三、阅读（共两节，满分40分）
第一节阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
I was working as a consultant in a beer company, helping the president and senior vice-presidents form and carry out their new planning projects. It was really a great challenge.
At the same time, my mother was in the final stages of cancer.
I worked during the day and drove 40 miles home to be with her every night. It was tiring and stressful, but it was what I wanted to do. My commitment was to continue to do excellent consulting during the day, even though my evenings were very hard. I didn’t want to bother the president with my situation, yet I felt someone at the company needed to know what was going on. So I told the vice-president of Human Resources, asking him not to share the information with anyone.
A few days later, the president called me into his office.
I figured he wanted to talk to me about one of the many issues we were working on. When I entered, he asked me to sit down. He faced me from across his large desk, looked me in the eye and said, “I hear your mother is very ill”.
I was totally caught by surprise and burst into tears. He just looked at me, let my crying subside(平息), and then gently said a sentence I will never forget: Whatever you need.
That was it. His understanding and his willingness both to let me be in my pain and to offer me everything were qualities of sympathy that I carry with me to this day.
1．When the author was working in a beer company, his mother .
A．was concerned about him B．drew the president’s attention
C．was seriously ill D．was proud of her son
2．Although he felt tired and stressed, he felt it his duty .
A．to carry out their new strategic vision
B．to avoid bothering the president
C．to tell the vice-president his difficult situation
D．to do his job well and look after his mother
3．Most probably, the president got the information from .
A．a relative of the author’s B．the vice president
C．the author’s good friends D．the author’s colleagues
4．Which of the following can be used to best describe the president?
A．Considerate. B．Intelligent. C．Honest. D．Consultative.
5．Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
A．Understanding Is Everywhere B．Generous President
C．Sympathy Is Needed D．An Unforgettable Memory
Life is difficult.
But life is no longer difficult once we truly understand and accept it.
Most do not fully see this truth. Instead they complain about their problems and difficulties as if life should be easy. It seems to them that their difficulties represent a special kind of suffering especially forced upon them or else upon their families, their class, or even their nation.
What makes life difficult is that the process of facing and solving problems is painful. Problems, depending on their nature, cause us sadness or loneliness or regret or anger or fear. These are uncomfortable feelings, often as any kind of physical pain. And since life causes an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and is full of pain as well as joy.
Yet, it is in this whole of solving problems that life has its meaning.
Problems are the serious test that tells success from failure. When we desire to encourage the growth of the human spirit we encourage the human ability to solve problems just as in school we set problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of meeting and working out problems that we learn. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Those things that hurts, instruct.” It is for this reason that wise people learn not to fear but to welcome the pain of problems.From the passage, it can be inferred that ______.
| A．not everybody has problems |
| B．we become stronger by facing and solving the problems in life |
| C．life is difficult because our problems bring us pain |
| D．people like to complain about their problems |
The writer uses just one short sentence in the first paragraph probably to ______.
| A．save space | B．persuade readers |
| C．make readers laugh | D．get readers’ attention |
According to the passage, we give school children difficult problems to solve in order to ______.
| A．encourage them to learn |
| B．make them suffer |
| C．help them learn to deal with pain |
| D．help them understand life is difficult |
“Those things that hurt, instruct.” From Benjamin Franklin suggests that ______.
| A．we do not learn from experience |
| B．we do not learn when we are in pain |
| C．pain teaches us important lessons |
| D．pain cannot be forgotten |
A good modern newspaper is an extraordinary piece of reading. It is remarkable first for what it contains: the range of news from local crime to international politics, from sport to business to fashion to science, and the range of comment and special features as well, from editorial page to feature articles and interviews to criticism of books, art, theatre and music.
A newspaper is even more remarkable for the way one reads it: never completely, never straight through, but always by jumping from here to there, in and out glancing at one piece, reading another article all the way through, reading just a few paragraghs of the next. A good modern newspaper offers a variety to attract many different readers, but far from one reader is interested in what brings this variety together in. One place is its topicality(时事性), its immediate relation to what is happening in your world and your locality now. But immediacy and the speed of production that goes with it mean also that much of what appears in a newspaper has no more than transient(短暂的) value. For all these reasons, no two people really read the same paper: what each person does is to put together out of the pages of that day’s paper, his own selection and sequence, his own newspaper. For all these reasons, reading newspapers efficiently, which means getting what you want from them without missing things you need but without wasting time, demands skill and self-awareness as you modify and apply the techniques of reading.A modern newspaper is remarkable for all the following EXCEPT its ______.
| A．wide coverage | B．uniform style |
| C．speed in reporting news | D．popularity |
According to the passage, the reason why no two people really read the same newspaper is that ______.
| A．people scan for the news they are interested in |
| B．different people prefer different newspapers |
| C．people are not interested in the same kind of news |
| D．people have different views about what a good newspaper is |
It can be concluded from the passage that newspaper readers ______.
| A．apply reading techniques skillfully |
| B．jump from one newspaper to another |
| C．appreciate the variety of a newspaper |
| D．usually read a newspaper selectively |
A good newspaper offers “a variety” to readers because ______.
| A．it tries to serve different readers |
| B．it has to cover things that happen in a certain locality |
| C．readers are difficult to please |
| D．readers like read different newspapers |
Rain, who was born on June 2, 1982 in Seoul, South Korea, is a popular singer with a very deep and rich voice. Jung Ji Hoon is his real name, known as the “Michael Jackson of Korea” for his amazing dancing skills. Rain is very modest and friendly, even a little shy.
He released his first album Bad Guy in 2002, which caused a sensation. It took him to all the major award ceremonies, and many of them honored him with Best New Award. His following album How to Run from the Sun was successful, and his third album It’s Raining topped the charts for weeks.
Rain is not only a singer but also an actor, who has given impressive performances in two TV series, Sang Doo! Let’s go to school（《尚道，上学去》）in 2003 and Full House（《浪漫满屋》）in 2004. Rain’s leading role in Full House made him win Best Actor Award at the KBS Acting Awards and also deeply touched the hearts of many Asian female fans. At the same time it made him become one of the most popular Korean actors in Asia.
Now Rain is very popular in China. It’s Raining has already sold more than 100,000 copies in China. Rain received the “Korean Artist of the Year” award at the MTV -- CCTV Mandarin Music Honors held on July 24, 2005 at the Workers Stadium in Beijing, China. His recent Beijing concert caused a great hit, creating “Korean Fever” in China.The reason why Jung Ji Hoon is called “Michael Jackson of Korea” is that ______.
| A．he is a popular singer with a rich voice |
| B．his dancing skills are amazing |
| C．he is very modest and friendly |
| D．he shares the same name with Michael Jackson |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Michael Jackson of Korea --Rain |
| B．Jung Ji Hoon’s First Album – Bad Guy |
| C．Rain, a Singer and a Painter |
| D．Korea Fever in China |
Which of the following is True about Rain?
| A．His album “How to Run from the Sun” was so successful that it topped the charts for weeks. |
| B．Rain’s leading role in “Sang Doo! Let’s go to school” made him win Best Actor Award at the KBS Acting Awards. |
| C．Rain won the “Korean Artist of the Year” award because of his music career. |
| D．Rain has suffered a fever since his recent Beijing concert caused a great hit. |
Which of the following is the passage most likely from?
| A．Textbooks for senior school students. |
| B．Entertainment newspapers. |
| C．Textbooks for music students. |
| D．A book written for Michael Jackson. |
A man in a very splendid restaurant started to take off his jacket. Seeing this, the head waiter dashed to his table and said, “ I’m afraid I must ask you to keep your jacket on, sir, for it is not good manners to do it in such a smart restaurant.”
“Now listen,” said the man, “I’ll let you know that the Queen of England gave me permission to remove my jacket here.” “The Queen of England?” said the waiter in great surprise. “Sure,” replied the man, “ When I was in England last month, a friend of mine who had a very important position in high society took me to see the Queen. It was rather hot, so I started taking my coat off. The Queen looked over and said, “You may do that in the United States, but you may not do it here. ” So I got the Queen’s permission, right?When the head waiter asked the man not to take off his jacket, the man ______.
| A．took his advice immediately |
| B．obeyed him without any hesitation |
| C．apologized for his bad manners |
| D．refused to listen to him |
What the Queen really meant was that ______.
| A．people in the U.S. were stupid and less polite |
| B．she permitted him to take off his jacket in America |
| C．the English and the Americans enjoyed different ways of life |
| D．he shouldn’t take off his coat in such a formal occasion in England |
It is certain that the story happened ______.
| A．in England | B．in the Queen’s party |
| C．in America | D．in an ordinary restaurant |
Many smokers aren't finding the cost of cigarettes a laughing matter. The federal tax(联邦税) on a pack jumped Wednesday -- April Fools' Day -- from 39 cents to $1.01. The tax increase is so big, it's being called "historic."Higher federal taxes apply to(适用于) other tobacco products, so even those smokers who have taken to rolling their own to save money can't escape them. The tax is expected to cause about 1 million smokers to quit.
New York leads the pack, so to speak, with a combined $3.76. Any smokers planning to visit New York City should bring cigarettes from home. A pack there now costs more than $9.
Some tobacco companies raised their prices several weeks ago. For example, the price of a pack of Marlboros jumped 71 cents. Where the price settles depends on the company. Some may absorb part of the tax and others will make smokers carry the entire weight and more.
However, some people think the tax unfair. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only one in five Americans smokes, and over half of all smokers are low income, and one of four is officially classified as poor.
What do you think? Is the tax unfair? We think cancer sticks should have been taxed into disappearance years ago, combined with a very strong public and private effort to help smokers quit.Which of the following statements is wrong according to the passage?
| A．Cigarettes as well as other tobacco products are affected by the tax increase. |
| B．More and more smokers have to stop smoking as a result of tax increase on tobacco. |
| C．Cigarettes in New York must be very expensive. |
| D．smokers will carry all the tax increase on tobacco. |
The author’s attitude toward the tax increase is ________.
| A．showing agreement with the tax |
| B．showing disagreement with the tax |
| C．could not be seen |
| D．keeping his own ideas |
Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
| A．The Federal Tax |
| B．New Cigarette Tax Is No April Fools’ joke |
| C．Stop Smoking Immediately! |
| D．Unfair Tax on Tobacco |