第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分；满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中选出最佳选项。
A
Mr．Brozina is a single father and an elementary school librarian who reads aloud for a living．When his daughter, Kristen, hit fourth grade, he proposed The Streak: to see if they could read together for 100 straight bedtimes without missing once．
When The Streak reached 100, they celebrated with a pancake breakfast, and Kristen whispered, "I think we should try for 1,000 nights．"
Mr．Brozina was delighted, but what he was thinking was, a thousand nights?! "I thought, we'll never do it," he recalled．"And then we got to 1,000, and we said, 'How can we stop?' "
For 3,218 nights （and some mornings, if Mr．Brozina was coming home too late to read）．The Streak went on．It progressed from picture books to middle-school classics to Harry Potter, Agatha Christie, Dickens and Shakespeare, continuing on, until Kristen's first day of college．
In those nine-plus years, they survived many close calls．When Kristen was still in elementary school, her father went to Washington．"The phone rang at 10:45 at the hotel and it was Kristen," Mr．Brozina recalled．"She said, 'Dad, we forgot The Streak!' Fortunately, I always traveled with several books and we read right then and there．"
This spring, Kristen graduated from Rowan' University．She has performed as you'd expect for a product of The Streak, an English major with a 3．94 average．She also won two national writing contests, was an editor of the humor arid literary publications and won the annual English department award．
56．According to the passage, Mr．Brozina and his daughter read together for __________．
A．100 bedtimes B．1000 nights
C．over nine years D．nearly 3000 nights and some mornings
57．In the passage, the underlined phrase in Paragraph I probably means _____．
A．the period of time for reading together B．the children's book
C．the special night C．the school work
58．How has Kristen benefited from reading with her father?
A．She has grown closer to her father．
B．She has become a school librarian herself．
C．She has performed well at university．
D．She has won many reading awards．
59．This passage is about a father who _____．
A．is very strict in his work B．enjoys reading when travelling
C．makes his daughter love reading D．has a hard time bringing up his daughter
You hear the comment all the time: the U.S. economy looks good by figures, but it doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness? It is a question that dates at least to the appearance in 1958 of The Wealthy Society by John Kenneth Galbraith, who died recently at 97.
The Wealthy Society is a modern classic because it helped describe a new moment in the human condition. For most of history, “hunger, sickness, and cold” threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith wrote. “Poverty (贫穷) was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours.” After World War II, the fear of another Great Depression gave way to an economic growth. In the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s it was 4.5 percent.
To Galbraith, materialism (物质主义) had gone mad and would cause discontent. Through advertising, companies conditioned consumers to buy things they didn’t really want or need. Because so much spending was artificial, it wouldbe unsatisfying. Meanwhile, government spending that would make everyone better off was being cut down because people wrongly considered government only as “a necessary bad.”
It’s often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else isstanding still or falling behind. Well, there are many undeserving rich — overpaid chief managers, for instance. But over any meaningful period, most people’s incomes are increasing. From 1995 to 2004, people feel “squeezed” because their rising incomes often don’t satisfy their rising wants — for bigger homes, more health care, more education, and faster Internet connections.
The other great disappointment is that it has not got rid of insecurity. People regard job stability as part of their standard of living. As company unemployment increased, that part has gradually become weaker. More workers fear they’ve become “the disposable American,” as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.
Because so much previous suffering and social conflict resulted from poverty, the arrival of widespread wealth suggested utopian (乌托邦式的) possibilities. Up to a point, wealth succeeds. There is much less physical suffering than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, wealth also creates new complaints.
Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens. But the search for growth cause new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb the social order. Wealth sets free the individual, promising that everyone can choose a unique way to self-accomplishment. But the promise is so unreasonable that it leads to many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown. Figures indicate that happiness has not risen with incomes.
Should we be surprised? Not really. We’ve simply confirmed an old truth: the seeking of wealth does not always end with happiness.The Wealthy Society is a book ________.
| A．about poverty in the past |
| B．written by Louis Uchitelle |
| C．indicating that people are becoming worse off |
| D．about why happiness does not rise with wealth |
According to Galbraith, people feel discontented because ________.
| A．materialism has run wild in modern society |
| B．they are in fear of another Great Depression |
| C．public spending hasn’t been cut down as expected |
| D．the government has proved to be necessary but ugly |
Why do people feel“squeezed”when their average income rises considerably?
| A．They think there are too many overpaid rich. |
| B．There is more unemployment in modern society. |
| C．Their material demands go faster than their earnings. |
| D．Health care and educational cost have somehow gone out of control. |
What does Louis Uchitelle mean by “the disposable American” ?
| A．People with a stable job. |
| B．Workers who no longer have secure jobs. |
| C．Those who see job stability as part of their living standard. |
| D．People who have a sense of security because of their rising incomes. |
What has wealth brought to American society?
| A．Stability and security. |
| B．Materialism and content. |
| C．A sense of self-accomplishment. |
| D．New anxiety, conflicts and complaints. |
Sports shoes that work out whether their owner has done enough exercise to promise time in front of the television have been devised in the UK.
The shoes- named Square Eyes- contain an electronic pressure sensor and a tiny computer chip to record how many steps the wearer has taken in a day. A wireless transmitter (发射器) passes the information to a receiver connected to a television, and this decides how much evening viewing time the wearer deserves(应得), based on the day's efforts.
The design was inspired by a desire to fight against the rapidly ballooning waistlines among British teenagers, says Gillian Swan, who developed Square Eyes as a final year design project at Brunel University in London, UK. "We looked at current issues and childhood overweight really stood out," she says. "And I wanted to tackle that with my design."
Once a child has used up their daily allowance gained through exercise, the television automatically (自动地) switches off. And further time in front of the TV can only be earned through more steps. Swan calculated how exercise should translate to television time using the recommended daily amounts of both. Health experts suggest that a child take 12,000 steps each day and watch no more than two hours of television. So, every 100 steps recorded by the Square Eyes shoes equals exactly one minute of TV time.
Existing pedometers(计步器) normally clip onto a belt or slip into a pocket and keep count of steps by measuring sudden movement. Swan says these can be easily tricked into recording steps through shaking. But her shoe has been built to be harder for lazy teenagers to cheat. "It is possible, but it would be a lot of effort," she says. "That was one of my main design considerations."According to Swan, the purpose of her design project is to _____.
| A．keep a record of the steps of the wearer. |
| B．deal with overweight among teenagers. |
| C．enable children to resist (抵制) the attraction of TV. |
| D．prevent children from being tricked by TV programs. |
Which of the following is true of Square Eyes shoes?
| A．They control a child's evening TV viewing time. |
| B．They determine a child's daily pocket money. |
| C．They have raised the hot issue of overweight. |
| D．They contain information of the receiver. |
Compared with other similar products, the new design ___.
| A．sends teenagers' health data(数据) to the receiver. |
| B．counts the wearer's steps through shaking. |
| C．records the sudden movement of the wearer. |
| D．make it difficult for lazy teenagers to cheat |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Smart Shoes Stop Childhood Overweight |
| B．Smart Shoes Guarantee More Exercise |
| C．Smart Shoes Measure Time of Exercise |
| D．Smart Shoes Decide on Television Time |
When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship （奖学金） and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, “ Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story ” , shown in late April.
Liz Murray, a 22-year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted （吸毒） parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.
Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets. “ What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the society,” she wrote in her book Breaking Night.
She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that “ next to nothing could hold me down ” . She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University . But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. “ I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time. ”
Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is “ as simple as making a decision ” . In which order did the following things happen to Liz?
a. Her mother died of AIDS.
b. She worked at a petrol station.
c. She got admitted into Harvard.
d. The movie about her life was put on.
e. She had trouble finding a place to sleep.
| A．b, a, e, c, d | B．a, b, c, e, d | C．e, d, b, a, c | D．b, e, a, d, c |
The main idea of the passage is ________.
| A．how Liz managed to enter Harvard University |
| B．what a hard time Liz had in her childhood |
| C．why Liz loved her parents so much |
| D．how Liz struggled to change her life |
What actually made her go towards her goal?
| A．Envy and encouragement. | B．Willpower and determination. |
| C．Decisions and understanding. | D．Love and respect for her parents. |
When she wrote “ What drove me to live on...I had only experienced a small part of the society ” , she meant that ________.
| A．she had little experience of social life |
| B．she could hardly understand the society |
| C．she would do something for her own life |
| D．she needed to travel more around the world |
Beverage Service We serve a variety of soft drinks, coffee, tea and free of charge. However, as flying has a dehydrating effect, water and non-alcoholic beverages are recommended.
Electronic Equipment Cellphones, FM/AM radios, portable television sets and electronic toys with remote controls must not be used in the cabin, as their signals may interfere with the aircrafts navigational instruments. Laptop computers and CD (MD, MP3) players may be used during cruising portions of the flight but not during the takeoff and landing.
Inflight Entertainment A wide selection of international publications are available for your reading pleasure. You may keep this free copy of Morning Calm magazine, but kindly return all other reading materials after you have finished with them for the benefit of fellow passengers. A selection of music is available on eight channels, from channel 3 to 10. The channel changer is on your armrest. We also offer a selection of popular films; you may listen in English on channel 2. Paduk (go) and chess are available on request, and we have free postcards and stationery.
Medical Needs We keep a selection of nonprescription medicine for any passenger suffering from mild sicknesses. An emergency medical kit is also available for more serious illnesses.
Travelling with Infants and Children Baby bassinets are provided on a first come first serve basis and should be requested at the time of booking. Special meals for children and infants can be served if the request is made 24 hours before departure. Selected giveaways for children aged 2 to 12 are available on all international flights.The services above are probably offered by ___________.
| A．a traveling agent | B．a medical center |
| C．an airline | D．a five-star hotel |
Which of the following is not allowed according to the passage?
| A．Watching popular films. |
| B．Listening to MP3. |
| C．Having nonprescription medicine. |
| D．Using mobile phones. |
If you turn on channel 5 on your armrest, what will you enjoy?
| A．International news. | B．Free-of-charge drinks. |
| C．Fashion magazines. | D．Popular music. |
When should a passenger request special meals for children and babies?
| A．24 hours before departure. | B．At the time of booking. |
| C．Soon after the takeoff. | D．At the time of landing. |
What Is a Boy?
Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a “boy”. Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the same belief: to enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males send them off to bed at night.
Boys are found everywhere –-- on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to. Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face, BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocolate in its hair, and the HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket.
When you are busy, a boy is a trouble-maker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a wild creature destroying the world and himself with it
A boy is a mixture – he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion (消化) of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker(鞭炮), but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday schools, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.
Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a three-feet rope, six cents and some unknown things.
A boy is a magical creature – he is your headache but when you come home at night with only destroyed pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, “Hi, Dad!”The whole passage is in a tone (语气) of _________.
| A．respect and harmony | B．humor and love |
| C．hope and expectation | D．confidence and imagination |
What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence?
| A．He has altogether five fingers. | B．He is slow, foolish and clumsy. |
| C．He becomes clever and smart. | D．He cuts his hand with a knife. |
According to the writer, boys appreciate everything in the following except _________.
| A．ice cream | B．comic books |
| C．Saturday mornings | D．Sunday schools |
What does the writer feel about boys?
| A．He feels curious about their noise. | B．He is tired of these creatures. |
| C．He is amazed by their naughtiness. | D．He feels unsafe staying with them. |