Happy birthday! Do birthday really make people happy? Of course they do. Birthday celebrate the day when we were born. Besides, that extra candle on the cake suggest another year of growth and maturity—or so we hope. We all like to imagine that we are getting wiser and not just older. Most of us enjoy seeing the wonder of growth in others, as well. For instance, seeing our children develop and learn new things makes us feel proud. For Americans, like people in most cultures, growing up is a wonderful process. But growing old? That is a different story.
Growing old is not exactly for people in youth-oriented(以年轻人为中心) American culture. Most Americans like to look young, act young and feel young. As the old saying goes, “You’re young as you feel.” Older people joke about how many years young they are, rather than how many years old. People in some countries value the aged as a source of experience and wisdom. But Americans seem to favor those that are young, or at least “young at heart”.
Many older Americans find the “golden years” to be anything but golden. Economically, “senior citizens” often struggle just to get by. Retirement at the age of 65 brings a sharp decrease in personal income. Social security benefits usually cannot make up the difference. Older people may suffer from poor nutrition, medical care, and housing. Some even experience age discrimination. American sociologist Pat Moore once dressed up like an older person and wandered city streets. She was often treated rudely—even cheated and robbed. However, dressed as a young person, she received much more respect.
Unfortunately, the elderly population in America is increasing fast. Why? People are living longer. Fewer babies are being born. And middle-aged “baby boomers” are rapidly entering the group of the elderly. America may soon be a place where wrinkles(皱纹) are “in”. Marketing experts are ready noticing this growing group of consumer. Growing up is a wonderful thing because ____________.
| A．people can celebrate their birthday | B．people can receive many presents |
| C．people can become more mature and wiser | D．people will feel younger at heart |
We can infer from the second paragraph that __________.
| A．different countries have different opinions on the old age |
| B．American older people often joke about their old age |
| C．American culture is very young |
| D．young people lack experience and wisdom |
What does the third paragraph mainly tell us?
| A．The golden years can make the old earn lots of money. |
| B．American social security benefits are not good. |
| C．The old in America are leading a hard life. |
| D．The old in America have to retire at the age of 65. |
What does the underlined word “in” in the last paragraph mean?
| A．serious | B．disappearing slowly | C．cool | D．growing fast |
According to the text, which of the following is correct?
| A．The young are often discriminated in America. |
| B．The young are more respected than the old in America. |
C．Growing old makes people fee l proud in America. |
| D．The old are more respected than the young in America. |
E
Teenagers who drink alcohol are at higher risk of becoming victims of violence, a Cardiff University study has found.
A team from the School of Dentistry' s Violence Research Group studied drinking habits in
children aged | 1-16 in England. They found not only a link between drink and violence but also
that children who drank were more likely to be hit, even if they weren' t violent themselves.
The researchers are now calling for measures to prevent alcohol misuse to reduce injury
risk. Current policy focuses on reducing aggression but this research shows that there should be
equal effort to reduce victimization(受害).
More than 4,000 children were surveyed at 13 schools at four local authorities in the North, the Midlands, London, and the South. The study found that 25% of 1 l-year-olds were drinking
monthly and 3.6% daily, with 12.8% admitting to getting drunk 3 to 5 times a year. By the age
of 16, 40% were drinking weekly and 6.2% were drinking every day. The research also showed
22.6% of 16-year-olds were getting drunk more than 21 times a year.
The study, which has just been published in the Journal of Adolescence, found a strong
link between frequency of drinking and frequency of hitting other people.
However, children who reported drinking monthly were also three times more likely to be
hit. Adolescents(青少年) who drank but didn't get into fights were more likely to be hit than
those who did fight.
Professor Jonathan Shepherd, who led the research, said a lot of previous alcohol-related
violence work had focused on the offenders rather than the victims. His team is calling for more pre-vention work from parents and teachers in the first two years of secondary school by taking advantage of the "teachable moment", that is, immediately after a student has missed school because of drunkenness.
Previous work by Professor Jonathan Shepherd has shown drinkers may be more at risk of vio-lence because of reduced physical co-ordinatlon ( 配合), poor decision-making in threatening situa-tions and isolation while out late at night.
He said,"This new study seems to be the first to show a direct link between alcohol misuses and victimization. There now needs to be much more effort put into reducing alcohol misuse in order to reduce injury. "
58. The underlined word "aggression" in the third paragraph probably means_____
A. violence B. sad feelings C. bad manners D. drunkenness
59. Drinkers may be more at risk of violence because of all the following EXCEPT __
A. reduced the physical co-ordination
B. isolation while out late at night
C. a higher frequency of hitting other people
D. poor decision-making in threatening situations
60. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to Professor Shepherd' s research?
A. The frequency of children getting drunk increases with age.
B. His previous alcohol-related violence work had focused on the offendersl
C. Some children missed school because of drunkenness.
D. This new study shows a direct link between alcohol misuse and victimization.
D
There are many types of reports. A report is simply an account of something that has happened. The commonest are news reports. We get them in newspapers, over the radio and on television Sometimes cinemas also show us newsreels.
The main purpose of a newspaper is to provide news. If you examine a newspaper closely,you will find that there are all types of news, accidents, floods, fires, wars, fashions, spoils,
books, etc. The news covers everything that happens to people and their surroundings. Some-
times there are news items which are very amusing.
A news report is usually very short, except when it is about something very important, but it contains a lot of information. It is also written in short paragraphs. The first paragraph is in fact
a summary of the news item. It gives all the necessary information -what, when, where, how
and why. The other paragraphs give full details of the subjects. There may also be interviews
with people. The words actually spoken by them are written in inverted commas(引号).
Often there are photographs to go with the news to make it more interesting.
53. The easiest way to get today's news is _______
A. to go to the cinema B. to watch a color TV
C. to read today's newspapersD. to listen to music over the radio
54. Newspapers sell well mainly because _______
A. they cost very little
B. they are easy to get
C. they have got pictures to go with the news
D. they provide all sorts of news in them
55. If you want to get enough information about yesterday's traffic accident within a very short time, you can __
A. read the first paragraph of the news report in today's newspaper
B. start with the second paragraph of the news report in today' s newspaper
C. look through the whole news report in today' s newspaper
D. talk with people who have seen the accident
56. To interest more people, a news report __
A. usually produces amusing news
B. always writes very short news reports
C. often prints pictures to go with the news
D. sometimes provides long and important news
57. This passage mainly talks about __
A. different types of reports B. news reports
C. happenings to people and their surroundings D. the length of a news report
C
What is blood? It is the red liquid which comes out of your finger when you cut it. There are bout thirteen pints(品脱) of blood in a man' s body. He can give a pint of blood at a time to
blood bank for the use of other men who may need it. A healthy body makes up one pint of bloo
quickly.
What does our blood do for us? It takes food to all parts of our bodies and takes waste awa
from them. All the parts of our bodies are made up of cells, and these cells, which are very small
all need food all the time.
The blood is like a stream. The cells take what they need out of the blood stream, as plants an fishes take their food out of water. The blood stream carries food and oxygen which it has taken up our lungs to all the cells in the body.
What makes the blood go on moving round the body in a stream? The heart sends it round.
man' s heart is about the Size of his fist. The heart is a pump. It has rooms in it with doors betwee
them. It pumps blood in and out through these doors by changing the size of the rooms so that th
doors open and shut.
The heart keeps stream of blood going all round the body and back again to itself. Everywhel the blood stream does two things: supplies the cells with food and oxygen and takes away the waste It is as if the blood kept the little fires in the cells burning and took away the ashes.
49. Blood is the_____
A. red liquid which comes from your finger B. red liquid which we can see
C. red liquid which flows in a man's body D. red cell
50. The blood in a man' s body__________.
A. makes food all the time
B. takes food to all cells in the body and takes waste away
C. supplies the cells with food and oxygen from them
D. takes waste away from the cells
51. __ makes the blood go on moving round the body in a stream.
A. The heart B. The lung C. The cell D. The pump
52. This article tells us about__________.
A. a stream of blood B. the use of the heart
C. a wonderful pump D. something about blood
B
Whether rich or poor, we all have problems: that unfaithful mate, that annoying colleague, that persistent(持久的) disease, and the investment that is turning into a huge loss.
How can we remain calm, positive and even elegant in the face of all these difficulties of
life?
The following suggestions may help.
It comes with the pay. I have a friend who used to complain about her dead-end job and
unreasonable boss. Sounds familiar? One day I told her, "Look at it this way. You are getting
paid for the annoyance as well as the work. It comes with the pay. "
This has become my favorite saying for work-related frustrations. "Take every day as a bo-
nus. " When we learn to treasure every moment of what we have, we begin to see life in a whole
new attitude.
It's all in the mind. Sure, the psychologists tell us it is important that we work at resol-
ving problems. But they also say if you try to resolve a problem that would not go away, it would
only compound(使更复杂) the frustration.
If you tell yourself there isn' t a problem, there won' t be one. It is all in the mind.
Stop thinking about your own problem-help others instead. A lady who is struggling a
life-threatening disease showed she coped with her illness by making herself useful, by offering
help to others in a similar situation.
She has spoken to at least five other women with breast cancer. She says that the sharing
has helped her to find fresh meaning in her own life.
Never give up on your dream. Why do we give in or give up when we meet difficulities?
ls it because we have no confidenee in our cause and no commitment (承担义务)for what we
pursue?
One strong-hearted lady was the late head of the tragic Kennedy family, Rose Kennedy.
She said this on nationwide television one week after losing yet another son to assassin's( 暗杀者) bullet--Boddy Kennedy:"And we go on our way with no regrets not looking backwards to
the past, but we shall carry on with courage. "
Not the end of the world. Do you know something else? I' ve learned that care as you
might, love as,you might, some people don't care back.
And it is not the end of the world. After all, it's not the event that makes a person, is it?
It's what we do about what happens to us.
It was said that Albert Einstein' s last request on his death bed was to be given his equa-
tions(方程式) and his unfinished statement. Einstein first picked up his equations and lament-
ed(悲叹) to his son, "if only I had more mathematics!" What a great persistent spirit!
45. All of the followings are wrong EXCEPT_____.
A. some people have many problems while some have none
B. Albert Einstein pursued his dream till the last minute of his life
C. Rose Kennedy must be a timid (缺乏自信的) woman
D. we shouldn' t love those who don' t care about us
46. The passage is intended to inform the readers_____ .
A. how to face problems B. how to resolve problems
C. how to hold on to your dreamsD. how to help others
47. By saying "Take every day as a bonus", the author is trying to tell us __.
A. we should get a bonus every day B. we should treasure every day in our life
C. we should make advances every day D. we should enjoy ourselves every day
48. The last paragraph of the passage is out of place; it should be put under the subtitle of_____.
A. It comes with the pay B. It' s all in the mind
C. Never give up on your dream D. Not the end of the world
第二部分：阅读理解(共25小题，第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分)
第一节：阅读下面的短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。 A
Endless sea, sand and sunshine on a tiny island--everyone' s idea of heaven. Who wouldn' t want to live in such a place.?
One person who certainly does is Ben Southall, from the UK. The 34-year-old was one of more than 34,000 people who applied for the post of "caretaker" on Hamilton Island, Australia, which the local government called "the best job in the world". The position starts in July and runs for six months. The salary is 150,000 Australian dollars(780,639 yuan).
Why Southall? Well, first let's take a look at the criteria(标准) for the job: "We're looking for applicants who like to have adventures, have a great love of the outdoors and have good commu-nication skills. "
On his application video, Southall expressed a love of adventure and included photographs of himself riding an ostrich(鸵鸟 ), running a marathon, diving, and kissing a giraffe. "From the time he was announced in the Top 50, and then the Top 16, Southall did a great job by showing true ex-citement about Queensland," Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said in a statement.
"His ideas for how he will make the role his own.., as well as his ability to rise to a challenge impressed the judges and helped him to win his place in the top job," Lawlor said.
Southall was born in Coventry, UK and used his parents' home as a base for his adventures. He had an old Land Rover that he used for a charity-fund-raising trek(跋涉) across Africa which in-volved joining in five marathons( a 42.16 km race) and climbing five mountains.
"It was sometimes hard work to make him get his head down and do his work because he always wanted to be outside," his mother said about his early years.
"He wanted to go surfing in South Africa, so he got a job house-sitting to pay for it. We regu-larly ask him when he is going to get a proper job, but he is confident and has a strong set of friends and is a great social animal. Now he has got the perfect job for his skills," said his father.
So, you see? No matter what type of person you are, there's always the possibility of getting a dream job. How' s that? Just read the job descriptions carefully and think about how your skills and qualities fit with the ones needed for the job. That' s what Southall did to get his job.
41. The post of "caretaker" on Hamilton Island is said-to be the best job in the world mainly because of_____
A. a beautiful landscapeB. a short working time
C. great pay for a fun job D. very good weather
42. According to Lawlor, what wasn' t the reason that helped Southall win the job?
A. His outstanding application video
B. His passion for the job and ability to face up to challenges
C. His great love of adventures
D. His true excitement about the Austrilian lifestyle
43. Which of the following statements about Southall is true?
A. He did a poor job in school when he was young.
B. He worked as a house-sitter to raise charity funds.
C. He has won five marathons.
D. He is good at communicating with others.
44. We can leam from Southall that_____
A. the world offers opportunities for everyone
B. setbacks will only make you stronger
C. all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
D. where there is a will, there is a way