II. 阅读理解（Reading comprehension）（共20小题；选择题5小题，每小题1分；非选择题15小题，每小题2分，计35分）
A) 选择题：阅读下面的短文，根据文意从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和D）中，选出能回答所提问题或完成所给句子的最佳选项。(Read the following passage which is followed by five questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the passage.)
Mexic Past and Present
Hundreds of years ago, Native-American tribes lived in Mexico. The Aztecs built beautiful cities. They had a calendar (历法) and a written language. However, the Spanish destroyed the Aztecs in 1521. For the next 300 years, Spain ruled over Mexico. That's why Mexicans speak Spanish.
Every September 16 the Mexican people hold a celebration in Mexico City, their country's capital. It is their Independence Day. On that date in 1821 they told Spain they would no longer be ruled.
Breaking free from Spain caused a war. When it was over, the Mexicans had their own government. They made their own laws.
Today America and Mexico are friends, but it wasn't always that way. President James Polk wanted America to reach from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. He tried to buy what is now the American southwest from Mexico. Mexico would not sell. So from 1846 to 1848 Mexico and America fought a war to ascertain where their borders would be. When the war ended, Mexico had lost a lot of land. Now the Rio Grande River forms the border between the two nations. America is on the north side of the river. Mexico is on the south side.
Mexico has mountains and a hot, dry climate. Crops can grow on only a small part of the land. Still, Mexicans grow much of the coffee, oranges, and sugar used in the US. Mexicans have influenced building styles in southwestern US and added words such as patio and canton to American English. Americans also enjoy eating many Mexican foods like burritos, tacos, tortillas, and tamales.
46. According to the passage, what happened second on a historical timeline?
A. Mexicans declared their independence from Spain.
B. The Spanish ruled Mexico.
C. The Aztecs lived in Mexico.
D. Americans fought a war with Mexico.
47. The passage says that President Polk wanted ________.
A. the US to expand its borders to the Pacific Ocean
B. Mexico to change its Independence Day to July 4th
C. Mexico to become one of the states of the Union
D. Americans to adopt the Mexican language
48. Another word for the underlined word “ascertain” is ________.
A. inspect B. discover C. change D. determine
49. Mexicans have the following influences on America EXCEPT ________.
A. building styles B. vocabulary
C. clothes D. food
50. Before the Aztecs were conquered, these Native Americans probably ________.
A. didn't speak Spanish
B. couldn't read or write any language
C. didn't have tools
D. didn't understand the concept of time
On a hot African morning, Leila was lying on her stomach and an elephant was walking towards her. Leila waited. Then she pushed the button on her camera. “And I got my best photo of an elephant ever, by lying under my car,” Leila explained. “I wanted to get close to the elephants, but of course this was dangerous; they had their babies with them. So every morning I used to park my car in the open near the path (小道). They used to take the same path every morning when they left the water hole. After a week, they were used to seeing my car. So the next morning, I lay under it and got my photo!”
Many of the best wildlife photos come from good planning. In Africa, photographers set up their hides (隐匿处) near water holes. They also set up hides near forest paths, as animals use the same paths every night. For bird-watching, many lakes have hides. Inside the hides, bird-watchers can watch all day in the shade (荫处) out of the wind and rain.
Good wildlife photos are needed for books, postcards, magazines and newspapers. But a success rate of 1 in 20 is good.Why did Leila lie under her car on the stomach?
| A．Because she wanted to sleep. |
| B．Because she wanted to take photos but was afraid of the animals. |
| C．Because it’s easy to see the elephants. |
| D．Because it’s very comfortable. |
How can photograpers take good photos?
| A．By making good preparation. | B．By going into the forest at night. |
| C．By walking around the holes. | D．By going to the nearest lake. |
Which of the following statements is right according to the passage?
| A．All animals go to water holes at night. |
| B．Lakes are good places for bird-watching. |
| C．Leila used her car to prevent the sunshine. |
| D．Animaals pay no attention to photographers. |
What can we know from the underlined sentence?
| A．The successf rate of taking wildlife photos is 50% at most. |
| B．Photographers who take wildlife photos need more practice. |
| C．To take good wildlife photos is not difficult. |
| D．It’s hard to take good wildlife photos. |
Have you ever noticed someone "talking" to them-selves? What did you think? The word "crazy" probably came to your mind. Wait a minute, though. Maybe they’re doing something meaningful.
Speaking practice can be effective in many different forms when people learn English or another foreign language. Imitating the speech of others is proven to be highly effective in developing a native speaker’s level of fluency in a language. Actually you’ve already proven that to your-self.
How? That’s how you learned your first language! Whether it was English, Spanish, French or some other language, you "imitated" your mother, father, other family members, friends, teachers and whoever else was around making "talking" noises at you as you formed your first communicative language skills.
So don’t think those who are talking to themselves are "crazy". At least don’t do so until you’ve tried it for your-self, in English or in your new foreign language.
As you go through your day, in English or your new foreign language, tell yourself what you’re doing at the moment and what you’re going to do during the day.
"Which of these shirts, ties, etc. should I wear today? Not this one, I wore it just last week. Maybe this one, but I don’t like this color with the pants. Let’s try another one," you might say as you are getting dressed.
If you live alone, you can talk aloud whenever you want without disturbing others. If you don’t live alone, however, then first explain to your family or roommates what you’ll be doing, to avoid a quiet phone call to the local psychiatrist (精神病学家).The author wrote the passage mainly to _______.
| A．tell us how to talk to ourselves |
| B．introduce a method of learning a foreign language |
| C．tell us why some people talk to themselves |
| D．explain to us how we learned our native language |
What does the underlined word "it" in the fifth paragraph refer to?
| A．The word "crazy". | B．A foreign language. |
| C．The skill of communicating. | D．The method of talking to oneself. |
From the passage we can know that ______.
| A．people who talk to themselves are crazy |
| B．if you live alone, you should talk to yourself |
| C．you should tell yourself what you’re doing |
| D．we learned our native language by imitating |
An inventor seeks to create a new product that serves a specific need and fulfills a role that other products do not. Sometimes an inventor comes up with a wholly new idea, but more often inventions are simply improvements on an older design. With a little imagination and creativity (创造力), an old idea can suddenly become something new.
However, creating a new invention means much more than having a brilliant idea. A good designer follows the design process: identifying the challenge, researching and brainstorming ideas(集思广益), designing a solution, testing and evaluating the ideas, and finally building the product. Designers also use science, math, technology, and engineering to design a tool that satisfies the need they identified.
Anyone can be an inventor —even kids! For example, Chester Greenwood was just fifteen years old when he invented a product that changed his life. In fact, his idea was so good that his invention supported him for the rest of his life. You may not know his name, but you probably know his invention —earmuffs (保暖耳罩)!
The inspiration for his earmuff design came to Chester when he was ice-skating. His ears were cold, and he decided to find a way to keep them warm. With the help of his grandmother, he made a new product to protect his ears and at the age of eighteen, Chester patented his earmuff design.
Many other famous inventors started young as well. Margaret Knight —the inventor of the flat-bottomed brown paper bag —is said to have created a safety device for textile looms(织布机) when she was just twelve years old. Another example is Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors in history, who applied for his first patent when he was just twenty-one years old. Over the course of his life, Thomas Edison patented a total of 1,093 inventions!In most cases, an invention ________ according to the first paragraph.
| A．comes from a complete new idea | B．is usually based on an old product or idea |
| C．will change its creator’s life completely | D．is created by scientists in different fields |
The second paragraph mainly wants to tell us _______.
| A．the difficulty in making a new invention | B．the common steps of creating new things |
| C．having a good idea is the key to creation | D．designing a tool is the first step in inventing |
The example of Chester Greenwood is used to show that ________.
| A．children can also invent something |
| B．it is easy even for children to make inventions |
| C．kids have more advantages in inventing things |
| D．to be an inventor is the best way to change one’s life |
At first Chester designed his earmuffs in order to ________.
| A．protect his ears while ice-skating |
| B．earn money to support his poor family |
| C．realize his dream of becoming an inventor |
| D．make himself look fashionable while ice-skating |
Students who say they never or hardly ever used dictionaries may speak English well but usually write poorly, because they make many mistakes.
The students who use dictionaries most do not learn especially well either. The ones who look up every new word do not read fast. Therefore they do not have time to read much. Those who use small two-language dictionaries have the worst problems. Their dictionaries often give only one or two words as translations of English. But one English word often has many translations in a foreign language and one foreign word has many translations in English.
The most successful students are those who use large college edition dictionaries with about 100,000 words but do not use them too often. When they are reading, these students first try to get the general idea and understand new words from the context. Then they reread and use the dictionary to look up only key words that they still do not understand. They use dictionaries more for writing. If they are not sure how to spell a word, they always use a dictionary. Also, if they think a noun might have an unusual plural form, they check this in a dictionary.The writer thinks that ___________.
| A．choose a good dictionary, and you’ll be successful in learning English |
| B．dictionaries are not necessary to the students who learn English |
| C．it is very important for students to use good dictionaries properly |
| D．using dictionaries very often can’t help to improve writing |
According to the passage, which of the following is WRONG?
| A．Dictionaries have little effect on learning to speak English. |
| B．Whatever new words you meet while reading, never use dictionaries. |
| C．Small two-language dictionaries have serious shortcomings. |
| D．Reading something for the first time, you’d better not use dictionaries. |
When in the reading does the writer advise students to use a good dictionary?
| A．At the beginning of the reading | B．At the end of the reading |
| C．During the first reading | D．After the first reading |
This passage mainly tells us .
| A．that students shouldn’t use small two-language dictionaries |
| B．what were the shortcomings of small two-language dictionaries |
| C．why students should use large college edition dictionaries |
| D．what dictionary students should choose and how to use it |
Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave￡12,000 to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground.
As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy-five. Johnson had a sense of humor. He liked whisky (威士忌酒) and drank some each day. “I have an injection (注射) in my neck each evening,” he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injection.The gift of money to the school suggests (暗示) that Johnson ___________.
| A．had no children | B．was a strange man |
| C．was very fond of children | D．wanted people to know how rich he was |
Many people wrote to Johnson to find out ___________.
| A．what kind of whisky he had | B．how to live longer |
| C．how to become wealthy | D．in which part of the neck to have an injection |
The newspaperman ___________.
| A．should have reported what Johnson had told him |
| B．shouldn’t have asked Johnson what injection he had |
| C．was eager to live a long life |
| D．should have found out what Johnson really meant |
When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening, he really meant that ___________.
| A．he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening |
| B．he needn’t an injection in the neck |
| C．a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well |
| D．there was something wrong with his neck |