The issue of privacy versus openness is a paradox, particularly when it comes to the American home. “Lots” or “yards” (gardens) can be large and many are not enclosed by the walls, fences or hedges so popular in other cultures. Similarly, “window treatments” frame the window. but the use of European-style net curtains to screen out nosy neighbors is rare. In the same style, first-time visitors to an American home may be proudly given the full tour; even walk-in closets and en suite bathrooms are not considered off-limits. They may also be encouraged to help themselves to a soda from the fridge. All this gives an impression of openness.
Yet Americans do value their personal space and privacy. A Brazilian expatriate (侨民) who dropped in on her usually friendly Connecticut neighbors unannounced got the clear impression she should have called first. Similarly while a typical suburban home features large, shared areas, such as an open-plan kitchen and family room or “den”, ample private space is also allowed in the floor plan. A visit to a family home in the evening would likely find the family members dispersed, each independently watching TV, on the phone, surfing the Internet, or otherwise recharging batteries in the privacy of their own bedroom.
American individualism, expansiveness, and abundance are expressed in lifestyle. Despite the fact that the average household size has declined over the past thirty years from3.1 people to 2.6 people per household, the average size of a new family home increased during the same period from 1,500 to 2,200 square feet.
A common observation is just how outsized everything is. The beds are king-sized, the TVs have giant screens, the burgers are “whoppers (庞然大物),” appliances are “industrial” size. The largest popcorn or soda at the movies can be “supersized.” Closets are “walk in,” and some cars are the size of a military vehicle.The passage suggests that Americans__________.
| A．are rich enough to afford large size houses and luxurious electricity appliances |
| B．are very shy when talking about keeping their privacy and their personal space |
| C．would like to express their lifestyles in public to show them off |
| D．enjoy openness as well as individualism although they seem to contradict each other |
Why can we say that American individualism, expansiveness, and abundance are expressed in their lifestyle?
| A．Because the average size of a new house has increased during the past thirty years. |
| B．Because Americans often use European-style net curtains to screen out nosy neighbors. |
| C．Because many houses are equipped with walk-in closets. |
| D．Because the house size, outsized household furniture and independent living habits have proved it. |
The underlined phrase in the passage means________.
| A．filling a battery with electrical power |
| B．recovering your strength and energy by resting for a while |
| C．changing your batteries again |
| D．obtaining new batteries because old ones are running out |
According to the passage, if you drop in on an American family which is usually friendly to you in the evening, you________.
| A．will be deeply impressed by their family get-together scene |
| B．will be invited to a party which is well-prepared |
| C．will find family members scattered, and enjoying themselves individually |
| D．will be warmly welcomed even if they don’t get informed of your visit earlier |
Domestic(驯养的) horses now pull ploughs, race in the Kentucky Derby, and carry police, But early horses weren’t tame(驯服的)enough to perform these kinds of tasks. Scientists think the first interactions ( 相互影响 interact交流。合作)humans had with horses were far different from those today.
Thousands of years ago, people killed the wild horses that lived around them for food. Over time ,people began to catch the animals and raise them. This was the first step in domestivation.
As people began to tame and ride horses, they chose to keep those animals that had more desirable（可取的） characteristics（特征）. For example, people may have chosen to keep horses that had a gentle personality so they could be ridden more easily. People who used horses to pull heavy loads would have chosen to keep stronger animals . Characteristics like strength are partly controlled by the animals’ genes（基因）。So as the domesticated horses reproduced, they passed the characteristics on to their young. Each new generation of horses would show more of these chosen characteristics.
Modern-day horse breeds（品种） come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This variety didn’t exist in the horse population before domestication.The Shetland horse is one of the smallest breeds-----typically reaching only one meter tall. With short, strong legs, the animals were bred（繁殖） to pull coal out of mine shafts(矿井)with low ceilings. Huge horses like the Clydesdale came on the scene around 1700. People bred these heavy, tall horses to pull large vehicles used for carrying heavy loads.
The domestication of horses has had great effects on societies. For example , horses were important tools in the advancement of modern agriculture. Using them to pull ploughs and carry heavy loads allowed people to farm efficiently. Before they were able to ride horses, humans had to cross land on foot . Riding horses allowed people to travel far greater distances in much less time. That encouraged populations living in different areas to interact with one another. The new form of rapid transportation helped cultures spread around the world.
1. Before domestication horses were ______________.
A. caught for sports B. hunted for food
C. made to pull ploughs D. used to carry people
2. The author uses the Shetland horse as an example to show_____________.
A. it is smaller than the Clydesdale horse
B. horses used to have gentle personalities
C. some horses have better shapes than others
D. horses were of less variety before domestication
3. Horses contributed to the spread of culture by__________.
A. carrying heavy loads
B. changing farming methods
C. serving as a means of transport
D. advancing agriculture in different areas
4. The passage is mainly about____________.
A. why humans domesticated horses
B. how humans and horses needed each other
C. why horses came in different shapes and sizes
D. how human societies and horses influenced each other
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每篇短文所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.
My earliest memories of my father are of a tall ,handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family ,but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult. I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.
On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoorcafe. We walked along that afternoon, did some shoping ,ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions. Gone was my father’s critical(挑剔的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father ,who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?
The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood . Although our times together became easier over the years , I never felt closer to him at that moment . After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in doing so, I’m delighted with my new friend . My dad, in his new home in Arizona ,is back to me from where he was..
1. Why did the author feel bitter about her father as a young adult?
A. He was silent most of the time B. He was too proud of himself
B. He did not love his children D. He expected too much of her
2. When the author went out with her father on weekends, she would feel___________.
A. nervous B. sorry C. tired D. safe
3. What does the author think of her father after her visit to Tucson?
A. More critical B. More talkative
C. Gentle and friendly D. Strict and hard-working
4. The underlined words “my new friend” in the last paragraph refer to _________.
A. the author’s son B. the author’s father
C. the friend of the author’s father D. the café owner
The energy crisis (危机) has made people aware of how the careless use of the earth’s energy has brought the whole world to the edge of disaster. The over – development of motor transport, with its increase of more cars, more traveling, has contributed to the near – destruction of our cities and the pollution not only of local air but also of the earth’s atmosphere.
Our present situation is unlike natural disasters of the past. Worldwide energy use has brought us to a state where long – range planning is vital. What we need is not a continuation of our present serious state, which endangers the future of our country, our children, and our earth, but a movement forward in order to work rapidly and effectively on planetary problems.
This country has been falling back under the continuing exposures of loss of morality and the revelation (揭露) that lawbreaking has reached into the highest place in the land. There is a strong demand for morality to turn for the better and for some devotion that is vast enough and yet personal enough to enlist the devotion of all. In the past it has been only in a way in defense of their own country and their own benefits that people have been able to devote themselves wholeheartedly.
This is the first time that we have been asked to defend ourselves and what we hold dear in cooperation with all the other people of this planet, who share with us the same endangered air and the same endangered oceans. There is a common need to reassess our present course, to change that course and to employ new methods through which the world can survive. This is a priceless opportunity.
To grasp it, we need a widespread understanding of nature if the crisis we and the world are facing is no passing inconvenience, no byproduct of the ambitions of the oil – producing countries, no environmentalists’ only fears, no byproduct of any present system of government. What we face is the result of the invention of the last four hundred years. What we need is transformed life style. This new life style can flow directly from science and technology, but its acceptance depends on a sincere devotion to finding a higher quality of life for the world’s children and future generation.
1．Which of the following has nearly destroyed our cities?
A．The loss of beliefs and ideas. B．More of law – breaking.
C．Natural disasters in many areas. D．The rapid growth of motors.
2．By comparing past problems with present ones, the author draws our attention to the______.
A．seriousness of this crisis B．ineffectiveness of laws
C．similarity of the past to the present D．hopelessness of the situation
3．Which of the following is used as an example to show the loss of morality?
A．Disregard for law. B．Lack of devotion.
C．Lack of understanding. D．Destruction of cities.
4．The author wrote the passage in order to______.
A．make a recommendation for a transformed life style
B．limit ambitions of the people of the whole world
C．demand devotion to nature and future generation
D．encourage awareness of the decline of morality
Every baby born a decade from now will have its genetic code (基因编码) mapped at birth, the head of the worlds’ leading genome sequencing (基因图谱) company has predicted.
A complete DNA read – out for every newborn will be technically possible and affordable in less than five years, promising a revolution in healthcare, says Jay Flatley, the chief executive of Illumina. Only social and legal problems are likely to delay the age of “genome sequences,” or genetic profiles. By 2019 it will have become routine to map infants’ genes when they are born, Dr Flatly told The Times.
This will open a new approach to medicine, by which conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease can be predicted and prevented and drugs used more safely and effectively.
A baby’s genome can be discovered at birth by a blood test. By examining a person’s genome, it is possible to identify raised risks of developing diseases such as cancers. Those at high risk can then he screened more regularly, or given drugs or dietary advice to lower their chances of becoming ill.
Personal genomes could also he used to ensure that patients get the medicine that is most likely to work for them and least likely to have side – effects.
The development, however, will raise legal concerns about privacy and access to individuals’ genetic records.
“Bad things can be done with the genome. It could predict something about someone – and you could possibly hand the information to their employer or their insurance company.” said Dr Flatley.
“People have to recognize that this horse is out of the barn, and that your genome probably can’t be protected, because everywhere you go you leave your genome behind. Complete genetic privacy, however, is unlikely to be possible”, he added.
As the benefits become clearer, however, he believes that most people will want their genomes read and interpreted. The risk is nothing compared with the gain.
1．In the first two paragraphs, the author mainly wants to tell us about______.
A．the significant progress in medicine
B．the promise of a leading company
C．the information of babies’ genes
D．the research of medical scientists
2．Which of the following is a problem caused by this approach?
A．The delaying in discovering DNA.
B．The risk of developing diseases at birth.
C．The side – effects of medicine on patients.
D．The letting out of personal genetic information.
3．What does the underlined sentence “… this horse is out of the barn” mean?
A．Genetic mapping technique has been widely used.
B．Genetic mapping technique is too horrible to control.
C．People are eager to improve genetic mapping technique.
D．people can’t stop genetic mapping technique advancing.
4．What’s Dr Flatley’s attitude towards the technology?
A．Tolerant. B．Conservative. C．Positive. D．Doubtful.
The Touchstone
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read little, bought it for very little money.
The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold.
The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. The days continued over a long period if time.
One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are cautious, it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.
1．The man bought the book because______.
A．he wanted to read it B．it was very interesting
C．there was a secret in the book D．he wanted to find the touchstone
2．We can learn from the passage that the touchstone is______.
A．pure B．cold C．magic D．big
3．Why did the man throw the pebbles into the sea?
A．Because he didn’t want to get the same pebbles.
B．Because he didn’t want others to pick them up.
C．Because he didn’t like their ordinary looks.
D．Because he didn’t like the cold feelings.
4．What does the author want to tell us in the passage?
A．We about orate opportunities in our life.
B．We should seek for opportunities in the world.
C．We may seize opportunities when we are watchful
D．We may discover opportunities when forming habits.