第三部分：阅读理解（共对小题；每小题2分，满分物分）
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。
Relation between the United States and Columbia suffered for many years because of an incident involving the Republic of Panama. By the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, many Americans felt that an easier and faster way was needed to get ships from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Some people in the United States first believed that a canal across Nicaragua was the answer. However, President Theodore Roosevelt decided that a canal through Panama would be a better choice.
In order to build the canal , the United States had to negotiate （谈判） a treaty with Columbia , which at that time controlled Panama . Roosevelt offered Columbia $ 10 million plus $ 250,000 a year for 99 years for a six-mile-wide strip of land across Panama. Columbia rejected the United States’ offer. This ranged President Roosevelt, and negotiations with Columbia ended.
In 1903, a revolution broke out in Panama. The United States ships were sent by President Roosevelt to protect the Panamanian revolutionaries from Columbian forces. The revolution succeeded, and Panama declared its independence from Columbia. The United States then negotiated with the newly formed government. A treaty was signed, and the United States began building the canal.
As a result of the incident, Columbia and the United States remained on bad terms for many years. Not until 1921, when the United States agreed to pay Columbia some compensation (赔偿) for its territory, did relations between the two countries improve.
56. According to the passage, the United States and Columbia were on bad terms because the United States had ________.
A. at first wished to build a canal through Nicaragua
B. promised to pay Columbia $ 10 million for Panama
C. wished to build a canal through Panama
D. supported Panamanian revolutionaries in their fight for independence from Columbia.
57. From the information in the passage, it can be concluded that the United States ______.
A. wanted to build a canal because it was considered starting a war
B. felt that building a canal through Panama was worth the risk of ruining relations with Columbia
C. believed that a canal through Nicaragua would be profitable
D. had lost the Spanish-American War
58. It can be inferred from the passage that an important reason for the decision of the United States to build a canal was to _______.
A. develop trade relations with Europe
B. improve relations with South American countries
C. prevent European ships from reaching the Pacific Ocean
D. reduce travel time for its ships in case of war
59. The passage mainly gives us________.
A. advice B. information C. humor D. news
While watching the games the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight. It was not a gold medal, or a world record broken, but a show of courage.
The event was swimming and started with only three men on the blocks. For one reason or another, two of them false started, so they were disqualified. That left only one to complete. It would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is important.
I watched the man dive off the bock and knew right away that something was wrong. I’m not an expert swimmer, but I can tell a good dive from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he resurfaced, it was evident that the man was not out for gold — his arms were waving in an attempt at freestyle. The crowd started to laugh. Clearly this man was not a medal competitor.
I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man who was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. It was pitiful. He made a few desperate strokes and you could tell he was worn out.
But in those few awful strokes, the crowd had changed.
No longer were they laughing, but beginning to cheer. Some even began to stand and shout “Come on, you can do it!” and he did.
A clear minute past the average swimmer, this young man finally finished his race. The crowd went wild. You would have thought that he had won the gold, and should have. Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors.
Just a short year ago, he had never even swum, let alone race. His country had been invited to Sydney.
In a competition where athletes remove their silver medals feeling they have somehow been cheated out of gold, or when they act so proudly in front of their competitors, it is nice to watch an underdog.
68.From the passage we can learn that the young man _______.
A. made his turn to start back pitifully
B. was skillful in freestyle in the game
C. swam faster than the average swimmer
D. was not capable enough to win the medal
69. The crowd changed their attitudes because _______.
A. they felt sorry for the young man
B. they wanted to show their sympathy
C. they were moved by the young man
D. they meant to please the young man
70. According to the passage, “it is nice to watch an underdog” probably means _______.
A. it’s amusing to watch a man with awful swimming skills
B. it’s amazing to watch an ordinary man challenging himself
C. it’s cheerful for athletes to act proudly before their competitors
D. it’s brave enough for some athletes to remove the silver medals
71. What’s the best title for the passage?
A. Go for it! B. Try again！
C. Compete for Gold! D. Break a Record!
Beijing(Xinhua)------More than seven hundred students will serve for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games not as volunteers but as interns(实习生), working for months before the event and during the Games to help ensure its success.
A co-operation agreement was signed between the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (GOCOG) and 16 Beijing-based universities and colleges. The schools will prepare the students to be interns.
Although the interns will work without pay, they are considered different to volunteers, who will also provide services for the Games.
Well-known schools such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University and Beijing Jiaotong University are included on the list.
The interns will work much longer than the Games’ volunteers, since they have to begin their work at BOCOG as early as one year before the Games start, while most of the volunteers work only during the 16 days of the Games. They have to finish the required lessons of their universities first and then learn more in their specialities to qualify to work for the BOCOG. They will take some special classes on Olympic knowledge and certain professional lessons outside the university to meet the needs of serving in the Olympics.
The 706 interns will be made up of 446 postgraduates, 118 undergraduates and 142 higher vocational students. They will come from such majors as foreign languages, media and communications, logistics and legal affairs.
According to university officials, the undergraduates will be students who have been admitted to college two years ago(2005) while the postgraduates will be those who enter next year.
63．The interns will be chosen from __________.
A．students whose homes are in Beijing B．students studying in Beijing
C．only 6 famous schools D．schools all over China
64．What’s the difference between the interns and the volunteers?
A．The volunteers receive no pay.
B．The interns work during the Games.
C．The volunteers come mainly from universities.
D．The interns provide longer, more specialized services.
65．The chosen students will be busy because they have to __________.
A．learn both in and outside the university
B．graduate ahead of time
C．look for part-time jobs
D．learn many extra subjects at college
66．A chosen undergraduate will begin to work for BOCOG __________.
A．in his or her first college year B．in his or her second college year
C．in his or her third college year D．in his or her fourth college year
67. Where can you find this kind of passage?
A. Newspaper B. Magazine C. Textbook D. Novel
Edinburgh takes on Leinster in their Rugby Union match on Friday evening where it should be a dry night with some clear spells. It will feel chilly in the wind, with temperatures at the start of the match around only 6℃ (430F).
There will be some light rain on Friday afternoon for the races in Newbury. It will stay rather cloudy and will feel cold in the wind with a high of 8 ℃. But the weather will not be too much of a problem for the event.
A slow moving storm system spreads cloud, rain and colder weather across New York. This will be the case, not only tonight, but right through until Friday. Saturday the weather will start to change to a more spring pattern with mild and fine weather again on Sunday, when the biggest American football match kicks off.
Keep an umbrella handy.
A cold front will push eastward from Texas to the southern half of the Mississippi Valley by Friday evening. Strong two severe thunderstorms have already developed, from eastern Kansas and western Missouri southward to central and eastern Texas. All outdoor sports events will be impossible in these areas.
60. If you want to watch the Rugby match on Friday, you'd better .
A. wear warm clothes and a raincoat B. wear warm clothes
C. take an umbrella with you D. wear a sport suit
61. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A. There will not be any sports matches or races in central and eastern Texas because of the coming thunderstorm.
B. The weather will be fine when the football match starts in New York.
C. The races will continue in Newbury in spite of the rainy weather.
D. Mississippi Valley runs from north to south.
62. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Bad weather happens abruptly in New York.
B. The races in Newbury will be cancelled because of the weather.
C. 6 ℃ is a high temperature for the season when the match takes place.
D. Edinburgh and Leinster refer to two Rugby teams in the passage.
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下面短文，从每题后所给的四个选项A、B、C、D中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Without proper planning, tourism can cause problems. For example, too many tourists can crowd public places that are also enjoyed by the inhabitants of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants become annoyed and unhappy. They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely. They forget how much tourism can help the country’s economy. It is important to think about the people of a destination country and how tourism affects them. Tourism should help a country, keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists. Tourism should also advance the wealth and happiness of local inhabitants.
Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too quickly, people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry. This means that other parts of the country’s economy can suffer.
On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people can lose jobs. Businesses can also lose money. It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels, airports, air terminals, first- class roads, and other support facilities（配套设施）needed by tourist attractions. For example, a major international class tourism hotel can cost as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build. If this room is not used most of the time, the owners of the hotel lose money.
Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many support facilities as well, including roads to get to the hotel, electricity, sewers to handle waste, and water. All of these support facilities cost money. If they are not used because there are not enough tourists , jobs and money are lost.
56．Which of the following do you think has been discussed in the part before this selection？
A. It is extremely important to develop tourism.
B. Building roads and hotels is essential.
C. Support facilities are highly necessary.
D. Planning is of great importance to tourism.
57．Too much tourism can cause all these problems EXCEPT ________ .
A. a bad effect on other industries B. a change of tourists’ customs
C. over - crowdedness of places of interest D. pressure on traffic
58．It can be inferred from the text that ________ .
A. the author doesn’t like tourism developing so fast
B. local people will benefit from tourist attraction
C. other parts of a country’s economy won’t benefit from tourism much
D. we can't build too many support facilities
59．The author thinks it is good for local people to know that tourism will ________ .
A. waste a lot of money B. weaken their economy
C. help establish their customs D. help improve their life
The most popular way to welcome the new year in the United States is to h
ave a big party. Some parties are at people’s homes. But in recent years, it has become more and more common
For Americans to go to a hotel or a club or a restaurant on the night of December the 31st. There they can have dinner, drink champagne ( a kind of wine), and dance.
Most New Year’s parties have something in common. First of all, they are usually noisy. People sing and bands (乐队)play. And often, guests pull a cracker（爆竹） when the clock strikes twelve at midnight. People think that loud sounds would drive away the evil spirits of the old year before the new year begins.
For many people New Year’
s Eve is the night when they can drink as much as they like. Some New Year’s celebrations have ended sadly for people who got drunk and had driving accidents. Radio’s and television’s announcements warn people of the danger of drunk driving. Some places offer free rides home for drunken people.
The biggest and noisiest New year’s party in the United States takes place at Times Square in New York City. Thousands of people gather there. Some of them ring bells or let off crackers. Others blow whistles or car horns. And at 12 o’cloIk, they begin to cheer as an electric sign in the shape of a red apple lights up on top of a tall building.
Americans keep up one other important tradition as the new year begins. They make decisions about how to improve themselves in the year ahead. Experts say that the most common New Year’s decisions in the United states are to eat less. But many Americans also promise themselves to stop smoking, or stop drinking wine, or to be nicer to their friends and families.
Experts find fewer than ten percent of Americans carry out their New Year’s decisions. Few want to give up this tradition. Almost everyone seems to enjoy looking back over the year that has just ended and looking forward to a nice beginning of a new year. ,
72. The article is about _____.
A. some important traditions in the USA
B. when and where Americans welcome the new year
C. New year’s celebrations in the USA
D. American ways of life and their interests
73. On New Year’s Eve _____ in America.
A. parties are held in different places
B. people are encouraged to drink as much as they like
C. some places offer free rides home for everyone
D. people begin to shout as soon as they see a red apple
74. . Most new year’s parties are usually noisy, because______.
A. people sing songs B. bands play music
C. guests pull crackers D. people want to get rid of bad luck of the old year
75. In order to prevent car accidents _____ on New Year’s Eve.
A. many Americans prom
ise to stop drinking wine
B. drunken people are forbidden to drive, but can be driven home for free in some places
C. little wine is served at New year’s celebrations
D. people are warned of the danger of drinking too much