第三部分：阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，共30分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Who decides how English is spoken around the world? Do teachers in the colleges and schools? What about those who write dictionaries or books? Do they decide what is good and what is bad English? Or do governments decide when a language will change? Probably you have thought about this question once or twice before. The answer is that none of these people decide how English will be spoken. Believe it or not, many of the biggest changes in how English is spoken have come from common people in the streets. And one of the most important places where English has changed is on the playground! These playground can be any place where young people meet, such as a sports field or a beach. For example, black kids invented many new words in American English as they played basketball or music. Often words used by black kids in the big cities become popular with other kids many years later. Another popular sport, baseball, has also given many words and expressions to American English. On the beaches of southern California, teenagers invented words to describe how they felt when they surfed. These words found their way into the high schools and then to other places. Similar changes in English happened among young people in Ireland and Australia. Children from one group would find ways to play with children of another group more easily. Often they made new words just to develop an identity different from their parents.
56. Who decides how English is spoken?
A. Governments B. Teachers C. Ordinary people D. Black kids
57. According to the passage many English words come from ______.
A. everyday life B. textbooks C. dictionaries D. baseballs
58. Why do these kids invent new words?
A. because they want to make up a dictionary.
B. because they try to beat their teachers.
C. because they are asked to do so.
D. because they want to feel different from their parents
Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life to the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is “to face the music”.
When someone says, “Well, I guess I’ll have to face the music.” It does not mean he’s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, any why you didn’t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At some time or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry voice, “I want to talk to you.” and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Cooper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, “Well, it’s time to face the music.” And that is exactly what they did- facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of the audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression “to face the music” came to mean “having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.”
Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about hw well they looked. Was their equipment clean, whinny enough to pass inspection? Still the men had to go out, and face the music of the band, as well as the inspection. What else could they do?
Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example, when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.According to the passage, how many ways does the phrase “to face the music” come from?
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
What’s the meaning of “to face the music?”
| A．To face something far less pleasant. | B．To face the stage. |
| C．To face the back of one’s horse. | D．To face one’s leader. |
The underlined word “hostile” in Paragraph 3 means “”.
| A．unfriendly | B．dislike | C．unimportant | D．unnecessary |
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful bird, which was very curious about hell. When she was little, her mother always told her that if she didn’t master the flying skills, she would go to hell. She was so curious about hell that she always asked others what hell looked like, but no one was sure, because none of them had ever been there. Some said hell was a place full of water, and others told her that hell was full of burning fire. However, the bird knew they were lying. She wanted to find out what hell was.
When other birds were learning flying skills, she always hid herself and watched them. She thought in this way she could go to hell and see what hell looked like. However, she spent so little time learning flying skills that one day she was caught by a little boy. The little boy gave her to his grandpa in the countryside as a gift. The old man liked her very much. He made a delicate cage and put her in it. The bird was very worried because she thought she couldn’t find out what hell was like staying in this small cage. However, she couldn’t escape. Day after day, she just stayed in the cage, watching other birds flying. She lost her freedom and she became sadder and sadder. At last, she became ill. The old man finally opened the cage, but she was too weak to fly. Lying no the ground, she thought of the question that she ever asked all the time.
“What does hell look like?”
“Hell is a small well-decorated cage.” Before she closed her eyes forever, she finally answered that question herself.What does the underlined word “master” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．Miss. | B．Finish. | C．Follow. | D．Learn well. |
Why did the bird hide herself when other birds were learning flying skills?
| A．Because she was lazy. |
| B．Because she didn’t like learning flying skills. |
| C．Because she thought she could go to hell by doing this. |
| D．Because she thought she didn’t have to learn flying skills. |
According to the passage, the bird at last found that.
| A．hell was a place full of water. | B．hell was a place full of burning fire |
| C．there was no hell | D．hell was a small well-decorated cage |
“If there is one thing I’m sure about, it is that in a hundred years from now we will still be reading newspapers. It is not that newspapers are a necessity. Even now some people get most of their news from television or radio. Many buy a paper only on Saturday or Sunday. But for most people reading a newspaper has become a habit passed down from generation to generation.
The nature of what is news may change. What basically makes news is what affects our lives-the big political stories, the coverage of the wars, earthquakes and other disasters, will continue much the same. I think there will be more coverage of scientific research, though. It’s already happening in areas that may directly affect our lives, like genetic（基因的）engineering. In the future, I think there will be more coverage of scientific explanations of why we feel as w
e do-as we develop a better understanding of how the brain operates and what our feelings really are.
It’s quite possible that in the next century newspapers will be transmitted electronically from Fleet Street and printed out in our own home. In fact, I’m pretty sure that it will happen in the future. You will probably be able to choose from a menu, making up your own newspaper by picking out the things you want to read-sport and international news. etc.
I think people have got it wrong when they talk about competition between the different media（媒体）. They actually feed off each other. Some people once foresaw that television would kill off newspapers, but that hasn’t happened. What is read on the printed page lasts longer than pictures on a screen or sound lost in the air. And as for the Internet, it’s never really pleasant to read something just on a screen.In the writer’s opinion, in the future, .
| A．more big political affairs, wars and disasters will make news |
| B．newspapers will not be printed in publishing houses any longer |
| C．newspapers will cover more scientific research |
| D．more and more people will watch TV |
From the passage, we can infer that.
| A．newspapers will win the competition among the different media |
| B．newspapers will stay with us together with other media |
| C．television will take the place of the newspaper |
| D．the writer believes some media will die out |
The phrase “feed off” in the last paragraph means “”.
| A．depend on | B．compete with | C．fight with | D．kill off |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．The Best Way to Get News. | B．The Changes of Media. |
| C．Make Your Own newspaper. | D．The Future of Newspaper. |
There is a definite possibility that the climate of the world may be changing. Some scientists imagine that this could even mean the beginning of another ice age. The effects of such a change in climate on the human population of the world would be startling（惊人的）.
Recent research suggests that the general warming trend of the past hundred years or so may be coming to an end. During the past ten years, meteorologists tell us the average temperature of the Earth has dropped about one degree Fahrenheit. This does not seem like much, but it could have effects on wind and rain patterns which influence the overall weather picture. If these patterns change a lot, it could mean that certain regions of the world may continue to have long droughts while others will possibly suffer from widespread flooding.
What regulates（调节）the climate is not exactly known. Meteorologists believe that clouds may be an important factor in regulating the amount of solar heat held by the Earth, which in turn determines the temperature of the planet. Another possibility is that man’s industrial and agricultural methods may be affecting the natural weather patterns. However, the weather is not understood well enough for scientists to say for certain what is happening to the climate and what side effects this will actually have on the world’s population.According to the passage, the climate of the world seems to.
| A．be getting colder | B．be getting warmer |
| C．remain the same in the past ten years | D．have good effects on the world’s population |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Man’s activities have no effect on the climate. |
| B．Another ice age will come soon. |
| C．People don’t care about the changing climate. |
| D．Scientists are not yet sure about the reason for the changing climate. |
A meteorologist is a person who.
reads weather forecasts on radio or television
B. thinks there will be another ice age
C. studies and knows about the weather
D. believes there will be widespread flooding Which of the following may be the factor(s) that affect(s) the natural weather patterns?
| A．Clouds. | B．The amount of heat the Earth receives. |
| C．Man’s industrial and agricultural methods. | D．All of the above. |
The best title for the passage would be.
| A．Droughts and Floods. | B．Meteorologists |
| C．The Changing Climate | D．Solar Heat |
In the future your automobile will run on water instead of gas! You will be able to buy a supercomputer that fits in your pocket! You might even drive a flying car!
For each prediction that has come true today, several others have missed by a mile. Many of these predictions didn’t consider how people would want to use the technology, or if people really needed it in their lives or not. Let’s look at some predictions from the not-too-distant past.
Robot Helpers
Where’s the robot in my kitchen? Nowhere, of course. And he’s probably not coming anytime soon. Robots do exist today, but mostly in factories and other manufacturing environments.
Back in the 1950s, however, people said that by now personal robots would be in most people’s homes.
So why hasn’t it happened? Probably because robots are still too expensive and clumsy. And maybe the idea of robots cooking our dinners and washing our clothes is just too weird. At home we seem to be doing fine without them.
Telephones of Tomorrow
In 1964 an American company introduced the video telephone. They said by the year 2000 most people would have a video phone in their homes. But of course the idea hasn’t caught on yet.
Why? The technology worked fine, but it over—looked something obvious: people’s desire for privac
y. Would you want to have a video phone conversation with someone after you just step out of the shower? Probably not---it could be embarrassing! Just because a technology available doesn’t always mean people will want to use it.
And finally, how about that crazy prediction of the flying car? It’s not so crazy anymore! But a flying car remains one of the most fascinating technology ideas to capture our imagination. Keep watching the news, or perhaps the sky outside your window, to see what the future will bring. The whole passage is mainly about ________________.
| A．predictions that have come true. | B．predictions that haven’t come true. |
| C．why predictions don’t come true easily. | D．what technology will bring about. |
The author of this passage won’t believe that _________________.
| A．predictions needn’t consider people’s practical use of technology. |
| B．the future isn’t always easy to guess. |
| C．not all past predictions have come true. |
| D．many of the high—tech things our parents thought we’d be using by now |
simply never appeared.The underlined word “weird” probably means __________.
| A．wonderful | B．stupid | C．practical | D．strange |
What does the author think of the flying car?
| A．It is too difficult to imagine. | B．It is too crazy an idea. |
| C．It is likely to be made. | D．It is often reported in the news. |