A ground-based system that uses much stronger signals than GPS can find your location in cities and indoors. It is a new positioning system that could compete with GPS to make sure you never lose your directions again.
Instead of satellites, Locata uses ground-based equipment to launch a radio signal over a localized area that is a million times stronger on arrival than GPS. It can work indoors as well as outdoors, and the makers claim the receivers can be shrunk to fit inside a regular cell phone. Even the US military, which invented GPS technology, signed a contract last month agreeing to a large-scale test of Locata at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
“This is one of the most important technology developments for the future of the positioning industry,” says Nunzio Gambale, CEO and co-founder of the firm Locata, based in Griffith, Australia.
As for the Locata’s accuracy, Christopher Morin of the US Air Force tested it recently at White Sands, and it worked to within 18 centimeters along any axis(轴). Morin says it should be possible to get the resolution down to 5 centimeters.
Admittedly, the tests were performed in an open desert where GPS also works beautifully, but its signals are weak— like a car headlight from 20,000 kilometers away— and easily blocked by solid objects. “Locata’s signal is far stronger, though not guaranteed to work in a complex urban environment,” says David Last, consultant to the UK’s General Lighthouse Authorities.
“Locata’s technology will face competition in the race to transform indoor navigation. But it could shine in specific areas,” Gambale says. “Robots with Locata could easily navigate inside buildings without the complex optical systems they need at the moment. And process that handle precise location data could not only guide you around a mall, railway station or airport, but also take you to the exact shelf in a shop for the product you want. The units small and cheap enough for smart phones should be available within five years— a similar path to the one GPS took on its way towards world domination.”The passage is written mainly to .
| A．encourage people to buy the Locata |
| B．tell us the disadvantage of the GPS |
| C．introduce a new positioning system Locata |
| D．tell us that Locata will replace GPS one day |
Which of the following is not true about Locata according to Paragraph 2?
| A．Without the help of the satellites, Locata can tell you where you are. |
| B．The US military has to test it before using it. |
| C．Locata has a better signal than GPS. |
| D．Locata can be fixed into smart phones only. |
Which of the following words can be used to replace the underlined word in Paragraph 4?
| A．accuracy | B．speed |
| C．determination | D．length |
According to the passage, what can we know about Gambale?
| A．He did the experiment at White Sands. |
| B．He is confident in Locata and think highly of it. |
| C．He said that Locata could not work in a complex urban environment. |
| D．He is worried about the competition that Locata faces. |
B
“I don’t like my parents. They always tell me I should do this, and should not do that. It sometimes makes me angry,” said Li Ping, a middle school student in Hunan. Do you have the same problem? Perhaps your parents had the same problem when they were your age long ago. Why does it seem that some parents are not so friendly in their children’s eyes?
One of the biggest things is when someone becomes a parent, he/she likes worrying things. They worry about everything about you, from the time you were born. They do a lot for you, though something would make you angry, because they care about you and worry about you. They worry about your choice of friends, the food you eat, your work at school, how much sleep you get, etc. All these things are part of your life. They want you to grow up healthily and happily.
So how can you make things easier on yourself? It’s easier than you think. Just make sure your parents know what you’re doing. Get them to know your friends. Phone if you stay somewhere else so that your parents don’t call every hospital in the phone book looking for your body. Say sorry to them when you make mistakes. Take responsibility (责任) for what you have done. Talk about your ideas with them. They may talk about theirs with you.
Most of all, try to think about why your parents do this or do that. They are still practicing being parents and need help you can give them. Someday, when you become a parent, they may be able to help you know how to get on with your children.
46. What does the writer think we should do if we plan to go back home later than usual? We should_____.
A. tell our friends B. tell the teacher
C. say sorry to our parentsD. make a telephone call to our parents
47. The writer thinks________.
A.it’s wrong of parents to worry about their children too much
B.some parents are unfriendly, which makes their children angry
C.children should do everything as their parent say
D.parents love their children very much and the children should understand them
48. Which do you think is the best title for the passage?
A. Parents’ Problems B. How to Get on with Parents
C. Zhang Hua’s Problem D. What Are Parents Worrying about
第二部分: 阅读理解（共20小题, 每小题2分，满分40分）
第一节请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
12-year-old John Thomas Robertson is a born train fan. “I’ve liked trains probably from the day I was born,” he told Good Morning America. “When I was very little,” he said, “my grandpa got me a train model. I would just watch it go round for hours and hours.”
When Robertson finally had the opportunity to ride on a train, he felt great. His journey was so mind-blowing that he couldn’t keep it to himself: he decided to take all his classmates to go on a ride with him. When he found that some of his classmates couldn’t pay the fares, he spent money he had saved by collecting cans (罐子) and bottles and raised more than ＄1,000 for them.
That train was such a happy one that he made it yearly action. “It never gets boring for some reason; it’s just very fun,” he said. “It really lets people get away from their busy life and have fun.”
Every October, Robertson takes a new group of disabled children to ride the train — but now, he has a problem. Several disabled children were refused because the train was not accessible (可用的) to disabled people. “He was angry to think that children of his own age couldn’t ride a train,” his mother said.
But he wouldn’t say no: he recently sent a letter to the train office for help. To his surprise, the leader, Ty Pennington, took the letter seriously. He said that he and his workers would work on making a train accessible to disabled people.
41. The first time John Thomas Robertson took a train, he_______
A. felt extremely happy. B. was frightened by it.
C. watched it for hours. D. acted as a driver.
42. John Thomas Robertson is a born train fan, because he _______.
A. was taken on a train the day he was born.
B. his grandpa once worked on the train.
C. took a group of disabled children on board a train.
D. was greatly attracted to trains since early childhood.
43. The underlined word “mind-blowing” can be replaced by “_______”.
A. exciting B. frightening C. surprising D. disappointing
44. The disabled children were refused to get on the train because _______.
A. they couldn’t afford the train tickets
B. Robertson had not saved enough money for tickets
C. the train didn’t have special services for them
D. the workers there would not allow them to do so
45. According to the passage, we can see that Robertson is a(n) _______ child.
A. honest and crazy B. kind and helpful
C. clever but boring D. lazy but kind
D
Few people would question the value of taking part in sports for young people. With proper training, supervision, protective equipment and techniques, and a proper emphasis on winning, sports can develop a healthy body and spirit and a life-long interest in being active and fit. Without such measures, childhood sports can lead to injuries and even paralysis or death.
Even in the best conditions, no activity can be risk-free. But most serious hazards are preventable. Cyclists and football players can reduce their risks by wearing helmets, hockey players by wearing masks; basketball and tennis players by wearing eye guards; baseball players by wearing batting helmets.
Besides, risks to individual players can often be found, and thus prevented, through a properly performed medical exam before a child plays. For accidents that may not be preventable, having an emergency plan and first-aid equipment, and someone trained to use the equipment, can be lifesaving.
Still, each year, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, more than 775, 000 children under 14 are treated in emergency rooms for sports injuries, nearly half of them preventable. An estimated 300,000 athletes experience exercise-related head illnesses each year, and almost all of them should have been avoided.
Further, from half to three-fourths of sports-related concussions(脑震荡) are never even diagnosed; the injured are often sent back to play too soon and put at risk of another more serious brain-damaging concussion. To help reduce these risks, the National Center for Sports Safety, with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, offers a three-hour online safety course for coaches for $28 at www. SportsSafety. Org.
52. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. All the accidents can be prevented.
B. All the accidents cannot be prevented.
C. Lives can be saved so long as there is proper equipment.
D. Lives cannot be saved even if there is proper equipment.
53. What does the underlined word “hazards” (in Paragraph 2)
A. Mistakes. B. Diseases. C. Dangers. D. Situations.
54. It is implied in the passage that _____________.
A. prevention of injuries is not paid enough attention to
B. children under 14 are more easily hurt in sports
C. most head illnesses are related with exercise
D. none of the head illnesses should have happened
55. What can coaches mainly learn from the online safety course?
A. How to cure brain-damaging concussion.
B. How to diagnose brain-damaging concussion.
C. How to predict the possibility of brain damage.
D. How to deal with the injured properly.
C
Some experts feel that cars are certain to fall into disuse. They see a day in the not-too-distant future when all cars will be deserted and made useless. Other experts, however, think the car is here to stay. They hold that the car will remain a leading means of city travel in the foreseeable future.
The car will undoubtedly change greatly over the next 30 years. It should become smaller, safer, and more practical, and should not be powered by the gas engine. The car of the future should be far more pollution-free than present types.
Unless changes take place in the power system, the car in the future will still be the main problem in city traffic jams. One suggested solution to this essential problem is the automated (自动的) system, which seems to hold water.
When the car enters the highway system, a small arm will drop from the car and connect with a rail, which is similar to those powering subway trains electrically. Once joined to the rail, the car will become electrically powered from the system, and control of the car will pass to a central computer. The computer will then monitor all the car’s movements. The driver will use the telephone to dial instructions about his position and the place he heads for into the system. The computer will find the best way and reserve space for the car all the way to the correct exit from the highway. The driver will be free to relax and wait for the call that will warm him of his coming exit. It is believed that an automated highway will be able to deal with 10,000 cars per hour, compared with the 1,500 to 2,000 cars that can be carried by a present-day highway.
48. What is the main concern of the author of the passage?
A. How to make cars pollution-free. B. How to make cars smaller and safer.
C. How to solve the problem of train jam. D. How to develop an automated subway system.
49. We can infer from this passage that __________.
A. the car connected to the rail on the highway will be powered by electricity.
B. The lack of oil is forcing people to find new means to power automobiles.
C. The driver under the system will be told where to get out of the highway.
D. The future car will become larger, faster, prettier and less expensive.
50. What provides cars with electric power in an automated highway system?
A. An engine. B.A rail.C. A computer controller. D. A small arm.
51. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. The driver puts his information in the system by email.
B. The new system can deal with 10 times as many cars as the present one.
C. After entering the automated system, the driver needs to do nothing but relax.
D. Some experts are not confident of the future, while the view of the author is hopeful.
B
Mary went out at night. She never forgot the night when she met a robber many years ago.
That evening, she was invited to a birthday party which lasted until two o’clock i
n the morning. Without company Mary walked along the quiet street.
Suddenly from the shadow of a dark building a tall man with a sharp knife in his right hand ran out at her. “Good evening, lady,” the man said in a low voice, “I don’t think you wish to die here.”
“What do you want?” Mary asked.
“Your earrings （耳环）.Take them off!” Slowly Mary’s eyes looked down. She tried to cover her necklace with the collar（领子）of her overcoat while she used the other hand to take off both of her earrings, and then she quickly threw them on the ground.
“Take them and let me go.” she said. The robber looked at her only feeling uncertain. He saw the girl didn’t care for the earrings at all, only trying to protect the necklace. He realized the necklace would cost more. So he said, “Give me your necklace.”
“Oh, sir. It’s not worth much. Please let me keep it.”
“Stop rubbish. Quick!”
With shaky hands, Mary took off her necklace. As soon as the robber disappeared, she picked up her earrings and ran as fast as she could to one of her friends.
The earrings cost 480 pounds and the necklace the robber had taken away cost only six pounds ten shillings.
44. Mary never forgot that night because ___________.
A. she was robbed of her necklace B. she was robbed, but she fooled the robber
C. she had a good time at the party D. she lost her earrings
45. The party ___________.
A. didn’t end at two B. ended before two C. lasted two hours D. was over at two
46. She tried to protect the necklace because ___________.
A. she didn’t want to lose it B. it was more important
C. she liked it better than earrings D. she would rather have the necklace lost
47. The story tells us that she was a ___________girl.
A. clever and brave B. clever and beautiful C. brave and careful D. clever and careful