Today, roller skating is easy and fun．But a long time ago, it wasn’t easy at all. Before 1750, the idea of skating didn’t exist. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin’s work was making musical instruments. In his spare time he liked to play the violin. Joseph Merlin was a man of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.
One day Merlin received an invitation to attend a fancy dress ball（化装舞会）. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think how to make a grand entrance at the party. He had an idea. He thought he would get a lot of attention if he could skate into the room.
Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention and dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.
On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room playing his violin. Everyone was astonished to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. He rolled on and on. Suddenly, he ran into a huge mirror that was hanging on the wall. Down fell the mirror, breaking to pieces. Nobody forgot Merlin’s grand entrance for a long time!
60．The text is mainly about ________.
A．a strange man B．an unusual party
C．how roller skating began D．how people enjoyed themselves in the 18th century
61．People thought Merlin was a dreamer because he _________.
A．often gave others surprises B．was a gifted musician
C．invented the roller skates D．was full of imagination
62．Merlin put wheels under his shoes in order to ________ .
A．impress the party guests B．arrive at the party sooner
C．test his invention D．show his skill in walking on wheels
63．What is the main point the writer is trying to make in the last paragraph?
A．The roller skates needed further improvement. B．The party guests took Merlin for a fool.
C．Merlin succeeded beyond expectation. D．Merlin got himself into trouble.
What do college teachers think of high school English teachers’English teaching? And how should we see it? Let’s read the following.
A teacher from a community college addressed a sympathetic audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, “High school English teachers are not doing their jobs.” He described how weak his students were—all high school graduates who can use language only at a Grade 9 level.
My topic is not standards nor its decline（降低）. What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.
My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following is natural. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies（缺陷）. But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.
The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults, the language of the young always seems inadequate.
Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not seen as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar(特有的) to today’s young people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs.The speaker believed that ________.
| A．he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for sixteen years |
| B．the younger generation was as likely as not worse at language than the older generation |
| C．high school English teachers should be responsible for their students’ poor command of English |
| D．The fact that the students didn’t work hard enough contributed to their poor command of English |
In the author’s opinion, the speaker ________.
| A．had exaggerated (夸大) the language problems of the students |
| B．was right in saying English teachers were not doing their jobs |
| C．gave a correct judgment of the English level of the students |
| D．thought and spoke in a wise and responsible way |
What can we conclude from the passage?
| A．Language learning and improving needs time and effort. |
| B．The author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level. |
| C．It is reasonable to include English as one of the high school subjects. |
| D．The English language teaching is by no means an easy job for college teachers. |
The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is ________.
| A．neutral（中立的） | B．critical |
| C．positive | D．compromising(妥协的) |
Paracutin was born in Mexico in February, 1943. At the end of one week Paracutin was 500 feet high, and it is now over 9,000 feet high. Today Paracutin is asleep.
What is Paracutin? It was the first volcano(火山) in the world which was seen from its birth right up to the present day. On February 20, 1943, a peasant and his wife set out to work in their corn fields from the Mexican village of Paracutin. They were surprised to find the earth warm under their feet. Suddenly they heard noises deep in the earth and a small hole appeared in their field. In the afternoon there was a sudden loud noise and stones were thrown high in the air. The peasants ran from the field and turned to watch. They saw the birth of a volcano.
Large quantities of stone and lava（岩浆）broke out and a little hill began to form. By evening this hill was 100 feet high and hot ashes（灰烬）were falling on the village. At night the strong light of the hot lava lit up the countryside. The trees near the village were killed and the villagers had to leave their houses. When the village was destroyed, its name was given to the volcano. The news quickly reached Mexico City, far to the east. Many people came to watch the scene. The volcano grew and grew for ten years and hundreds of square miles of forest were destroyed. Then Paracutin went to sleep.Paracutin was once the name of______.
| A．a peasant | B．a village | C．an old mountain | D．a Mexican |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．Paracutin is not active now. |
| B．Paracutin is the first volcano in the world. |
| C．Paracutin did not exist until the early 1940s. |
| D．It took Paracutin 10 years to grow to its present size. |
What was destroyed in the growing up of the volcano?
| A．The little hill of stone. |
| B．The villagers living close by. |
| C．The forest and fields round Paracutin. |
| D．The Mexican peasant and his wife. |
In this passage the writer is trying to______.
| A．tell us an interesting happening |
| B．explain a scientific theory |
| C．make us believe something |
| D．make up an interesting story |
What can we learn about volcanoes from this passage?
| A．New volcanoes may appear in places where people do not expect them to be |
| B．Volcanoes are always growing. |
| C．Volcanoes are active from time to time. |
| D．New volcanoes are active for only ten years. |
A student is learning to speak British English. He wonders (想知道): Can I communicate(交流) with Americans? Can they understand me? Learners of English often ask: What are the differences between British and American English? How important are these differences?
Certainly! there are some differences between British and American English. ‘There are a few differences in grammar. For example, speakers of British English say “in hospital” and “Have you a pen?” Americans say “in the hospital!” and “Do you have a pen?”. Pronunciation is sometimes different. Americans usually sound theirs in words like “bird” and “hurt”. Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words. There are differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, “colour” and “honour” are British, “color” and honor” are American.
These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however. For the most part, British and American English are the same language.According to this passage, a student who is learning to speak American English might be afraid that_______.
| A． British people cannot understand him |
| B． American people cannot understand him |
| C． the grammar is too hard for him |
| D． the spelling is too hard for him |
American English and British English are different in ________.
| A．spelling | B．pronunciation | C．grammar | D．all of the above |
What is not mentioned (提及) in the passage?
| A．Whether there are differences between British English and American English. |
| B．Whether British English and American English are one language or two. |
| C．How the differences between British English and American English came about. |
| D．How important the differences are. |
Most ________ say “Do you have a watch?”
| A．British people | B．Americans | C．children | D．teachers |
According to this passage, British people and Americans have _________ difficulty in understanding each other.
| A．little | B．much | C．some | D．great |
People who cannot tell all colors apart are said to be color-blind. Most color-blind people can see yellows and blues, but confuse reds with green. It is very rare for a person to be blind to all colors, but they may see everything in shades of black, white and gray.
It is interesting to point out that many color-blind people don’t even realize that they are color-blind, they don’t know that the colors they are seeing and naming are not the actual colors that people with normal vision can see. This can be dangerous when a color-blind person confuses the red and green of a traffic light.
Color blindness is thought to be inherited（遗传）and although doctors have tested color blindness, there is no cure to treatment for it.There are four cards here, and each has two colors. Which card’s colors do you think a color-blind person can tell correctly?
| A．Red, Green | B．Green, Yellow | C．Red, Brown | D．Brown, Yellow |
A color-blind person______.
| A．always knows how color-blind he is |
| B．often gives the wrong name of colors |
| C．see everything as the same color |
| D．can hardly see something of strong colors |
It’s especially dangerous for a color-blind person to cross a street when_____
| A．it is crowded |
| B．it is a dark night |
| C．there are no traffic lights at the cross of the streets |
| D．the traffic light turns red |
A person who is color-blind is believed to have something to do with_____.
| A．his old age |
| B．his poor eyesight |
| C．his parents or grandparents |
| D．his living condition |
Up to now, doctors______.
| A．have found a way to prevent a person from getting color-blind |
| B．have found a way to free a person from his color blindness |
| C．have been able to tell whether a person is color-blind or not |
| D．have made it quite clear the cause of color blindness |
Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men”, said Goldspink.
They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease.
“The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to ________.
| A．health | B．long life | C．ageing | D．effect |
The text mainly talks about ________.
| A．men’s heart cells | B．women’s ageing process |
| C．the gender difference | D．hearts and long life |
According to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.
| A．women have more cells than men when they are born |
| B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat |
| C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age |
| D．women never lose their pumping power with age |
If you want to live longer, you should ________.
| A．enable your heart to beat much faster | B．find out the reason for ageing |
| C．exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy | D．prevent your cells from being lost |
We can know from the passage that ________.
| A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out |
| B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells |
| C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss |
| D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20 |