第三部分: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和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The storage of classified (分类的) research at all 24 labs run by the US Department of Energy was shut down this week after officials decided that the security (安全) problems recently found at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico might also exist elsewhere.
Several computer disks went missing at Los Alamos earlier this month, forcing Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to stop all work at the lab until the problems are found out. As of 26 July, two missing disks had still not been found, and 15 employees had been suspended in connection with the disappearance.
Now all energy labs will stop doing classified research that involves(需要) removable storage devices --- such as computer disks --- until all the devices are given explanation for and new procedures are in place for monitoring their handling by laboratory employees.
"While we have no evidence that the problems being investigated are present elsewhere, we have a responsibility to take all necessary action to prevent such problems,"Abraham said on 23 July.
The shut-down isn't quite as dramatic(惊人的)as it sounds, experts say. Only two labs will be seriously affected: Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Together with Los Alamos, these two labs conduct the most part of the country's nuclearweapon programmes. At Livermore, 876 employees will be suspended during the storage of some 12,000 items of classified removable
material.
At other labs, far fewer people will be affected. "The impact (影响) should be the smallest,"says Martha Krebs, former director of the energy department's science office.
56. Why was the storage of classified research at all 24 labs shut down?
A. Because the security problems might be present elsewhere.
B. Because the security problems existed elsewhere.
C. Because two missing computer disks had still not be found.
D. Because officials decided to stop doing such research.
57. How many labs conduct the country's nuclear weapon programmes according to the text?
A. About 24. B. Only 2. C. More than 2. D. Over 15.
58. The underlined word "suspended"in the second paragraph probably means "______”.
A. hung from above B. stopped from holding a position C. doubted D. fired
59. It can be inferred from the text that _____.
A. the computer disks must have been stolen by terrorists
B. the people living in the United States have little security
C. the United States is a country whose security is very bad
D. the missing of the computer disks caused great fear among Americans
When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings. Week by week her list grew: I was very thin; I wasn’t a good student; I talked too much; I was too proud and so on. I tried to bear all these things as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.
He listened to me quietly, then he asked, “Are the things she said true or not? Janet, didn’t you ever wonder what you are really like? Well, you now have the girl’s opinion. Go to make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to other things she said.”
I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half of the things were true. some of them I couldn’t change (like being very thin), but a good number I could and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I got a fairly clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it, “That’s just for you,” he said. “You know better than anyone else, the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just closing your ears in anger and feeling hurt. When something said about you is true, you’ll find it will be of help to you. Don’t shut your ears. Listen to other people’s opinions, but hear the truth and do what you know is right.”
Daddy’s advice returned to me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.Which do you think would be the best title for this passage?
| A.Not an Enemy, but a Best Friend |
| B.The Best Advice I’ve Ever Had |
| C.My Father |
| D.My Childhood |
“Week by week her list grew” means “________”.
| A.Week by Week, my shortcomings grew more serious. |
| B.She had made a list of shortcomings. |
| C.I was having more and more shortcomings as time went on. |
| D.Week by week she discovered more shortcomings of mine and pointed them out. |
Her father listened to her quietly was because .
| A.He believed what her daughter’s enemy said was mostly true. |
| B.He had been so angry with his daughter’s shortcomings. |
| C.He didn’t believe in his daughter. |
| D.He wasn’t quite sure which girl was telling the truth. |
After the father heard his daughter’s word, he .
| A.told her to write down what her “enemy” had said and pay attention to the true things. |
| B.criticized(批评) her and told her to overcome her shortcomings. |
| C.told her not to pay any attention to what her “enemy” said. |
| D.refused to take the list and have a look at it. |
No matter what type of business you run, it has to deal with situations in which things go wrong from your customer’s point of view. Complaints can be a great source of information for the organizations. So it’s important to learn to deal with customer complaints efficiently.
Firstly, listen actively to what the customer has to say by keeping comfortable eye contact and giving full attention with no interrupting. You should also show your customer that you do understand him.
Secondly, when receiving a complaint you should apologize for the failure the customer has identified. It’s important for you to know that your apology must appear authentic to the customer, and not an empty exercise. And also you should show the customer you’ve accepted the responsibility and provide him with choices if you have some in hand or otherwise assure the customer you’ll do something about his complaint.
Thirdly, talk with the consumer and discover the best means to resolve his problem. There will be times when, after gathering the facts of a situation, you’ll be unable to resolve the problem immediately. In this case it’s important to let your customer know how long it’ll take to take action on his complaint.
Fourthly, a simple “Thank you” is one way to let the customer know you appreciate the time and effort he has taken to inform you about a problem with your company’s service or product you need to know about.
Lastly, give your customer something that shows your appreciation for him giving the feedback to you. And let him know you’re sorry for the mistake that was made. It isn’t necessary to give something that is costly; but a coupon(赠券) for a free drink or movie is fine.
Your professional and well-organized method of dealing with your customer complaints is one more way that will make you stay ahead of your competitors.What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A.Importance of dealing with customer complaints. |
| B.Effects of customer complaints on business. |
| C.Tips for handling complaints from customers. |
| D.Several factors resulting in customer complaints. |
The author thinks that customer complaints _____________.
| A.are easy to deal with | B.are really quite annoying |
| C.can actually be avoided | D.are sometimes beneficial |
The underlined word “authentic” in Paragraph 3 most probably means _______.
| A.touching | B.believable | C.attractive | D.clever |
According to the passage, what is the first thing you should do when facing the customer complaints?
| A.Showing sincere attitude. |
| B.Making an honest apology. |
| C.Making an absolute promise. |
| D.Listening to the complaint attentively. |
The next time your face turns red after tripping(绊倒) over your own feet in public, don’t try to hide it—a new study finds that showing your embarrassment actually makes other people view you as more reliable.
Researchers at the University of California have carried out the study and found that embarrassment is a good signature of a person to whom you can entrust valuable resources.
Not only are the findings useful for people seeking cooperative and reliable team members and business partners, but they also make for helpful dating advice.“Moderate(适度的) levels of embarrassment are signs of virtue. Our data suggests embarrassment is a good thing, not something you should fight.”said Matthew Feinberg, who led the study.
While the most typical gesture of embarrassment is a downward gaze to one side while partly covering the face, a person who feels shame, as distinguished(区别) from embarrassment, will typically cover the whole face, Feinberg said.
The results were got from a series of experiments. In the first experiment, 60 college students were videotaped describing embarrassing moments, such as making incorrect assumptions(假想) based on appearances. The college students also participated in the “Dictator Game” which is used in economics research to measure altruism(利己主义). For example, each was given 10 raffle tickets(奖券) and asked to keep a share of the tickets and give the reminder(提示物) to a partner.
The findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, showed that those who showed greater levels of embarrassment tended to give away more of their raffle tickets, indicating(﹦showing) greater generosity. According to the passage, which of the following is thought to be reliable?
| A.A person who feels shame. |
| B.A person who hides his embarrassment. |
| C.A person who shows his embarrassment. |
| D.A person who gives away more raffle tickets. |
We can infer from Paragraph 3 that ________.
| A.it’s useless to fight our embarrassment |
| B.people should try to overcome their embarrassment |
| C.embarrassed people are not good at doing business |
| D.people who show embarrassment can be good business partners |
The “Dictator Game ” is used to _________.
| A.measure the students’ economic status |
| B.test whether a student is generous or not |
| C.determine the different levels of embarrassment |
| D.record how each student reacts during embarrassing moments |
We learn from the last paragraph that those who showed greater levels of embarrassment ____.
| A.proved to be more generous | B.kept more of the raffle tickets |
| C.didn’t care for raffle tickets | D.were less reliable |
How to Tell If Someone Is Happy or Sad on the Phone
Scientists have come up with some researches on what makes different types of people“tick”.
The scientists at the University of Cambridge have developed new mobile phone technology called Emotion Sense that can tell if a caller is happy, angry or sad.
Scientists hope to fit the speech recognition system to standard mobile phones and use it to determine emotions—it will also use a GPS tracking system to log where the call is made.
And they’ve already made some pretty major breakthroughs into really getting under the skin of us humans.
The results from the pilot scheme make interesting scientific reading. Among the key revelations (﹦facts) are that callers feel happier at home and sadder at work.
To break it down, scientifically, it shows 45 percent of all emotions produced at home are “happy”and 54 percent of emotions at work are “sad”.
Meanwhile, people show more “intense”(﹦nervous) emotions in the evening than they do in the morning.
Of course, this could just be because most people feel too tired in the morning to get overly “intense”. Eating breakfast and getting to work on time is usually enough of an achievement.
Anyway, the Emotion Sense technology has been developed by psychologists(心理学家) and computer scientists who say it uses speech recognition software and phone sensors(传感器) attached to standard smart phones to judge how callers’ emotions are changed by everyday factors.
The sensors analyze voice samples and these are then divided into five categories: happiness, sadness, fearfulness, anger or neutral-—boredom or passivity(消极) would fit into this last category.How many emotions can the sensors tell?
| A.Two | B.Three | C.Four | D.Five |
What does the underlined sentence mean?
| A.Scientists have put something testing people’s emotions under humans’ skin. |
| B.There were some breakthroughs in this technology in getting something from people’s skin. |
| C.In this technology, people’s skin was broken through. |
| D.There were improvements in testing people’s emotions. |
Why do most people feel less intense in the morning than in the evening?
| A.Because morning is the start of a new day. |
| B.because they feel too tired in the morning. |
| C.Because of humans’ physiological structure. |
| D.Because of the fresh air and bright sunlight. |
Which of the following hasn’t been put into the standard mobile phones?
| A.Speech recognition software. | B.Phone sensors. |
| C.GPS sensors. | D.Translation system. |
I woke up this morning. There is an empty feeling that I have had so many times before and it seems to be coming back into my mind. What is it? I can’t figure it out.
I got ready for work. On the way I decide to stop and get a cheese from the little shop just down the road. I have never been there before but I was hungry and it would be 5 hours before I got off work.
The owner of the store took my order. He asked me what I wanted and I told him I heard he made a great cheese. He seemed pleased to hear that.
As I was sitting in the small space,there was an elderly gentleman finishing his breakfast. He paid the waitress, received this change and made a small joke. As he turned to get up, which was quite a difficult feat for this gentleman, he looked over at me. I gave a small smile.
He looked again in my direction for a moment and said to me, “Has anyone ever told you, you have the most beautiful brown eyes?”
Seeing as I have blue eyes, I can’t say I have ever heard that before. I humored him and said, “No, I can’t say anyone has ever told me that before.”
He smiled, and said,“Well since they are blue you wouldn’t have heard that, but you have beautiful blue eyes.”
I laughed and said thank you very much. He began to tell me a few one liner jokes so I smiled and laughed at his jokes.
He tried to get up to leave again and looked at me and said“Your smile really brightens a room, do you know that?”I said,“Thank you very much.”
He proceeded to get up, which took him quite some time. As he got up he said,“Take care of that smile.”
I felt a sense of comfort wash over me and I reflected on my morning and that empty feeling I had. For a moment in time it seemed to be filled.Before the writer went to work, he felt________.
| A.sleepy | B.energetic | C.sick | D.unhappy |
From the text, we can infer the old man __________.
| A.was optimistic about life | B.liked to play a joke on others |
| C.was unwilling to leave | D.had difficulty in hearing |
By saying“since they are blue”, the old man meant“_____________”.
| A.because they feel cold | B.because they are sad |
| C.because they have blue eyes | D.because they are hungry |
What lesson can we learn from the story?
| A.We should find comfort from stranger. |
| B.We should pay attention to our own business. |
| C.We should laugh off our worries in life |
| D.We should show respect to the old people. |