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
If you put a buzzard（秃鹰） in a pen(围栏) six to eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be a prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten to twelve feet. Without space to run, it will not even attempt to fly, but remain a prisoner for life in a small prison with no top.
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is to shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully,until it reaches some slight height from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.
A bumblebee (大黄蜂), if dropped into an open tumbler(平底玻璃杯), will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but insists on trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists until it completely destroys itself.
In many ways, there are lots of people like the buzzard, the bat and the bumblebee. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not realizing that the answer is right there above them.Why does a buzzard choose to stay in a pen?
| A．Because it is safe to live there. |
| B．Because it gets used to living there. |
| C．Because it cannot take off within an limited area. |
| D．Because it lost its ability to fly. |
The underlined word in the second paragraph probably means “.”
| A．to run slowly | B．to move slowly |
| C．to pace slowly | D．to fly slowly |
A bumblebee will completely destroy itself for .
| A．it does not look for a way out above |
| B．it is dropped into an open cage |
| C．it does not try to find a way to escape |
| D．it hurts itself while flying |
In which way are many people similar to a buzzard, an ordinary bat and a bumblebee?
| A．They are overcoming all their problems and frustrations. |
| B．They are all content with the things as they are. |
| C．They choose to give in to problems and frustrations. |
| D．They do not seek new ways to deal with difficulties. |
Camilla Broomstick, a missing Camden –area woman, was reported found inside her damaged Chevrolet Malibu Sunday afternoon in a County near Camden New Jersey, at the bottom of an embankment(路堤) off a highway, according to authorities. Her car, turned upside down, was spotted by a passer-by who had stopped to view scenery and noticed something shining and what looked like a body, authorities said. When emergency responders arrived, they found Broomstick alive inside her severely damaged car. The vehicle rested upside down after flying 120 feet off the highway and rolling an additional 200 feet into an aspen woods.
“The crash alone would have killed her,” New Jersey State Trooper Dean Enoch said. “It's surprising that she survived the crash at all, and then to be down there for that amount of days without food or water.”
Earlier Monday, the family released a statement at the hospital thanking emergency responders who rushed Broomstick to the hospital and to the man who found her and notified authorities.
“We sincerely appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and kind gestures from the community during such a hard time for our family,” the statement read. “While we're hopeful of her prognosis(愈后), Camilla was seriously injured and with multiple internal and external injuries. Later this afternoon Camilla will be undergoing surgery here to amputate(截肢) both of her feet. Doctors were not able to save her feet due to the serious injuries. Camilla is in critical but stable condition at this time and has a very long road ahead.”
In the statement, family members mentioned reports that Broomstick wrote a request for help on an umbrella she pushed out the car window. “We cannot comment on that right now because we have not seen the umbrella,” the statement said. Family members also asked that the public respect their privacy.Who found the severely damaged car?
| A．The authorities. | B．A passer-by. |
| C．Emergency responders. | D．Her families. |
Where was the damaged car when it was found?
| A．200 feet from the high way. | B．120 feet from the high way. |
| C．220 feet from the high way. | D．320 feet from the high way. |
What can we know from the passage ?
| A．Camilla Broomstick was lucky to survive. |
| B．Camilla Broomstick had a strong will. |
| C．Camilla Broomstick had a good body. |
| D．Camilla Broomstick was bad in driving. |
What is implied in the last two paragraphs?
| A．Broomstick’s family are grateful for the doctors. |
| B．Broomstick’s family are not sure about the umbrella. |
| C．Broomstick’s family are worried about her legs. |
| D．Broomstick’s family are not willing to be disturbed. |
Discover Artistic Talents across the Country
Redtory, Guangzhou
Redtory, established in 2009, is a spacious art district often referred to as Guangzhou’s 798. Made up of more than 30 old halls, mostly buildings of red brick, the place was originally built in 1956 as Chinese largest can factory. Some of the rusty machines from the old factory have been kept as art equipment, giving the zone an old charm.
Where: No. 128 Yuancun Siheng Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 10:30 am-9 pm
Tank Loft, Chongqing
This 12,000-square-meter art center was established on the site of a used military tank warehouse(仓库). It is the largest contemporary art base in western China, featuring modern exhibition, galleries, design studios and art bookstores. The art zone is located on the campus of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and was created by the school in the early 2000s.
Where: No. 108 Huangjueping Center Street, Jiulongpo District, Chongqing
Opening hours: 9 am-5 pm(closed Mondays)
M50, Shanghai
M50, also known as 50 Moganshan Road, is the center of Shanghai’s contemporary art scene, with more than 100 artists whose studios are open to the public. This district, on the bank of Suzhou Creek, was previously a textile factory until it seized production in 1999. Xue Song, a Shanghai artist, was the first to establish a studio there in 2002.
Where: No. 50 Moganshan Road, Pudong District, Shanghai
Opening hours: 10 am-5 pm(closed Mondays)
798 Art Zone, Beijing
Attracted by ordered designing, convenient traffic and unique style of Bauhaus architecture, art organizations and artists have crowded in the vacant plants and transformed them since 2001, gradually forming a district gathered galleries, art studios, cultural companies, fashion shops etc. As the earliest area where the organizations and artists moved in located in the original area of 798 factory, this place was named as Beijing 798 Art Zone.
Where: No. 4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Opening hours: 10 am-6 pmIf you are going to visit an art zone at 7pm, which one can you go to?
| A．Redtory, Guangzhou. | B．Tank Loft, Chongqing. |
| C．M50, Shanghai. | D．798 Art Zone, Beijing. |
Tank Loft, Chongqing is quite different from the others in.
| A．size | B．site | C．feature | D．weather |
Which of the following was built first?
| A．Redtory, Guangzhou. | B．Tank Loft, Chongqing. |
| C．M50, Shanghai. | D．798 Art Zone, Beijing. |
It was a physical class. But it was nothing like previous ones — the class was “attended”
by over 60 million students across China, and the teacher was not even on the planet: she was 340 kilometers above the earth.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Wang Yaping. I’ll host your lecture today.” Smiling to the camera, Wang, China’s second female astronaut, started her video class on June 20 on board the Tiangong-1 space station.
To show how Newton’s Laws work in space, Wang and her fellow astronauts used simple items like balls and spinning tops. The highlight of the lecture was when Wang made a film of water using a metal ring, something that only happens in zero gravity, where the surface tension(张力) of water is much higher than it is on the earth. She then took it a step further by pouring more water onto the film and turning it into a water ball, leaving the audience amazed by what they saw.
The 40-minute lesson seemed to have passed too quickly for students to see enough of those magical experiments. But sending stuff into space is really expensive. According to The Beijing Times, every kilogram launched into space cost 20,000 dollars. The experimental items taken this time were all strictly selected and weighed about 2.9 kilograms in total. This adds up to quite a large price tag.
The organizers of the event also had to consider the time of day: the communication signal between the earth and Tiangong-1 was best during that specific 40 minutes, when the spacecraft was flying within the coverage of all of the ground-based testing stations.Why is the class different from a common one?
| A．Because it took 40 minutes. |
| B．Because over 60 million students across the world attended it. |
| C．Because the teacher was on the planet. |
| D．Because the lecturer was in space. |
One of the experiments shows .
| A．object motion under weight conditions |
| B．laws of physics under weightless conditions |
| C．laws of physics under weight conditions |
| D．how Newton’s Laws work on the earth |
Which phrase can best replace the underlined words in the passage?
| A．took a photo of water. |
| B．recorded moving pictures of water. |
| C．made a thin layer of water. |
| D．all the above. |
Which of the following statements can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Teaching from the Sky. | B．Teaching on Physics. |
| C．Teaching Experiments. | D．Teaching by an Astronaut. |
In China，cultural differences arose from growing rice or wheat．Different thinking styles between northern and southern Chinese people can trace(追溯)their roots to rice fields and wheat fields．
Rice farming promotes a holistic(整体的)focus on distinguishing relationships among people and objects，and valuing others as much as or more than oneself, say psychologist Thomas Talhelm of the University of Virginia and his colleagues．Holistic thinking among many modem Chinese people partly reflects regional histories of building communal irrigation systems(共有灌溉系统)and cooperatively planting and harvesting rice fields over thousands of years．
They draw that conclusion based on studies of college students from regions with different agricultural practices．Students from southern and central China’s rice．growing provinces think holistically, even though they have probably never farmed rice，Talhelm’s group reports．In contrast，students from northern and central Chinese provinces that have specialized in wheat growing exhibit a preference for abstract analysis and self over others，the scientists find．Wheat is less labor-intensive(劳动密集型)to grow than rice，SO farmers can plant and harvest crops without much help from neighbors．Analytical，individualistic thinking is not more common among students from richer
Provinces, contrary to the argument that this attitude springs from modernization. ”Rice theory might explain why East Asia is so much less individualistic than expected based on its wealth, ” Talhelm says.
Talhelm，s team tested 1,162 Chinese students，who Viewed lists of three items，such as a rabbit，a dog and a carrot. For each list，students chose two items that belonged together. Earlier research found that analytical thinkers often group items according to categories，so rabbits and dogs go together．Holistic thinkers tend to 1ook for relationships，such as rabbits eating carrots. Students from rice-growing areas made an average of around seven to nine holistic matches of 10 possible matches，compared with roughly f1ve to seven holistic matches for those from Wheat-growing areas.
Talhelm’s team also analyzed national statistics in China from 1 996，2000 and 2010 and found a higher divorce rate and a greater number of successful patents for new inventions in wheat-growing provinces than in rice-growing provinces. That trend is in line with the ides that analytical thinking develops both individualism and creativity.People who think holistically probably_____________.
| A．come from wheat—growing areas |
| B．1ive in northern and central China |
| C．rely more on themselves |
| D．think of others before themselves |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．East Asia is poorer than the other areas of Asia. |
| B．Modernization contributes to analytic al thinking. |
| C．Analytical thinkers tend to pick out items by type. |
| D．Richer people show more individualistic thinking. |
The author develops the passage mainly by____________.
| A．making comparisons |
| B．listing examples |
| C．telling his personal experience |
| D．presenting problem and solution |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Cultural differences in China |
| B．1isting examples |
| C．Chinese people tracing their roots |
| D．Farming influences thinking styles |