第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. On arriving at the beach cottage, I kissed Evelyn meeting me at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, sh e said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “ I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”
It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.
“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”
1. From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ______.
A. with his family B. with Evelyn C. alone D. with his children
2. During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.
A. he was determined to be a good husband
B. he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm
C. she looked lovely in her new clothes
D. the doctor said his wife was seriously ill
3. The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?
A. He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.
B. She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.
C. He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.
D. He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying.
4. By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that ______.
A. he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life
B. he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband
C. he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change
D. he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before
A little old couple walked slowly into McDonald’s one cold winter evening. They looked out of place among the young families and young couples eating there that night.
Some of the customers looked admiringly at them. You could tell what the admirers were thinking. “ Look, there is a couple who has been through a lot together, probably for 60 years or more !”
After paying for the meal, the couple took a table near the back wall and started taking food off the tray. There was one hamburger, one order of French fries and one drink. The little old man carefully cut the hamburger in half. He placed one half in front of his wife. Then he carefully counted out the French fries, divided them in two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife. He took a sip of the drink, his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them.
As the man began to eat his few bites of hamburger the crowd began to get restless. Again you could tell what they were thinking, “ That poor old couple. All they can afford is one meal for the two Of them.”
As the man began to eat his French fries one young man stood and came over to the old couple’s table. He politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple to eat. The old man replied that they were just fine. They were used to sharing everything.
Then the crowd noticed that the little old lady hadn’t eaten a bite. She just sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink.
Again the young man came over and begged them to let him buy them something to eat. This time the lady explained that, no, they were used to sharing everything together.
As the little old man finished eating and was wiping his face neatly the young man could stand it no longer. Again he came over to their table and offered to buy some food.
After being politely refused again, he finally asked a question of the little old lady. “ Ma’am, why aren’t you eating? You said that you shared everything. What is it that you are waiting for?” She answered, “The teeth”.Why did some of the customers look at them with admiration when the old couple entered the McDonald’s?
| A．Because old people were rarely seen eating at McDonald’s. |
| B．Because the couple ate out at McDonald’s though they were poor. |
| C．Because the couple had been married for so many years. |
| D．Because the couple liked to eat at McDonald’s at such an old age. |
The underlined phrase “out of place” is closest in meaning to .
| A．in the wrong direction | B．not suitable | C．everywhere | D．very untidy |
What did the old lady mean at the end of the passage?
| A．She was growing new teeth. |
| B．She was waiting for her husband to finish using the false teeth. |
| C．She was waiting for someone to fetch her false teeth from home. |
| D．She was suffering from toothache. |
Which word can best describe the young man in the story?
| A．impatient | B．rude | C．impolite | D．Warm-hearted |
Next time a customer comes to your office, offer him a cup of coffee. And when you're doing your holiday shopping online, make sure you're holding a large glass of iced tea. The physical sensation(感觉) of warmth encourages emotional warmth, while a cold drink in hand prevents you from making unwise decisions-those are the practical lesson being drawn from recent research by psychologist John A. Bargh.
Psychologists have known that one person's perception(感知) of another's "warmth" is a powerful determiner in social relationships. Judging someone to be either "warm" or "cold" is a primary consideration, even trumping evidence that a "cold" person may be more capable. Much of this is rooted in very early childhood experiences, Bargh argues, when babies' conceptual sense of the world around them is shaped by physical sensations, particularly warmth and coldness. Classic studies by Harry Harlow, published in 1958, showed monkeys preferred to stay close to a cloth "mother" rather than one made of wire, even when the wire "mother" carried a food bottle. Harlow's work and later studies have led psychologists to stress the need for warm physical contact from caregivers to help young children grow into healthy adults with normal social skills.
Feelings of "warmth" and "coldness" in social judgments appear to be universal. Although no worldwide study has been done, Bargh says that describing people as "warm" or "cold" is common to many cultures, and studies have found those perceptions influence judgment in dozens of countries.
To test the relationship between physical and psychological warmth, Bargh conducted an experiment which involved 41 college students. A research assistant who was unaware of the study's hypotheses(假设), handed the students either a hot cup of coffee, or a cold drink, to hold while the researcher filled out a short information form: The drink was then handed back. After that, the students were asked to rate the personality of "Person A" based on a particular description. Those who had briefly held the warm drink regarded Person A as warmer than those who had held the iced drink.
"We are grounded in our physical experiences even when we think abstractly," says Bargh.
| 1． |
According to Paragraph 1, a person's emotion may be affected by.
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| 2． |
The author mentions Harlow's experiment to show that.
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| 3． |
In Bargh's experiment, the students were asked to.
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| 4． |
We can infer from the passage that.
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| 5． |
What would be the best title for the passage?
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Tens of thousands of theatre tickets will be given away to young people next year as part of a government campaign to inspire a lifelong love for theatre.
The plan to offer free seats to people aged between 18 to 26—funded with £2.5 million of taxpayers’ money—was announced yesterday by Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary. It received a cautious welcome from some in the arts world, who expressed concern that the tickets may not reach the most underprivileged.
The plan comes as West End theatres are enjoying record audiences, thanks largely to musicals teaming up with television talent shows. Attendances reached. 13.6 million in 2007, up 10 percent on 2006, itself a record year. Total sales were up 18 percent on 2006 to almost £470 million.
One theatre source criticised the Government’s priorities(优先考虑的事) in funding free tickets when pensioners were struggling to buy food and fuel, saying: “I don’t know why the Government’s wasting money on this. The Yong Vic, as The Times reported today, offers excellent performances at cheap prices.”
There was praise for the Government’s plan from Dominic Cooke of the Royal Court Theatre, who said: “I support any move to get young people into theatre, and especially one that aims to do it all over England, not just in London.”
Ninety-five publicly funded theatres could apply for funding under the two-year plan. In return, they will offer free tickets on at least one day each week to 18 to 26-year-olds, first-come, first-served. It is likely to be on Mondays, traditionally a quiet night for the theatre.
Mr. Burnham said: “A young person attending the theatre can find it an exciting experience, and be inspired to explore a new world. But sometimes people miss out on it because they fear it’s ‘not for them’. It’s time to change this perception.”
Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: “The real issue is not getting enthusiastic children into the theatre, but improving arts education so that more young people want to go in the first place. For too many children theatres are a no-go area.”Critics of the plan argued that ______.
| A．the theatres would be overcrowded |
| B．it would be a waste of money |
| C．pensioners wouldn’t get free tickets |
| D．the government wouldn’t be able to afford it |
According to the supporters, the plan should ______.
| A．benefit the television industry |
| B．focus on producing better plays |
| C．help increase the sales of tickets |
| D．involve all the young people in England |
Which of the following is TRUE about the plan?
| A．Ninety-five theatres have received funding. |
| B．Everyone will get at least one free ticket. |
| C．It may not benefit all the young people. |
| D．Free tickets are offered once every day. |
We can infer from the passage that in England ______.
| A．many plays are not for young people |
| B．many young people don’t like theatre |
| C．people know little about the plan |
| D．children used to receive good arts education |
According to the passage, the issue to offer free tickets to young people seems ______.
| A．controversial | B．inspiring | C．exciting | D．unreasonable |
I am a writer. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language-the way it can evoke(唤起) an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all-all the Englishes I grew up with.
Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as "broken" English. But feel embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than "broken", as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness. I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions(认识)of the limited English speaker.
I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother's "limited" English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is ,because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won't get into today, I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as "broken", and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal(内在的) language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.
| 1． |
By saying "Language is the tool of my trade", the author means that.
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| 2． |
The author used to think of her mother's English as.
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| 3． |
Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 3?
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| 4． |
The author gradually realizes her mother's English is.
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| 5． |
What is the passage mainly about?
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Societies all over the world name places in similar ways. Quite often there is no official naming ceremony but places tend to be called names as points of reference by people. Then an organized body steps in and gives the place a name. Frequently it happens that a place has two names: One is named by the people and the other by the government. As in many areas, old habitsdied hard, and the place continues to be called by its unofficial name long after the meaning is lost.
Many roads and places in Singapore(新加坡) are named in order that the pioneers will be remembered by future generations. Thus we have names such as Stamford Road and Raffles Place. This is in keeping with traditions in many countries ---- in both the West and the East.
Another way of naming places is naming them after other places. Perhaps they were named to promote friendships between the two places or it could be that the people who used to live there were originally from the places that the roads were named after. The mystery is clearer when we see some of the roads named in former British bases. If you step into Selector Airbase you will see Piccadilly Circus ----obviously named by some homesick Royal Air Force personnel.
Sine places were named after the activities that used to go on at those places. Bras Basah Road is an interesting example, “Base Basah” means “wet rice” in Malay(马来语). Now why would anyone want to name a road “Wet Rice Road”? The reason is simple. During the pioneering days, wet rice was laid out to dry along this road.
A few roads in Singapore are named by their shapes. There is “Circular Road” for one. Other roads may have part of their names to describe their shapes, like “Paya Lebar Crescent”. This road is called a crescent(月牙) because it begins on the main road, makes a crescent and comes back to join the main road again.We learn from Paragraph 1 that _____.
| A．the government is usually the first to name a place |
| B．many places tend to have more than one name |
| C．a ceremony will be held when a place is named |
| D．people prefer the place names given by the government |
What does the underlined phrase “die hard” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
| A．Change suddenly. | B．Change significantly. |
| C．Disappear mysteriously. | D．Disappear very slowly. |
Which of the following places is named after a person?
| A．Raffles Place. | B．Selector Airbase. |
| C．Piccadilly Circus. | D．Paya Lebar Crescent. |
Bras Basah Road is named _______.
| A．after a person | B．after a place | C．after an activity | D．by its shape |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Some place names in Singapore are the same as in Britain. |
| B．Some places in Singapore are named for military purposes. |
| C．The way Singaporeans name their places is unique. |
| D．Young Singaporeans have forgotten the pioneers. |