第二部分：阅读理解（第一节20小题，第二节5小题；每小题2分共50分）
第一节：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，并在答题卷上将该项标号涂黑。
The angry locals of an English village blocked the driver of a Google Street View car who was
filming the neighborhood, saying they feared he world encourage thieves, a report said Friday.
One local, Paul Jacobs, told the BBC he had warned his neighbors after spotting the car from
his window in Broughton, Buckinghamshire, southern England, on Wednesday.
“I don’t have a problem with Google wanting to promote villages. What I have a problem with
is the invasion （侵犯）of privacy, taking pictures directly into the home,” Jacobs said.
“We’ve already had three homes broken into locally in the past six weeks. If our houses are
made noticeable all over Google, it’s an invitation for more criminals to strike. I was determined to
make a stand, so I called the police.”
After his call, a police car arrived in Broughton in response to an argument between a crowd of people and a Google Street View contractor.
“They felt his presence was a threat to their privacy. When police arrived at the scene, the car had moved on,” explained a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police.
The Google Street View project, set up last month in Britain, aims to provide detailed 360-degree views online of streets all over Britain.
The project has already been strongly criticized by associations like Privacy International, a pressure group which has launched legal action against the IT company.
Google is confident that their new mapping project is within the law.
“Before launching Street View we sought the guidance and approval of the Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO has repeatedly made clear that it believes that Street View includes the safeguards necessary to protect people’s privacy,” a Google spokesman said.
“The Metropolitan Police （in London） told us they saw no significant security risk, that thieves are likely to make use of the opportunities, and that mapping products can be useful in solving and mapping crime in an area.”
He added: “Engaged in new projects, we sometimes meet unexpected challenges, and Street View has been no exception.”
41.When the police car arrived at the village,__________
A．the villagers were angrily arguing with the Google car driver.
B．the map car was stopped from leaving the village.
C．The map car had stopped its working and gone on its way.
D．The map car was surrounded by the angry villagers.
42．The underlined phrase “make a stand” in Paragraph 4 means .
A．stand there all the time whole waiting for the police
B．show full support to Google’s filming the neighborhood
C．attempt to defend locals by stopping Google’s filming the neighborhood
D．stand in the way to stop the car moving on
43．Which of the following sentences is TRUE?
A．Google’s mapping project has not been officially approved.
B．Three homes had been visited by thieves with the help of Google pictures.
C．The police rushed to stop a fight between locals and Google contractors.
D．It was not the first time that the Google map project had been criticized.
44．What’s the best title for the passage?
A．Google’s Mapping Project Promotes the Neighobrohood.
B．Angry British Villagers Stop Google Maps Car.
C．Google Goes On With its Plan to Film the Streets.
D．New Project Meets Challenges Again.
After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletes and viewers have gone home and the television audience has switched off, another group of athletes and fans will arrive at the host city, and another competition will begin. These are the Paralympics, the games for athletes with a disability. But in Beijing in 2008, for the first time, one of the greatest paralympians will not be taking part.
She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thompson. Born with spina bifida （脊椎裂） which left her paralysed（瘫痪的） from the waist down, Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7. At first, she was not keen on sport, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom. But in her teens, she started taking sports more seriously. She tried swimming, basketball and tennis. Eventually she found athletics, and never looked back.
Indeed, Tanni's athletic career took off. In 1984, when she was 15, she pulled off a surprise victory in the 100 meters at the Junior National Wheelchair Games.
In 1988, Tanni went to her first Paralympic Games in Seoul. She won bronze in the 400 meters. Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. Tanni won gold in the100, 200, 400 and 800 meters relay, setting two world records in the process. In the same year she achieved the first of her six London Wheelchair Marathon victories.
Tanni's enduring success has been part motivation, part preparation. “The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter （短跑运动员） enables me to be good at a marathon too. I train 50 weeks of the year and that keep me prepared for whatever distance I want to race... I am still competing at a very high level, but as 1 get older things get harder and 1 want to retire before 1
fall apart."
Indeed Tanni retired finally after the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007. Her wish is to coach young athletes for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
In spite of ups and downs, she never takes her fate lying down. In her splendid life, she has won an amazing eleven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in a series of Paralympics— a top level athletic career covering two decades. She has won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times, more than any other competitor, and she has set over thirty world records.
What advice does she have for young athletes? "Work hard at your studies, and then train, train and train again."
41. Which of the following sports did Tanni like before thirteen?
A. Basketball. B. Swimming. C. Tennis. D. Horse-riding.
42. When did Tanni win her first Olympic gold medal?
A. In 1984. B. In 1988. C. In 1992. D. In 2007.
43. The underlined word "that" in the 5th paragraph refers to____.
A. fifty weeks' training B. being a good sprinter
C. training almost every day D. part motivation and part preparation
44. What's the right order of the events related to Tanni?
a. She works as a coach.
b. She took up athletics.
c. She won four gold medals in Barcelona.
d. She competed in her first Paralympic Games.
e. She achieved a victory in her first London Wheelchair Marathon.
A. b, d, c, e, a B. a, d, b, c, e C. a, d, c, e, b D. b, d, a, e, c
45. What can we learn from Tanni's success?
A. Union is strength. B. Never too late to learn.
C. Well begun is half done.D. No pains, no gains.
IV. Reading(30)
A
Mathematical ability and musical ability may not seem on the surface to be connected, but people who have researched the subject -- and studied the brain—say that they are. Three quarters of the bright but speech-delayed children in the group I studied had a close relative who was an engineer, mathematician or scientist, and four fifths had a close relative who played a musical instrument. The children themselves usually took readily to math and other analytical subjects and to music.
Black, white and Asian children in this group show the same patterns. However, it is clear that blacks have been greatly overrepresented in the development of American popular music and greatly underrepresented in such fields as mathematics, science and engineering.
If the abilities required in analytical fields and in music are so closely related, how can there be this great discrepancy? One reason is that the development of mathematical and other such abilities requires years of formal schooling, while certain musical talents can be developed with little or no formal training, as has happened with a number of well-known black musicians.
It is precisely in those kinds of music where one can acquire great skill without formal training that blacks have excelled popular music rather than classical music, piano rather than violin, blues rather than opera. This is readily understandable, given that most blacks, for most of American history, have not had either the money or the leisure for long years of formal study in music.
Blacks have not merely held their own in American popular music. They have played a large role in the development of jazz, both traditional and modern. A long string of names comes to mind—W.C. Handy, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker…and so on.
None of this presupposes(假设，意味着) any special innate（先天的）ability of blacks in music. On the contrary, it is perfectly consistent with blacks having no more such inborn ability than anyone else, but being limited to being able to express such ability in narrower channels than others who have had the money, the time and the formal education to spread out over a wider range of music, as well as into mathematics, science and engineering.
36. what is the main idea of the first paragraph?
A. Mathematical ability and musical ability are connected.
B. Mathematical ability has more to do with the brain than musical ability.
C. More people are good at music than math.
D. More research should be done into the relationship between mathematical ability and math ability.
37. The word “discrepancy” (Para. 3) most probably means ____.
A. difference B. excellence C. inborn ability D. inability
(38. What can be inferred about opera?
A. It requires formal training.
B. It is often enjoyed by those with strong analytical ability.
C. It is disliked by blacks.
D. It is more difficult to learn than classical music.
39. Which of the following statements is true according to the last paragraph?
A. Blacks have special innate ability in music.
B. Unlike others, blacks do not have innate ability in music.
C. Jazz is one of the narrow channels through which blacks express their ability in music.
D. Those who have money and time choose mathematics over music.
40. which of the following questions does the passage mainly concern?
A. Are musical ability and mathematical ability connected?
B. Why have blacks been greatly over represented in the development of American popular misic?
C. What kinds of music require formal training?
D. What are the contributions made by black musicians?
When the six very best students from different cities in Guangdong Province all together chose universities in Hong Kong; when the very best students of Beijing picked up HK University while giving up the nearby Beijing or Qinghua University; when the highest enrollment(录取) rate of Hong Kong Science and Industry University reached 48:1, it’s the high time to ask where the real education heaven for students in China is.
Years ago, the answer certainly would be “Beijing or Qinghua University”. But now no one could give the exact reaction without hesitation. The only sure thing is that HK universities have gradually showed an unusual attraction to a great many mainland students.
It’s no doubt to call this HK craze (狂热), which is even out of the expectation of those HK universities themselves.
How can HK universities shake the steady foundations of Beijing and Qinghua and attract so many mainland students?
First, Hong Kong universities offer large-amount scholarship, especially for the top students who can receive the sum scholarship as much as 400,000 HK dollars. Since higher education has become a kind of heavy burden of many families, it’s easy to understand why the reaction to the generous offering of HK universities is great.
Second, most HK universities receive professors and students from all over the world and carry out bilingual (双语) education. This kind of excellent language atmosphere is another attraction for mainland students.
Furthermore, university students in Hong Kong have a better chance to study abroad as exchange students.
Can mainland top universities like Beijing or Qinghua University be calm as before when facing the unexpected competition from HK? Will they take relevant measures to win back the top students who once help them set the worldwide reputation? Time will explain it.
The fierce competition brought by HK universities can be a good thing for an entire improvement of education in China. After the awakening and action-taking of mainland universities, they can perform better together with HK universities.
At least, it reminded the mainland universities the tuition fees (学费) are among students’ top concern when they are choosing universities. It’s time to move.What is the passage mainly talking about?
| A．Some thoughts brought by the enrollment of HK universities. |
| B．Higher education in Hong Kong. |
| C．The competition between HK University and Beijing University. |
| D．The fall of mainland universities. |
Top students from mainland apply for HK universities because________.
| A．many students now would love to study abroad to get a better experience |
| B．they concern only about the tuition fees when choosing universities |
| C．HK Universities offer higher scholarship, better environment and more opportunities for their further study |
| D．Beijing University has lost its worldwide reputation |
What is the author’s attitude toward the competition brought by HK universities?
| A．The government should take relevant measures to stop this unfair competition. |
| B．Mainland universities had better lower their tuition fees and win back the top students. |
| C．Universities both in mainland and in HK would get an entire improvement during the competition. |
| D．It may probably cause a complete loss to both sides in the end. |
From the passage we can see HK universities________.
| A．didn’t mean to enroll top students from mainland |
| B．didn’t expect their enrollment of mainland students would be so popular |
| C．have strict enrollment rules and only 1out of 48 students can get the chance to study there |
| D．are proud of their teaching staff and facilities |
The Los Angeles Zoo has many public programs that aim to teach the public about animals and natural protection.
Safari shuttle(旅游电车)
While you’re here, take the Safari shuttle for a quick trip from one end of the Zoo to the other.
All day long, seven days a week (from 10 am to 5 pm), the Safari Shuttle picks up passengers, circles the Zoo, and returns to the main flamingo (火烈鸟) exhibit near the front entrance. You can get on and off the shuttle as often as you like.
Food
Safari Café (at the Zoo entrance) offers Starbucks coffee, fresh-baked cookies, and ice cream. Gorilla Grill is the spot for toasted food, kids’ meals, snacks, and ice cream. La Casita serves a variety of Mexican food and refreshments（甜点）. Silverback’s Cafe offers sandwiches, salads, bread bowls, cold beer, and refreshments.
Hour
The Zoo is open from 10 am to 5 pm every day of the year except Christmas Day. Special summer long hours are until 6 pm. from July 1 to September 7. Please remember, the Zoo starts putting animals in for the night at 4 pm during regular hours, and at 5 pm. during summer hours.
Admission Prices(票价)
Adults (aged 13 and above): $ 9
Seniors (aged 62 and above): $ 6
Children (aged 2 to 12): $ 4
Children (under 2): free
Items Not Allowed on Zoo Grounds
Alcohol, Glass bottles, Pets, Bicycles, Skateboards, and In-line skate.
If you are planning a picnic while visiting the Zoo, please do not bring any glass items or other things that are easy to break. Also for the safety of the animals, no plastic bags are allowed within the Zoo.Which of the following provides kids’ meals?
| A．Safari Café. | B．Gorilla Grill. | C．La Casita. | D．Silverback’s Café. |
People can see all the animals at the Los Angeles Zoo at ______.
| A．11 am. on Christmas Day | B．4:30 pm. on May 5 |
| C．3 pm. on March 5 | D．6 pm. on September 7 |
How much does it cost if a couple with their one-year-old twins visit the Los Angeles Zoo?
| A．$18. | B．$26. | C．$22. | D．$17. |
When visiting the Los Angeles Zoo, people can______.
| A．ride a bike through the Zoo | B．have a picnic on the Zoo grounds |
| C．take food with plastic bags | D．take their pets along |
Earthquakes are the shaking, rolling or sudden shock of the earth’s surface. Earthquakes happen along “fault lines” in the earth’s crust. Earthquakes can be felt over large areas although they usually last less than one minute. Earthquakes cannot be predicted —— although scientists are working on it!
Most of the time, you will notice an earthquake by the gentle shaking of the ground. You may notice hanging plants swaying or objects wobbling on shelves. Sometimes you may hear a low rumbling noise or feel a sharp jolt. A survivor of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco said the sensation was like riding a bicycle down a long flight of stairs.
The intensity（强度）of an earthquake can be measured. One measurement is called the Richter scale. Earthquakes below 4.0 on the Richter scale usually do not cause damage, and earthquakes below 2.0 usually can’t be felt. Earthquakes over 5.0 on the scale can cause damage. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake is considered strong and a magnitude 7.0 is a major earthquake. The Wenchuan Earthquake, which hit Sichuan Province in 2008, was magnitude 7.8.
Earthquakes are sometimes called temblors, quakes, shakers or seismic activity. The most important thing to remember during an earthquake is to DROP, COVER and HOLD ON. So remember to DROP to the floor and get under something for COVER and HOLD ON during the shaking. Which statement about earthquakes is Not correct?
| A．Earthquakes are the result of the sudden shock of the earth’s surface. |
| B．Earthquakesusually can be felt because they can last for a long time. |
| C．There are usually some signs for people to notice an earthquake. |
| D．People can feel an earthquake over 6.0 because it is very strong. |
According to the passage, when the earthquake happened, a survivor of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco_______.
| A．was riding a bicycle | B．was just climbing the stairs |
| C．heard a low rumbling noise | D．felt like riding a bicycle |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Most of the time, people can not feel or predict the earthquakes. |
| B．Earthquakes are sometimes called temblors, quakes shakers or seismic activity. |
| C．The Wenchuan Earthquake, which hit Sichuan Province in 2008 caused serious damage. |
| D．When an earthquake happens, it is important to drop on the floor immediately. |