For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes(音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music set them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The different is complex, and it doesn’t include defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed(诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say, ‘No, thanks. I’m amusic.’” says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.” Which of the following is true of amusics?
| A．Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them. |
| B．They love places where they are likely to hear music. |
| C．They can easily tell two different songs apart. |
| D．Their situation is well understood by musicians. |
According to paragraph 3, a person with “defective hearing” is probably one who _________.
| A．dislikes listening to speeches |
| B．can hear anything nonmusical |
| C．has a hearing problem |
| D．lacks a complex hearing system |
In the last paragraph, Margaret expressed her wish that __________.
| A．her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier |
| B．she were seventeen years old rather than seventy |
| C．her problem could be easily explained |
| D．she were able to meet other amusics |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Amusics’ strange behaviors. |
| B．Some people’s inability to enjoy music. |
| C．Musical talent and brain structure. |
| D．Identification and treatment of amusics. |
Some people love eating food right after it is cooked. I prefer food just take out from the freezer. Fruit, candy, nuts, chocolate, cake with butter cream frosting(糖霜),even peas, all of them taste delicious when frozen. In fact, I often eat them that way.
I was a kid when I picked up the habit. In my family, lots of things were thrown into the freezer —finally, two freezers—to prevent them from going bad. Among them were some of the candies my sisters and I had collected on Halloween.
If we eat when they are still warm, we’ll find ourselves taking the cookies more than we should. It’s better if we can put them into the freezer and wait. That way we’ll eat less and enjoy them more because they are hard and chewing becomes a slower, more patient effort. That’s the point about frozen butter-cream frosting. Put it in your mouth at room temperature, and it’s gone very quickly. But when it’s frozen, you can enjoy the taste much longer as it melts(融化) in your mouth.
The freezer treats a lot of fruits kindly. Take frozen grapes for example, I keep a bowl of grapes in my freezer. They become a little icy, and somehow their sweetness is improved. They are perfect and healthy dessert(点心).This is the same with oranges, apples, bananas…You might think bananas would get super-hard when frozen. Wrong! They become cool, creamy and sweet. If you have wisely covered some or all of the bananas with melted chocolate before putting them into the freezer, they will have a double taste.
As long as you aren’t eating anything that truly has to be hot, go ahead and experiment. What is the passage intended to tell us ____________.
| A．Fruit should be frozen before one eats it. | B．Frozen food is better than hot food. |
| C．The author prefers frozen food. | D．Hot food is not healthy. |
The author began to enjoy frozen food when he _________.
| A．was young | B．learned cooking | C．got married | D．got a fever |
Why does the author NOT advise us to take hot cookies?
| A．Because they need more time to prepare. |
| B．Because the taste is not good when they are hot. |
| C．Because they are too delicious to avoid our overeating. |
| D．Because we may eat them quickly and enjoy them less. |
What does the underlined word “it” in the third paragraph refer to?
| A．The taste | B．Butter cream | C．The cookie | D．Frozen butter cream frosting |
Which of the following is the advice the author gives on eating fruit?
| A．Make bananas hard. | B．Keep grapes in a bowl. |
| C．Mix kinds of fruits together. | D．Add melted chocolate to bananas. |
When my first wartime Christmas came, I was in basic training in New Jersey and not sure if I would make it 
home for the holiday. Only on the afternoon of December 23 was the list of men who would have the three-day holiday posted. I was one of the lucky soldiers. It was Christmas Eve when I arrived home, and a little snow had fallen. Mothe
r opened the front door. I could see beyond her, into the corner of the living room where the tree had always stood. There were lights, colors, and ornaments (饰品) shining against the green of a pine.
"Where did it come from?" I asked.
"I asked the Gates boy to cut it," my mother said. "I wouldn't have had one just for myself, but when in great need... such a rush! He just brought it in this afternoon."
T
he pine reached to the proper height, almost to the ceiling, and the Tree Top Crystal（水晶）Star was in its place. A few green branches reached out a little awkwardly（难看）at the side, I thought, and there was a bit of bare trunk showing in the middle. But the tree filled the room with warm light and the whole house with the pleasant smell of Christmas.
"It's not like the one you used to find," my mother went on. "Yours were always in good shape. I suppose the Gates boy didn't know where to look for a better one. But I couldn't be fussy(挑剔的)."
"Don't worry," I told her. "It's perfect."
It wasn't, of course, but at the moment I realized something for the first time: All Christmas trees are perfect.
1. What did his mother's Christmas tree look like?
2. From the passage we can infer (推断) that ________ .
A. all the soldiers had the three-day holiday
B. the writer could not go home for Christmas
C. the writer spent his first Christmas during the war
D. not all the soldiers went home for Christmas during the war
3. From the passage, we can conclude that ________ .
A. his mother didn't like Christmas trees
B. the writer didn't like the tree cut by someone else
C. the writer used to cut very beautiful Christmas trees
D. his mother didn't want to have a Christmas tree during wartime
4. The best title for this passage would be ________ .
A. The Perfect Christmas Tree
B. How to Choose a Christmas Tree
C. How Soldiers Spent Their Christmas
D. A Christmas with an Ugly Christmas Tree
5. What does the writer mean by saying "All Christmas trees are perfect"?
A. Nothing is as perfect as Christmas.
B. Once at home, everything is so nice.
C. During the war, trees are hard to find.
D. All Christmas trees are the most beautiful.
Chinese tradition says a different animal represents each new year of the 12-year Chinese Zodiac(黄道十
二宫) cycle. According to the Chinese calendar, the year you were born may determine your personality. Every year of this cycle is represented by an animal, and legend has it that people born under that animal have certain personality traits. Here are some of them:
Dragon
The Real Thing: The mythical dragon is a symbol of power and good fortune in Chinese culture. One of the most popular figures in Chinese art, the dragon is believed to be a combination of nine animals, including a frog, a tiger, an eagle, and a fish.
Born a Dragon: You go out of your way to help your friends, who often seek you out for advice. Your outgoing personality helps you get along with many types of people.
Snake
The Real Thing: Snakes have great instincts. Some “play dead” to fool predators（捕食者）, and most sense prey by detecting ground vibration（震动）. They can take more than an hour to swallow a meal, and they become inactive for up to two weeks before they shed their skin.
Born a Snake: You rely on yourself before asking others their opinions. At times you want to take a break from the action. It’s not that you are lazy---sometimes you just like to think.
Pig
The Real Thing: Domesticated（驯养）pigs have been helping human for about 9,000 years. Incredibly intelligent, a pig shows its smarts by rolling in mud and sticking its snout in dirt. Why? The mud keeps it cool, and rooting in the dirt provides important vitamins.
Born a Pig: Smart and caring, you live to
help other people. You have great taste and love to wallow in the nicer things in life.
Rat
The Real Thing: Most rats are highly adaptable. They can live just about anywhere and eat about anything. Before brown rats leave their underground burrows, these clever creatures send one rat ahead to make sure danger doesn’t exist outside.
Born a Rat: You welcome challenges and enjoy learning about new things. Funny and smart, you are generous and will protect your pack of friends.
______
The Real Thing: The largest of the big cats, they hunt alone. They secretly move tow
ards prey, then leap and attack when the time seems right. Dinner still escapes most of the time.
Born a _____: You are a natural leader but often like to do things by yourself. (That’s how you stay in charge!) You believe in fighting for what’s right, even if
you’ll lose in the end. According to the description of the last animal, we can choose _____ to fill in the blanks.
| A．Tiger | B．Lion  |
C．Ox | D．Monkey |
The underlined word “snout” probably means _____.
| A．back | B．nose | C．head | D．tail |
There are some very good things about open education. This way of teaching allows the students to grow as people, and to develop their own interests in many subjects. Open education allows students to be responsible for their own education, as they are responsible for what they do in life. Some students do badly in a traditional classroom. The open classroom may allow them to enjoy learning. Some students will be happier in an open education school. They will not have to worry about grades or rules. For students who worry about these things a lot, it is a good idea to be in an open classroom.
But many students will not do well in an open classroom. For some students, there are too few rules. These students will do little in school. They will not ma
ke good use of open education. Because open education is so different from traditional education, these students may have a problem getting used to making so many choices. For many students it is important to have some rules in the classroom. They worry about the rules even when there are no rules. Even a few rules will help this kind of students. The last point about open education is th
at some traditional teachers do not like it. Many teachers do not believe in open education. Teachers who want to have an open classroom may have many problems at their schools.
You now know what open education is. Some of its good points and bad points have been explained. You may have your own opinion about open education. The writer thinks that open education is a good idea, but only in theory. In actual fact, it may not work very well in a real class or school. The writer believes that most students, but of course not all students, want some structure in their classes. They want and need to have rules. In some cases, they must be made to study some subjects. Many students are pleased to find subjects they have to study interesting. They would not study those subjects if they did not have to.Open education allows the students to __________.
| A．grow as the educated | B．be responsible for their futur e |
| C．develop their own interests | D．discover subjects outside class |
Open education may be a good idea for the students who __________.
| A．enjoy learning | B．worry about grades |
| C．do well in a traditional classroom | D．are responsible for what they do in life. |
Some students will do little in an open classroom because __________.
| A．there are too few rules | B．they hate activities |
| C．open education is similar to the traditional education | D．they worry about the rules |
Which of the following best summarizes the passage?
| A．Open education is a really complex idea. | B．Open education is better than traditional education. |
| C．Teachers dislike open education. | D．The writer thinks that open education is a good idea in practice. |
A green house is a building made of glass which is used for keeping warm when the outside temperature is low. In a similar way there are several gases in the atmosphere (mixture of gases that surround the earth) which trap the heat produced by the sun and prevent it from escaping. These gases are known as “greenhouse gases”. and the way in which they trap heat in the atmosphere is called the “greenhouse effect”. This is not simply air pollution. Most of the main greenhouse gases exist naturally in small amounts in our atmosphere, and without them the earth would be 30 degrees colder and human life would not exist. In other words, the greenhouse effect is a natural course which is to some degree helpful to us.
The problem is that in the last century and a half, we have been putting too many of these gases into the earth’s atmosphere by burning large quantities of coal and oil and by cutting down forest. The rapid increase in greenhouse gases is making the world warmer. The world’s temperature has already gone up by half a degree this century, and the sea level has risen by 10 centimetres. If the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere doubles, there will probably be a rise in the earth’s temperature of between I and 4℃;. This may seem a small increase, but it would be enough to cause major changes in geography and agriculture. Large areas of the world would be flooded, and some areas would become dry and unable to produce crops. It is important, too, to consider that there may be a delay of about 30 years in the greenhouse effect. This means that we are probably experiencing only now the effect of the gases put into the atmosphere before the 1960s. Since then, our use of these gases has greatly increased. According to the passage, we can know “greenhouse effect” means_______.
| A．the way in which gases are used for keeping plants warm |
| B．a natural course that is to a certain degree useful to us |
| C．the way “greenhouse gases” trap heat on the earth |
| D．the whole course in which greenhouse gases prevent heat |
If there were no greenhouse effect,_______.
| A．all plants would not grow on our planet | B．soil would reduce the temperature by 30 degrees |
| C．man would breathe the cleaner air | D．people couldn’t live in the earth |
Which of the following is not true?
| A．Burning too much coal and oil produces lots of greenhouse gases. |
B．It has become warm on the eart h now than in the past. |
| C．Gases put into the atmosphere now will affect the earth years later. |
| D．The temperature in a greenhouse is as high as that in the atmosphere. |
Suppose the earth’s temperature rose by 3 degrees, _______.
| A．great harm will be done to mankind | B．the sea level would go up by 10 centimeters |
| C．all the land in the world would be flooded | D．crops would be unable to grow on the earth |
This passage mainly deals with ________.
| A．the concept (概念) and the harm of the greenhouse | B．the relation between greenhouse gases and man |
| C．the concept and change of greenhouse effect | D．the effect of the rise of the earth’s temperature |