七．阅读理解 (20分)
At first, the earth’s surface layer (层 ) was made up of huge blocks of hard, solid rocks.There slowly, the rocks broke up into smaller and smaller pieces. Finally stones, pebble(卵石) and grains of sand were formed. Many sorts of plants and animals lived and died on the surface of the earth. Their remain mixed up with the stones, pebbles and formed soil. The outmost layer of the earth is soil.
There are many ways in which large pieces of rock break into smaller ones. Wind, water, heat and cold help to break up rocks. When winds blow grains of sand against a large rock for a long time, the softer layer of the rock are slowly worn away. These leave holes and crack(裂缝) in the rock, which become bigger and finally the rock breaks up into smaller pieces.
The moving water of streams and rivers also help to break up rocks. As the water moves along, it carries with it small pieces of rock. These rub the larger ones, Thus, the larger rocks are worn down to smaller pieces.
The heat of the sun also help to breaking up rocks. When the sun shines, the rocks become very hot. If these rocks are suddenly cooled, they may crack. Ice also plays a part in making soil. Water in the cracks can turn into ice in cold weather. As this happens, it becomes bigger and cracks become wider, and finally break into smaller pieces.
1. According to the passage, soil _________ .
A. forms very slowly
B. is a mixture of stones, pebbles and sand
C. make up the layer of the earth
D. is becoming smaller and smaller
2. How many factors are mentioned in helping the forming of soil ?
A. Three B. Four C. Five D.More than five
3. Which of the following speeds up the breaks of rocks most ?
A. Hot weather B. Cold water
C. Sharp changs in temperature D. More dead plants in the cracks
4. Which of the following is NOT true ?
A.The remains of many plants of animals formed soil.
B. If a large rock never moves, it will never break up.
C.Even if a large rock never moves, it will break up.
D. Ice in the cracks helps to break up rocks.
5. The best titl for this passage should be ________ .
A. Soil from Rocks B. Ways to Break Rocks
C. Soil on the Earth D. Soil, Outmost Layer of the Earth
On the eve of our daughters’ weddings, I gave both of them what I considered to be excellent marital advice: never leave your husband unsupervised (无人监督的) with pruning shears (修枝剪).
If only I had taken my own advice. I recently let my guard down. Thirty-some years of marriage can do that to a woman. Give a man pruning shears and electric trimmers (电动修剪器) and he will give new meaning to “armed and dangerous.”
One day earlier this year, my husband said that the crab apple tree was dead.
“Why do you think it is dead?” I asked.
“Look at it. There’s not a leaf on it.”
“There’s not a leaf on anything. It’s March,” I said.
“It looked sick last fall and with this bitter winter we had, I’m convinced it’s dead.”
The truth is he’s never liked the crab apple. Sure, it has beautiful blooms in the spring, but then it gets a disease, the leaves curl, and it drops those little apples that sit on the driveway.
Each passing week he pronounced the tree dead. Eventually I began to believe him. Though he agreed it would be a regrettable loss, there was a twinkle in his eye. He armed himself a couple of weeks ago and began trimming. A branch here, a branch there, a small limb, then a large limb. I watched and then decided to check the wood on some of the branches closer to the trunk. I broke one off and saw green.
The crab apple was not dead. It just hadn’t had time to leaf out. The tree was now falling to one side, but it was not dead. I would have told him so, but he had moved on to a maple. Once the man starts, he can’t stop. One trim leads to another.
“Please, stop!” I called.
He smiled and nodded, but he couldn’t hear because he had started the hedge (树篱) trimmers and was getting ready to fix a line of hedges.
Zip (飕飕声), zip, zip.
“What do you think?” he shouted.
“It’s supposed to be a privacy hedge; now all that will be private are our ankles.”
He started the trimmers again. “Stop!” I called, “Come back!”
“Why?” he shouted.
“You’re in the neighbor’s yard.”By saying “if only I had taken my own advice.” the author means that _____.
| A．she should have kept a closer watch on her husband |
| B．she feels regretful about her marriage after many years |
| C．she didn’t follow her own advice about pruning shears |
| D．she shouldn’t have given that marital advice to her daughters |
We can learn from the article that the author’s husband ______.
| A．has a great talent for gardening |
| B．had never used pruning shears before |
| C．mistook their crab apple tree for a maple tree |
| D．nearly ruined their neighbor’s garden |
What does the article mainly talk about?
| A．Why husbands shouldn’t be left to trim trees alone. |
| B．Why the author’s husband insisted on trimming their crab apple tree. |
| C．How the author has survived her “thirty-some” years of marriage. |
| D．How the author’s husband killed their crab apple tree. |
What is the tone of the article?
| A．Anxious. | B．Humorous. |
| C．Serious. | D．Critical. |
2015, the time has come for more creative China tours to be made, Shanghai Disney opens, more high-speed rail options. Insisting on high-quality services, we are proud to present our ever best-selling China tour packages, tour themes and the next popular destinations. Check out the optional activities and information making our Smart Travelers’ trips outstanding.
China Highlights’ most popular private tour. Our private guide, driver and car are available all times. You take the trip, we take the stress.
Day 1-2 In Beijing
Take a break on your arrival. Enjoy local people’s morning exercise at the Temple of Heaven before visiting the Great Wall, and then have a lifetime experience of visiting the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall on Day 2.
Day 3-4 In Xi’an
Still in Beijing in the daytime of Day 3. Visit the Forbidden City and the Tian’anmen Square to feel royal life in ancient China. After that pay a visit to hutongs which give full flavor of authentic experience. Catch a flight at night to Xi’an. Private guide and driver escort you to visit the highlights of Xi’an on Day 4.
Day 5-7 In Guilin/Yangshuo
Continue to see Xi’an and have more interacts with the local. Visiting a family in Xi’an and learning how to make different shapes of dumplings give you an unforgettable time. Take a plane at night and arrive at Guilin on Day 5. Get on board to enjoy essence of Guilin, the Li River cruise to Yangshuo. Cycle to villages and meet friendly local people and learn more about Chinese agriculture.
Day 8-10 In Shanghai
Private transfer from Yangshuo to Guilin airport. Shanghai guide and driver are waiting for you with smiling faces. Highlights of the city on Day 9 show you the future of China as the end of the trip. You have free time on the last day before taking an international flight.
Just let us know your travel style! We will then adapt this tour and create a unique quote based on your individual needs. For more information, please click here: http://www.chinahighlights.com/tour/.How many night flights will the tourists take during this trip?
| A．One. | B．Two. |
| C．Three. | D．None. |
If a tourist is interested in Chinese food, which place will impress him/her most?
| A．Beijing. | B．Guilin. |
| C． Xi’an. | D．Shanghai. |
Where can you find this passage?
| A．In the newspaper. | B．In a report. |
| C．In a textbook | D．On the Internet. |
Its well known that our human memory can fail us. People can be forgetful, and they can sometimes also remember things incorrectly, with damaging consequences in the classroom, courtroom, and other areas of life. Now, researchers show for the first time that bumblebees(大黄蜂) can be unreliable witnesses too.
Bumblebees are rather clever animals, which explains why Chittka has been studying learning and memory in the insects for the last 20 years.
Most times when people have studied memory in animals, errors in performance have been taken to mean that the animals failed to learn the task or perhaps learned it and then forgot. But what if animals can experience a more interesting type of memory failure?
To find out, Chittka first trained bumblebees to expect a reward when visiting a yellow artificial flower followed by one with black-and-white rings. During subsequent tests, bees were given a choice between three types of flowers. Two were the types they’d seen in the training before. The third had yellow-and-white rings, representing a mixed-up version of the other two. Minutes after the training, the bees showed a clear preference for the flower that recently rewarded them.
One or three days later, however, something very different happened when the bumblebees’ memory was put to the test. At first, the bees showed the same preference displayed in the earlier tests, but as the time went on, they began selecting the flower with yellow rings, even though they’d never actually seen that one in training before.
Chittka says that insects make similar errors in the conjunction (结合) of long-term memories as humans do. The ability to extract (提取) common features between different events in the environment might come at the expense of remembering every detail correctly. In bees, with their limited brain capacity (容量), the pressure to store main features of several objects rather than each individual object might be much greater, compared with humans.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Human memory can fail sometimes. |
| B．Bumblebees make false memories too. |
| C．Humans are not as clever as bumblebees. |
| D．Bumblebees have extraordinary memory. |
Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined word subsequent?
| A．scientific | B．accurate |
| C．following | D．exceptional |
What does the test mentioned in Paragraph 4 tell us?
| A．Short-term memories serve the bees well. |
| B．The yellow artificial flower appeals to the bees. |
| C．Bumblebees like the flowers with yellow-and-white rings. |
| D．Bees have remarkable abilities to distinguish colors. |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．Chittka thinks that bumblebees failed to remember the color of the flowers |
| B．Researchers have learned that bumblebees are unreliable animals |
| C．There exist no similarities between the memory errors in humans and bees. |
| D．It is less challenging for humans than bees to store main features of several objects. |
Alibaba started taking the lead in China by connecting big Chinese manufacturers(制造商) with big buyers across the world. Its business-to-business site, Alibaba.com allowed business to buy almost everything. Alibabas advantage wasnt hard to judge: size. Alibaba is just big, even by Chinese standards. Its market attracts 231 million active buyers, 8 million sellers, 11.3 billion orders a year — and Alibaba is just the middleman. It encourages people to use its markets — not charging small sellers a percentage of the sale.
If you want a quick look into the influence of Alibaba on daily Chinese life, take my experience. I moved to Beijing a year ago and quickly got tired of visiting small stores across the crowded, polluted city of 20 million people in search of new electronics, bathroom furnishings, and anything else my wife wanted. “You’re looking for what exactly? Why not try it? ” my Chinese teacher asked me one day. With that, my wonderful new relationship with Alibaba began.
Alibaba’s original business-to-business model now is second to consumer buying. Chinese retail(零售) buying makes up 80% of Alibaba’s profit, and leading that group is Taobao, with 800 million items(物品) for sale and the most unbelievable selection of things you’ll ever find. TMall.com is Alibaba’s other big site, where you can find brand name goods from Nike and Unilever near the lowest prices.
What I have a hard time explaining to friends and family back in the U.S. is how China has gone beyond traditional shopping — big-box retailers especially —in favor of online purchases on Taobao and a few other sites. In smaller towns than Beiji
ng, where big retailers have not yet traveled, shopping online is shopping, and shopping is Taobao.
I have a list of some of my recent purchases on Taobao for a sense of how wide the marketplace is. Almost everything arrived a day or two after ordering with free shipping. I’m not even a big buyer, because I need friends to help me search the Chinese-language site. When I was searching my purchase history on my Chinese teacher’s iPad, which helps me buy goods, I looked through with great difficulty about 10 of her purchases for every one of mine. Alibabas advantage mainly lies in .
| A．its low price |
| B．its big size |
| C．its not charging small sellers |
| D．its business-to-business service |
What can we learn from the underlined sentence in the passage?
| A．Alibaba will continue to develop. |
| B．Alibaba stands out as the best online site. |
| C．Alibaba acts as a bridge between the buyers and sellers. |
| D．Alibaba is of middle size among all the online sites. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．TMall.com provides more profit than Taobao. |
| B．The authors Chinese teacher is also an online purchase lover. |
| C．Taobao has no obvious advantage over other similar online sites. |
| D．Alibabas business-to-business service earns more money than retail. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Shopping online in China is TaoBao. |
| B．How the author purchases online in China. |
| C．Shopping online goes beyond traditional shopping. |
| D．Alibaba influences peoples daily purchase in China. |
As a leading Chinese language school and a cultural exchange institute in China, Global Exchange Education Center has been providing Mandarin (or Putonghua) language courses and cultural exchange programs for over a decade.
How to apply for our programs
■In order to apply for all of our programs, you must be
at least 18 years old.
in good health,
a senior high school graduate.
■Application Procedure for Chinese Language Programs
Step 1. Send us a completed application form by email or fax.
Step 2. Send us $ 60 application fee after receiving our email confirmation.
Step 3. Arrange the payment transfer.
Step 4. Plan the trip to Beijing.
■Application Procedure for Chinese Business Internship (实习）Program
Step 1. Send us a completed application form with your CV and personal statement for the program by email or fax.
Step 2. Send us $ 310, including $60 application fee and $ 250 internship placement deposit, after receiving our letter of acceptance for the program.
Step 3. Arrange final payment transfer after receiving our second confirmation.
Step 4. Plan the trip to Beijing.
■Personal Statement for applicants for Chinese Business Internship Program
You should state why you want to take this program and what your expectations of the program are. How you will make use of this program in your future career.
■ APPLICATION DEADLINES
The applications for most programs are reviewed on a rolling basis. You are encouraged to submit your application ahead of the application deadlines.
■Confirmation
Having received your application, Global Exchange Education Center usually sends out an email confirmation for the booking within 2-5 working days.The text is probably written for ______.
| A．junior high graduates | B．international students |
| C．job seekers | D．language trainers |
If you apply for both of the programs, the total application fees will be ______.
| A．$120 | B．$310 | C．$250 | D．$ 370 |
Which of the following is not necessarily included i
n applicants personal statement?
| A．Their purposes of taking the program. |
| B．Their expectations of the program. |
| C．Their future practice of the program. |
| D．Their feedbacks on the program. |