第三部分：阅读理解(共两节，满分40分)
第一节：选择题(共15小题，每小题2分，共30分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳答案，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
I was born an albino．No one in my family had ever known what an albino was，what it meant to be an albino，and what had to be done differently because I was an albino.
My parents treated me just like they treated everybody else. That was just about the best thing they could have done. It helped me trust myself，so when the annoyances came along，I could deal with them.
Actually，my photo always looked like a snowball with two pieces of coal for eyes. Kids would tease me，asking if I was joining the circus and calling me “Whitey”. Like most albinos，I had terrible eyesight，and my grades suffered until eventually I overcame my feeling ashamed of myself and realized it was okay to ask to sit in the front of the classroom so I could see the blackboard better. People stared at me when I held reading material right at the tip of my nose so I could see it well enough to read. Even when I was eight or nine. movie-theater clerks started asking me to pay adult prices because I “looked older”.
The worst part for me was that because my eyesight was so bad，I couldn't play sports very well. I di
dn't give up trying，though. And I studied harder. Eventually，I got better at school and loved it. By the time I got to college I was double majoring，going to summer school and devoting myself to every kind of extracurricular activity I could find. I had learned to be proud of being an albino. I did my best to make “albino” a positive word. And I decided to make my living with my eyes.
I couldn't see well enough to play spots，but with a solid education and the drive to do it，I could make a living involved in the field I loved. I've done it now for more than thirty years in print and in video，and now in cyberspace. People make jokes about how I'm the only “blind editor” they know，but most of the time
the jokes are signs of respect. And I make jokes about being an albino.
I was just a proud albino kid from the coal country of Pennsylvania. I now realize that being born an albino helped me to overcome difficulties，gain confidence，and be proud of my personal achievement and humble about my professional accomplishments.
56．According to the passage，an albino refers to a person__________．
A．who has bad eyesight B．who is born with white skin and hair
C．who looks older than his age D．who joins the circus
57．What does the underlined word “It” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A．The fact that the author was born an albino．
B．The way that the author's parents treated him．
C．What had to be done differently to the author．
D．The fact that the author had no idea what an albino was．
58．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Despite his bad eyesight，the author played sports well．
B．The author paid adult prices for movies when he was still young．
C．The author's study was affected by his eyesight at first．
D．“Albino” has already become a positive word now．
59．In the passage，the author intends to tell us___________．
A．actually being an albino helped him achieve success
B．how an albino studied well
C．what it is like to be an albino
D．how people should treat an albino
The writer Margaret Mitchell is best known for writing Gone with the Wind, first published in 1936. Her book and the movie based on it, tell a story of love and survival during the American Civil War. Visitors to the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, Georgia, can go where she lived when she started composing the story and learn more about her life.
Our first stop at the Margaret Mitchell House is an exhibit area telling about the writer’s life. She was born in Atlanta in 1900. She started writing stories when she was a child. She started working as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal newspaper in 1922. One photograph of Ms. Mitchell, called Peggy, shows her talking to a group of young college boys. She was only about one and a half meters tall. The young men tower over her, but she seems very happy and sure of herself. The tour guide explains: “Now in this picture Peggy is interviewing some boys from Georgia Tech, asking them such questions as ‘Would you really marry a woman who works?’ And today it’d be ‘Would you marry one who doesn’t?’ ”
The Margaret Mitchell House is a building that once contained several apartments. Now we enter the first floor apartment where Ms. Mitchell lived with her husband, John Marsh. They made fun of the small apartment by calling it “The Dump”.
Around 1926, Margaret Mitchell had stopped working as a reporter and was at home healing after an injury. Her husband brought her books to read from the library. She read so many books that he bought her a typewriter and said it was time for her to write her own book. Our guide says Gone with the Wind became a huge success. Margaret Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize for the book. In 1939 the film version was released. It won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture.The book Gone with the Wind was _________.
| A．first published on a newspaper |
| B．awarded ten Academy Awards |
| C．written in “The Dump” |
| D．adapted from a movie |
The underlined phrase “tower over” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to_________.
| A．be very pleased with |
| B．show great respect for |
| C．be much taller than |
| D．show little interest in |
Why did Ms. Mitchell stop working as a reporter according to the passage?
| A．Because she was rich enough. |
| B．Because she was injured then. |
| C．Because her husband didn’t like it. |
| D．Because she wanted to write books. |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．Gone with the Wind: A Huge Success. |
| B．Margaret Mitchell: A Great Female Writer. |
| C．An Introduction of the Margaret Mitchell House. |
| D．A Trip to Know Margaret Mitchell. |
Ever wonder how this season’s celebrations affect the environment? Guest blogger Krista Fairles takes an amusing look at this very topic
The holidays are a wonderful, cheerful time when most people wait for Santa to bring them presents. But I’m not like most people. I spend my time wondering just what the environmental impacts of Santa Claus and his reindeer（驯鹿）are, and more importantly, how I can calculate those impacts.
Lately I’ve been particularly curious as to whether Santa’s old sled is a clean green flying machine, or if he should be replacing his 8 reindeer with an environmentally-friendly car.
I should mention that, surprisingly, I was unable to find statistics specific to Santa’s magical flying reindeer, so these calculations use numbers from various sources and may not represent actual pollution caused by Santa and his animals. In other words, don’t complain to the authorities about the damage Santa is causing the environment based on this article.
Santa’s yearly trip around the globe is 44,000km long, twice the average of a North American driver. If we assume that the magic provides the altitude for this trip, then reindeer power only needs to push Santa’s sled forward. To complete the trip in 12 hours, I estimate they must travel at a speed of about 3100km/h. To travel at this speed, for this length of time, the reindeer need to eat an incredible 980 million calories each!!
So the next question is how much food is in 980 million calories? Well, if they’re eating corn, they’d need to eat 16,500 lbs each — or 1.6 acres of food. Growing 12.8 acres of corn has its own implications for the environment that we’ll leave for another calculation.
We now need to consider that during the global trip the reindeer are “letting out” some of that corn in the form of methane (甲烷，沼气). A resting cow produces 110 kg of methane per year, so flying reindeer would each let out about 4.8 tons. With methane causing 20 times the global warming damage of CO2, and the altitude increasing that damage by 1000% that another 20 times, we can put Santa’s round-trip emissions at 15,488 tons. This is much more than the 100 tons an environmentally-friendly car would release on the same trip!
Bad Santa.
Which aspect does the writer NOT include in her analyses about reindeer’s influence on environment?
| A．Distance covered. | B．Calories consumed. |
| C．Tons of waste let out. | D．Money spent on food. |
According to Paragraph 6, how many acres of corn would Santa need to feed 10 reindeer?
| A．1.6. | B．16. | C．12.8. | D．128. |
Which of the following statements would the writer most probably agree with?
| A．Christmas celebrations are really a waste of money. |
| B．Vegetarians are more likely to survive than meat-eaters. |
| C．Raising animals has a negative influence on environment. |
| D．The car industry does less harm to environment than farming. |
Which of the following words best describes the language style of the passage?
| A．Academic and formal. | B．Cheerful and friendly. |
| C．Humourous and concerned. | D．Serious and boring. |
Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
| A．Santa Claus is coming to town! |
| B．Santa, watch where you’re going! |
| C．Is Santa driving clean and green? |
| D．Let’s reduce waste on Christmas celebrations! |
People are more likely to lie or cheat during the afternoon because self control reduces during the day, according to researchers.
Volunteers taking part in two experiments where they could benefit by cheating were more likely to do so if the tests took place after midday, researchers found.
The findings back up previous studies which have shown that our capacity for self-control declines during the day, due to tiredness and repeatedly making decisions.
Psychologists from Harvard University first showed a group of volunteers various patterns of dots on a computer screen, asking them to decide whether there were more dots on the left or the right hand side.
Instead of being rewarded for getting the answer right, the participants were paid based on which side they chose, earning ten times as much for choosing the right hand side as the left.
People who were tested after midday were significantly more likely to select the right hand side, even if there were clearly more dots on the left, than those who took part during the morning.
In a second test, participants were shown a series of word fragments（词片）, such as “—ral” and “e—c—” and asked which words they associated with them.
In morning experiments, participants were more likely to form the words “moral” and “ethical” while during the afternoon the words “coral” and “effects” were most common.
Further tests conducted online showed that people were more likely to send dishonest messages or claim to have solved an unsolvable problem in the afternoon than in the morning.
Writing the Psychological Science journal, the researchers said the difference was particularly pronounced in people with higher ethical standards, who always behaved morally during the morning but slipped during the afternoon.
In contrast, those who were able to “morally disengage”, or behave unethically without feeling guilty, tended to cheat whatever the time of day.
Dr. Maryam Kouchaki, one of the lead authors, said “Unfortunately, the most honest people, such as those less likely to morally disengage, may be the most susceptible (易受影响的) to the negative consequences associated with the morning morality effect.”
The findings could be relevant to organizations that should be more alert about the behavior of customers and employees during the afternoon, she added. “Our findings suggest that mere time of day can lead to a systematic failure of good people to act morally.”Volunteers can get more money when they ______.
| A．gave the correct answer |
| B．chose the right hand side |
| C．chose the left hand side |
| D．remembered the patterns of dots |
Why are participants less likely to form words like “ethical”, “moral” in the afternoon?
| A．Because their vocabulary becomes smaller. |
| B．Because they are unwilling to tell the truth. |
| C．Because the words are the voice of their heart. |
| D．Because self control declines after midday. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．The finding especially applies to those who behave ethically. |
| B．Mere time of day can lead to systematic failure of organizations. |
| C．The finding doesn’t agree with that of previous studies. |
| D．People who act morally feel guilty after telling a lie. |
It is one of the most annoying words in the English language and it seems there is no escaping it. The word “huh?” is in worldwide use, a study found.
Researchers discovered that languages spoken in countries from Ghana and Laos to Iceland and Italy all include “huh?”, or something that sounds very like it. They said that while the study may sound silly, the word is an absolutely necessary part of speech. Without it and similar words, it would be impossible to show that we haven’t heard or understood what had been said and this would lead to constant misunderstandings.
But while other words used in the same context, such as “sorry” or “what”, vary widely across languages, “huh?” remains unchanged.
The Dutch researchers carefully studied ten languages from around the world, including Siwu, which is spoken in Ghana, and an Australian Aboriginal language, as well as Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Mandarin Chinese.
They analyzed tapes of recorded conversations for words that sounded like “huh?” and were used to request that whatever had just been said be repeated. All contained a version of “huh?”. The word was also found in another 21 languages. While there were subtle differences in each country, all sounded basically the same.
This is surprising because normally unrelated languages will use very different words to describe the same thing. For instance, the Japanese for “dog” is “inu”, while the French is “chien”. It is thought that languages around the world have developed their own version of “huh?” because the sound is quick and simple to form, as well as being easily understood.
The researchers, said that it might seem unimportant to carry out scientific research into a word like “huh?” but in fact this little word is an essential tool in human communication. They also have an answer for those who claim that “huh?” isn’t a word. They say that it qualifies because of the small differences in its pronunciation in different languages. It also can be considered a word because it’s something we learn to say, rather than a grunt or cry that we are born knowing how to make. According to researchers, the word “huh?” is very important in speech because of ________.
| A．its stable meaning in language development |
| B．its important function in communication |
| C．its simple and easy sound and spelling |
| D．its popularity in every language |
If you hear the lady you’re speaking to say “huh?”, your natural response would be to ________.
| A．ask her to repeat what she says before that |
| B．apologize to her for speaking in a low voice |
| C．invite her to share her different views politely |
| D．try to repeat what you’ve just said in a clearer way |
According to researchers, “huh?” should be considered a word rather than a sound because ________.
| A．it is listed in most dictionaries |
| B．it is something humans learn to say |
| C．there is a clear and consistent spelling of the word |
| D．there is a big difference in the way it pronounces in different languages |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To inform readers about research on the worldwide used word “huh?”. |
| B．To argue that “huh?” is the most important word in every language. |
| C．To entertain readers by relating similar idioms in different languages. |
| D．To instruct readers of the differences of “huh?” in different languages. |
Depart the city for an unspoiled floating community called Kompong Phhluk which is astonishing for its stilted-house villages and flooded forest.
Stop on the way for the Rolous Market tour. This is a great chance for you to take the photos of locals selling vegetables, different fish species and other local produce.
After this market tour we’ll all have a boat trip to the floating community of Kompong Phhluk, visit an island pagoda（塔）, school and houses standing on 8 or 10m high stilts, fish farms and learn about the village life.
Stop and have lunch in a family’s house before getting into a row boat and venturing into the flooded forest, the habitat to some famous water-bird species.
Eventually we jump back into the big boat and set off for the largest fresh water lake in SE Asia, Tonle Sap.
Tour Details
·Departs 8.30am
·Returns around 2pm
·A picnic lunch with sandwiches and drinks is provided. We cannot provide local food from the area due to poor sanitation, lack of hygiene standards and refrigeration.
·No passes required
Rates
·These rates are based on an English speaking guide.
·Rates include all transport, water and a picnic lunch.
·Children 11 years and under are 50%.
·Children 4 years and below are free.
·If your group is larger than 5 people please email us for the best rate.
Number of People Price Per Person
1 Person $65
2 People $45
3 People $40
4 People $35
5 People $32
What to Wear
·Please be mindful of your clothing and try to avoid anything too revealing.
·We strongly recommend a sunglasses, hat and sunscreen.
General Information
·This is a poor rural village, please be mindful of the environment.
·Please do not hand things out to villagers, for this contributes to creating a begging cycle and can create jealousy.
·We recommend heading to the toilet before you go on this trip as facilities are very basic. Kompong Phhluk is famous for its ______.
| A．local vegetables and different fish species |
| B．stilted-house villages and flooded forest |
| C．Rolous Market and island pagoda |
| D．water-bird habitat and fish farms |
A private trip for two parents and a 3-year-old boy costs ______.
| A．$40 | B．$80 | C．$90 | D．$120 |
Which of the following is not included in the rates?
| A．tourist guide. | B．Transport. |
| C．Drinks. | D．Local food. |
We can conclude from the passage that ______.
| A．the living standard in the village is quite low |
| B．the tourist facilities along the way are quite good |
| C．revealing clothes are appropriate in the hot weather |
| D．giving local children small gifts is strongly recommended |