AnewWorldCalendarispublishedev-优题课

C
Cancun is a seaside town in Mexico, where most tourists come here to enjoy the beach, water sports and night life. In fact, it is so modern and Americanized that you might think you were in southern California or Florida.
But just a short two-hour hike from the town lie the ruins of the city of Chichen-Itza, one of the capitals of the lost Maya（玛雅）civilization. The center of the ruins of this city is the pyramid of El Castillo. The ancient Mayan religious people climbed this pyramid during festival to honor the Sun god. Tourists today climb it to view the architectural achievements of Chichen-Itza and to prove their fearlessness of heights and steep （陡峭的）climbs. There is a sign in Spanish, admonishing visitors “It’s dangerous to go up.” I gladly ignored it and started my climb.
The climbing was tough. The steps were higher than one might normally take., but the climb was not fearful at all. From the top of the pyramid, I had a wonderful view of the ruins of this Mayan city. What was most striking to me was that just beyond the ruins of splendid structures, gardens, temples and what looks like a modern sports stadium, you could only see forests for miles and miles. It was almost as if some race had mysteriously come out of nowhere, built it up and then suddenly disappeared from the planet, leaving only stones in its space.
The only remains on the top of the pyramid were the Temple of Kukulcan. During the festivals to worship the Sun god, only the high ranks would have the right to enter this temple.
After shooting a few pictures, I realized it was time to go down. Only then did I discover that what people fear about the climb is not the trip going up, but the way going down. I saw a few brave souls who were walking down as if they were in their own house. Looking down at the steepness of the pyramid, I desperately feared this great height. My first desire was to joke with a few people, “Where is the elevator（电梯）?” I figured that a civilization that was this advanced would have had the foresight(预见) to construct an elevator. Lacking such modern equipment, I had to use the chain provided by the Mexican tourist authorities and climb down on all fours.
My climb was complete eventually. I quickly got on the bus back to my comfortable hotel. Leaving the ruined city, I was still wondering what possibly happened long ago. But a few hours later, I was back in the modern world drinking cocktails on the beach, bathing in the sunshine before boarding the plane and waiting for my trip back home to the US, where all the modern things such as elevators are available!
57. Why did the writer pay a visit to the ruined city of Chichen-Itza?
A. He wanted to climb the pyramid of EL Castillo and know about the Mayan civilization.
B. He would got to the Temple of Kukulcan to attend a religious festival to honor the Sun god.
C. He thought the city of Chichen-Itza was quite different from the modern town of Cancun.
D. He was attracted by the ruined ancient buildings there and wanted to take some photos.
58. The underlined word “admonishing” in Paragraph 2 probably means “___________”.
A. urging B. forcing C. warning D. frightening
59. Which of the following best shows climbing the pyramid of EL Castillo is a difficult task?
A. The steps are very high and it is much more scaring to climb to the top.
B. The climbing calls for courage and patience, and also takes a long time.
C. When tourist climb up to the top, there is no elevator to take them down.
D. The pyramid is high and steep, and climbing down is much more fearful.
60. From the last paragraph, we can infer that the writer ______________.
A. had a bad impression of the visit and decided to leave as soon as possible.
B. thought modernization could offer people comforts and conveniences.
C. got tired of the modern life and tried a different one in his own way.
D. enjoyed himself in the climb though it was very tiring and dangerous.

B
“The Lord of the Rings”, one of the best sellers in the new millennium（千年）, was made up of three parts——“The Fellowship of the Ring”, “Two Towers”, and “The Return of the King”. Millions upon millions of people have read it in over 25 different languages, but fewer know about the author and the history of the composition of the creative masterwork.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892. His parents died when he was a child. Living in England with his aunt, Tolkien and his cousins made up play languages, a hobby that led to Tolkien’s becoming skilled in Welsh, Greek, Gothic, Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon.
After graduating from Oxford, Tolkien served in World War I. In 1917, while recovering from trench fever, he began composing the mythology for The Rings. As a professor of Anglo-Saxon in 1930s at Oxford, Tolkien was part of an informal discussion group called the Inklings, which included several writers. The group was soon listening to chapters of Tolkien’s imaginative work “The Hobbit”.
Hobbit was a name Tolkien created for a local people that could best be described as half-sized members of the English rural（乡村的）class. Hobbits live in hillside holes. One of them, Bilbo Baggins, looks for treasures with a group of dwarves（侏儒）. On the way, he meets the twisted, pitiful creature Gollum, from whom he sees a golden ring that makes the holder invisible（看不见的）.
One of Tolkien’s students persuaded her employer, publisher Allen & Unwin, to look at a draft（草稿）. The chairman of the firm, Stanley Unwin, thought that the best judge for a children’s book would be his ten-year-old son. The boy earned a shilling for reporting back that the adventure was exciting, and “The Hobbit” was published in 1937.
It sold so well that Unwin asked for a continuation. Over a dozen years later, in 1954, Tolkien produced “The Lord of the Rings”, a series of books so creative that they hold readers—new and old —after their publication.
54. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. “The Lord of the Rings” didn’t sell well in the last millennium.
B. People know better about Tolkien himself than about his works.
C. Tolkien was quite familiar with Old English.
D. Tolkien knew very well about different kinds of local languages in Africa.
55. What can we learn about “Hobbit” that Tolkien created in his works?
A. Hobbit was a race living in English downtown areas.
B. Hobbit was a local people who were very tall and strong.
C. Hobbit was a social group of people who lived in old castles.
D. Hobbit was a group of people who were mostly dwarves.
56. Which of the following shows the right order of Mr J.R.R.Tolkien’s life experience?
a. He had his “The Hobbit” published.b. He became a member of the Inklings.
c. He served in World WarⅠd. He became an undergraduate at Oxford.
e. “The Lord of the Rings” came to the world. f. He moved to England to live with his aunt.
A. f-d-b-c-a-e B. f-d-c-b-a-e C. f-c-d-b-e-a D. d-f-c-a-b-e

第二部分：阅读理解（每小题2 分，满分30分）
第一节: 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
A
Books which give instructions on how to do things are very popular in the United States today. Thousands of these “How to” books are available; in fact, there are about four thousand books with titles that begin with the words “How to”. One book may tell you how to earn more money, another may tell you how to save or spend it, and another may explain how to give your money away. Many “How to” books give advice on careers (职业). They tell you how to choose a career and how to succeed at it. If you fail, however, you can buy a book called “How to Turn Failure into Success”. If you would like to become very rich, you can buy the book “How to Make a Million”. If you never make any money at all, you may need a book called “How to Live on Nothing?”. One of the most popular types of books is one that helps you with personal problems. If you want to have a better love of life, you can read “How to Succeed at Love Every Minute of Your Life.?”. If you are tired of books on happiness, you may prefer a book called “How to Make Yourself miserable?”.
Many of these books help people use their time better. Some people want books which will give them useful information about sports, hobbies, and travel. Other people use their free time to make repairs and improvements on their homes. They prefer books which give step by step instruction on how to repair things like plumbing (卫生管道工程) and electrical wiring, or on how to redecorate (重新装饰) or enlarge a house.
Why have “How to” books become so popular? Probably because life has become so complex. Today people have far more free time to use, more choices to make, and more problems to solve. “How to” books help people deal with modern life.
51. These “How to” books are written to______.
A. tell people on how to love their daily life
B. earn moneyfor the companies to survive in the competition
C. give people some good advice on how to do something they want to do
D. give readers who want to know about Americaa deep impression
52. Before someone wants to find a good job, he had better______.
A. buy a book on “How to Make a Million?”
B. read a book on how to choose a career and how to succeed at it
C.make better use of his time in his daily life
D. use his free time to look for it
53. If people will not succeed in what he is doing, a book called________ can give help.
A. “How to Turn Failure into Success”
B. “How to Make a Million?”
C. “How to Succeed at Love Every Minute of Your Life?”
D. “How to Make Yourself Miserable?”

D
Everyone knows you must exercise regularly to keep good health. Indeed, staying physically fit is a big part of our culture. we consider（or rightly so）that healthy people are attractive people. Since most of us want to be attractive, there is no shortage of exercise clubs, training videos, magazines and books offering to help us stay physically fit.
Unfortunately, however, our culture doesn’t place the same emphasis on mental fitness. Although we tend to like men and women with strong, healthy-looking bodies, we don’t have the same degree of respect or attraction for smart, educated, mentally healthy people. This is a pity, because there are great rewards for people who have developed the ability to think well.
If your mind is well trained and flexible, you will be able to understand a great deal of what happens around you. And if you are also well educated --- that is, if you understand basic science, mathematics, music, art, literature, history and so on --- you will find it much easier to make good decisions throughout your life. Over the long run, this leads to a sense of control over your destiny and a much better life than otherwise.
People who are poorly educated or who don’t think well --- that is, people who are not mentally fit --- see things differently. Their world is controlled by mysterious, often malevolent（恶意的）forces. Such people live within a system they will never master, forced to follow rules they will never understand. Although it may not be obvious, most spend their lives being manipulated（控制）by others. They are told what to do, what to think, how to spend their money, and what they should and should not aspire（渴望）to in life.
In my opinion, if you want to live well, you must be able to use your mind well. For this reason, I want you to be able to concentrate, to solve problems, to understand complex ideas, and to think clearly and quickly. Such skills will make it easier for you to make informed decisions, understand current events, choose good friends, manage your money well, make wise lone-term decisions and appreciate music, art and literature.
The key to developing such skills is to enjoy learning, and to have the ability and motivation to teach yourself.
63. The writer of the passage feel disappointed that ____.
A. too little has been done to help people to keep physically fit
B. too much has been done to help people to keep physically fit
C. mentally healthy people are not as popular as physically healthy people
D. physically healthy people are not as popular as mentally healthy people
64. The underlined word “this” in the 3rd paragraph means ____.
A. the understanding of a great deal of what goes on around you
B. the understanding of basic science and mathematics
C. good training in body and mind
D. being able to make good decisions in life
65. The writer of this passage thinks those who are not mentally fit ____.
A. live a poor and mysterious lifeB. can’t control over their life
C. often do what others doD. enjoy being fooled and ruled
66. The best title of the passage will most probably be ____.
A. Train Your BodyB. Train Your Mind
C. Make Informed Decisions D. Think Hard and Work Hard

C
James Blunt is one of the most popular singers in the UK. His first album, Back to Bedlam, and his number one hit, You’re Beautiful, brought him fame in 2005. his music is a mix of pop, rock and folk.
Blunt comes to China for the first time this month, he will hold two concerts, one in Beijing and one in Shanghai on April 18 and 19 respectively.
Blunt, 34, took an unusual path to stardom. His father was a soldier and so was his grandfather.
“The only music he heard growing up was Happy Birthday and Silent Night. His father considered all music, even classical, to be unnecessary noise,’ reads Blunt’s official website.
Even though Blunt did not want to join the military, he eventually followed his father’s wishes, and served as a soldier in Kosovo on peacekeeping duty.
“Like any parents, mine wanted me to have a secure job with a regular wage and career prospects,” Blunt said. “And the one job my father knew of, that he’d had experience of himself, was the army, so he could help me in that direction.”
Blunt eventually became a Captain. One of his final duties in the army before retirement was carrying the coffin(棺材) at the funeral of the Queen Mother of England in 2002.
But Blunt couldn’t escape his love for music. So, after leaving the British Army he moved to Los Angeles and worked on his first album. While in LA, Blunt lived with the actress Carrie Fisher, who played the lead female role in the Star Wars movie. He recorded his song, Goodbye My Lover, in his bathroom, where he kept a piano.
Blunt took his new album back to England where it was not very successful. But he kept performing and eventually his song, You’re Beautiful, became a number one hit.
Now Blunt has won numerous awards, sold millions of records and dated super models.
But his greatest accomplishment might be that his father now enjoys music!
59. All of the following belongs to Blunt EXCEPT__________.
A. Back to Bedlam B. Silent Night
C. Goodbye My Lover D. You’re Beautiful
60. Which of the following proves “Blunt took an unusual path to stardom”?
A. Blunt was 34 when be became famous.
B. Blunt recorded his most famous song in a bathroom.
C. Blunt’s father wanted him to have a secure job.
D. Blunt began to pursue a career in music after military service.
61. We can infer from the passage that __________.
A. Blunt is living in Los Angeles at present
B. Blunt rose to fame two years after he left the army
C. Blunt became successful immediately he recorded his first song
D. Blunt has changed his father’s attitude towards music
62. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Blunt’s visit to China B. Blunt’s military life.
C. How Blunt became famous D. How Blunt father fell in love with music.