Many people like the feeling of the gentle wind in spring. Many like to see the falling leaves dancing in the wind in autumn. But sometimes, when the wind becomes a storm, it can be very destructive(具有破坏性的).
A series of such storms struck the US last month and caused very serious damage and human pain.
Every year, major storms cause many problems around the world. There is nothing people can do to stop these powerful forces of nature. But new techniques are helping scientists to predict(预测) how, when, and where big storms will happen. The more exact scientists’ warnings are, the better people can prepare for the storms.
Predictions are improving. “We’re gotten better over the years, especially the last few years,” says Phil Klotzbach, a scientist at an American university. How is a storm formed? Even if scientists know where a storm will happen, winds can suddenly change, carrying the storm to a new direction. “For a hurricane to happen, conditions have to be just right, ” Klotzbach says.
First, the ocean water needs to be warm enough so that it evaporates and rises into the air. As it rises, the vapor（水蒸气）cools and turns back into liquid. This process gives off heat. This produces energy like an engine that causes winds to increase. It drives the formation(形成) of a hurricane.
If wind speeds reach 40 miles per hour, the system is called a “tropical storm”(热带风暴), and it gets a name. At 75 miles per hour, it becomes a hurricane.
H
urricanes that hit the US start when a thunderstorm forms off the coast of Africa. Storms also develop over tropical waters in other parts of the world.
On average, 60 or 70 storms form off Africa every year. About 10 of them get names. There are usually abo
ut six hurricanes. Two tend to be very big, with winds of 115 miles per hour or higher.
The hurricane season lasts from June to November. Ninety percent of all hurricanes hit in August, September, and October.
49. According to the passage, hurricanes usually ____.
| A．form off the coast of Africa and America |
| B．travel at 40 miles per hour and get its name |
| C．cause sea winds to rise and blow over the sea |
| D．hit parts of the world in summer and autumn |
50. The underlined word “evaporates” probably means “____”.
| A．begins to move | B．gets lost | C．becomes hot | D．changes into gas |
51. Which of the following about the information of a hurricane is the correct order?
a. The ocean water evaporates and goes into the air.
b. Heat creates energy and causes winds to increase.
c. The vapor cools.
d. The ocean water is warm enough.
e. The vapor changes back into liquid.
f. This course gives out heat.
| A．a, d, e, b, c, f | B．a, b, c, f, d, e | C．d, a, c, e, f, b | D．d, a, b, c, e, f |
52.According to the passage, the speed of the biggest two hurricanes reaches ____.
| A．115 miles per hour | B．110 miles per hour |
| C．75 miles per hour | D．95 miles per hour |
If you want to get the most out of the study of a language, you must also read for pleasure: novels, plays, travel books, and so on. And in reading books of this kind the important thing is to get on with the reading; to try to grasp（理解） what the writer is going to tell you in the book as a whole. This is impossible if you stop and think over the meaning of every single word which happens to be unfamiliar. You can not enjoy a story if you stop half a dozen times on every page in order to look up words in the dictionary. You may even prevent yourself from understanding the story as a whole by doing this.
When you are reading books of this kind, therefore, you will usually have to depend mainly on the context (上下文) to help you. If you meet an unfamiliar word, do not let it take too much of your attention from the main idea of the story. In all probability you will meet the same word again a few pages later on in a slightly different context, and each time you see it that your understanding of it will become more exact.The phrase “to get on with reading” in the first passage has the same meaning as “_________”.
| A．to try to grasp the meaning of every sentence in the book |
| B．to try to catch the meaning of every word in the book |
| C．to try to understand all the writer is going to tell you |
| D．to try to understand the main idea of the book |
When you meet new words in reading such kinds of books, you’d better _________.
| A．stop and look them up in a dictionary |
| B．stop and think them over |
| C．try to guess their meanings from the context |
| D．have none of them |
From the passage the best way to read novels, plays and travel books is .
| A．to read very slowly |
| B．to read quickly and not too carefully |
| C．to read very carefully |
| D．to read very seriously |
.What is the passage’s main idea?
| A．You can learn a lot from the study of a language. |
| B．Guess words’ meanings according to context. |
| C．Reading for pleasure is important. |
| D．Reading skills for books like novels, plays and so on |
Writing a long book seemed to be too much for me. So, for a long time, I just wrote short articles. One day, inspiration(灵感) for an article hit me and, as I started writing, paragraphs began flowing out fast. It turned out to be too long to be an article. I thought it would not hurt to try self-publishing a booklet(小册子). The first printing of this 32-page black and white booklet sold out within a week. Here is something that I have learned through my experience.
1.Start small.
Don’t try to have a 400-page work as your first publication. I suggest you publish a booklet under 50 pages to launch your career as an author.
2.Ask for advice.
If you know some people who have published something, ask them for advice and help. You will gain useful information from them and save yourself many problems.
3.
When you put your heart into something only to hear“We’re not interested”,you may get hurt. But you must remind yourself that this is quite common. Every“yes”you receive comes after at least five“noes”,especially at the beginning. You need to revise your book many times to reduce the chances of being turned down.
4.The more you market, the more you sell.
You can publish an excellent book. But if no people know about it, you cannot expect many buyers. Send out an e-mail to friends, family and business partners, telling them your book’s publication date. Ask them to help sell your book.
Do not be afraid to try novel ideas.What does the underlined word“launch”in Point 1 there mean?
| A．Begin. | B．Develop. | C．Lead. | D．Describe. |
What’s the best title for Point 3?
| A．No one will like what you wrote at first. |
| B．You will get hurt by what you wrote at first. |
| C．Prepare for a“yes”rather than a“no”. |
| D．Be prepared to deal with“noes”. |
According to the passage, if you want to have more copies of your book sold, you should.
| A．advertise your book in newspapers |
| B．try to make more people know your book |
| C．ask your business partners to buy your book |
| D．write something that people are interested in |
About self-publishing a book, the writer would most probably agree that.
| A．one usually makes no money out of self-publishing a book |
| B．one should never self-publish a book longer than 400 |
| C．self-publishing a book is impossible for most people |
| D．asking advice from people who have published a book is helpful |
Sitting in the play area of the doctor’s office, my children, Paul, four, and Bailey, three, built a Lego tower while we waited to be called for Paul’s examination.
“Good job, you guys,”I said, trying not to sound too tired. My husband was away on business, and it was difficult being alone with the kids. At times I felt like I was living in the jungle(丛林) rather than the suburbs.
“Don’t put the Lego in your mouth, Bailey,”I said. Paul grabbed(抓取) it from him.“That’s not nice, Paul,”I said. He gave back the Lego. I looked around the waiting room. A woman was eating something, a couple were talking, and an old gentleman in a blue jacket was reading a magazine. I wished I could sit quietly for a while. I wanted to be able to take a rest, or go shopping alone. At once, I was ashamed of myself. What kind of mother was I? “God,”I thought, “help me to be the very best mom I can be.”
The nurse came into the waiting room to get us. Just at that moment, the old gentleman in the waiting room put down his magazine and came up to me. With a smile on his face, he said, “Your children are most certainly lucky to have such a wonderful mother.”“Thank you,”I replied in a low voice and watched him walk back to his seat. We followed the nurse into the examination room. While she weighed Paul, I told her how that man had made my day.
Motherhood is still a jungle sometimes, but now when I feel tired I remember the encouraging words of the old gentleman.The writer went to the doctor’s office because.
| A．one of her children liked to play there |
| B．her son Paul needed an examination |
| C．she was tired and needed to see her doctor |
| D．she wanted to have all her children examined |
.From Paragraph 2, we know the writer felt that looking after her children alone was.
| A．unfair | B．happy | C．hard | D．interesting |
The writer criticized(批评) Paul when he.
| A．put the Lego into Bailey’s mouth |
| B．took away the toy from Bailey |
| C．made trouble in the waiting room |
| D．didn’t follow her advice |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The writer often went shopping alone. |
| B．The writer’s husband was always on business. |
| C．The writer doesn’t know how to be a good mother. |
| D．The writer was greatly encouraged by the old gentleman’s words. |
One night recently, I was driving down a two-lane highway at about 60 miles an hour. A car approached from the opposite direction at about the same speed. As we passed each other, I caught the other driver’s eye for only a second. I wondered whether he might be thinking, as I was, how dependent we were on each other at that moment. I was relying on him not to fall asleep, not to be distracted (分心) by a phone conversation, not to cross over into my lane and bring my life to a sudden end. Though we had never spoken a word to each other, he relied on me in just the same way.
Multiplied a million times over, I believe that is the way the world works. At some level, we all depend upon one another. Sometimes that dependence requires us simply not to do something like crossing over the double yellow line. And sometimes it requires us to act cooperatively, with friends or even with strangers.
As technology makes our world smaller and smaller, the need increases for cooperative action among nations. In 2003, doctors in five nations were quickly organized to identify the SARS virus, which saved thousands of lives. The threat of international terrorism has shown itself to be a similar problem, one requiring team action by police and intelligence forces across the world. We must recognize that our fates are not ours alone to control.
In my own life, I used to put great stock in personal responsibility. But, as time has passed, I’ve also come to believe that there are moments when one must rely upon the good faith and judgment of others. So, while each of us faces the case of driving alone down a dark road, what we must learn with experience is that the approaching light may not be a threat, but a shared moment of trust.The author considers it very important ______.
| A．to drive with a companion | B．to have personal independence |
| C．to gain certain responsibility | D．to share trust and cooperation |
The author said that they depended on each other in the same way because ______.
| A．the approaching car was very dangerous |
| B．they both drove their car at a terrific speed |
| C．he might be killed out of the other’s careless driving |
| D．it was dark and the road was not wide enough |
From the second paragraph, we know the author drew the important lesson from ______.
| A．only one experience | B．many similar experiences |
| C．a driver on a dark road | D．many friends and strangers |
The need for cooperation increases because ______.
| A．people’s fates can’t be controlled by themselves |
| B．certain viruses can spread in a quick way |
| C．terrorism can happen everywhere and every day |
| D．the world has become much more dangerous |
We can infer from the last paragraph that the author has ______.
| A．believed in one’s own personal responsibility |
| B．counted upon himself alone in everything |
| C．had no trust in others’ good faith and judgment |
| D．had a change on his viewpoint of life |
A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, that’s not really true. Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves— the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.
We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed to admit it, though. In fact, we really shouldn’t be because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.
This “self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solve problems, and calm ourselves down. Be aware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying “Good job!”
Often, words come out of our mouths without us thinking about the effect they will have. But we should be aware that our words cause certain responses in others. For example, when returning an item to a store, we might use warm, friendly language during the exchange. And the clerk will probably respond in a similar manner. Or harsh (刻薄的) and critical language will most likely cause the clerk to be defensive.
Words possess power because of their lasting effects. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.
Words possess power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem (自尊) and motivate others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.The main idea of the first paragraph is that _________.
| A．words have a lasting effect on us |
| B．inspiring words give us confidence |
| C．negative words may let us down |
| D．not sticks and stones but words will hurt us |
There is no need for us to feel embarrassed when we talk to ourselves because _________.
| A．almost everybody has the habit of talking to themselves |
| B．talking to ourselves always gives us courage |
| C．we can benefit from talking to ourselves |
| D．it does no harm to have “self-talk” when we are alone |
The underlined part in the third paragraph means that we should also timely ________.
| A．remind ourselves | B．praise ourselves |
| C．make ourselves relaxed | D．give ourselves amusement |
The author would probably hold the view that _________.
| A．encouraging words are sure to lead to kind offers |
| B．negative words may motivate us to make more progress |
| C．people tend to remember friendly words |
| D．it is better to think twice before talking to others |
In which column of the newspaper can you most likely read this passage?
| A．News. | B．Advice column. | C．Health. | D．Language. |