Robert Ballard was born in 1942. From an early age, he loved the sea. Ballard grew up in Southern California. He spent his free time at the beach near his home. He enjoyed fishing and swimming. He even learned to dive.
When Ballard wasn’t at the ocean, he loved reading about it. At age 10, he read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a book which describes the undersea adventures of Captain Nemo. Ballard decided he wanted to be like Captain Nemo when he grew up. His parents helped him follow his dream.
Ballard was a hardworking student. He spent many years learning all he could about the ocean. By the age of 28, he was an expert. In 1970, he took a job as a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. There he studied underwater mountains of the Atlantic Ocean. He came up with ways to predict volcanoes under the oceans.
Working with other scientists, Ballard also found previously unknown sea animals. These animals lived far below the ocean’s surface, where scientists had believed no animals could live.
By the 1980s, Ballard’s interests changed. He developed unmanned vehicles to explore the ocean bottom. His first find, the well-known ship Titanic, made Ballard famous. He was not happy with just one big find, however. He looked for — and found — other well-known ships. One was the German battleship Bismarck. Another was the U.S. Yorktown, an aircraft carrier that sank during World War II.
Today Robert Ballard is still an underwater explorer. He also heads an organization that encourages students to learn about science. Ballard hopes that some of the students will follow in his footsteps. After all, the world’s huge oceans are mostly unknown. Who knows what remains to be discovered under the sea?What was Ballard’s dream when he was young?
| A．To be a science teacher. |
| B．To be an animal expert. |
| C．To be a famous writer. |
| D．To be an underwater explorer. |
When Ballard worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, he _____.
| A．explored the undersea world by ship |
| B．thought of ideas to predict underwater volcanoes |
| C．found some unknown sea animals alone |
| D．set up an organization to teach students science |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Ballard’s parents felt disappointed at his undersea adventures. |
| B．Ballard didn’t like fishing and swimming in his childhood. |
| C．Ballard was greatly influenced by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. |
| D．Human beings have explored more than half of the sea. |
A recent study, published in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association, offers a picture of how dangerous it is to get a lift from a teenage driver. Indeed, a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers is three times as likely to have a serious accident as a teenager driving alone.
The author also found that the death rates for teenage drivers increased dramatically after 10 pm, and especially after midnight. With passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late-night accident.
Robert Foss, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, says the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with “really stupid behavior” than with just a lack of driving experience. “The basic problem,” he says, “is that adults who are responsible for giving out licenses fail to recognize how complex and skilled a task driving is”.
Both he and the author of the study believe that the way to mitigate (缓解) the problem is to have states set up so-called graduated licensing systems(驾照考试体系), in which getting a license is a process with several stages. A graduated license requires that a teenager first prove himself able to drive in the presence of an adult, followed by a period of driving with night of passenger restrictions(限制) before graduating to full driving rights.
Graduated licensing systems have reduced teenage driver crashes, according to recent studies.
1. Which of the following situations is most dangerous according to the passage?
A. Adults giving a lift to teenagers on the highway after 10 pm.
B. A teenager driving after midnight with passengers in the car.
C. Adults driving with three or more teenage passengers late at night.
D. A teenager getting a lift from a stranger on the highway at midnight.
2. According to Robert Foss, the high death rate of teenage drivers is mainly due to _______.
A. their lack of driving experience B. their frequent driving at night
C. their wrong way of driving D. their driving with passengers
3. According to Paragraph 3, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Teenagers should spend more time learning to drive.
B. Teenagers should not learn any driving.
C. Laws should be made to punish those teenagers who want to take driving licenses.
D. The licensing department is partly responsible for teenager's driving accidents.
4. A suggested measure to be taken to reduce teenagers' driving accidents is that_________.
A. the licensing system should be improved
B. they should be forbidden to take on passengers
C. they should not be allowed to drive after 10 pm
D. driving in the presence of an adult should be made a rule.
When I was small and my grandmother died, I couldn’t understand why I had no tears. But that night when my dad tried to cheer me up, my laugh turned into crying.
So it came as no surprise to learn that researchers believe crying and laughing come from the same part of the brain. Just as laughing has many health advantages, scientists are discovering that so, too, does crying.
Whatever it takes for us to reduce pressure is important to our emotional（情感的）health, and crying seems to study found that 85 percent of women and 73 percent of men report feeling better after crying.
Besides, tears attract help from other people. Researchers agree that when we cry, people around us become kinder and friendly and they are more ready to provide support and comfort. Tears also enable us to understand our emotions better; sometimes we don’t even know we’re very sad until we cry. We learn about our emotions through crying, and then we can deal with them.
Just as crying can be healthy, not crying---holding back tears of anger, pain or suffering---can be bad for physical（身体的）health, studies have shown that too much control of emotions can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems and some other illnesses. If you have a health problem, doctors will certainly not ask you to cry. But when you feel like crying, don’t fight it. It’s a natural---and healthy---emotional response（反应）.
1. It can be inferred from the text that .
A.there are two ways to keep healthy
B.crying does more good to health than laughing
C.laughing plays a more important role than crying
D.emotional health has a close relationship to physical health
2. According to the author, which of the following statements is true?
A.Crying is the best way to get help from others.
B.Fighting back tears may cause some health problems.
C.We will never know our deep feelings unless we cry.
D.We must cry if we want to reduce pressure.
3. What might be the most suitable title for the text?
A. Power of Tears B. How to Keep Healthy
C. Why We Cry D. A New Scientific Discovery
第三部分：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30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。
| Family activities School’s out and it’s time to get the family active. |
| Diving This is a great way to make swimming even more fun. Highboard diving needs muscle control. Lessons begin at the poolside, where you will learn some basic skills before moving on to the boards . Try a saltwater pool, on warmer days, and enjoy the fresh air, high boards and water games. Suitable for: 13+ Cost: The first lesson, which lasts one hour, is usually free if you decide to carry on. £10/£20 an hour. Contact: Find your local swimming pool at www. britishswimming.org; 015 096 18700 |
| Sailing Sailing is great for building confidence and provides a mental and physical challenge from the beginning. It can be done alone, and picking up the basics is easy. Suitable for: 8+ Cost: Free Contact: Royal Yachting Association; 084 534 50400; www.rya.org.uk |
| Surfing Balance, coordination (协调) and patience are required to learn the art of surfing, but the excitement of jumping to your feet on the board for the first time and riding a wave into the shore is an excellent experience. Suitable for: 8+ Cost: £30 an hour Contact: www.nationalsurfingcentre.com, 016 378 50737 |
| Gymnastics Gymnastics improves flexibility(灵活性), strength, and teaches self-discipline. Although Olympic-level gymnastics take years of practice to master (掌握), more simple moves are easy to learn in a day and can be practiced at home. Suitable for: 4+ Cost: £6 an hour Contact: British Gymnastics; 084 512 97129; www.british-gymnastics.org |
1. If you are a child of seven, you should choose .
A. Diving B. Sailing C. Surfing D. Gymnastics
2. If you have a 10-hour course in diving, you should pay at least .
A. £100 B. £200 C. £90 D. £30
3. If you want to increase your confidence, you can call .
A. 084 512 97129 B. 015 096 18700
C. 016 378 50737 D. 084 534 50400
4. According to the passage, we know that .
A. it is very difficult to learn sailing
B. it is impossible to practice gymnastics at home
C. strength is needed to do highboard diving
D. surfing offers you the excitement of riding a wave
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.