Runners in a relay(接力) race pass a stick in one direction. However, merchants passed silk, gold, fruit, and glass along the Silk Road in more than one direction. They earned their living by traveling the famous Silk Road.
The Silk Road was not a simple trading network. It passed through thousands of citied and towns. It started from eastern China, across Central Asia and the Middle East, and ended in the Mediterranean Sea. It was used from about 200 B, C, to about A, D, 1300, when sea travel offered new routes(路线) , It was sometimes called the world’s longest highway. However, the Silk Road was made up of many routes, not one smooth path. They passed through what are now 18 countries. The routes crossed mountains and deserts and had many dangers of hot sun, deep snow and even battles. Only experienced traders could return safe.
The Silk Road got its name from its most prized product. Silk could be used like money to pay taxes or buy goods. But the traders carried more than just silk. Gold, silver, and glass from Europe were much found in the Middle East and Asia. Horses traded from other areas changed farming practices in China. Indian merchants traded salt and other valuable goods. Chinese merchants traded paper, which produced an immediate effect on the West. Apples traveled from central Asia to Rome. The Chinese had learned to graft(嫁接) different trees together to make new kinds of fruit. They passed this science on to others, including the Romans. The Romans used grafting to grow the apple. Trading along the Silk Road led to world-wide business 2,000 years before the World Wide Web.
The people along the Silk Road did not share just goods. They also shared their beliefs. The Silk Road provided pathways for learning, diplomacy(外交), and religion (宗教)It’s probable that traders along the Silk Road needed .
| A．to remember the entire trade route | B．to know the making of products |
| C．to receive certain special training | D．to deal with a lot of difficulties |
The Silk Road became less important because .
| A．it was made up of different routes | B．silk trading became less popular |
| C．sea travel provided easier routes | D．people needed fewer foreign goods |
New technologies could travel along the Silk Road because people .
| A．learned from one another | B．shared each other’s beliefs |
| C．traded goods along the route | D．earned their living by traveling |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．The Silk Road ; Past and Present | B．The Silk Road; East Meets West |
| C．The Silk Road; Routes Full of Dangers | D．The Silk Road; Pathways for Learning |
The spectacular Victoria Falls links two countries, Zimbabwe and Zambia．It was discovered by David Livingstone in November 1855 and is known in the local language, as Mosi-oa-tunya, “the smoke that thunders”．It was Livingstone who named Victoria Falls after his Queen and stated in his own famous diary entry--- “Angels in their flight must have gazed．”
Adventure sports and a range of accommodation
The rustic（乡村的）Victoria Fall town--- just ten minutes from the Fall, and on the outskirts of the Zambezi National Park--- has all facilities necessary to act as a base for exploring the region．Accommodation is plentiful--- from low budget campsites to luxury hotels．
And across the border in Livingstone, Zambia, visitors will find a town suitable for the adventure sports enthusiasts with lots of travel and adventure sports companies．
Victoria Bridge--- the third highest Bungee jump in the world
At a height of 364 feet, the Victoria Falls Bridge, completed in 1905, is the world’s third highest Bungee jump, though the scream factor is arguably the loudest, making it a great draw-card for adventure sports enthusiasts．While dropping into the abyss (深渊), you will be blasted with spray from the thundering Victoria Falls, and then jerked (猛烈) back to reality within inches of the swirling eddies (漩涡) of the Zambezi below．
How to enjoy the Victoria Falls Experience--- take to the sky’s and the water
Anyone can pay an entrance fee and walk around the ridge of Victoria Falls and take some good pictures to send home, but to truly experience the size and scope of the spray, you’ve got to get airborne, and there are options--- tame and a little wild: fixed wing planes, helicopters, microlights．
River Rafting, in many shapes and sizes, is conducted on both sides of the Zambezi River, in Zimbabwe and Zambia below Victoria Falls．
63．What is the passage mainly about?
A．The introduction to the adventure sports at Victoria Falls．
B．The description of the beauty of Victoria Fall．
C．The development of the adventure sports in this region．
D．The introduction to the options of accommodation in this region．
64．What does David Livingstone think of Victoria Falls by saying “Angels in their flight must
have gazed．”?
A．Quite mysterious． B．A bit dangerous
C．Amazingly beautiful． D．Out of reach．
65．The author believe that the best way to experience Victoria Falls is______________．
A．on foot B．by Bungee jump C．by air D．by river rafting
66．Which of the following best shows the relationship of the following places?
=" Victoria" Falls =" Victoria" Falls town =" Zambezi" National Park
Now let us look at how we read．When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, rough movement．We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate(凝视)．Each time they fixate, we see a group of words．This is known as the recognition span or the visual span．The length of time of which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation ----varies considerably from person to person．It also varies within one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text．Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness．
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page．As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation．For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second．One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side．Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation．All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently．Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words．Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text．
59．The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts EXCEPT________ ．
A．one’s familiarity with the text B．one’s purpose in reading
C．the length of a group of words D．lighting and tiredness
60．The author may believe that reading ______．
A．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation
B．requires a reader to see words more quickly
C．demands a deeply-participating mind
D．demands more mind than eyes
61．What does the author mean by saying the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?
A．The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted．
B．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see and to
comprehend words．
C．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading．
D．The reading exercises mentioned have done a great job to improve one’s ability to see
words．
62．What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?
A．critical B．neutral C．pessimistic D．optimistic
1. Summer came early to Middlesbrough yesterday, as temperatures shot up to 22°C (71°F), a record for March. But local NFU agent Jim Wilkes says it could be bad news for farmers. “The crops will think it's summer,” he told our reporter, “and start sprouting (发芽) four weeks before time.”
2. The death toll (死亡人数) of the Burnside train crash rose to four yesterday when John Phillips, 
32, of Petersville died in Wallsend Hospital. Another six people are still on the danger list. Mr. Phillips, an electrical engineer leaves a wife and two children.
3. China and the United States reached an agreement on the protection of intellectual property rights (知识产权) yesterday, after difficult marathon talks.
The agreement is good news for all parties concerned. The Chinese Foreign Trade Minister described the agreement as a "turning point" in Sino-US trade relations that "promises further progress" in the future. The agreement will not only favorably influence trade relations between China and the United States. It may favorably influence the overall relations between the two countries.
61. What do you get to know from article 1?
A. It is as cold as usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are pleased.
B. It is hotter than usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are pleased.
C. It is hotter than usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are worried.
D. It is colder than usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are worried.
62. How many people have died in the train crash in article 2 ?
A. Only John Phillips has died.
B. Ten people have died in the crash, including John Phillips.
C. Four people have died in the crash, including John Phillips.
D. John Phillips, his wife and children all died in the crash.
63. Who are on the danger list?
A. Petersville and Wallsend. B. An electrical engineer and John Phillips.
C. John Phillips' wife and two children. D. Another six people who were on the train.
64. What agreement did China and the United States reach in article 3?
A. It is an agreement on 
a marathon race.
B. It is an agreement on trade relations.
C. It is an agreement on overall relations.
D. It is an agreement on intellectual property rights protection.
65. What are relations going to be like between China and the United States?
A. Relations between China and the United States are going to be sometimes worse and sometimes better.
B. Relations between China and the United States are going to be better.
C. Relations between China and the United States are going to be worse.
D. Relations between China and the United States are going to remain the same.
In 1977, a dead author of detective stories saved the life of a 19-month-old baby in a most unusual way. The author was Agatha Christie, one of the most successful writers of detective stories in the world.
In June 1977, a baby girl became seriously ill in Qatar, near Saudi Arabia. Doctors were unable to find out the cause of her illness with confidence, so she was sent to Hammersmith Hospital in London. She was then only semi-conscious (半清醒状态) and on the "Dangerously Ill" list. A team of doctors hurried to examine the baby only to discover that they, too, were confused by the very unusual symptoms (症状). While they were discussing the baby's case, a nurse asked to speak to them.
"Excuse me," said Nurse Marsha Maitlan, "but I think the baby is suffering from thallium poisoning. (铊中毒)"
"What makes you think that?" Dr. Brown asked. "Thallium poisoning is extremely rare."
"A few days ago, I was reading a novel called A Pale Horse by Agatha Christie," Nurse Maitlan explained. "In the book, somebody uses thallium poison, and all the symptoms are described. They're exactly the same as the baby's."
"You're very thoughtful and you may be right," another doctor said. "We'll carry out some tests and find out whether it's thallium or not."
Tests showed that the baby had indeed been poisoned by thallium, a rare metallic substance used in making special glass. Once they knew the cause of the illness, the doctors were able to give the baby the correct treatment. She soon recovered and was sent back to Qatar. Later it was reported that the poison might have come from an insecticide (杀虫剂) used in Qatar.
56. The one who first suggested the correct cause of the baby's illness was _____.
A. a doctor in Qatar B. Nurse Maitlan C. Dr. Brown D. Agatha Christie
57. The baby was sen
t to London because _____.
A. she was born there
B. the hospitals in Qatar were full at that time
C. she was the daughter of a docto
r in London
D. the Qatar doctors were not sure whether they could cure her
58. As far as we can tell from the passage, Agatha Christie _____.
A. had never met this baby
B. had spent a long time studying the baby's case
C. visited the baby in the hospital at Hammersmith
D. gave Nurse Maitlan some advice on the phone
59. It see
ms likely from the passage that the baby's illness had something to do with _____.
A. a dangerous pair of glasses
B. the water in Qatar
C. a harmful substance used to kill insects
D. a dead writer
60. When the baby was sent to the hospital in London, her case was considered to be _____.
A. an urgent one B. quite a simple one
C. a usual one D. the result of thallium poisoning
You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight. They hit one another hard. At the start they only fight with their fists. But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs. And so it goes on until one of the men crashes (撞击) through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below. He is dead！Of course he isn't really dead. With any luck he isn't even hurt. Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars or even catch fire, are professionals (专业人士). They do this for a living. These men are called stuntmen. That is to say, they perform tricks. There are two sides to their work. They actually do most of the things you see on the screen. For example, they fall from a high building. However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress (床垫). Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar! But although their work depends on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training. Often a stuntman' s success depends on careful timing. For example, when he is "blown up" in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.
Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives. They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed. A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff a thousand feet high. His parachute (降落伞) failed to open, and he was killed. In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only. Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action, for nowadays there are stunt girls too!
51. Stuntmen are those who ______.
A. often dress up as women
B. prefer to lead dangerous
lives
C. often perform seemingly (表面上) dangerous actions D. often fight each other for their lives
52. Stuntmen earn their living by ______.
A. playing their dirty tricks B. selling their special skills
C. jumping out of high windows D. jumping from fast moving trains
53. When a stuntman falls from a high building, ______.
A. he needs little protection
B. he will be covered with a mattress
C. his life is endangered
D. his safety is generally all right
54. Which of the following is the main factor (因素) of a successful performance?
A. Strength. B. Exactness. C. Speed. D. Power.
55. What can be inferred from the author' s example of the Norwegian stuntman?
A. Sometimes an accident can occur to a stuntman.
B. The percentage of serious accidents is high.
C. Parachutes must be of good quality.
D. The cliff is too high.