D
The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to present all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his word, “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill(钻孔) deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above 0ºC. The seeds will be protected behind walls a meter thick and high-security door.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below 0ºC. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s safest gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first put forward the idea in the 1980s. But safety concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
53.The project is meant to ______.
A.increase the world’s food output in the future
B.carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C.build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
D.protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
54.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A.The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B.Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousands years ago.
C.Spitsbergen is chosen because it is free of the nuclear war forever.
D.Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
55.We can infer from the text that _______.
A.Norway had meant to build the storage centre about 20 years before.
B.The storage center will greatly promote world agriculture
C.People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year.
D.There haven’t been any seed storage centres in the world before.
56.What is probably the best title of the passage?www.
A.The Best Place to Store Seeds B.Noah’s Ark(诺亚方舟)of Plant Seeds in Plan
C.Concerns of World Food Supply D.A New Way to Feed the World
第三节:阅读理解 (共10小题;每小题2分, 满分20分)
(A)
It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible for housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.
If you give your children the impression that they can never do anything quite right, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent.
My daughter Carla’s fifth-grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a perfect test score, she would point out what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.
You can use the same technique when you evaluate your child’s work at home. Don’t always scold and give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he had done right, not about what he hasn’t done. If your child completes a difficult task, promise him a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.
Learning is a process of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.
41. The whole passage deals with ______.
A. social education B. school education
C. family education D. pre-school education
42. The author thinks that ______.
A. there is no way to get children to help at home
B. the more encouragement and praise you give, the more responsible and helpful children will become
C. it is very difficult to make children responsible for housework
D. children can be forced to help with housework
43. The article gives us a good suggestion about how to evaluate your child’s work at home. That is to ______.
A. praise his success B. promise him a trip
C. give him a punishment D. promise him a ball game
44. The author advises readers to ______.
A. learn from himself, for he has a good way of teaching
B. take pride in Carla’s fifth-grade teacher
C. do as what Carla’s teacher did in educating children
D. follow Carla’s example because she never fails in the test
45. Having read the last paragraph, we can conclude that ______.
A. pride goes before a fall B. practice makes perfect
C. no pains, no gainsD. failure is the mother of success
E
Sunday, October 5
Clear, 69°F
My wife, Eleanor, and I took the train from Paris to Strasbourg, where we were met by our driver and guide, and the minibus which goes along with the boat. We stopped off in Barn for an hour on the way. Then we were taken to Nancy where the boat was kept.
After the other passengers arrived, we had our first dinner on the boat. After dinner we walked into downtown Nancy, a village with a large square and wooden houses.
Monday, October 6
Rained last night, cloudy in the morning, 69°F
We spent about two hours in Nancy, then sailed on the Canal de la Marne au Rhine. Kind of a lazy day, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, after dinner we watched a tape on Baccarat, where we will visit tomorrow.
It was pleasant to sit out on deck(甲板)and watch the scenery go by at about 3 mph.
Tuesday, October 7
Light rain, 64°F
This morning we drove over to Baccarat and toured its museum and the church , which has this unbelievable lamp that is going on a world tour the next day. We did lots of shopping, then walked across the bridge to see a very, very modern Catholic church with special Baccarat windows.
We drove to the top of the Voges Mountains and started down the eastern side. Later we drove to Sorrenbourg to see the 13th century church at the Cordeliers. It contains the largest window by Marc Chagall—24 feet wide by 40 feet high.
Wednesday, October 8
Cloudy, 65 °F
Today we sailed from Schneckenbush to Saverne. We went through two caves, an extremely unusual part of the journey. This river scenery is very different. We were in a mountain valley with grassland on one side and a forest beginning to show some color on the other.
Thursday, October 9
Cloudy, 66°F
Our dependable minibus was waiting to load the luggage and take us to the hotel where everyone went their separate ways. Our boating days are over until next time.
72. Where did the author get off the train?
A. Paris. B. Strasbourg. C. Nancy. D. Barn.
73. On which days did the tourists spend most of their time on the boat?
A. Monday and Tuesday.
B. Tuesday and Wednesday.
C. Wednesday and Thursday.
D. Monday and Wednesday.
74. From the text, we learn that Baccarat and Sorrenbourg are the names of__________.
A. towns B. churches C. museums D. mountains
75. What does the author think of the tour?
A. Tiring. B. Expensive. C. Enjoyable. D. Quick.
D
Far from the land of Antarctica(南极洲), a huge shelf of ice meets the ocean. At the underside of the shelf there lives a small fish, the Antarctic cod.
For forty years scientists have been curious about that fish. How does it live where most fish would freeze to death? It must have some secret. The Antarctic is not a comfortable place to work and research has been slow. Now it seems we have an answer.
Research was begun by cutting holes in the ice and catching the fish. Scientists studied the fish’s blood and measured its freezing point.
The fish were taken from seawater that had a temperature of -1.88℃ and many tiny pieces of ice floating in it. The blood of the fish did not begin to freeze until its temperature was lowered to -2.05℃. That small difference is enough for the fish to live at the freezing temperature of the ice-salt mixture.
The scientists’ next research job was clear: Find out what in the fish’s blood kept it from freezing. Their search led to some really strange thing made up of a protein(蛋白质) never before seen in the blood of a fish. When it was removed, the blood froze at seawater temperature. When it was put back, the blood again had its antifreeze quality and a lowered freezing point.
Study showed that it is an unusual kind of protein. It has many small sugar molecules(分子) held in special positions within each big protein molecule. Because of its sugar content, it is called a glycoprotein. So it has come to be called the antifreeze fish glycoprotein, or AFGP.
68. What is the text mainly about?
A. The terrible conditions in the Antarctic.
B. A special fish living in freezing waters.
C. The ice shelf around Antarctica.
D. Protection of the Antarctic cod.
69. Why can the Antarctic cod live at the freezing temperature?
A. The seawater has a temperature of -1.88℃.
B. It loves to live in the ice-salt mixture.
C. A special protein keeps it from freezing.
D. Its blood has a temperature lower than -2.05℃.
70. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
A. A type of ice-salt mixture. B. A newly found protein.
C. Fish blood. D. Sugar molecule.
71. What does “glycol-” in the underlined word “glycoprotein” in the last paragraph mean?
A. sugar B. ice C. blood D. Molecule
C
It’s not easy being a teenager(13至19岁青少年)—nor is it easy being the parent of a teenager. You can make your child feel angry, hurt, or misunderstood by what you say without realizing it yourself. It is important to give your child the space he needs to grow while gently letting him know that you you’ll still be there for him when he needs you.
Expect a lot from your child, just not everything. Except for health and safety problems, such as drug use or careless driving; consider everything else open to discussion. If your child is unwilling to discuss something, don’t insist he tell you what’s on his mind. The more you insist, the more likely that he’ll clam up. Instead, let him attempt to solve things by himself. At the same time, remind him that you’re always there for him if he seeks advice or help. Show respect for your teenager’s privacy(隐私). Never read his mail or listen in on personal conversions.
Teach your teenager that the family phone is for the whole family. If your child talks on the family’s telephone for too long, tell him he can talk for 15 minutes, but then he must stay off the phone for at least an equal period of time. This not only frees up the line so that other family members can make and receive calls, but teaches your teenager moderation(节制). Or if you are open to the idea, allow your teenager his own phone that he pays for with his own pocket money or a part–time job.
64. The main purpose of the text is to tell parents ___________.
A. how to deal with a teenager
B. how to respect a teenager
C. how to understand a teenager
D. how to help a teenager grow up
65. What does the phrase “clam up” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. become excited B. show respect C. refuse to talk D. seek help
66. The last paragraph is about how to teach a teenager _________.
A. to use the phone in a sensible(明智的) way
B. to pay for his own telephone
C. to share the phone quickly
D. to answer the phone quickly
67. What should parents do in raising a teenager according to the text?
A. Not allow him to learn driving or take drugs.
B. Give him advice only when necessary.
C. Let him have his own telephone.
D. Not talk about personal things with him.
B
Heroes of Our Time
A good heart
Dikembe Mutombo grew up in Africa among great poverty and disease. He came to Georgetown University on a scholarship(奖学金) to study medicine — but Coach(教练) John Thompson got a look at Dikembe and had a different idea. Dikembe became a star in the NBA, and a citizen of the United States. But he never forgot the land of his birth, or the duty to share his fortune with others. He built a new hospital in his old hometown in the Congo. A friend has said of this good-hearted man: “Mutombo believes that God has given him this chance to do great things.”
Success and kindness
After her daughter was born, Julie Aigner-Clark searched for ways to share her love of music and art with her child. So she borrowed some equipment, and began filming children’s videos(录像) in her own house. The Baby Einstein Company was born, and in just five years her business grew to more than $20 million in sales. And she is using her success to help others — producing child safety videos with John Walsh of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Julie says of her new program: “I believe it’s the most important thing that I have ever done. I believe that children have the right to live in a world that is safe.”
Bravery and courage
A few weeks ago, Wesley Autrey was waiting at a Harlem subway station with his two little girls when he saw a man fall into the path of a train. With seconds to act, Wesley jumped onto the tracks, pulled the man into the space between the rails(铁轨), and held him as the train passed right above their heads. He insists he’s not a hero. He says: “We have got to show each other some love.”
60. What was Mutombo praised for?
A. Being a star in the NBA. B. Being a student of medicine.
C. His work in the church. D. His willingness to help the needy.
61. Mutombo believes that building the new hospital is ______.
A. helpful to his personal development
B. something he should do for his homeland
C. a chance for his friends to share his money
D. a way of showing his respect to the NBA
62. What did the Baby Einstein Company do at its beginning?
A. Produce safety equipment for children.
B. Make videos to help protect children.
C. Sell children’s music and artwork.
D. Look for missing and exploited children.
63. Why was Wesley Autrey praised as a hero?
A. He helped a man get across the rails.
B. He stopped a man from destroying the rails.
C. He protected two little girls from getting hurt.
D. He saved a person without considering his own safety.