WelcometoGoldCoastWaxMuseumHIG-优题课

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Newspapers are not nearly as popular today as they were in the past．There are not very many people who seriously read a newspaper every day. Most people read only the sports pages，the advice or the gossip columns，the comics, and perhaps the classified advertisements．Most people don’t take the time to read the real news. Newspapers attempt to catch the reader’s interest with pictures and exciting headlines. These techniques are used on the front page because it is the first thing you see when you pick up the paper．The first page attracts attention and encourages the reader to look through the rest of the paper. This is why editors always look for a good first page story and headline to make them stop and look．If the headline is horrible enough or frightening enough or wild enough，perhaps they will go on to read the front page．However，they may just read the headlines，but that is all，then they turn to the sports page，or comics，or advertisements. It seems that people do not want the news from a newspaper anymore. They say they get the news on the television now．
More people watch television news because it is easier and more interesting than reading a newspaper．What about you? Do you read news from a newspaper? Do you think it is easier to get the news from television? Or do you care about news at all? Would you mind if there were no news?
50．According to the passage，newspaper are．
A．inure popular today B．less popular today
C．as popular as before D．getting more and more popular
51．We can know from the passage that the newspaper editors think the important part of the newspaper is．
A．the front page B． the sports page
C．the headlines D． the classified advertisements
52．According to the author，which of the following newspapers will most probably attract the reader’s attention?
A．The ones with interesting pictures and exciting headlines on the front page．
B．The ones with sports news on the front page．
C．The ones with classified ads on the front page．
D．The ones with gossip columns on the front p

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Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends. Is this a good thing? Sometimes, when Mr. Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together and talk about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with his parents when he was a teenager.
“I would never have said to my mom, ‘Hey, the new Weezer album is really great. How do you like it?’ ” says Ballmer. “There was just a complete gap in taste.”
Music was not the only gulf. From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier generations of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.
Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families. Conversations on subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago. Now they are comfortable and common. And parent-child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling of trust and friendship that can continue into adulthood.
No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, “To my mother, my best friend.”
But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents. “There’s still a lot of strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening,” says Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College. “In the middle of that change, there is a lot of confusion among parents.”
Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving roles and attitudes. They see the 1960s as a turning point. Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic process that encourages everyone to have a say.
“My parents were on the ‘before’ side of that change, but today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side,” explains Mr. Ballmer. “It’s not something easily accomplished by parents these days, because life is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be a parent now.”
46. Which of the following shows that the generation gap is disappearing?
A. Parents help their children develop interests in more activities.
B. Parents put more trust in their children’s abilities.
C. Parents and children talk more about sex and drugs.
D. Parents share more interests with their children.
47. The change in today’s parent-child relationship is _________.
A. more confusion among parents
B. new equality between parents and children
C.1ess respect for parents from children
D. more strictness and authority on the part of parents
48. By saying “today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side.” the author means that today’s parents _________.
A. follow the trend of the change B. can set a limit to the change
C. fail to take the change seriously D. have little difficulty adjusting to the change
49. The purpose of the passage is to _________.
A. describe the difficulties today’s parents have met with
B. discuss the development of the parent—child relationship
C. suggest the ways to handle the parent—child relationship
D. compare today’s parent—child relationship with that in the past

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Few laws are so effective that you can see results just days after they take effect. But in the nine days since the federal cigarette tax more than doubled---to $1.01 per pack---smokers have jammed telephone “quit lines” across the country seeking to kick the habit.
This is not a surprise to public health advocates. They’ve studied the effect of state tax increases for years, finding that smokers, especially teens, are price sensitive. Nor is it a shock to the industry, which fiercely fights every tax increase.
The only wonder is that so many states insist on closing their ears to the message. Tobacco taxes improve public health, they raise money and most particularly, they deter people from taking up the habit as teens, which is when nearly all smokers are addicted. Yet the rate of taxation varies widely.
In Manhattan, for instance, which has the highest tax in the nation, a pack of Marlboro Light Kings cost $10.06 at one drugstore Wednesday. In Charleston, S.C., where the 7-bent-a-pack tax is the lowest in the nation. The price was $4.78.
The influence is obvious.
In New York, high school smoking hit a new low in the latest surveys----13.8%,far below the national average. By comparison, 26% of high school students smoke in Kentucky, Other low-tax states have similarly depressing teen-smoking records.
Hal Rogers, Representative from Kentucky, like those who are against high tobacco taxes, argues that the burden of the tax falls on low-income Americans “who choose to smoke.”
That’s true, But there is more reason in keeping future generations of low-income workers from getting hooked in the first place. As for today’s adults, if the new tax drives them to quit, they will have more to spend on their families, cut their risk of cancer and heart disease and feel better.
41. The text is mainly about___________.
A. the price of cigarettes B. the rate of teen smoking
C. the effect of tobacco tax increase D. the differences in tobacco tax rate
42. What does the author think is a surprise?
A. Teen smokers are price sensitive. B. Some states still keep the tobacco tax low.
C. Tobacco taxes improve public health. D. Tobacco industry fiercely fights the tax rise.
43. The underlined word "deter" in Paragraph 3 most probably means .
A. discourage B. remove C. benefit D. free
44. Rogers’ attitude towards the low-income smokers might be that of .
A. tolerance B. unconcern C. doubt D. sympathy
45. What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. The new tax will be beneficial in the long run.
B. Low-income Americans are more likely to fall ill.
C. Future generations will be hooked on smoking.
D. Adults will depend more on their families.

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第二部分阅读理解(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涂黑。
Where is that noise coming from? Not sure? Try living with your eyes closed for a few years. Blind people are better at locating sounds than people who can see, a new study says, without the benefits of vision the ears seem to work much better.
Previous studies have shown that blind people are better than others at reaching out and touching the sources of sounds that are close by. Researchers from the University of Montreal wanted to see if blind people were also better at locating sounds that are far away. Twenty-three blind people participated in the study. All had been sightless for at least 20 years. Fourteen of them had lost their vision before age 11. The rest went blind after age 16. The experiment also included 10 people who could see but were wearing blind-folds.
In one task, volunteers had to pick the direction of a sound coming from about 3 metres away. When the sound was in front of them or slightly off center in front, both groups performed equally well.
When sounds came from the side or the back, however, the blind group performed much better than the blindfolded group. The participants who had been blind since childhood did slightly better than those who lost their sight later.
Recognizing the locations of distant sounds can be a matter of life-or-death for blind people,say the researchers. Crossing the street, for instance, is much harder when you can’t see the cars coming.
Still, the researchers were surprised by how well the blind participants did, especially those who went blind after age 16. In another experiment, the scientists also found that parts of the brain that normally deal with visual information became active in locating sound in the people who were blind by age 11. These brain parts didn’t show sound-location activity in the other group of blind people or in the sighted people. The scientists now want to learn more about the working of brains of “late-onset” blind people.
36. The recent study shows blind people are better at telling ________________.
A. The sources of loud sounds. B. the locations of distant sounds
C. the direction of sharp sounds D. the distance of a sound in front of them
37. Which would be a proper title for the passage?
A. A Research on Blind People B. Where is That Noise Coming from?
C. Hearing Better in the Dark D. What If Living Without Your Eyes?
38. If people were asked to tell the direction of a sound from the side, who would perform best?
A. Those who are blind. B. Those who have gone blind since children.
C. Those who went blind at age 16. D. Those who are blindfolded.
39. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Whether to be able to locate the sounds can be of vital importance for the blind.
B. All the volunteers in the experiment are sightless.
C. All the participants did equally well when picking sounds from whatever direction.
D. The later people become blind, the better they can perform in telling the direction of sounds.
40. What do we know about that parts of brain dealing with visual information are active in locating sounds?
A. This happens in almost all the testers.
B. This only occurs in the people who were blind after age 16.
C. It remains nothing new to the scientists any more.
D. It remains a mystery why it is so.

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There are many sorts of spies. There are those employed by governments to protect their countries’ interests; there are those we find in fiction and film, like the famous James Bond; and then there are the spies of the business world. But now there is a new form of espionage (间谍): sports spying. It may be a profitable job – if the spy can find a buyer for the information.
Last week, British newspapers reported that the England national team had been secretly recorded by an unknown group of individuals.
Media suggested that bugs had picked up a discussion of team tactics (战术), as well as playful talk about athletes’ affairs and possible rewards for players if they manage to win the World Cup.
England officials immediately filed a suit to stop media from publishing the contents of the recordings. Little is known about the identities of the spies, but authorities doubt they have any connection to rival sides preparing for this summer’s competition in South Africa. Rather, it appears that the people who bugged the hotel meeting room are just after money. If they find the right buyer, they could get a lot of it.
Gambling in major sports, like football, involves much more than picking the winner of a particular match. People can also place bets on starting line-ups, the timing of substitutions and goals scored. Knowing a team’s tactics for a particular game, or for a series of games, can help gamblers to increase their chances of winning big money.
England manager Fabio Capello tried to play down the importance of game tactics. He argued that a team’s psychological preparation is the most vital. “It’s more important to train the mind, to find confidence, create a group and a winning mentality,” he said.
Perhaps of more interest to the casual fan are the discussions of the players’ relationships with wives and girlfriends. UK newspapers may be prevented from publishing the details, but some Britons might say, the chances of the recordings never being heard are about as good as those of England winning this year’s competition: slim to none.
67. We may know from the first paragraph that ______________.
A. the spies mentioned are all pursuing money
B. all the spies are employed by the government
C. James Bond belongs to spies of the business world
D. if a sport spy can find a buyer, he can make money
68. What does the underlined word “bugs” probably mean?
A. A small insect. B. The devices used in the spying.
C. A kind of virus. D. A kind of laptop computers.
69. The group of individuals who spied the England national team____________.
A. are from the rival sides for sure
B. probably intended to make money
C. are involved in gambling
D. knew a winning mentality for a team is important
70. What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. The chance of the England team winning the African World Cup is very small.
B. Many people will never hear the recordings.
C. A fan will be more interested in the players’ relationships with wives and girlfriends.
D. No one can get any information from the UK newspapers for ever.