It was once thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and/or heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is actually worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is creating a “greenhouse effect" - holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world's average temperature. If this view is correct and the world's temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.
Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate (废气排往空中而形成的微粒、颗粒) matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth's temperature ─ a result that would be equally disastrous. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to new ice age and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen (though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we are very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world's temperature will stay about the same as it is now. As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ______.
| A．caused widespread damage in the countryside |
| B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States |
| C．had damaging effects on health |
| D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas |
As far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the author ______.
| A．shares the same view with the scientists |
| B．is uncertain of its occurrence |
| C．rejects it as being ungrounded |
| D．thinks that it will destroy the world soon |
The underlined word “offset" in Para. 2 could best be replaced by______.
| A．slip into | B．make up for | C．set up | D．catch up with |
This passage is mainly concerned with ______.
| A．the greenhouse effect | B．the burning of fossil fuels |
| C．the potential effect of air pollution | D．the possibility of a new ice age |
Jazz was originally sung or played by the African slaves in America. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Africans were sold in America as slaves to work in large plantations（种植园）. After a hard day’s work, these people would gather together and sing, both to forget their worries and also to teach their children about the land and culture they came from. Early jazz music was basically the soulful and sad composition performed by black musicians who had little or no training in western music.
Many different kinds of music helped to create jazz. Jazz probably had its roots in the 19th century. African Americans created blues music from church music and sad songs from the times of slavery. In large cities, African Americans mixed these songs with music from other immigrants and then formed jazz. Sounds from West African, Spanish, French and even Arabic cultures can be heard in jazz music. In this way, jazz is like American culture. Jazz brings many ideas together from around the world to make something new.
There are many different ideas about where the word “jazz” came from.Some experts think that the word just borrows ideas from many different languages. They think that people may have made up their own word to describe the excitement of hearing and playing a new kind of music. Others think that the word comes from the Arabic word jazb. Middle Eastern jazb music and jazz have similar sounds. Several musicians from the Middle East have come to America to study jazz. They mix traditional jazz sounds with music from their own countries. This kind of jazz is called “fusion” and it is one of the most popular forms of jazz in America today.
43. African slaves in the plantations played early “jazz” to _____.
A. earn some money
B. entertain their slave owners
C. develop a kind of soulful and sad music
D. forget worries and keep their land in mind
44. Some experts think that the word “jazz” is a word for people to ______.
A. pronounce the Arabic word “jazb”
B. form a new kind of culture
C. express their inner feeling
D. create a way to explain themselves
45.What can we infer from the passage?
A. By comparison, African Americans have the greatest talent in the world.
B. American culture is a mixture of different cultural and social patterns.
C. The native Americans started jazz music in the time of slavery.
D. The music was created by some professional musicians from Africa.
46. The title of the passage could be ____.
A. Basic Information of Jazz
B. The Features of Jazz Music
C. Different Forms of Jazz Music
D. The Prospect of Jazz Music
Show Your Bones is the newest album from a musical group with an unusual name, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The energetic music made by these rock musicians is becoming very popular in America.
A singer, a guitar player and a drummer make up the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their rock sound is creative, unusual, and full of personality. Their music is considered an example of “indie”(short for independent) rock. Indie musicians like to protect their independence and artistic freedom. One way to do this is to avoid using major record companies. The lead singer Karen O is known for wearing wild clothing and having wild hairstyles while performing. Sometimes she even pours beer over herself and the audience. Imagine Karen O dancing around on stage as you listen to her sing the song, Phenomena.
The words in the songs on Show Your Bones are poetic and also a little strange. It is not always clear what the songs mean. In the song called The Sweets, Karen O describes colors and the motion of water. Also, she wonders about meeting someone again.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs started playing music together in New York City.
Now Karen O has moved to Los Angeles, California. She says that she likes flying between the two cities and the band is now “bi-coastal”. Karen O also said that this album was the most difficult to make. The band was trying to find a different sound from their earlier albums. Their work seems to have been worth the effort. Critics say Show Your Bones might be one of the best albums of the year.
39. How many people are there in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs?
A. Two. B.One. C. Four. D. Three.
40. According to the passage, we know that_______.
A. Karen O usually drinks beer on stage while singing
B. The Sweets is an album made by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
C. Karen O doesn’t sing in New York any longer
D. the group had made more than one album before Show Your Bones
41. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Most major record companies follow certain The words on
B. Show Your Bones are all difficult to understand.traditions.
C. Show Your Bones has got a lot of criticism.
D. Show Your Bones is the best-seller of the year.
42. The writer’s attitude towards the Yeah Yeah Yeahs can be best described as _______.
A. indifferent B. curious C. positive D. negative
第三部分：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30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。
Robby was 11 when his mother dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer students to begin at an earlier age. Robby insisted that it had always been his mother’s dream to hear him play the piano, so I took him on as a student.
Robby tried and tried while I listened and encouraged him and gave him more instructions. But he just did not have any inborn ability.
I only saw his mother from a distance. She always waved and smiled but never came in. Then one day Robby stopped coming to our lessons. I thought about calling him but I guessed he had decided to try something else.
I was also glad that he stopped coming for the sake of my career. However, several weeks before the recital (演奏会) of my students, Robby came，telling me that he never stopped practicing and begged me to allow him to take part in. I agreed, but I made him perform last in the program, so I could save his poor performance through my “curtain closer”.
I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen one piece of Mozart’s. Never had I heard a piece of Mozart’s played so well by someone at his age. When he finished, everyone was cheering.
I ran up and put my arms around Robby in joy. “I’ve never heard you play like that, Robby! How could you do it?”
“Well, Miss Hondorf. Do you remember I told you my mom was sick? Actually she died this morning. She was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she could hear me play in heaven. I wanted to make it special. I knew I could.”
That night, Robby was the teacher and I was the student. He taught me so many important things about life.
36. Why did Robby stop coming to piano lessons suddenly?
A. He lost heart and believed that he would never make it.
B. His mother might had been seriously ill.
C. He thought that his teacher disliked him.
D. His mother died and he didn’t need to play any longer.
37. We can know from the passage that ________.
A. the writer thought that students shouldn’t begin playing the piano too early
B. the writer thought that Robby had given up his piano lessons
C. only by practicing at home did Robby learn to play well
D. no one else could play the piece of Mozart’s as well as Robby
38. The writer made Robby perform last because ______.
A. the one who performs last always performs very well
B. Robby asked the writer to do so
C. she wanted to do something to save a poor performance
D. Robby thought his mother would come at last
Is your schoolbag too heavy to bear? The e-schoolbag will free you from the weight．
It is said that e-schoolbags are going to be brought into use in Chinese middle schools soon．An experiment with several hundred e-schoolbags will begin in seven cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang．And the e-schoolbags are going to cover all over China if the experiment shows to be successful．In fact, the e-schoolbag should perhaps be called an e-notebook．It is a small hand-held computers for school students．
Heavy schoolbags have long been a serious problem for school students．The average schoolbag of middle school students weighs up to 5 kilos．But the e-schoolbag will change everything．It is much lighter than a usual schoolbag, weighing under 1 kilo．Also, it is no bigger than a usual book, but it can still hold all the things for study, such as a textbook, a notebook and exercise book．They could be made into chips that are as small as a stamp．The students can read the text page by page on the screen．They can still take notes using a special electronic pen．If they want to know the meaning or the pronunciation of a new word, or even e-mail their teachers, it’s just a press of a button．
In some foreign countries, it is becoming common．But it is hard to tell when people will receive this new form of study．Some say that e-textbooks can easily be broken, some say that it is not good to students’ eyesight to look at the screen for long．But only time will tell．
69.The e-schoolbag has many functions EXCEPT ________．
A．It can pronounce the words． B．It can send e-mails．
C．It can be used as a dictionary． D．It can phone somebody．
70．According to the passage, the e-schoolbags ________．
A．are not heavy as before but still large
B．are used as an experiment in Tianjin
C．are made of metal
D．are going to cover China if it shows to be successful
71.Which of the following statement is TRUE?
A．All the students in China will use this new schoolbag．
B．We can do a lot of work based on the programmes of the chips．
C．The e-notebooks are very perfect．
D．We will not make notes because the e-notebook can make all by itself．
Britain and other nations should be well on with the building of huge industrial complexes (工业园区)for the recycling of wastes within fifteen years. The word rubbish could lose its meaning because everything that goes into the dumps would be made into something useful. Even the most dangerous and unpleasant wastes would provide energy if nothing else.
The latest project is to take a city of around half a million inhabitants (居民) and discover exactly what raw materials go into and what go out. The aim is to find out how much of these raw materials could be provided if a plant for recycling waste was built just outside the city. This plant would recycle not only metal such as steel, lead (铅) and copper, but also paper and rubber as well.
Another new project is being set up to discover the best way of sorting and separating the rubbish. When this project is completed, the rubbish will be processed like this: First, it will pass through sharp metal bars which will tear open the plastic bags in which rubbish is usually packed; then it will pass through a powerful fan to separate the lightest elements from the heavy solids; after that rollers will break up everything that can be broken. Finally, the rubbish will pass under magnets (磁铁), which will remove the bits of iron and steel; the rubber and plastic will then be sorted out in the final stage.
The first full-scale (完全的) giant recycling plants are perhaps fifteen years away. Indeed, with the growing cost of transporting rubbish to more distant dumps, some big cities will be forced to build their own recycling plants before long.
64. The underlined phrase “be well on with…” (Para. 1) most probably means _______.
A. have completed what was started B. get ready to start
C. put an end to D. have achieved a great deal in
65. What is NOT mentioned as a part of the recycling process described in paragraph three?
A. Sharpening metal bars.B. Sorting out small pieces of metal.
C. Breaking up whatever is breakable. D. Separating lightest elements from the heavy ones.
66. What’s the main reason for big cities to build their own recycling plants?
A. To get raw materials locally. B. To deal with wastes in a better way.
C. To get iron and steel from those plants. D. To protect the environment from pollution.
67. The first full-scale huge recycling plants ______.
A. will be built fifteen years later
B. began to operate fifteen years ago
C. will probably be in operation in fifteen years
D. will probably take less than fifteen years to build
68. Thepassageismainlyabout_______.
A. acheapwaytogetenergyB. thelocationofrecyclingplants
C. newwaysofrecyclingD. theprobability ofcityenvironment