Beach volleyball （沙滩排球）is one of those sports that can be an exciting game to play and watch. It’s really easy, and all you need is sand, a net and a group of people, of any age or fitness level, who want to have fun.
Beach volleyball can be played with as few as two people in each team, making a total of four people. However, if you are less skilled and experienced in the game, it will be easier to play with a larger team. The more players you have, the less ground each person will be responsible for covering and the more time they will have to recover between shots. If you only have a few players, each of you will get a lot of running for the ball after each volley (截球). If you are looking for a relaxing, fun, low-key experience, choose larger teams.
Beach volleyball is similar to regular volleyball in its rules. However, even experienced volleyball players do not realize how much more difficult it is to run and jump on sand. Since it is harder to move quickly on sand than a hard surface, play will be much slower than regular volleyball on a court. When an athlete trains for beach volleyball, he will focus on building lower body strength（力量）as well as upper body strength. Strengthening his legs is extremely important. This improves the player’s ability to move quickly and accurately on sand despite the resistance. The ability to jump high and land without injury is necessary for beach volleyball players.
Whether you are in it for the competition, or just to have a great time with your friends, beach volleyball can be extremely exciting and fun. You may start out with friends and may soon fall in love with the sport.When playing beach volleyball, in which of the following situation will you feel most relaxed?
| A．Playing in a 2-person team. |
| B．Playing in a 4-person team. |
| C．Playing in a 6-person team. |
| D．Playing in an 11-person team. |
Why is playing beach volleyball much slower than playing regular volleyball?
| A．Because it is not easy to move on sand. |
| B．Because beach volleyball has a larger court. |
| C．Because the teams of beach volleyball are larger. |
| D．Because beach volleyball players are not experienced. |
We can infer from Paragraph 3 that ______.
| A．experienced volleyball players know clearly it is hard to run and jump on sand |
| B．lower body strength is more important than upper body strength |
| C．a person must have strong legs if he wants to run and jump quickly on sand |
| D．the rules of beach volleyball are the same as those of regular volleyball |
What does the author think of beach volleyball?
| A．It’s a difficult sport. |
| B．It’s not an exciting sport. |
| C．It’s a sport which only a few people love. |
| D．It’s a sport which needs few skills. |
The passage mainly tell us ______
| A．the game of beach volleyball |
| B．how to become a good beach volleyball player |
| C．why beach volleyball is one of the exciting sports |
| D．what should be paid attention to when playing beach volleyball |
In a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver? I began studying this question and answers interesting.
One morning I got into three different taxis and announced, “Well, it’s my first day back in New York I seven years. I’ve been in prison.” Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. “Yeah, I shot a man in Reno.” I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, but nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver, “Reno? That is in Nevada?”
Taxi driver were
uniform sympathetic when I said I‘d just been fired. “This is America,” a Haitian driver said. “One door is closed. Another is open.” He argued against my plan to burn down my boss house. A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope; he refused to take me to the middle of the George Washington Bridge-a $20 trip. “Why you go there? Go home and relax. Don’t worry. Take a new job.”
One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word “BANK” on it, I tired calling a t
axi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with a Haitian driver was typical of the superb assistance I received.
“Let’s go across the park.” I said. “I just robbed the bank there. I got $25,000?” he asked.
“Yeah, y
ou think it was wrong to take it?”
“No, man. I work 8 hours and I don’t make almost $70. If I can do that, I do it too.”
As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank.
“Hey, there is anther bank,” I said, “Could you wait here a minute while I go inside?”
“No, I can’t wait. Pay me now.” his unwillingness may have had something to do with money –taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low----but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can’t expect unconditional support.
1. From the Ghanaian driver’s response, we can infer that______.
A. he was afraid of the author B. he though the author was crazy
C. he looked down upon the author D. he was indifferent to the killing
2. Why did the Pakistani driver refuse to take the author to the middle of the George Washington Bridge?
A. Because he was able to help the author to find a new job.
B. Because he wanted to go home and relax.
C. Because he thought that the author would commit suicide.
D. Because it was far away from his home.
3. In the author’s opinion, the driver’s unwillingness “to wait outside the chemical Bank indicate ______.
A. The driver thought it wrong to support a taxi rider unconditionally
B. The driver was frightened and wanted to leave him as soon as possible
C. The driver did not want to help a suspect to escape from a bank robbery
D. The driver thought that the rate for waiting time was too low
4. The passage mainly discusses ________.
A. the way to please taxi riders
B. the way to deal with taxi riders
C. taxi driver’s attitude to riders in personal trouble
D. taxi driver’s attitude to troublesome taxi riders
Embracing a 'naked marriage'
Zhang Yi, a 28-year-old editor at the fashion magazine Sunshine, imagined her boyfriend's proposal like this: In a nice restaurant, he gets down on his knees, flourishes a diamond ring and asks: "Will you marry me?"
She would then scream, and with tears of joy in her eyes, throw herse
lf into his arms.
But the reality was tota
lly different. Her boyfriend simply said: "My mother has asked us to register for the marriage certificate as soon as possible."
Zhang agreed – and that was it.
"I understand my husband has little money. Besides, I love things to be simple. So I agreed," Zhang says.
The couple took a day off and registered their marriage. Instead of a banquet, their wedding ceremony was a 100-yuan ($15) dinner at a small restaurant where they first met.
Wang Zhiguo, chief marriage consultant at China's largest matchmaking website baihe.com, believes “naked marriages” benefit society. "It teaches young people the core spirit of marriage - love each other deeply, no matter rich or poor," Wang says, adding that some newlyweds save marriage costs for other expenses like their children's education, traveling or charity.
Wang thinks, however, that naked marriages may affect a relationship's stability.
"If we see a marriage as a contract, it includes three items: love, responsibility and a material base. Any missing link will lead to some problems in the relationship between husband and wife."
Wang suggests that if a couple's financial situation does not permit them to build a solid material base, an exchange of tokens(象征) is necessary for a long-lasting relationship.
1. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Zhang is inconsiderate towards her husband.
B. There is no long-lasting relationship without any token of love.
C. Doing without a ring, apartment and car, is becoming more acceptable to young people who want to get married sooner ra
ther than later.
D. Newlyweds should save money for trav
eling or charity.
2. What is Wang’s attitude towards naked marriages?
A. positive B. negative C. indifferent D. neutral
3. What is a naked marriage?
A. Getting married without clothes on.
B. A simple marriage with little material support.
C. A contract including love, responsibility and a material base.
D. A marriage without love, responsibility or a material base.
4. The author arranges the article with .
A. stories and explanation B. facts and descriptions
C. examples and conclusion D. evidence and argument
Our plan was to drive into Cambridge, catch the 7:34 train to Liverpool Street Station, then to separate and meet again for lunch．We should have arrived at Liverpool at 9:19, but due to a typical London fog, the train had to move along so slowly that it wasn’t until 10:30 that it got there．In spite of our late arrival, Joan, my wife’s sister, decided that she would go to see the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London while we went shopping．It was only after her sister had disappeared into the fog that my wife realized that we hadn’t decided where we should meet for lunch．Since I had our three tickets for the concert in my pocket, this was indeed a problem．There see
med to be nothing we could do except taking a taxi to the Tower of London, and try to find her there．Needless to say, we didn’t find her.
It was now one o’clock, and the concert began at 2:30．“Perhaps she will think of waiting outside the concert hall,” suggested my wife hopefully．By this time the fog was so thick that road traff
ic had to stop, and the only way to get there was by underground railway．Hand in hand we felt our way along the road to where we thought the nearest station should be．An hour later we were still trying to find it．Just as I was about to lose my temper completely when we met a blind man tapping his way confidently through the fog．With his help we found Tower Hill tube station just fifty yards down the road.
By now it was far too late even to try to get to the concert hall before the performance began at 2:30, so we decided to return to Cambridge．It took seven long hours instead of the usual two to make that journey．Nor were we able to get any food and drink on the train．Tired and hungry we finally reached home at ten, opening the door to the sound of the telephone bell．It was Joan; she had seen t
he Crown Jewels, ha
d managed to get another ticket for concert, and had had a wonderful dinner at a 
restaurant near the hotel where she decided to stay for the night．Now she was ringing to discover whether we had had an equally successful day.
1．Why was Joan separated from her sister and her brother-in-law?
A．they could not see each other because of the fog.
B．Joan had not seen Crown Jewels.
C．They planned to do different things until lunch time.
D．The writer didn’t want to go to the concert.
2．What did the writer plan to do in the afternoon?
A．Go to the concert. B．See the Crown Jewels.
C．Return to Cambridge. D．Go shopping.
3．The reason why they didn’t all meet for lunch was that _______.
A．They lost their way in the fog
B．they forgot to make necessary arrangement
C．they waited at different places and didn’t meet each other
D．the couple couldn’t find the underground station
4．It’s quite clear that for Joan the trip to London had been ________.
A．spilt by the fog B．quite tiring
C．rather disappointing D．very enjoyable
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。
People enjoy taking trips．But what are the reasons they leave home? One reason is for education．People travel because they want to broaden their horizons to learn about other people and other places．They are curious about other cultures．When people are tourists, they get a quick look at different ways of living．Even a short look at another kind of lifestyle is an important lesson．On a 
trip, a person can learn directly by visiting museums and historic spots．What does a tourist learn who sees the art museums, visits the historical places and other scenic spots in Paris and shops along the River Seine? He gets a vivid picture, a real life of one of the French people．He learns about their attitudes, how they feel about business; beauty and history．What about the tourist who goes to Hong Kong? Does he get the same information that he could get from a book? He might read that Hong Kong is crowded, that there is less than 200 square meters of space for each person．But seeing and feeling the lack of space will impress him much more．He might read that there are nearly 200 vehicles for every kilometer of roadway．But the sight of so many vehicles parked along the roadside would be a much more vivid lesson．The tourist to Hong Kong will never forget the contrasts: the straight vertical lines of tall modern buildings and the moving lines of boats that people live in.
1．Why do people leave home to travel according to passage?
A．For education. B．For adventure.
C．To enjoy themselves. D．To look for a different lifestyle.
2．What do we learn from the passage about Paris?
A．It has a dense population.
B．It has many towering buildings.
C．There are 200 vehicles for every kilometer of roadway.
D．There are many museums and palaces.
3．What impression will a tourist get of Hong Kong?
A．It has many big and beautiful parks.
B．It is a city of contrasts.
C．It possesses many historical sites.
D．It is an important industrial center.
4．What does the passage tell us about traveling?
A．It makes our life more interesting.
B．It enables us to get first-hand knowledge.
C．It helps develop our personalities.
D．It brings about changes in our lifestyle.
Do you know about a series of books that say they are “for dummies”? These American self-help books have been translated into more than thirty-nine languages including Chinese, Arabic, Russian, French, German, Greek and Spanish.
“Dummy” is a word for a stupid person. The dummies books are not really for stupid people. They are designed to show people how to do something they may never have tried before, like painting a house or learning a language. The books all say in a funny way that they are for dummies, such as World History for Dummies, Rabbits for Dummies, Chinese Cooking for Dummies, and Wedding Planning for Dummies. The first such book, DOS for Dummies, was published in 1991. It helped people learn how to use the DOS operating system for computers. Since then, more than one hundred fifty million dummies books have been sold.
The dummies. com website explains the idea behind the books. It says that they show that people can be taught to do anything. Firs
t they can make fun of ideas that are difficult to understand. Then they show how the information can be interesting and easy. The publishers say that the books do not provide more information than necessary. They give readers just enough information to do what they want. They say that the dummies book
s give the best and easiest way to do something. And the books use simple and easy language.
There are more than one thousand different dummies books. A report in New York Times says that the top-selling dummies books are those that explain technology and personal finance.
The publishers say that the best-selling dummies books are those providing information many people need---like information about diseases, education and cooking. People interested in opera, car repair and wine can also find dummies books to help them. And there are even more dummies books to come. The publishers say that they publish about two hundred new dummies books every year.
1. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Books for Dummies
B. The Easiest, the Best
C. Books for Stupid People
D. New Ideas Behind the Books
2. The dummies books have been popular because ______.
A. they provide enough information on the concerning subject
B. they provide just what is needed and are easy to understand
C. people can learn to do anything with just one copy
D. people can save lots of money through self-teaching
3. According to New York Times, we know that books on ____ 
sell best.
A. diseases and education
B. opera and car repairing
C. 
technology and personal finance
D. cooking and world history
4. What can we learn from the passage?
A. The first dummies book was on Chinese cooking.
B. The simple language was intended for child readers
C. Fifty million different dummies books have been published.
D. The dummies books will continue to be popular.