What is time? Is it a thing to be saved or spent or wasted, like money? Or is it something we have no control over, like the weather? Is time the same all over the world?
That's an easy question, you say. Wherever you go, a minute is 60 seconds, an hour is 60 minutes, a day is 24 hours, and so forth. But in America, time is more than that. Americans see time as a valuable resource. Maybe that's why they are fond of the expression, "Time is money."
Because Americans believe time is a limited resource, they try to conserve and manage it. People in the U.S. often attend seminars or read books on time management. It seems they all want to organize their time better. Professionals carry around pocket planners -- some in electronic form -- to keep track of appointments and deadlines. People do all they can to squeeze more time out of their time. The early American hero Benjamin Franklin expressed this view best: "Do you love life? Then do not waste time, for that is the stuff life is made of."
To Americans, punctuality is a way of showing respect for other people's time. Being more than 10 minutes late to an appointment usually calls for an apology and an explanation. People who are running late often call ahead to let others know of the delay. Of course, the less formal the situation is, the less important it is to be exactly on time. At informal get-togethers, for example, people often arrive as much as 30 minutes past the appointed time.
To outsiders, Americans seem tied to the clock. People in other cultures value relationships more than schedules. In these societies, people don't try to control time, but to experience it. Even Americans would admit that no one can master time. Time -- like money -- slips all too easily through our fingers. And time -- like the weather-- is very hard to predict. Nevertheless, time is one of life's most precious gifts. And unwrapping it is half the fun.What’s the main topic of this passage?
| A．What is time? |
| B．How to control time? |
| C．Make good use of time. |
| D．Time among Americans. |
What’s the meaning of the underlined word “conserve”?
| A．protect | B．develop | C．produce | D．assist |
The sentence “Americans seem tied to the clock” probably means __________.
| A．Americans often carry a clock with them. |
| B．Americans can not predict the time. |
| C．Americans can take control over time. |
| D．Americans often make full use of time. |
We can safely draw a conclusion from this passage that _________________.
| A．Americans have more time than others. |
| B．by using pocket planners, people can have more time. |
| C．for informal meeting, Americans often arrive 30 minutes earlier. |
| D．Americans often attend seminars, because they want to use time better. |
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
My father and I were very close .I loved pleasing him ,and he was always proud of my success .If I won a spelling contest at school, he was on top of the world .Later in life whenever I got a promotion（提升）,I’d call my father right away and he’d rush out to tell all his friends .In 1970,when I was named President of the Ford Motor Company ,I don’t know which of us was more excited .Like many native Italians ,my parents were very open with their feelings and their love—not only at home ,but also in public .Most of my friends would never hug their fathers .But I hugged and kissed my dad at every opportunity—nothing could have felt more natural .He was a curious man who was always trying new things .He was the first person in Allentown to buy a motorcycle. Unfortunately, my father and his motorcycle didn’t get along too well .He fell off it so often that he got rid of it just a month after buying it. As a result, he never again trusted any vehicle with less than four wheels, Because of that motorcycle. I wasn’t allowed to have a bicycle when I was growing up .Whenever I wanted to ride a bike, I had to borrow one from a friend .On the other hand ,my father let me drive a car as soon as I turned sixteen.
56．When I won a contest at school, my father would___________.
A．tell all his friend about it B．feel most happy over it
C．get very surprised at it D．be much more excited than I
57．Which of the following statement shows that my father was a curious man?
A．I wasn’t allowed to have a car when I was growing up.
B．He was the first person in town to buy a motorcycle.
C．He was always proud of my success.
D．He was very open with his feelings and his love.
58．My father trusted no vehicle with less than four wheels because___________.
A．he did not like the way I always borrowed bicycles from friends
B．he thought that cars were faster than motorcycles
C．he liked every new model made by the Ford Motor company
D．he had trouble in riding his motorcycle
59．Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A．My father loved his motorcycle .He rode through the dirty streets of Allentown every day.
B．I wasn’t allowed to have a bicycle when I was young, but when I was just 16 I was allowed to drive a car .
C．My father was always proud of what I did .He was very pleased when I won a spelling contest at school.
D．My father bought a motorcycle, but got rid of it because he fell off it so often.
E
I came to live here where I am now between Wounded Knee Greek and Grass Greek. Others came too, and we made these little grey houses of logs that you see, and they are square. It is a bad way to live, for there can be no power in a square.
You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the respectful circle of the nation, and so long as the circle was unbroken, the people were getting rich. The flowering tree was the living center of the circle, and the circle of the four quarters nursed it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and strong wind gave strength and continuous power. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our brief. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. They sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. Birds make their nests in circle, for theirs are the same as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons from a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our places were like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to nurse our children.
But the Wasichus (Indian word for “white people”) have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us any more. You can look at our boys and see how it is with us. Where we were living by the power of the circle in the way we should boys were men at twelve or thirteen years of age. But now it takes them very much longer to be bull-grown.
57. According to the passage, the Indians ____.
A. don’t have modern instruments in their homes
B. refused to move from round places
C. lived in round places, but were forced to live in square houses
D. lived in round places, but then decided to move into square houses
58. Two things being compared in the passage are ____.
A. the Indians’ past and present living conditions B. the Indians’ past and modern beliefs
C. the Indians’ old and new powerD. people and nature
59. In the second paragraph “ the four quarters” refers to ____.
A. the four rooms of the Indian’s house B. the four kinds of natural power
C. the four seasons D. the four directions
60. According to the author, once the Indians moved into square houses, ____.
A. they had to move to other houses B. boys took more time to grow into men
C. they forgot the old way of life D. everyone was not happy
D
Many of the snacks are high in sugar, fat and salt. Vending machines(自动售货机) filled with unhealthy snacks in leisure centres run the risk of fuelling childhood obesity.
The British Heart Foundation found that despite being banned from schools and children’s TV, crisps and chocolate are on sale where children exercise. And children’s meals on offer at the 35 venues spot-checked were mostly chips, chicken nuggets(鸡肉块), sausages and burgers.
The charity (慈善机构) wants stricter regulation over the food choices available.
The report was prepared by the Food Commission, which looked at leisure centres, bowling clubs, ice skating centres and park cafes.
The average calorie content of vending machine snacks was 203 calories, which would take a seven-year-old 88 minutes of swimming to use up.
Fresh fruit was displayed at less than half of the places visited, and nutritional information was displayed at just two of the places visited. The BHF said this severely limits children’s and parents’ ability to assess the nutritional values of the products they are buying.
BHF’s chief executive Peter Hollins said: “It’s fantastic that these kids are getting fit and having fun at the same time but this is being undermined by junk food sold to them.
“Councils and leisure providers need to reconsider the food choices they are providing and make it easier for parents and children to make healthier choices.”
The charity is now calling for public and private sector providers to lead the way in ensuring healthy food choices available and easily identifiable(可辩认的). It says it should be made a requirement that vending machines in publicly owned facilities be stocked with healthier products.
A spokeswoman of the Department of Health said: “We fully encourage the adoption of healthy vending machines across the country and expect local authorities to make sure there are healthy food options available in their leisure centres.”
53. Children’s meals offered at leisure centres mostly consist of ____.
A. snacks, vegetables, chips and burgers
B. chips, chicken nuggets, sausages and burgers
C. fresh fruit, vegetables, sausages and burgers
D. fresh fruit, vegetable, crisps and snacks
54. Which of the following can make the children and their parents aware of the nutritional values of the products they are purchasing?
A. Displaying the nutritional information. B. Displaying fresh fruit.
C. Selling junk food to them. D. Reconsidering food options.
55. It is implied in the passage that ____.
A. vending machines sell a lot of unhealthy food that causes obesity.
B. leisure centres provide children with food that is not healthy.
C. there isn’t a requirement yet that vending machines sell healthier products.
D. it’s fantastic that kids are getting fit and having fun in leisure centres.
56. The underlined word “fuelling” in the first paragraph most probably means_____.
A. preventing B. filling with gas C. increasing D. Planning
C
We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively（被动地）．We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.
We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else．Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive．Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.
Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem．It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor（谣言）.
Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone．Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person．That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game．The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it．Then the two written statements are compared．Typically, the original message has changed.
That’s what happens in daily life．The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story．Then, too, most people listen imperfectly．And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上标记）it with their own personal style．Yet those who hear it think they know.
This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be re-stated as fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.
49．According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______.
A．doing a medical experiment B．solving a math problem
C．visiting an exhibitionD．doing scientific reasoning
50．The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.
A．active learning B．knowledge C．communication D．passive learning
51．The author mentions the game Rumor to show that _____.
A．a message may be changed when being passed on
B．a message should be delivered in different ways
C．people may have problems with their sense of hearing
D．people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor
52．What can we infer from the passage?
A．Active learning is less important.
B．Passive learning may not be reliable.
C．Active learning occurs more frequently.
D．Passive learning is not found among scholars.
B
I love charity（慈善） shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street．The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices．You can get things you won’t find in the shops anymore．The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam．The famous charity’s appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful it had been flooded with donations（捐赠物）．They decided to set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal．Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK．My favourite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children’s books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid．Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don’t encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work．Charity shops raise more than ￡110 million a year, funding（资助）medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more．What better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense．You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly on the environment.
45．The author loves the charity shop mainly because of _______.
A．its convenient location B．its great variety of goods
C．its spirit of goodwillD．its nice shopping environment
46．The first charity shop in the UK was set up to ____.
A．sell cheap productsB．deal with unwanted things
C．raise money for patients D．help a foreign country
47．Which of the following is TRUE about charity shops?
A．The operating costs are very low. B．The staff are usually well paid.
C．90% of the donations are second-hand. D．They are open twenty-four hours a day.
48．Which of the following may be the best title for the passage?
A．What to Buy a Charity Shops.
B．Charity Shop: Its Origin & Development.
C．Charity Shop: Where You Buy to Donate.
D．The Public’s Concern about Charity Shops.