The summer I was ten, my mother decided to bring us to the world of art. My brother and I were not very excited when we realized what my mother meant. What she meant was not that we could take drawing classes or painting classes but that we would have to spend one afternoon a week with her at the Fine Arts Museum. Before each visit to the museum, she made us read about artists and painting styles. It was almost as bad as being in school. Who wants to spend the summer thinking about artists when you could be with your friends at the swimming pool?
First we had to read about ancient Egyptians(古埃及人) and their strange way of painting faces and then go to look at them at the museum. My 12-year-old brother thought this was so funny, but I was not interested. Later we had to learn about artists in the Middle Ages who painted people wearing strange long clothing. We had to look at pictures of fat babies with wings and curly hair and with no clothes on flying around the edges of paintings. I certainly couldn't see what was so great about art.
On our last visit to the museum, something happened when I saw a painting by a woman called Mary. In it, a woman was reading to a child. The colors were soft and gentle, and you could tell by the mother’s expression how happy she was just to be with the child. I couldn't stop looking at this painting! I wanted to see every painting Mary had ever made! It was really worth looking at so many paintings to find a painter who could interest me so much.The aim of the mother’s plan was to _________.
| A．take them to visit the museum |
| B．introduce them to the world of art |
| C．ask them to read about artists |
| D．show them different painting styles |
What was the writer’s experience in the museum before the last visit?
| A．She came to feel her mother’s love. |
| B．She liked many paintings. |
| C．She hardly enjoyed herself. |
| D．She could understand the pictures of fat babies. |
What made the writer go through a change that summer?
| A．One of Mary's paintings. |
| B．A strange way of painting. |
| C．Artists in the Middle Ages. |
| D．Her mother’s instruction. |
From the text, we can see _________.
| A．the importance of curiosity |
| B．the effect of art |
| C．the value of learning |
| D．the power of family education |
The writer and her brother had thought that they could ___________ in their summer vacation.
| A．visit some art museums |
| B．go to Egypt for a visit |
| C．take drawing or painting classes |
| D．play with their friends. |
第三部分阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
第一节（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，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Ed Viesturs grew up in Rockford, Illinois, where the tallest thing on the horizon was the water tower. But on Thursday, Viesturs became the only American to climb to the top of the world's 14 highest mountains.
His last hike was up Mount Annapurna, in Asia's snowcapped Himalayas. At 26,545 feet, its peak is the 10th highest in the world. It is the mountain that inspired him to start climbing.
"It tends to be the trickiest, the most dangerous," said Viesturs. "There's no simple way to climb it. There are threatening avalanches (雪崩) and ice falls that protect the mountain."
In high school, Viesturs read French climber Maurice Herzog's tale of climbing the icy Annapurna. Herzog's story was of frostbite (冻伤) and difficulty and near-death experiences. Viesturs was hooked right away.
Viesturs got his start on Washington's Mount Rainier in 1977, guiding hikes in the summer. Fifteen years ago, he set out to walk up to the world's highest peaks. Finally, he's done.
The pioneering climber talks about mountains as if they were living creatures that should be treated with respect. "You have to use all of your senses, all of your abilities to see if the mountain will let you climb it," said Viesturs. "If we have the patience and the respect, and if we're here at the right time, under the right circumstances, they allow us to go up, and allow us to come down."
What's next for a man who can't stop climbing? "I'm going to hug my wife and kids and kind of kick back and enjoy the summer," says Viesturs. But for a man who's climbed the world's 14 tallest mountains, he will probably soon set off on yet another adventure.
56．What record has Ed Viesturs set?
A．He has succeeded in climbing to the world’s 14th highest mountain.
B．He has been to the top of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
C．He has become the first to climb to the height of 26,545 feet.
D．He has become the first man to climb to the top of 14 highest mountains in the world.
57．The underlined word “hooked” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by “______”.
A．frightened B．discouraged C．interested D．upset
58．The author used Viestures’ words in Paragraph 6 to support a view that ______.
A．mountain climbing is a dangerous sport
B．mountains should be regarded as living creatures
C．mountain climbing needs more skills than physical energy
D．those who like mountain climbing won’t stop climbing
59．What’s the next probable plan of Viestures?
A．Stopping climbing and staying with his family.
B．Climbing to the top of the world’s 14 tallest mountains again.
C．Climbing another one of the highest mountains.
D．Writing down the experiences about his adventure.
Last week, while visiting my dad with my daughter, we went to a restaurant for dinner. When we were seated, my dad asked the waitress if there were any soldiers eating at the restaurant. Then waitress said there was a soldier having dinner with his friend. My dad told the waitress to tell the soldier and his friend that their dinner was paid for! He also said that he did not want to be known as the benefactor(施主).
Then waitress later commented on my dad’s thoughtful behavior saying that she had never seen anything like this before. At a local college, she had studied opera and so she used this to thank my dad by performing a piece from The Pearl Fisherman. Her voice brought me to tears because it sounded perfect!
After a while, the soldier appeared at our table (I don’t know how he knew my dad paid the bill for him.) and said that he would be sent to the front the next morning and that he could not leave this country without saying “thanks” to my dad. My dad replied that it was he who wanted to say “thanks”. They shook hands as the soldier left.
Before we left, the waitress came by again. She did a magic show as another way to show her
“thanks” to my dad. Her show was really great. My dad left her a note with email address asking for her next performance time in addition to a $ 50 tip.
Everyone witnessed something exemplary(可作榜样的) in the human spirit that night. I can only hope to see more of this in the future.
68．What did the soldier do in response to the author’s father’s kindness?
A．He gave something to author’s dad.
B．He gave a big tip to the waitress.
C．He said thanks to the author’s dad in person.
D．He did a magic show for the author and her father.
69．The author considered her father’s action to be ____.
A．funny B．understandable C．worthless D．honorable
70．Their passage mainly tells us that we should ____.
A．learn to be grateful to others B．find ways to thank others
C．try to learn from each other D．respect soldiers and waitresses
A small piece of fish each day may keep the heart doctor away．That's the finding of a scientific study of Dutch men in which deaths from heart disease were more than 50 percent lower among those who consumed at least an ounce（盎司）of salt water fish per day than those who never ate fish.
The Dutch research is one of three human studies that hold the belief that eating fish can provide health benefits, particularly to the heart. Heart disease is the number-one killer in the United States, with more than 550,000 deaths occurring from heart attacks each year．But researchers previously have noticed that the incidence （发生率） of heart disease is lower in cultures that consume more fish than Americans do．There are fewer heart disease deaths, for example, among the Eskimos of Greenland, who consume about 14 ounces of fish a day, and among the Japanese, whose daily fish consumption averages more than 3 ounces.
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For 20 years, the Dutch study followed 852 middle-aged men, 20 percent of whom ate no fish.
At the start of the study, the average fish consumption was about two-thirds of an ounce each day with more men eating thin fish than fatty fish.Contrary to the impression that grandmothers are delighted to help their grown daughters and care for their grandchildren, a study of multigenerational families shows that many older women hate the frequent demands that the younger generations make on their time and energy．
“Young women with children are under a lot of pressure these days, and they expect their mothers to help them pick up the pieces,” noted Dr．Bertram J．Cohler, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago．“This is often the strongest source of complaint on the part of Grandmother, who has finished with child caring and now has her own life to live．Grandmothers like to see their children and grandchildren, but on their own time．”
Dr．Cohler is director of a study, sponsored by the National Institute of Aging, of 150 workingclass families that live in a Midwestern suburb．He and Dr．Henry U．Gruebaum of Harvard Medical School, have already completed their study of four such families in New England．
Dr．Cohler tells of a middle-aged Boston woman who works as a cook all week and for her parish（教区） on Sundays．Every Saturday, her one day off, her daughter and family visit, expecting mother to make lunch, shop, and visit．“That's not how she wants to grow old,” said Dr．Cohler, who was told by the older woman, “My daughter would never speak to me if she knew how angry and unhappy I get．”
In all the four New England families studied, the older women disliked the numerous phone calls and visits from their grown daughters, who often turned to the mothers for advice, physical resources, love, and companionship as well as baby-sitting services．“American society keeps increasing the burdens for older people, particularly those in their 50s and 60s,” Dr．Cohler said in an interview here．“They're still working and they're taking care of their grown children and maybe also their aged parents．Sometimes life gets to be too much．”
67．Which of the following is closest in meaning to the expression “pick up the pieces” in the second paragraph?
A．Save a bad situation． B．Put children's toys in their proper places．
C．Gather up pieces of clothing． D．Keep the room in good order．
68．The middle-aged Boston woman ______．
A．expects her mother to cook lunch for her
B．enjoys the room in good order
C．visits an older woman every Saturday
D．works six days a week
69．The passage is mainly about ______．
A．young women's inability to look after their children
B．Grandmothers' attitudes toward helping their grown daughters
C．average American women's family life
D．grandmother should give more help to their daughters
70．From Dr．Cohler's study we may reach the conclusion that ______．
A．daughters should be independent of their old grandmothers
B．grandmother should give more help to their daughters
C．mothers and daughters should support each other
D．daughters should be more considerate toward their mothers
It is natural that children are curious about the world around them．For example, they want to know how their hearts beat．They want to know why the ocean water tastes salty．
As children grow up, they become curious about different kinds of things．When they are babies, they are interested in the parts of their bodies and in the smiles of their mothers．They become interested in the physical world around them: the plants, the animals, the sky．Later, they become interested in the things that people have made: wheels, bicycles, cars．And when they are adults, their curiosity continues．Sometimes this curiosity leads to a career in science．
Scientists spend their lives trying to find out about the world．Those who work with the earth sciences study the earth, the oceans, and the sky．Other scientists who study living things work with the biological sciences．A third group of scientists study the physical sciences, e．g．physics, chemistry ．
These scientists have already discovered a lot about our world．For example, they tell us why your heart beats fast when you run．They say that when you are quiet, your heart normally beats 65 or 75 times a minute．Your heart is a pump that pumps blood to all parts of the body．The blood carries oxygen and nutrition．When you run, your muscles work very hard and use the nutrition that the blood carries to them．The muscles need oxygen, too．So your brain sends a signal to the heart．The signal means that the muscles need more nutrition and oxygen．Then the heart beats fast and sends blood quickly to the muscles．It may beat 90 to 140 times a minute．
Of course, scientists cannot answer all of our questions．If we ask, “Why does the ocean water taste salty” scientists will say that the salt comes from rocks．When a rock gets very hot or very cold, it cracks．Rain falls into cracks．The rain then carries the salt into the earth and into the rivers．The rivers carry the salt into the ocean．But then we ask , “What happens to the salt in the ocean? The ocean does not get saltier every year．” Scientists are not sure about the answer to this question．
We know a lot about our world, but there are still many answers that we do not have, and we are curious．
63．According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A．People are curious in the same way．
B．People in different countries are interested in different things．
C．People of different ages are interested in different things．
D．Men and women are curious about different things．
64．Scientists who work with the biological sciences study____．
A．the earth , the oceans and the sky B．plants and animals
C．man-made things D．ocean water
65．A rock cracks _____．
A．in wet regions B．in dry regions
C．when salty water falls in D．at very high or very low temperatures
66．People are always curious because _____ ．
A．they know little about the world B．they know nothing about the world
C．they can not explain many things D．they want to be scientists