
Having just quit a highly moneymaking job with tech giant Microsoft in the United States,where he’d made millions working as a program manager,Patrick Awuah would wake up once in a while wondering if he’d done the right thing.
What Awuah wanted was to create a university in his native Ghana.a state-of-the-art education centre that would help educate the country’s next generation of leaders.Awuah moved with his family back to Ghana.There,he invested his own money and with the help of other donors he founded Ashesi University.
“Africa needs to have a renaissance(复兴),” says Awuah as he explained what drove him to take the risky decision.“The world needs to change in this way and I strongly believe that people like me need to be part of the solution;I need to be really actively involved in helping to drive this change in Africa‘‘
Located about an hour's drive from the capital Accra,Ashesi,which appropriately translates to “beginning,” is the first Ghanaian university to combine technical majors with a liberal arts approach.Its campus,set on 100 acres in a town called Berekuso,was designed to be inspiring for the more than 500 young Ghanaians studying there.
“So when I look at universities I see Africa fast—forward 30 years.When this 20-year-old is now in his or her 50s,that person is going to be a leader.”
Today Ashesi,which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year,offers degrees in business,information systems and computer science.There are plans to offer engineering and economics majors in the near future.The school’s graduation rate is between 70%and 90%,according to Awuah.
In our last freshman class,50% of the students paid full tuition(学费),25%were on full scholarships and 25%on partial scholarships ,”he said.“The reason why variety is so important is that the most important conversation on campus is a conversation about the good society—what is the good society we would like to see in Africa? That conversation is a lot more interesting if you have variety in the classroom,”adds Awuah.In Awuah’s opinion,Africa should be changed by
| A.investing more money for development |
| B.developing computer science |
| C.training future leaders for development |
| D.founding more universities |
The underlined sentence in the first paragraph infers that “_____”.
| A.Awuah regretted that he had once worked with Microsoft |
| B.Awuah would doubt if he should resign from Microsoft |
| C.Awuah wondered whether it was right to invest for a university |
| D.Awuah felt it wrong that he had refused a job with a large salary |
The university founded by Awuah_____.
| A.came into being 10 years ago | B.was named with “beginning” |
| C.is located in the capital of Ghan | D.will be run for 30 years |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A.Ashesi has offered five degrees since it was founded. |
| B.Awuah had earned millions of dollars before he left Microsoft. |
| C.50% of the new students in Ashesi receive education for free. |
| D.Awuah was the only investor in setting up Ashesi University. |

C
On May 7, 2001, Ronnie Biggs arrived in Britain for the first time in about thirty-five years. His return was the end of one of Britain's most famous crime stories, The Great Train Robbery. In 1963 Biggs was in a gang that stole £2.6 million from a train traveling between London and Glasgow. The gang was caught quickly, and Biggs was sentenced to thirty years in jail. Many people thought that the sentence was too harsh(严厉的). Biggs also thought it was too harsh, so he decided to escape.
Biggs was sent to Wandsworth Prison, a maximum security jail. It had one very high wall to keep the prisoners in, and some guards to watch them. One afternoon in July 1965, Biggs was in the prison yard. He had been in jail for just fifteen months. A tall van(货车) stopped outside the jail, and a ladder was placed against the wall. Then a rope ladder was thrown over the wall into the prison yard. Biggs climbed up the rope ladder, jumped down into the van and escaped!
From that time on, Biggs lived on the run. After hiding in France, Spain and Australia, he finally settled in Brazil in 1970. He was a celebrity(名人) criminal. He appeared in rock videos and movies, and he sold souvenirs to tourists who came to see him. But he missed his home in Britain and, at the age of seventy-one, decided to go home. He was met at the airport by family, friends—and police.
61. Ronnie Biggs was sentenced to thirty years in jail because ________.
62. What kind of prison was Ronnie Biggs in?
63. The main idea of Paragraph 2 is ________.
64. How many countries had Ronnie Biggs been to after he escaped from Britain?
65. When was Ronnie Biggs born?
B
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Every afternoon in South Korea, when school and work finish, over 100,000 people meet on the Internet to play a game called Lineage. They meet in a virtual(虚拟的) world 500 years in the past. They form teams and fight for justice and money. They are part of one of the Internet's many online gaming communities. The people who play these games are called gamers. Often they meet in 24-hour cafés to play Lineage, as well as other games such as Diablo, StarCraft and Counter Strike. Most gamers just play for fun, but for some people, it can become an obsession (着迷). |
When gaming becomes an obsession it can become dangerous. In Hong Kong, a seventeen-year-old boy died as a result of playing his favourite game in the café where he worked. After working for eight hours, he often stayed at the café and played Diablo II. On some nights he slept for only two hours. In May 2002, he was found unconscious at a computer after playing all night. When he died later in hospital, doctors said it was because he was exhausted.
In Korea, the dangers can come from other gamers. In the virtual world of Lineage, gamers can create new characters for themselves. High school students can become very powerful fighters and leaders. They play against doctors, businessmen and even members of dangerous gangs. But sometimes things that happen in the game affect real life. Gamers have been beaten up in real life by people they have killed online!
56. How many people play Lineage when school and work are over every day in South Korea?
57. What do people do in the virtual world of Lineage?
58. The online games mentioned in the passage are ________.
59. What does the underlined word “exhausted” mean?
60. What does the passage mainly talk about?
II. 阅读理解(Reading comprehension)(共20小题,计35分)
A)选择题:阅读下面短文,从A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出能回答所提问题或完成所给句子的最佳答案。(答案涂在答题纸上)
A
| Most people think that the capital of the movie world is Hollywood, in the United States. However, the real movie capital is Mumbai, in India. Mumbai used to be known as Bombay, and so the film industry there is called “Bollywood”. Bollywood makes twice as many movies each year as Hollywood—more than 800 films a year. The movies from Bollywood are very different from Hollywood movies. For one thing, Bollywood movies are much longer than most Hollywood movies. Most Bollywood movies are more than three hours long, and contain singing, dancing, action, adventure, mystery, and romance. Because Bollywood films contain so many different features, this style of film is sometimes called a “masala” film. (“Masala” is an Indian word for a mixture of spices. ) Another big difference between Bollywood and Hollywood movies is the way the movies are made. It takes much longer to make a movie in Hollywood than in Bollywood. In fact, filming may begin on a Bollywood movie before the script is even finished. The director and writers can make up the story while the film is being made. Sometimes they will even write the script by hand instead of taking time to type it. |
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Bollywood actors are very popular and some are in such high demand that they may work on several movies at the same time. They may even shoot scenes for several films on the same day using the same clothes and scenery (舞台布景). Since most Bollywood movies follow the same kind of story, shooting scenes for several films at the same time is not a big problem for actors or directors. This also helps keep the cost of Bollywood movies lower than the cost of Hollywood movies. The average Bollywood film, with a budget (预算) of only two million U.S. dollars, seems very cheap compared to the average budget of sixty million U.S. dollars for a Hollywood film—thirty times as much!
51. The main topic of the passage is ________.
A. famous stars in Bollywood
B. how Hollywood movies are made
C. the differences between two movie industries
D. the history of movie-making in India
52. What is NOT true about Mumbai?
A. It is the movie capital of India.
B. Its new name is Bombay.
C. More movies are made there than in Hollywood.
D. The film industry there is called “Bollywood”.
53. Why are Bollywood films often called “masala” films?
A. They have interesting stories.
B. They are much longer than Hollywood films.
C. They show Indian culture.
D. They mix different styles of movies.
54. Bollywood movies are cheap to make because ________.
A. they are shorter than Hollywood films
B. the scripts are written by hand
C. the movies do not use any special effects
D. most movies reuse things from other movies
55. Which of these statements would the writer probably agree with?
A. Most Bollywood movies are very similar.
B. It takes a lot of money to make a good movie.
C. Only Indian people can understand Bollywood movies.
D. Hollywood movies are too violent.
B)非选择题:阅读下列短文,然后回答问题或完成句子。(答案写在答题纸上)
A small dog should be belly-up after eating a handful M&M’s, at least according to conventional wisdom. But watching “Moose”, a friend’s five-pound Chihuahua, race around a living room after his sweet snack makes one wonder: Is chocolate truly poisonous to dogs?
Dogs and humans have similar tastes. But unlike humans, our companions experience dangerous effects from eating chocolate — it can poison them and in some cases is fatal. Chocolate’s danger to dogs depends on its quality.
Chocolate is processed from the bitter seeds of the cocoa tree, which contain a family of compounds known as methylxanthines(一种衍生物). This class of substances includes caffeine and the related chemical theobromine(可可碱). Chocolate contains a significant amount of theobromine and smaller amounts of caffeine. These chemicals can cause a dog’s heart to race up to twice its normal rate, and some dogs may run around as if “they drank a gallon of espresso,” according to Hackett.
Dogs are capable of handling some chocolate, but it depends on the animal’s weight and the type of chocolate it eats. Unsweetened baking chocolate contains more than six times as much theobromine as milk chocolate, although amounts vary between cocoa beans as well as different brands of chocolate. Less than four ounces of milk chocolate is potentially fatal for Moose and other small dogs.
Around every confection-centered holiday — Valentine’s Day, Easter and Christmas — at least three or four dogs are hospitalized overnight in the animal medical center at Colorado State. But in 16 years, Hackett has seen just one dog die from chocolate poisoning, and he suspects it may have had an underlying disease that made it more exposed to chocolate’s heart-racing effect.
1. The underlined expression “belly-up” probably means______.
A. dead B. poisonous C. running around D. having a headache
2. All of the following are true EXCEPT______.
A. chocolate’s danger to dogs depends on its quantity and quality
B. people buy lots of chocolate around Valentine’s Day
C. an ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate is safe for Moose
D. there must be some theobromine or caffeine in espresso
3. What can we learn about Hackett?
A. He is an animal doctor. B. He is a pet shop owner.
C. He is the owner of Moose D. He is a doctor in a small hospital.
4. It can be inferred from the passage that Hackett believes that__________.
A. chocolate is truly deadly to dogs
B. it’s OK to give chocolate to a big dog
C. pets are usually ignored around confection-centered holidays
D. a healthy dog probably could survive a chocolate poisoning
5. The passage is mainly about__________.
A. the poisoning of Moose
B. the compounds of different chocolates
C. a handful M&M’s chocolate is poisonous
D. the relation between methylxanthines and chocolate poisoning
Are some people born clever,and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be intelligent. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random from population, it is likely that their degree of intelligence will be completely different. If, on the other hand, we take two identical twins, they will very likely to be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all are likely to have similar degree of intelligence.
46. The writer is in favor of the view that man’s intelligence is given to him______.
A. at birth
B. through education
C. both at birth and through education
D. neither at birth nor through education
47. If a child is born with low intelligence, he can______.
A. become a genius
B. still become a genius if he should be given special education
C. reach his intelligence limits in rich surroundings
D. not reach his intelligence in his life
48. In the second paragraph, the underlined sentence means“if we ___________.”
A. pick any two persons
B. take out two different persons
C. choose two persons who are relative
D.choose two persons with different intelligence
49. The example of the twins going to a university and to a factory separately shows______.
A. the importance of their intelligence
B. the role of environment on intelligence
C. the importance of their positions
D. the part that birth plays
50. The best title of the passage can be______.
A. Surroundings B. Intelligence
C. Dependence on Environment D. Effect of Education