In a society such as the United States or Canada, which has many national, religious and cultural differences, people highly value individualism--the differences among people. Teachers place a lot of importance on the qualities that make each student special. The educational systems in these countries show these values. Students do not memorize all possible basic knowledge. Instead, they work individually and find answers by themselves.There is often discussion in the classroom. At an early age, students learn to form their own ideas and opinions.
In most Asia societies, by contrast, the people have the same language, history and culture. Perhaps for this reason, the educational system in much of the orient reflects society’s belief in group goals and purposes rather than individualism. Children in China, Japan and Korea often work together and help one another on assignments.
There are advantages and disadvantages of both systems of education. For example, one advantage of the system in Japan is that students there learn much more about math, physics, biology and chemistry than American students by the end of high school. They also study more hours each day and more days each year than North Americans do. The system is difficult, but it prepares students for a society that values discipline and self-control. There is, however, a disadvantage. Memorization is an important learning method in Japanese schools, yet many students say that after an exam, they forget much of the information that they have memorized.
The advantage of the educational system in North America, on the other hand, is that students learn to think for themselves. The system prepares them for a society that values creative ideas. There is, however, a disadvantage. When students graduate from school, they haven’t memorized as many basic rules and facts as students in other countries have.The writer’s purpose of writing this passage is .
| A．to share his idea with others in a new way |
| B．to introduce two different systems of education through contrast |
| C．to criticize the society that values memorization |
| D．to prepare students for society |
Which is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The system of education in the West is more creative than that in the East |
| B．Japanese students learn much more about science than American students. |
| C．Canadian students are more individual than Korean students. |
| D．Students in North America are not so friendly as those in Asia. |
From the facts, we can infer that .
| A．Asian students are more likely to do better in teamwork than American students |
| B．Chinese students are more hard-working in their studies than Mexican students |
| C．the Western educational system is much better than the Eastern educational system. |
| D．the Eastern educational system is as difficult as the Western educational system. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Advantages and Disadvantages of Educational System. |
| B．The Value of Individualism. |
| C．Educational System-an Obvious Difference between the East and the West. |
| D．Memorization-an Important Learning Method. |
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.
第三部分：阅读（共两节，满分40分）
第一节：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项中,选择出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。A
He has lived through various dangers but time may be running out for the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
On September 11, Israel announced its decision to remove him, following several Palestinian suicide bomb attacks on Israel. “He should be punished for the killings,” an Israeli official said, “He has done nothing to stop the terrorist groups.”
But the decision has angered many other countries. China said that Arafat is the true leader, elected by the Palestinian people, and removing him would harm the peace in the Middle East. Other governments share this idea.
Arafat himself said: “They can kill me, but never get me out of my country.” He has spent most of his life in danger as the most important aim of Israel. But, just like a cat with nine lives, Arafat escaped every time.
For years he has made a practice of sleeping in a different bed each night, thinking a moving person is harder to hit. In 1985, Israel sent fighter planes to kill Arafat. The wild bombing destroyed his office in Tunis but Arafat himself was unhurt. In 1992, the aircraft in which he was flying over North Africa broke in two during a crash landing. The pilot was killed but he managed to remain alive.
What is so unbelievable is that he always remains calm in great danger.
Israeli tanks and planes attacked his office building in Ram Allah in December 2001. When they saw the attackers coming, Arafat’s bodyguards ignored his orders to stay still and carried him to safety underground. Seconds later, several bombs were dropped nearby. Though safe, his bodyguards were so frightened that they were wet in sweat.
But, Arafat, with Israeli tanks only 200 meters away, showed no fear at all. He stayed in the damaged office, talking by phone with foreign leaders in hope of preventing further attacks from Israel.
All these experiences have made him a beloved leader to his people and an enemy to some others.
But has he used up the last of his nine lives? Only time will tell.
41. Which of the following statements cannot be used to describe Arafat?
A．He went to visit a few foreign countries last year.
B．He is not afraid of death in face of his enemy.
C．His office used to be in Tunis.
D．He remained alive during an air crash in 1992.
42. According to the passage, which statement is true?
A．In 1992, Arafat’s plane crashed in South Africa.
B．Israeli officers thought Arafat himself sent the terrorist groups to Israel.
C．China is the only country against Israel’s decision of removing Arafat.
D．Being Palestinian leader, Arafat would rather die in his own country than be driven away from his people.
43. What did the author mean by saying “just like a cat has nine lives” when he talked about Arafat?
A．Arafat is as clever as a cat.
B．Arafat can live as long as a cat.
C．Arafat can stay alive after accidents or disasters as if he has nine lives.
D．Arafat should have died for at least 8 times.
44. The underlined word “ignore” can be replaced by __________.
A．obey the instructions B．take no notice of
C．pay much attention to D．give out orders
45. What’s the writer’s attitude towards Arafat’s future, judging from the last sentence of the passage?
A．Hopeful. B．Interesting. C．Satisfactory. D．Doubtful.