Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boats (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientist; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we 
might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence. The new products become more and more time-saving because .
| A．our love of speed seems never-ending | B．time is limited. |
| C．the prices are increasingly high. | D．the manufactures boast a lot. |
What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to ?
| A．Imaginary life | B．Simple life in the past. |
| C．Times of inventions | D．Time for constant activity. |
What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?
| A．Critical | B．Objective. | C．Optimistic. | D．Negative. |
What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．The present and past times. | B．Machinery and human beings. |
| C．Imaginations and inventions. | D．Modern technology and its influence. |
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40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，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Sometimes people call each other “scared-cat”, but have you ever thought about this expression? When a cat is frightened, its heart starts beating faster, its muscles get tense, and there are changes in the chemicals in its bloodstream. Although the cat doesn’t realize this, its body is getting ready for action. If the danger continues, the animal will do one of two things. It will defend itself, or it will run away as fast as it can.
Something like this also happens to people. When we are excited, angry, scared, or aroused by other emotions, our bodies go through many physical changes. Our hearts beat faster, and our muscles get tense. All of these changes make us more alert and ready to react. We, too, get ready to defend ourselves or run.
Human beings, however, have a problem that animals never face. If we give way to our feelings and let them take over, we can get into trouble. Have you ever said something in anger—or hit somebody—and regretted it later? Have you ever shouted at a teacher, told somebody you were lonely, or said you were in love, and then wished later you had kept your mouth shut? It isn’t always wise to express your feelings freely.
Does this mean that it’s smarter always to hide our feelings? No! If you keep feelings of anger, sadness, and bitterness hidden away or bottled up inside, your body stays tense. Physical illness can develop, and you can feel churned up inside. It can actually be bad for your health. (It isn’t good to keep pleasant feelings inside either; all feelings need to be expressed.)
Feeling that you keep all bottles up inside, don’t just go away. It’s as if bought some bananas and stuck them in a cupboard. You might not be able to see them, but before long you’d smell them, if you opened the cupboard, chances are you’d see little fruit flies hovering all over them. They’d be rotten.
You can try to treat emotions as if they were bananas in the cupboard. You can
hide them and you can pretend they don’t exist, but they’ll still be around. And at last you’ll have to deal with them, just like those bananas.
56. What does the word “emotions” in the second paragraph mean?
A. acts B. feelings C. measurements D. thinking
57. The best title for this article is __________.
A. Emotions Affect Our Bodies
B. What Happens to A Frightened Cat
C. What Happens to An Excited Person
D. Feelings That People Have
58. The author wrote this article in order to __________.
A. tell us that it isn’t good to keep feelings inside
B. give us some advice on how to express our feelings
C. compare man with a scared cat and suggest mankind learn from it.
D. make us know that it isn’t always wise to express our feelings freely
E
“Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell.”
This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown citizen who lived in Rome in AD 52 wrote it.
We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives.
But have all these developments really improve the quality of our lives?
Picture this: You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How calm and happy do you feel?
Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have not telephones, no cars, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they lead simpler lives.
One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10, and Tomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phones.
The grandmother, Lyn, said, “It was hard physically, but not mentally.” She believed life was less materialistic. “The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes,” She said. The boys said they fought less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy（时髦的）, beer-drinking granny, to one who cooked things.”
Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!
Don’t be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day. Don’t check your e-mail every day.
Don’t reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.
72．The passage is mainly about .
A．problem with technology
B．improvements of our life with technology
C．the important roles technology plays in our everyday life
D．major changes which will be likely to happen to technology
73．The writer quoted（引用） what a citizen in ancient Rome said at the beginning of the story in order to .
A．share a truth about life
B．tell us what life was like long time ago
C．make us wonder what causes such a thing to happen
D．point out that you experience some big problems and they may be the same
74．Why did the family choose to spend some time in a 1940’s house? Because .
A．they liked to live simple lives
B．they were curious about how people lived without modern inventions
C．they were troubled by modern inventions
D．living in a different time would be a lot of fun for them
75．What do you think the underlined word “available” in the first suggestion offered by the writer mean?
A．Busy on line. B．Free.. C．Be able to. D．Be found by others.
D
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, some high schools in America wanted the students to pledge allegiance（宣誓效忠） to the flag. Is it necessary or not? Let’s see how the kids think of this requirement.
Lea Mouallem, Marymount High School
I believe that saying the Pledge of Allegiance is a way of reminding our country that no matter what happens, we are united. I don’t think our president wants us to go and join the army now, but he wants to tell us that we will be able to overcome the disaster as a whole nation that is working together.
Harry Chin, 15, Culver City High School
I am not for the Pledge of Allegiance and I am not against the Pledge of Allegiance because I just say it so many times that it loses meaning. I say it every day at school in the second period. It doesn’t mean anything any more.
David Tran, 15, Warren High School.
The Pledge of Allegiance is another sign of country. We should have some respect to it. In many schools, we don’t say the Pledge every morning-we just stand up and let the National anthem ring through the silence. We said the Pledge of Allegiance on Sept. 12.
Danny Maryanor, 16, Santa Monica High School
I wonder why we were suddenly asked to recite the Pledge when many of us stopped after elementary school; and the Pledge was recited before the play of “Ode to Joy” （欢乐颂）with recorders. This was not to express patriotism（爱国主义）, or even to remember those who lost their lives on Sept. 11.
I feel I cannot support a nation that in this time of crisis looks outward for revenge（报复）instead of inward for peace. Perhaps we should think more about our problems.
68.Saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag first appeared in American schools______
A．after Sept. 11, 2000 B．before Sept. 11, 2001
C．on Sept. 11, 2001 D．after Sept. 11, 2001
69．Who were for the Pledge of Allegiance?
A．Lea Mouallem; David Tran B．Harry Chin; Danny Maryanor
C．Lea Mouallem; Danny Maryanor D．Harry Chin; David Tran
70．Which of the following is TRUE?
A．Harry Chin thought the government required them to join the army.
B．Lea Mouallem thought the Pledge of Allegiance of no meaning.
C．Danny Maryanor felt the terrorist attacks happened partly because of America’s own problem.
D．The Pledge of Allegiance is of another country.
71．According to the passage, it can be imagined that________.
A．all high school students say yes to the Pledge of Allegiance.
B．all high school students say no to the Pledge of Allegiance.
C．all kids don’t agree to the requirement of saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
D．all high schools will require their students to pledge allegiance to the flag.
C
Sports is not only physically challenging, but it can also mentally challenging. Criticism（批评）from coaches(trainers), parents, and other teammates, as well a
s pressure to win can create too much anxiety or stress for young athletes. Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological, and research has showed that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable.
The early years of development are critical years for learning about oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their live
s. Coaches and parents should be aware(realize), at all times, that their feedback（反馈）to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters many take their parents’ and coaches’ criticisms to heart and find a flaw（缺陷） in themselves.
Coaches and parents should also be cautious(careful) that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today’s youth sport setting, young athletes may be worrying more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game, many parents and coaches focus on(pay more attention to) the outcome and find fault with youngsters’ performances. Positive reinforcement should be provided in spite of the outcome. Research shows that positive reinforcement motivates and has a greater effect on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress(pressure), which can lead to burnout.
64．According to the passage sport is positive for young people in that .
A．it can help them learn more about society
B．it teaches them how to set realistic goals for themselves
C．it enables them to find flaws in themselves
D．it can provide them with valuable experiences
65．Many coaches and parents are in the habit of criticizing young athletes .
A．without realizing criticism may destroy their self-confidence
B．in order to make them remember life’s lessons
C．believing that criticism is beneficial for their early development
D．so as to put more pressure on them
66．According to the passage parents and coaches should .
A．help children to win every game
B．pay more attention to letting children enjoy sports
C．enable children to understand the positive aspect of sports
D．train children to deal with stress
67．The author’s purpose in writing the passage is .
A．to persuade young children not to worry about criticism
B．to emphasize the importance of positive reinforcement to children
C．to discuss the skill of combing c
riticism with encouragement
D．to teach young athletes how to avoid burnout
B
Whatever our differences as human beings are, we all think we’re more like the rest of the animal world than we realize. It is said that we share 40 per cent of our genetic（遗传的）structure with the simple worm.
But that fact has helped Sir John Sulston win the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Sir John is the founder of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, which was set up in 1992 to get further understanding of the human genome（染色体组.
To help them do this, they turned to the worm. The nematode（线虫类的）worm is one of the earliest creatures on planet earth. It is less than one millimeter long, completely transparent and spends its entire life digging holes through sand. But it still has lots to say about human life, and what can be done to make it better.
What the worm told Sir John and his colleagues was that each of cells in the human body is programmed like a computer. They grow, develop and die according to a set of instructions that are coded in our genetic make-up.
Many of the diseases that humans suffer from happen when these instructions go wrong or are
not obeyed. When the cell refuses to die but carries on growing instead, this leads to cancer. Heart attacks and diseases like AIDS cause more cell deaths than normal, increasing the damage they do to the body. Sir John was the first scientist to prove the existence of programmed cell death.
60．Sir John Sulston got a Nobel Prize for Medicine because he has .
A．found that human beings are similar to the worn
B．got the fact we share 40 per cent of our genetic structure with the simple worm
C．found the computer which controls each of the cells in the human body
D．proved that cell death is programmed
61．People might be seriously ill if the cells in heir body .
A．grow without being instructed B．die regularly
C．fail to follow people’s instructions D．develop in the human body
62．The underlined word “they” (paragraph 5) refers to .
A．cell deaths B．diseases C．instructions D．cells
63．What is the subject discussed in the text?
A．The theory of programmed cell deaths.
B．A great scientist—Sir John Sulston.
C．The programmed human life.
D．Dangerous diseases.