As an effect of the high fuel prices spent on bus transportation, some American schools are changing to a four-day week. That means longer days instead of the traditional Monday through Friday schedule.
Having been approved for three years and beginning in the fall, students in the Maccray school district in Minnesota will be in school from Tuesday to Friday. Each school day will be 65 minutes longer. Officials say the district expects to save about sixty-five thousand dollars a year in transportation costs.
In new Mexico, the first school district changed to a four-day week in 1974 because of the Arab oil boycott(抵制). Now, 17 out of 89 districts use it.
In Custer, South Dakota, students have been going to school four days a week since 1995. Superintendent(主管人)Tim Creal says the change has saved about one million dollars over just the past eight years. He sees other benefits, too. Students get more instructional time, and activities that used to take up class time are now held on non-school days. He says that in the future, the growth of online classes could make it possible to require even fewer days in school. High fuel prices are driving college students to take more online classes.
A four-day school week sounds like a great idea for students and teachers, but working parents may have to pay for child care for that fifth day.
1. According to Tim Creal, what makes it possible to have even fewer days in school?
A. The increasing number of private tutors.
B. The development of teaching methods.
C. The increase in the number of online classes.
D. The growth in the income of Americans.
2. It can be learned from the passage that______
A. students will be in school from Monday to Tuesday.
B. four-day week was first carried out in South Dakota.
C. Maccray will save one million dollars every year.
D. Minnesota state has approved the four-day week plan.
3. The passage is mainly about______
A. some school’s four-day week plan B. districts using a four-day week.
C. how to save on transportation fees. D. expense of school transportation.
Good news for game lovers― a tank game has come out recently. In this game you are in a tank and the screen shows your view of the landscape outside. You gain points by shooting enemy tanks, supertanks, missiles (导弹) and flying saucers（飞碟）.
Expert players can gain scores of around 150,000 points at this game. To get a high score you have to destroy twenty tanks as quickly as possible. After this, the supertanks, missiles and flying saucers appear. These are worth far more points than the ordinary tanks. However, the number of tanks you have to destroy before the supertanks appear varies on different machines.
Try to get close to an enemy tank from the side or the back, so it cannot shoot at you. Then, when you get close, turn to face it, line it up in your sights and fire before it turns to shoot at you. If you miss or are too slow, quickly escape by moving out of the enemy's line of fire. You can then move around the enemy and come in from another side.
When a supertank appears, try to destroy it as quickly as possible. Then wait safely behind an obstacle（障碍物）for a missile or flying saucer. The cubes are useful objects to hide behind as you can fire over them without exposing yourself to danger. The missiles will fly straight at you, but they are difficult to hit, so do not shoot at them until they are quite close. The saucers are much easier to hit, but do not follow them as you will be open to attack from enemy tanks.
60. This passage is an / a ______ about a game.
A. instruction B. liberation C. tradition D. construction
61. If you hide behind the cubes during an attack, which of the following may not happen?
A. Avoiding being exposed to danger B. Destroying a missile
C. Firing over missiles or flying saucers D. Being hit by a missile
62. If you can destroy a supertank, missile or flying saucer, you will get_____.
A. many more points B. a machine to play with
C. an ordinary tank D. nothing
63. From the last sentence we can see that you are likely to be attacked by tanks if you_____.
A. hit a flying saucer B. run after a flying saucer
C. fire straight at a missile D. shoot at enemy tanks
第二部分：阅读理解（共20题，每小题3分，满分60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，并在机读卡上将该项涂黑。
The part of the earth’s history known as the coal age began more than 250 million years ago and lasted millions of years. During that time, in the area that is now the United States, coal beds formed from Texas to the north Atlantic coast.
At that time thick forests swamps（沼泽） covered much of the earth’s surface. Great trees died and fell into the swamps. Then they rotted （腐烂）and new trees and plants grew on top of them. The process repeated itself for thousands of years. The rotted plants turned into a substance called peat（泥炭）, which is still forming today in many swamps.
Meanwhile the land surface was changing. Movement in the earth’s crust (地壳) pushed up hills in some places, while elsewhere land sank. Swift rivers ran from the hills; heavy rains fell and the rivers overflowed, leaving muddy sand in the sunken wooded places and swamps. Oceans, too, poured in over the low-lying land, carrying sand that covered the peaty areas.
The pressure of water and sand pressed the oxygen and hydrogen out of the peat, leaving carbon. Under constant pressure, the rotted material, containing a high percentage of carbon, formed gradually into coal.
56. This main idea of the passage is about the ______.
A. coal beds in the U.S. B. earth’s history C. formation of coal D. swamp age
57. When plants died, they _____.
A. grew up again B. fell into the water and rotted
C. fell into coal beds D. turned immediately to coal
58. Hills were formed as a result of _____.
A. movements of the earth’s crust B. the remaining from swamps
C. the remaining from swift rivers D. ocean currents
59. What is implied but not stated in the passage?
A. Peat is still forming today.
B. The formation of coal requires high pressure.
C. The land surface changed during the coal age.
D. The formation of coal was very rapid.
The story of printing is a long and complex one. Before the invention of printing, the spread of knowledge depended either on word of mouth or handwriting. Both took time and errors happened easily. 2000 years ago in the Western Han Dynasty, stone-tablet rubbing(拓印) was common for spreading Confucianism or Buddhism. This led in the Sui Dynasty (581-618) to the use of carving writing or pictures on a wooden board, which became known as block printing(木版印刷).
The first book with an exact date of printing appeared in China in 868. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), this technology was gradually introduced to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Block printing reached its golden age during the Song dynasty (960-1279) as the government encouraged the publication of large numbers of books. Yet block printing had its drawbacks. All the boards became useless after the printing was done and a single mistake in carving could ruin a whole block. In the Song Dynasty, a man named Bi Sheng carved individual characters on pieces of fine clay(粘土). Then he hardened the clay by a slow baking process, resulting in pieces of movable type.
Movable type printing has a very important position in the history of printing, for all later printing methods such as wooden type, copper type and lead type printing all developed on the basis of movable clay types. During the 13-14th centuries, This technology spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Europe. Later, German Johann Gutenberg invented movable type made of metal in the 15th century.
48. The main idea of this passage is about ____.
A. the advantages of China’s printing
B. the history of movable type writing
C. the development of China’s printing
D. the spread of China’s printing
49. The underlined word in the third paragraph probably means____.
A. features B. benefits C. disadvantages D. styles
50. According to the passage, which of the following is right in order of time?
① lead type printing ② copper type printing ③movable clay type printing ④ wooden type printing ⑤block printing ⑥ stone-tablet rubbing
A. ①⑥③④B. ⑥⑤③④ C. ④⑥③① D. ⑥④②⑤
The use of the mobile Internet in Britain grew eight times as fast as the growth of the PC Internet, according to the latest study from research firm Nielsen Online. Of course, the actual number of Britons surfing the PC Internet is much higher. A recent report found that from April to September in 2008, the number of Britons using the mobile Internet increased by 25 percent, from 5.8 million to 7.3 million. However, the number of Britons surfing the PC Internet is 35.5 million, up only 3 percent. As expected, the report found that the mobile online audiences are younger than the PC-based users, with 25 percent of mobile Internet users aged 15-24 years old, compared to 16 percent for PC-based users. Also as expected, there are more people aged over 55 surfing the PC Internet (23 percent) than those on the mobile Internet (12 percent). This last figure —12 percent of those aged over 55 surfing the mobile Internet, however, surprised me because I had expected to be lower. Mobile audiences are interested in sites that can provide immediate information, or immediate access like BBC News, Google Search, Sky Sports, BBC Weather and G-mail. BBC News is visited by nearly one in four British mobile Internet users, or 1.7 million people. Three of the most popular sites, BBC Weather, Sky Sports and G-mail, actually have a greater reach on the mobile Internet than they do on the PC Internet. BBC Weather gets 21 percent of all mobile users with 17 percent on the PC-based Internet.
44. According to the first paragraph, the majority of Britons are_______.
A. surfing the mobile Internet
B. surfing the PC Internet
C. taking part in the research
D. studying on the mobile Internet
45. The underlined words "PC-based users" in the second paragraph refer to "people ________".
A. using personal computers
B. surfing the mobile Internet
C. repairing personal computers
D. making personal computers
46. According the report, which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Some people who are over 55 like to surf the PC Internet.
B. BBC News is very popular with the mobile audience.
C. BBC Weather gets more mobile users than PC-based users.
D. Only young people like to use the mobile Internet.
47. Which of the following is the best title of this passage?
A. Most Popular Web Sites In Britain
B. Fast Growth Of Mobile Internet In Britain
C. Young People Prefer the Mobile Internet
D. Old People Also Like the Mobile Internet
In Miami, thousands of students have been out of class for some days because of Hurricane Wilma. Educational officials are worried about the long break will affect students’ school performance.
“We think that the sooner we get back to business, the better,” said Rudy Crew, headmaster of Miami-Dade School. 360, 000 students in this area will return to class on Thursday, 10 days after Wilma hit South Florida.
More than half the district’s 327 school buildings were seriously damaged when Wilma struck on October 24, and 270 buildings lost electrical power. About 30 buildings are still out of power, but lights may be back on Thursday when students return. In Broward County, schools will remain closed through Friday, because more than 100 buildings have been damaged after the storm. With traffic affected by broken stoplights, officials are worried about the safety of children traveling to and from school.
In Miami-Dade County, the nation’s fourth largest school district, officials are considering ways to make up for lost time. They may make the school year longer and reduce days from two-week holiday break in late December, said spokesman John Schuster.
Some parents also worry about the effect of lost school days. “They’re missing important tests and lessons that they are going to need. And how do you catch up with that lost time? It just disappears,” a high school student’s mother said.
“Although things are difficult, students’ performance in hurricane-damaged district may not be seriously affected by the hurricane”, said Florida Education Commissioner John Winn. “It turned out that hurricane-affected districts showed more learning gains than other districts in previous years. They have learned how to fight against disaster in any time. Things will turn better anyway.”
40. When will students return to school in the district?
A. October 24. B. October 31.
C. November 3. D. November 7.
41. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Many school buildings were seriously damaged.
B. Many school buildings lost electrical power.
C. Some parents also worry about their kids’ studies.
D. Some students got killed when they were at school.
42. According to the passage, we know that _____.
A. maybe students will not have the two-week holiday in late December as usual
B. the school buildings which lost electrical power have all returned to normal
C. some parents don’t think the hurricane affect their children’s performance much
D. John Winn thought that students’ performance would get worse due to the hurricane
43. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A. Hurricane Wilma hit South Florida
B. Parents worry about children’ education
C. Hurricane Wilma affected school days
D. Damage by the Hurricane Wilma