About90percentofChinesebelieve-优题课

SYDNEY: As they sat sharing sweets beside a swimming pool in 1999 , Shane Gould and Jessicah Schipper were simply getting along well , chatting about sport , life and “ anything else that came up . ”
Yet in Sydney next month , they will meet again by the pool , and for a short time the friends will race against each other in the 50-meter butterfly（蝶泳）in the Australian championships at Homebush Bay .
Gould , now a 47-year-old mother of four , has announced she will be making a return to elite competition（顶级赛事）to swim the one event , having set a qualifying（合格的）time of 30.32 seconds in winning gold at last year’s United States Masters championships . Her comeback comes 32 years after she won three golds at the Munich Olympics .
Schipper , now a 17-year-old from Brisbane with a bright future of going to Athens for her first Olympics , yesterday recalled（回忆）her time with Gould fie years ago .
“ I was at a national youth camp on the Gold Coast and Shane had come along to talk to us and watch us train , ” Schipper explained . “ It seemed as if we had long been good friends . I don’t know why . We just started talking and it went from there . ”
“ She had a lot to share with all of us at that camp . She told us stories about what it was like at big meets like the Olympics and what it’s like to be on an Australian team . It was really interesting . ”
Next time , things will be more serious . “ I will still be swimming in the 50m butterfly at the nationals , so there is a chance that I could actually be competing against Shane Gould , ” said Schipper , who burst onto the scene at last year’s national championships with second places in the 100m and 200m butterfly .
1. What is the passage mainly about ?
A. Stories happening in swimming competitions .
B. Two women swimmers winning Olympic golds .
C. Lessons learned from international swimming championships .
D. Friendship and competition between two swimmers .
2. Gould and Schipper are going to________ .
A. talk about sport and lifeB. go back to elite competition
C. set a qualifying time and win goldD. take part in the same sports event
3. Gould won her three Olympic golds when she was________ .
A. 15B. 17C. 22D. 30
4. The underlined word “ it ” in the fifth paragraph probably refers to________ .
A. the Olympics B. the youth camp
C. the friendshipD. the Australian team
5. What Schipper said showed that she________ .
A. was no longer Gould’s friend B. had learned a lot from Gould
C. was not interested in Gould’s stories D. would not like to compete against Gould

That cold January night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco. There I was, walking home at one in the morning after a tiring practice at the theatre. With opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines. I was having trouble dealing with my part-time job at the bank and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up both acting and San Francisco. City life had become too much for me.
As I walked down empty streets under tall buildings, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers (抢劫犯). Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets.
About a block from my apartment (公寓房间), I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I realize what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.
Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk anxiously for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.
Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck (垃圾车) pull up to the sidewalk next to me. When a voice called from the inside, “ Alisa Camacho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? the door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man with an amused look in his eyes. “Is this what you’re looking for?” he asked, holding up a small square shape.
It was nearly 3 A.M. by the time I got into bed. I wouldn’t get much sleep that night, but I had gotten my wallet back. I also had gotten back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn’t be a bad place as long as people were willing to help each other.
1. How did the writer feel when she was walking home after work?
A. Cold and sick B. Fortunate and helpful
C. Satisfied and cheerful D. Disappointed and helpless
2. From the first paragraph, we learn that the writer was busy ______.
A. solving her problem at the bank B. taking part in various city activities
C. learning acting in a n evening school D. preparing for the first night show
3. On her way home the writer _______.
A. lost her wallet unknowingly B. was stopped by a garbage truck driver
C. was robbed of her wallet by an armed man D. found some homeless people following her
4. In the fifth paragraph, why did the writer say she was dreaming?
A. Someone offered to take her back home. B. A red-haired man came to see her.
C. She heard someone call her name D. Her wallet was found in a garbage truck.
5. From the text, we can infer that the writer _________.
A. would stop working at night B. would stay on in San Francisco
C. would make friends with cleaners D. would give up her job at the bank

三、阅读理解（每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The other day, my friend Jane was invited to a 40th birthday party. The time printed on the invitation was 7:30pm. Jane went off with her husband, expecting a merry evening of wine, food, and song.
By 9:45, everybody was having great fun, but no food had appeared. Jane and David were restless. Other guests began whispering that they, too, were starving. But no one wanted to leave, just in case some food was about to appear. By 11:00, there was still no food, and everyone was completely off their heads. Jane and David left hungry and angry.
Their experience suggests that the words on the printed invitations need to be made clearer. Everyone reads and understands the invitations differently. Most of us would agree that 6:30 -8:30pm means drinks only, go out to dinner afterwards; 8:00pm or 8:30pm means possible dinner, but 9:30pm and any time there after means no food, eat beforehand, roll up late.
But this is not always the case. If asked to a students' party at 6.30pm, it is normal for guests not to appear before midnight, if at all, and no one cares. Being the first to arrive - looking eager - is social death. When my mother is asked to a party for 6.30, she likes to be there, if not on time, then no later than seven. My age group (late thirties) falls somewhere between the two, but because we still think we'reyoung, we're probably closer to student-time than grown-up time.
The accepted custom at present is confusing (混乱的), sometimes annoying, and it often means you may go home hungry, but it does lend every party that precious element (成分) of surprise.
1. The underlined words "off their heads" probably mean______.
A. tiredB. crazyC. curiousD. hopeless
2. Jane and David' s story is used to show that______ .
A. party-goers usually get hungry at parties
B. party invitations can be confusing
C. people should ask for food at parties
D. birthday parties for middle-aged people are dull
3. For some young people, arriving on time for a students' party will probably be considered_______.
A. very difficult B. particularly thoughtful
C. friendly and politeD. socially unacceptable
4. According to the writer, people in their late thirties_______.
A. are likely to arrive late for a party
B. care little about the party time
C. haven' t really grown up yet
D. like surprises at parties
5. What is the general idea of the text?
A. It' s safe to arrive late just when food is served.
B. It' s wise to eat something before going to a party.
C. It' s important to follow social rules of party-going.
D. It' s necessary to read invitations carefully.

Wrting artieles about films for The Front Page was my first proper job. Before then I had done bits of reviewing --- novels for other newspapers, films for a magazine and anything I was asked to do for the radio．That was how I met Tom Seaton, the first arts editor of The Front Page, who had also written for television．He hired me, but Tom was not primarily a journalist, or he would certainly have been more careful in choosing his staff．
At first, his idea was that a team of critics should take care of the art forms that didn’t require specialized knowledge: books, TV, theatre, film and radio．There would be a weekly lunch at which we would make our choices from the artistic material that Tom had decided we should cover, though there would also be guests to make the atmosphere sociable．
It all felt like a bit of dream at that time: a new newspaper and I was one of the team．It seemed so unlikely that a paper could be introduced into a crowded market．It seemed just as likely that a millionaire wanted to help me personally, and was pretending to employ me．Such was my lack of self-confidence．
Tom’s original scheme for a team of critics for the arts never took off．It was a good idea, but we didn’t get together as planned and so everything was done by phone．It turned out, too, that the general public out there preferred to associate a reviewer with a single subject area, and so I chose film．Without Tom’s initial push, though, we would hardly have come up with the present arrangement, by which I write an extended weekly piece, usually on one film．
The space I am given allows me to broaden my argument --- or forces me, in an uninteresting week, to make something out of nothing．But what is my role in the public arena? I assume that people choose what films to go to on the basis of the stars, the publicity or the director．So if a film review isn’t really a consumer guide, what is it? I certainly don’t feel I have a responsibility to be ‘right’ about a movie．Nor do I think there should be a certain number of ‘great’ and ‘bad’ films each year．All I have to do is put forward an argument．I’m not a judge, and nor would I want to be．
1．What do we learn about Tom Seaton from the first paragraph?
A．He encouraged Mark to become a writer．
B．He had worked in various areas of the media．
C．He met Mark when working for television．
D．He prefers to employ people that he knows．
2．The weekly lunches were planned in order to_________.
A．help the writers get to know each other
B．provide an informal information session
C．distribute the work that had to be done
D．entertain important visitors from the arts
3．What does the author mean when he says that Tom’s plan ‘never took off’ in Paragraph 4?
A．It was unpopular.
B．It wasted too much time.
C．It wasn’t planned properly.
D．It wasn’t put into practice.
4．Which of the following best describes what Mark says about his work?
A．His success varies from year to year．
B．He prefers to write about films he likes．
C．He can freely express his opinion．
D．He writes according to accepted rules．

At present, in many American cities expecially, many teachers in the public schools say they are underpaid. They point to jobs such as secretary or truck driver, which often pay more to start than that of a teacher. In many other fields, such as law, medicine, computer science, a beginning worker may make more than a teacher who has taught for several years.
Teaching has never been a profession that attracted people interested in high salaries. It is by history a profession that has provided rewards in addition to money—the satisfaction of sharing knowledge, of influencing others, of guiding young people. But in the past several years, there are more difficulties in teaching, for many, than there are rewards.
Unruly students, especially in big cities, large classes and a lack of support from the public in terms of money and understanding have led many public school teachers to leave the profession.
As a result, many of the best students, who would have chosen teaching as their life career in the past, are going into other fields.
Another reason for this change in teacher candidates is the changing status of women in the United States. Until the late 1960s and 1970s, one of the most popular choices for women was teaching. But as other professions, such as law and medicine opened up to women, women stopped pouring into teacher training programs. Thus, a major pool of excellent candidates for the teaching profession dwindled.
Bit by bit government officials and others realized that the status of the teacher had suffered. They talked about change. But the change in a vast society like the United States is not easy. People’s attitudes have formed over many years, and sometimes change takes many years.
1．The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 1 refers to “_________”.
A．money B．job C．secretary D．truck driver
2．What is the present situation of the teaching?
A．Teachers work harder and get underpaid.
B．Teahcers have no opportunities to work in other fields.
C．Teaching can attract best students to work as a teacher.
D．Teaching can provide rewards as well as high salaries.
3．Many public school teachers turn to other professions because_________.
A．the government doesn’t finacially support them
B．they have to work longer hours than a lawyer
C．their students refuse to listen to them
D．they are not fairly treated
4．The author believes that change in teachers’ status in the United States_________.
A．is not great B．is impossible
C．influences people’s attitude D．needs time