Human beings are the most intelligent of all animals because we are gifted with the ability to think and reason logically. Scientists and even common people with special intelligence have made a lot of inventions and contributions to modern lifestyle in the past. "Houses" have been the most popular area for discoveries and inventions in the past and even now.
Many household items have been the result of inventions of people who desired better functioning of the existent products. Every individual has intelligence and if it is used properly for the right purpose it leads to invention of a new tool or device. Many new household inventions are made almost every day and there are specific companies, which particularly keep a record of all these inventions.
A lot of inventions have been made recently in the household field. These products are patented（专利的）and have trade mark licenses（许可）. The patented sliding cinch is a very simple but effective method to prevent shoulder stress and injury for those who work before computers all day long. Vanity PC is a type of computer furniture that specifically hides all the computer wires and keeps a clean and good look. All the outdoor dust, mud and snow can be kept out of the house by installing（安装）the dirt drain（排水管）at the entrance of the door. Another important invention is the automatic toilet night-light, in which a small light starts when the lid of the toilet seat is opened and closes as soon as the lid（盖子）is closed.
These are some of the new household inventions invented mostly by common people. Thus, a variety of new household items are invented every day, which helps in a better functioning of household chores（家务）and in a more useful manner.The first paragraph is intended to _____________.
| A．stress the importance of inventions |
| B．introduce the topic of the article |
| C．show the advantages of modern lifestyle |
| D．tell the differences between human beings and animals |
According to the passage, people make house inventions to _____________.
| A．earn more money and gain awards |
| B．accumulate their wealth |
| C．improve the present living conditions |
| D．meet the new demands of new science |
It can be inferred that the sliding cinch is used to ___________.
| A．prevent your shoulder from being over-pressured |
| B．keep your shoulder safe and sound when you are in an accident or an operation |
| C．help you practice your shoulder more often and reduce shoulder pains |
| D．cover your shoulder and make it stronger to resist the outside strike |
Common people can also make good inventions because ___________.
| A．wisdom and inspiration sometimes come from everyday life |
| B．some inventions are easy to be made and can be mastered by them |
| C．common people have a strong desire to do something for science research |
| D．success is often connected with hardship and bitter experience of common people |
The passage mainly talks about _______________.
| A．the correct use of household facilities |
| B．different ideas about household inventions |
| C．the history of household inventions |
| D．household inventions and their influence |
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In spite of ill health and a physical incapacity（伤残）that threatened her career, Carson McCullers completed a novel in the summer of 1961 that made the best-seller list before its official publication; date by virtue of（由于）prepublication sales.
In an interview at her home, the noted novelist looked back on some of her problems of recent years and spoke without emotion of her latest book, Clock without Hands, her first in fifteen years, "For many years I had been thinking of the novel and finally wrote it this passed year. ""The tall, frail novelist, forty-three years old in 1961, suffered a series of strokes in her twenties that left her partially incapacitated, and she also admitted that a mental block kept her away from writing for many years after the strokes.
Mrs McCullers once wrote that "writing is a wandering, dreaming occupation. " But beyond the admission that she works" very hard" at her writing, she is shy about discussing her work. She is remote from literary fashions, and she has never learned to intellectualize her art, but she reads her critics and takes them seriously.
Clock Without Hands depicts （叙述） Mrs McCullers' native South and the slow passing of the old way of life through the lives of a dying pharmacist （药剂师）, a white judge and former congressman, his rebellious grandson, and two Negroes. Among her earlier noted works are Member of the Wedding, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and Ballad of Sad Cafe.
71. The novel made the best-seller list ______.
A. one month after publication B. immediately upon publication
C. before publication D. before completion
72. Mrs McCullers' comments about Clock without Hands were______.
A. enthusiastic B. defensive
C. shy and self-conscious D. unemotional
73. Clock without Hands was the product of ______.
A. many years of work B. one year of work C. many years of thought D. both B and C
74. Mrs McCullers did not write for many years because ______.
A. strokes left her partially incapacitated B. she had a mental block
C. she had no ideas D. both A and B
75. According to the selection, Mrs McCullers_____.
A. follows literary fashions B. intellectualizes her art
C. discusses her work avidly（热心的） D. takes her critics seriously
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We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money. But most mistakes are about people. "Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen?" "When I got that great job, did Jim really feel good about it, as a friend? Or did he envy my luck? “And Paul, why didn't pick up that he was friendly just because I had a car?" When we look back, doubts like these can make us feel bad. But when we look back, it's too late.
Why do we go wrong about our friends—or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meaning. And if we don't really listen we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, "You're a lucky dog, "and that's being friendly. But "lucky dog"? There's a bit of envy in those words. Maybe he doesn't see it himself. But bringing in the "dog" bit puts you down a little, what he may be saying is that he doesn't think you deserve your luck.
"Just think of all the things you have to be thankful for" is another noise that says one thing and means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem as part of your life as a whole. But is he? Wrapped up in this phrase is the thought that your problem isn't important. It's telling you to think of all the starving people in the world when you haven't got a date for Saturday night.
How can you tell the real meaning behind someone’s words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Does what he says agree with the tone of voice? His posture? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people say to you may save another mistake.
66. This passage is mainly about ______.
A. how to interpret what people say
B. what to do when you listen to others talking
C. why we go wrong with people and how to avoid these mistakes
D. why we go wrong with people sometimes
67. According to the author, the reason why we go wrong about our friends is that .
A. we fail to listen carefully when they talk
B. people tend to be annoyed when we check what they say
C. people usually state one thing but mean another
D. we tend to doubt what our friends say
68. The underlined word "it" in the second paragraph refers to______.
A. being friendly B. a bit of envy
C. lucky dog D. your luck
69. When we listen to a person talking, the most important thing for us to do is __.
A. notice the way the person is talking
B. take a good look at the person talking
C. mind his tone, his posture and the look in his eyes
D. examine the real meaning of what he says based on his manner, his tone and his posture
70. The author is most probably a ______.
A. teacher B. psychologist C. philosopher D. doctor
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The International Olympic Committee named a short list of five cities as possible hosts for the 2012 Olympics.
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The five—London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris—became official candidates, beginning a 14-month race that ended with the selection of a winning bid by the IOC's assembly in Singapore in July 2005.
Havana, Leipzig, Rio de Janeiro and Istanbul were the victims in 2004, as the field was cut down from nine applicants..
第三部分: 阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40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。In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet, despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition she won last year.
As a writer I know about winning contest, and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressures of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.
A revelation（启示）came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously（自发地）told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first trade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her fist music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting（借用）my daughter’s experience.
While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.
56. What do we learn from the first paragraph?
A. Many children find lots of fun in mindless activities.
B. Rebecca is much too occupied to enjoy her leisure time.
C. Rebecca collects online materials for her writing.
D. Rebecca is different from any other child of her age.
57. What was the author's writing experience?
A. She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.
B. Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations.
C. She was constantly under pressure of writing more.
D. Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.
58. Why did Rebecca want to enter this year's writing contest?
A. She possessed real talent for writing.
B. She wanted to win.
C. She wanted to share her stories with readers.
D. She had won a prize already.
59. The author took great pains to refine her daughter's stories because ______.
A. she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance
B. she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who wanted to win the contest
C. she wanted to help Rebecca win in the contest
D. she was afraid Rebecca's imagination might run wild while writing
60. What's the author's advice for parents?
A. A writing career, though attractive, is not for every child to pursue.
B. Children should be given freedom to grow through experience.
C. Parents should keep an eye on their kids' activities.
D. Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions.
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Chinese reports say the country’s vast pool of cheap labor is getting smaller, which could hurt an economy that heavily depends on labor-intensive manufacturing.
The academy’s research shows that China’s rural labor surplus, the source of migrant workers for the country’s factories, is about 50 million people—far less than the previously estimated 150 to 200 million.
Jonathan Unger, director of the Contemporary China Center at the Australian National University, says fewer rural residents are willing to leave their farms today. This is partly because there are more employment opportunities in rural areas, and because agricultural prices have gone up.
“And at the same time taxes in the countryside, fees in the countryside have gone down because of new sets of government policies,” he explained. “So people are not eagerly forced in the way they were five, six years ago to leave the farm in order to earn enough money for their families.”
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says another reason for the reduced labor pool is the country’s population policy, which allows city residents to have just one child, and farmers up to two if the first one is a girl.
A UN study predicts that China’s workforce will reach its top in 2015 and then gradually drop. Some of China’s major manufacturing areas, such as Guangdong Province, already face labor shortages.
Some economists think these shortages are, at least for now, a regional rather than a national problem. Sun Mingchun, an economist with investment bank Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong, points out that there are still millions of people in China who can not find work.
57. According to the academy’s research, China’ rural labor surplus today is about _______.
A. 150 million B. 50 million C. 200 million D. 175 million
58. The reason why many rural residents don’t leave their farms today is ________.
A. the farmers are older than before.
B. the farmers are lazier than before
C. the farmers have much more money
D. there are more employment opportunities and agricultural prices have gone up
59. Which of the following is TURE according to the passage?
A. A study of UN estimates China’s workforce will come to the top in 2015.
B. No a study shows millions of people can’t find work in China.
C. The country’s population policy isn’t a reason for the reduced labor.
D. Five years ago, few farmers left their homes to earn money for supporting their families.
60. According to some economists, the shortage of Chinese workforce __________.
A. is a national problem B. is a regional problem
C. is not a problem D. can be solved easily