Societies all over the world name places in similar ways. Quite often there is no official naming ceremony but places tend to be called names as points of reference by people. Then an organized body steps in and gives the place a name. Often it happens that a place has two names: One is named by the people and the other by the government. As in many areas, old habits died hard, and the place continues to be called by its unofficial name long after the meaning is lost.
Many roads and places in Singapore are named in order that the pioneers will be remembered by future generations. Thus we have names such as Stamford Road and Raffles Place. This is in keeping with traditions in many countries ---- in both the West and the East.
Another way of naming places is naming them after other places. Perhaps they were named to promote friendships between the two places or it could be that the people who used to live there were originally from the places that the roads were named after. The mystery is clearer when we see some of the roads named in former British bases. If you step into Selector Airbase you will see Piccadilly Circus ---- obviously named by some homesick Royal Air Force personnel.
Some places were named after the activities that used to go on at those places. Bras Basah Road is an interesting example, “Base Basah” means “wet rice” in Malay. Now why would anyone want to name a road “Wet Rice Road”? The reason is simple. During the pioneering days, wet rice was laid out to dry along this road.
A few roads in Singapore are named by their shapes. There is “Circular Road” for one. Other roads may have parts of their names to describe their shapes, like “ Paya Lebar Crescent”. This road is called a crescent (月牙) because it begins on the main road, makes a crescent and comes back to join the main road again. We learn from Paragraph 1 that _____.
| A．the government is usually the first to name a place |
| B．a ceremony will be held when a place is named |
| C．people prefer the place names given by the government |
| D．many places tend to have more than one name |
Which of the following places is named after a person?
| A．Selector Airbase. | B．Raffles Place. |
| C．Piccadilly Circus. | D．Paya Lebar Crescent. |
What does the underlined phrase “die hard” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
| A．Change suddenly. | B．Change greatly. |
| C．Disappear very slowly. | D．Disappear quickly. |
Bras Basah Road is named _______.
| A．after a place | B．after an activity |
| C．after a person | D．by its shape |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．The way Singaporeans name their places is unique. |
| B．Some places in Singapore are named for military（军事） purposes. |
| C．Young Singaporeans have forgotten the pioneers. |
| D．Some place names in Singapore are the same as in Britain. |
Spider-Man cannot escape the harsh realities of the current economic times and will lose his job in a latest issue of the Amazing Spider-Man hitting stories ( first published in 1963) this week.
Peter Parker, official photographer of the mayor by day and New York City crime fighter by night, is going to face new challenges, including unemployment.
"He's going to struggle with unemployment and trying to save the city while he can barely afford to keep a roof over his head," said Steve Wacker, Marvel Comics senior editor.
Parker has always been a grounded character with real-world problems, Wacker said. His aunt is frequently sick, he has girlfriend troubles, and he sometimes struggles to find work. In addition, Spider-Man story lines are often set against a backdrop of current events.
In the near future, Parker will have to juggle paying bills and buying "web-fluid" and other materials to fix his superhero costume in addition to keeping his dual identities under wraps.
Parker's work history includes photographer, assistant high school coach, science teacher and scientific researcher, according to his biography on the Marvel Web site. His education includes a college degree in biophysics and some postgraduate work in biochemistry.
It was at a science exhibit he attended as a teenager that he was bitten by a radioactive spider and got the creature's strength, agility and weaving ability, says Marvel Comics.
And although Parker has skills few others can claim, he probably won't list these on his resume: superhuman strength, ability to cling to most surfaces, fast traveling ability aided by web-slinging and spider-sense danger avoidance system.
49. According to the story, Parker is likely to________.
A. look for another job.
B. have a girlfriend.
C. live in a large house.
D. buy a new superhero costume.
50. Parker didn’t work as________.
A. a photographer. B. an assistant coach C. a science teacher. D. a spider-man
51. The underlined part in the third paragraph means:
A. he has a roof over his head
B. he has a room to live in
C. there is a roof in his head
D. he has a picture of a roof in his head.
52. This passage mainly tell us _______.
A. Parker is a spider-man.
B. how Parker became a spider-man.
C. life is hard for everyone in current economic times.
D. the amazing spider-man comic is popular until now.
Need more evidence that London is a serious coffee town? Mr. Davies is actually England’s third consecutive world barista champion. The first was James Hoffmann, who started Square Mile Coffee Roasters squaremilecoffee.com) in 2008 .It’s a small operation, recently relocated to an arched vault under some train tracks in East London.
Today, Square Mile’s black bags of beans have become shorthand for quality. They supply beans to Moon Bar (3 Bateman Street; 44-20-7287-4796), just opened by the same team behind Flat White (17 Berwick Street; 44-20-7734-0370; flat-white.co.uk).
Though it’s recently been co-opted(增加的) by chain stores, the “flat white” is also a symbol of serious coffee: it’s basically a cappuccino-size style— flat and white — a style imported from Australia (some say New Zealand) when a wave of baristas emigrated from those countries. (Australians and New Zealanders are to espresso what Russians are to chess: they’re just better at it.)
Still, independent stores continue to appear in all corners of the city. Last year, the Espresso Room (31 Great Ormond Street; 44-20-7932-137-380; theespressoroom.com) opened in a truly tiny storefront. Yet the owner Ben Townsend manages to fit a Marzocco espresso machine, some benches and a case with pastries.
And farther north in Islington, a bar called Tina, We Salute You (47 King Henry’s Walk; 44-20-3119-0047; tinawesaluteyou.com) opened last February. (According to the owners, the name comes from a daily greeting they give to a cheesecake portrait of a curvy subject named Tina.)
45. How many bars are mentioned in the text?
A. 4 B. 5. C. 6 D. 7
46. We can read in the passage that Square Mile Coffee Roasters is well-known for its________.
A. milk B. chess C. beans D. fruit
47. According to the text, we know that________.
A.UK is home to the flat-white.
B. the flat-white is exported from Australia.
C. chess is popular in Russia.
D. you can find the flat-white only in the chain stores.
48. The writer wrote this passage in order to tell us________.
A. the meaning of “flat white”. B. London is famous for its history.
C. the number of coffee bars in London D. London is famous for its coffee bar.
第二部分：阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
第一节阅读下列短文，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。
Grandfather was from Italy and was the only one in his family who settled down in the United States. The rest of his family remained in Europe. When World War I broke out, he seemed to have become another man, downhearted. Such obvious change was not born out of his welfare, but out of fear: if his only son, my uncle, had to go to war, it would be cousin fighting against cousin.
One day in 1918, my Uncle Milton received his draft notice. My grandparents were very upset. But my mother, at the age of 10, felt on top of the world about her soldier brother going off to war. Realizing how he was regarded by his little sister and all of her friends, my uncle brought them all service pins, which meant that they had a loved one in the service. All the little girls were delighted.
Then the moment came when my uncle and the other soldiers, without any training but all in uniforms, boarded the train. The band played and the crowd cheered. Although no one noticed, I’m sure my grandmother had a tear in her eyes for the only son. The train slowly pulled out, but not about a thousand yards when it suddenly paused. Everyone stared in wonder as the train slowly returned to the station. There was a dead silence before the doors opened and the men started to step out. Someone shouted,“The war is over”. For a moment, nobody moved, but then the people heard someone bark orders at the soldiers. The men lined up in two lines, walked down the steps, and with the band playing, marched down the street, as returning heroes, to be welcomed home. My mother said it was a great day, but she was just a little disappointed that it didn’t last a tiny bit longer.
41. My grandfather most worried about.
A. the spread of the world war B. the safety of his living two cousins
C. a drop in his living standards D. his relatives killing each other
42. The underlined phrase “draft notice” means “ “
A. a letter of rejection B. a train ticket for Europe
C. an order for army service D. a note of warning
43. What did the “service pins”（in Para. 2）stand for in the eyes of the little girls?
A. Honor B. Courage. C. Victory. D. Strength.
44. Which of the following words can best describe the ending of the story?
A. Disappointing. B. Inspiring C. Uncertain. D. Unexpected.
On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.
If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio(小儿麻痹症) as a child, and so he has braces(支架) on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches(双拐).
He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.
But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars(小节), one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap(嘣断)——it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do.
We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage——to either find another violin or else find another string for this one. But he didn’t. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again.
The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.
When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said in a quiet tone, “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.”
51. By saying “getting on stage is no small achievement for him”, the author really means ______.
A．it’s very difficult for Itzhak Perlman to play the violin with three strings
B．it’s not easy for Itzhak Perlman to get on the stage because he is disabled
C．it’s not easy for Itzhak Perlman to face such a large audience
D．it’s really great achievements for Itzhak Perlman to play the violin with three strings
52. When one of the strings broke, people thought Itzhak Perlman would __________.
A．go on playing with the remaining three strings B．give up playing
C．change or repair his violin D．get off the stage with shame
53. Itzhak Perlman ___________ when one of the strings of the violin broke.
A．gave up playing
B．didn’t know what to do
C．went on playing the same piece of music
D．went on playing a different piece of music
54. What did the audience feel when Itzhak Perlman finished playing?
A．Surprised B．Disappointed C．Moved D．Satisfied
55. Itzhak Perlman can be best described as a man who is ____________.
A．clever B．strong willed C．humourous D．quite skilled
Like most people, I was brought up to look upon life as a getting. It was not until in my later thirties that I made this important discovery: giving-away makes life so much more exciting. One discovery I made about giving away is that it is almost impossible to give away anything in this world without getting something back, though the return often comes in an unexpected form. One Sunday morning the local post office delivered a letter to my home, though it was addressed to me at my office. I wrote the postmaster a note of appreciation. More than a year later I needed a post office box for4 a new business I was starting. I was told at the window that there were boxes left, and that my name would have to go on a long waiting list. As I was about to leave, the postmaster appeared in the doorway. He had overheard our conversation.“Wasn’t it you that wrote us a letter a year ago about delivering a special delivery to your home?”I said it was.“Well, you certainly are going to have a box in this post office if you have to make one for you. You don’t know what a letter like that means to us. We usually get nothing but complains.”
46. At first the author looked upon life as a process of getting. He formed this view of life because
.
A．other people were selfish B．he thought it exciting to get from others
C．of his early education D．of his character
47. The author wrote a note of appreciation to the post office because .
A．he knew what such a note would mean to the post office.
B．he had discovered giving-away made life all the more exciting
C．he believed he would get something back by doing so
D．the post man delivered an important letter in time
48. When the author needed a post-office box., .
A．many had applied for post-office box before him
B．he asked to put his name on a waiting list
C．he tried to see the postmaster
D．he wrote the postmaster a note of appreciation
49. The postmaster promised .
A．to make a new post-office box for the author
B．to let the author have a post-office box
C．to include the author’s name on the list
D．to deliver the author’s mail to his home
50. The postmaster interfered because .
A．he overheard this conversation
B．he had received a lot of complaints for lack of post-office box
C．he was thankful for the letter the author had written
D．he was proud of their good service.