Susan Sontag(1933—2004) was one of the most noticeable figures in the world of literature. For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything—to read every book worth reading, to see every movie worth seeing. When she was still in her early 30s,publishing essays in such important magazines as Partisan Review,she appeared as the symbol of American culture life,trying hard to follow every new development in literature,film and art. With great effort and serious judgment,Sontag walked at the latest edges of world culture.
Seriousness was one of Sontag’s lifelong watchwords(格言),but at a time when the barriers between the well-educated and the poor-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasure of pop culture. In “Notes Camp”, the 1964 essay that first made her name,she explained what was then a little—known set of difficult understandings,through which she could not have been more famous.“Notes on Camp”,she wrote,represents “a victory of ‘form’ over ‘content’, ‘beauty’ over ‘morals’ ”.
By conviction(信念)she was a sensualist(感觉论者),but by nature she was a moralist(伦理学者),and in the works she published in the 1970s and 1980s,it was the latter side of her that came forward. In “Illness as Metaphor”—published in 1978,after she suffered cancer—she argued against the idea that cancer was somehow a special problem of repressed personalities(被压抑的性格),a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact,re-examining old positions was her lifelong habit.
In America,her story of a 19th century Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California,won the National Book Award in 2000. But it was as a tireless,all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame.
“Sometimes,” she once said,“I feel that,in the end,all I am really defending…is the idea of seriousness,of true seriousness.”And in the end,she made us take it seriously too.
64.The underlined sentence in paragraph l means Sontag ____________.
A.was a symbol of American cultural life
B.developed world literature,film and art
C.published many essays about world culture
D.kept pace with the newest development of world culture
65.She first won her name through____________.
A.her story of a Polish actress
B.her book Illness as Metaphor
C.publishing essays in magazines like Partisan Review
D.her explanation of a set of difficult understandings
66.Susan Sontag’s lasting fame was made upon____________.
A.a tireless,all-purpose cultural view
B.her lifelong watchword: seriousness
C.publishing books on morals
D.enjoying books worth reading and movies worth seeing
67.From the works Susan published in the 1970s and 1980s,we can learn that _____.
A.she was more a moralist than a sensualist
B.she was more a sensualist than a moralist
C.she believed repressed personalities mainly led to illness
D.she would like to re-examine old positions
C
A new study in West Africa shows how farm irrigationsystems powered by the sun can pro-duce more food and money for villagers. The study-in Benin found that solar - powered pumpsare effective in 8upplying water, especially during the long dry season.
Sub - Saharan Africa is the part of the world with the least food security. The United Na-tions Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more"than one biillion of the world' s peo-ple faced hunger last year.Around 265 million of them live'south of the Sahara Desert: Lack of rainfallis one oftheir main causes offood shortages..
Jennifer Bumey from Stanford University in Califomia led the study.The research team helped build three solar - powered drip irrigation -(滴灌) ,systems in northem Benin. Between 30 and 35 women used each system to pump water from the ground or a stream.Each woman was responsible for farming her own 120 sqrurre meters of land. They also farmed other land collectively.
The solar - powered irrigation systems produced an average of nearly two tons of vegetables per montb. During the first year, the women.kept a monthly average of almost rune kilograms of vegetables for home use.They sold the surplus produce at local markets. The eamings greatly increased their ability to buy food during the dry season which can last six to nine months. Peo- ple in the'two villages with the systems were able to eat three to five more servingsof yegetables per day.But making the surplus available at markets also had a wider effect.
The study compared the villages with two others where women farmed with traditional methods like carrying water in buckets. The amount of vegetables eaten in those villages also increased, though not as much.The researchers note that only four percent of the croplamd in sub - Saharan Africa is irrigated. Using solar power to pump water has higher costs at first. But the study says it can be more economical in the long term than using fuels like gasoline, diesel or kerosene. And solar power is environmentally friendly.
66.Food security in Sub - Saharan Africa is insufficient mainly because of
A.lack of rainfall B.limitation of farmland
C. a small crop variety D.little sunlight
67.From the third paragraph we know that _______.
A.water is wasted by using the system
B. the farmers imgate the land together
C. all farmers use irrigation systems in northem Benin
D. the solar - powered systems take up more manpower
68.The underlined word "surplus" in the 4th paragraph most probably means_______
A.special B.unnecessary C.extra D.abandoned
69.Usinf.solar power to pump water has advantages EXCEPT that
A.solar energy has higher cost at first
B.solar power helps to protect environment
C.solar power helps farmers increase eanungs
D. solar energy can be more economical in the long run
70.What can be the best title for the text?
A.Manpower affects rainfallin Africa
B.Irrigation by carrying water in buckets
C.Solar - powered pumps aid African farmers
D.Vegetable supply increased in African villages
B
Charter schools operate with public money but without many of the rues that Sovem tradi-tional public schools.In the Uruted States the rules for charter schools difFer from state to state. But in Seneral these schools havegreater freedom to decide what to teach and how to teach it.
The "charter 'is a perfarmance contract.It establishes thegoals of the school and other details like how student performance will be measured. Forty - seven million students attend traditional public schools.But more than a million students attend charter schools:
And now a group of charter schools have formed the Green Charter Schools Network.The idea is to have environmentally friendly school buildings but toalso go further than that.The schools teach students to become involved in community issues that affect them and the environ-ment. For example, youg children grow crops in a school garden and leam about healthy eat-ing.Older students help recycle waste from the cafeteria.And local schoois share what they grow in community gardens with people in need.
Jim McGrath is president.of the Green Charter Schools Network. He says there are about 200 "green" charter schools across the United States. He says the plan is to also include tradi-tional public schools as well as private schools.
Jim McGrath: "The most important thing is that every one of us - every child, every adult - has a reaponsibility that their action, every action we make has an effect on the earth that we live in. And that our natuntl resources are not unlimited. And that if we want a positive earth for future generations, we all need to make comnutments to be agents of change so that we don' t destroy our natural resources.
The Green Clarter Schools Network holds its first national conference this October in Min- nesota.It will include companies and orgaizations like Waste Management and the Uruted States Green Brulding Council. We sincerely hope that their goal is to expand the movement across the country.
61.Charter schools are quitedifent from public ones in that______________
A.they are operated by public money
B.they still use the traditional rules
C.they have more freedom in management
D. they attract more students than others
62.The Green Charter Schools Network is established to______________
A.advise teenagers to attend charter schools
B.paint the school buildings in the color of green
C.measure the students with the same standards
D.get students involved in environment friendly activities
63.Which of the following statements about the Network are true EXCEPT_________
A. It only concernsthe charter schools in the U.S.
B.It holds its first national conference in Minnesota.
C. It will benefit both the schools and the communities.
D.It promotes different schools to share their achievements.
64.According to Jim McGrath,____________
A.people's action plays little part in nature
B.natural resources are abundant for people to use
C. students should be taught to be responsibk for the world
D.everyone should make efforts to change the positive nature
65.What' s the writer' s purpose of this passage?
A.To criticize the traditional education system.
B.To encourage the students to adopt healthy eating.
C.To inspire people to recycle waste from the cafeteria.
D.To arouse the schools to take action to protect the earth.
笫三部分: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、D)中选出最佳选项。
A
My parents influenced us with the concepts of family, faith and patriotism when l was young.Even though we struggled to make ends meet, they stressed how fortunate we were to - live in a great country with limitless opporturuties.
I got my first real job when l was ten. My dad, Benjamin, injured his back working in a cardboard - box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist. He rented space in a little mall and gave his shop the fancy name of Mr. Ben's Coiffure.
The owner of the shopping center gave Dad a discount on his rent for cleaning the parking. lot three nights a week, which meant getting up at 3 a.m.To pick up trash, Dad used a little machine that looked like a lawn mower. Mom and I emptied garbage cans and picked up litterby hand.It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I'd s1eep in the car on-the way home.I did this for two years, but the lessons I leacmed have lasted a lifetime,I acquired' disci-pline and a strong work morality, and leamed at an early age the impmtance of balancing life's competing interests-----in my case, school, homework and a job.This really'helped during my senior year of high school, when l worked 40 hours a week flipping hamburgers,at a fast – food joint while taking afull load of college - prep courses. The hard work paid off .I attended the U.S.Milttary Academy and went on to reaceive graduate degree in law and business from Harvard. Later,I joined a big Los Angetes law firm and was elected to the California state assembly. In these jobs and in everything else I’ve done,I have never forgotten those nights in the parking lot.The experience taught me that there is dignitty in all work and that if people are workmg to provide for thems elves ahd their families ,that is something we should honor.
56.According to the text, the author thinks
A.he is lucky to have many chances to get a job
B.it is difficult to find a job to make ends meet
C.his parents are full of complaint about their life
D.it is not acceptable to live in such bad conditions
57. In order to get a discount on rent,
A.his father had to work as a hairstylist
B.his father had to work in a cardboard - box factory
C.they had to clean the-parking lot three nights a week
D.his father had to pick up litter by hand three hours a day
58.Which of the following is NOT true of the author?
A.He got the graduate degrees from Harvard.
B.He took a college - prep courses at high school.
C.He took a part - time job during his senior year.
D.He regretted having worked in the parking lot.
59.What does the underlined sentence "The hard work paid off" mean?
A.The author got a high pay by working hard.
B.The author compkuned of the hard work.
C.The effort wluch he made had no effection.
D.The hard work was worthwhile for the author.
60.We can leam from'the text that ________
A.it is urrimaginable for a child to help his family
B. it is honored to work for one's family as a member
C. it is unnecessary to keep work rules-of behaviour
D.the harder the work is, the more interest one shows
C
Bob, a student who does computer studies at Texas University, found his own parents with the help of Internet. The news got around soon and many of his friends came to share his happiness. Some of them even asked him to help them find jobs on the Internet.
Before he turned to Internet for help, Bob had spent one year looking for his parents who left him 26 years ago when he was a baby. Using knowledge on computer and network, Bob found out his birth information and sent a notice to Internet in hope of finding his parents. Only one day later, Bob’s dream came true.
When Bob flew to Los Angles to meet his father, Stephen, they embraced(拥抱) each other lovingly and warmly. They enjoyed the family meeting. Later on Mother’s Day, Bob met his mother Silva.
Three years ago, Stephen himself also tried hard to look for his son but his hard try ended in nothing. Bob’s try on the Internet has turned to be a happy ending.
54. Which of the following is unknown to us ?
A. Bob’s birth information B. Where Bob’s father lives
C. Why Bob’s parents left him D. What Bob does
55. Bob couldn’t find his parents a year ago because______.
A. his parents didn’t want to see him B. he couldn’t get useful information
C. he didn’t want to D. he was just a student
56. Before he found his parents, Bob had to ______.
A. made a lot of friends B. fly to Los Angles
C. sent a notice to Internet every day D. find out his own birth information
57. How long did it take Bob to find his parents after using the Internet?
A. Only one day B. About one year C. 3 years D. 26 years
B
If you have a bottle of water recycled from urine(尿), would you drink it? Astronauts at the ISS may soon do so.
NASA(美国航空航天局)said it would see a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater at the ISS. The machine will recycle water for washing hands, shower water, water for brushing teeth and even urine to make drinking water. It will save millions of dollars each year.
At present, each ISS astronaut uses about 4.4 liters of water every day. It costs about 24 million dollars a year to send water up to the ISS. A liter of water costs about $11,000.
The machine will be sent to the ISS later. NASA hopes it will recycle about 93% of all the water used on the station.
Will the water be clean? Different chemicals will be put in the wastewater. The water will be heated to 130℃ to kill bacteria. Scientists say that the recycled water is thousands of times better than the water from a city tap(水龙头).
50. NASA will use a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater at the ISS to ______.
A. protect the ISS
B. make the astronauts work harder
C. provide better water and food for the astronauts
D. save the cost of sending water up to the ISS
51. At present it costs NASA about ___dollars to transport water up to an astronaut at the ISS a day.
A. 4.4 thousand B. 11 thousand C. 48.4 thousand D. 24 million
52. The passage mainly tells us something about ______.
A. water recycling at the ISS B. the International Space Station
C. a high-tech machine D. the cost of NASA
53. Which of the following sentences is TRUE?
A. The recycled water is much better than that from a city tap.
B. The high-tech machine will recycle all the water used on the station
C. The ISS astronauts use more water than us
D. The high-tech machine can only recycle urine to make water