第三部分:阅读理解(共20小题,每小题2分,满分40分)
A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo(接受) testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.
The system, called driver Alert, aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%--40% that are caused by tiredness. Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue(疲劳).
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband. The device, worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey. After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盘). A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response.
Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time. Usually, a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond, but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds, showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest. If the driver’s response continues to slow down, the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warns that the driver must stop as soon as possible.
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing. If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time, are successful, the makers will bring the product to market within about a year.
56. How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?
A. By sounding a warning. B. By touching the wristband.
C. By checking the driving time. D. By pressing the steering wheel.
57. We can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ________
A. about 400 milliseconds B. below 500 milliseconds
C. over 500 milliseconds D. about 4 minutes
58. When the driver gets sleepy while driving, Driver Alert ______.
A. moves more regularly B. stops working properly
C. opens the window for the driver D. sounds more frequently and loudly
59. According to the text, Driver Alert ______.
A. aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents
B. has gone through testing at laboratories
C. aims to prevent drivers from sleeping
D. has been on sale for 12 months
Show Your Bones is the newest album from a musical group with an unusual name, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The energetic music made by these rock musicians is becoming very popular in America.
A singer, a guitar player and a drummer make up the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their rock sound is creative, unusual, and full of personality. Their music is considered an example of “indie”(short for independent) rock. Indie musicians like to protect their independence and artistic freedom. One way to do this is to avoid using major record companies. The lead singer Karen O is known for wearing wild clothing and having wild hairstyles while performing. Sometimes she even pours beer over herself and the audience. Imagine Karen O dancing around on stage as you listen to her sing the song, Phenomena.
The words in the songs on Show Your Bones are poetic and also a little strange. It is not always clear what the songs mean. In the song called The Sweets, Karen O describes colors and the motion of water. Also, she wonders about meeting someone again.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs started playing music together in New York City.
Now Karen O has moved to Los Angeles, California. She says that she likes flying between the two cities and the band is now “bi-coastal”. Karen O also said that this album was the most difficult to make. The band was trying to find a different sound from their earlier albums. Their work seems to have been worth the effort. Critics say Show Your Bones might be one of the best albums of the year.
39. How many people are there in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs?
A. Two. B.One. C. Four. D. Three.
40. According to the passage, we know that_______.
A. Karen O usually drinks beer on stage while singing
B. The Sweets is an album made by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
C. Karen O doesn’t sing in New York any longer
D. the group had made more than one album before Show Your Bones
41. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Most major record companies follow certain The words on
B. Show Your Bones are all difficult to understand.traditions.
C. Show Your Bones has got a lot of criticism.
D. Show Your Bones is the best-seller of the year.
42. The writer’s attitude towards the Yeah Yeah Yeahs can be best described as _______.
A. indifferent B. curious C. positive D. negative
第三部分:阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2分,满分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。
Robby was 11 when his mother dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer students to begin at an earlier age. Robby insisted that it had always been his mother’s dream to hear him play the piano, so I took him on as a student.
Robby tried and tried while I listened and encouraged him and gave him more instructions. But he just did not have any inborn ability.
I only saw his mother from a distance. She always waved and smiled but never came in. Then one day Robby stopped coming to our lessons. I thought about calling him but I guessed he had decided to try something else.
I was also glad that he stopped coming for the sake of my career. However, several weeks before the recital (演奏会) of my students, Robby came,telling me that he never stopped practicing and begged me to allow him to take part in. I agreed, but I made him perform last in the program, so I could save his poor performance through my “curtain closer”.
I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen one piece of Mozart’s. Never had I heard a piece of Mozart’s played so well by someone at his age. When he finished, everyone was cheering.
I ran up and put my arms around Robby in joy. “I’ve never heard you play like that, Robby! How could you do it?”
“Well, Miss Hondorf. Do you remember I told you my mom was sick? Actually she died this morning. She was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she could hear me play in heaven. I wanted to make it special. I knew I could.”
That night, Robby was the teacher and I was the student. He taught me so many important things about life.
36. Why did Robby stop coming to piano lessons suddenly?
A. He lost heart and believed that he would never make it.
B. His mother might had been seriously ill.
C. He thought that his teacher disliked him.
D. His mother died and he didn’t need to play any longer.
37. We can know from the passage that ________.
A. the writer thought that students shouldn’t begin playing the piano too early
B. the writer thought that Robby had given up his piano lessons
C. only by practicing at home did Robby learn to play well
D. no one else could play the piece of Mozart’s as well as Robby
38. The writer made Robby perform last because ______.
A. the one who performs last always performs very well
B. Robby asked the writer to do so
C. she wanted to do something to save a poor performance
D. Robby thought his mother would come at last
Is your schoolbag too heavy to bear? The e-schoolbag will free you from the weight.
It is said that e-schoolbags are going to be brought into use in Chinese middle schools soon.An experiment with several hundred e-schoolbags will begin in seven cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang.And the e-schoolbags are going to cover all over China if the experiment shows to be successful.In fact, the e-schoolbag should perhaps be called an e-notebook.It is a small hand-held computers for school students.
Heavy schoolbags have long been a serious problem for school students.The average schoolbag of middle school students weighs up to 5 kilos.But the e-schoolbag will change everything.It is much lighter than a usual schoolbag, weighing under 1 kilo.Also, it is no bigger than a usual book, but it can still hold all the things for study, such as a textbook, a notebook and exercise book.They could be made into chips that are as small as a stamp.The students can read the text page by page on the screen.They can still take notes using a special electronic pen.If they want to know the meaning or the pronunciation of a new word, or even e-mail their teachers, it’s just a press of a button.
In some foreign countries, it is becoming common.But it is hard to tell when people will receive this new form of study.Some say that e-textbooks can easily be broken, some say that it is not good to students’ eyesight to look at the screen for long.But only time will tell.
69.The e-schoolbag has many functions EXCEPT ________.
A.It can pronounce the words. B.It can send e-mails.
C.It can be used as a dictionary. D.It can phone somebody.
70.According to the passage, the e-schoolbags ________.
A.are not heavy as before but still large
B.are used as an experiment in Tianjin
C.are made of metal
D.are going to cover China if it shows to be successful
71.Which of the following statement is TRUE?
A.All the students in China will use this new schoolbag.
B.We can do a lot of work based on the programmes of the chips.
C.The e-notebooks are very perfect.
D.We will not make notes because the e-notebook can make all by itself.
Britain and other nations should be well on with the building of huge industrial complexes (工业园区)for the recycling of wastes within fifteen years. The word rubbish could lose its meaning because everything that goes into the dumps would be made into something useful. Even the most dangerous and unpleasant wastes would provide energy if nothing else.
The latest project is to take a city of around half a million inhabitants (居民) and discover exactly what raw materials go into and what go out. The aim is to find out how much of these raw materials could be provided if a plant for recycling waste was built just outside the city. This plant would recycle not only metal such as steel, lead (铅) and copper, but also paper and rubber as well.
Another new project is being set up to discover the best way of sorting and separating the rubbish. When this project is completed, the rubbish will be processed like this: First, it will pass through sharp metal bars which will tear open the plastic bags in which rubbish is usually packed; then it will pass through a powerful fan to separate the lightest elements from the heavy solids; after that rollers will break up everything that can be broken. Finally, the rubbish will pass under magnets (磁铁), which will remove the bits of iron and steel; the rubber and plastic will then be sorted out in the final stage.
The first full-scale (完全的) giant recycling plants are perhaps fifteen years away. Indeed, with the growing cost of transporting rubbish to more distant dumps, some big cities will be forced to build their own recycling plants before long.
64. The underlined phrase “be well on with…” (Para. 1) most probably means _______.
A. have completed what was started B. get ready to start
C. put an end to D. have achieved a great deal in
65. What is NOT mentioned as a part of the recycling process described in paragraph three?
A. Sharpening metal bars.B. Sorting out small pieces of metal.
C. Breaking up whatever is breakable. D. Separating lightest elements from the heavy ones.
66. What’s the main reason for big cities to build their own recycling plants?
A. To get raw materials locally. B. To deal with wastes in a better way.
C. To get iron and steel from those plants. D. To protect the environment from pollution.
67. The first full-scale huge recycling plants ______.
A. will be built fifteen years later
B. began to operate fifteen years ago
C. will probably be in operation in fifteen years
D. will probably take less than fifteen years to build
68. Thepassageismainlyabout_______.
A. acheapwaytogetenergyB. thelocationofrecyclingplants
C. newwaysofrecyclingD. theprobability ofcityenvironment
Millions of aircraft take off around the world every year. The skies they fly in seem limitless—miles of empty space. But, with the number of flights increasing each year, this emptiness no longer exists. Researchers in the world of aviation(航空)are worried about the increasing pressure on pilots and ground controllers. And increasing collisions, occurring at or near an airport, have called attention to the need for more aids(辅助设备)to aviation control.
People who travel the skies are not certain about air safety. A great deal of money is spent on new and bigger aircraft and airports to deal with the vast increase in passengers travelling by air. Only a small percentage of this money is spent on navigation(导航)and other aids. Actually, suitable electronic equipment has long existed, and many companies market safety aids designed to make it safer for aircraft to take off, fly any distance, and land, whatever the weather. Yet, there are two problems to be solved. The first is to get governments, airlines and airport officials to agree to basic levels of safety aids. The second problem is to find a way of meeting these basic requirements.
But no matter how well the equipment works, operators of the equipment still play an important role. Communications between pilots and ground controllers are extremely important to air safety. It is worth pointing out that the mishearing or misunderstanding of instructions in English and the use of another language, in an international conversation, have led to two recent aircraft accidents. A new type of instrument(仪器)called FLIGHTWATCH would help pilots prevent airport collisions. It would be particularly helpful near airports.
60. The increasing number of flights leads to the fact that ________.
A. flying is no longer limited in the sky
B. there is no empty space for aids to aviation control
C. piloting and controlling planes is getting more difficult
D. the pressure on the ground becomes greater
61. There is uncertainty about air safety because ________.
A. planes become bigger for the increasing number of passengers
B. money spent on electronic equipment is far from enough
C. suitable electronic equipment hasn’t been invented yet
D. it is dangerous for planes to take off or land
62. The underlined word “collisions” probably means ________.
A. accidents in which two planes hit each other
B. misunderstandings between pilots and ground controllers
C. quarrels among passengers
D. breakdowns of new types of instrument
63. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A. governments and officials have paid great attention to air safety
B. there should be more companies to sell new safety aids
C. English should be used in an international conversation
D. understanding between pilots and ground controllers should be improved