The Swiss army knife is a popular device that is recognized all over the world. In Switzerland, there is a saying that every good Swiss citizen has one in his or her pocket. But the knife had poor beginnings.
In the late nineteenth century, the Swiss army issued（发给） its soldiers a gun that required a special screwdriver（螺丝刀） to take it apart and clean it. At the same time, canned food was becoming common in the army. Swiss generals decided to issue each soldier a standard knife to serve both as a screwdriver and a can opener.
It was a lifesaver for Swiss knife makers, who were struggling to compete with cheaper German imports. In 1884, Carl Elsener, head of the Swiss knife manufacturer（maker） Victorinox, seized that opportunity with both hands, and designed a soldier's knife that the army loved. It was a simple knife with one big blade(刀片), a can opener, and a screwdriver.
A few years after the soldier's knife was issued, the "Schweizer Offizier Messer," or Swiss Officer's Knife, came on the market. Interestingly, the Officer's Knife was never given to those serving in the army. The Swiss army purchasers considered the new model with a corkscrew（瓶塞钻） for opening wine not "essential for survival," so officers had to buy this new model by themselves. But its special multi-functional design later launched(发行) the knife as a global brand. After the Second World War, a great number of American soldiers were stationed in Europe. And as they could buy the Swiss army knife at shops on army bases, they bought huge quantities of them. However, it seems that "Schweizer Offizier Messer" was too difficult for them to say, so they just called it the Swiss army knife, and that is the name it is now known by all over the world.What is the main purpose of the passage?
| A．To explain the origin of the Swiss army knife. |
| B．To introduce the functions of the Swiss army knife. |
| C．To emphasize the importance of the Swiss army knife. |
| D．To tell a story about the designer of the Swiss army knife. |
What does "It" in the third paragraph refer to?
| A．The Swiss army needed a knife for every soldier. |
| B．Every good Swiss citizen had a knife in his pocket. |
| C．Swiss knives were competing with imported knives. |
| D．Canned food was becoming popular in the Swiss army. |
Why didn't the Swiss army purchase the Swiss Officer's Knife?
| A．The design of the knife was too simple. |
| B．The knife was sold out to American soldiers. |
| C．The army had no budget to make the purchase. |
| D．The new design was not considered necessary for officers to own. |
Who gave the name "the Swiss army knife" to the knife discussed in the passage?
| A．Carl Elsener. | B．Swiss generals. |
| C．American soldiers. | D．German businessmen. |
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。
It was graduation day at Etihad Training Academy，where the national airline of the United Arab Emirates holds a seven-week training course for new flight attendants．
Despite her obvious pride，Ms．Fathi，a 22-year-old from Egypt，was amazed to find herself here．“I never in my life thought I’d work abroad，” said Ms．Fathi，who was a university student in Cairo when she began noticing newspaper advertisements employing young Egyptians to work at airlines based in the Persian Gulf.
Twenty years ago，unmarried Arab women like Ms．Fathi，working outside their home countries，were rare．But just as young men from poor Arab nations poured into the oil-rich Persian Gulf states for jobs，more young women are doing so．
Flight attendants have become the public face of the new mobility for some young Arab women，just as they were the face of new freedoms for women in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s．They have become a subject of social anxiety and fascination in much the same way．
For many families，allowing a daughter to work may call her virtue into question．Yet this culture is changing，said Musa Shteiwi，a sociologist at Jordan University in Amman．“We’re noticing more and more single women going to the gulf these days，” he said． “It’s still not exactly common，but over the last four or five years it’s become quite an observable phenomenon.”
Many of the young Arab women working in the Persian Gulf take delight in their status as pioneers，role models for their friends and younger female relatives．Young women brought up in a culture that highly values community，have learned to see themselves as individuals．The experience of living independently and working hard for high salaries has forever changed their beliefs about themselves，though it can also lead to a painful sense of separation from their home countries and their families.
—From New York Times (December 22，2014)It can be inferred from the passage that young Arab women _________．
| A．go to work abroad after American women’s example |
| B．didn’t start to work abroad until the late 20thcentury |
| C．are commonly used to living and working separately |
| D．expect to take the same family responsibilities as men |
According to the passage，the Arab women flight attendants can be described as _________.
| A．proud，homesick or independent |
| B．honest，outstanding or optimistic |
| C．mature，enthusiastic or energetic |
| D．painful，desperate or conservative |
How do the public respond to young Arab women’s new mobility?
A． The public think highly of it.
B． The public care very little about it.
D． The public are strongly against it.The author intends to tell the readers that __________.
| A．Arab women can hardly find any work |
| B．flight attendants are badly needed in the gulf |
| C．flight attendants lead quite a different life |
| D．young Arab women’s values are changing |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
The stories we share with one another are important．They show wisdom and provide inspiration．They are important to our development．But sometimes people choose not to tell.
Consider the negative effects of not sharing a story in the news: People are wondering if public health officials are holding back too much information about the recent outbreak of Ebola.
There is a danger in holding back stories that ought to be told． Bobette Buster said it like this, “The fact is, history has shown us that stories not told can become like a dangerous genie (妖怪) left in a bottle．When they are finally uncorked, their power to destroy is set free.”
There are a number of reasons why we hide parts of our story: they often show our weaknesses or expose our disadvantages; they require courage and strength to share; and of course, there are some stories that should be kept secret—especially those that embarrass someone else.
Most of us have two selves: the one we display on the outside and the one we actually are on the inside．And the better we get at hiding the stories that show our true selves, the more damage we may be causing to ourselves and to others.
Honesty and openness is important: It proves we are trustworthy．It displays we are human．We are not perfect or better．It highlights the importance of hard work and personal development．Hard work may not allow us to overcome our disadvantages completely．But with hard work, we do not have to be restricted to our mistakes.
Does this mean we admit every weakness, every disadvantage, and every secret regret to everybody we meet? No, of course not．There is a time and a place and a certain level of relationship necessary for some stories to be told in an appropriate manner.What’s the function of the example in Paragraph 2?
| A．It reflects that people are concerning about the spread of Ebola. |
| B．It shows the bad effect caused by sharing a story. |
| C．It proves not sharing a story can cause trouble. |
| D．It concludes that one should share a story at a proper time. |
One of the reasons why people are unwilling to share experiences is that _______.
| A．story-sharing highlights the importance of hard work |
| B．people are used to exposing their weaknesses |
| C．people sometimes have no courage to share their stories |
| D．some stories make themselves feel uneasy |
Which is close in meaning to the underlined word “uncorked” in Paragraph 3?
| A．freed | B．broken | C．unfolded | D．untouched |
The writer aims to convince us to _______.
| A．be open to people close to you by sharing some secrets |
| B．share stories appropriately for the good of others and ourselves |
| C．remove the dangers that can be caused by untold stories |
| D．realize the importance of being honest when making friends |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC has thousands of objects on display, including the 1903 Wright Flyer, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St．Louis, the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, and a lunar rock you can touch．In addition to our exhibition galleries, you may want to visit the Albert Einstein Planetarium, Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater, and the Public Observatory on the east end． There are many things to do at the Museum in DC． We offer daily tours and educational activities for both children and adults．We also have scheduled lectures and events throughout the year.
Hours & Admission: Open every day except December 25.Admission is free.
Regular Hours: 10: 00 am to 5: 30 pm
Extended Hours: 10: 00 am to 7: 30 pm
December 26—30, 2014.
March 30—April 20, 2015.
Fridays and Saturdays, April 24—May 16, 2015.
May 17—September 7, 2015.
VISITING TIPS:
Limit the Number of Bags: All visitors are screened through metal detectors upon entry．The fewer items you bring inside the Museum, the faster your entry．Before you visit, please review the list of prohibited items, which include pocket knives and tripods (三脚架)．Visitors carrying prohibited items will not be allowed inside the Museum, so please leave them at home or in your car.
No Food and Drink: Only bottled water is permitted in the Museum．You may only consume food and other drinks in the Food Court, not in the Museum．Groups who bring food are encouraged to picnic on the National Mall.
Please Take Photos: You are welcome to take photos for personal use．However, tripods and monopods (单脚架) are not permitted without approval.
First Aid: The Museum has a First Aid office and a nurse on duty．Please contact the nearest security officer or the Welcome Center for assistance.
Visit the Welcome Center:
At our Welcome Center in the South Lobby, staff and volunteers can answer any questions you have during your visit.
Open 10: 00 am to 5: 30 pm
Phone: 202-633-2214
E-mail: NASM-VisitorServices@ si．eduAccording to the passage, the National Air and Space Museum is a museum __.
| A．where only adults can take part in some educational activities |
| B．everyone can pay a visit to without buying tickets |
| C．where one can touch anything he likes |
| D．everyone can visit without time limits all the year round |
If the Greens plan to visit the Museum at 6: 00 pm, it is accessible on _______.
| A．December 24, 2014 (Wednesday) | B．March 1, 2015 (Sunday) |
| C．July 6, 2015 (Monday) | D．September 15, 2015 (Tuesday) |
A visitor to the museum can _______.
| A．eat and drink in the Museum or in the Food Court |
| B．take photos with tripods for personal use |
| C．bring fewer bags to go through metal detectors |
| D．get some medical treatment if he suddenly falls ill |
The purpose of this passage is to _______.
| A．make an advertisement for the museum |
| B．attract people to explore the universe |
| C．encourage adults to bring their children there |
| D．show what is on display in the museum |
Every one of us gets so used to punctuation marks that not many of us give them a second thought．Actually, the ancient Greeks wrote this way．The lack of punctuation marks probably didn’t bother good readers, though．As they read, they just put pauses where they fit best．Also at this time, sentences switched directions．A sentence read from left to right．The next one read right to left, and then left to right again, etc． The ancient Romans sometimes punctuated like this: They put something that can separate words in a sentence．The word punctuation actually comes from this idea and the Latin word punctum, which means a dot.
When the 5thcentury arrived, there were just two punctuation marks: spaces and points．The spaces separated words while the points showed pauses in reading．Then in the 13thcentury, a printer named Aldus Manutius tried to standardize punctuation．He always used a period for a complete stop at the end of a sentence．He used a slash (/) to indicate a short pause．Over time, that slash was shortened and curled, and it became the modern comma (逗号).
Since that time, other marks have enlarged the punctuation family．The exclamation mark (感叹号) comes from the Latin word io．It means “exclamation of joy.” The question mark originally started out as the Latin word questio, meaning question．Eventually, scholars put it at the end of a sentence to show a question.
Punctuation even keeps changing nowadays．New marks are coming into existence, and old punctuation marks are used in new ways．Take for example the “interrobang”．This 1962 invention combines the question mark and exclamation mark for times when writers want both．For example, “She did what?” or “How much did you pay for that dress?” Obviously, the interrobang is not widely used or recognized yet, but its invention shows that English is not yet finished with its punctuation.From the first paragraph, we can know that _______.
| A．good readers had trouble reading without punctuation marks |
| B．a sentence always read from left to right in ancient Greece |
| C．ancient Greeks switched the direction of punctuation marks |
| D．the use of punctuation marks can date back to ancient times |
The passage is developed _______.
| A．by time | B．by space |
| C．by comparison | D．by importance |
We can learn from the passage that _______.
| A．ancient Romans didn’t use any punctuation marks |
| B．exclamation and question marks came from Latin |
| C．spaces and slashes were already used before the 5thcentury |
| D．Aldus Manutius first started to use commas |
What can be concluded from the last paragraph?
| A．The combination of two marks will not work. |
| B．It takes time for people to accept new punctuation marks. |
| C．Old punctuation marks need to be standardized. |
| D．Punctuation marks are still changing today. |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
To most people, noise pollution is a jet flying over their head． For one Spanish woman, it is a neighbor playing the piano．The woman has taken her neighbor to court．Now she wants to send her neighbor to prison for over seven years on the charges of psychological damage and noise pollution.
In a country known for its noisiness, the case has raised eyebrowsNeighbors often complain about street noise in Spain, but people seeking prison time for someone practicing the piano is unheard of．At the trial, Sonia Bosom says she has been suffering noise pollution up to now due to the practice sessions of Laia Martin, who lives below her．Martin, 27, didn’t admit that she played at home that often, saying she took regular classes in other towns and mostly practiced at home on the weekends.
On the first day of the trial, the newspaper reported that Bosom told the court she now hated pianos so much that she couldn’t even stand seeing them in a film.
Bosom says years of hearing constant playing has caused her “psychological injury”．Medical reports show she has suffered from a variety of problems, including insomnia (失眠), anxiety, and panic attacks.
She says tests by local authorities have found that the sound levels made by the piano are up to 10 decibels (分贝) higher than the limit．City authorities have asked the family several times to either stop the piano playing or soundproof (隔音) the room．The family told the court they carried out soundproofing work twice but the complaints continued.
The court hasn’t made a final decision．A spokeswoman says the trial will end before May.Bosom wants to send Martin to prison because _______.
| A．Martin’s playing the piano damaged her health |
| B．Bosom suffered from heart attack |
| C．Martin refused to take regular classes in other towns |
| D．Martin flew a jet over her head |
How did Laia Martin respond to the complaints?
| A．She stopped playing the piano. |
| B．She soundproofed the room. |
| C．She didn’t admit she played at home. |
| D．She took her neighbor to court. |
Which of the following may probably be the best title for the passage?
| A．A 7-year Sentence Caused by the Piano |
| B．Pianist Charged with Noise Pollution |
| C．Health Problems of a Spanish Woman |
| D．Actions Against Noise by Local Authority |