There were smiling children all the way. Charily they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave hack.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.The author expected the train trip to be ________.
A.adventurous | B.pleasant | C.exciting | D.dull |
What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?
A.The friendly country people. | B.The mountains along the way. |
C.The crowds of people in the streets. | D.The simple lunch served on the train. |
Which of the following words can best take the place of the word “relish” in the second paragraph?
A.choose | B.enjoy | C.prepare for | D.carry on |
Where was the writer going?
A.Johore Baru. | B.The Causeway. | C.Butterworth. | D.Singapore. |
What can we learn from the story?
A.Comfort in traveling by train. | B.Pleasure of living in the country. |
C.Reading gives people delight. | D.Smiles brighten people up. |
The coyote (丛林狼) , that clever animal of wide-open spaces, has come to the nation’s capital. In fact, coyotes have spread to every corner of the United States, changing their behaviors to fit new environments and causing researchers to deal with a troublesome new kind of creature:the city coyote.
The coyote originally lived in the middle of the continent. One of its most obvious characters is its smartness, which has made the animal a notorious (臭名昭著的) pest. Hunters trapped, shot and poisoned more than a million coyotes in the 1900s. It’s still one of America’s most-hunted animals. Yet the coyote has survived. How has the coyote shown this extraordinary ability? “I guess if you wanted to use one word, it’d be ‘plasticity’ , ” says Erie Gese, an expert at Utah State University. Coyotes can live alone, in pairs, or in large packs like wolves, hunt at night or during the day, occupy a small region or an area up to 40 square miles, and live on all sorts of food, from lizards (蜥蜴) and shoes, to ants and melons.
Unbelievably people helped coyotes increase when they killed most of the wolves in the United States. The spreading of coyotes into city areas, though, is recent. They travel at night, crossing sidewalks and bridges, running along roads and ducking into culverts (钻入洞) and underpasses. No one knows why coyotes are moving into cities, but experts explain that cleverer, more human-tolerant (不怕人的) coyotes are teaching urban survival skills to new generations.
Occasionally, coyotes might attack human beings. There have been about 160 attacks on people in recent years. Therefore, people have been consistently told not to feed coyotes or leave pet food unsecured. That, plus a large trapping program in the neighborhood, has cut down on the coyote population.
53. The underlined word “plasticity” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.
A. the ability to fit the environment B. notorious smartness
C. hunting ability D. being human - tolerant
54. The aim of the passage is to ________.
A. tell people how to fight against coyotes
B. tell us why the coyote is the most hunted animal
C. supply the reason why the coyote is a kind of notorious pest
D. explain how the coyote has spread to and survived in cities
55. According to the passage, coyotes ________.
A. originally lived in the west of the continent
B. sleep during the day but look for food at night
C. are teaching survival skills to their younger generations
D. suffered a population decrease because people killed wolves
56. According to the passage, to cut down on the coyote population, people are advised to ________.
A. leave pet food secured B. keep coyotes in small regions
C. force coyotes to live alone D. avoid using trapping programs
Play is the basic business of childhood, and in recent years research has shown the great importance of play in the development of a human being. From earliest infancy (婴儿), every child needs opportunity and right materials for play, and the main tools of play are toys. The main function of toys is to suggest, encourage and play. To succeed in this, they must be good toys, which children will play with often, and will come back again and again. Therefore, it is important to choose suitable toys for different stages of a child’s development.
In recent years research on infant development has shown that the standard a child is likely to reach, within the range of his inherited abilities, is largely determined in the first three years of his life. So a baby’s ability to benefit from the right play materials should not be underestimated. A baby who is encouraged, talked to and shown things and played with, has the best chance of growing up successfully.
In the next stage, from three to five years old, curiosity knows no bounds. Every type of suitable toys should be made available to the child, for trying out, experimenting and learning, for discovering his own particular ability: Bricks and jigsaws and construction toys; painting, scribbling and making things; sand and water play; toys for imaginative and pretending play—the first social games for learning to play and get on with others.
But at the third stage of play development—from five to seven or eight years old— the child is at school. But for a few more years play is still the best way of learning, at home or at school. It is easier to see which type of toys the child most enjoys.
Until the age of seven or eight, play and work mean much the same to a child. But once reading has been mastered, then books become the main source of learning. Toys are still interesting and valuable, which lead up to new hobbies, but their significance has changed — to a child of nine or ten years old, toys and games mean, as to adults, relaxation and fun.
49. According to the first passage we know that as a child grows up, ______.
A. he should be allowed to choose his own toys
B. he should be given the same toys
C. he should be given fewer and fewer toys
D. he should be given different toys
50. According to the passage, the abilities a child has inherited from his parents ______.
A. determine his character
B. will not change after the age of three
C. partly determined the standard he is likely to reach
D. to a large extent determine the choice of toys
51. We learn from the passage that a child has boundless curiosity ______.
A. when he is twoB. when he is around four
C. when he is six D. when he is eight
52. The passage is mainly about _______.
A. the role of play in a child’s development
B. the importance of schooling
C. the importance of pre-school education
D. the choice of toys for youngster
TYPING
This course is for those who want to learn to type, as well as those who want to improve their typing. The course is not common. You are tested in the first class and begin practicing at one of eight different skill levels. This allows you to learn at your own speed. Each program lasts 20 hours. Bring your own paper.
Course fee: $ 125 Materials: $25
Two hours each evening for two weeks. New classes begin every two weeks.
This course is taught by a number of qualified business education teachers who have successfully taught typing courses before.
UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS
This twelve-hour course is for people who do not know very much about computers, but who need to learn about them. You will learn what computers are, what they can and can’t do and how to use them.
Course fee: $75 Equipment fee: $ 10
Jan. 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, Wed. & Sat. 9—11:30 a.m.
Joseph Saunders is Professor of Computer Science at New Urban University. He has over twenty years of experience in the computer field.
STOP SMOKING
Do you want to stop smoking? Have you already tried to stop and failed? Now is the time to stop smoking using the latest methods. You can stop smoking, and this twelve-hour course will help you do it.
Course fee: $30
Jan. 2, 9, 16, 23 Mon. 2—5 p. m.
Dr John Good is a practicing psychologist who had helped hundreds of people stop smoking.
45. If you choose the UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS course, you will have classes _______.
A. from Monday to Sunday B. from Monday to Friday
C. on Wednesday and Saturday D. on Saturday and Sunday
46. Mr. Black works every morning and evening, but he wants to take part in one of the three courses. The most probable course he will attend is ______.
A. typing B. understanding computers
C. stop smoking D. any of the courses
47. If you want to learn computer and at the same time you want to improve your typing, you will pay _______.
A. $ 75 B. $ 15 C. $ 115 D. $ 235
48. The typical difference of “Typing” from the other two is that ______.
A. people with different skill levels may learn at different speeds
B. you will take a test after the course
C. you will pay the fee before practicing
D. you will pay less money
第二部分:阅读理解(第一节20小题,第二节5小题;每小题2分,满分50分)
第一节:阅读下面的短文,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。
“Can I see my baby?” asked the happy new mother. The bundle (婴儿包)was placed in her arms and when she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped—the baby had been born without ears. Time, however, proved that the baby’s hearing was perfect except his appearance.
One day when he rushed home from school and threw himself into his mother’s arms, he cried out bitterly, “A boy, a big boy … called me — a f-…freak.” She sighed, knowing that his life was to be endless of heartbreaks.
He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift for literature and music.
The boy’s father had a talk with the family doctor. Could nothing be done? “I believe we could graft(移植)on a pair of outer ears, if they could be donated,” the doctor decided. So the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man. Two years went by. Then, “You’re going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it’s a secret.” said the father.
The operation was a brilliant success. His talents blossomed into genius. School and college became a series of successes. Later he married and entered the diplomatic service. “But I must know!” he urged his father. “Who gave so much for me? I could never do enough for him.” “I do not believe you could,” said the father, “but the agreement was that you are not to know … not yet.” The years kept the secret, but the day did come … one of the darkest days that ever pass through a son. He stood with his father over his mother’s casket(棺材). Slowly and tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair to let out the secret.
41. The story is mainly about _______.
A. how a boy had new ears through an operation
B. what a devoted parent privately did for the child
C. how a disabled boy turned into a useful person
D. why a donator made a sacrifice to a bright boy
42. The underlined word “freak” in Paragraph 2 is the closest in meaning to “_______”.
A. slow-acting person B. good-looking child
C. badly-behaved student D. strangely-shaped creature
43. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The agreement was between the donator and the family.
B. The boy was so popular that he was made class president.
C. Finally the boy came to know who the donator was.
D. The mother donated her ears to her son after she died.
44. What moral lesson can we draw from this reading?
A. Real love lies in what is done unknown rather than what is done known.
B. It is up to parents to help their children heart and soul.
C. True beauty lies only in the heart not in appearance.
D. It is a virtue(美德)for young generations to learn to be grateful.
Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine.“Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting creatures,”William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word“habit”carries a negative meaning.
So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation (创新). But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try, the more creative we become.
But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.
“The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to wonder,”says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind.“But we are taught instead to‘decide’, just as our president calls himself‘the Decider’.”She adds, however, that“to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”
“All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,”she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, collaboratively (合作地) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways of thought.“This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,”explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will…and Ms. Markova’s business partner.“That’s a lie that we have preserved, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”This is where developing new habits comes in.
67.Brain researchers have discovered that__________.
A.the forming of new habits can be guided
B.the development of habits can be predicted
C.the regulation of old habits can be transformed
D.the track of new habits can be created unconsciously
68.The underlined word“ruts”in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to __________
A.zones B.connections C.situations D.tracks
69.Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?
A.Decision makes no sense in choices.
B.Curiosity makes creative minds active.
C.Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind.
D.Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas.
70.The purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us____________.
A.to give up our traditional habits deliberately
B.to create and develop new habits consciously
C.to resist the application of standardized testing
D.to believe that old habits conflict with new habits