The African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on the earth, is of great importance to African ecosystem(生态系统). Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its environment. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna(大草原) surroundings in which it lives, therefore setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat.
It is the elephant’s great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and underbushes, and pulls branches off big trees. This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas(热带草原). In these open spaces are numerous plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters.
Take the rain forests for example. In their natural state, the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants, elephants make open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as well.
What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem. What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Disappearance of African elephants. |
| B．Forests and savannas as habitats for African elephants. |
| C．The effect of African elephants’ search for food. |
| D．The eating habit of African elephants. |
What does the underlined phrase “setting the terms” most probably mean?
| A．Fixing the time. | B．Worsening the state. |
| C．Improving the quality. | D．Deciding the conditions. |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．The African elephant is the largest animal on the earth. |
| B．African elephants have 300 pounds of plants every day, including small trees and underbushes. |
| C．The African elephant is in a way the builder of the environment like other land animals. |
| D．If the African elephant disappears, the whole ecosystem won’t be affected. |
The passage is developed mainly by .
| A．showing the effect and then explaining the causes |
| B．pointing out similarities and differences |
| C．describing the changes in space order |
| D．giving examples |
Though your parents probably meant to have your name last a lifetime, remember that when they picked it they’d hardly met you, and the hopes and dreams they cared for when they chose it may not match yours. If your name no longer seems to fit you, don’t lose heart. Film stars change their names, and with some determination, you can, too.
If you wish to pick up a new name, you don’t need to make the change official. Under common law, all that is necessary is to start using the name of your choice. Remember, though, that you must use it everywhere—even with your mother—for it to become your legal name.
Getting friends and fellow workers to call you Leach instead of Lola may be harder than any paperwork involved, but you’ll probably meet official resistance, too. Be sure that no law prevents you from using the name you have chosen, unless you use it for the purpose of cheating. If the gas company tells you that you cannot get your bill under a new name, they are wrong. You don’t have to show them any sort of court document. You have a right to be called by whatever name you choose.
By this time, you’ve probably realized that changing your name is more difficult than replacing your furniture or changing your hair color, though the effect can be unusually encouraging. Don’t care too much if you have to keep reminding others of your change of a new name—keep on, and your friends and lover will accept your new name. Good luck!
51. You may wish to change your name because _____.
you are required to do so
you don’t mean to have your name last a lifetime
you like to follow what film stars often do
you may not like your parents’ choice
52. If you wish to start using the name of your own choice, you _____.
must get friends to call your new name
don’t have to get permission from anybody
must use it with your mother first
need to be approved by the court
53. No law keeps you from using whatever name you have chosen, if only ____.
you pick up a new name not for the purpose of wrong-doing
you can get your fellow workers to call you the new name
the gas company agrees to get your bill under your new name
some sort of court document is given to you
54. You may realize that changing your name ____.
usually has good effect
is actually asking for trouble
is not as easy as rearranging your room
means you have to go through some trouble
55. The purpose of the writer in writing this passage is to _____.
show you the need of changing your name
encourage you if you want to change your name
tell you how easy it is to change one’s name
list all the difficulties in changing one’s name
Do you forget to turn off the lights and heaters when you go out of a room? In 2040 it will not matter. They will turn themselves off—and on again when you return. You will choose the temperature for each room, the lighting and the humidity. A sensor will find the presence of a human (and, with luck, ignore the dog!) and turn the systems on, and when the humans leave it will turn them off again.
The sensors will work through the central home computer, and they will do much more than just turn the fires and lights on and off for you. They will find faulty electrical appliances, plugs or switches, separate them so that they cannot harm anyone, and then warn you that they need repair. They will detect(发现) fire and if you are out of the house, the computer will call the fire brigade. It will not be too difficult because the locks on the outside doors will be electronic. You will open them using your personal card—the one you use for shopping—maybe using a number known only to you.
It will be impossible to lose the key, and a housebreaker will have to tamper(拨弄) with the lock or with a window. It is not very difficult to make such tampering send a signal to the computer.
The computer will be more than a fireman-policeman-servant. It will be an entertainer, and most of your entertainment will come right into your home. It does now, of course, but by 2040 “entertainment” will mean much more. For one thing, you will be able to take part actively, rather than just watching.
46. The author intends to tell us that _____.
A. in 2040 we will live without lights and heaters
B. in 2040 we will use much more lights and heaters
C. in 2040 there will be no switches of lights and heaters
D. in 2040 lights and heaters will be on and off automatically
47. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
The sensor is multi-functional.
Without a computer, the sensor cannot do much.
The sensor will detect fire and make an emergency call.
You can be taken for a housebreaker if you tamper with the lock or with a window.
48. According to the author, in 2040, new technology _____.
A. will free us from the keys we use today
B. will turn everything into sensors
C. will make the locks out of date
D. will get rid of all crimes
49. Thanks to computers, in 2040 people _____.
A. will have no entertainment outside
B. will replace TV with computers
C. will be controlled by computers
D. will have more fun at home
50. The best title for the passage might be _____.
A. Sensors and Computers
B. Life at Home in the Year 2040
C. The Development of Science and Technology
D. Lights and Heaters in the Year 2040
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A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
One of today’s hottest topics among women (and to an extent among men too now) is anti aging and how to reverse the signs of age. The beauty industry has responded to this by offering a wide collection of anti aging creams and other anti aging products aimed at all pocketbooks, ranging from economical to highly priced.
And the question is “do any of these often much-vaunted(被过度吹嘘的) anti aging creams actually work?” And if they do, how precisely do they perform their miracles?
Well, the appropriate response to that is that they do work—after a fashion. There certainly are anti aging creams available for a relatively modest price that will reduce the appearance of wrinkles in a comparatively short period of regular application. But this really is the limit of their powers: they won’t actually undo skin damage or eradicate(根除) all signs of age; they will simply modify them, some more effectively than others.
The way they work is like so: they remove upper layers of dead skin cells and make deeper layers absorb water, serving to plump them up and make them look fuller and healthier. But since such anti aging creams only go skin deep, as it were, skin damage will reappear once you stop using the anti aging wrinkle(皱纹) cream.
This means fairly heavy regular use, which might be costly depending on your choice of product. However, if you can afford it or think it’s worth the cost, it won’t be such an issue. After all, what woman wants to look older than her years when looking good is so tied up with many women's self-esteem(自尊) and sense of identity.
A compromise(折中) solution for those on a tighter budget is to use the cheaper creams. In addition, it’s always wise to be a little experimental to make sure you end up with the one that suits your skin best.
So, to sum up: an anti wrinkle face cream will work within limits, depending on your objective.
41. This passage mainly tells us something about _____.
A. anti aging creams B. anti aging foods
C. anti wrinkle face D. anti wrinkle skin
42. According to the author, we can infer _____.
A. anti aging creams must reverse the signs of age
B. skin damage must not reappear after using creams
C. anti aging creams should be properly used
D. skin damage will disappear forever after using creams
43. The benefits from anti aging creams are the following except that _____.
A. they remove upper layers of dead skin cells
B. they make deeper layers absorb water
C. they make layers look fuller and healthier
D. they make wrinkle faces rough
44. The meaning of the underlined phrase “on a tighter budget” is _____.
A. having a larger amount of money
B. having a smaller amount of money
C. having no money at all
D. having a lot of money
45. Fairly heavy regular use will make you _____.
A. spend much money on your choice of product
B. easily afford your choice of product
C. think your choice of product wrong
D. believe your choice of product right
“Love your neighbor as yourself" is a saying familiar to most of us. It means that you must have he ability to love and accept yourself in order to form and keep satisfying relationship with others self-esteem means accepting yourself for who you really are, and believing that you are indeed a ivdrthwhile person who is deserving of love and respect from others.
Self-esteem is our sense of how good we feel about ourselves. It is based on our judgment of urselves, not on other people's assessment, but simply on our own. Our self-esteem is not efaendent on our talent. Some very ordinary people feel very good about themselves, while other extranordinarily high achievers hold low opintions of themselves.
Self-esteem is the primary key to long-term stress managerment. Why? The first three sourees of stress are: predictable life event, unexpected changes and build-up of daily stresscs, These are much easier to handle when we believe in ourselves, A postive, healthy self-estcem gives us the “hardiness”(强健) to deal with the difficulities of life, and to see them as challenges to be met, rather than threals to be feared.
The forth category of streesons is entirely the result of a low self-esteem. It is the category of stress that is most common and tiring over the long run. This kind of stress cannol be overcome, or evenchanged, until the self-exteem problems that cause it are corrected.
Learning to love yourself for who y ou are is the key to overcoming stress. Self-esteem comes form the self, and cannot be promoted by others. A person who fecls that his self-estecm comes from the approval of those around him or her is bound to self-destruct(自毁), One cannot keep the level of “performance” required to please everyone else, especially if that performance disagrees with who you are and is simply a facade that makes you popular with the world. When the applause is gone, there is nothing left.
Only those who can feel the strength of knowing who they are and those who can feel good about that will survive the stresses of life. Sef-esteem is the basis of contentment and positive living.
58． What is self-csteem?
A．A kind of positive lifestyle.
B．The impression we have on other people.
C．Our sense of how good we feel about ourselves.
D．Our understanding of how we are seen by others.
59．What is the key to overcoming stress according to the passage?
A．Removing yourself from stressful situation．
B．Learning to love yourself for who you are．
C．Facing the stress and dealing with it．
D．Getting help from friends．
60．What does the underlined word "facade" （in Para 5） mean?
A．A false appearance． B．A big worry．
C．A wrong action． D．A strange feeling．
61．The passage is written to ______．
A．tell people how to overcome stress
B．help people form good relationship with others
C．show the importance of feeling good about yourself
D．provide the different methods to get a clear view of yourself
It was the first snow of winter- an exciting day for every child but not for most teacher. UP until now, I had been able to dress myself for recess (课间休息), but today I would need some help. Miss Finlayson, my kindergarten teacher at Princess Elizabeth School near Hamilton, Ontario, had been through first snow days many times in her long career, but I think she may still remember this one.
I managed go get into my wool snow pants. But I struggled with my jacket because it didn’t fit well. It was a hand-me-down from my brother, and it made me wonder why I had to wear his ugly clothes. At least my hat and matching scarf were mine, and they were quite pretty. Finally it was time to have Miss Finlayson help me with my boots. In her calm, motherly voice she said, “By the end of winter, you will be able to put on your own boots.” I didn’t realize at the time that this was more a statement of hope than of confidence.
I handed her my boots and stuck out my foot. Like most children, I expected the adult to do all the work. After much wiggling and pushing, she managed to get first one into place and then, with a sigh, worked the second one on too.
I announced, “They’re on the wrong feet.” With the grace that only experience can bring, she struggled to get the boots off and went through the joyless task of putting them on again. Then I said, “These aren’t my boots, you know.” As she pulled the offending boots from my feet, she still managed to look both helpful and interested. Once they were off, I said, “They are my brother’s boots. My mother makes me wear them, and I hate them!” Somehow, from long years of practice, she managed to act as though I wasn’t an annoying little girl. She pushed and shoved, less gently this time, and the boots were returned to their proper place on my feet. With a great sigh if relief, seeing the end of her struggle with me, she asked, “Now, where are your gloves?”
I looked into her eyes and said, “I didn’t want to lose them, so I put them into the toes of my boots.”
39. According to the passage, the little girl got ______ from her brother.
A. the wool snow pants and the jacket B. the jacket and the boots
C. the jacket and the hat D. the boots and the gloves
40. What made it so hard for the teacher to help the little girl put her boots on?
A. The gloves in the toes of the boots. B. The slowness of the teacher.
C. The wrong size of the boots D. The unwillingness of the girl
41. It can be inferred that before the little girl finally went out to enjoy the first snow of winter, the teacher had to help her put on her boots______ .
A. once B. twice C. three times D. four times
42. Which of the following sentences from the text BEST indicates that the teacher is very considerate?
A. In her calm, motherly voice she, “By the end of winter,…”(Paragraph 2)
B. With the grace that only experience can bring, she struggled to…(Paragraph 4)
C. …she still managed to look both helpful and interested. (Paragraph 4)
D. …she managed to act as though I wasn’t an annoying little girl. (Paragraph 4)