第二部分阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
A
President Barack Obama has apologized for a gaffe (失言) in which he described his bowling skills as akin to participants in the Special Olympics, a sports program for people with intellectual disabilities.
Obama made the mistake during an interview on Thursday night on “The Tonight Show” with host Jay Leno, the first time a sitting U.S. president had been on the show.
Talking about living in the White House, Obama said he had been practicing his bowling in the home’s bowling alley and had scored a 129 out of a possible 300.
It was an improvement on the embarrassing 37 he had rolled during a stop on the presidential campaign trail a year ago. “It’s like—it was like Special Olympics or something,” Obama said.
The Special Olympics is a global nonprofit organization serving some 200 million people with intellectual disabilities, with a presence in nearly 200 countries worldwide.
Soon after the Jay Leno interview, Obama telephoned Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.
Shriver told ABC’s “Good Morning America” television show that Obama had apologized “in a way that I think was very moving” and that he said “he did not intend to humiliate (羞辱) the population, didn’t want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain or kind of suffering.”
Shriver said people should gain a lesson from the incident.
“I think it’s important to see that words hurt. Words do matter. And these words in some respect, can be seen as humiliating or a put-down to people with special needs, do cause pain. And they do result in stereotypes,” Shriver said.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama “made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to look down upon the Special Olympics.”
“He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world,” Burton said.
56. What does the underlined word “akin” in Paragraph 1 mean?
A. skillful B. similar C. appealing D. superior
57. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Obama loves sports and is especially gifted at bowling.
B. Obama apologized for his remarks via ABC’s TV show.
C. The Special Olympics are for various disabled people.
D. The Special Olympics don’t intend to make any money.
58. What does Shriver mean by saying people should gain a lesson from the incident?
A. Disabled people cannot be humiliated. B. One should be careful with his words.
C. An apology for wrong words is wanted. D. Words matter even more than actions.
59. The passage is mainly about ________.
A. Obama receiving a TV interview B. Obama looking down on the disabled
C. Obama apologizing for his gaffe D. Obama being attacked for his words
C
In the mid 1990’s, people started doing business on the Internet. At that time, there were two kinds of companies. First, there were traditional companies. They sold things in stores. Then there were Internet companies. They didn’t have a store, and they only sold things on the Net.
Traditional companies didn’t want to lose any business. Quickly they made their own websites and began selling things on the Net. These are the so-called “brick and click” companies. Many stores are made of brick. And you click on your mouse to buy things with your computer. That’s where the name “brick and click” comes from.
By the late 1990’s, e-business like amazon.com, buy.com and etoys.com were in trouble. Their profits（利润） were not very high. Competition was great. Many of these business were losing lots of money. In 2000, many e-business went out of business.
Why are “brick and click” companies, like Barnes and Noble, Toys RVs and Walmart so successful? First, many customers know and trust their names. Their websites like walmart.com. are easy to remember. These companies also have lots of experience. They know how to run a successful business.
In the world of e-commerce, companies are fighting for every dollar and every customer. Will “brick and click” companies win the war? Only time will tell.
64 . Which of the following would be a “brick and click” company?
A. A restaurant.
B. A clothing company with no website.
C. A bookseller with five stores and a website.
D. A video seller with a big website but no stores.
65 What did many traditional companies do in the mid 1990’s? .
A .They went out of business. B. They made their websites.
C. They bought Internet companies. D. They sold their companies.
66 What gave Internet companies lots of trouble in the late 1990’s?.
A. Heavy competition B. They were short of money.
C. They didn’t know what to do. D. people didn’t believe in them.
67 . “Brick and click” companies are so successful because______.
A. people trust them B. their names are easy to remember
C. they are experienced D. all the above
68 . Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. All the “brick and click” companies run a successful business.
B. “Brick and click” companies are certain to win the business competition.
C. It is uncertain whether “brick and click” companies will win the competition.
D. Both “brick and click” companies and Internet companies will be successful in the future.
B
Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States and Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children are very skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and lots of self-confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.
61.Parents in China, according to this passage, ____________.
A.are too strict with their children
B.are too rich to educate their children
C.have some problems in educating their children correctly
D.are too poor to educate their children
62.The writer of this passage does not seem to be satisfied with_______.
A. the parents’ ideas of educating their children
B. the education system
C. children’s skills
D. children’s hobbies
63.Doing some cooking at home helps children_________.
A. learn how to serve their parents
B. learn how to become strong and fat
C. benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future
D. make their parents believe that they are clever
阅读理解（共13 26分）
阅读下面几段文字，理解文章大意，并从A 、B、 C、 D 四个选项中选出最佳选项。
A
People need to relax and enjoy themselves. One way they can have a good time is to watch a baseball game or another sports event. Even thousands of years ago, groups of people gathered to watch skilled athletes.
Over 2000 years ago in Greece, certain days in the year were festival days. These were holidays when people stopped work and enjoyed themselves. They liked to watch athletes take part in races and other games of skill.
The most important festival was held every four years at the town of Olympia. It was held in honor of the Greek god Zeus (Zus). For five days, athletes from all parts of the Greek world took part in the Olympic Games. At the Olympic Games, people could watch them box, run, jump and so on. There was a relay race between two reams of men in which a lighted torch was passed from runner to runner. The Olympic Games were thought to be so important that cities which were at war with one another had to stop fighting. People were allowed to travel to the games safely. Thousands of people came to Olympia from cities in Greece and from her colonies (殖民地)in Africa, Asia and Italy. They met as friends to cheer their favorite athletes and to enjoy themselves.
56.What happened in Greece over 2000 years ago?
A. People stopped work and enjoyed themselves.
B The cities there were often against one another.
C People watched baseball games.
D People didn’t go to any games at all.
57.What were those countries in Africa?
A. Friends. B. Enemies. C. Colonies. . D Other cities.
58.What did people do at the games?
A. They fought.
B They just talked to friends.
C They cheered for good athletes.
D They tried to find friends.
59.Greek cities then were fighting so they ____
A. were weak.
B were strong
C couldn’t go to other cities freely.
D could see each other.
60.The best title for the story is “ _____” .
A. Greece at War
B. Together for the Games
C. Stop Fighting
D. Sport
E
"Opinion" is a word that is used carelessly today. It is used to refer to matters of taste, belief, and judgment. This casual use would probably cause little confusion if people didn’t attach too much importance to opinion. Unfortunately, most do attach great importance to it. "I have as much right to my opinion as you to yours, '' and ''Everyone’s entitled(授予…权利) to his opinion, '' are common expressions. In fact, anyone who would challenge another's opinion is likely to be branded intolerant.
Is that label（标签）accurate? Is it intolerant to challenge another's opinion? It depends on what definition of opinion you have in mind. For example, you may ask a friend ''What do you think of the new Ford cars?" And he may reply, "In my opinion, they're ugly." In this case, it would not only be intolerant to challenge his statement, but foolish. For it's obvious that by opinion he means his personal preference, a matter of taste. And as the old saying goes, ''It's pointless to argue about matters of taste."
But consider this very different use of the term, A newspaper reports that the Supreme Court has delivered its opinion in a controversial case. Obviously the justices did not state their personal preferences, their mere likes and dislikes. They stated their considered judgment, painstakingly arrived at after thorough inquiry and careful consideration.
Most of what is referred to as opinion falls somewhere between these two extremes. It is not an expression of taste. Nor is it careful judgment. Yet it may contain elements of both. It is a view or belief more or less casually arrived at, with or without examining the evidence.
Is everyone entitled to his opinion? Of course, this is not only permitted, but guaranteed. We are free to act on our opinions only so long as, in doing so, we do not harm others.
72. Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the author?
A. Everyone has a right to hold his own opinion.
B. Free expression of opinions often leads to confusion.
C. Most people tend to be careless in forming their opinions.
D. Casual use of the word "opinion" often brings about quarrels.
73. According to the author, who of the following would be labelled as intolerant?
A. Someone who turns a deaf ear to others' opinions.
B. Someone who can't put up with others' tastes.
C. Someone who values only their own opinions.
D. Someone whose opinion harms other people.
74. The new Ford cars are mentioned as an example to show that ________.
A. it is foolish to criticize a famous brand
B. one should not always agree to others' opinions
C. personal tastes are not something to be challenged
D. it is unwise to express one's likes and dislikes in public
75. Considered judgment is different from personal preference in that ________.
A. it is stated by judges in the court
B. it reflects public like and dislikes
C. it is a result of a lot of controversy (争论，争议)
D. it is based on careful thought
D
I entered high school having read hundreds of books. But I was not a good reader. Merely bookish, I lacked a point of view when I read. Rather, I read in order to get a point of view. I searched books for good expressions and sayings, pieces of information, ideas, themes—anything to enrich my thought and make me feel educated. When one of my teachers suggested to his sleepy tenth-grade English class that a person could not have a “complicated idea” until he had read at least two thousand books, I heard the words without recognizing either its irony (嘲讽) or its very complicated truth. I merely determined to make a list of all the books I had ever read. Strict with myself, I included only once a title I might have read several times. (How, after all, could one read a book more than once?) And I included only those books over a hundred pages in length. (Could anything shorter be a book?)
There was yet another high school list I made. One day I came across a newspaper article about an English professor at a nearby state college. The article had a list of the “hundred most important books of Western Civilization.” “More than anything else in my life,” the professor told the reporter with finality(firmly) , “these books have made me all that I am.” That was the kind of words I couldn’t ignore. I kept the list for the several months it took me to read all of the titles. Most books, of course, I hardly understood. While reading Plato's The Republic, for example, I needed to keep looking at the introduction of the book to remind myself what the text was about. However, with the special patience and superstition (迷信) of a schoolboy, I looked at every word of the text. And by the time I reached the last word, pleased, I persuaded myself that I had read The Republic, and seriously crossed Plato off my list
68. On hearing the teacher's suggestion of reading, the writer thought _______.
A. one must read as many books as possible
B. a student should not have a complicated idea
C. it was impossible for one to read two thousand books
D. students ought to make a list of the books they had read
69. While at high school, the writer _______.
A. had plans for reading B. learned to educate himself
C. only read books over 100 pages D. read only one book several times
70. The writer's purpose in mentioning The Republic is to _______.
A. explain why it was included in the list
B. describe why he seriously crossed it off the list
C. show that he read the books blindly though they were hard to understand
D. prove that he understood most of it because he had looked at every word
71 The writer provides two book lists to _______.
A. show how he developed his point of view
B. tell his reading experience at high school
C. introduce the two persons' reading methods
D. explain that he read many books at high school