WASHINGTON — It is announced Friday that White House visitor records will be opened up on a regular basis for the first time in modern history, providing the public an unusually detailed look at who gets the opportunity to help shape American policy at the highest levels.
“Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process,” the president said in a written statement issued by the White House while he vacationed with his family at Camp David.
By the end of the year, the White House will begin posting online every month the names of the people who visited in the last 90 to 120 days. Each person’s full name will be listed, along with the date and time they entered and left and the name of the person they visited. About 70,000 to 100,000 people visit the White House each month, and the records will include tourists as well as people conducting business.
The White House pointed out several exceptions to the policy: “purely personal guests” of the Obama family; those cases in which the disclosure(透露) of visitors’ names “would threaten national safety interests”; and those who come for “particularly sensitive meetings,” like candidates for a Supreme Court nomination(提名). Officials said only a “small number” will fit in the latter category（类别）, and their names would eventually be disclosed after they are no longer secret, like after a nomination is publicly announced. Moreover, they said, the number of undisclosed visitors will be disclosed, to make clear how few they are.Why will the White House visitor records be open to the public?
| A．To attract more visitors to the White House. |
| B．To allow people to know more about the life of the Obama family. |
| C．To let the public know who are influencing the policies. |
| D．To ask the public help correct the policies made by the government. |
From the passage we can learn that ________.
| A．All the visitors’ names will be posted online soon after their visits |
| B．Not all visitors are allowed to visit the White House |
| C．Some visitors’ names can be found online until they’re not secret |
| D．The records of the visitors will be kept for at least 4 months |
According to the passage, whose name might be kept secret for some time?
| A．A tourist. | B．A businessman. | C．A foreign student. | D．A foreign minister. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．The White House will open the records of the visitors to the public. |
| B．In America more and more people are becoming policy makers. |
| C．The Americans have a right to know who are making policies. |
| D．President Obama has announced a new policy while on holiday. |
D
In the computer age, most of us take a broadband Internet connection for granted. Whether cable or mobile broadband, today’s connections are many times faster than those in the early days. Videos play smoothly, complex websites load quickly, and files download much faster than ten years ago. And the files are much bigger too.
There’s a catch, of course: You have to live near enough to a major city to get broadband Internet. If you don’t, it’s slow dial-up access for you. And for those living really far out, there may be no Internet access at all.
Technology experts often talk about the “last mile” problem, which refers to the difficulty of bringing Internet access to remote locations. In cities and suburbs, it’s relatively easy to provide access for everyone. It is much more difficult to deliver access to those living far from cities, especially in developing countries. Internet service providers, for their part, have been reluctant to provide access to sparsely (稀疏地) populated areas. The handful of Internet users they would reach wouldn’t cover the expense.
But every year, technological advancements allow of more and more Internet users. Most broadband connections today run over existing cable TV and telephone lines although these technologies aren’t available everywhere.
Some companies have delivered the Internet over standard power lines. Advancements in cheaper, more efficient fiber optics cables (光纤电缆) promise to bring extremely fast Internet connections to more users.
Still, the “last mile” problem remains hard to deal with. There will always be somewhere that doesn’t have an affordable broadband connection. But someday that might not matter. If the rapid progress in cell phone technology is any indication (迹象), it may not be too long before an Internet connection simply follows you wherever you go.
68. The underlined part “a catch” (in Paragraph 2) probably means “_____”.
A. a rare challenge B. a desirable plan
C. an efficient device D. a hidden problem
69. What can we know from the third paragraph?
A. Internet connection has not been popular in most cities.
B. Internet service providers care about rural customers.
C. Computer is popular in developing countries.
D. It is hard to bring Internet access to users in remote areas.
70. Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that technological advancements _____.
A. make TV and telephone available everywhere
B. bring great change to people’s everyday life
C. make it possible for more people to use the Internet
D. bring faster Internet connections to users
71. What may eventually settle the “last mile” problem?
A. The broadband connection’s getting faster.
B. More and more Internet users.
C. more and more Internet connections.
D The rapid progress in cell phone technology.
C
Visit one of the most outstanding prehistoric sites in the United Kingdom, and enjoy amazing historic English attractions. Please notice that every tour starts and ends in London. Have a tour with Visiting Britain.
Stonehenge Direct Tour
Visit one of the most outstanding prehistoric sites in England and in the world: Stonehenge.
Duration: l day
Price: Adults￡29.99, Children￡28.99
Stonehenge and Bath Tour
Enjoy a late breakfast before heading to the Stonehenge site and end your day with an original visit of the Roman Baths.
Duration: l hours (departure l0:30 am return 8:30 pm).
Price: Adults￡64, Children￡60
Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle Tour
Explore three of England’s most popular sites to visit: Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and the Roman Baths.
Duration: 1 day (return 8:30 pm)
Price: Adults￡64.80, Children￡61.20
Stonehenge, Lacock and Bath Tour
Come and feel the warmth of Bath, see the pleasant village of Lacock, and solve the mystery of Stonehenge.
Duration: l day (return 6 pm)
Price: Adults￡85, Children￡78
Stonehenge, Windsor and Oxford Tour
Choose Stonehenge, Windsor and Oxford Tour and enjoy ancient mysticism, royal history and illustrious knowledge.
Duration: l day
Price: Adults￡72, Chi
ldren￡68
Stonehenge, Bath and Stratford Tour
Take a tour to make the most of the English historic attractions: the Stonehenge site, Bath and Stratford, the birthplace of playwright William Shakespeare.
Duration: l day (return 8 pm)
Price: Adults ￡79, Children￡68
64. The purpose of the passage is to _____.
A. advertise some popular English attractions
B. recommend some different tours in England.
C. tell readers how to save money while traveling
D. persuade readers to join Visiting Britain
65. Two 15-year-old foreign students who want to visit Stonehenge and Oxford University will have to pay at least _____.
A. ￡136 B. ￡170 C. ￡l10 D. ￡126
66. When can you come back to London after visiting Stonehenge and the Roman Baths?
A. A
t 6 pm. B. At 7 pm. C. At 8 pm. D. At 8:30 pm.
67. If you plan to travel with your kid who is a fan of Shakespeare, you would choose _____.
A. Stonehenge Direct Tour
B. Stonehenge, Bath and Stratford Tou
C. Stonehenge, Windsor and Oxford Tour
D. Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle Tour
B
BUNOL, Spain (AFP) — Tens of thousands of people from around the world threw tons of ripe tomatoes at each other in an annual food fight that painted the eastern Spanish town of Bunol red.
More than 40,000 people, including many visitors from Australia, Britain and the United States, took part in the food fight known as the “Tomatina”, now in its 64th year, a spokeswoman for Bunol’s town hall said.
They were provided with over 100 tons of tomatoes by the town council for the battle which lasted about one hour and left participants covered in red.
Many men were shirtless while others wore old clothes, hardhats, goggles or protective plastic sheets.
Shopkeepers put up huge plastic covers on their store fronts or boarded them up to protect their properties from the sea of red mush (糊状物).
After the battle, governmental workers and local residents used “giant hoses” to clear the walls and streets of the tomato pulp in just half an hour while the participants headed to a nearby river where temporary showers were set up.
The event cost the town of some l0,000 residents 40,000 dollars, Spanish media reported.
The “Tomatina” is held each year in Bunol, located in a fertile (富饶的) region about 40 kilometres north of the coastal city of Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, on the last Wednesday in August.
The origins of the event are unclear although it is thought to have its roots in a food fight between childhood friends in the mid-1940s in the city.
It has grown in size as international press coverage brought more and more people to the festival.
60. To keep their stores safe, the shopkeepers _____.
A. kept their store fronts covered B. hung plastic sheets on the walls
C. closed all the doors and windows D. stopped people throwing at them
61. Which of the following words is closest in meaning to the underlined word “pulp” (in
Paragraph 6)?
A. skin. B. color. C. mush. D. value.
62. It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
A. the “Tomatina” brings in huge profits
B. the festival attracted more tourists this year
C. no one knows the history of the festival
D. tourism plays an important role in Bunol
63. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. It is fun to throw tomatoes B. An exciting story about tomatoes
C. Fighting and sightseeing in Bunol D. Spanish town painted red in tomato fight
第三部分 阅读理解（共20小题；每小题3分，满分60分）
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A，B，C，D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Joyce Yuan and her host family
As I began to feel completely sick of the cold North American winter, spring break finally arrived! What made me even more excited was that we were going to Florida to enjoy the warm weather!
Just imagine wearing short sleeves or a swimsuit under the hot Florida sun!
Before the vocation started, we had a little episode at the airport. The alarm sounded when my host mom and I were walking through the security check. We were taken away to have further checks, but when they finally told us that we could go, we felt easy and amused. It was just because of the decorations on my pants and the tinfoil(锡纸) around my host mom’ chewing gum! －Just as a reminder, no overly fashionable pants or tinfoil on a plane!
Of course, I had a lot of first experiences during this special vacation. Since eight of us were living in a house, we had to share a room with my 4-year-old host sister. She is tiny compared to me, but she took up about two thirds of the bed. Moreover, because I was not used to sleeping in the same room with others, I was afraid of waking up and hardly slept at all.
Luckily, except for all that, everything went really well. My host family were really warm-hearted, and they wanted me to try everything new. With their “persuasion”, I was “forced” to go boating, which turned out to be really fun. We went through some canals and I saw manatees(海牛) and dolphins with my own eyes for the very first time!
When we finally landed in Wisconsin again, everyone looked brown and full of energy!
56. According to the passage, the reason why we were taken away to have further checks was that___________.
A. my pants and my host mom’s chewing gum
B. we carried some things that are not permitted
C. they considered us to be thieves
D. we had not passports with us
57.During the travel, the author experienced the following things for the first time EXCEPT_________.
A. sharing a room with a 4-year-old girl B. going boating
C. seeing manatees and dolphins with her own eyes D. taking a plane
58.According to the passage, how many people went to Florida for traveling with the author together?
A. Seven B. Eight C. We don’t know it D. Nine
59. From the passage, we can infer that the author felt the vacation was_____.
A. frightening B. amazing C. memorable D. challenging
A mouse looked through a hole in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package；what food might it contain? He was astonished to discover that it was a mouse trap!
Running to the farmyard，the mouse shouted，warning everyone，“There is a mouse trap in the house，there is a mouse trap in the house．”The chicken，with her head high，glared at the mouse and said，“Shut up．Little Ugly．This is a great concern to you，but it has nothing to do with me：I can’t be troubled by it．”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him．“There is a mouse trap in the house．”“I am so sorry，Mr Mouse，”said the pig sympathetically，“but there is nothing I can do about it but pray；you are always in my prayers．”
The mouse turned to the cow，who said，“A mouse trap，am I in great danger，huh?”
Now the mouse had to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone．
That very night a sound was heard through the house，like that of a mouse trap catching its prey．The farmer’wife rushed to see what was caught．In the darkness，she did not see it was a big poisonous snake whose tail the trap had caught．The snake bit the farmer’s wife．The farmer rushed her to the hospital．She rerturned home with a fever．It is said that drinking fresh chicken soup will help treat fever，so the farmer took his sharp knife to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient．His wife’s sickness continued，so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock．To feed them，the farmer killed the pig．The farmer’s wife did not get well，in fact，she died，and so many people came for her funeral．The farmer had the cow killed to provide for all of them to eat．
So next time when someone is facing a problem，don’t say that it has nothing to do with you．
57．We could see from the passage that the mouse was．
A．good at cheating others B．dishonest
C．kind and warm-hearted D．foolish
58．Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
A．The others help the farmer kill the cow．
B．The mouse trap was very practical．
C．The pig is more friendly than the other animals．
D．The farmer’s family had no friends at all．
59．The passage is most probably a．
A．fable(寓言) B．science fiction
C．fairy tale(神话) D．humorous story
60．What can we learn from the story?
A．Traps can always cause chain reactions．
B．It is better to be safe than to be sorry．
C．Sometimes when the least of us is threatened，we all might be at risk．
D．To keep the balance of nature is the duty of us al．