Astronomy is the oldest science known to man. Thousands of years ago man looked at the stars and wondered about the heavens. But man was limited by what he could see with his eyes alone.
The Greeks studied astronomy over 2,000 years ago. They could see the size, color, and brightness of a star. They could see its place in the sky. They watched the stars move as the seasons changed. But the Greeks had no tools to help themselves study the heavens.
Each new tool added to the field of astronomy helped man reach out into space. They did not know that the planet called Saturn(土星) had rings around it. Their sight was so limited that they could not see all the planets. In the early 1700s, people thought there were only six planets. Nepture(海王星), the last of eight planets to be discovered, was not seen until 1846.
Before the spectroscope(分光镜), man did not know what kind of gases was in the sun or other stars. Without the radio telescope, we didn’t know that radio noises came from far out in space.
Today, astronomy is a growing science. We had learned more in the last fifty years than in the whole history of astronomy.. Thousands of years ago, people observed the stars with the limitation of their _____.
| A．eyesight | B．land |
| C．wealth | D．knowledge |
. When the Greeks watched the stars, they could ____ .
| A．know what the stars were made of |
| B．not see their places in the sky |
| C．help themselves study the heavens |
| D．watch the stars move as the seasons changed |
. Until there were ____, man knew very little about the moon.
| A．telescopes | B．spectroscopes |
| C．radio telescopes | D．spaceships |
. Which of the following sentences is NOT true?
| A．Astronomy is the oldest science that humans have known. |
| B．Astronomy is developing fast with the help of technology. |
| C．In the early 1700s, people didn’t know the existence of Neptune. |
| D．Over 2,000 years ago, the Greeks knew the planet Saturn had rings around it. |
. This passage mainly talks about _____.
| A．tools used in astronomy |
| B．the development of astronomy in the last 50 years |
| C．Greeks’ achievements in astronomy |
| D．new tools and the development of astronomy |
The plane journey from Papa Westray to Westray in the Orkney Islands takes just 96 seconds, covering a distance of little over a mile. Six teenagers are to take the Loganair service to Westray Junior High after the local ferry (渡轮) service stopped. They are all aged 13-14 and will be flown to and from school until the end of the year when the ferry is scheduled to return.
Papa Westray had a population of just 70 and no secondary school. Westray, home to more than 600 residents, has around 70 pupils at the Junior High and nine full-time teachers. The school provides education to Standard Grade level but pupils choosing to study for their Highers must travel to the Orkney capital Kirkwall.
The students will fly to Westray each Tuesday and stay with host families for two nights before catching a return flight on Thursday. Loganair operating the eight-seater service has changed its schedule to ensure the children get to school on time. The company says the flight, with an average flight time of 96 seconds, is the shortest in the world.
Jonathan Hinkles, the commercial director, said, “While it is a popular tourist route for many visitors to Scotland, it’s also an important lifeline to those residents who live, work or do business in the Orkneys and it will make all the difference to ensuring those children who live on Papa Westray can continue their schooling throughout winter.” Willie McEwen, acting head teacher at Westray Junior High, said, “we are delighted that Loganair has come forward with this solution. Our children will enjoy the flying especially as, at this time of the year, it can be quite dangerous on the boat. ”
83. Which of the following is TURE according to the passage?
The six students can get to school in less than a minute sometimes.
Westray has a small population though big in size.
The plane can hold ten people at most each time.
The six students take the flight to school every day.
84. What can we learn about Papa Westray from the passage?
A. It is very poor. B. It is located in Scotland.
C. It doesn’t have any school. D. It will have no ferry in the future.
85. How does Willie McEwen seem to feel about the flying?
A. Surprised. B. Worried. C. Satisfied. D. Disappointed.
86. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. Children get lift to school on 96-second flight.
B. Six teenagers having trouble going to school.
C. The lucky students in Papa Westray.
D. The shortest flight in Papa Westray.
BERLIN---A German woman, fearful that a burglar (夜贼) was trying to break into her second -storey apartment, called police after she heard someone climbing up to her balcony shortly after midnight, police said Thursday.
Police discovered the “burglar” was a man carrying flowers and a bottle of wine who turned out to be the woman’s boyfriend. But then arrested him on an outstanding reason.
“He was trying to surprise her with the flowers and a bottle of wine but it all went wrong,” said Korbach police spokesman Volker Koenig. He said the man jumped down from the balcony and tried to escape but was quickly caught by police.
“He gave the police who were taking him to jail the bottle of wine as a gesture of thanks for the friendly treatment after the arrest. ” Koenig said．
LONDON---A smoker who died after battling emphysema (肺气肿) has had his dying wish granted with the placement of a “SMOKING KILLED ME” sign on his hearse (灵车) and his grave.
Albert Whittamore blamed his youthful smoking habit for the lung disease. He said before he died in February that he wanted the sign to serve as a warning to young people about the dangers of tobacco smoking.
The sign was designed to look like the health warning on a packet of cigarettes. The printed notice at his grave will be left in place for a week. The hearse carrying his body through the town of Dover 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of London and several of the printed signs shown in the windows.
79. The man climbing up to the girl’s balcony _______
A. was actually a wanted thief B. was put into prison in the end
C. thanked the police for setting him free D. was treated badly by the police
80. The best title for the first news item might be “_______.”
A. A burglar’s love B. A burglar boyfriend
C. Flowers and wine D. Price for being romantic
81. The public paid more attention to the smoker because _______.
A. he died after smoking for many years
B. he had the sign put on his hearse and his grave
C. he died of a lung disease without any treatment
D. he wanted the sign left on his grave for one day
82. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. The sign will be printed on the packet of cigarettes.
B. The signs were also shown in the windows of the hearse.
C. The smoker wanted to tell people how bad it was to smoke.
D. The smoker regretted forming the habit of smoking.
It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. Fortunately, such moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose you place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser. When such moments occur, don't worry about them. Just continue as if nothing happened.
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that doesn't really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King's famous speech---“I have a Dream”, you may notice that he stumbles (结巴) over his words twice during the speech. Most likely, however, you don't remember. Why? Because you were fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making.
People care a lot about making a mistake in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker's ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker's attractiveness by making him more human.
As you work on your speech, don't worry about being perfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.
75. The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will _______.
A. be smarter than you B. notice your mistakes
C. do better than you D. know what you are talking about
76. You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because _______.
A. you fix your attention on the content
B. you don’t fully understand the speech
C. you don’t know what the speaker plans to say
D. you find the way of speech-making more important
77. It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
A. giving a speech is like giving a performance
B. one or two mistakes in a speech may not be bad
C. the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made
D. the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be.
78. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. How to Be a Perfect Speaker B. How to Make a Perfect Speech
C. Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech D. Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech
I always feel sorry for world leaders busy dealing with fights between nations. When my three children were young, most days it was hard keeping my house from becoming a battlefield.
It got worse as they grew older. Three years ago, Zack, then 16, couldn’t make it through a day without making his sisters, Alex 11 and Taryn 9, angry.
My husband and I tried to be understanding the boy at such an age. We reasoned, punished, and left heartfelt notes on his bed about how he was hurting our family. His answer was “I say it because it’s true.”
I even tried telling the girls to fight back. Bad idea. Now I had three children at war. Whatever I said to them, they paid no attention. When there was no way out, I told everything to my sister, Mary, in an e-mail. She replied, “Don’t e-mail me. E-mail him.”
Our son was online every day, mailing and talking with his friends. Maybe he would actually hear me this way. I didn’t say anything different, but e-mail just took the tension away. There’d be no shouting or door banging. Zack wouldn’t feel under attack.
Zack didn’t reply for days. When he finally did, his entire message was four small words. I smiled when I read them: “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
The children still fought, of course, but Zack changed. Best of all, I now have a better way to talk with not one but three of them. I like it that they don’t tune me out as much as they used to. They like not having to listen to me shouting to them. Or as Alex says, “You’re so much nicer online.”
All I know is that the house is quiet. But we’re talking.
71. What was the trouble before the online talk in the family?
A. The writer failed to understand her daughters.
B. The children couldn’t get along peacefully.
C. The family found it difficult to keep the house clean.
D. The parents were not willing to talk with their children.
72. The writer once tried to deal with her son’s problem by _______.
A. talking with him about his pain
B. telling him about the truth of the family
C. telling her daughters to keep away from him
D. encouraging her daughters to fight against him
73. The writer e-mailed her sister _______.
A. to tell her about the family problem B. hoping she’d e-mail the boy
C. asking about child-raising D. to escape from the problem
74. The underlined phrase “tune me out” in the passage probably means _______.
A. quarrel with me B. get angry with me
C. pay no attention to me D. keep me out of their rooms
In insurance theory, moral hazard is the name given to the increased risk of immoral behavior, and thus a negative outcome (“hazard”), because the person who caused the problem doesn’t suffer the full (or any) consequences, or may actually benefit．Such a concern typically arises in the context of a contract (for example, an insurance policy)．
The most well known examples of moral hazard come from insurance．For example:
Fire insurance increases the motivation to commit arson (纵火), especially if someone is operating a failing business and decides that they’d rather have the cash from the insurance proceeds on the buildings than the buildings themselves．(The value of a business often is based on profitability; after arson, the owner can claim the business was profitable．) In a worst case, the building is over-insured or valuable contents are removed but claims are filed that they were destroyed in the fire．
In finance, low level of effort by the agent (employee) is called the “moral hazard problem” according to agency theory．The more autonomy (自主) the agent enjoys and the greater the information the agent possesses, and the greater the specialized knowledge required to perform the task, the greater the chances for the occurrence of moral hazard．
The problem of moral hazards for insurance can’t be eliminated, but can be minimized．For example:
Getting detailed information to evaluate the value of what is being insured, rather than simply taking the word of the person buying the insurance．
Requiring that there be a deductible(扣除额) (an initial up-front sum which the insured must pay out of his or her own pocket in case of a loss), and/or only paying out a percentage of the loss (say, 80 or 90 percent) via a coinsurance clause．
72．What might be the headache for the insurance company after a fire?
A．Not knowing who set the fire．
B．The owner might over-claim the loss．
C．Where to get the insurance fee paid．
D．How to punish those who cheated the company．
73．What might be the best way not to suffer over-loss in paying back insurance according to the above passage?
A．Investigate carefully after a fire．
B．Try to get as much detail information about the insurance．
C．Try to catch hold of the person who committed arson．
D．Request the buyer of insurance to pay more．
74．The two examples in the above passage are applied to ______．
A．help people to have reasonable insurance
B．present the difficulties the insurance companies have
C．bring up a problem and a solution in insurance business
D．invite people to buy more profitable insurance
75．The above passage is mainly about ______．
A．a new theory in insurance B．a moral challenge in business
C．a common business phenomenon D．moral hazard in insurance