The painter Georgia O’keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887 and grew up on her family’s farm. At seventeen she decided she wanted to be an artist and left the farm for schools in Chicago and New York, but she never lost her bond with the land. Like most painters, O’Keeffe painted the things that were most important to her, and nearly all her works are simplified portrayals of nature.
O’Keeffe became famous when her paintings were discovered and exhibited in New York by the photographer Levered Stieglitz, whom she married in 1924. During a visit to New York in 1929, O’Keeffe was so moved by the bleak（荒凉的） landscape and broad skies of the Western desert that she began to paint its images. Cows’ skulls and other bleached（变白的） bones found in the desert figured prominently（突出的） in her paintings. When her husband died in 1946, she moved to New Mexico permanently and used the horizon lines of the desert, colorful flowers, rocks, barren(贫瘠的) hills, and the sky as subjects for her paintings. Although O’Keeffe painted her best known works in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s, she continued to produce tributes（贡品、颂词） to the Western desert until her death in 1986.
O’Keeffe is widely considered to have been a pioneering American modernist painter. While most early modern American artists were strongly influenced by European art, O’Keeffe’s position was more independent. She established her own vision and preferred to view her painting as a private endeavor. Almost from the beginning, her work was more indentifiably American than that of her contemporaries in its simplified and idealized treatment of color, light, space, and natural forms. Which of the following best tells what this passage is about ?
| A．O’Keeffe was a distinctive modern American painter. |
| B．O’Keeffe was the best painter of her generation. |
| C．O’Keeffe liked to paint only what was familiar to her. |
| D．O’Keeffe used colors and shapes that are too reduced and simple. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an influence on O’Keeffe’s paintings ?
| A．Her rural upbringing | B．Her life in the West |
| C．The works of European artists | D．The appearance of the natural landscape |
Which of the following is most similar to O’Keeffe’s relationship with nature?
| A．A photoghrapher’s relationship with a model. |
| B．A writer’s relationship with a publisher. |
| C．A student’s relationship with a teacher |
| D．A carpenter’s relationship with a hammer. |
Why is O’Keeffe considered an artistic pioneer ?
| A．Her work became influential in Europe. |
| B．She painted the American Southwest. |
| C．Her paintings had a definite American style. |
| D．She painted things that were familiar to her. |
GUANGZHOU：Young migrant workers(民工)left home alone are more likely to commit crimes，according to a recent survey． Up to 90 percent of migrant workers serving sentences in southern Guangdong province are younger than 26,according to the survey conducted by the human rights research center of Guangzhou University．
“Most young migrant workers who commit crimes were left alone in their hometowns during their childhood，”said Xie Jianshe，deputy director of the research center． The survey polled 72 criminals of the so-called young generation of migrant workers in prisons and found about 80 percent experienced a “lonely childhood,” without parental care.
Xie attributed their crimes to inadequate education from families in their chil- dhood．“They usually don’t receive higher education．Inadequate education and less care from parents greatly harmed them，”Xie said．
Among those polled，up to 76 percent said they went to cities for “better life” right. After quitting school．“Their parents，also working in cities，don’t know how to care for and educate their children，”Xie said． Young migrant workers are usually involved in robbery，gang-related crime，according to the survey．
Up to 81 percent of young criminals are involved in property crimes．The new generation of migrant workers usually refers to those born after 1980 who work In cities．
“Unlike their older counterparts，the flew generation of migrant workers begin working in cities fight after quitting school，without qualified technical training or higher education，”said Wang Chunguang，a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences．
Commonly，they have a hard-time integrating into the urban lifestyle and work environment， but ale unwilling to return home，Wang said．
“In terms of work and lifestyle，they should be treated the way young，urban workers are usually treated，”Wang said．
A fair policy for employment，living education and social security will play a key role to help younger migrant workers integrate(融入) better, Wang said．
1．The best title for the paragraph would be________.
A．Young migrant workers B．Crimes out of lonely childhood
C．Leftover children D．A key role of policy
2．What is the message conveyed in the paragraph？
A．The young are more likely to commit crimes．
B．Most young migrant workers live alone．
C．Inadequate education and less parental care do great harm to the young migrant workers．
D．The young migrant workers are hard to integrate with the urban inhabitants．
3．Which section of the newspaper is this paragraph taken from?
A．Social Culture and Arts． B．Science and Nature．
C．Business and Money D．Sports and Entertainment
4．According to the passage，most young migrant workers committing crimes________．
A．had a difficult time
B．were disappointed with their lifestyle
C．were satisfied with their life in the city
D．were lacking in care from their parents
5．In this paragraph the author’s attitude towards the young migrant workers is________.
A．critical B. favorable C．objective D．cold
第四节阅读理解（共20小题。每小题2分，满分40分）
It is well-known that fatigue driving(疲劳驾驶)is very dangerous．A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months．
The device is a kind of system, which is called Driver Alert，and it aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20％—40％that are caused by tiredness．Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30％ of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue．
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband．The device，worn by drivers or pilots，gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey．After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel．A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response．
Driver’s response time is directly related to tiredness．Usually, a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond，but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy．
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds，showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest．If the driver’s response continues to slow down，the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warns that the driver must stop as soon as possible．
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing．If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time，are successful，the makers will bring the product to market within about a year．
1．According to the text，Driver Alert ________
A．aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents B．has been on sale for12 months
C．has gone through testing at laboratories D．aims to prevent drivers from sleeping
2．How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?
A．By sounding a warning． B．By checking the driving time．
C．By touching the wrist band． D．By pressing the steering wheel．
3．We Can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ________.
A．about 400 milliseconds B．over 4 seconds
C．below 500 milliseconds D．about 4 minutes
4．What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?
A．The device is expected to be marketed in about one year．
B．The device will go through the tests soon．
C．The tests have been scheduled for six months．
D．All the drivers will soon use the Driver Alert．
Say you meet with difficulty, what’s the first thing you do? Call your best friend and ask for help? It turns out that doing this may be better for you than you think. Researchers find that friendship has a big influence on your health, well-being and business.
One study from scientists recently found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22% less likely to die during a 10-year period than those with fewer friends. Other researchers discovered that having a strong social network could improve brain health as we age.
Even more interesting, feeling close to your friends may give you a different view on things. Researchers gathered 34 college students out side and asked them to estimate the steepness(估计陡峭程度) of a hill after climbing it. Those standing with friends gave lower estimates, and the longer the friends had known each other, the less steep the hill appeared.
What is the reason that friends can make obstacles seem less difficult? “People with stronger friendship networks feel that there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen A. Roberto, director of the center of the hospital at Virginia Tech. “Friendship is a valued resource (宝贵的资源).”
It is truly the fact. Friends make your life better. They provide support in hard times. They inspire you to make changes in your life, encourage you to set goals and cheer you on every step of the way until you reach them.
Want to find out more about the power of friendship? Read “Be a Better Friend”, “Make New Friends” and “Keep the Old”.
1. According to the author, if you’ve lost your job you should .
A. turn to your best friend B. ask for advice from your teacher
C. face it bravely by yourself D. ask your parents for help
2. We can learn from the study in Paragraph 2 that .
A. people with a lot of friends can stay away from illnesses
B. people with many friends may enjoy a longer life
C. 22% of the people who have fewer friends have a short life
D. those who have fewer friends may die 10 years earlier.
3. The underlined word “obstacles” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to some thing___________
A. that you are hoping to achieve by a plan
B. that happens to you when you are working
C. that makes it difficult for us to achieve something
D. that you have been trying to do
4. The fifth paragraph was written to tell us that .
A. we should make many friends B. true friendship lives long
C. friend ship has changed us D. friendship should be valued
Last week when I was sitting in my office, I heard an elderly lady talking on the phone about her husband. Her husband’s name was Ed. He dropped her off for her doctor’s appointment and was going to park the car and wait for her. She was so upset that she started to cry. I knew I should take action.
The lady told me her name was Helen and she called the restaurant she and her husband were going to have lunch at after her appointment to see if he was waiting for her there. She explained that she thought her husband parked the car in the parking lot and waited for her in the car but she didn’t find him there so she returned to see if he entered the medical building, but Ed was not there either. She regretted making her husband park the car alone since some signs of Alzheimer’ (早老性痴呆症)had appeared in his behavior. I asked a few nurses to help look for Ed inside and out side the medical building according to Helen’s description. Then I offered to drive Helen to the restaurant to see if Ed was waiting for her there.
On arriving at the parking lot of the restaurant, Helen began to search for Ed’s car but she failed, which suggested Ed wasn’t there. We decided to have a talk with the manager before we returned to the hospital. On our way to the manager’s office, I received a call from a nurse, who said they had found Ed. What a relief(安慰)! But we still needed to go on searching since he forgot where he parked his car! Fortunately, we didn’t have much difficulty finding it.
As I waved goodbye to the couple, I thought, “This is true love in life. The love is not romantic but it stays with us all the time.”
1. What did Helen do after she found Ed was missing?
A. She called the police. B. She turned to the author.
C. She called the restaurant. D. She searched for him everywhere.
2. We learn from this passage that Ed .
A. went to the restaurant himself B. might have developed Alzheimer’s
C. visited his friend in the hospital D. worried about his wife very much
3. When did the author know that Ed was found?
A. After the author and Helen returned from the restaurant.
B. While the author and Helen were on their way to the restaurant.
C. Before the author and Helen found the manager of the restaurant.
D. When the author and Helen arrived at the parking lot of the restaurant.
4. What can we infer from the passage?
A. The author was Helen’s friend. B. The author had seen Ed before.
C. The author went to see his doctor. D. The author worked in the hospital.
We know almost half the world is urban(都市的) now – but what will our world look like in the year 2100?
It took about a million years for the global human population to come up to 1 billion in 1800. In the next 200 years, it came up to 6 billion, and it will take only about 20 more years to add another billion. By 2100, the United Nations estimates that the global population will attain more than 10 billion.
By the end of 2008, slightly less than 50 percent of the global population lived in cities. If economic development proceeds at today’s pace, over the next century or so it is highly likely that 8 billion people will live in urban centers, up from today’s roughly 3.3 billion. Yes, the world will indeed be able to hold so many people. The major reason is urbanization(城市化). There will be many more new cities in the year 2100, and some of today’s large cities will become super cities, including Beijing, Delhi, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and so on. At the same time, recent advances in agriculture, energy, and water technologies suggest that human creations will keep up with population growth. Rural areas will return to an agrarian (农业的)centre to feed the growing cities. Languages will drop from the current 7,000 across the globe to less than a few hundred. English will be the primary language of the world.
As we compress(压缩) people into the urban center, and as we leave behind the rural areas to feed us – will we really live a happy life at that time? We will have to live together in large buildings in cities and save on energy and services delivery cost. There will be few chances for us to get close to nature. We really need to think about the effect of the things we have done and are doing now!
1. The underlined word “attain” in the second paragraph probably has the same meaning as “________”
A. increase B. gain C. reach D. limit
2. With the development of urbanization, people in 2100 will have to .
A. stay in urban areas and have no chance to get close to nature
B. develop industry rather than agriculture to create job opportunities
C. live a poor and unhappy life because there will be less energy to use.
D. make more creations in agriculture, energy, and water technologies
3. What is the author’s attitude towards urbanization?
A. supportive B. disappointed C. surprised D. worried
4. What is the best title for this passage?
A. Global urbanization in the year 2100
B. The primary language in the future
C. Reasons for the rapid increase of population
D. The development of agriculture in 2100