E
The motor vehicle has killed and disabled more people in its brief history than any bomb or weapon ever invented . Much of the blood on the street flows essentially from uncivil behavior of drivers who refuse to respect the legal and moral rights of others . So the massacre (大屠杀) on the road may be regarded as a social problem .
In fact , the enemies of society on wheels are rather harmless people just ordinary people acting carelessly , you might say . But it is a principle both of law and common morality that carelessness is no excuse when one’s actions could bring death or damage to others . A minority of the killers go even beyond carelessness to total negligence (疏忽).
Researchers have estimated that as many as 80 percent of all automobile accidents can be attributed to the psychological condition of the driver . Emotional upsets can distort drivers’ reactions , slow their judgment , and blind them to dangers that might otherwise be evident . The experts warn that it is important for every driver to make a conscious effort to keep one’s emotion under control .
Yet the irresponsibility that accounts for much of the problem is not confined to drivers . Street walkers regularly violate (违反) traffic regulations , they are at fault in most vehicle walker accidents , and many cyclists even believe that they are not subject to the basic rules of the road .
Significant legal advances have been made towards safer driving in the past few years . Safety standards for vehicle have been raised both at the point of manufacture (制造业) and through periodic road-worthiness inspections . In addition , speed limits have been lowered. Due to these measures , the accident rate has decreased . But the accident experts still worry because there has been little or no improvement in the way drivers behave . The only real and lasting solution , say the experts , is to convince people that driving is a skilled task requiring constant care and concentration . Those who fail to do all these things present a threat to those with whom they share the road .
1．What is the author’s main purpose in writing this passage ?
A．To show that the motor vehicle is a very dangerous invention .
B．To promote understanding between careless drivers and street walkers .
C．To discuss traffic problems and propose possible solutions .
D．To warn drivers of the importance of safe driving .
2．Why does the author mention the psychological condition of the driver in Paragraph Three ?
A．To give an example of the various reasons for road accidents .
B．To show how important it is for drivers to be emotionally healthy .
C．To show some of the inaccurate estimations by researchers .
D．To illustrate the hidden tensions in the course of driving
3．The following is mentioned as being responsible for the road accidents except .
A．careless bicycle riders B．mindless people walking in the street
C．irresponsible drivers D．irresponsible manufacturers of automobiles
4．Which of the following best reflects the author’s attitude toward a future without traffic accident problems ?
A．Doubtful yet still longing for . B．Happy and rather confident .
C．Surprised and very pleased . D．Disappointed and deeply worried .
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第三部分：阅读理解
请认真阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项.
In the debates about how a particular piece of land is to be used, the priorities often conflict. What should you do, for example, if you find out that under the fertile fields of a farming community there is a thick bed of coal which can be strip mined(露天矿) ? Strip mining tears up top soil and plants. But mining may create jobs, bring money to the towns businesses. Those who approve of strip mining say that the coal is needed, and they point out that it is quicker and cheaper to get coal from the surface than to go deep into the earth to get it by standard mining techniques. On the other hand, it takes nature 500 years to create an inch of top soil. As the countryside fills up, people are becoming more aware of the need for open space. Nearly every proposal for a new power plant, highway, or airport draws fierce opposition. Everyone wants the big, land-eating “uglies” to be in someone else’s backyard. Minneapolis and St.Paul, Minnesota, for example, have been debating about the site of a future airport for years. Yet if a new airport is needed, it will have to go somewhere.
How do we find our way out of the land-used problem? One way might be to reexamine our values, to think in new directions. Does everyone have to have a car with its need for highways and parking lots? What about developing mass transport systems that use less land? Do suburbs have to spread? Can they be designed so they use less space? Do we have to have more energy? If we do, do we really have to strip-mine coal to provide it?
However difficult they may be to arrive at, choices will have to be made if we want to preserve the beauty and usefulness of the land. For there is at least one point on which all of us can agree: The land does have its limits.
1. The word “priorities” in the sentence means ____.
A. the various needs B. the most important goal
C. the number one necessity D. the first thing to be considered
2. “…, people are becoming more aware of the need for open space. ” tells us that ____.
A. people are thinking to develop their living space into the sky
B. people noticed the need for unoccupied land
C. people are struggling to get more land from the space
D. people are becoming more active on the space issue
3. How do we find our way out of the land use problems?
A. One way might be to reexamine our values, to think in new directions.
B. Everyone has to have a car with its need for highways and parking lots.
C. We have to have more energy. We need strip-mine coal to provide it.
D. We may develop mass transit systems which use less land.
4. “Everyone wants the big, land-eating ‘uglies’ to be in someone else s backyard.” shows that .
A. people don t want more big projects
B. people don t want to live in the neighborhood of the big projects
C. people regard the large construction projects are “uglies ”
D. people don t like the undesirable building projects
5. The main idea of this article is ____.
A. The Limits of Land B. Land
C. Land and Our Life Styles D. Land and Space
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People often talk as if shyness is a disease or mental condition that can be cured. I prefer to think of it as an emotional disability. It’s something we are born with and something we carry with us in our entire lives. There are many people, however, who seem to be determined to find some way of doing away with their shyness. In my opinion, it’s a waste of time. I don’t mean that we should do nothing about it; quite the contrary, I think we need to separate the basic fact of our shyness from our ability to take part in a social environment.
Look at one of the most famous shy people, Johnny Carson. This man is painfully shy, yet for decades he made a living talking and associating(交往) with different people every night, in front of a national audience. Carson has never done away with his shyness, but he has successfully found a way to deal with it to the extent that he could be, not just a talk show host, but a legend(传奇) among talk show hosts. Look also at Sally Fields, who has recently admitted her problem with shyness. This is a woman who has appeared in many films, TV shows and interviews, yet in her early years she was so shy that she turned down a lunch invitation from Jane Fonda because she was terribly afraid of meeting her.
I guess that our shyness is there because each of us is born with some insecurity and this insecurity prevents us from reaching out to others the way people with a more open personality do. As we grow up, we allow our social skills to grow and develop. But we are still stuck in kindergarten or elementary school or wherever it was when our shyness took root in our soul.
67. In the author’s view, shyness can be explained as ________.
A. a disease that can be easily cured B. a not very normal mental condition
C. an emotional disability D. something we pick up after birth
68. The author believes it’s a waste of time to _________.
A. develop a healthy personality B. talk with people as much as possible
C. study where shyness comes from D. look for ways to do away with one’s shyness
69. Which of the following is TRUE of Johnny Carson?
A. He dared to speak in front of a national audience.
B. He did away with his shyness carefully.
C. He was described as a hero in some legend books.
D. He failed to become a good talk show host.
70. The underlined word “insecurity” in the third paragraph probably means “________”.
A. feeling safe B. feeling supported C. feeling afraid D. feeling comfortable
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Do you know the fiddler crab(招潮蟹) is a living clock? It shows the time of day by the color of its skin, which is dark by day and pale by night. The crab’s changing skin color follows a regular twenty-four hours cycle that exactly matches the daily rhythm of the sun.
Does the crab actually keep time, or does its skin simply respond to(对……反应) the sun’s rays, changing color according to the amount of light that strikes it? To find it out, biologists kept crabs in a dark room for two months. Even without daylight the crab’s skin color continued to change exactly on time.
This probably developed gradually in response to the rhythm of the sun, to help protect the crab from sunlight and enemies. After millions of years it has become completely regular inside the living body of the crab.
The biologists noticed that once each day the color of the fiddler crab is especially dark, and that each day this occurs fifty minutes later than on the day before. From this they discovered that each crab follows not only the rhythm of the sun but also that of the tides(潮汐). The crab’s period of greatest darkening is exactly the time of low tide on the beach where it was caught!
64. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. The crab cannot actually keep time.
B. The crab’s skin changes color according to the amount of light that strikes it.
C. The crab’s skin still changes color even if there isn’t any daylight.
D. The crab likes the sun’s rays best of all.
65. The crab’s color-changing ability was probably developed _________.
A. by the work of biologists B. over plenty of dark nights
C. by protecting themselves from enemies D. over millions of years
66. The biologists discovered that the crab’s darkest color occurs _________.
A. at the time of low tide B. when it’s dark
C. fifty minutes later than the sunset D. every two days
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LONDON(Reuters)—Ecotourism(生态旅游) is causing a lot of damage to wildlife and may be endangering the survival of the very animals people are flocking to see, according to researchers.
Biologists and conservationists(自然环境保护论者) are worried because polar bears, dolphins, penguins and other creatures are getting stressed and losing weight and some are dying.
“Evidence is growing that many animals do not react well to tourists in their backyard,” New Scientist magazine said.
The immediate effects researchers have noticed are changes in behavior, heart rates, or stress hormone(荷尔蒙) levels but they fear it could get much worse and over the long term “could endanger the survival of the very wildlife they want to see”.
Although money produced through ecotourism, which has been growing at about 10～30 percent a year, has major benefits for poor countries and people living in rural areas, the Swiss-based World Conservation Union and some governments fear not all projects are audited (审计) and based on environmentally friendly policies, according to the magazine.
“The transmission(传播) of disease to wildlife, or small changes to wildlife health through disturbance of daily life or increased stress levels, while not obvious to the casual observer, may translate to lower survival and breeding,” said Philip Seddon of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Scientists have noticed that bottleneck dolphins along the northeastern coast of New Zealand become nervously excited when tourist boats arrive. Similar changes in behavior have been observed in polar bears and yellow-eyed penguins in areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies.
Conservationists are not calling for more research into the effect of ecotourism on animals and say the industry must be developed carefully. They also want studies done before new ecotourism projects are started.
“The animals’ welfare should be very important because without them there will be no ecotourism,” said Rochelle Constantine of the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
60. What’s the passage mainly about?
A. Many animals are dying because of lack of money.
B. There will be no ecotourism without animals.
C. Ecotourism could endanger the survival of the wildlife people want to see.
D. More research should be done on ecotourism.
61. We may learn from the passage that ________.
A. ecotourism must be developed properly
B. polar bears are losing weight without enough food
C. all the poor countries have stopped ecotourism
D. money produced through ecotourism should be spent on wildlife
62. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Many animals do not react well in their backyard.
B. Polar bears in the areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies.
C. Ecotourism has been growing at about 10～30 percent a year.
D. Studies should be done before new ecotourism projects are started.
63. What Rochelle Constantine said in the last paragraph implies that ______.
A. if people want to get high income, they must develop ecotourism
B. animals have the rights to live their own life
C. animals are people’s good friends
D. people should take good care of wildlife
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Ⅳ.阅读理解
Everyone knows that the French are romantic, the Italians are fashionable and the Germans are serious. Are these just stereotypes(陈规) or is there really such a thing as national character? And if there is, can it affect how a nation succeeds or fails?
At least one group of people is certain that it can. A recent survey of the top 500 entrepreneurs(实业家) in the UK found that 70 percent felt that their efforts were not appreciated by the British public. Britain is hostile to success, they said. It has a culture of jealousy(嫉妒). As a result, the survey said, entrepreneurs were “unloved, unwanted and misunderstood”. Jealousy is sometimes known as the “green-eyed monster(怪物)” and the UK is its home. Scientists at Warwich University in the UK recently tested this idea. They gathered a group of people and gave each an imaginary amount of money. Some were given a little, others a great deal. Those given a little money were given the chance to destroy the large amounts of money given to others—but at the cost of losing their own. Two thirds of the people tested agreed to do this.
This seems to prove the entrepreneurs were right to complain. But there is also conflicting evidence. The Organization for Econnomic Cooperation and Development(OECD) recently reported that the UK was now the world’s fourth largest economy. That is not bad for people who are supposed to hate success. People in the UK also work longer hours than anyone else in Europe. So the British people are not lazy, either.
“It’s not really success that the British dislike,” says Carey Cooper, a Professor of management at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. “It’s people using their success in a way that seems arrogant(傲慢) or unfair or which separates them from their roots.”
Perhaps it is the entrepreneurs who are the problem. They set out to do things in their way. They work long hours. By their own efforts they become millionaires. But instead of being happy they complain that nobody loves them. If they were more friendly, people would like them more. And more people want to be like them.
56. What does the underlined word “it” in the second paragraph refer to?
A. One group of people. B. A great survey.
C. National character. D. A nation.
57. Most of the British top entrepreneurs surveyed believe that ________.
A. they are not popular simply because they are successful
B. the British public are hardworking
C. love of success is Britain’s national character
D. they are considered as “green-eyed monsters”
58. What does the result of the Warwich University test show?
A. Two thirds of the people tested didn’t love money.
B. Most people would rather fail than see others succeed.
C. An imaginary amount of money does not attract people.
D. Most people are willing to enjoy success with others.
59. The writer of the passage seems to suggest that _______.
A. jealousy is Britain’s national character
B. British entrepreneurs are not fairly treated
C. the scientists at Warwich University did a successful test
D. the British dislike the entrepreneurs because they do not behave properly