第二部分:阅读理解(共20小题,每小题2分,满分40分)
第一节:阅读下列短文,然后从所给的四个选项 (A、B、C和D) 中选出最佳选项,并写在答题纸上.
Every spring scores of people flock to the Buzzard Festival(秃鹫节) at Hinckley, Ohio. They come to watch for buzzards. Most would be glad just to take a look at a buzzard. If they do see one of these “flying garbage cans”, it will probably be circling high in the sky. From there it can watch the ground for signs of the waste and the dead animals on which it feeds.
The buzzard is the ugliest bird in the United States. In fact, it may well be the ugliest bird in the world. It has a small, bare, pink head. Its thick body is covered with dark, rough feathers.
In spite of its looks, the buzzard is important to the people of Hinckley. It is their first sign of spring. After a winter in the south, buzzards return to their homes in the north. In the Hinckley area, they always return on March 15. No one knows why. But they have come back to Hinckley Ridge on that day, sure as clocks work, for at least forty years.
The excitement starts in February. By the middle of March it has reached a high peak. Bets are placed. Prizes go to the person who sees the first buzzard. Radio stations and newspapers tell of the coming festival. And on the weekend after March 15 the people of Hinckley hold their Buzzard Festival.
The people come and look around. They chat. They eat their pancakes and sausages. Then they drive past Buzzard’s Roost on Hinckley Ridge.
A lot of them stop near the road at the stand set up to give information to visitors. There they can hear, from a recording, the main facts about the buzzard. They can see a stuffed buzzard. They can look at some pictures taken of buzzards in other years. With good luck and a strong pair of field glasses, they may sight one or two live buzzards high in the sky.
Buzzards may be ugly. They may be “flying garbage cans”. But in Hinckley they are just as welcome as the swallows are in Capistrano in California. It would be a sad spring indeed if the buzzards ever failed to come back to Hinckley Ridge.
61.A good title for this story would be _________.
A. The Hinckley Buzzard Festival
B. Buzzard, the Ugliest Bird
C. Why the Buzzard Has a Pink Head
D. The Return of “The Garbage Can”
62.The buzzard is called the“flying garbage can”because it _________.
A. is ugly
B. eats waste and dead animals
C. looks like a garbage can
D. collect rubbish on the ground
63.The surprising thing about Hinckley’s buzzards is that _________.
A. they spend the winter in the south
B. they come very close to the town
C. they return on the same day each year
D. both buzzards and swallows return to Capistrano on March 15
64.At the information stand, visitors to Hinckley’s Buzzard Festival can _________.
A. feed their pancakes and sausages to buzzards
B. easily see a live buzzard
C. take some pictures with the background of live buzzards
D. learn some facts about the buzzard
King’s College Summer School
King’s College Summer School is an annual(每年的) training program for high school students at all levels who want to improve their English. Courses are given by the teachers of King’s College and other colleges in New York. Trips to museums and culture centers are also organized. This year’s summer school will be from July 25 to August 15.
More information is as follows:
Application (申请) date ·Students in New York should send their applications before July 18, 2008. ·Students of other cities should send their applications before July 16, 2008. ·Foreign students should send their applications before July 10, 2008. |
Courses ·English Language Spoken English: 22 hours Reading and Writing: 10 hours ·American History: 16 hours ·American Culture: 16 hours |
Steps ·A letter of self-introduction ·A letter of recommendation(推荐) ﹡ The letters should be written in English with all the necessary information. |
Cost ·Daily lessons: $200 ·Sports and activities: $100 ·Travels: $200 ·Hotel service: $400 ﹡You may choose to live with your friends or relatives in the same city. |
Please write to: Thompson, Sanders 1026 King’ s Street New York, NY 10016, USA E-mail: KC-Summer-School@ yahoo, com |
You can most probably read the text in ________.
A.a travel guide | B.a newspaper | C.a textbook | D.a telephone book |
Which of the following is true about King’ s College Summer School?
A.Only top students can take part in the program. |
B.Visits to museums and culture centers are part of the program. |
C.King’ s College Summer School is run every other year. |
D.Only the teachers of King’ s College give courses. |
If you are to live with your relatives in New York, you will have to pay the school ________.
A.$500 | B.$400 | C.$200 | D.$900 |
What information can you get from the text?
A.The program will last two months. |
B.You can get in touch with the school by e-mail or by telephone |
C.As a Chinese student, you can send your application on July 14, 2008. |
D.You can write to Thompson only in English. |
Light for the City
Edison and his assistants came to New York to set up an electric power system. They hoped it would provide enough electricity to light up a part of the great city.
They bought several machines with them. These were called generators(发电机), which produced electricity power for lamps in Edison’s building.
Soon there were lights for the building. Edison lived in a room facing the street and he often worked over night. The light burned brightly and steadily and he often worked over night. People often came and stopped their horse-drawn carriage to look. Everyone knew that Thomas Edison was in town.
First, the inventor and his assistants produced several large generators. A great deal of power would be needed to light up even a small part of the city. Then the workers were busy digging deep trenches in the hard earth below the city streets, and Edison had fourteen miles of wire laid into the trenches. The wire connected each building to a generator.
Setting up an electric power system was not an easy job. It took a year and a half. In September, 1882, the job was finished.
A small group of men stood around Edison inside the power house. The big moment came at last. The inventor, taking a deep breath, pulled a switch. The electric lights flashed up.
“Very good! Very good!” a man nearby shouted to praise Edison for what he had done.
“Sir,” said Edison, “this is only the beginning!” And Edison was right. Soon Edison’s lamp were lighting up cities all over the world.The generators they brought with them could produce as much as electricity as ______ needed.
A.Edison’s building | B.a small part of the city |
C.the whole city | D.the world |
Trenches were dug to ______.
A.set up generators | B.lay wires | C.built city streets | D.build a power house |
It took a year and a half to ______.
A.set up the electric system |
B.produce several large generators |
C.dig the deep trenches |
D.lay fourteen miles of wire into the trench |
Edison took a deep breath before pulling a switch, which showed that he was ______.
A.excited | B.frightened | C.uneasy | D.light-hearted |
阅读下面短文,根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填人最恰当的单词。 注意:每个空格只填一个单词。
A debate is a discussion about a subject on which people have different views. It’s a nice way of gaining a lot of knowledge and views on a topic, or situation that we aren’t either aware of, or haven’t really looked into in detail. It makes you more able to think critically and more confident in speaking. In addition, it helps in appreciating tolerance of others’ opinion and improves your listening skills.
A debate requires one to know how to use words and intelligence to overcome his or her opposing team members. To give great arguments during a debate, first you need to get your facts right. To make what you have in material for a debate contain facts, don’t just depend on the Internet, especially avoid just referring to one website for all your information. You are also required to refer to books, and make sure they’re authors of a high degree, since their materials have reference notes and extensive research projects done on what they are covering.
Second, you should be full of confidence. You need to show that you’re sure of what you’re saying , and point out how flawed their comeback arguments were. The only way to do this is to thoroughly know your material before heading on out to a debate session. Know your statistics, know your history and above all know names, dates and places. Make key notes to refer to. Don’t stammer (口吃), and also don’t level your gaze with your opponent or the rest of them. All this will help you keep confident.
At last, by no means should you lose your calmness, but keep your voice firm and raised enough to sound calm. A good team member should know how to keep his emotions in control as well as keep others under control in his/ her team.
Title |
Debate |
|
A discussion about a subject on which people have different views. |
||
◇Help understand a topic or situation more deeply. ◇Improve your ◇ ◇Help appreciate tolerance of others’ opinion. ◇Make you better at speaking. |
||
Tips |
Get your facts right |
◇Don’t just be ◇Refer to books |
Be |
◇Show your ◇Point out the flaw of others’ comeback arguments. ◇Thoroughly know your material before attending a debate. ◇Make key notes to refer to. ◇Avoid stammering and |
|
Keep cool |
◇Speak ◇Control your emotions. |
"If I rest, I rust"——would be an excellent motto for those who are troubled by the slightest bit of idleness.Even the most hard-working person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his abilities to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, eventually, cannot do the work required of them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must- keep their ability polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture—every department of human endeavor.
Industry keeps the key bright that opens the treasury of achievement.If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist.The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor defeats all—not inconstant, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, persistent, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose.So industry is the price of noble and enduring success.What may be the meaning of the underlined word "rust" in the 1st paragraph?
A.生锈 | B.成长 | C.进步 | D.快乐 |
Why does a hardworking person even use the motto? Because ______.
A.he wants to remind himself that he is a hardworking man. |
B.he wants to remind himself to rest from time to time |
C.he is afraid that he may idle |
D.he feels he can do the work required of them. |
By saying "Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their ability polished by constant use", the author means_______.
A.great men keep their ability polished |
B.those who use their ability constantly would attain the great height |
C.those who want to get great achievements must practice their ability constantly |
D.great men polish their ability to reach their height |
The main point of the 3rd paragraph is that ______
A.industry is more important than agriculture. |
B.giving some examples of how industry works in achieving great success. |
C.what industry really means here |
D.industry can keep the keys bright |
There is a new type of small advertisement becoming increasingly common in newspaper classified columns.It is sometimes placed among “situations vacant”, although it does not offer anyone a job, and sometimes it appears among “situations wanted”, although it is not placed by someone looking for a job, either.What it does is to offer help in applying for a job.
“Contact us before writing your application”, or “Make use of our long experience in preparing your curriculum vitae or job history”, is how it is usually expressed.The growth and apparent success of such a specialized service is, of course, a reflection on the current high levels of unemployment.It is also an indication of the growing importance of the CV, with the suggestion that it may now qualify as an art form in its own right.
There was a time when job seekers simply wrote letters of application.“Just put down your name, address, age and whether you have passed any exams”, was about the average level of advice offered to young people applying for their first jobs when I left school.The letter was really just for openers, it was explained, everything else could and should be saved for the interview.And in those days of full employment the technique worked.The letter proved that you could write and were available for work.Your eager face and intelligent replies did the rest.
There is no doubt, however, that it is increasing number of applicants with university education at all points in the process of engaging staff that has led to the greater importance of the CV.The new type of advertisement which is appearing in newspaper column.
A.informs job hunters of the opportunities available |
B.informs employers of the people available for work |
C.divides available jobs into various types |
D.promises to offer useful advice to those looking for employment |
Nowadays a demand for this specialized type of service has been created because .
A.there are so many people out of work |
B.there are so many toplevel jobs available |
C.there is a lack of jobs available for artistic people |
D.the CV is considered to be a work of art |
In the past it was expected that first job hunters would.
A.write an initial letter giving their life history |
B.keep any detailed information until they obtained an interview |
C.have no qualifications other than being able to read and write |
D.pass some exams before applying for a job |
The CV has become such an important document because.
A.there has been an increase in the number of applicants with degrees |
B.there has been an increase in the number of jobs advertised |
C.jobs are becoming much more complicated nowadays |
D.the other processes of applying for jobs are more difficult to do |