Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.
That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to forget the past “Where are you from?”
Mr. Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.
The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”
As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”
The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.
“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”
Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”What can the “conversations” be best described as?
| A．Deep and one-on-one. | B．Sensitive and mad. |
| C．Instant and inspiring. | D．Ordinary and encouraging. |
In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.
| A．pair freely with anyone they like |
| B．have a guided talk for a set of period of time |
| C．ask questions they themselves would not answer |
| D．wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features. |
From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.
| A．an attempt to promote thinking interaction |
| B．one of the maddest activities ever conducted |
| C．a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas |
| D．an effort to give people a chance of talking freely |
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目涂黒。
A
Every people have its own way of saying things, its own special expressions．Many everyday American expressions are based on colors．
Red is a hot color．Americans often use it to express heat．They may say they are red hot about something unfair．When they are red hot they are very angry about something．The small hot tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called red hots for their color and their fiery taste．Fast loud music is popular with many people．They may say the music is red hot, especially the kind called Dixieland jazz．
Pink is a lighter kind of red．People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health．The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the twentieth century．It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color that shows that they are in good health．
Blue is a cool color．The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite of red hot music．Blues is slow, sad and soulful．Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded a famous song - Mood Indigo -about the deep blue color, indigo．In the words of the song: "You ain’t been blue till you’ve had that Mood Indigo．" Someone who is blue is very sad．
The color green is natural for trees and grass．But it is an unnatural color for humans．A person who has a sick feeling stomach may say she feels a little green． A passenger on a boat is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green．
Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has, like a fast new car．That person may say he is green with envy．Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars or greenbacks．Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the color of the back side of the paper money．
The color black is used often in expressions．People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a black day．The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day．A blacklist is illegal now．But at one time, some businesses refused to employ people who were on a blacklist for belonging to unpopular organizations．
56．If you had your wallet stolen while doing some shopping, you may call it __________．
A．a white day B．a black day
C．a red day D．a green day
57．Suppose a Mr．Brown says he is very happy because his three children are all in the pink, this means all his children are ________________．
A．lucky and wealthy B．gentle and modest
C．fit and healthy D．creative and energetic
58．When she got home and found nothing had been done by her husband, Jane was really____________．
A．red hot B．green C．blue D．black
59．In the following paragraph, the writer might tell the reader something about __________．
A．unpopular organizations in the world
B．people's response towards a black day
C．the influence of the traditional blues
D．more words about color, such as brown
E
There’s talk today about how as a society we’ve become separated by colors, income, city vs suburb, red state vs blue. But we also divide ourselves with unseen dotted lines. I’m talking about the property lines that isolate us from the people we are physically closest to: our neighbors.
It was a disaster on my street, in a middle-class suburb of Rochester Town, several years ago that got me thinking about this. One night, a neighbor shot and killed his wife and then himself; their two middle-school children ran screaming into the night. Though the couple had lived on our street for seven years, my wife and I hardly knew them. We’d see them jogging together. Sometimes our children would share cars to school with theirs.
Some of the neighbors attended the funeral（葬礼）and called on relatives. Someone laid a single bunch of yellow flowers at the family’s front door, but nothing else was done to mark the loss. Within weeks, the children had moved with their grandparents to another part of the town. The only indication that anything had changed was the “For Sale” sign in front of their house.
A family had disappeared, yet the impact on our neighborhood was slight. How could that be? Did I live in a community or just in a house on a street surrounded by people whose lives were entirely separate? Few of my neighbors, I later learned, knew others on the street more than casually; many didn’t know even the names of those a few doors down.
Why is it that in an age of low long-distance expenses, discount airlines and the Internet, when we can create community anywhere, we often don’t know the people who live next door? Maybe my neighbors didn’t mind living this way, but I did. I wanted to get to know the people whose houses I passed each day – not just what they do for a living and how many children they have, but the depth of their experience and what kind of people they are.
What would it take, I wondered, to break through the barriers between us? I thought about childhood sleepovers（在外过夜）, and the familiar feeling and deep understanding I used to get from waking up inside a friend’s home. Would my neighbors let me sleep over and write about their lives from inside their own houses?
72. The underlined word “this” in the second paragraph probably refers to the talk about ____.
A. how a society is divided by dotted lines
B. the property lines separating us from our neighbors
C. the couple’s death
D. understanding each other between neighbors
73. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the author’s description?
A. The husband killed himself.
B. The couple had the habit of jogging together.
C. Their children moved to live with grandparents after the couple’s death.
D. The author never knew the couple until they died seven years later.
74. From the last paragraph, we can infer that the author _____ in his childhood.
A. had once slept in the open air outside
B. had slept in his friend’s home more than once
C. had slept at home but woke up to find himself inside his friend’s home
D. used to live in his friend’s home
75. Following the last paragraph, the author will perhaps _____.
A. leave his home and began his writing career
B. sleep in the open air and write about his experiences
C. sleep in his neighbors’ homes and write about their family lives
D. interview his neighbors and write about their houses
D
Cellphone users in the United States have contributed more than $11 million to Haitian earthquake relief through text messages in what is being called as an unexpected mobile response to a natural disaster.
The Mobile Giving Foundation called it a “mobile-giving record” for funds raised for a single cause. Donations are rising swiftly, as former President Bill Clinton and other politicians urge the American people to give.
Jim Manis, chief officer of the organization helping to manage cellphone donations, said it was receiving up to 10,000 text messages per second. The foundation said more than $11 million has been donated.
Cellphone users can donate $5 to Haiti-born hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund by texting the word “Yele” to 501501, or they can donate $10 to other nonprofit organizations, such as the American Red Cross, by texting the word “Haiti” to a specified number, like 90999.
The donation is charged to a user’s cellphone bill.
The American Red Cross said it has received more than $ 9 million in donations from more than 900,000 mobile phone users.
“It’s beyond our imagination that we’ve received this amount,” said spokeswoman Nadia Pontif.
Jean’s fund had raised $2 million via text messages, according to Give on the Go, Yele’s mobile application service provider.
The giving is also being fueled by the popularity of websites like Facebook and Twitter, where users are urging one another to make donations using cellphones.
Wireless carriers(无线运营商) Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc., Sprint and T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, have waived(免收) fees for customers wishing to send mobile donations. Carriers are also letting users know they are not taking a cut of the donations.
“There are no text messaging fees and 100% of the $10 donation goes to the American Red Cross, and every carrier is working through a solution to push those funds out faster.” Verizon said in a statement.
68. A mobile phone user can donate some money to Haiti by texting the word _____ .
A. “Yele” to 501501 to donate $10B. “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10
C. “Yele” or “Haiti” to 501501 to donate $ 5 D. “Haiti” to the American Red Cross to donate $ 5
69. The underlined word “fueled” in the ninth paragraph most probably means “_____ ”.
A. protected B. discouraged C. inspired D. reflected
70. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Facebook and Twitter are two relief organizations from the USA.
B. Many American politicians force Americans to give donations to Haiti.
C. The American Red Cross expected to receive much more donations.
D. Carriers have promised not to take a share from the donation.
71.Which may be the best title for the passage?
A. U.S. Texting Raises $11 Million for Haiti Earthquake
B. An Unexpected Terrible Earthquake Hit Haiti
C. The American Red Cross Offers Help to Haiti
D. Wireless Carriers Donate $11 Million to Haiti
C
A. You and Me, Baby
|
B. Ruff! Ruff! Where's Scruff?
|
C. The Giving Tree
|
D. Where the Wild Things Are
|
64. Little Tom who likes to read picture books with a hide-and-seek adventure will be likely to buy _____.
A. Ruff! Ruff! Where’s Scruff? B. You and Me, Baby
C. The Giving Tree D. Where the Wild Things Are
65. How much will you pay if you order three books named Where the Wild Things Are?
A. $16.26 B$ 75 C. $ 50.58 D. $34.59
66. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
A. The language of four kinds of books is English.
B. Four kinds of books are available at present.
C. The cover of four kinds of books is hardcover.
D. The reading level of four kinds of books are the same.
67. Where would this advertisement probably appear?
A. In a children’s story-book B. On the front page of a newspaper.
C. On the Internet. D. In a popular magazine..
B
Two new studies suggest that modern running shoes could increase the risk of injuries to runners.
One study involved sixty-eight healthy young women and men who ran at least twenty-four kilometers a week. The runners were observed on a treadmill machine. Sometimes they wore running shoes. Other times they ran barefoot.
Researchers from the JKM Technologies Company in Virginia, the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado did the study.
They found that running shoes create more stress that could damage knees, hips and ankle joints than running barefoot. They observed that the effect was even greater than the effect reported earlier for walking in high heels.
The study appeared in the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine.
The other study appeared in the journal Nature. It compared runners in the United States and Kenya. The researchers were from Harvard University in Massachusetts, Moi University in Kenya and the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
They divided the runners into three groups. One group had always run shoeless. Another group had always run with shoes. And the third group had changed to shoeless running.
Runners who wear shoes usually come down heel first. That puts great force on the back of the foot. But the study found that barefoot runners generally land on the front or middle of their foot. That way they ease into their landing and avoid striking their heel.
Harvard’s Daniel Lieberman led the study. He says the way most running shoes are designed may explain why those who wear them land on their heels. The heel of the shoe is bigger and heavier than other parts of the shoe, so it would seem more likely to come
down first. Also, the heel generally has thick material under it to soften landings.
60. How many organizations are involved in the two studies?
A. Three. B. Four. C. Five. D. Six.
61. What can we learn from the text?
A. Most running shoes are designed improperly.
B. The design of high heels is better than that of running shoes.
C. No one will run with running shoes in the future.
D. Both of the studies are done in America.
62. Why do running shoes increase the risk of injuries to runners?
A. They could create stress.
B. They’re too big and heavy.
C. They can affect the way the runners land.
D. Their heels can soften landings.
63. How did the researchers do the two studies?
A. By practising. B. By comparing. C. By questioning. D. By reasoning.