If you wish to become a better reader, here are four important points to remember about rate, or speed, of reading:
1. Knowing why you are reading—what you are reading to find out—will often help you to know whether to read rapidly or slowly.
2. Some things should be read slowly throughout. Examples are directions for making or doing something, arithmetic problems, science and history books, which are full of important information. You must read such things slowly to remember each important step and understand each important idea.
3. Some things should be read rapidly throughout. Examples are simple stories meant for enjoyment, news, and letters from friends, items, or bits of news from local, or hometown, paper, telling what is happening to friends and neighbors.
4. In some of your readings, you must change your speed from fast to slow to fast, as you go along. You need to read certain pages rapidly and then slow down and do more careful readings when you come to important ideas which must be remembered.
48. According to the passage, your reading speed depends on ________.
A. whether the reading material is easy or difficult
B. what you are reading
what your purpose in reading something is
D. both B and C
49. If one wants to be relaxed by reading, one should take up ________.
A. a story book B. a book on science and technology
C. news, letters from friends D. some material full of information
50. Which of the following readings should you read slowly and carefully?
A. Fairy tales. B. Aesop’s Fables.
C. Directions for use of a machine D. An evening paper.
51. Which of the following can best express the main idea of the passage?
A. How to decide your reading speed. B. How to raise your reading speed.
C. How to improve your reading skills. D. How to choose your reading materials.
第三部分阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
My daddy doesn’t know how to express love at all. It is my mum that makes everyone happy and calm in our family; while daddy only works day and night, never looking us in the face. But mum makes a wrongdoing list of us for daddy scolding us. She’s a spy!
Once, I stole a candy. Daddy asked me to put it back and told the shopkeeper that I would like to carry loads for her. Well, mum told him I was just a child.
I broke my leg on the playground. It’s still mum that held me tightly in her warm arms. Daddy drove us right to the emergency room. He was asked to move the car away for that vacant was for ambulance. Daddy got angry, “what do you think of it? A touring car?”
On my birthday party, it was, again, my mum that took over the cake for me. My dad? He was busy blowing balloons and setting the table and doing the housework.
While looking over our album, friends always ask, “What does your father look like?” God knows. He photos others all the time. So there are many and many photos of my mum and me, pretty and lovely photos.
And I still remembered the day when dad taught me riding. I asked him not to let his hands away, but he did the opposite. And I certainly fell onto the ground. I got angry and decided to get on the bike and rode. But he smiled again.
Mum wrote every letter to me while I was in college. He, except checks, did write a letter, but extremely short, just a few words, saying, “Without your playing on the lawn, my son, my lawn grows prettier than before.”
Every time I phoned, it seemed he wanted to talk, but he would say, “I will get your mum.”
On the day of my wedding, mum cried as if we would never meet again, while dad went out with a nasal sound.
From very young, I heard him saying, “Where have you been?” “When do you go home?” “Did you get oil for your car?” “No, I don’t agree.” Dad really knows nothing about showing love. Unless...
Maybe he showed while I didn’t notice, is it?
56. From the first and second paragraphs, we can infer that____.
A. it was the daddy that was in charge of his children’s education
B. the writer’s parents loved their children; at the same time, they were strict with them
C. the children were all afraid of their father so they had to be cute
D. the writer’s mom was like a spy who reported what the children did to the father
57. Why did the father get angry when he sent the writer to the hospital?
A. Because he parked his car at a wrong place.
B. Because the parking space of the ambulance was very crowded.
C. Because the writer’s injury made the father quite upset.
D. Because the person paid little attention to his son’s serious injury.
58. According to Paragraph Six, we know the father ____.
A. was not patient when he taught the writer riding
B. might want to see his child fall off the bike
C. used a wrong way of teaching his child riding
D. might want his son to learn riding through independent practice
59. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
A. The dad posted checks to the writer while he was in college.
B. The dad had no single photo of his own in the album.
C. The dad scolded the writer for having damaged the lawn.
D. The dad got excited when participating in the writer’s wedding.
In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity(繁荣). Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit(追求) of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary player, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “ I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve(缓解) can we discover a new meaning in competition.
71. What does this passage mainly talk about?
A. Competition helps to set up self-respect.
B. Opinions about competition are different among people.
C. Competition is harmful to personal quality development.
D. Failures are necessary experiences in competition.
72. Why do some people favor competition according to the passage?
A. It pushes society forward. B. It builds up a sense of duty.
C. It improves personal abilities. D. It encourages individual efforts.
73. The underlined phrase “ the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 means _____.
A. those who try their best to win
B. those who value competition most highly
C. those who are against competition most strongly
D. those who rely on others most for success
74. What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a “desire to fail”?
A. One’s worth lies in his performance compared with others’.
B. One’s success in competition needs great efforts
C. One’s achievement is determined by his particular skills.
D. One’s success is based on how hard he has tried.
75. Which point of view may the author agree to?
A. Every effort should be paid back.
B. Competition should be encouraged.
C. Winning should be a life-and-death matter.
D. Fear of failure should be removed in competition.
Chicago, a city in the State of Illinois, is the second largest in the United States. It stretches for 29 miles along the southwest shore of Lake Michigan. Its splendid centre faces the lake behind a pleasant park. The Chicago River flows through the heart of the city. The city of Chicago, 713 miles west of New York and 1858 miles east of San Francisco, is located at the conjunction(连接) of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system and surrounded by the productive farmlands of the Midwest. This makes the city the crossroads of the nation and the “ bread basket” of the nation. From its beginning as a frontier fort(要塞) settlement in 1803, commerce(商业) has been the key to Chicago’s development, especially since the railroads and stockyards(牲畜围栏) were built in the 1840s and 1850s. Thousands of foreigners, attracted by the promise of steady jobs, have lived and worked there since the second half of the 19th century; thousands more come to visit its famous fairs, and millions of others cross it every day by road or railway. Chicago is the world’s biggest road and railway centre, and it should claim(要求得到身份或权利的承认) the world’s busiest airport.
66. If you go to New York from Chicago, you go _____ for _____ miles.
A. east…713 B. west…713 C. east…1858 D. west…1858
67. From the passage, we can see that there is _____.
A. a lake right in the middle of the city
B. the Mississippi River in the middle of the city
C. a park in the middle of the city
D. a lake 29 miles away from the city
68. Chicago is called the “ bread basket” of the nation because _____.
A. there is a river flowing through the city
B. it is located at the conjunction of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system
C. it is near the city of New York
D. there are rich farmlands around the city
69. _____ the city developed fastest.
A. Early in the 19th century
B. Around the middle of the 19th century
C. At the end of the 19th century
D. During the second half of the 19th century
70. Since the late 19th century thousands of people have kept coming to Chicago _____. Which of the following is wrong?
A. on business B. for a visit
C. for better jobs D. to claim the world’s biggest seaport
Mother Teresa was born in Yugoslavia(南斯拉夫), on August 27th,1910. She attended the government school near her home until she was eighteen. At that time, some doctors and nurses from Yugoslavia were working in India, and they often wrote to the school about their work. She decided to join them one day.
When she finished school, she went first to Britain. Then a year later she went to India, where she began to train to be a teacher. After training, she was sent to Calcutta(加尔各答)，where she taught geography at a school and soon after became headmistress(女校长).
However, although she loved teaching, in 1946 Mother Teresa left the school and went to work in the poor parts of Calcutta. Later she trained to be a nurse in Patna, and then began her work helping the poor and comforting the dying in the streets of the city. Slowly, others came to help her, and her work spread to other parts of India.
Mother Teresa is now a well-known person. Many photos have been taken of her, as she travels the world to open new schools and hospitals in poor countries. In 1979, she was given the Nobel Peace Prize for the lifetime of love and service she has given to the poor.
61. Where did Mother Teresa receive her education?
A. In Yugoslavia and India. B. In Yugoslavia and Britain.
C. In Britain and India. D. In Yugoslavia, Britain and India.
62. What first inspired Mother Teresa to work in India?
A. Her visits to the poor parts of Calcutta.
B. Her visit to Britain after she left school.
C. The medical workers’ letters to her school.
D. The work of the nurse in the city of Patna.
63. In which order did Mother Teresa do the following things?
a. Trained to be a nurse. b. Went to India
c. Helped the dying. d. Studied to be a teacher.
e. Went to Britain. f. Worked as a headmistress.
A. b, a, c, e, d, f, B. b, f, a, d, e, c C. e, b, d, f, a, c D. e, a, b, c, d, f
64. Mother Teresa gave up teaching because she wanted _____.
A. to look after the poor B. to travel to poor countries
C. to build hospitals for the poor D. to train nurses to care for the poor
65. Mother Teresa is now a famous person because she has _____.
A. saved many poor people in India
B. helped to bring about world peace
C. helped to make India a more peaceful place
D. taken care of many poor people in the world
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，共40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
We cannot feel speed. But our senses let us know that we are moving. We see things moving. We see things moving past us and feel that we are being shaken.
We can feel acceleration, an increase in speed. But we notice it for only a short time. For instance, we feel it during the takeoff run of an airliner.
We feel the plane’s acceleration because our bodies do not gain speed as fast as the plane does. It seems that something is pushing us back against the seat. Actually, our bodies are trying to stay in the same place, while the plane is carrying us forward.
Soon the plane reaches a steady speed. Then, because there is no longer any change in speed, the feeling of forward motion stops.
56. We can feel that we are moving by _____.
A. watching things move past B. feeling the speed
C. feeling ourselves being shaken D. both A and C
57. In the second paragraph, the underlined word “ acceleration” means _____.
A. an increase in speed B. a steady speed
C. any kind of movement D. the movement of a plane
58. During the takeoff of a plane, we feel that we are being _____.
A. thrown forward B. pushed back against the seat
C. lifted out of the seat D. pushed down into the seat
59. We feel the plane’s acceleration because our bodies gain speed _____.
A. just as fast as the plane B. faster than the plane
C. more slowly than the plane D. before the plane
60. This feeling stops when _____.
A. the plane stops climbing B. the plane lands
C. there is no longer a change in speed D. we begin to feel speed