Zoe Chambers was a successful PR(Public Relations) consultant and life was going well — she had a great job, beautiful flat and a busy social life in London. Then one evening in June last year, she received a text message telling her she was out of work. “The first two weeks were the most difficult to live through.” she said. “After everything I’d done for the company, they dismissed me by text! I was so angry and I just didn’t feel like looking for another job. I hate everything about the city and my life.”
Then, Zoe received an invitation from an old school friend, Kathy, to come and stay. Kathy and her husband, Huw, had just bought a farm in north-west Wales. Zoe jumped at the chance to spend a weekend away from London, and now, ten months later she is still on the farm.
"The moment I arrived at Kathy's farm, I loved it and I knew I wanted to stay." said Zoe. "Everything about my past life suddenly seemed meaningless."
Zoe has been working on the farm since October of last year and says she has no regrets. "It's a hard life, physically very tiring." she says. "In London 1 was stressed and often mentally exhausted. But this is a good, healthy tiredness. Here, all I need to put me in a good mood is a hot bath and one of Kathy's wonderful dinners."
Zoe says she has never felt bored on the farm. Every day brings a new experience. Kathy has been teaching her how to ride a horse and she has learnt to drive a tractor. Since Christmas, she has been helping with the lambing — watching a lamb being born is unbelievable, she says, "It's one of the most moving experiences I've ever had. I could never go back to city life now."When working as a PR consultant in London, Zoe thought she lived a ______life.
| A.satisfying | B.tough | C.meaningless | D.boring |
The most important reason why Zoe went to visit Kathy's farm is that______.
| A.Zoe lost her job as a PR consultant |
| B.Kathy persuaded her to do so |
| C.Zoe got tired of the city life |
| D.Zoe loved Wales more than London |
How docs Zoe feel about the country life according to the passage?
| A.Tiresome and troublesome. |
| B.Romantic and peaceful |
| C.Mentally exhausting but healthy |
| D.Physically tiring but rewarding. |
Which of the following is closest to the main idea of the passage?
| A.A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| B.Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| C.A misfortune may turn out a blessing. |
| D.Kill two birds with one stone. |
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和D项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
China launched its first manned spaceship at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, becoming the third country in the world to send a person into orbit after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Astronaut Yang Liwei became China’s first space man.
With a column of beautiful smoke, the Shenzhou V craft cut across a bright northwest China sky at exactly 9:00 a.m. Wednesday and went into orbit 10 minutes later.
China Central Television’s Channel One cut into its regular programming to announce the launch. The station later showed the Shenzhou V streaking(moving very fast)into the sky and disappearing, its tracer billowing (to fill with air and become larger)behind it.
Minutes after the launch, a CCTV announcer said that Shenzhou V and 38-year-old Yang Liwei, an air force pilot since 1983, had “entered orbit at 9:10.” It reported Yang was “reading a flight manual(手册) in the capsule of the Shenzhou V spacecraft and looked composed and at ease.”
The Shenzhou V launch came after four test launches of unmanned capsules that orbited the earth for nearly a week before parachuting back to China’s northern grasslands. Reports said the manned flight was expected to last about 22 hours.
President Hu Jintao watched the launch at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China’s Gansu Province.
Hu called the launch “the glory of our great motherland and a mark for the initial victory of the country’s first manned space flight and for the significant, historic step of the Chinese people in the advance of climbing over the peak of the world’s science and technology.”
He said that: “The Party and the people will never forget those who have set up the outstanding merit(贡献) in the space industry for the motherland, the people and the nation.”
“The launch of the Shenzhou V is long-awaited by the Chinese people,” Foreign Minister spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Tuesday. She said the flight was a key step in the “Peaceful development of space.”
NASA Administrator Sean O’ Keefe also congratulated on China’s first successful human space flight.
41. The following are countries succeeded in sending man into space EXCEPT ____
A. China B. Germany C. America D. the former Soviet Union
42. The underlined word “composed” in paragraph 4 means_____
A. happy B. nervous C. calm D. excited
43. According to the passage which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. It’s the first time that China has sent up its first manned spaceship.
B. Before the Shenzhou V launched, four test launches of it had moved around the earth.
C. The 38-year-old astronaut was sent into space by China’s ShenzhouⅤspacecraft and landed safely the next day.
D. Yang Liwei is China’s first astronaut in space.
44. The writer quoted(引用) Foreign Minister spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue’s words to express ________.
A. the Chinese have been expecting the successful space launch and it’s a great contribution to the peaceful development of space.
B. a lot of Chinese people are waiting for the launch.
C. this launch is the first time in China.
D. China’s manned spaceship made a peaceful development of space.
45. The description of Yang Liwei tells us that _______.
A. Yang didn’t know what to do and he was looking up a flight manual
B. it’s 10 years since he became an air force pilot
C. Yang entered orbit at exactly 9:00 a.m.
D. Yang trained himself well and felt very satisfied with everything in the space craft
Me More Than You
“It hurts me more than you.” and “This is for your own good.” These are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework.
That was before we entered the permissive period in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school.
The schools and the educators made it easy on us. They taught that it was all right to be parents who took a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators(计算器), turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation.
Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Klompus who says of her students—“so passive”—and wonders what happened. Nothing was demanded of them, she believes. “Television”, says Klompus, “contributes to children’s passivity;” “We’re not training kids to work any more.” says Klompus. “We’re talking about a generation of kids who’ve never been hurt or hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them. Instead of saying ‘go look it up’, you tell them the answer. It takes greater energy to say ‘no’ to a kid.”
Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work. It’s time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, and to tell them it hurts you more than them but it’s for their own good. It’s time to start telling them ‘no’ again.We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to place importance on _____.
| A.discipline | B.creativity | C.school education | D.homework |
To today’s kids as described in this passage, _____.
| A.it is easier to give a negative reply than to give a positive reply |
| B.it is easier to give a positive reply than to give a negative reply |
| C.neither is easy — to say yes or to say no |
| D.neither is hard — to say yes or to say no |
The main idea of this passage is that _____.
| A.parents should set a good example for their kids |
| B.kids should have more activities outside campus |
| C.educators should not be so kind to our children |
| D.it is time to be strict with our children |
Classified(分类)Ads
For direct classified service, call 800-0667 10 a.m.— 4 p.m., Monday—Friday.
For Rent
Best on Campus
Excellent Room for girls, begins Jan. , 2, 4, or 8 months lease(租约). Single, $105. Double, $140. Call 800-1932.
Family Home, 3 bedrooms, large yard. $275. Call 800-4300.
For Sale
Sheepskin Coat, men’s size 42, 1year old. $85. After 6 p.m. call 800-5224.
Moving: Must sell. Color TV 21, $150; transistor radio(晶体管收音机), $15; recorder, $25. Call 800-0739.
Help Wanted
Babysitter — My home
If you could find a few hours during the day, some evenings and weekends to care for 2 school- age children, please call 800-1111.
Lost
A black bag with a pencil-box and some books left in the reading room. Will the finder please come to Class 3, Grade 1?
Found
A green jacket was left on the sports ground yesterday afternoon (April 15th). Will the owner please ring 656-6688?If you wanted to place an ad. , what number would you call?
| A.800-0739. | B.800-1932. | C.800-5224. | D.800-0667. |
If Mary wanted a room for herself, which Room should she choose?
| A.Campus. | B.Single. | C.Double. | D.Family Home. |
From the passage, we know __________.
| A.someone lost his green jacket in the reading room |
| B.you can rent a transistor radio at $15 |
| C.you can take a house at the rent of $275 for you family |
| D.you can call 800-5224 at any time to buy a sheepskin coat |
If you want to find a part-time job, you will look at________.
| A.For Rent | B.For Sale | C.Help Wanted | D.Lost |
The English language is changing fast,thanks to the rapid progress of technology. We all have a rapid choice: we can either bury our heads in the sand and spend the rest of our lives wishing Shakespeare were alive and well. Or we can embrace (拥抱) the new English,enter into the spirit of the Internet age called Weblish.
“You can’t avoid it,for the simple reason that whenever a new variety of language comes along,it inevitably (不可避免的) impacts(冲击)on the language as a whole.” says Dr. David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics(语言学)at the University of Wales in Bangor, whose book Language and the Internet has just been published.
The trouble with keeping up with the new English is not so much that there are so many new words but that the old words no longer mean what we thought they did. In the past, if someone said they did not have Windows, you would have to suppose they lived in a cave.These days,it is probably because they use a Mac(which is a computer, not a rain coat). Spam is as disliked as it ever was ,but it once meant an unappetizing(引不起食欲的)canned meat.It now stands for unwanted “junk” email. Spellings are changing, too. Not only is text-messaging playing “hvc wth vrbs” (havoc(混乱)with verbs), but the conventions of email communication place little emphasis on “perfect speaking”.
Weblish loves to see nouns happily become verbs(“please bookmark this site”),and verbs become nouns (“Send me the download”). Verbs and prepositions are regularly thrown together to become new nouns or adjectives(e.g. dial-up, logon, print-on-demand, pull-down, upload), while others are created from simply pairing nouns: cyberspace, Etl, hyperlink, netspeak.The best title of this passage would be______.
| A.Keep Up with the Latest Weblish | B.Keep Up with the Latest Development |
| C.Newly Invented English Words | D.Technology and English |
We can infer(推断)from the first paragraph that ______.
| A.Some people wish Shakespeare were still alive |
| B.people may have different attitudes towards Weblish |
| C.all people welcome Weblish |
| D.Weblish is not popular among people |
The author thinks the main difficulty for people in keeping up with Weblish is that ______.
| A.old words have new meanings |
| B.there are so many new words |
| C.the technology is changing too fast |
| D.Weblish words are full of spelling mistakes |
Dr. David Crystal would probably agree that ______.
| A.people should not accept Weblish |
| B.Weblish can cause misunderstandings among people |
| C.Weblish will destroy the English language |
| D.people should know something about Weblish |
One bitterly cold day, a snowstorm blew into our area. Needing firewood, I quickly set out with my best friend, Bruce, to look for a tree to cut down. I was glad to have Bruce along. Cutting down a tree in a snowstorm can be dangerous. So it was important to have a friend who could warn me of dangers.
When I chose a big 23-meter-tall tree and prepared to cut it down, my best friend suddenly warned me, “Don’t cut down that tree! It’s too close to the power line!” I wasn’t sure about it. So I decided to disregard his warning. I wanted to finish the job quickly and go home. So I began cutting down the tree. When the tree fell, there was no longer any doubt that my friend was right.
The tree caught the power line, bringing it to the ground. I considered cutting the tree off the line. After all, electricity can’t travel through wood, so I could safely remove the tree. As I reached out my finger to touch the tree, pain ran up my arm and through my head. I had been shocked!
After I returned home and told my mother what had happened, she quickly called the power company. Workers from the power company soon arrived on the scene. One of them asked if I had touched the tree, and when I told him I had, his face turned pale.
“You should have been killed,” he said.
So why am I still alive? It was my boots that saved my life.
Within two hours, the workers removed the tree. Soon the snowstorm calmed down—but not my mother.
Even though she was glad I wasn’t hurt, my mother was well serious with me. After all, I shouldn’t have brushed off my friend’s warning.
Through this experience, I learned that it’s important to listen to people who offer a different perspective(观点). Taking the time to listen might actually save a lot of time and trouble. It certainly would have kept me from getting the “shock of my life”.The underlined word “disregard ” in the second paragraph means “________”.
| A.pay no attention to | B.take notice of | C.consider | D.follow |
In spite of Bruce’s warning, the author still cut the tree because ________.
| A.he was sure there would be nothing to happen |
| B.he wasn’t sure whether Bruce was right and was anxious to go home |
| C.he didn’t hear his friend’s warning at all because of the blowing wind |
| D.he was angry with his friend and didn’t want to listen to him |
The author wrote the passage mainly to _______.
| A.give an account of one of his terrible experiences |
| B.make us know it’s important to listen to people who offer a different perspective (观点) through his experience |
| C.tell us not to cut trees down any more |
| D.remind us to be careful while working |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A.But for his boots, the writer would have died. |
| B.The writer regretted having brushed off his friend’s warning. |
| C.The writer knew nothing about electricity. |
| D.When the tree was cut down, the writer realized his friend was right |