An astronomer is making a case for launching pop singer Justin Bieber into suborbital space aboard a private rocket ship. The idea is not to rid the world of the Canadian teenager -- he would come back down to Earth eventually, after all -- but rather to help jump-start the emerging suborbital spaceflight industry. It would generate a lot of public interest, which would help commercial spaceflight pick up some much-needed momentum, said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, California. "If there's more interest, there are more customers. If there are more customers, there's more technical development. It's a positive feedback loop, and obviously that's good." Such missions would return to Earth without completing a full lap around the planet. Instead, the flights would hit the edge of space about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth, experience a few minutes of weightlessness, then re-enter the atmosphere and land back at a spaceport. None of these firms are ready to fly customers yet, but some are getting close. For instance, Virgin Galactic hopes to begin powered test flights of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle later this year, with commercial operations perhaps beginning in 2013 or 2014. It is SpaceShipTwo that reportedly grabbed the attention of Beyonce and Jay-Z. Virgin Galactic has collected deposits from nearly 500 customers willing to pay $200,000 for a ride aboard SpaceShipTwo, and both Virgin and XCOR have inked deals to fly scientists and their experiments on research flights. So a suborbital market already exists -- but Shostak is thinking about ways to make it grow. A celebrity launch isn't Shostak's only idea. Suborbital firms should also promote their activities aggressively via social media, Shostak said, and they should make sure their spaceships are bristling with cameras both inside and out, to give the public dramatic views of every mission. Some observers view commercial suborbital spaceflight as a potentially... What can we learn about suborbital spaceflight? A) A trip will return to Earth before finishing a lap. B) The whole trip will leave passengers weightless. C) Each trip can take 500 passengers. D) The trip will be too expensive even for celebrities.
A


As a palace, the Tower of London.was a great place to live.As a prison, it, wasn't so nice ----especially since so many prisoners lost their heads.Today tourists can explore 5the Tower in the United Kingdom.Here are some reasons why the Tower was and still is a cool place. Ravens  are like superheroes. Well, sort of.Legend says if the ravens that live on the Tower grounds ever leave, the Tower will fall apart.No one knows when the ravens first showed up, but Charles II took the legend so seriously that in the 1670s he gave an official order that six ravens be kept there all the time.Today there are still always six. You might have lived at a zoo. In 1204, King John kept a collection of animals, including lions and elephants.About 50 years later, King Henry III received a polar bear.the bear was kept on a piece of rope so it could fish from the Thames River that flows by the Tower. If you lived at the Tower today, your mom or dad might be in charge. The 35 Yeoman Warders and their families are among the few still allowed to live at the Tower.Established in 1509 a;? bodyguards! for the king, today they give tours and  manage the day-to-day details of the Tower.They're called "beefeaters," possibly because their job once allowed them to eat beef from the king's; table. You need a secret password at night. Called the "Word," the password changes every 24 hours and is a must-have to enter the Tower after hours.It's written on a piece of paper and delivered to the Yeoman on duty for, the night. You could find buried gold. In 1662, a goldsmith  named John Barfcstead supposedly hid more than $40,000 worth of stolen gold somewhere on.the Tower grounds.Many have searched for the gold, but it has never been found. Which of the following is TRUE about the Tower of London? A) King Henry III kept lions and elephants in it. B) It stands on the bank of the Thames River. C) Nobody is allowed to enter it at night. D) It is also used as a prison nowadays.
B


Q: For those who study the development of intelligence in the animal world, self-awareness is an important measurement. An animal that is aware of itself has a high level of intelligence. Awareness can be tested by studying whether the animal recognizes itself in the mirror, that is, its own reflected image .Many animals fail this exercise bitterly, paying very little attention to the reflected image. Only humans, and some intelligent animals like apes and dolphins, have been shown to recognize the image in the mirror is of themselves. Now another animal has joined the club . In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers report an Asian elephant has passed the mirror self-reflection test. "We thought elephants were the next important animal" said Diana Reiss of the Wildlife Conservation Society ,an author of the study with Joshua M.Plotnik and Fans                            B.M..de Waal of Emory University. With their large brains, Reiss said elephants "seemed like cousins to apes and dolphins" The researchers tested Happy, Maxine and Patty, three elephants at the Bronx Zoo. They put an 8-foot-square mirror on a wall of the animals' play area (out of the sight of zoo visitors and recorded what happened with cameras, including one built in the mirror. The elephants used their long noses to find what was behind it, and to examine parts of their bodies. Of the three, Happy then passed their test, in which a clear mark was painted on one side of her face. She could tell the mark was there by looking in the mirror and she used the mirror to touch the mark with her long nose. Diana Reiss said, " We knew elephants were intelligent, but now we can talk about their intelligence in a better way". Why does the author mention apes and dolphins in the text? A) They are most familiar to readers. B) They are big favourites with zoo visitors. C) They are included in the study by Reiss. D) They are already known to be intelligent.
A: D


Newspapers in Great Britain _ greatly in their ways of carrying the news. There are serious papers for those who want to know about important happenings everywhere, both at home and abroad. There are popular newspapers for those who prefer entertainment to information. The London newspaper that is best known outside Great Britain is probably the Times. It began in 1785, and is well accepted for believable news and serious opinions on the news. It calls itself an independent paper, which means that it does not give its support to a particular political party. Its leading articles give the opinions of the editors, not those of the owners of the paper. Letters to the editor are printed in the newspaper. These parts of the Times are always interesting. Most of the letters are serious subjects. But from time to time there will be long letters on the subject which is not at all serious, perhaps on a new fashion of dress, or the bad manners of the young people, compared with manners of thirty years ago. If you want to get pleasure, please buy yourself  _  . A) a serious newspaper B) foreign newspaper C) any independent paper D) a popular newspaper

D