第三部分:阅读(共两节,每小题2分,满分50分)
第一节:阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳答案,并将答案在答题卡上标号为46--65的相应位置涂黑。
The famous director of a big and expensive movie planned to film a beautiful sunset over the ocean, so that the audience could see his hero and heroine in front of it at the end of the film as they said goodbye to each other for ever. He sent camera team out one evening to film the sunset for him.
The next morning he said to the men, “Have you provided me with that sunset?”
“No, Sir,” the men answered.
The director was angry. “Why not?” he asked.
“Well,” one of the men answered, “we are on the east coast here, and the sun sets in the west. We can get you a sunrise over the sea, if necessary, but not a sunset.”
“But I want a sunset!” the director shouted. “Go to the airport, take the next flight to the west coast, and get one.”
But then a young secretary had an idea. “Why don’t you photograph a sunrise,” she suggested, “and then play it backwards, Then it’ll look like a sunset.” “That’s a very good idea!” the director said. Then he turned to the camera team and said, “Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.”
The camera team went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over the beach in the middle of a beautiful bay. Then at nine o’clock they took it to the director. “Here it is, Sir,” they said, and give it to him. He was very pleased.
They all went into the studio. “All right,” the director explained, “now our hero and heroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the sunset behind them.”
The “sunset” began, but after a quarter of a minute, the director suddenly put his face in his hands and shouted to the camera team to stop.
The birds in the film were flying backwards away from the beach.
1 One evening, the director sent his camera team out ______.
A. to watch a beautiful sunset
B. to find an actor and an actress
C. to film a scene on the sea
D. to meet the audience
2 Why did the director want to send his team to the west coast?
A. Because he changed his mind about getting a sunset
B. Because he was angry about his team
C. Because it was his secretary’s suggestion
D. Because he wanted to get a scene of sunset
3 Which of the following is NOT true?
A. The team followed the secretary’s advice.
B. If you want to see a sunrise, the east coast is a place to go to.
C. The camera team wasn’t able to film the scene the first day.
D. The director ordered his team to stop filming the “sunset”
4 The director wanted to film a sunset over the ocean because _____.
A. it went well with the separation of the hero and heroine
B. when they arrived at the beach it was already in the evening
C. it was more moving than a sunrise
D. the ocean looked more than a sunrise
5 After the “sunset” began, the director suddenly put his face in his hands _____.
A. because he was moved to tears
B. as he saw everything in the film moving backwards
C. as the sunrise did not look as beautiful as he had imagined
D. because he was disappointed with the performance of the hero and the heroine
The British National Health Service (NHS) was set up in 1948 and was designed to provide equal basic health care, free of charge, for everybody in the country. Before this time health care had to be paid for by individuals.
Nowadays central government is directly responsible for the NHS although it is administered by local health authorities. About 83 percent of the cost of the health service is paid for by general taxation and the rest is met from the National Insurance contributions paid by those in work. There are charges for prescription and dental care but many people, such as children, pregnant women, pensioners, and those on Income Support, are exempt from payment.
Most people are registered with a local doctor (a GP, or General Practitioner) who is increasingly likely to be part of a health centre which serves the community.
As the population of Britain gets older, the hospital service now treats more patients than before, although patients spend less time in hospital. NHS hospitals—many of which were built in the nineteenth century—provide nearly half a million beds and have over 480, 000 medical staff. The NHS is the biggest employer in Europe although Britain actually spends less per person on health care than most of her European neighbours.
During the 1980s there was considerable restructuring of the Health Service with an increased emphasis on managerial efficiency and the privatization of some services (for example, cleaning). At the end of the 1980s the government introduced proposals for further reform of the NHS, including allowing some hospitals to be self-governing, and encouraging GPs to compete for patients. Patients would be able to choose and change their family doctor more easily and GPs would have more financial responsibility. The political questions continue of how much money should be provided to support the NHS and where it should come from. We can know from the first paragraph that ______.
A.the original aim of the NHS was to provide equal basic health care for everybody |
B.people didn’t have to pay for health care since the NHS was set up |
C.patients were charged for receiving health care before 1948 |
D.the NHS was an organization which gave free advice to villagers |
. What do we know about the NHS?
A.It’s managed by the central government. |
B.Its cost is mainly paid for by the National Insurance contributions. |
C.It hires more people than any other unit in Europe. |
D.Fewer patients go to its hospitals than before because they spend less on health care. |
All the following statements about GPs are true except that they ______.
A.take care of the local people’s health |
B.often take part in competitions to see who is the best |
C.work under high pressure nowadays |
D.have more responsibilities than before |
What does the underlined word “exempt” probably mean?
A.suffering | B.different | C.prevented | D.free |
The biggest problem for the NHS is ______.
A.many hospitals are too old to be used |
B.some services are in the charge of individuals |
C.more and more patients go to GPs for treatment |
D.there is not enough money for further reform |
Happiness is U-shaped, for we are happier at the start and end of our lives but hit a slump when we are middle-aged, British and US researchers say.
Economists from the University of Warwick, central England, and from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, looked at data on the mental health of two million people from 80 countries.
In Britain, the probability of depression for men and women peaks at around 44 years of age, Warwick University said in a press release.
In the United States, though, ________________________between men and women. Among women, unhappiness peaked at around the age of 40, whereas among men, it was about 50.
But the U-shape of happiness is constant around the world, and mid-life depression occurs regardless of marital status(婚姻状况), changes in job or income.
The study appears in Social Science & Medicine, published by the Dutch publishing house Elsevier.
"It happens to men and women, to single and married people, to rich and poor, and to those with and without children." said co-author Andrew Oswald.
One possibility may be that people realize they won't achieve many of their ambitions at middle age. The researchers said.
Another reason could be that after seeing their fellow middle-aged peers begin to die, people begin to value their own remaining years and embrace life once more.
But the good news is that if people make it to aged 70 and are still physically fit, they are on average as happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year old.
"For the average persons in the modern world, the dip in mental health and happiness comes on slowly, not suddenly in a single year," Oswald said. "Only in their fifties do people emerge from this low period.
1.Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?
There are chances that the middle-aged people will realize their ideal is likely to be unattainable.
_________________________________________________________________________
2.Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with a proper sentence.(within 10 words)
3.How do you understand the sentence that “Happiness is U-shaped”? (within 20 words)
_________________________________________________________________________
4.Is mid-life depression a common Phenomenon in the world ? How do you know?(within 15 words)
_________________________________________________________________________
5.Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese
_________________________________________________________________________
The hospital burn unit is a popular place on the day after Thanksgiving. I found that out three years ago, when my 18-month-old daughter touched a radiator pipe while playing around our friends' farmhouse. Instead of feasting on leftover stuffing, I rushed my child as she screamed to hospital. Instead of getting a jump on my Christmas shopping, I learned how to take care of second-degree burns.
Our story had a happy ending. With weeks of twice-daily treatments at Mommy and Papa's kitchen-table burn clinic, my daughter's hands healed. But other children we saw at the outpatient burn clinic weren't so lucky. I saw hands _____________________, a mouth that would never smile straight, a scalp that would never grow hair. All the parents had stories of accidents as easy as ours: a cup of tea knocked from a side table, a tumble (摔倒) into a space heater. "Heaters and soup," one veteran nurse told me at the hospital. "That's all it is. Heaters and soup."
Most of the injuries were to hands and wrists, and most came from contact with hot liquids or from touching hot objects. Not only do small children not realize the danger posed by hot objects; their skin is much thinner than that of adults. They burn more quickly, and the burns tend to be deeper and more severe.
Traditional fire safety education focused on preventing fires. The number of children injured by playing with fire has declined substantially when the Consumer Product Safety Commission required that cigarette lighters be child-resistant. "We know people know about smoke alarms," says Chrissy, program manager for Safe Kids USA, a nonprofit that works to reduce childhood injuries. Now, fire safety experts hope that public education efforts will turn to burns that can be just as terrible as injuries caused by flame.
1. Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one? People used to be warned of the fire burns.
2. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with a proper sentence.(within 10 words)
3. What is the best title for this passage? (within 10 words)
4. For what purpose does the author mention “a cup of tea” or “a tumble into a space heater” in Paragraph 2?(within 10 words)
5. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese.
Modern life is a lot les s to the advantage of friendships and neighborliness than it used to be. The average American moves every five years. People drive straight into their garages, hire lawn services, hang out in their backyards instead of their front porches (前走廊). These days, neighbors don't even know each other's names.
Good neighbors and good friends are a lot like electricity or running water: We don't know how much we depend on them until we don't have them. In fact, the authors of a recent book, Refrigerator Rights, claim that refrigerators are signs of close relationships--after all, you wouldn't snatch a drumstick(鸡腿) from the refrigerator of a stranger.
The surprising thing is that all it takes to strengthen your relationship with friends and neighbors is respect for their feelings, concern for their property, and a helping hand when it's needed. Here's how to develop your relationships with two types of vitally important people in your life.
_________________. A true friend doesn't flee when changes occur. The sign of a good friend is one who stays true through it all--marriage, parenthood, new jobs, new homes, the losses. Just because situations change doesn't mean the person has to.
Friendships fade away if there isn't an balance between the give and the take. So make sure you aren't being a burden to your friends. Be sensitive to how much your friend can and can't offer you--be it time, energy, or help -- and don't step over the line. Meanwhile, friendships that drain(耗尽) you will not last. If a friendship is out of balance in this way, you'll need to talk the situation through.
1. Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?
A true friend will stay the same even when the situations change.
2. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with a proper sentence. (Within 10 words)
3. What advice is given in the last paragraph? (Within 10 words)
4. What do you think the author will go on talking about if the passage continues?(Within 10 words)
5. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese.
So you're between the ages of 13 and 24. What makes you happy? Spending time with family was the top answer to that open-ended question, according to an extensive survey--more than 100 questions asked of 1,280 people aged 13-24 -- conducted by The Associated Press on the nature of happiness among America's young people.
Next was spending time with friends. And good news for parents: Nearly three quarters of young people say their relationship __________ makes them happy.
"They're my foundation," says Kristiana St. John, 17, a high-school student from Queens in New York. "My mom tells me that even if I do something stupid, she's still going to love me no matter what. Just knowing that makes me feel very happy and blessed."
Other results are more disconcerting. While most young people are happy overall with the way their lives are going, there are racial differences: the poll shows whites to be happier than blacks and Hispanics. A lot of young people feel stress, particularly those from the middle class, and females more than males.
You might think money would be clearly tied to a general sense of happiness. But almost no one said "money" when asked what makes them happy, though people with the highest family incomes are generally happier with life. However, having highly educated parents is a stronger predictor of happiness than income.
Overwhelmingly, young people think marriage would make them happy and want to be married some day. Most also want to have kids.
Finally, when asked to name their heroes, nearly half of respondents mentioned one or both of their parents. The winner, by a nose: Mom.
1. What is the best title of the passage? (Please answer within 10 words)
2. Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?
Although most youths are generally happy with their present life. There are differences between different races.
3. Please fill in the blank in the second paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 10 words)
4. What do you think is the most important factor that makes you happy? Why? (Please answer within 30 words)
5. Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.