Should we allow modern buildings to be built next to older buildings in historic area of a city? In order to answer this question, we must first examine whether people really want to preserve the historic feel of an area. Not all historical buildings are attractive. However, there may be other reasons—for example, economic(经济的) reasons—why they should be preserved. So, let us assume that historical buildings are both attractive and important to the majority of people. What should we do then if a new building is needed?
In my view, new architectural styles can exist perfectly well alongside an older style. Indeed, there are many examples in my own home town of Tours where modern designs have been placed very successfully next to old buildings. As long as the building in question is pleasing and does not dominate(影响)its surroundings too much, it often improves the attractiveness of the area.
It is true that there are examples of new buildings which have spoilt(破坏)the area they are in, but the same can be said of some old buildings too. Yet people still speak against new buildings in historic areas. I think this is simply because people are naturally conservative (保守的)and do not like change.
Although we have to respect people's feelings as fellow users of the buildings, I believe that it is the duty of the architect and planner to move_things_forward. If we always reproduced what was there before, we would all still be living in caves. Thus, I would argue against copying previous architectural styles and choose something fresh and different, even though that might be the more risky choice.What does the author say about historical buildings in the first paragraph?
| A．Most of them are too expensive to preserve. |
| B．Some of them are not attractive. |
| C．They are more pleasing than modern buildings. |
| D．They have nothing to do with the historic feel of an area. |
Which of the following is true according to the author?
| A．We should reproduce the same old buildings. |
| B．Buildings should not dominate their surroundings. |
| C．No one understands why people speak against new buildings.j-y |
| D．Some old buildings have spoilt the area they are in. |
By “move things forward” in the last paragraph, the author probably means “________.”
| A．destroy old buildings |
| B．respect people's feelings for historical buildings21 |
| C．put things in a different place |
| D．choose new architectural styles |
What is the main purpose of the passage?
| A．To argue that modern buildings can be built in historic areas. |
| B．To explain why people dislike change. |
| C．To warn that we should end up living in caves. |
| D．To admit how new buildings have ruined their surroundings. |
It was once thought that air pollution 
affec
ted only the area immediately around large c
ities with factories and/or heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels(coal and oil) creating a greenhouse effect-holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.
Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature-a result that would be equally disastrous（灾难的）. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age, and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do riot know for sure that either of these conditions will happen(though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now.As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ______.
| A．caused widespread damage in the countryside |
B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States |
C．al most brought worldwide effect |
| D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas |
As far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the author _____________.
| A．shares the same view with the scientists |
| B．is uncertain of its occurrence |
| C．rejects it as being ungrounded（无根据的） |
| D．thinks that it will increasingly destroy the world soon |
It can be inferred from the passage that.
| A．raising the world’s temperature a little would not do much harm to life on the earth |
| B．lowering the world’s temperature a little would lead to agricultural disasters |
| C．almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade |
| D．the world’s temperature will remain stable forever |
This passage is primarily concerned with.
| A．the greenhouse effect in the world |
| B．the measures to adjust the climate |
| C．the potential effect of air pollution |
| D．the measures to protect the environment |
Net Library Is a library that lends out digital books．It treats a digital like a pap
erback copy．It charges libraries per book per copy and gives publishers a cut of the total income．
From the consumer's point of view, this means that if more than, say, five people want the latest Danielle Steel romance novel, other people who request that book will get a message saying the title can't be found．
It's a model many publishers seem to have embraced．More than 350 gave the company rights to hand out their digital works and McGraw-Hill Corporation and Houghton Mifflin Corporation have put money in the company．The California public libraries and about 1,800 others across the US
are trying out the Net Library service．
Some librarians criticize the New Library model．Stanford University librarian Michael Keller argues that the company is creating an unnatural fear of digital woks; which is contrary to the ideas of the Internet．
Keller and some other librarians argue for the e-book vision set forth by E-Brary．E-Brary is starting a service mat lets us users read books for free．
But it will charge about 25 cents a page when a person tries to print out material or copy and paste it into a different file 
or tries to download copy onto a computer．
Christopher Warnock, chief executive of E-Brary, believes most consumers won't want to buy entire books, only the parts that interest them．
"There's not really a lot of good m owning an electronic file and having to store it and manage it．It doesn't make sense．" he said．How do publishers get money from the Net Library?
| A．They get money from selling their books to the Net Library. |
| B．They share the money with the Net Library. |
| C．They get money by cutting the cost of the books. |
| D．They get the money from the readers. |
The underlined word "embraced" in the 3rd paragraph means ____.
| A．taken something willingly | B．held something tightly |
| C．disliked something badly | D．tried out something hard |
From the 2nd paragraph we can see consumers .
A．don’t ca re if they are charged money |
| B．enjoy the service of the Net Library |
C．don’t like other peo ple borrowing books |
| D．complain about the limited number of the new books |
What does the last paragraph mean?
| A．Net Library is not a good way for the consumers. |
| B．There is no need for consumers to have a whole book. |
| C．E-Brary is not a good library for the consumers. |
| D．It’s reasonable to charge the consumers money for copying some pages. |
"Time is a problem for children," states a news report for a new Swiss watch．Children in some countries "learn time slowly" because "they don't wea
r watches" and "parents don't really know how to teach them time．" The children grow up with this handicap and become adults-and then can't get to work on time．Is there an answer to this problem? Of course-it's the Flick Flak, made by a famous Swiss watch company．
The Flick Flak is being marketed as something teaching watch for children aged 4 to 10．The watch itself does not teach children how to tell time, of course; it merely "takes their imagination" by presenting the "hour" hand as a beautiful red girl named Flak and the "minute" hand as a tall blue boy named Flick．Flick points to related "blue" minutes on the 
dial, while Flak points to "red" hour numbers．The characters and colors combined with parental help, are supposed to teach young children how to tell time．
The watch comes equipped with a standard battery and a nylon band （尼龙表带）．Peter Lipkin, the United States sales manager for the Flick Flak, calls it "childproof: if it gets dirty you can throw the whole watch in the washing machine．" The product is being sold in select department stores in Europe, Asia and the United States for a su
ggested price of $25．Parents who buy the watch may discover that it is one thing to tell time; it's quite another for them to be on time．From the news report we know that ____.
| A．parents are patient when teaching children time |
| B．parents have little idea of how to teach children time |
| C．children are likely to learn time quickly |
| D．children enjoy wearing the Flick Flak watch |
The author doesn't seem to believe____.
| A．children will be on time if they have not learnt how to tell time |
| B．a Flick Flak can help parents teach their children how to tell time |
| C．the Flick Flak can take children's imagination |
| D．children usually have trouble telling time if they don't wear watches |
The underlined word handicap （Para．1） means ____.
| A．displeasure | B．discouragement |
| C．disappointment | D．disadvantage |
The United State sales manager calls the new watch “childproof” because ___.
| A．it is designed to teach children to be on time |
| B．it proves to be effective in teaching children time |
| C．it is made so as not to be easily damaged by children |
| D．it is the children's favorite watch |
Read the following reviews for movies that are showing at the moment．And then answer questions．
Happiness（Romance）★★★★
Happiness tells the story of two people （Lisa Turbot and Danny Roy） who work for different advertising companies．They talk on the phone all the time and don't like each other．But then they correspond by email and fall in love．This movie will be very popular with teenagers and people who like romances．It also has beautiful music．
I Scream （Thriller）★★
In I Scream, Paul （Colin Jacks） is a young man who joins a thriller club．Each of the members tries to frighten the others．Paul is told to stay in an old house for the night．This movie is very frightening but also quite silly．It doesn't make sense for Paul to stay m the house when things start to go wrong．Only for people who like thrillers．
Paul's Heroes （Comedy）★★★
This is a very funny war movie set in World War Two．Six soldiers （including Sammy Turblow） have to get to Italy to take secret messages to the American army there．During the movie, they dress up as women and fight with Italian workers．You can guess the ending, but it's great
fun getting there．
_____（Drama）★★★★
This is a very good drama with Jack Ross, who pays a hard-working truck driver．His wife becomes ill and he has to find a doctor who can help her．m his travels he meets Dr．Lloyd （Phil Driver） who has found the cure for the illness, but Jack Ross has only twelve hours to get the medicine back to his wife on the other side of America．This is an excellent movie, which is 
very exciting．Which of the four movies is the least popular with people?
| A．The 1st one. | B．The 2nd one. |
| C．The 3nd one. | D．The 4th one. |
The underlined word "correspond" can be replaced by _________.
| A．date | B．exchange | C．write | D．communicate |
A thriller is most probably a film which tells something _________.
| A．frightening | B．instructive | C．humorous | D．interesting |
Which of the following is the best title for the fourth film?
| A．A Hard-working Truck Driver | B．Medicine |
| C．A Strange Illness | D．Twelve Hours |
If, for some reason, you had 2,010 empty plastic bottles, what would you do? You’d probably sell them cheaply, right? But Xia Yu collected 2,010bottles and built a boat with them, As you read this, Xia is, in fact, on a river somewhere in Anhuai, slowly going towards his destination: the Expo Garden in Shanghai．2,010 plastic bottles was to celebrate Expo (世博会) 2010 Shanghai．On the opening day of the Expo, Xia, together with five friends, went on a 1,500 – km journey from Xiangtan to the Expo Garden, in spite of the doubt whether they’ll make it．After all, the boat they are on can hardly be called a boat．It cost only 2,000 yuan to build in a month.
What’s keeping Xia going is a major cause behind the trip．“We are examining water pollution through our journey and trying to promote a low – carbon (低碳) lifestyle．Before we started, no one believed we could sail the boat to the Dongting Lake．But we made it.” But as they expected, the journey has not always been smooth．Of the six from Xiangtan, four gave up．As of the press time (到发稿时), only Xia and his friend Huang Ying were on the boat．Huang suffered from a disease when they reached Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, Xia said, “There are so many things that can stop up from making it to Shanghai, like the weather, health, and sometimes swift rive water.”
“The boat was produced in a factory according to our design, and perhaps it’s not in a very good condition．But,” Xia said, “we are wearing life jackets”．“Some boats passing by offered help.” What is more of a reward for Xia and Huang is that the Yangtze Rive truned out much cleaner than they had expected．Although Xia and Huang are uncertain about the journedy ahead, they are “quite happy” with what they have already achieved．“After all, it’s not the destination that counts．It’s always the course that matters the most.”Xia Yu doubts the success of the journey because of .
| A．such a 1ong journey on the river |
| B．the poor boat and the bad weather |
| C．few people taking part in the journey |
| D．the seriously polluted river in some parts |
Which of the following is NOT the purpose of the journey?
| A．To examine water pollution． |
| B．To celebrate Expo 2010 Shanghai. |
| C．To win a race on the water． |
| D．To promote a low－carbon lifestyle. |
From the text we know that.
| A．They stay on the boat at night． |
| B．Three people gave up due to their bad health. |
| C．Xia Yu and his mate have arrived in Shanghai |
| D．Huang suffered from a disease on the journey. |
The last paragraph tells us Xia Yu and Huang Ying .
| A．pay more attention to the process. |
| B．are sure to arrive at the destination. |
| C．helped turn the Yangtze River cleaner. |
| D．are happy because of their final success. |