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和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
The wedding took place in a Birmingham hotel. The bride and her father arrived in a new black American sport car. Her father looked nervous and uncomfortable in front of the cameras. The bride wore a silk wedding dress. She smiled nervously at the waiting photographers and went to a room on the first floor where she met her future husband for the very first time.
Carla Germaine and Greg Cordell were the winners of a radio station’s competition. The aim of the competition was to find two strangers prepared to marry without having met each other. Miss Germaine, 23, is a model. Mr. Cordell, 27, is a TV salesman. They were among the two hundred people who entered a peculiar “experiment” organized by BMRB radio in Birmingham, England, Greg, and Carla were among eight finalists who were interviewed live on a radio. They took a lie detector（测谎仪） test and the station also spoke to their friends and family about their personalities. The competition judges include an astrologer（占星家） who declared that they were suited.
The couple celebrated their wedding with a wedding breakfast and a party for 100 guests in the evening, but not everyone shared their joy. Miss Germaine’s mother looked anxious throughout the wedding and Mr. Cordell’s parents are reported to be less than delighted.
Organizations, including the marriage guidance Service Relate, have criticized the marriage. As one person put it, “We have enough problems getting young people to take marriage seriously without this. Marriage should always be about love.”
The couple are now on a Caribbean honeymoon followed by journalists. Their other prizes include a year’s free use of a wonderful apartment in the center of Birmingham, and a car. But will it last?
56. How did the couple’s parents react to the wedding?
A. The bride’s mother shared their joy.
B. The bride’s father felt uncomfortable about the wedding.
C. The bridegroom’s parents were quite delighted.
D. The bridegroom’s parents were not that joyful.
57. Some experts believe that _____.
A. marriage without the couple’s meeting each other first ends up in divorce
B. young people nowadays are too careless about marriage
C. taking a lie detector test can not solve all the marriage problems
D. most young people take marriage seriously except this couple
58. One of the prize for the couple is _____.
A. to spend their honeymoon wherever they like
B. to use an apartment free for some time
C. to have a wedding dress free
D. to own an American sports car
59. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A. Two strangers and a wedding B. A wedding based on love
C. A short-lived marriage D. A well-matched couple
I was shopping in the supermarket when I heard a young voice.
“Mom, come here! There’s this lady here my size!”
The mother rushed to her son; then she turned to me to apologize.
I smiled and told her, “It’s okay.” Then I talked to the boy, “Hi, I’m Darryl Kramer. How are you?”
He studied me from head to toe, and asked, “Are you a little mommy?”
“Yes, I have a son,” I answered.
“Why are you so little?” he asked.
“It’s the way I was born,” I said. “Some people are little. Some are tall. I’m just not going to grow any bigger.” After I answered his other questions, I shook the boy’s hand, and left.
My life as a little person is filled with stories like that. I enjoy talking to children and explaining why I look different from their parents.
It takes only one glance to see my uniqueness. I stand three feet nine inches tall. I was born an achondroplasia dwarf. Despite this, I did all the things other kids did when I was growing up.
I didn’t realize how short I was until I s
tarted school. Some kids picked on me, calling me names. Then I knew. I began to hate the first day of school each year. New students would always stare at me as I struggled to climb the school bus stairs.
But I learned to smile and accept the fact that I was going to be noticed my whole life. I decided to make my uniqueness an advantage rather than a disadvantage. What I lacked in height, I made up for in personality.
I’m 47 now, and the stares have not diminished as I’ve grown older. People are amazed when they see me driving. I try to keep a good attitude. When people are rude, I remind myself, “Look what else I have — a great family, nice friends.”
It’s the children’s questions that make my life special. I enjoy answering their questions. My hope is that I will encourage them to accept their peers (a person of the same age, class, position, etc.), whatever size and shape they come in, and treat them with respect. .. Why did the mother apologize to the author?
| A．Because the boy ran into the author. |
B．Because th e boy laughed at the author. |
| C．Because the boy said the author was fatter than him. |
| D．Because she thought the boy’s words had hurt the author. |
.When did the author realize that she was too short?
| A．When she began to go to school. | B．When she was 47 years old. |
| C．When she grew up. | D．When she met the boy in the supermarket. |
.Which of the following word can best replace the underlined word “diminished”?
| A．dismissed | B．increased | C．decreased | D．discriminated |
. How does the author feel about people’s stares?
| A．Angry. | B．Calm. | C．Painful. | D．Discouraged. |
Pop music is the name for various popular，commercial music．It originated in the USA and spread through the whole world during the 1950s and 60s．It is widely liked by the young people．The best known early form of pop music was “rock’n’ roll”; another was “blues”. A more recent development is “folk rock”．Pop music has taken the place of native music in many parts of the world．It has caused the number of people for “jazz” music to become much smaller than in the 1950s and earlier, and it has now began to rule music stage productions．It is a big industry．
Much pop music is without artistic value, but the work of some pop singers e.g. the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the group like Pink Floyd and Crosby, Still and Nash, is on a higher musical level. And there is still great interest in it today. Pop music concerts and festivals are held all over the world. In this passage the underlined word "originated" means _______.
| A．got around | B．began | C．invented | D．reached |
According to the text, the number of people for “jazz” in the 1950s and earlier wa
s
it is today.
| A．much greater than | B．as small as | C．as greater as | D．much smaller than |
All of the following forms belong to pop music except .
| A．blues | B．rock’n’ roll | C．jazz | D．folk rock |
Which of the following is TRUE?
|
A．Not all the pop music is without artistic value. |
B．Much pop music is on a high musical level. |
| C．Pop music is high artistic. | |
| D．No pop music is on a high musical level. |
Memphis is the largest city in the southern State of Tennessee, USA. The Mississippi River flows along the west side of the city. Memphis is the chief center of business, industry and transportation in Tennessee.
650,000 people live in the city. More than one million people live in the area. Like many other American cities, Memphis has had racial problems. About forty-eight percent of the city’s population is African American. In 1968, city workers who collected waste went on strike. Most of the workers were black. The famous civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior went to Memphis to support the workers. On April 4th, King was murdered in Memphis by James Earl Ray. After Mr. King’s death, the city worked to improve living conditions for black people. In 1991, voters elected W.E.Herenton the city’s first black mayor. The same ye
ar, Memphis opened the National Civil Rights Museum. It was built next to the place where Martin Luther King was killed. Many people visit the museum to learn about the history of the American civil rights movement. Today, people from across the United States and around the world visit Memphis,where tourism has become a major industry..
There are aboutAfrican Americans living in Memphis.
| A．312,000 | B．480,000 | C．650,000 | D．1,000,000 |
.
Which of the following statement is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Martin Luther King was killed in the city of Memphis by James Earl Ray in 1968. |
| B．W.E.Herenton was elected the first black mayor of Memphis in 1991. |
| C．Memphis opened the National Civil Rights Museum in 1991. |
| D．Martin Luther King was elected mayor of Memphis. |
.
The title for the passage should be .
| A．How to fight against slavery | B．National Civil Rights Museum |
| C．Memphis | D．A black mayor |
If you go to Juliano’s restaurant in San Francisco, you can’t get a cup of coffee or a hot cheese sandwich. All the food in the restaurant is raw, including the pizza and the rice.
Juliano thinks that cooked food makes us sick. “Food is alive, like you and me. When you cook food, you take away some of the vitamins,” he says. Juliano never eats food that is over 50 degrees. His restaurant doesn’t have a stove（火炉）or a microwave（微波炉）. But he has lots of clever ideas for making raw food taste great. Instead of heat, Juliano uses water to prepare food. He puts foods in water to make them soft. For example, he places beans in water for a few days and rice in water for two to four weeks.
Everything at the restaurant is cold, and the pizza and the rice taste good. So do the fruit and vegetable juices made from carrots, apples, oranges and so on. Juliano’s restaurant doesn’t serve meat, but some people who eat raw food also eat raw meat. Juliano has three friends who ate 
raw meat. They all got very sick. One of them is still sick.
Juliano eats mostly fruits, vegetables, nuts, rice and beans. He says he feels very healthy. “Raw food gives you lots of energy,” he says. Juliano says he needs only six hours of sleep a night, and he never gets sick..
How is the food in Juliano’s restaurant prepared?
| A．Foods are heated on a stove to a certain degree. |
| B．Foods are cooled in a fridge. |
| C．Foods are put into water to make them soft. |
| D．Foods are boiled and then cooled. |
.
. What is NOT served in Juliano’s restaurant?
| A．Carrot juice. | B．Cold pizza. | C．Hot meat. | D．Raw rice. |
.
. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Eating raw meat may make people sick. |
| B．People will like eating raw food in the future. |
| C．Juliano has not enough money to buy cooking equipment. |
| D．Restaurants like Juliano’s are very popular in America. |
.
. What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．A special restaurant in San Francisco. |
| B．A man who eats only raw food. |
| C．Raw food is better than cooked food. |
| D．How to make raw food taste good. |
After her husband had gone to work, Mrs. Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was too excited to do any housework that morning, for in the evening she would be going to a fancy-dress party with her husband. She intended to dress up as a ghost（幽灵） and as she had made her costume the night before, she was impatient to try it on. Though the costume consisted only of a sheet, it was very effective. After putting it on, Mrs. Richards went downstairs. She wanted to find out whether it would be comfortable to wear.
Just as Mrs. Richards was entering the dining room, there was a knock on the front door. She knew that it must be the baker. She had told him to come straight in if ever she failed to open the door and leave the bread on the kitchen table. Not wanting to frighten the poor man, Mrs. Richards quickly hid in the small storeroom under the stairs. She heard the front door open and heavy footsteps in the hall. Suddenly the door of the storeroom was opened and a man entered. Mrs. Richards realized that it must be the man from the Electricity Board who had come to read the meter. She tried to explain the situation, saying “ It’s only me”, but it was too late. The man let out a cr
y and jumped back several paces. When Mrs. Richards walked towards him, he fled（逃走）, slamming（砰然关上） the door behind him..
Mrs. Richards went upstairs becau
se.
| A．she did not need to do any housework |
| B．she still had to finish the costume she was going to wear |
| C．she wanted to change her clothes before doing the housework |
| D．she wanted to change into her fancy-dress costume |
.
. What do you think of Mrs. Richards’ costume?
| A．She had the costume made tonight. |
| B．It was comfortable to wear. |
| C．It didn’t work because it was made of only a sheet. |
| D．It was effective for the fancy dress. |
.
. By saying “ It’s only me”, Mrs. Richards hoped.
| A．the man would realize she was alone |
| B．to persuade the man he was seeing a ghost |
| C．the man would recognize her |
| D．the man would not close the door of the storeroom |
.
Suppose you are the man from the Electricity Board, how do you feel in that situation?
| A．Satisfied | B．Frightened | C．Worried | D．Disappointed. |