Given Australia’s size and the fact that early settlements were far apart, Australian society is remarkably homogeneous (同种的). Its citizens are fundamentally prosperous and the way of life in the major cities and towns is much the same however many miles divide them. It takes a sharp ear to identify regional accents. However, there is some difference in lifestyle between city dwellers and the country people. Almost 90 per cent of the population lives in the fast-paced cities along the coast and has little more than a passing familiarity with the desert. The major cities preserve pockets of colonial heritage, but the overall impression is modern, with new buildings reflecting the country’s youth. In contrast, the rural communities tend to be slow-moving and conservative. For many years, Australia was said to have “ridden on the sheep’s back”, a reference to wool being the country’s main money earner. However, the wool industry is no longer dominant. Much of Australia’s relatively sound economy is now achieved from natural coal and wheat, and by being the largest diamond producer in the world. Newer industries such as tourism and wine making are also increasingly important. Australians are generally friendly and relaxed, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. On the whole, Australia is a society without hierarchies (等级制度), an attitude generally held to stem from its prisoner beginnings.
Yet, contrary to widespread belief, very few Australians have true prisoner origins. Within only one generation of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Australia had become a nation of immigrants. Originally coming almost entirely from the British Isles, today one in three Australians comes from elsewhere. Australia’s liberal postwar immigration policies led to an influx of survivors from war-torn Europe, most notably Greeks, Italians, Poles and Germans.
The emphasis has shifted in recent years and today the majority of new immigrants are from Southeast Asia. Today Australia is a ‘blend of nations’ and although some racism exists, it has generally been a successful experiment and the country is justifiably proud to have one of the most harmonious multicultural communities in the world.What does the writer mean by saying “It takes a sharp ear to identify regional accents.” in the first paragraph?
| A．Australians speak Standard English with no local accents whatsoever. |
| B．You have to practice a lot to learn to understand the different accents. |
| C．The Australian regional accents are very difficult to understand indeed. |
| D．There is not much difference between the accents in different areas of Australia. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Most Australians have ancestors who were prisoners. |
| B．The Australian economy is dependent on sheep exports. |
| C．The majority of people living in Australia come from Europe. |
| D．The pace of life is different in the city and in the country. |
The underlined pronoun ‘it’ in the final paragraph refers to “_______”.
| A．Community | B．racism | C．blend of Nations | D．Southeast Asia |
We can infer from the passage that _____.
| A．there are no signs of Australia’s colonial past in its modern cities |
| B．Australia’s recent immigration policy encourages immigrants from Southeast Asia |
| C．immigrants from Southeast Asia have brought racial problems |
| D．“riding on sheep’s back” resulted in slow development in rural communities |
This passage mainly focuses on Australia’s ______.
| A．society | B．economy | C．racial problems | D．history |
Iceland has the highest birth rate in Europe, the highest divorce rate, and the highest percentage of women working outside the home. Such statistics are often evidence of a miserable, chaotic（混乱的）society, with loads of children, broken homes and absent mothers. But Iceland is the exception – its citizens are the happiest in the world.
Perhaps the country's geographic location contributes to Icelanders' happiness. Located in the middle of the North Atlantic, with Greenland as its nearest neighbor, Iceland is free from the taboos（禁忌）that cause so much trouble elsewhere. For instance, people who divorce are not looked down upon by society.
Icelanders are offsprings（后代）of the Vikings, a north European people who invaded European coasts from the 8th through the 10th century. This tradition of getting out into the world lives on in modern-day Iceland. Practically all Icelanders have studied or worked abroad, and most speak English.
Perhaps as a result, Iceland's economic policies blend the best of those from Europe with the US to create its own welfare system.
"Many of us have lived in the US, and studied there," said the Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde. "We have both taken from them and found that naturally we share the can-do attitude—— that if you work hard, anything can be done."
Indeed, the country is rich in writers, painters, film makers and musicians. There's Sigur Ros, a post-rock band, and also a national symphony orchestra that plays to the highest standards all over the world. Half the population appears to have written a book.
"Iceland has harsh（恶劣的） nature, with its bitter ever-changing weather,” said Haraldur Jonsson, a painter, sculptor and video and performance artist. “We cannot escape it. So we find ways________. We have to have a rich internal（内在的）life to fill the empty spaces."
57．It is commonly believed that high birth rate and divorce rate will bring about ________.
A．social problems B．happiness
C．a unique welfare system D．modern way of life
58．The underlined word "blend" in the fourth paragraph means .
A．combine B．correct C．compare D．compete
59．Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the reason for Icelanders’ happiness?
A．Geographic location. B．A rich internal life.
C．National pride. D．Freedom from taboos.
60．The most suitable phrase to fill in the blank in the last paragraph is .
A．to get rid of it B．to have it changed C．to get away from it D．to live with it
When I say “work is rest”, some people will say I’m crazy. But that’s the way it is—we need to rest. Without rest, we will die. At a minimum, we won’t have the energy to work.
Nobody forces us to be so stupid about this. We just don’t know how to rest properly. We rest in ways that are not restful, even stressful. Some of our ways of rest interfere (妨碍) with our working energy. Instead of sleep, we go to the movies and clubs, drink or have a smoke with friends. This is because we misunderstand the meaning of “rest.”
We should remember that rest means not working, both physically and mentally. Only then is it real rest. When tired, rest. It’s simple. Actually, dogs and cats are smarter about this than people. People are stupid enough to rest in ways that destroy their capacity (能力) to work.
Rest and work always go together. There must be a balance: work during the day and rest at night. When the sun comes up, one has plenty of strength to work well and enjoy it. In other words, rest is a kind of investment, so that one has the strength and energy to continue working. So we need rest to work, recognizing that we can’t have one without the other. Rest is what recharges our batteries. We need enough time to charge up adequately to the tasks we undertake. Thus, we need to rest correctly; otherwise, illness will occur and also can affect the efficiency of our work.
Rest can’t be skimped. Without enough rest, good work is impossible. This is why we say that rest is another kind of work.
53. Which of the following is the best rest according to this passage?
A. Going to the movies and clubs.
B. Drinking or having a smoke with friends.
C. Sleeping at home.
D. Playing cards with family members.
54. The underlined word “skimped” in the last paragraph most probably means _____.
A. not supplied with enough of what is needed
B. strengthened in spite of the conditions
C. recharged during the time of working
D. invested without any of the cost
55. We can know from this passage that _____.
A. dogs and cats are smarter than we human beings
B. rest can make us work more efficiently
C. it’s not proper to sleep in the daytime for people.
D. rest is more important than work for people
56. Which of the following is the main idea of this passage?
A. Rest is another kind of work.
B. How to form the habit of sleeping.
C. Sufficient rest leads to success.
D. Why people need to rest.
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A．apply for a position B．employ a working partner
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48. How many selling ads are there in the chart?
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People travel for a lot of reasons. Some tourists go to see battlefields or other historic remains. Others are looking for culture, or simply want to have their pictures taken in front of famous places. Most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on.
Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money for the sun because they have so little of it. People in cities like London, Copenhagen and Amsterdam spend much of their winter in the dark because the days are so short, and much of the year it rains. This is the reason why the Mediterranean (地中海) has always attracted them. Every summer many people travel to Mediterranean resorts (度假胜地) and beaches for their vacation. They all come for the same reason. Sun!
The huge crowds mean lots of money for the economies of Mediterranean countries. Italy's 30,000 hotels are booked without a break every summer. And 13 million people visited French beaches, parks, and roadsides. Spain's long sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else. 37 million tourists visit there yearly, or one tourist for each person living in Spain.
But there are signs that the area is getting more tourism than it can deal with. The Mediterranean is already one of the most polluted seas on earth. None of this, however, is ruining anyone's fun. Obviously, visitors don't go there for clean water. They allow traffic jams and endure crowded beaches. They don't even mind the pollution. No matter how dirty the water is , the coastline still looks beautiful. And as long as the sun shines, it's still better than sitting in cold Berlin, London, or anywhere else.
64. The writer seems to infer that Europeans travel mostly for the reason that _____.
A. they want to see historic remains
B. they wish to escape from cold, dark and rainy days
C. they would like to take pictures in front of famous places
D. they are interested in different cultural and social customs
65. According to the passage, which of the following countries attracts more tourists than the others?
A. Italy. B. Greece. C. France. D. Spain.
66. The underlined part in Passage 3, "one tourist for each person living in Spain" means _____.
A. all the 37 million people living in Spain are tourists
B. every person living in Spain has to take care of a tourist
C. every year as many tourists visit Spain as there are people living in that country
D. every family in Spain is visited by a tourist every year
67. According to the passage, which of the following might ruin the tourists' fun at Mediterranean resorts and beaches?
A. Polluted water B. Crowded buses C. Rainy weather D. Traffic jams
Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in for an unwelcome surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobilizer (锁止器), and a radio signal from a control centre miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.
The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car contains a mini-cellphone, a micro- processor and memory, and a GPS (全球定位系统) satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the control centre to block the vehicle's engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.
In the UK, a set of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. “The pattern of vehicle crime has changed,” says Martyn Randall, a security expert. He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a person how to steal a car, using a bare minimum(="smallest)" of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.
Modern cars are far tougher to steal, as their engine management computer won't allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition (点火) key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31% drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.
But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars, often by getting hold of the owner's keys. And key theft is responsible for 40% of the thefts of vehicles fitted with a tracking system.
If the stolen car travels 100 metres without the driver confirming their ID, the system will send a signal to an operations centre that it has been stolen. The hundred metres minimum avoids false alarms due to inaccuracies in the GPS signal.
Staff at the centre will then contact the owner to confirm that the car really is missing, and keep the police informed of the vehicle's movements through the car's GPS unit.
57. The remote immobilizer is fitted to a car to ______.
A. allow the car to lock automatically when stolen
B. help the police make a surprise attack on the car thief
C. prevent the car thief from restarting it once it stops
D. prevent car theft by sending a radio signal to the car owner
58. By saying “The pattern of vehicle crime has changed”, Martyn Randall suggests that ______.
A. it takes a longer time for the car thief to do the stealing
B. self-prepared tools are no longer enough for car theft
C. the thief has to make use of computer technology
D. the thief has lost interest in stealing cars over 10 years old
59. Why does the tracking system set a 100-metre minimum before sending an alarm to the operations centre?
A. To allow for possible errors in the GPS system.
B. To give the driver time to contact the operations centre.
C. To keep the police informed of the car's movements.
D. To leave time for the operations centre to give an alarm.
60. The operations centre will first ______ after receiving an alarm.
A. start the tracking system. B. contact the car owner.
C. block the car engine. D. locate the missing car.