Lyinginthesunonarock,thecougar-优题课

The easiest way for the English to deal with their social discomfort is to avoid social interaction altogether, by choosing either leisure (闲暇) activities that can be performed in the privacy of one’s own house, or outdoor activities that follow their interest without direct contact with anyone other than one’s own family members, such as going for a walk, or to the cinema, or shopping.
In recent survey, over half of all the leisure activities were of this private domestic type, and of the top ten pastimes, only two—having friends round for a meal or drink, and going to the pub—could be described as ‘sociable’. The most domestic activities are the most popular: watching TV, listening to the radio, reading, DIY （Do It Yourself） and gardening. Even when the English are being sociable, the survey findings show that most of them would much rather entertain a few close friends or relatives in the safety of their own homes than venture out among strangers.
In the latest national census survey （人口普查）, over half of the entire adult male population had been DIYing in the four weeks before the census date. Nearly a third of the female population had also been busily improving their homes, and their work with their gardens was equally obvious: 52 percent of all English males and 45 percent of females had been out there, cutting branches and weeding grass.
Even among people claiming to belong to a particular religion, only two percent attend services every week. The rest of the population can be found every Sunday at their local garden center or DIY superstore. And when they want a break from caring about their own homes and gardens, they go on trips to visit bigger and better houses and gardens, such as the stately homes and gardens opened to the public by the National Trust and the Royal Horticulture Society. Visiting grand country houses always ranks as one of the most popular national pastimes.
45. The result of the survey shows that ________.
A. about half English people enjoy working in their gardens
B. 8 out of 10 pastimes can be described as social activities
C. 2 percent of the religious people enjoy visits to public houses
D. visiting stately homes is the most popular national pastime
46. According to the passage, the English enjoy all of the following EXCEPT________.
A. the social activities, such as gathering with friends
B. working at home and in their gardens
C. dining out in a public place among strangers
D. visits to stately homes and gardens
47. The underlined word “domestic” probably means________.
A. public B. household C. outdoor D. collective
48. The passage mainly tells us about________.
A. why the English don’t like social activities
B. how the English spend their leisure time
C. what the result of a recent census survey is
D. where the English hold their private activities

第二部分阅读理解(共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分)
第一节阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
AThere’s a man in the habit of hitting me on the head with an umbrella. At first I couldn’t stand it, now I’m used to it.
I don’t know his name. I know he’s average in appearance, wears a gray suit, and has a common face. I met him five years ago one hot morning when I was sitting on a tree-shaded bench in Palermo Park, reading the paper. Suddenly I felt something touch my head. It was the very same man who now, as I’m writing, keeps hitting me, mechanically (机械地) and impassively, with an umbrella.
On that occasion I turned around filled with anger. He just kept on hitting me. I asked him if he was crazy, he didn’t even seem to hear me. Then I threatened to call a policeman. Calmly, cool as a cucumber, he stuck with his task. After a few moments of hesitation, and seeing that he was not about to change his attitude, I stood up and hit him on the nose. The man fell down, but he immediately got back on his feet, obviously with great effort, and without a word again began hitting me on the head with the umbrella. His nose was bleeding and, at that moment, I felt sorry for him. I felt regret for having hit him so hard. After all, the man wasn’t exactly hitting me; he was merely tapping me lightly with his umbrella, not causing any pain at all. Of course, those taps were extremely bothersome. As we all know, when a fly lands on your forehead, you don’t feel any pain; what you feel is annoyance. Well then, that umbrella was one huge fly that kept landing on my head time after time.
Convinced that I was dealing with a madman, I tried to escape. But the man followed me, wordlessly continuing to hit me. So I began to run (I should point out that not many people run as fast as I do). He took off after me, trying to land a blow. The man was out of breath so that I thought, if I continued to force him to run at that speed, he would drop dead right then and there.
41. When the man began to strike the author with an umbrella, the author ________.
A. became angry
B. called the police
C. turned around and escaped
D. turned around and fought back
42. The author would most probably agree that the man was ________.
A. deaf B. blind C. dead D. mad
43. The author felt sorry for the man because ________.
A. the man formed a bad habit of beating others
B. he hit the man so hard that his nose bled
C. the man couldn’t catch up with him
D. there was a fly on the man’s head
44. It can be learned from the passage that the man ________.
A. shouted loudly while hitting the author
B. wanted to tell the author something
C. ran after the author breathlessly
D. acted as if he were a fly

By Jerilyn Watson Broadcast: February 14, 2010.
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember. And I’m Faith Lapidus. February fourteenth is Valentine’s Day. So this is a good time to play some love songs as we explore the subject of dating.
VOICE ONE: Valentine’s Day is a special time for love. Millions of people will receive flowers, chocolate or some other gifts. Others might get just a phone call or an electronic message from someone they care about. Still others would be happy just to have someone special in their life on Valentine’s Day.
VOICE TWO: Traditionally, there are many ways for people to meet. Some meet at work. Others meet by chance. Still others look for help from services that bring people together. Friends and family members might offer to help. They might plan a blind date. This is a meeting between two people who have never seen each other before. A lot of people try to improve their chances by looking in places where people with similar interests go, such as a place of religion, a bookstore, health club and sports team where men and women play together.
VOICE THREE: Internet dating services had been growing sharply through the end of 2009. But people do no always tell the truth about themselves online. And they do not exactly tell about their age, for example, they might offer an old picture instead. People who meet through computer services may not have to give their full name or e-mail address at first. Relationships that begin over the Internet do sometimes lead to marriage. Yet there is a risk anytime strangers meet. It could be a danger, or simply an unpleasant surprise. A young woman in Washington D.C was angry after seeing a date she met over the Internet. In his picture , he looked twenty-five or thirty years old. In reality, she said, he was old enough to be her father.
72. The topic of the VOA broadcast program is probably________.
A. Valentine’s Day B. how to make friends in daily life.
C. dating between men and womenD. how to keep your marriage.
73. In VOICE TWO, which of the following ways of dating is NOT mentioned by the speaker in the text?
A. Meeting by chance or at work
B. Meeting with the help of media
C. Meeting with the help of the services
D. Meeting with the help of friends and family
74.The speaker think Internet dating may be a risk, danger, or simply unpleasant surprise because___________.
A. people can’t know each other’s real name
B. people can’t know each other’s address
C. the computer don’t give their full name or e-mail address at first
D. people don’t always tell the truth about themselves online.
75.From the text, we can infer that the speaker is likely to _______dating online.
A. appreciate B. hate C. suggest D. hold a negative attitude

If you are a male and you are reading this, congratulations: you are a survivor. According to statistics, you are more than twice as likely to die of skin cancer than a woman, and nine times more likely to die of AIDS. Assuming you make it to the end of your natural term, about 78 years for men in Australia, you will die on average five years before a woman.
There are many reasons for this, men take more risks than women and are more likely to drink and smoke, but perhaps more importantly, men don’t go to the doctor.
“Men aren’t seeing doctors as often as they should, ” says Dr. Gullotta, “This is particularly so for the over-40s, when diseases tend to strike.”Gullotta says a healthy man should visit the doctor every year or two. For those over 45,it should be at least once a year.
According to a recent survey, 95%of women aged between 15 and early 40s see a doctor once a year, compared to 70% of men in the same age group.
“A lot of men think they are invincible （不可战胜的）”Gullotta says “They only come in when a friend drops dead on the golf course and they think 'Dear me, if it could happen to him, …' ”
Then there is the ostrich (鸵鸟)approach,“Some men are scared of what might be there and would rather not know, ” says Dr. Ross Cartmill.“ Most men get their cars serviced more regularly than they service their bodies,” Cartmill says. He believes most diseases that commonly affect men could be addressed by preventive check-ups. Regular check-ups for men would inevitably(不可避免地) place stress on the public purse. Cartmill says.“But prevention is cheaper in the long run than having to treat the diseases. Besides, the final cost is far greater.”
68.What does the author state is the most important reason men die five years earlier on average than women?
A. Men drink and smoke much more than women.
B. Men aren’t as cautious as women in face of danger.
C. Men don’t seek medical care as often as women.
D. Men are more likely to suffer from fatal diseases.
69.Which of the following best completes the sentence “Dear me, if it could happen to him,…”in paragraph5 ?
A. I should avoid playing golf.
B. I should consider myself lucky.
C. it would be a big misfortune.
D. it could happen to me, too.
70.What does Dr. Ross Cartmill mean by “the ostrich approach” in paragraph6 ?
A. A new treatment for certain psychological problems.
B. Refusal to get medical treatment for fear of the pain involved.
C. Unwillingness to find out about one’s disease because of fear.
D. A casual attitude towards one’s health conditions.
71. What does Cartmill say about regular check-ups for men?
A. They may increase public expenses.
B. They will save money in the long run.
C. They may cause psychological stress on men.
D. They will enable men to live as long as women.

Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915. He died in 2005 at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. For sixty years, he created one dramatic work after another. Miller won many awards for his plays. Among them were a Pulitzer Prize, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Prizes and Tony Awards. In 1984, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. honored him for his lifetime work in drama.
Arthur Miller grew up in New York. His father, Isidore Miller, made clothing and operated a store. But the father lost his money in the great economic depression in the 1930s. So Arthur worked at many jobs to earn money for college. Miller won an award for writing plays while at school.
Miller returned home to New York after completing his studies. In 1944,, Arthur Miller’s first major play was performed on Broadway. It was called The Man Who Had All the Luck. However, the play did not bring him good luck. It had only four performances. But his second Broadway play, All My Sons, was a major success. It won several awards in 1947.
Miller ‘s great play, Death of a Salesman, opened on Broadway in 1949. He was thirty-three years old when he wrote it. The play tells the story of the failure of a salesman, Willy Loman. The action opens on the last day of Willy’s life. He has been dismissed from his jobs as a traveling salesman. He also recognizes that he has failed as a father. He kills himself before the play is over. Death of a Salesman had a big influence on the American public. Many people saw their own lives in Willy Loman, the victim of broken dreams. It has been translated into about thirty languages and performed around the world.
Arthur Miller once wrote that when he was young he imagined that with the possible exception of a doctor saving a life, “Writing a worthy play was the most important thing a human being could do.”Theater owners on Broadway agreed. On the day after he died, the lights of Broadway theatres darkened for a minute in honor of him.
64. Miller began to show his talent in writing plays _______ .
A. in his teens B. when he was at school
C. after his marriage D. in New York
65. Which of the following is TRUE about Arthur Miller?
A. When he was young, Arthur Miller worked hard to be a doctor.
B. The Man Who Had All the Luck brought Arthur Miller neither fame nor fortune. C. All My Sons was the first major work of Arthur Miller ever performed on Broadway. D. The John F, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honored Arthur Miller for his great play, Death of a Salesman.
66. The play Death of a Salesman ________.
A. won several awards in 1947 B. made the public know Miller first
C. is thought highly ofD. made Miller rich
67. Death of a Salesman’s success lies in that______.
A. it has been translated into about thirty languages
B. it has been performed around the world
C. although not all Americans are salesmen, most of them share Willy’s dream
D. theater owners on Broadway respected Arthur Miller