then an 8.8 magnitude quake killed more than 900 people in Chile. And few weeks later, a 6.0 magnitude quake struck rural eastern Turkey, killing at least 57 people.
The earthquakes kept coming hard and fast.   1 It’s not. The problem is what’s happening above ground, not underground, experts say.
  2 They’re rapidly putting up buildings that can’t stand up to earth quakes, scientists believe.
And news reports and better earthquake monitoring make it seem as if earth quakes are increasing all the time.
On average, there are 134 earthquakes a year that have a magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9. So far this year there have been 40 earthquakes—more than in most years for that time period. But that’s because the 8.8 quake in Chile caused a large number of strong aftershocks.
Also, it’s not the number of quakes, but their destructive effects that gain attention. The death is largely due to building standards,   3  Paul Earle, a US seismologist, called for better building standards in the world’s big cities.
Of the 130 cities worldwide with populations of more than I million, more than half are likely to be hit by earthquakes.   4 “If you have a problem feeding yourself, you’re not really going to worry about earthquakes,” said Paul.
The earthquakes made everyone start to think   5  “People are paying attention to the violent planet we’re always lived on. Come back an another six moths if there has been no earthquakes, most people will have forgotten it again,” said US disaster researcher Dennis Mileti.

B
In ancient Japan, if you saved someone's life, they would make it their duty to spend the rest of their life serving you. Nowadays, if you rescue someone's story, he or she will feel the same kind of gratitude(感激).
It happens all the time. Someone in a group is telling a story and, just before their big point, BOOM! There's an interruption. Someone new joins the group, a waiter with a plate of biscuits comes over, or a baby starts crying. Suddenly everyone's attention turns to the new arrival, the food on the plate, or the "charming" little child. Nobody is aware of the interruption－except the speaker. They forget all about the fact that the speaker hasn't made his or her point.
Or you're all sitting around the living room and someone is telling a joke. Suddenly, just before their big punch line (妙語), little Johnny drops a dish or the phone tings. After the crash, everyone talks about little Johnny's carelessness. After the call, the subject turns to the upcoming marriage or medical operation of the caller. Nobody remembers the great punch line got unfinished－except the joke teller. When it's you entertaining everyone at a restaurant, have you ever noticed how you can almost set your clock by the waiter coming to take everyone's order just before your funny punch line?
Most joke and story tellers are too shy to say, after the interruption, "Now, as I was saying ..." Instead, they'll spend the rest of the evening feeling bad because of what they didn't get to finish. Here's where you come in. Rescue them with the technique I call "Lend a Helping Tongue. "
Watch the gratitude in the storyteller's eyes as he restarts where his story sank and he sails off again toward the center of attention. His expression and the appreciation of your consideration by the rest of the group are often rewarded enough. You are even more fortunate if you can rescue the story of someone who can hire you, promote you, buy from you, or otherwise lift your life. Big winners have excellent memories. When you do them favors like Lend a Helping Tongue, they'll find a way to pay you back.
45．Very often, a storyteller cannot make his point because_____.
A．people are more interested in food than his story
B．many guests bring their babies to the party
C．he is interrupted by something unexpected
D．his story is easily forgotten by the listeners
46．From Paragraph 3, we know that when someone is telling a joke, _________.
A．something bad will surely happen just before their punch line
B．the only person really interested in the joke is the joke teller
C．listeners' attention is often drawn to something else
D．the waiter knows when to take everyone's order
47．How can we help the joke and story tellers when they are interrupted?
A．By giving them a chance to finish.
B．By going on telling the story for them.
C．By comforting them to make them happy.
D．By teaching them some useful techniques.
48．What is the text mainly about?
A．We can win someone's heart by getting him back to his story.
B．People should learn how to take turns in a conversation.
C．Telling jokes will make you the center of attention.
D．It is impolite to interrupt someone's talk.

B

       In ancient Japan, if you saved someone's life, they would make it their duty to spend the rest of their life serving you. Nowadays, if you rescue someone's story, he or she will feel the same kind of gratitude(感激).

       It happens all the time. Someone in a group is telling a story and, just before their big point, BOOM! There's an interruption. Someone new joins the group, a waiter with a plate of biscuits comes over, or a baby starts crying. Suddenly everyone's attention turns to the new arrival, the food on the plate, or the "charming" little child. Nobody is aware of the interruption－except the speaker. They forget all about the fact that the speaker hasn't made his or her point.

       Or you're all sitting around the living room and someone is telling a joke. Suddenly, just before their big punch line (妙語), little Johnny drops a dish or the phone tings. After the crash, everyone talks about little Johnny's carelessness. After the call, the subject turns to the upcoming marriage or medical operation of the caller. Nobody remembers the great punch line got unfinished－except the joke teller. When it's you entertaining everyone at a restaurant, have you ever noticed how you can almost set your clock by the waiter coming to take everyone's order just before your funny punch line?

       Most joke and story tellers are too shy to say, after the interruption, "Now, as I was saying ..." Instead, they'll spend the rest of the evening feeling bad because of what they didn't get to finish. Here's where you come in. Rescue them with the technique I call "Lend a Helping Tongue. "

       Watch the gratitude in the storyteller's eyes as he restarts where his story sank and he sails off again toward the center of attention. His expression and the appreciation of your consideration by the rest of the group are often rewarded enough. You are even more fortunate if you can rescue the story of someone who can hire you, promote you, buy from you, or otherwise lift your life. Big winners have excellent memories. When you do them favors like Lend a Helping Tongue, they'll find a way to pay you back.

45．Very often, a storyteller cannot make his point because_____.

       A．people are more interested in food than his story

       B．many guests bring their babies to the party

       C．he is interrupted by something unexpected

       D．his story is easily forgotten by the listeners

46．From Paragraph 3, we know that when someone is telling a joke, _________.

       A．something bad will surely happen just before their punch line

       B．the only person really interested in the joke is the joke teller

       C．listeners' attention is often drawn to something else

       D．the waiter knows when to take everyone's order

47．How can we help the joke and story tellers when they are interrupted?

       A．By giving them a chance to finish.

       B．By going on telling the story for them.

       C．By comforting them to make them happy.

       D．By teaching them some useful techniques.

48．What is the text mainly about?

       A．We can win someone's heart by getting him back to his story.

       B．People should learn how to take turns in a conversation.

       C．Telling jokes will make you the center of attention.

       D．It is impolite to interrupt someone's talk.

       Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors（流星） but also because of rays from the sun and other stars．The atmosphere again acts as our protective blanket on earth．Light gets through, and this is essential（不可缺少的） for plants to make the food which we eat．Heat, too, makes our environment endurable（能持久的）, Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer space, but enormous（巨大的） quantities of radiation from the sun are screened off（用屏幕隔開）．As soon as men leave the atmosphere they are exposed to this radiation but their spacesuit or the walls of their spacecraft, if they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage．

       Radiation is the greatest known danger to explorers in space．The unit of radiation is called “rem”．Scientists have reason to think that a man can put up with far more than 0．1 rem without being damaged; the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on．The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage – a person may feel perfectly well, but the cells of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered until the birth of deformed（畸形的） children or even grandchildren．Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated（積累） a large amount of rems．So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short．We simply don’t know yet how men are going to get on when they spent weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory．Drugs might help to decrease the damage done by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far．

1．According to the first paragraph, the atmosphere is essential to man in that ______．

       A．it protects him against the harmful rays from space．

       B．it provides sufficient（充分的） light for plant growth．

       C．it supplies the heat necessary for human survival．

       D．it screens off the falling meteors．

2．We know from the passage that___________．

       A．exposure（揭露） to even tiny amounts of radiation is fatal（致命的） ．

       B．the effect of exposure to radiation is slow in coming．

       C．radiation is avoidable in space exploration．

       D．a(chǎn)stronauts in spacesuit needn’t worry about radiation damage．

3．The harm radiation had done to the Apollo crewmembers ___________．

       A．is insignificant（不重要的）               B．seems overestimated

       C．is enormous                                    D．remains unknown

4．It can be inferred from the passage that ___________．

       A．the Apollo mission was very successful．

       B．protection from space radiation is no easy job．

       C．a(chǎn)stronauts will have deformed children or grandchildren．

       D．radiation is not a threat to well-protected space explorers．

5．The best title for this passage would be __________．

       A．The atmosphere and Our Environment

       B．Research on Radiation

       C．Effects of Space Radiation

       D．Importance of Protection Against Radiation