Several different stories are told about the origin of Saint Valentine's Day. One legend dates as far back as the days of the Roman Empire. According to the story, Claudius, the Emperor of Rome, wanted to increase the size of his army. He knew that it would be easier to get young men who were not married to join. Therefore he made a rule that no young man could marry until he had served a certain number of years in the army.
A priest(牧师)named Valentine broke the rule and secretly married a great many young people. Finally, Claudius found out Valentine and put the priest in prison, where he remained until his death on February 14.
After his death, Valentine was made a saint (圣人),and the day of his death was named Saint Valentine's Day. It became the custom for lovers to send each other message on this day. Now Saint Valentine's Day is a time for people to send one another greetings of many kinds.
February 14,Valentine's Day, is sweethearts, day, on which people in love with each other express their tender(温柔的)emotions.
People sometimes put their love message in a heart shaped box of chocolates, or a bunch of flowers tied with red ribbons(带子). Words of letters may be written on the flower-covered card, or some-thing else. Whatever the form may be, the message is almost the same : " Will you be my Valentine?" Valentine was put in prison because __________.
A.he secretly got married |
B.he didn't serve in the army |
C.he married many young people secretly |
D.he broke the rule |
This passage mainly tells us about __________.
A.how Valentine died |
B.the Emperor of Rome |
C.how Valentine's Day is celebrated |
D.the origin of Valentine's Day |
February 14 is chosen as Valentine's Day because __________.
A.lovers express their tender emotions on this day |
B.people want to remember Valentine |
C.people send one another greetings of many kinds on this day |
D.people want to fix a date for lovers to express their emotions |
According to the rule,__________.
A.no young men could get married unless they were old enough |
B.young men could marry if they served in the army for several years |
C.no one could get married without the emperor's permission |
D.young men could many only in the army |
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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、D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Jeanne Calment, a French woman, became a record breaker on 17 October, 1995 when at the age of 120 years and 238 days, she became the longest-lived human being on record. A Japanese man died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days.
Jeanne Calment lives in a small old people's home in the south of France; her husband, her only child and her grandson have all died. She is nearly blind and deaf and is always in a wheelchair, but her doctor describes her as being more like a 90yearold woman in good health than someone of 120. She still has a lively sense of humor. When asked on her 120th birthday what she expected of the future, she replied: A very short one. She also remarked that she thought the good Lord had forgotten all about her.
So what is the key to a long life? According to some doctors, diet, exercise and no smoking are the three important factors. Jeanne Calment has followed two of the tips. She has always eaten a healthy diet, and she used to do exercises every day until she broke her leg at the age of 115. However, until recently she drank two glasses of strong red wine a day, and she does smoke (now only a little). Besides, Jeanne Calment might have got very good genes(基因) from her parents. Her father lived to the age of 94 and her mother to 86.
A local lawyer bought her house when she was 80 under an agreement that he would pay her some money every year until her death. It must have seemed a good move at the time, but so far the lawyer has paid her at least three times the value of the house. Every year on her birthday Jeanne Calment sends him a card saying: Sorry, I’m still alive!
56. How does Jeanne Calment feel about her old age?
A. She is miserable and unhappy.
B. She is cheerful and humorous.
C. She would like to live much longer.
D. She feels she is going to die very soon.
57. We can owe Jeanne Calment's good health and long life to___________.
A. smoking only a little every day
B. her giving up smoking and drinking
C. drinking two glasses of strong red wine every day
D. the good genes from her parents, a healthy diet and some exercise
58. Which of the following word could best replace the word "move" in the fourth paragraph?
A. deal B. trick C. march D. sport
59. Why does Jeanne Calment say "Sorry, I'm still alive" to the local lawyer every year on her birthday?
A. Because she had an agreement at 80 with the lawyer which was to her advantage.
B. Because she has asked the lawyer to pay her more rent than they first agreed.
C. Because the lawyer has paid her much more money than the value of the house.
D. Because the house she sold to the lawyer isn’t worth the money he has already paid.
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“ A very disruptive(扰乱型的) six-year old child kicked my legs and clawed at my hand,”said one teacher. “I broke up a fight and was kicked between my legs,”said another. Many people have heard stories like this. But the situation is more worrying still and it involves parents.
Every child , regardless of the circumstances into which they are born,has the right to achieve their potential,regardless of their parents’ wealth and class. And we recognize that, as a nation,it is a long way to achieve this goal .But rights come with responsibilities and what worries people is that we are in danger of neglecting the latter.
Far too many children are behaving badly at school,even to the point of being violent to staff. This is terrible enough,but it is hard to be surprised since many children are just mirroring the behavior of their parents. Too many are starting school unable to hold a knife and fork, unused to eating at a table,and unable to use the lavatory properly.
We are in danger of becoming a nation of families living separate lives under one roof. The bedroom, once a place to sleep,has become the living space for the young. Spending hours in front of computer screens, on social networking sites or being immersed in computer games, children and young people spend little time with their parents. Parents are unable to monitor just what their children are watching.
Schools cannot right the wrongs of society and teachers cannot become substitute parents. Both parties need to work together. Parents must be helped and given confidence to take back control. They are responsible for setting boundaries for their children’s behavior and sticking to those boundaries when the going gets tough. They are responsible for setting a good example to their children and for devoting that most precious of resources---time----so that children come to school ready and willing to learn.
56. In the opinion of the writer, what problem do people ignore?
A. The school violence.
B. The pressure of students’ learning
C. The right to achieve students potential.
D. the responsibilities of the students.
57. The writer’s attitude to the behaviors of parents may be that of ________.
A. dissatisfied B. unconcern C. understadning D. tolerance
58. The underlined part in Para 4 may means__________.
A. parents and children live in their separate rooms
B. parents care little about children’s life at home
C. children don’t live with their parents in the same room
D. at home children live a different life from that of parents
59. From the last paragraph, we can infer that______.
A. schools can’t correct the wrongs that society does to teachers
B. teachers have no responsibility for playing the role of parents
C. parents should spend time with children making them ready to learn
D. students are responsible for making themselves known in society
60. What might be most suitable title for the passage?
Children’s behavior at school is worrying people
Parents expect schools to correct their children’s bad habits
There is no point in parents’ teaching children at home
Don’t blame teachers when it’s parents who are failing
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Imagine a mass of floating waste is two times the size of the state of Texas. Texas has a land area of more than 678 000 square kilometers. So it might be difficult to imagine anything twice as big.
All together, this mass of waste flowing in the North Pacific Ocean is known as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. It weighs about 3 500 000 tons. The waste includes bags,bottles and containers—plastic products of all kinds.
The eastern part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is about l 600 kilometers west of California. The western part is west of the Hawaiian Islands and east of Japan. The area has been described as a kind of oceanic desert,with light winds and slow moving water currents. The water moves so slow that garbage from all over the world collects there.
In recent years,there have been growing concerns about the floating garbage and its effect on sea creatures and human health. Scientists say thousands of animals get trapped in the floating waste,resulting in death or injury. Even more die from a lack of food or water after swallowing pieces of plastic. The trash can also make animals feel full,lessening their desire to eat or drink.
The floating garbage also can have harmful effects on people. There is an increased threat of infection of disease from polluted waste,and from eating fish that swallowed waste. Divers can also get trapped in the plastic.
Its existence first gained public attention in l997. That was when racing boat captain and oceanographer Charles Moore and his crew sailed into the garbage while returning from a racing event. Five years earlier,another oceanographer learned of the trash after a shipment of rubber duckies got lost at sea. Many of those toys are now part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.
In August,2009,a team from the University of California,San Diego became the
latest group to travel to it. They were shocked by the amount of waste they saw. They gathered hundreds of sea creatures and water samples to measure the garbage patch’s effect on ocean environment.
51.How did the writer introduce the topic of the passage?
A. By giving an example. B. By listing the facts.
C. By telling a story. D. By giving a comparison.
52.What do we know about the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?
A. It is made up of various kinds of plastic products.
B. It is a solid mass of floating waste materials.
C. It lies l60 000 kilometers east of California.
D. It is described as a kind of oceanic desert.
53.Why do people pay attention to the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?
A. Because it may prevent the flow of ocean water.
B. Because the polluted plastic articles will move up the food chain.
C. Because it may be from an island in the pacific.
D. Because ships may be trapped in the floating waste.
54.Which column can you find the passage on a newspaper?
A. Sports and entertainment. B. Media and culture.
C. Environment and society. D. Science and technology.
55.The purpose of writing this passage is to____________.
A. warn people of the danger to travel in the pacific
B. analyze what caused the waste patch in the pacific
C. give advice on how to recycle waste in the ocean
D. introduce the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch
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Our brains work in complex and strange ways. There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40,000 years, but who cannot add two plus two. Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once, but they cannot read or write.
Dr.J.Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887.He called these people idiot savants. An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental impairment (损伤) , such as in autism or retardation. At the same time, the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills, which are unusual for most people.The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics, or having a photographic memory.
One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr.Benjamin Rush, an American doctor.His patient, Thomas Fuller, was brought to Virginia as a slave in 1724. It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds.Despite this ability, he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write.
Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s. Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words, but he played 5 ,000 musical pieces beautifully.
In the excellent movie Rain Man, made in 1988 and available on video cassette, Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise, with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly.
Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment.Yet not all brain impairment leads to savant skills.Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills. However,few people wish to participate in such experiments. There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain. The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate. Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots.
48.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.Idiot savants have areas of outstanding abilities.
B.Human Beings have complicated thinking process.
C.The brains of the idiot savants are partly impaired.
D.The reasons why people have wonderful skills vary.
49.Which of the following can be done by Rain Man?
A.He can play wonderful pieces of classical music.
B.He can guess out exactly the length of a man's life.
C.He can memorize the contents of the pictures fast.
D.He can count matches dropped on the floor quickly.
50.What can you infer from the passage?
A.Idiot savants have real talents for art and math.
B.Dr.Down is the first person who found idiot savants.
C.Few people wish to risk becoming savants by brain operations.
D.Intentional left brain impairments will surely lead to idiot savants.
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In today's fast paced, high stress world people are working longer hours than ever, and often exhaust themselves at day's end in front of the television to relax enough to begin again in the morning.However, television watching, for most people, does not really lower stress.Studies show that TV viewing more than an hour or so actually creates stress and, especially in women, may lead to the blues.Most individuals are unaware that doing some exercise after work makes them more energetic since it increases energy levels.
Wise use of free time does not mean getting an advanced degree, although the mental encouragement gained through education is unbeatable in keeping your mind active.Learning new things nearly always adds a spark to your daily life, especially if it is a favorite topic, such as sport, fashion, or art.Also, look through your bookstore or library to find books on your interests.Try to replace a half hour TV watching with reading.
It is reported that in the United States recently, many individuals have as few as two good friends.Long work hours and car commute act to separate people from each other.This separation is deadly.Find ways to meet people at the end of the day and on weekends.Often this can be best done by combining activities, such as by joining a walking group to get both exercise and companionship.Taking a class will lift your spirits and allow you to meet others with similar interests.Hobbies are great for reducing stress and provide another opportunity for social interaction.
Using your free time to aid your health may include these elements and many more, such as going to concerts and spending time with family.Overall, the key is to spend less free time being passive.The best ways to use free time are to be mentally and physically active, spend some time outdoors, and interact with other people on a regular basis.
45.What can we learn from the passage?
A.Watching television may cause women to feel depressed.
B.Finding interests and hobbies in common means taking a class.
C.Going to concerts is the best way to make you mentally active.
D.Getting an advanced degree in education always lights up your life.
46.What does the underlined word "commute" in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A.The arrangement to work every day. B.The journey to work every day.
C.The communication between people. D.The separation between people.
47.Which would be the best title for the passage?
A.Live a Happy and Healthy Life B.Relax Yourself in Various Ways
C.Spend Your Free Time Wisely D.Interact With Others Outdoors