Before a new type of airplane goes into service, every part of it is tested again and again. But there are two tests that are more important than all the others.
The first is called the “tank test”. A modern airplane must fly very high in the sky. Air must be pumped into the plane so that the passengers can breathe. The metal structure (结构) of the plane has to be very strong for this reason. When the plane is filled with air, the air presses against the skin of the plane inside. The pressure (压力) on a small window is like a huge foot that is trying to get out. If a small part of the plane were to fail, the plane would explode in the sky. To test the structure of the plane, the plane is lowered into a huge tank or container of water. Then it is filled with air. The pressure inside the plane is greater than it ever will be when it is high up in the air. Finally, there is an explosion. This does not cause so much damage inside the water tank as it would anywhere else. Engineers can discover which part of the plane has broken. Then that part is made stronger,
The most dangerous test happens when the new plane is going through test flights in the air. The test pilot must find out exactly what happens when the engines (发动机) are all shut off at once. The plane begins to fall like a stone. It is the pilot’s job to find out how he can get control of the plane again. These two tests are examples of how planes are made safe before they ever carry passengers.
68. By doing the “tank test”, the engineers can find out ________.
A. the power of the airplane engines B. the amount of air in the plane
C. the strength of the plane structure D. the pressure inside and outside the plane
69. What will happen to the plane under the “tank test”?
A. It will be tested by pilots. B. It will be broken.
C. It will be made stronger. D. It will be filled with water.
70. According to the text. why are test flights most dangerous?
A. Too much air may get into the plane. B. The plane may explode in the air.
C. The pilot may lose control of the plane. D. The engines may be damaged.
71. What might be the most suitable title for the text?
A. How Airplanes Are Made and Tested B. Two Important Tests on Airplanes
C. The Importance of Flying Safely D. The Danger of Testing Airplanes
Do you want to live with a strong sense of peacefulness, happiness, goodness, and self- respect? The collection of happiness actions broadly categorized(归类) as "honor" help you create this life of good feelings.
Here's an example to show how honorable actions create happiness.
Say a store clerk fails to charge us for an item. If we keep silent, and benefit from the clerk's mistake, we would drive home with a sense of sneaky(鬼祟的) excitement. Later we might tell our family or friends about our good fortune. On the other hand, if we tell the clerk about the uncharged item, the clerk would be grateful and thank us for our honesty. We would leave the store with a quiet sense of honor that we might never share with another soul.
Then, what is it to do with our sense of happiness?
In the first case, where we don't tell the clerk, a couple of things would happen. Deep down inside we would know ourselves as a type of thief. In the process, we would lose some peace of mind and self-respect. We would also show that we cannot be trusted, since we advertise our dishonor by telling our family and friends. We damage our own reputations by telling others. In contrast, bringing the error to the clerk's attention causes different things to happen. Immediately the clerk knows us to be honorable. Upon leaving the store, we feel honorable and our self-respect is increased．Whenever we take honorable action we gain the deep internal rewards of goodness and a sense of nobility.
There is a beautiful positive cycle that is created by living a life of honorable actions. Honorable thoughts lead to honorable actions. Honorable actions lead us to a happier existence. And it's easy to think and act honorably again when we're happy. While the positive cycle can be difficult to start, once it's started, it's easy to continue. Keeping on doing good deeds brings us peace of mind, which is important for our happiness.
1．The author thinks that keeping silent about the uncharged item is equal to___.
A．lying
B．stealing
C．cheating
D．advertising
2．The phrase "bringing the error to the clerk's attention" （in para． 5） means___.
A．telling the truth to the clerk
B．offering advice to the clerk
C．asking the clerk to be more attentive
D．reminding the clerk of the charged item
3．How will we feel if we let the clerk know her mistake?
A．We'll be very excited.
B．We'll feel unfortunate.
C．We'll have a sense of honor.
D．We'll feel sorry for the clerk.
4 .Which of the following can be the best title of this passage.
A．How to Live Truthfully
B．Importance of Peacefulness
C．Ways of Gaining Self-respect
D．Happiness through Honorable Actions
Recently I gave my adult students homework. It was “go to someone you love and tell them you love them.” It has to be someone you have never said those words to before or at least haven’t shared those words with for a long time.
It sounds like very tough homework since most of the men were over 35 and were raised in the generation of men that were taught expressing emotions is not “macho(阳刚之气).” Showing feelings or crying was just not done. So this was very threatening homework for some.
At the beginning of our next class, I asked if someone wanted to share what happened when they told someone they loved them. I fully expected one of the women to volunteer, as was usually the case, but on this evening one of the men raised his hand, quite moved and a bit shaken.
As he unfolded out of his chair (all 1.85 meters of him), he began by saying, “Dennis, I was quite angry with you last week when you gave us this homework. Why did you ask us to do something personal?”
“But as I began driving home my conscience(良心)started telling me that I knew exactly who I needed to say ‘I love you’ to.”
“Five years ago, my father and I had a severe disagreement and really never settled it since then. We avoided seeing each other unless we absolutely had to at Christmas or other family gatherings. But even then, we hardly spoke to each other.”
“So last Tuesday by the time I got home I had convinced myself I was going to tell my father I loved him. It’s strange, but just making that decision seemed to lift a heavy load off my chest.”
1The homework is threatening for some students because _________.
A. they are middle-aged people B. they are not macho enough
C. they were taught to hide their emotions D. they didn’t know how to show feelings
2From the passage we know that _________ .
A. the adult students have classes in the day time only
B. not all the adult students in the writer’s class are male
C. the man refused to meet his father after their quarrel
D. the man quickly decided to say “I love you” to his father
3The underlined phrase “unfolded out of his chair” in Para 4 is closest in meaning to______.
A. stood on his chair straight B. sat quietly in the chair
C. bent himself over his chair D. raised himself slowly from the chair
4What does the man imply by saying the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?
A. He felt it too strange to say “I love you” to his father.
B. He felt relaxed just thinking of saying “I love you” to his father.
C. He felt very relaxed after saying “I love you” to his father.
D. He had to lift a heavy load off his chest before saying “I love you”.
四．阅读理解（每题2分，共40分）
An old woman went suddenly blind. She promised a doctor a lot of money if he could make her see again. “If you fail”, she said , “ you will get nothing,” The doctor agreed with her.
The doctor soon discovered what was wrong with her, but he decided not to cure her right away. Instead, each time he visited, he secretly took some of her things. When he had taken everything that he wanted, he cured her blindness and sent her a large bill. Now when the old woman could see again she noticed that all her things had gone and she refused to pay the bill. So the doctor took her before a judge.
“What the doctor says is true.” she said to the judge. “But I say I’m not cured, because I still can’t see any of the things in my house.”
The old woman won her case and the doctor went away unhappily without getting his pay.
1. The doctor didn’t cure the old woman right away because __________.
A. He didn’t know how to cure her B. He wanted to get a lot of money
C. He wanted to take the woman’s things D The woman refused to pay him
2. The woman was _______ .
A. clever B. greedy C. cruel D. dishonest
3. The doctor was ________.
A. honest B. a cheat C. a kind man D. ready to help others
4. Which sentence is right according to the passage?
A. The judge didn’t believe the old woman
B. The doctor cured the woman’s blindness in a short time.
C. The woman got back all her things taken by the doctor.
D. The doctor failed to get his pay.
Many people think the search for cleaner energy leads only to renewable resources like sun, wind and water. But it also leads to a fossil fuel. Natural gas is considered the cleanest of the fossil fuels, the fuel created by plant and animal remains over millions of years. Burning it releases fewer pollutants than oil or coal. The gas is mainly methane (甲烷). It produces half the carbon dioxide of other fossil fuels. So it may help cut the production of carbon gases linked to climate change.
Russia is first in what are called "proved reserves" of natural gas. The United States is sixth. Over the years, big oil and gas companies recovered much of the easily reached supplies of gas in America. They drilled straight down into formations where gas collects. As these supplies were used up, big drillers looked for similar formations in other countries.
But now the industry is taking a new look. Companies are developing gas supplies trapped in shale (页岩) rock two to three thousand meters underground. They drill down to the shale, then go sideways and inject high-pressure water, sand or other material into the rock. This causes the rock to fracture, releasing the gas. Huge fields of gas shale are believed to lie under the Appalachian Mountains, Michigan and the south-central states. Gas shale exploration is being done mainly by small to medium sized companies. Eric Potter, a program director, says more than half the gas in the United States is now coming from these new reserves.
But hydraulic (液压的) fracturing can also produce debate and anger over the risk of groundwater pollution. This method of drilling is not federally supervised under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Some in Congress want to end that exemption (豁免) from the law.
Natural gas provides Americans with about one fourth of their energy. And, unlike oil, most of it is produced in America. Gas producers invested heavily in reaching new supplies when prices were high. But prices are down sharply now because the depression cut demand for energy. So energy expert Eric Potter says it is too early to know how the changing market prices will affect the market for gas shale exploration.
1. We can learn from the first paragraph that ________.
A. natural gas releases methane and carbon dioxide
B. natural gas is considered as the cleanest energy
C. natural gas is more environmentally friendly than other fossil fuels
D. natural gas is a renewable source of energy
2. The word “fracture” in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.
A. create B. break C. change D. decrease
3. Gas shale exploration may cause disagreement because ________.
A. it may cause water pollution B. it brings too high profits
C. it breaks the law D. it is out of states’ control
4. According to Eric Potter, the new gas shale exploration ________.
A. will provide America with about one fourth of their energy
B. will increase demand for energy
C. will make gas producers invest a big sum of money
D. may be influenced by the changing market prices
As I was reading a recent story in Slate on 20-somethings complaining about how the economy was ruining their life plans, I couldn’t help but think the 20-somethings sounded like a bunch of spoiled children who grew up expecting everything to be easy for them. As a 20-something myself, I certainly share their disappointment: my husband and I probably won’t be able to buy a house until we’re in our 40s, and we too are burdened by student loans(贷款). But why should it be any different? Being young persons in America, shouldn’t they take up all of the challenges and opportunities that this country offers?
Consider some of these views shared in the Slate story: Jennifer, 29, owner of a two-bedroom apartment with her husband, worries that she won’t be able to have children for at least a decade because they can’t afford to buy a house yet.
I read that, and I thought, what planet is she living on where you need to own a house in order to have kids? Has she ever visited a developing country, or even downtown areas in this one? Home ownership is a luxury(奢华), not a fertility requirement.
A 26-year-old in the story despairs(绝望) that he can’t afford to get a Ph.D. in literature. Well, that sounds a bit like expressing disappointment that no one will pay you to write poetry on the beach in Thailand for five years.
Yes, it’s sad that these young people feel so lost. But I think the problem is their extremely high expectations, not economic reality. Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties, says that she thinks people’s expectations are slowly adjusting, but today’s 20-somethings grew up at a time when everyone’s wealth appeared to be expanding. Their parents probably saw their home values rise along with their investments. “So you have people who have grown up in an environment where people had great expectations of what living well means,” says Kobliner.
This recession(衰退) will certainly play a role in forcing those expectations into more realistic group. In the meantime, it seems a lot better for our mental health to focus on being grateful－for our one-bedroom apartments, for living in modern cities, or perhaps just for being able to eat three meals a day－than on longing for some kind of luxury life.
1. What makes the author think the 20-somethings sound like a bunch of spoiled children?
A. They expect everything to be easy for them.
B. They complain that the economy is spoiling their life plans.
C. They are reluctant to face all of the challenges.
D. They are burdened by student loans.
2. The underlined word “fertility” in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.
A. baby production B. pleasant C. baby comfort D. essential
3. What’s the author’s attitude towards the 20-somthings with high expectation in Paragraph 5?
A. Intolerant. B. Negative. C. Unbelieving. D. Understanding.
4. What is the best title for this passage?
A. How Young People Afford to Continue Their Study
B. Why Young People Can’t Afford to Buy a House
C. When Young People’s High Hopes Create Despair
D. What the 20-somethings’ High Expectations Are