The fourth round of heavy smog to hit Beijing in four weeks has sent more people to the hospital with respiratory(呼吸的) illnesses and led to calls for laws to control the pollution.
Pan Shiyi, a celebrity real estate developer said he is planning to propose (提案) a Clean Air Act to the local government. As a representative to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, he started an online survey at 9:20 a.m. Within three hours, more than 25,000 web users, or 99 percent of total respondents(应答者), welcomed his proposal on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter.
They have good reasons to stand alongside Pan. The latest round of haze(雾霾)reduced visibility to under 500 meters in many parts of the city. The smog has also led to a great increase in respiratory illnesses, particularly among children and the elderly. Anxious parents and doctors almost all blame the smoggy air for the illnesses. Though most schoolchildren are home for the winter holidays, the bad air can easily move indoors. Besides, ordinary medical masks fail to provide adequate protection, so some people have turned to gas masks and respirators(呼吸器).
The causes of the scary smog are rather mysterious, though experts blame excessive emissions and the mountains around Beijing that trap pollution in winter, unless there is adequate wind to clear it away. Some critics have pointed fingers at China’s top two oil firms, China National Petroleum Corp and China Petrochemical Corporation, saying the companies’ outdated production technologies produce large quantities of substandard, high-polluting gas fuel.
Meanwhile, concerned Beijingers have moved their brainstorming sessions to cyberspace. If Pan’s proposal for a Clean Air Act is adopted, netizens say the new law should include items providing for “car-free days” in times of smog, higher standards for vehicle fuel, stricter restrictions on industrial and exhaust gas emissions, and more effective protection for the public.
Beijing is not the only city that has ever lost the blue sky. Five days of thick fog caused thousands of deaths in Britain in December 1952, urging the government to pass the first Clean Air Act in 1956, which introduced smokeless zones and cleaner fuels to reduce pollution. That may provide some experience for Beijing to refer to.What can we learn from the passage?
A.People are clear about the causes of the smoggy weather. |
B.Children staying indoors will not get respiratory illnesses. |
C.Smog is worse for people with lower resistance to diseases. |
D.Masks can give people protection against the smoggy weather. |
Britain is mentioned in the last paragraph to ______.
A.suggest Beijing should learn from other countries |
B.let people know many places have this problem |
C.tell people the situation in Britain is worse |
D.call on the government to pass Britain’s Clean Air Act |
What’s the best title for this passage?
A.The Use of Gas masks and Respirators |
B.Beijingers Call for Clean Air Act |
C.Effective Protection for Blue Sky |
D.The Mysterious Causes of the Scary Smog |
.
第三部分阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
请认真阅读下列短文,从短文后各题所给的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。
It was graduation day at Etihad Training Academy, where the national airline of the United Arab Emirates holds a seven-week training course for new flight attendants.
Despite her obvious pride, Ms. Fathi, a 22-year-old from Egypt, was amazed to find herself here. “I never in my life thought I’d work abroad,” said Ms. Fathi, who was a university student in Cairo when she began noticing newspaper advertisements employing young Egyptians to work at airlines based in the Persian Gulf.
A decade ago, unmarried Arab women like Ms. Fathi, working outside their home countries, were rare. But just as young men from poor Arab nations poured into the oil-rich Persian Gulf states for jobs, more young women are doing so.
Flight attendants have become the public face of the new mobility for some young Arab women, just as they were the face of new freedoms for women in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. They have become a subject of social anxiety and fascination in much the same way.
For many families, allowing a daughter to work may call her virtue into question. Yet this culture is changing, said Musa Shteiwi, a sociologist at Jordan University in Amman. “We’re noticing more and more single women going to the gulf these days,” he said. “It’s still not exactly common, but over the last four or five years it’s become quite an observable phenomenon.”
Many of the young Arab women working in the Persian Gulf take delight in their status as pioneers, role models for their friends and younger female relatives. Young women brought up in a culture that highly values community, have learned to see themselves as individuals. The experience of living independently and working hard for high salaries has forever changed their beliefs about themselves, though it can also lead to a painful sense of separation from their home countries and their families.
—From New York Times (December 22, 2009)
51. It can be inferred from the passage that young Arab women _________.
A. go to work abroad after American women’s example
B. didn’t start to work abroad until the late 20th century
C. are commonly used to living and working separately
D. expect to take the same family responsibilities as men
52. According to the passage, the Arab women flight attendants can be described as _________.
A. proud, homesick or independent B. honest, outstanding or optimistic
C. mature, enthusiastic or energetic D. painful, desperate or conservative
53. How do the public respond to young Arab women’s new mobility?
A. The public think highly of it.B. The public care very little about it.
C. The public show both interest and anxiety. D. The public are strongly against it.
54. The author intends to tell the readers that __________.
A. Arab women can hardly find any work
B. flight attendants are badly needed in the gulf
C. flight attendants lead quite a different life
D. young Arab women’s values are changing
.
Sydney—Mobile phone has become a problem for middle schools. Some middle schools in Australia have banned students from carrying mobile phones during school hours.
Mobile phone use among children has become a problem for the school this year. Several children have got mobile phones as Christmas gifts, and more students want them.
Mary Bluett, an official, said mobile phone use is a distraction (分心的事) to students during school hours and it also gives teachers so much trouble in their classrooms. Teachers were also saying that sometimes students might use phone messages to cheat during exams.
She said some schools had tried to ban mobile phones. Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn’t get in touch with their children.
Many teachers said students should not have mobile phones at school, but if there was a good reason, they could leave their phones at school offices. They also said there were many reasons why the students should not have mobile phones at school: they were easy to lose and were a distraction from studies.
Many people say that they understand why parents would want their children to have phones, but they think schools should let the students know when they can use their mobile phones.
60. Some middle schools in Australia have banned students from carrying mobile phones________.
A. because they are students B. when they are free
C. when they are at school D. because they are young
61. We know from the passage that some children get mobile phones from________.
A. the makers and sellers B. some other strangers
C. their parents and friends D. some mobile phone users
62. Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn’t _______ during school hours.
A. use their mobile phones B. leave their mobile phones
C. help the teachers with their work D. get in touch with their children
63. The underlined word “they” in the fifth paragraph refers to________.
A. many teachers B. some messages
C. mobile phones D. some students
.
第三部分:阅读理解(共20小题,每小题2分;共40分)
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从各题的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。
Several interesting American museums tell about health subjects. One is the Doctor Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry. It is at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. That is where the first college in the world to train dentists began. The museum tells about the history of the medical treatment of teeth. Visitors can see some frightening devices that once were used to remove infected teeth. They also can see sets of teeth made of animal bone. They were made for a famous American —— the first President, George Washington.
Most people do not consider a visit to the dentist their idea of a good time. However, the director of the museum says he wants to make the museum a funny place to visit. He says he also wants to teach visitors about the importance of taking care of their teeth.
Another museum collects devices that help people hear. The Kenneth W. Berger Hearing Aid Museum is at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The museum has more than three-thousand hearing aids from around the world. They include old and strange devices. Some hearing aids were made to look like other objects. That is because in the past many people did not want anyone to know they were wearing a hearing aid.
56. It is common for people to think it uneasy to pay a visit to ____.
A. the University of Maryland B. the Museum of Dentistry
C. the Hearing Aid Museum D. the dentist
57. The text mainly tells about _____.
A. museums in the US B. interesting American museums
C. American museums with health subjects
D. the history of the medical treatment of teeth
58. What do we learn about George Washington from the text?
A. He once visited the National Museum of Dentistry.
B. He considered the Museum of Dentistry a fun place to visit
C. His artificial (人造的) teeth were collected in the National Museum of Dentistry.
D. His teeth seemed to be made of animal bone.
59. The underlined word “devices” in the first and last paragraph probably means _____.
A. ways B. strategies C. tools D. desires
.
The results of the US/NATO bombing Yugoslavia are to be judged by history. I shall not be the one to do this. But being in the center of actual events that are creating that history, I cannot stay away from what is going on in my country.
First of all, the main aim of the bombing was to prevent a human suffering in Kosovo. Today, after many days of frequent bombing, that aim is more distant than before. The bombing only brought tens of thousands of people running away from their homes, not to mention the large number of the death and injury, buildings and factories. Suppose that the US/NATO really had a wish to prevent the human suffering, they should realize by now how wrong they were when they thought the bombing would solve the problem.
So, what’s left? Back off or ground troops? But who is going to join the ground troops? It would take at least 200,000 armed soldiers, not the 20,000 that the US/NATO have prepared in Macedonia. It should also be clear that the Serbs(塞族人) will not give up on Kosovo.
I live under continuous bombing for more than a week now, and it doesn’t frighten me anymore. I don’t turn to the shelter at the sound of warning. It’s the thought of ground troops that frightens me. Vietnam would seem like a picnic compared to a bloodshed(流血事件) in Kosovo if the ground troops appear. Is that what the US/NATO wants?
72. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The US/NATO really intends to stop the human suffering.
B. The result of the war will be judged by people in Kosovo.
C. The bombing made tens of thousands of people homeless.
D. The continuous bombing will make the Serbs give up on Kosovo.
73. The writer is _____.
A. an American reporter B. a Chinese reporter
C. a Macedonian D. a Yugoslavian
74. What worries the writer most?
A. The continuous bombing. B. The coming of the ground troops.
C. The sound of bomb warning. D. The idea of ground troops.
75. What is the writer’s attitude towards the bombing in Kosovo?
A. It is the US/NATO’s duty to defend Kosovo.
B. It is wrong to solve the problem by bombing Kosovo.
C. The aim of bombing Kosovo is to stop a human suffering.
D. The bombing can solve the problem of Kosovo.
.
Some people think that as more and more people have televisions in their homes, fewer and fewer people will buy books and newspapers. Why read an article in the newspaper, when the TV news can bring you the information in a few minutes and with pictures? Why read the life story of a famous man, when a short television program can tell you all that you want to know?
Television has not killed reading, however. Today, newspapers sell in very large numbers. And books of every kind are sold more than ever before. Books are still a cheap way to get information and enjoyment. Although some books with hard covers are expensive, many books are printed today as paperbacks (平装本), which are quite cheap. A paperback collection of short stories, for example, is always cheaper than an evening at the cinema or the theater, and you can keep a book for ever and read it many times.
Books are a wonderful provider of knowledge and pleasure and some types of books should be in every home. Every home should have a good dictionary. A good encyclopedia (百科全书), though expensive, is useful, too, because you can find information on any subject. Besides, you can have such books as history books, science textbooks, cookbooks, and collections of stories and poems. Then from time to time you can take a book of poems off your shelves and read the thoughts and feelings of your favorite poets.
68. It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
A. TV programs are a chief provider of knowledge.
B. cinemas are the best choice in getting information.
C. reading is a cheap way of learning and having fun.
D. newspapers are an expensive way to enjoy oneself.
69. What does the sentence “Television has not killed reading, however” underlined in the second paragraph suggest?
A. People only need reading, though. B. Reading is still necessary today.
C. Reading is more fun than television D. Watching television doesn’t help reading.
70. Which of the following is mainly discussed in the last paragraph?
A. Types of books B. Kinds of dictionaries.
C. Lists of history books D. Collections of stories and poems
71. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Fewer and fewer people will buy books.
B. A good dictionary should be kept in every home.
C. Books with hard covers sell better than paperbacks.
D. More people like TV programs about famous men.