Music |
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Little Red Katy B Katy B has clearly made it to the world stage since the release of her 2011 debut (首次) album On a Mission. Three years later, she’s fully established herself as a dance floor singer. On her new album Little Red, the 24-year-old British singer sounds more confident and assured, and finds meaningful connections in club-friendly songs with real heart. |
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Here’s to the Good Times Florida Georgia Line The debut album of the US country duo (两人搭档) was released in late 2012, but it didn’t gain popularity until almost a year later when the single (单曲) Cruise became a chart-topping hit. The song is certainly excellent for its catchy chorus and overall country/rock sound, but the rest of the album is also full of energy and emotion. |
Games |
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Toca Cars The new gaming app made by children’s app developer Toca Boca is just as fun for adults. It’s simple to pick up and play. Players choose a racer and then start steering (操舵) it around a virtual environment simply by touching the screen. The game also allows players to create the racing ground from scratch (白手起家) by placing buildings and objects. |
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Jet Car Stunts 2 The free gaming app by True Axis is the long-awaited sequel to the physics-based racing and stunt (绝技) car game that was a hit way back in 2009 in the App Store. This new installment expands on the original game with new tracks, cars, and game modes that are both fun and addictive. |
The newspaper’s special column is to inform the readers of ________.
A.some brief accounts of new computer games |
B.some up-to-date information about entertainment |
C.the introduction of some celebrities and their works |
D.the introduction of catchy chorus and overall rock sound |
We can infer from the Music that ________.
A.the last three years has witnessed Katy B going up to the world stage |
B.the single Cruise that became a chart-topping hit was released in early 2013 |
C.the US country duo gained their popularity on the release of their debut album |
D.in her debut album On a Mission Katy B sings club-friendly songs with real heart |
Which of the following is true of the Games?
A.Toca Cars is enjoyed by children and adults alike. |
B.Jet Car Stunts 2 was a hit in 2009 in the App Store. |
C.Both of the games provide confidence for car racers. |
D.Both games offer players chances to create new racing grounds. |
What secret force drives us into the arms of one person, while pushing us away from another who might appear equally desirable to any fair observer? Of the many factors influencing our idea of the perfect mate, one of the most telling is our “lovemap” ---- a group of messages formed in our brains that describes our likes and dislikes.It shows our preferences in hair and eye color, in voice, smell, body build.It also records the kind of personality that attracts us, whether it’s the warm and friendly type or the strong silent type.In short, we fall for and go after those people who most clearly fit our lovemap.And this lovemap is determined in childhood.By age eight, the pattern for our ideal mate has already begun to float around in our brains.
The mother has special influence on her sons: she not only gives them clues to what they will find attractive in a mate, but also influences how they feel about women in general.So if she is warm and nice, her sons are going to think that’s the way women are.They will likely grow up warm and responsive lovers and also be helpful around the house.
Just as mothers influence their son’s general feelings toward women, fathers influence their daughter’s general feelings about men.If a father lavishes praise on his daughter and shows that she is a worthwhile person, she’ll feel very good about herself in relation to men.But if the father is cold, critical or absent, the daughter will tend to feel she’s not very lovable or attractive.
While the mother determines in large part what qualities attract us in a mate, it’s the father ----- the first male in our lives ----- who influences how we relate to the opposite sex.Fathers have a great effect on their children’s personalities and chances or marriage happiness.What is the proper title for this passage?
A.Why we love who we love | B.What is a lovemap |
C.Different influence from parents | D.Ideal mate in the mind |
A perfect mate is a person who ____.
A.is fair to everyone | B.is the most desirable |
C.fits one’s lovemap | D.is perfect in everything |
If the husband hardly does any housework, ____.
A.his mother must be warm | B.his father must be critical |
C.his mother must be cold | D.his wife can’t be attractive |
The passage leads to a belief that ____.
A.parents’ personalities decides the children’s lovemap |
B.mothers have no influence on daughters’ marriage life |
C.fathers care more about children’s marriage happiness |
D.mothers influence children’s choices of perfect mates |
D
In the atmosphere,carbon dioxide actd rather like a one-way mirror or the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun's rays to enter but prevents the heat from excaping.
According to a weather expert's prediction,the atmosphere will be 3 warmer in the year 2050 than it is today, if man continues to burn luels at the present rate. If this warming up took place,the ice caps in the poles would begin to melt,thus raising sea level several meters and severely flooding coastal cities.Also,the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere(半球),psooicbly resulting in an alteration of earth's chief food growing zones.
In the past,concern about a man - made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet.But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic,which may be affected by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from on burning of fuels.
Satellite pictures showthat large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing.The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place.This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth.
However,most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere,where temperatures seem to be falling.Scientists conclude,therefore,that up to now natural influences on the weather have exceeded those caused by man.The question is:Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?
One possibility is the variable behavior of the sun.Astronomers at one research station have studied the hot spots and cold spots(that is,the relatively less hot spots) on the sun. As the sun rotates(旋转),every 27.5 days,it presents hotter or colder faces to the earth,and different aspects to different parts of the earth.This seems to have a considerable effect on the distribution of the earth's atmospheric pressure,and consequently on wind circulation.The sun is also variable over a long term:its heat output goes up and down in cycles,the latest trend being downward.
Scientists are now finding mutual relations between models of solar weather interactions and the actual climate over many thousands of years ,including the last Ice Age.The problem is that the models are predicting that the world should be entering a new Ice Age and it is not.
One way of solving this theoretical difficulty is to assume a delay of thousands of years while the solar effects overcome the inertia(不活动,惰性) of the earth's climate.If this is right,the warming effect of carbon dioxide might thus be serving as a useful counter balance to the sun's diminishing heat.
68.It can be concluded that a concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would ___.
A.mean a warming - up im the Arctic
B.raise the temperature of the earth's surface
C.prevent the sun's rays from reaching the earth's surface
D.account for great changes in the climate in the northern hemiphere
69.Although the fuel consumption is greater in the northern hemisphere,temperatures there seem to be falling.This is _______.
A.mainly because the levels of carbon dioxide are rising
B.partly due to variations in the output of solar energy
C.possibly because the ice caps in the poles are melting
D.exclusively due to the effect of the inertia of the earth's climate
70.On the basis of their models,scientists are of the opinion that ________.
A.the climate of the world should be becoming cooler
B.the new Ice Age will be delayed by the greenhouse effect
C.the man - made warming effect helps to increase the solar effects
D.it will take thousands of years for the inertia of the earth's climate to take effect
C
The curtain on the 2008 US presidential election finally rose last month as Requblican Senator(参议员) John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama were formally selected as candidates of the two major parties.This may be one of the hardest decisions voters have to make between two appealing candidates.The big question for voters,as they face both an economic downturn and international threats,is :who will they elect? A young first - term senator promising change and new ideas,or a longtime senator with strong military experience and a reputation as a maverick(特立独行的人)?
American voters have never seen a candidate quite like Obama.He has a white mother from the US and a black fater from Kenya who left the family when Obama was very young.He spent part of his youth in Indonesia.
However,McCain has a very different life story.
He grew up in a Navy family and was a daring pilot during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. When Obama was in kindergarten in Indonesia,McCain's plane was shot down over Ietenam and he became a prisoner of war.McCain could have been set free if he disowned America but he refused and so was held for five years.
"We need a president who is very,very old,"McCain joked at his age as many others do.If elected,he would be 72 when he takes office and the oldest man to step in.
So in the end,the election may depend on several factors that are hard to judge:Will Obama's race matter to a significant number of voters ? Will workingclass whites who tended to support his primary (党内初选) oponent,Hillary Clinton,vote for Obama? And perhaps most important of all,will uncertain voters be more attracted to Obama's vision or to McCain's experience?
Whatever happens,one thing is clear,however:Whoever walks into the White House on January 20,2009,will find huge challenges waiting for him in the Oval Office,both at home and abroad.
64.______makes the result of the election hard to predict.
A.Whether working class whites care about Obama's inexperience
B.The economic trouble the country now faces
C.Who uncertain voters will finally decide to vote for
D.McCain being too old to govern the country
65.The appeal in Obama as a presidential candidate lies in _________
A.his multi - cultural background
B.his belife in tradition
C.his inexperience in politics
D.his fantastic promises
66.The word "disown" in Paragraph 6 means closest to ______.
A.flee from
B.turn his back on
C.not keep it private
D.expose secrets about
67.The challenges that will face the new preident______.
A.are not mentioned in the text
B.include buklding a strong party and a friendly image
C.refer to the problems of immigrants and economy
D.refer to the problems of economy amd international relations
B
Capturing the Memories
Almost everyone has heard of MySpace.com.It allows friends to connect with each other.But did you ever wonder where the idea for this website came from? It is modeled after high school yearbooks.
A yearbook is a book used to record memories of a specific class.For example,I graduated from Manchester West High School in 2001.My yearbook is dedicated(献给) to my senior class.In this book you will find a picture of all my classmates.
Alongside your picture,you can put a quote that is important to you.Next to the quote and your photo is a list of your school and sports activities.Later in the book are pages dedicated to teams and organizations.For example,the girls football team has a page of pictures and memories.
After you receice the yearbook,you go around and have your friends sign it and write letters to you.This will remind you about the many adventures you had with your friends. Although, 40 years ago,a girl wrote a loving message in my father's yearbook but when he showed me it,he didn't remember who the girl was!
But the yearbook is the final memory for seniors,so it will often be the one reminder of your high school years that you carry with you throughout life.In my mother's yearbook she still has,pressed between the pages,the flower her date gave her at her senior prom. That was in 1967.
High school is a magical time.It is when we experience many of the important moments of your lives.Our first kiss.Driving for the first time.Our first big success.Out first major hearbreak.Unlike MySpace,which can constantly be updated,a yearbook captures these special moments in our lives and holds on to them forever so that we may never forget.Because,honestly , we will never want to.
60.What does the passage mainly focus on?
A.The characteristics of MySpace.com.
B.The members who set up MySpace.com.
C.The differences between MySpace.com and a yearbook.
D.The introduction to yearbooks.
61.All of the following will be included in a school yearbook except ______.
A.some interesting stories of famous actors
B.a picture of classmates
C.an activity of playing table tennis
D.some significant successes
62.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.People keep a yearbook just for fun.
B.The yearbook follows the example of MySpace.com.
C.A yearbook can help you remember the great moments you shared with classmates.
D.The yearbook is more popular than MySpace.com in American high school.
63.The word "captures" in the last paragraph most probably means ______.
A.arrests B.gains C.preserves D.films
第三部分阅读理解(共两节,满分40分)
第一节(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。
A
Soon it may be harder to stop and smell the roses.
Growing levels of air pollution from power plants and automobiles have reduced flower fragrances (芬芳) by up to 90 percent in the US.That is compared with pre-industrial levels,a new study has found.
The trend is unpleasant for human noses,but may be life - threatening for bees and butterflies.
"Many insects find flowers by folowing the scent(香味) produced by those flowers," said the studies lead author Jose D.Fuentes,an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia.
"The increasing pollution makes it difficult for them to locate the flowers and feed on their nectar(花蜜)."
Scientists have alrady known that flowers produce scent molecules(分子) that bond with pollutants.The process breaks down the plants' sweet smell.
With more pollution in the air,the scent molecules don't remain effective as long and travel shorter distances on the wind.
The new study suggests that in the mid - 19th century,when pollution levels were first recorded,scent molecules would have been able to travel some 1,000 to 1,200 meters.
Today,in the polluted air found downwind of large cities,scentst may only make it some 200 to 300 meters.
The report was recently published in the journal,Atmospheric Environment.
Bee farmers have reported that bee populations are dropping dramatically in many parts of the world in recent years. Could these missing scents be a factor?
Scientists trying to hind the cause of bee population declines have blamed bacteria,pesticides,and even cellphone radiation.
Jay Evans,an entomologist(昆虫学者) at the US Department of Agriculture's bee research laboratory,was interested in the new study.But he says he hasn't seen bee behavior that suggests trouble with scents.
"Over the last couple of summers I don't think the bees in this area were bringing in much less food,"he said.
"It might be that they had to work harder,but it seems like as long as there were bees to collect food they were finding flowers somewhere."
But Fuentes fears that the fading smell of flowers may stress insects that are already faced with other threats.
"The effects shown in these studies will simply exacerbate whatever the bees are going through right now,"he said.
"It's something that is really worthwhile paying attention to."
56.What's the passage mainly about?
A.How greatly air plooution affects our lives.
B.Effects of air pollution on bee populations.
C.Measures to fight air pollution.
D.The rapid decline of bee populations in the world.
57.According to the passage,Jay Evans probably agrees that ______ .
A.bees are the insect that suffers most from air pollution
B.bees are at risk of dying out owing to air pollution
C.the fading smell of flowers doesn't affect bees so greatly as was thought
D.as is often the case,bees fail to locate the flowers because of the missing scents
58.The word"exacerbate" in the last paragraph but one probably means ______.
A.worsen B.improve C.get rid of D.decrease
59.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A.The more air pollution there is in a region,the greater the destruction of the flower scents.
B.Bacteria,pesticides,and cellphone radiation are blamed for causing the decline of bees.
C.The scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment oculd travel longer and farther.
D.Air pollution does more harm to insects such as bees and butterflies than human beings.