III. Reading comprehension: (40%)
A
For every five men in the Civil War who died in battle , two or three died of disease. Doctors of that time knew very little about causes of sickness or ways of preventing it. Thousands of men in poor health became soldiers. Many of them could not resist epidemic （瘟疫）diseases that went through the places where they lived .
Army life was hard. Soldiers got little fruit or vegetables. There was no milk unless they happened to find a cow. Neither their clothes nor their living places protected the troops from rain, snow, and cold . Sickness and disease were spread by insects , rats , and unclean drinking water . Often the men drank straight from muddy streams .
Gunshot wounds were serious, as in any war, but they did not cause as many deaths as disease did.
1. Disease caused ___.
A．only a few deaths B．fewer deaths than wounds did
C．more deaths than wounds did D．both A and B
2．Men who were accepted as Civil War soldiers were ______.
A．known to have already had some epidemic diseases
B．required to be in perfect health
C．able to resist epidemic disease easily D．sometimes in poor health
3．Army life was hard for troops because ______
A．the place where they lived didn't keep them safe from bad weather
B．they had no warm clothing
C．they seldom had good, healthful food D．all of the above
4．Insects and rats were dangerous because they ______
A．destroyed food B．carried diseases
C．made the water unclean D．tore the soldiers' clothes into pieces
5．The best title for this selection is ______.
A．The Cause of Disease B．The Greatest Danger in the Civil War
C．Insects, Rats, and Gunshot Wounds D．The History of Epidemic Disease
People diet to look more attractive. Fish diet to avoid being beaten up, thrown out of their social group, and getting eaten as a result. That is the fascinating conclusion of the latest research into fish behavior by a team of Australian scientists.
The research team has discovered that subordinate (隶属的)fish voluntarily diet to avoid challenging their larger competitors. “In studying gobies we noticed that only the largest two individuals, a male and female, had breeding(繁殖) rights within the group, ”explains Marian Wong. “All other group members are non-breeding females, each being 5–10% smaller than its next largest competitor. We wanted to find out how they keep this size separation.”
The reason for the size difference was easy to see. Once a subordinate fish grows to within 5–10% of the size of its larger competitor，it causes a fight which usually ends in the smaller goby being driven away from the group. More often than not, the evicted fish is then eaten up.
It appeared that the smaller fish were keeping themselves small in order to avoid challenging the boss fish. Whether they did so voluntarily，by limiting how much they ate, was not clear. The research team decided to do an experiment. They tried to fatten up some of the subordinate gobies to see what happened. To their surprise，the gobies simply refused the extra food they were offered，clearly preferring to remain small and avoid fights, over having a feast.
The discovery challenges the traditional scientific view of how boss individuals keep their position in a group. Previously it was thought that large individuals simply used their weight and size to threaten their subordinates and take more of the food for themselves, so keeping their competitors small.
While the habits of gobies may seem a little mysterious, Dr. Wong explains that understanding the relationships between boss and subordinate animals is important to understanding how hierarchical (等级的) societies remain stable.
The research has proved the fact that voluntary dieting is a habit far from exclusive(排他的) to humans. “As yet, we lack a complete understanding of how widespread the voluntary reduction of food intake is in nature,” the researchers comment. “Data on human dieting suggests that, while humans generally diet to improve health or increase attractiveness, rarely does it improve long term health and males regularly prefer females that are fatter than the females’ own ideal.”
When a goby grows to within 5–10% of the size of its larger competitor, it_______.
| A．faces danger | B．has breeding rights |
| C．eats its competitor | D．leaves the group itself |
The underlined words “the evicted fish” in Paragraph 3 refer to _______.
| A．the fish beaten up | B．the fish found out |
| C．the fish fattened up | D．the fish driven away |
The experiment showed that the smaller fish_______.
| A．fought over a feast | B．went on diet willingly |
| C．preferred some extra food | D．challenged the boss fish |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Fish dieting and human dieting. | B．Dieting and health. |
| C．Human dieting. | D．Fish dieting. |
14 days from just ￡ 2,090 pp
Fully inclusive from the UK
Price covers: International airfares, departure taxes, fuel charges, local transportation, accommodation, all meals, entrance fees, guides, daily tours and visas for UK citizens.
◆Days 1-3: UK---Shanghai
Fly to the great city of Shanghai and in the evening sample traditional Shanghai food. Visit the beautiful Yu Gardens, Old Town, Shanghai Museum, cross the Great Nanpu Bridge and tour the Pudong area. Also explore Xintiandi with its 1920’ s style Shikumen buildings and end your stay in Shanghai with an amazing Huangpu River evening tour.
◆Days 4-7: Shanghai---Yangtze River Tour
Fly to Yichang and change (approx: one hour)to board your Yangtze River ship for the next four nights. Enjoy a tour of the Three Gorges Dam (三峡大坝)before sailing on the grand Yangtze River, passing through the impressive Three Gorges. We take a side trip to the Lesser Three Gorges or travel up the Shennong Stream in a peapod boat and enjoy various shore trips along the way.
◆Day 8: Chongqing---Chengdu
Get off in Chongqing and drive to Chengdu for an overnight stay.
◆Days 9-10: Chengdu---Xi’an
Visit the famous Panda Reserve to see the lovely animals. We then fly to the historic city of Xi’an for two nights’ stay and enjoy traditional Shui Jiao. Next day, explore one of the most important discoveries of the 20th Century — the Terracotta Warriors(兵马俑) ，followed by the ancient City Wall and a performance of Tang Dynasty dancing.
◆Days 11-13: Xi’an---Beijing
Visit Little Wild Goose Pagoda and see the ancient objects at the wellknown Shaanxi Provincial Museum before walking through the lively Muslim Quarter to see the Great Mosque. Later fly to Beijing for three nights’ stay and try Peking Duck. During our stay in Beijing, we stroll through Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City, the largest and best preserved collection of ancient buildings in China, and visit the Summer Palace. Next day we take a walk on the Great Wall, tour the unique Temple of Heaven and enjoy an attractive Chinese Acrobatic Show.
◆Day 14: Beijing---UK
Fly back to the UK, arriving home later the same day filled with happy memories.
The underlined word “sample” in the passage probably means “________”.
| A．buy | B．reserve | C．taste | D．make |
The first and last scenic spots to be visited in Xi’an are________.
| A．the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Mosque |
| B．the Terracotta Warriors and Shaanxi Provincial Museum |
| C．Little Wild Goose Pagoda and the Great Mosque |
| D．Little Wild Goose Pagoda and the Muslim Quarter |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the ad?
| A．The tourists will have to pay extra for fuel and meals. |
| B．The tourists will visit the 1920’s Shikumen buildings in Beijing. |
| C．The tourists will take a side trip to the Three Gorges Dam during the tour. |
| D．The tourists will stay in Beijing for three nights before leaving for the UK. |
The ad is mainly intended to________.
| A．encourage the British to travel in China |
| B．attract the British to traditional Chinese food |
| C．offer services of booking air tickets to tourists |
| D．provide the British with a better understanding of China |
My students often tell me that they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork.
My reply is often a brief “You have as much time as the president.” I usually carry on a bit about there being twenty-four hours in the day for everyone, and suggest that “not enough time” is not an acceptable explanation of not getting something done.
Once in graduate school, I tried to prove to one of my professors by saying that I was working hard. His answer to me was, “That’s irrelevant (无关的). What’s important is the quality of your work.” Since then I have had time to think carefully about the “hard worker” dodge (诀窍), and I have come to some conclusions — all relevant to the problem of how much time we have.
If you analyze the matter, you can identify two parts of the problem: There is, of course, the matter of “time”, which we can think of as fixed. Then there is the problem of “work” during that time. But, as my professor suggested, it’s not how hard one works but the quality of the product that’s important.
That led me to a new idea: the quality of the work. That concept is perhaps best explained by a sign I once saw on the wall in someone’s office: “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.” There is a lot of sense in that idea.
If you can’t get more time, and few of us can, the only solution is to improve the quality of the work. That means thinking of ways to get more out of the same time than we might otherwise get. That should lead us to an analysis of our work habits. Since “work” for students usually means “homework”, the expression “work habits” should be read as “study habits”.
Then, as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing. If you learn to read better and write better, there are big benefits that pay off in all your studies.
From the passage, we know that the author is probably ______ .
| A．a poet | B．an educator | C．a novelist | D．an engineer |
We can infer from the 2nd paragraph that we students still _____ .
| A．have enough time | B．can meet the president |
| C．get everything done well | D．should accept the explanation |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The author’s students make good use of their time to do all their homework. |
| B．The author tried to tell the professor that he/she (author) had done a good job. |
| C．You can’t improve the quality of the work if you can’t get more time. |
| D．You’ll try to improve your skills in reading and writing if you’re a clever student |
Every pet owner loves his pet .There is no argument here.
But when we asked our readers whether they would clone their beloved animals , the responses were split(分裂) almost down the middle . Of the 228 readers who answered it ,108 would clone, 111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion .
Clearly, from readers’ response, this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and eventual (最终的)sadness of owning a pet. It speaks, as well, to people’s widely differing expectations over the developing scientific procedure (步骤)
Most of the readers who favored the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original; many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side, however, held little hope that clone could truly recreate a pet; many simply did not wish to go against the natural law of life and death.
Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More of them owned “the best dog/cat in the world”. They thought of their pets as their “best friend” or “a member of the family”. They told moving stories of pets’ heroism, intelligence and selfless devotion.
No wonder the loss is so disturbing---and the cloning so attractive. “People become very close to their animals, and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies,” says Gary Kowalski, author of goodbye, Friend: Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me, cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away…It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with. It’s hard to accept.”
But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seems to be at the heart of this problem.
As far as the cloning of pets is concerned, a recent survey shows that, of all pet owners, .
| A．a lot more of them are for it | B．a lot more of them are against it |
| C．very few of them are willing to tell their opinions ． |
D．about half of them are for it and the other half against it |
The expression “eventual sadness of owning a pet.” (in paragraph 3) refers to .
| A．the death of one’s pet |
| B．the final ownership of a pet |
| C．the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet |
| D．the dangers involved in the cloning of a pet |
In spite of their differences on the problem of cloning, it seems that.
| A．all pet owners love their pets very much |
| B．all pet owners try to go against the natural law of life and death |
| C．people who support cloning love their pets more |
| D．people who dislike cloning love their pets more |
From what Gary Kowalski says, we can know that he.
| A．has never thought about the problem of cloning |
| B．thinks it hard to accept the idea of cloning pets |
| C．is in favor of the idea of cloning pets |
| D．is all against the cloning of pets |
While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport in Portland, Oregon, I had an experience which occurred merely two feet away from me.
Trying to locate my friend among the passengers coming through the jet way, I noticed a man walking toward me carrying two light bags. He stopped right next to me to greet his family.
First he kissed his three children one by one and said, “It’s nice to see you. I missed you so much!” Then he hugged his wife, “I’ve saved the best for last!” giving her the longest, most passionate kiss I ever remember seeing. They stared at each other’s eyes, smiling at one another, while holding both hands. For an instant they reminded me of newlyweds（新婚夫妇）, but I knew by the age of their kids that they couldn’t possibly be.
Full of admiration, I asked, “Wow! How long have you two been married?” “Being together for fourteen years total, married twelve of those.” He replied, without breaking his gaze from his lovely wife’s face. “Well, then, how long have you been away?” I asked. “Two whole days!” “Two days?” I was astonished. By the intensity (热烈) of the greeting, I had assumed he’d been gone for at least several weeks --- if not months. I knew my expression betrayed me, so I turned away my eyes and said quietly, “I hope my marriage is still that passionate after so long!”
The man suddenly stopped smiling and looked me straight in the eye. With forcefulness he told me something that left me a different person. “Don’t hope, friend…decide!” Then he smiled again, shook my hand and said, “God bless!”
With that, he and his family turned and walked away together.
I was still watching that man and his special family walk just out of sight when my friend came up to me and asked, “What are you looking at?” Without hesitation, and with a curious sense of certainty, I replied, “My future!”
The best title of the passage may be _______.
| A．Long Loving Hugs | B．My Future |
| C．Don’t Hope. Decide | D．Love Is Everywhere |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The man replied to the author, with his eyes still fixed on his wife’s face. |
| B．After being away for several weeks, the man missed his family very much. |
| C．It was fourteen years since the couple had got married. |
| D．Their three kids reminded the author of newlyweds. |
By saying “my expression betrayed me” (in Paragraph 4), the author means that ____.
| A．he failed to express his ideas to the man |
| B．the man sensed his real feelings from his expression |
| C．he didn’t believe in his expression any more |
| D．his expression was not faithful to him |
From the passage, we can infer that __________.
| A．the experience may be easily forgotten by the author |
| B．the author will live a passionate life from now on |
| C．the author will be away from his family and hug them passionately upon his return |
| D．Americans prefer to save the best for last |