AN upper class British lady once declared: “Anyone seen on a bus after the age of 30 has been a failure in life.”
I guess she meant that if you’re middle aged and don’t have a car then you are a loser. How arrogant (傲慢) and ignorant！
Unfortunately, there are still people who think that way: that somehow public transport is only for the poor. And the rest have a right to their cars. Some wealthy folk in the West look down on buses and boast (吹嘘) about how many years it has been since they last traveled by one.
How sad is that? Our roads are packed with cars and the air is full of the pollution they emit (排放). But still, many car users are u
nwillingly to get on a bus or a bike or a train to take themselves to work.
It’s convenient to drive, they’ll say. Buses are so unreliable, they’ll claim. And trains are expensive ---- at least in the UK.
It’s an attitude which may have to change. It doesn’t make sense to drive a car in a city where there’s a public transport system. Also, these rush hour commuters (往返上班者) usually travel alone.
As a result, transport authorities in the UK are looking at solutions to city center congestion (拥堵).
One is to increase the number of parking spaces at out-of-town railway stations. More motorists (乘汽车的人) can then leave their cars and travel into the city by train.
Light rail or tramways are another environmentally friendly solution. Many cities across Europe have installed light rail or tramway systems.
The subway in London is used by everyone, rich and poor. It’s the quickest way of getting around the city, whatever your bank balance.
And then there are the cycle hire schemes you find in many modern cities. In London and Paris, you can hire a bike by the hour to get you where you need to go.
While commuters in Beijing abandon their bicycles for cars, cycling to work grows in popularity in the West.
Many cyclists are willing to pay more than 10,000 yuan for their bicycles. Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is often pictured cycling to work. David Cameron, the British prime minister, cycled to the House of Commons before he became leader. These days he takes the prime ministerial limousine (豪华轿车).. According to the article, some British people, like the upper class woman, think that .
| A．buses are inconvenient | B．bus services are unnecessary |
| C．having a car is a sign of success | D．only the upper class should have cars |
Which of the following measures is taken by transport authorities in the UK to solve city center congestion?
| A．The development of cycle hire schemes. |
| B．Increasing the number of parking spaces in the city center. |
| C．Installing light rail or tramway systems in out-of-town areas. |
| D．Banning commuters from traveling alone during rush hour. |
The author mentions the example of Boris Johnson in the last paragraph to .
| A．express his respect for the mayor of London |
| B．point to the growing popularity of cycling to work in the West |
| C．criticize Beijing commuters for abandoning their bicycles for cars |
| D．show that cars are still the most common means of transportation for famous people in Britain |
Which of the following might the writer agree with?
A. The British prime minister should give up his limousine.
B. Beijing commuters should learn from British commuters.
C. British solutions to public transport problems are inadequate.
How could we possibly think that keeping animals in cages in unnatural environments－mostly for entertainment purposes－is fair and respectful?
Zoo officials say they are concerned about animals. However, most zoos remain “collections” of interesting “things” rather than protective habitats (栖息地). Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to keep animals bored, lonely, and far from their natural homes.
Zoos claim (声称) to educate people and save endangered species(物种), but visitors leave zoos without having learned anything meaningful about the animals’ natural behavior, intelligence, or beauty. Zoos keep animals in small spaces or cages, and most signs only mention the species’ name, diet, and natural range(分布区). The animals’ normal behavior is seldom noticed because zoos don’t usually take care of the animals’ natural needs.
The animals are kept together in small spaces, with no privacy and little opportunity for mental and physical exercise. This results in unusual and self-destructive behavior called zoochosis. A worldwide study of zoos found that zoochosis is common among animals kept in small spaces or cages. Another study showed that elephants spend 22 percent of their time making repeated head movements or biting cage bars, and bears spend 30 percent of their time walking back and forth, a sign of unhappiness and pain.
Furthermore, most animals in zoos are not endangered. Captive breeding(圈养繁殖)of endangered big cats, Asian elephants, and other species has not resulted n their being sent back to the wild. Zoos talk a lot about their captive breeding programs because they do not want people to worry about a species dying out. In fact, baby animals also attract a lot of paying customers. Haven’t we seen enough competitions to name baby animals?
Actually, we will save endangered species only if we save their habitats and put an end to the reasons people kill them. Instead of supporting zoos, we should support groups that work to protect animals’ natural habitats.
64. How would the author describe the animals’ life in zoos?
A. Dangerous. B. Unhappy. C. Natural. D. Easy.
65. In the state of zoochosis, animals _________.
A. remain in cages B. behave strangely
C. attack other animals D. enjoy moving around
66. What does the author try to argue n the passage?
A. Zoos are not worth the public support.
B. Zoos fail in their attempt to save animals.
C. Zoos should treat animals as human beings.
D. Zoos use animals as a means of entertainment.
67. The author tries to persuade readers to accept his argument mainly by _____.
A. pointing out the faults in what zoos do B. using evidence he has collected at zoos
C. questioning the way animals are protected D. discussing the advantages of natural habitats
68. Although he argues against zoos, the author would still agree that _______.
A. zoos have to keep animals in small cages
B. most animals in zoos are endangered species
C. some endangered animals are reproduced in zoos
D. it’s acceptable to keep animals away from their habitats
Throughout the history of the arts，the nature of creativity has remained constant to artists. No matter what objects they select，artists are to bring forth new forces and forms that cause change—to find poetry where no one has ever seen or experienced it before.
Landscape（风景）is another unchanging element of art. It can be found from ancient times through the 17th-century Dutch painters to the 19th-century romanticists and impressionists. In the 1970s Alfred Leslie，one of the new American realists，continued this practice，Leslie sought out the same place where Thomas Cole, a romanticist, had produced paintings of the same scene a century and a half before. Unlike Cole who insists on a feeling of loneliness and the idea of finding peace in nature，Ledge pains what he actually sees. In his paintings，there is no particular change in motion，and he includes ordinary things like the highway in the background. He also takes advantage of the latest developments of color photography（摄影术）to help both the eye and the memory when he improves his painting back in his workroom.
Besides，all art begs the age-old question：What is real？Each generation of artists has shown their understanding of reality in one form or another. The impressionists saw reality in brief emotional effects，the realists in everyday subjects and in forest scenes，and the Cro-Magnon cave people in their naturalistic drawings of the animals in the ancient forests. To sum up. understanding reality is a necessary struggle for Artists of all periods.
Over thousands of years the function of the arts has remained relatively constant. Past or present，Eastern or Western，the arts are a basic part of our immediate experience. Many and different are the faces of art，and together they express the basic need and hope of human beings.
71. The underlined word “poetry” most probably means______________.
A. an object for artistic creation B. a collection of poems
C. an unusual quality D. a natural scene
72. Leslie’s paintings are extraordinary because______________.
A. they are close in style to works in ancient times
B. they look like works by 19th-cenary painters
C. they draw attention to common things in life
D. they depend heavily on color photography
73. What is the author’s opinion of artistic really？______________.
A. It will not be found in future works of art. B. It does not have a long-lasting standard.
C. It is expressed in a fixed artistic form. D. It is lacking in modern works of art.
74. What does the author suggest about the arts in the last paragraph？
A. They express people’s curiosity about the past.
B. They make people interested in everyday experience.
C. They are considered important for variety in form.
D. They are regarded as a mirror of the human situation.
75. Which of the following is the main topic of the passage？
A. History of the arts. B. Basic questions of the arts.
C. New developments in the arts.D. Use of modern technology in the arts.
As a professor at a large American university, there is a phrase that I hear often from students: “I’m only a 1050. ”The unlucky students are speaking of the score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), which is used to determine whether they will be admitted to the college or university of their choice, or even have a chance to get a higher education at all. The SAT score, whether it is 800, 1 100 or 1550, has becomes the focus at this time of their life.
It is obvious that if students value highly their test scores, then a great amount of their self-respect is put in the number. Students who perform poorly on the exam are left feeling that it is all over. The low test score, they think, will make it impossible for them to get into a good college. And without a degree from a prestigious university, they fear that many of life’s doors will remain forever closed.
According to a study done in the 1990s, the SAT is only a reliable indicator of a student’s future performance in most cases. Interestingly, it becomes much more accurate when it is set together with other indicators——like a student’s high school grades. Even if standardized tests like the SAT could show a student’s academic proficiency（学业水平）,they will never be able to test things like confidence, efforts and willpower, and are unable to give us the full picture of a student’s potentialities（潜力）. This is not to suggest that we should stop using SAT scores in our college admission process. The SAT is an excellent test in many ways, and the score is still a useful means of testing students. However, it should be only one of many methods used.
64. The purpose of the SAT is to test students’ .
A. strong will B. academic ability
C. full potentialities D. confidence in school work
65. Students’ self-respect is influenced by their .
A. scores in the SAT B. achievements in mathematic
C. job opportunities D. money spent on education
66.“A prestigious university”is most probably
A. a famous university B. a technical university
C. a traditional university D. an expensive university
67. This passage is mainly about .
A. how to prepare for the SAT B. stress caused by the SAT
C. American higher education D. the SAT and its effects
Photos that you might have found down the back of your sofa are now big business!
In 2005, the American artist Richard Prince’s photograph of a photograph, Untitled (Cowboy), was sold for $ 1, 248, 000.
Prince is certainly not the only contemporary artist to have worked with so-called “found photographs”—a loose term given to everything from discarded(丢弃的) prints discovered in a junk shop to old advertisements or amateur photographs from a stranger’s family album. The German artist Joachim Schmid, who believes “basically everything is worth looking at”, has gathered discarded photographs, postcards and newspaper images since 1982. In his on-going project, Archiv, he groups photographs of family life according to themes: people with dogs; teams; new cars; dinner with the family; and so on.
Like Schmid, the editors of several self-published art magazines also champion (捍卫) found photographs. One of them, called simply Found, was born one snowy night in Chicago, when Davy Rothbard returned to his car to find under his wiper(雨刷) an angry note intended for some else: “Why’s your car HERE at HER place?” The note became the starting point for Rothbard’s addictive publication, which features found photographs sent in by readers, such a poster discovered in our drawer.
The whole found-photograph phenomenon has raised some questions. Perhaps one of the most difficult is: can these images really be considered as art? And if so, whose art? Yet found photographs produced by artists, such Richard Prince, may riding his horse hurriedly to meet someone? Or how did Prince create this photograph? It’s anyone’s guess. In addition, as we imagine the back-story to the people in the found photographs artists, like Schmid, have collated (整理), we also turn toward our own photographic albums. Why is memory so important to us? Why do we all seek to freeze in time the faces of our children, our parents, our lovers, and ourselves? Will they mean anything to anyone after we’ve gone?
64. The first paragraph of the passage is used to _________.
A. remind readers of found photographs B. advise reader to start a new kind of business
C. ask readers to find photographs behind sofa
D. show readers the value of found photographs
65. According to the passage, Joachim Schmid _________.
A. is fond of collecting family life photographs B. found a complaining not under his car wiper
C. is working for several self-published magazines
D. wondered at the artistic nature of found photographs
66. The underlined word “them” in Para 4 refers to __________.
A. the readers B. the editors C. the found photographs D. the self-published magazines
67. By asking a series of questions in Para 5, the author mainly intends to indicate that ________.
A. memory of the past is very important to people
B. found photographs allow people to think freely
C. the back-story of found photographs is puzzling
D. the real value of found photographs is questionable
68. The author’s attitude towards found photographs can be described as _________.
A. critical B. doubtful C. optimistic D. satisfied
Everyone should visit a lighthouse at least once.
The most important reasons for such a visit is to realize how our ancestors(祖先) battled nature with the basic tools they had. They had only basic ways of creating light, and yet they found a way of using this simple technology in isolated（孤零零的）places to save ships from hitting rocks.
Secondly, visiting lighthouses will help us to understand the lives of lighthouse keepers. By their very nature, lighthouses were built on some rocks of cliffs. Thus, the lighthouse keepers often lived lonely lives. To walk around their small home, and imagine the angry storm outside beating against the walls, is to take a step towards understanding the lives they had.
The reasons for a visit to a lighthouse are not all so backward-looking in time. It is true that lighthouses were built in out-of-the-way places. But on a pleasant sunny summer day, this very isolation has a natural beauty that many people will love to experience. Therefore, with the gentle waves touching all round the lighthouse, the visitor is likely to think it is a world preferable to the busy and noisy modern life.
Another reason for considering a visit is that the lighthouses themselves can be very attractive buildings. Mankind could often not be content just to put up a basic structure, but felt the need, even in such an isolated place, to build with an artistic touch. The result is a view for tired eyes to enjoy.
Finally, lighthouses have a romantic attraction, summed up by the image of the oil-skin coated keeper climbing his winding stairs to take care of the light to warn ships and save lives.
67. What is the reason to look back into the past of a lighthouse?
A. To escape from the busy and noisy city.
B. To look for the tools used by our ancestors.
C. To experience the natural beauty of a lighthouse.
D. To learn about the living condition of lighthouse keepers.
68. The underlined phrase “out-of-the-way” in Paragraph 4 means ____________.
A. far-away B. dangerous C. ancient D. secret
69. Lighthouses were often built with an artistic touch _________.
A. to attract visitors B. to guide passing ships
C. to give a pleasant sight D. to remember lighthouse keepers
70. How many reasons are mentioned for a visit to lighthouse?
A. Three B. Four C. Five D. Six