IV. 阅读理解
Across the world, 1.1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. More than 2.5 billion people lack basic sanitation.(卫生设备)
The combination proves deadly. Each year, diseases related to inadequate water and sanitation kill between 2 and 5 million people and cause an estimated 80 percent of all sicknesses in the developing world. Safe drinking water is a precondition for health and the fight against child death rate, inequality between men and women, and poverty.
Consider these facts:
●The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 kilometers.
●Only 58 percent of children in sub-Saharan Africa are drinking safe water., and only 37 percent
of children in South Asia have access to even a basic toilet.
●Each year in India alone, 73 million working days are lost to water-borne diseases.
Here are three ways you can help:
1) Write Congress
Current U.S. foreign aid for drinking water and sanitation budgets only one dollar per year per American citizen. Few members of Congress have ever received a letter from voters about clean drinking water abroad.
2) Sponsor a project with a faith-based organization
Many U.S. religious groups already sponsor water and sanitation projects, working with partner organizations abroad. Simply put a single project by a U.S. organization can make safe water a reality for thousands of people.
3) Support nonprofit water organizations
Numerous U.S.-based nonprofits work skillfully abroad in community-led projects related to drinking water and sanitation. Like the sample of non-profits noted as follows: some organizations are large, other small-scale, some operate worldwide, others are devoted to certain areas in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. Support them generously.
1、The three facts presented in the passage are used to illustrate that________.
A. poverty can result in water-borne diseases
B. people have no access to clean drinking water
C. women’s rights are denied in some developing countries
D. safe drinking water should be a primary concern
2、The intended readers of the passage are________.
A. Americans B. overseas sponsors
C. Congressmen D. U.S.-based water organizations
3、The main purpose of the passage is to call on people to _________.
A. get rid of water-related diseases in developing countries
B. donate money to people short of water through religious groups
C. fight against the worldwide water shortage and sanitation problem
D. take joint action in support of some nonprofit water organizations
4、What information will probably be provided following the last paragraph?
A. A variety of companies and their worldwide operation.
B. A list of nonprofit water organizations to make contact with.
C. Some ways to get financial aids from U.S. Congress.
D. A few water resources exploited by some world-famous organizations.
In the mid 1990’s, people started doing business on the Internet. At that time, there were two kinds of companies(公司). First, there were traditional companies. They sold things in stores. Then there were Internet companies. They didn’t have a store, and they only sold things on the Net.
Traditional companies didn’t want to lose any business. Quickly they made their own websites and began selling things on the Net. These are the so-called “brick and click” companies. Many stores are made of brick. And you click on your mouse to buy things with your computer. That’s where the name “brick and click” comes from.
By the late 1990’s, e-business like amazon.com, buy.com and etoys.com were in trouble. Their profits（利润）were not very high. Competition was great. Many of these business were losing lots of money. In 2000, many e-business went out of business.
Why are “brick and click” companies, like Barnes and Noble, Toys RVs and Walmart so successful? First, many customers know and trust their names. Their websites like walmart.com. are easy to remember. These companies also have lots of experience. They know how to run a successful business.
In the world of e-commerce, companies are fighting for every dollar and every customer. Will “brick and click” companies win the war? Only time will tell.
72. Which of the following would be a “brick and click” company?
A. A restaurant.
B. A clothing company with no website.
C. A bookseller with five stores and a website.
D. A video seller with a big website but no stores.
73. What did many traditional companies do in the mid 1990’s? .
A .They went out of business.B. They made their websites.
C. They bought Internet companies. D. They sold their companies.
74. What gave Internet companies lots of trouble in the late 1990’s?.
A. Heavy competition. B. They were short of money.
C. They didn’t know what to do.D. people didn’t believe in them.
75. “Brick and click” companies are so successful because______.
A. people trust them B. their names are easy to remember
C. they are experiencedD. all the above
76. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. All the “brick and click” companies run a successful business.
B. “Brick and click” companies are certain to win the business competition.
C. It is uncertain whether “brick and click” companies will win the competition.
D. Both “brick and click” companies and Internet companies will be successful in the future
When friends come to visit us in the evening, they spend their time telling us they are in a hurry and looking at their watches. It isn’t that our friends are all very busy; it is just that we haven’t got a television. People think that we are very strange. “But what do you do in the evening?” they are always asking. The answer is very simple. Both my wife and I have hobbies. We certainly don’t spend our evenings staring at the walls. My wife enjoys cooking and painting and often attends evening classes in foreign languages. This is particularly useful as we often go abroad for our holidays. I collect stamps and I’m always busy with my collection. Both of us enjoy listening to the music and playing chess together．
Sometimes there are power cuts and we have no electricity in the house. This does not worry us; we just light candles and carry on with what we were doing before. Our friends, however, are lost------No television! -------So they don’t know what to do. On such evenings our house is very full; they all come to us. They all have a good time. Instead of sitting in silence in front of the television, everybody talks and plays games．
69. The couple have not got a television, because______．
A. they are not rich enough
B. they are strange people
C. they enjoy spending evenings in their own ways
D. they don’t know what to do when there are power cuts
70. At night when there is no electricity, the couple____．
A. have to look at the walls B. can do nothing but sit in silence
C. will have many visitors D. have to go out for candles
71. The best title for this passage is _____________.
A. Why Do We Need a Television? B. Candle! But No Electricity!
C. Different Friends, Different Hobbies D. We Go Without Televisions!
The following is a true story. It happened in the northern end of Queens land, Australia, where all kinds of animals live in the forest.
Lisa, a 33-year-old woman, went to prepare lunch in the kitchen, leaving Barney, her three-year-old son, playing by himself in the back garden.
Suddenly, a sharp cry of Barney came into the mother’s ears, and Lisa rushed into the backyard in a hurry and found a big snake entwining(缠绕) the little child with its terrible body and trying to eat the boy as its delicious dish! It was a boa(蟒蛇)! Lisa was terrified and quite angry. She made up her mind to save her son from the snake’s mouth.
It was fearless mother love that made Lisa forget what she faced. She took up an old hoe (锁头) from the ground and beat the boa with all her strength.
One...two... With the hoe, Lisa beat the snake repeatedly, but useless. The little boy’s voice and breath were getting weaker and weaker. Lisa’s heart was broken and she got nearly mad.
Suddenly Lisa put away the hoe and threw herself to the boa, opening her mouth and bit into the boa’s back as if trying to eat a rare steak(牛排). Lisa was really mad!
Blood was spurting(喷射) out of the boa’s body and covered most of Lisa’s body. The boa was so badly wounded that it let go of Barney and moved back into the forest hurriedly. It had never known how a woman had such terrible sharp teeth! On halfway home, the boa died.
It was fearless mother love that saved the little boy.
65. When she rushed into the back garden, Lisa found ______
A. a boa eating her son
B. her son was playing with a big snake
C. her son in danger of losing his life
D. her son was fighting with a boa
66. Lisa failed in fighting against the boa at first just because ______.
A. she was bit by the boa
B. the boa was too strong
C. the hoe was not sharp enough
D. she was afraid that she would hurt her son
67. Lisa bit the snake because ______.
A. she was mad
B. she thought her teeth were much sharper than the boa
C. her son was entwined by the boa
D. she hadn’t got any other way to fight with the snake
68. The best title for this passage is ______.
A. Mother and BoaB. Fearless Mother Love
C. A Boa and a BoyD. Saving a Boy from a Boa
第三部分阅读理解（共20题，每小题2分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C或D）中，选出最佳选项
New York, London, Paris and other big cities are exciting places to live in. There are many interesting things to see and to do. You can go to different kinds of museums, plays and films. You can also go shopping to buy things from all over the world.
But there are serious problems in big cities too. The expense of living is high, and there are too many people in some places of big cities. Every year, many people move to the cities because of the chances to find jobs, to study at good schools, and to receive good medical care. But sometimes these people cannot find work or a good place to live in. Also, too many people in a small space make it hard to keep the cities safe and clean.
Some people enjoy living in big cities, others do not. Before people move to a big city, they should think about the problems of living there.
61. In big cities people can ____________.
A. go to different kinds of museums B. see all kinds of plays and films
C. buy things from all over the worldD. A,B and C.
62. Which of the following is True?
A. Big cities are not safe and clean enough.
B. People can easily find a good place to live in.
C. All people like to live in big cities.
D. No one likes to live in big cities.
63. In the passage the writer advise people __________ .
A. to move to a big city
B. not to move to a big city
C. not to move to a big city without thinking about the problems
D. not to think too much about the problems before they move to a big city
64. Which is not talked about in the passage?
A. New York and London are big cities, and so is Paris.
B. Big cities are better than small cities.
C. Big cities are exciting places to live in.
D. Big cities have a lot of serious problems.
Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs.
Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants. But in the executive (主管的) circle, beauty can become a liability. While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman. Handsome male executives were considered having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success. Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck. All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the attractive overnight successes was connected more with personal relationships and less to ability than that of the unattractive overnight successes. Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman considered to be more womanish has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the “manly” qualities. This is true even in politics, “When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently,” says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them. The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.
73. The underlined word "liability" most probably means ______.
A. disadvantage B. advantage C. misfortune D. trouble
74. Bowman’s experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness ______.
A. turns out to be a disadvantage to both men and women
B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women
C. has as little effect on men as on women
D. slightly affects both men and women
75. It can be inferred from the passage that people’s views on beauty are often ______.
A. practicalB. supportive C. old-fashioned D. one-sided