JeanneCalment,aFrenchwoman,bec-优题课

Our plan was to drive into Cambridge, catch the 7:34 train to Liverpool Street Station, then to separate and meet again for lunch．We should have arrived at Liverpool at 9:19, but due to a typical London fog, the train had to move along so slowly that it wasn’t until 10:30 that it got there．In spite of our late arrival, Joan, my wife’s sister, decided that she would go to see the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London while we went shopping．It was only after her sister had disappeared into the fog that my wife realized that we hadn’t decided where we should meet for lunch．Since I had our three tickets for the concert in my pocket, this was indeed a problem．There seemed to be nothing we could do except taking a taxi to the Tower of London, and try to find her there．Needless to say, we didn’t find her.
It was now one o’clock, and the concert began at 2:30．“Perhaps she will think of waiting outside the concert hall,” suggested my wife hopefully．By this time the fog was so thick that road traffic had to stop, and the only way to get there was by underground railway．Hand in hand we felt our way along the road to where we thought the nearest station should be．An hour later we were still trying to find it．Just as I was about to lose my temper completely when we met a blind man tapping his way confidently through the fog．With his help we found Tower Hill tube station just fifty yards down the road.
By now it was far too late even to try to get to the concert hall before the performance began at 2:30, so we decided to return to Cambridge．It took seven long hours instead of the usual two to make that journey．Nor were we able to get any food and drink on the train．Tired and hungry we finally reached home at ten, opening the door to the sound of the telephone bell．It was Joan; she had seen the Crown Jewels, had managed to get another ticket for concert, and had had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant near the hotel where she decided to stay for the night．Now she was ringing to discover whether we had had an equally successful day.
1．Why was Joan separated from her sister and her brother-in-law?
A．they could not see each other because of the fog.
B．Joan had not seen Crown Jewels.
C．They planned to do different things until lunch time.
D．The writer didn’t want to go to the concert.
2．What did the writer plan to do in the afternoon?
A．Go to the concert. B．See the Crown Jewels.
C．Return to Cambridge. D．Go shopping.
3．The reason why they didn’t all meet for lunch was that _______.
A．They lost their way in the fog
B．they forgot to make necessary arrangement
C．they waited at different places and didn’t meet each other
D．the couple couldn’t find the underground station
4．It’s quite clear that for Joan the trip to London had been ________.
A．spilt by the fog B．quite tiring
C．rather disappointing D．very enjoyable

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。
People enjoy taking trips．But what are the reasons they leave home? One reason is for education．People travel because they want to broaden their horizons to learn about other people and other places．They are curious about other cultures．When people are tourists, they get a quick look at different ways of living．Even a short look at another kind of lifestyle is an important lesson．On a trip, a person can learn directly by visiting museums and historic spots．What does a tourist learn who sees the art museums, visits the historical places and other scenic spots in Paris and shops along the River Seine? He gets a vivid picture, a real life of one of the French people．He learns about their attitudes, how they feel about business; beauty and history．What about the tourist who goes to Hong Kong? Does he get the same information that he could get from a book? He might read that Hong Kong is crowded, that there is less than 200 square meters of space for each person．But seeing and feeling the lack of space will impress him much more．He might read that there are nearly 200 vehicles for every kilometer of roadway．But the sight of so many vehicles parked along the roadside would be a much more vivid lesson．The tourist to Hong Kong will never forget the contrasts: the straight vertical lines of tall modern buildings and the moving lines of boats that people live in.
1．Why do people leave home to travel according to passage?
A．For education. B．For adventure.
C．To enjoy themselves. D．To look for a different lifestyle.
2．What do we learn from the passage about Paris?
A．It has a dense population.
B．It has many towering buildings.
C．There are 200 vehicles for every kilometer of roadway.
D．There are many museums and palaces.
3．What impression will a tourist get of Hong Kong?
A．It has many big and beautiful parks.
B．It is a city of contrasts.
C．It possesses many historical sites.
D．It is an important industrial center.
4．What does the passage tell us about traveling?
A．It makes our life more interesting.
B．It enables us to get first-hand knowledge.
C．It helps develop our personalities.
D．It brings about changes in our lifestyle.

Do you know about a series of books that say they are “for dummies”? These American self-help books have been translated into more than thirty-nine languages including Chinese, Arabic, Russian, French, German, Greek and Spanish.
“Dummy” is a word for a stupid person. The dummies books are not really for stupid people. They are designed to show people how to do something they may never have tried before, like painting a house or learning a language. The books all say in a funny way that they are for dummies, such as World History for Dummies, Rabbits for Dummies, Chinese Cooking for Dummies, and Wedding Planning for Dummies. The first such book, DOS for Dummies, was published in 1991. It helped people learn how to use the DOS operating system for computers. Since then, more than one hundred fifty million dummies books have been sold.
The dummies. com website explains the idea behind the books. It says that they show that people can be taught to do anything. First they can make fun of ideas that are difficult to understand. Then they show how the information can be interesting and easy. The publishers say that the books do not provide more information than necessary. They give readers just enough information to do what they want. They say that the dummies books give the best and easiest way to do something. And the books use simple and easy language.
There are more than one thousand different dummies books. A report in New York Times says that the top-selling dummies books are those that explain technology and personal finance.
The publishers say that the best-selling dummies books are those providing information many people need---like information about diseases, education and cooking. People interested in opera, car repair and wine can also find dummies books to help them. And there are even more dummies books to come. The publishers say that they publish about two hundred new dummies books every year.
1. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Books for Dummies
B. The Easiest, the Best
C. Books for Stupid People
D. New Ideas Behind the Books
2. The dummies books have been popular because ______.
A. they provide enough information on the concerning subject
B. they provide just what is needed and are easy to understand
C. people can learn to do anything with just one copy
D. people can save lots of money through self-teaching
3. According to New York Times, we know that books on ____ sell best.
A. diseases and education
B. opera and car repairing
C. technology and personal finance
D. cooking and world history
4. What can we learn from the passage?
A. The first dummies book was on Chinese cooking.
B. The simple language was intended for child readers
C. Fifty million different dummies books have been published.
D. The dummies books will continue to be popular.

Believe it or not, optical illusion(错觉) can cut highway crashes.
Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. But stripes, called chevrons(人字形), which are painted on the roads make drivers think that they are driving faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.
Now the American Automobile Association Foundation(基金会) for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan’s success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.
Excessive (too great) speed plays a major role in as much as one fifth of all serious traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will conduct its tests in areas where speed-related danger are the greatest curves, exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.
Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars painted across roads can cut the average speed of drivers in half at the beginning. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.
Chevrons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.
1. On roads painted with chevrons, drivers tend to feel that ______.
A. they should avoid speed-related hazards
B. they are driving in the wrong lane
C. they should slow down their speed
D. they are coming near to the speed limit
2. The advantage of chevrons over straight, horizontal bars is that the former ______.
A. can keep drivers awake
B. can cut road accidents in half
C. will look more attractive
D. will have a longer effect on drivers
3. The American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety plans to ________.
A. try out the Japanese method in certain areas
B. change the road signs across the country
C. replace straight, horizontal bars with chevrons
D. repeat the Japanese road patterns
4. The passage mainly discusses ________.
A. a new way of highway speed control
B. a new pattern for painting highways
C. a new way of training drivers
D. a new type of optical illusion

The USA, New York —Whales and dolphins are facing increasing threats from climate change, according to a new report published by WWF and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society（WDCS）.
The report “Whales in hot water?” draws attention to the growing impacts of climate change on whales. They range from changes in sea temperature and the freshening of the seawater because of the melting of ice and increased rainfalls, to a sea level rise, loss of icy polar habitats and the decline of krill populations in key areas. Krill, a tiny shrimp that is dependent on sea ice, is the main source of food for many of the great whales.
The speeding up of climate change adds greatly to trouble from other human activities, such as chemical and noise pollution, which kills some 1000 whales every day.
“Whales and dolphins have an ability to adapt to their changing environment,” said Mark Simmonds, International Director of Science at WDCS. “But the climate is now changing at such a fast pace that it is unclear to what extent whales and dolphins will be able to adjust.”
Climate change impacts are currently greatest in the Arctic and the Antarctic. According to the report, cetaceans that rely on polar, icy waters for their home and food resources are likely to be greatly affected by the reduction of sea ice cover.
WDCS and WWF are urging governments to cut global production of CO2 by at least 50 percent by the middle of this century. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed it was possible to stop global warming if the world’s emissions start to decline before 2015.
1. From the passage, we can learn that whales mainly feed on ______.
A. dolphins B.krill C. sea horses D. sharks
2. Which of the following has the same meaning as the underlined word “decline” (in Para 2)?
A. produce B. develop C. fall D. increase
3. In what place is climate change greatest?
A. Two polar areas. B. Asia.
C. The pacific ocean. D. Equator.
4. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
A. Climate change will lead to the changes in sea temperature.
B. Climate change will result in the freshening of the sea water.
C. Climate change will have a bad effect on human activities and whales.
D. Human beings will forever have no ability to stop global warming

A．She is miserable and unhappy.	B．She is cheerful and humorous.
C．She would like to live much younger.	D．She feels she is going to die very soon.