My father had returned from his business visit to London when I came in, rather late, to supper. I could tell at once that he and my mother had been discussing something. In that half-playful, half-serious way I knew so well, he said, "How would you like to go to Eton?"
"You bet," I cried quickly catching the joke. Everyone knew it was the most expensive, the most famous of schools. You had to be entered at birth, if not before. Besides, even at 12 or 13, I understood my father. He disliked any form of showing off. He always knew his proper station in life, which was in the middle of the middle class, our house was medium-sized; he had avoided joining Royal Liverpool Golf Club and went to a smaller one instead; though once he had got a second-hand Rolls-Royce at a remarkably low price, he felt embarrassed driving it, and quickly changed it for an Austin 1100.
This could only be his delightful way of telling me that the whole boarding school idea was to be dropped. Alas! I should also have remembered that he had a liking for being different from everyone else, if it did not conflict with his fear of drawing attention to himself.
It seemed that he had happened to be talking to Graham Brown of the London office, a very nice fellow, and Graham had a friend who had just entered his boy at the school, and while he was in that part of the world he thought he might just as well phone them. I remember my eyes stinging(刺痛) and my hands shaking with the confusion of my feelings. There was excitement, at the heart of great sadness.
"Oh, he doesn’t want to go away," said my mother, "You shouldn’t go on like this.” “It’s up to him," said my father. "He can make up his own mind."The house the writer’s family lived in was ________.
| A．the best they could afford | B．right for their social position |
| C．for showing off | D．rather small |
His father sold his Roils-Royce because ________.
| A．it made him feel uneasy | B．it was too old to work well |
| C．it was too expensive to possess | D．it was too cheap |
The writer’s father enjoyed being different as long as ________.
| A．it drew attention to him | B．it didn’t bring him in arguments |
| C．it was understood as a joke | D．there was no danger of his showing off |
What was the writer’s reaction to the idea of going to Eton?
| A．He was very unhappy. | B．He didn’t believe it. |
| C．He was delighted. | D．He had mixed feelings. |
What was the writer’s reaction to the idea of going to boarding-school?
| A．He was very unhappy, | B．He had mixed feelings. |
| C．He was delighted, | D．He didn't believe it. |
Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure. In fact, wind exists because the sun unequally heats the surface of the Earth. As hot air rises, cooler air moves in to fill the gap. As long as the sun shines, the wind will blow. And as long as the wind blows, people will manage it to power their lives.
Ancient sailors used sails to capture the wind and explore the world. Farmers once used windmills to grind their grains and pump water. Today, more and more people are using wind turbines to make electricity from the breeze. Over the past decade, wind turbine use has increased at more than 25 percent a year. Still, it only provides a small part of the world's energy.
Most wind energy comes from turbines that can be as tall as a 20-story building and have three 200-foot-long (60-meter-long) blades. These devices look like giant airplane propellers(螺桨)on a stick. The wind spins the blades, which turn a shaft connected to a generator.
The biggest wind turbines generate enough electricity to supply about 600 U.S. homes. Wind farms have tens and sometimes hundreds of these turbines lined up together in particularly windy spots, like along a ridge. Smaller turbines set up in a backyard can produce enough electricity for a single home or small business.
Wind is a clean source of renewable energy that produces no air or water pollution. And since the wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once a turbine is erected. Mass production and technology advances are making turbines cheaper, and many governments decrease tax to encourage wind-energy development.
Some people think wind turbines are ugly and complain about the noise the machines make. The slowly rotating blades(螺旋风片) can also kill birds and bats, but not nearly as many as cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings do. The wind is also changeable: If it's not blowing, there's no electricity generated.
Nevertheless, the wind energy industry is increasing sharply. Globally, generation more than quadrupled(四倍) between 2000 and 2006. At the end of last year, global capacity was more than 70,000 megawatts. In the energy-hungry United States, a single megawatt is enough electricity to power about 250 homes. Germany has the most installed wind energy capacity, followed by Spain, the United States, India, and Denmark. Development is also fast growing in France and China.
Industry experts predict that if this pace of growth continues, by 2050 the answer to one third of the world's electricity needs will be found blowing in the wind
63. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A. The rotating blades can kill as many birds as high-rise buildings do
B. Single families are not encouraged to build turbines.
C. The USA produces more wind power than any other country in the world.
D. The noise the turbines make may discourage people from building them.
64. The underlined word “generator” in the third paragraph probably means_______.
A. 电动机 B. 发电机 C. 机翼 D. 飞机引擎
65. If the USA wants to build wind turbines in an area with 30,000 homes, how many
should they build at least?
A. 50. B. 150. C. 250. D. 200.
66. All the following are the advantages of wind energy EXCEPT that_________.
A. it is environmentally friendly B. it is free to build and operate
C. the government supports it D. the energy is clean and renewable
The United States will introduce a new and comprehensive(综合的) exam for students who seek to study in American and other English-speaking countries, Xinhua News Agency reported from New York.
The exam, which stands for a great change from the current English level test, was disclosed by Theresa Chang Wei Jen, associate director of the International Service of the US College Board, America’s leading educational organization.
The Advanced Placement International English Language (APIEL) will be offered for the first time throughout the world, said Jen.
However, the APIEL is a strange title to most Chinese students, and it is unlikely to soon gain the similarity of other already existing exams, such as the TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language), the GRE(Graduate Record Examination), or the IELTS(International English Language Testing System).
“I have never heard of such a test and I would prefer the IELTS if I need another exam,” said Xu Jingyan, a graduating student from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, who wants to study in England and has already taken the TOEFL.
Most of Xu’s classmates have never heard of the APIEL. “The APIEL is designed for international students who wish to get university studies in English-speaking countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia.” said Jen.
The APIEL has been adopted, said Jen, because the TOEFL can no longer accurately reflect the abilities of students of using the English language comprehensively in an academic environment. Xinhua reported that a fairly large number of foreign students who earned high scores in TOEFL exam turned out to be very ordinary educational performers after admission.
Compared with the TOEFL, the APIEL measures a student’s ability to read, write, speak and understand English through testing his or her skills in listening comprehension, speaking with accuracy(精确) and resourcefulness, and writing with clarity and fluency(流畅), Jen said.
60. The United States will introduce a new exam because _______.
A. it will bring the US government quite a lot of money
B. the Chinese people pay special attention to English studies
C. the already existing exam systems seem to be far from perfect
D. more and more students want to get further education in the USA
61. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the selection？
A. The TOEFL is more popular with the Chinese than the IELTS.
B. It will take quite a period of time for people to accept the APIEL.
C. Chinese students will prefer the IELTS rather than the APIEL even in the future.
D. A student will have to take the APIEL if he or she wants to study in English-speaking
countries.
62. The best title for this news report is_____.
A. New Exam Designed for Students B. The Key to Improving Your English
C. TOEFL, IELTS and GRE to be Out of Date D. The Four Skills in Learning English
第三部分阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
Fifty years from now the world’s population will be declining, with no end in sight. Unless people’s values change greatly, several centuries from now there could be fewer people living in the entire world than live in the United States today. The big surprise of the past twenty years is that in not one country did fertility (生育能力) stop falling when it reached the replacement rate（出生率）—2.1 children per woman. In Italy, for example, the rate has fallen to 1.2. In Western Europe as a whole and in Japan it is down to 1.5. The evidence now indicates that within fifty years or so world population will peak at about eight billion before starting a fairly rapid decline.
Because in the past two centuries world population has increased from one billion to nearly six billion, many people still fear that it will keep “exploding” until there are too many people for the earth to support. But that is like fearing that your baby will grow to 1,000 pounds because its weight doubles three times in its first seven years. World population was growing by two percent a year in the 1960s; the rate is now down to one percent a year, and if the patterns of the past century don’t change completely, it will head into negative numbers. This view is coming to be widely accepted among population experts, even as the public continues to focus on the threat of uncontrolled population growth.
As long ago as September of 1974 Scientific American published a special issue on population that described what demographers (人口统计学家) had begun calling the “demographic transition” from traditional high rates of birth and death to the low ones of modern society. The experts believed that birth and death rates would be more or less equal in the future, as they had been in the past, keeping total population stable after a level of 10-12 billion people was reached during the transition.
56. Which of the following statement is NOT true according to the passage?
A. The world’s population in the future will be reducing endlessly.
B. When the earth population reaches 8 billion, it will see a rapid decrease.
C. In modern society the birth and death rates will be more or less equal in the future.
D. The public now pay little attention to the threat of uncontrolled population growth.
57. What’s reason for the sharp increase of world population in the past two centuries?
A. B
ecause people fear that the world will explode.
B. Because the world’s replacement rate keeps falling.
C. Because people’s values has greatly changed.
D. The passage doesn't mention it.
58. The expression “demographic transition” (Paragraph 3) probably means _______.
A. high death rate to the low one
B. high birth rate to the low one
C. high rates of birth and death to the low ones
D. low rates of birth and death to the high ones
59. We can learn from the passage that _______.
A. in the near future there will be a rapid decline of the world population
B. the birth and death rates of modern society will be unequal in the future
C. there would be the same population living in the world than it in the US today
D. in Western Europe the replacement rate has declined to a negative number
Shaping the Future of TV
Nobody can predict the future of TV with any certainty but some major figures in the industry have recently put forward their thoughts on what will shape TV of the future.
The shaping of a personalized television future is starting to take place, says Intel. The chip giant, who makes the processors found in most personal computers, states that by 2015 there will be just over 12 million devices using IPTV services that will be capable of connecting to over 500 billion hours of TV & video.
This supports the idea to make television a more social, personalized and readily accessible device available anywhere through IPTV services. As more and more people consume TV & video through various mediums, there is now a greater need to distribute and manage this content.
As such, companies like TV Genius are accepting this announcement made at Intel’s Developer Forum (IDF) in the USA by their chief technology officer, Justin Rattner.
With such a variety of content likely to become available, technology firms will need to assist in making personalized TV recommendations more readily accessible.
Mr. Rattner, speaking to the BBC said, “TV will remain at the centre of our lives and you will be able to watch what you want and where you want. We are talking about more than one TV-capable device for every man and woman on the planet. People are going to feel connected to the screen in ways they haven’t in the past.”
One way in which this will happen will also be assisted by a more united service of material combining including video content, internet content, broadcast content, and personal content.
This content will become much more accessible through remote devices like mobile phones using IPTV technology. This means that users will be able to watch their favorite programs away from the traditional media hub, the home.
63. The author uses the passage mainly to ________.
A. recommend a new type of TV
B. introduce a possible shape of future TV
C. describe the function of future TV
D. support the new type of TV
64. We know from the passage that the future TV might have major features like _______.
a. being capable of connecting to many more hours
b. changing the shape very easily
c. receiving programs at any place
d. displaying the advanced materials
e. using services accessing the Internet, video, radio, etc
A. a, b, c B. c, d, e C. a, c, e D. b, c, e
65. The underlined word “this” in the third paragraph refers to __________.
A. Intel, the chip giant B. TV and video
C. readily accessible device D. Widely used IPTV services
66. We can infer from the passage that _________.
A. the present TV will disappear in the near future
B. the future TV will have a beautiful look
C. people are developing the technology of TV very quickly
D. people will spend more time watching TV at home
第三部分阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Being the boss might mean more money and challenging work but it can also cause damage to physical and mental well-being, according to a Canadian study.
For years studies have shown people in lower-status jobs generally have higher rates of heart disease and other illnesses and die earlier than those in higher-status positions while job authority has shown no relationship with workers’ health.
But University of Toronto researchers, using data from 1,800 US workers, found the health of people in higher positions is affected by work as they are more likely to report conflicts with co-workers and say work disturbs their home life.
However, the positive aspects of having a power position at work, such as higher status, more pay and greater independence, seemed to cancel out the negative aspects when it came to people’s physical and psychological health.
These latest findings, reported in the journal Social Science & Medicine, suggest that the advantages and disadvantages authority positions basically cancel each other out, giving the general impression that job authority has no health effects.
For the study, the researchers surveyed participants about various aspects of their work, life and well-being. Job authority was judged based on whether a person managed other employees and had power over hiring, firing and pay.
Physical health complaints included problems like headaches, body aches, heartburn and tiredness. Psychological complaints included sleep problems, difficulty concentrating and feelings of sadness, worry and anxiety.
“This isn’t to suggest that having authority is ‘bad’—in fact, we show it has benefits ... but it is important to identify the negative sides and deal with them.” researcher Scott Schieman said.
Schieman said conflicts with co-workers or involvement of work into home life may destroy at physical and mental well-being by creating stress.
“These are key stressors that can tax individuals’ ability to function effectively,” Schieman said.
56. Work will have a negative effect on job authority’s health probably because __________.
A. they are not fit for their work
B. they have power over hiring and pay
C. they are faced with severe competition
D. they don’t get on well with their co-workers
57. Most people don’t see that bosses have health effects because __________.
A. their health problems are not serious enough to see
B. they have enough money to keep themselves healthy
C. their problems are quite different from those of workers
D. the advantages and disadvantages of their status work against each other
58. From the passage we can infer that the study aims to _________.
A. warn people not to be a boss for ever
B. remind the boss to deal with the bad effects of their work
C. show that having authority is harmful to one’s health
D. prove that being a boss can benefit a lot
59. The best title for this passage might be ________.
A. Lower-status can affect health B. Authority can affect health
C. Positive aspects of a power position D. Disadvantages of being a boss