For those who make journeys across the world, the speed of travel today has turned the countries into a series of villages. Distances between them appear no greater to a modern traveler than those which once faced men as they walked from village to village. Jet plane fly people from one end of the earth to the other, allowing them a freedom of movement undreamt of a hundred years ago.
Yet some people wonder if the revolution in travel has gone too far. A price has been paid, they say, for the conquest (征服) of time and distance. Travel is something to be enjoyed, not endured . The boat offers leisure and time enough to appreciate the ever-changing sights and sounds of a journey. A journey by train also has a special charm about it. Lakes and forests and wild, open plains sweeping past your carriage window create a grand view in which time and distance mean nothing. On board a plane, however, there is just the blank blue of the sky filling the narrow window of the airplane. The soft lighting, in-flight films and gentle music make up the only world you know, and the hours progress slowly.
Then there is the time spent being “processed” at a modern airport. People are conveyed like robots along walkways; baggage is weighed, tickets produced, examined and produced yet again before the passengers move again to another waiting area. Journeys by rail and sea take longer, yes, but the hours devoted to being “processed” at departure and arrival in airports are luckily absent. No wonder, then, that the modern high-speed trains are winning back passengers from the airlines.
Man, however, is now a world traveler and can not turn his back on the airplane. The working lives of too many people depend upon it; whole new industries have been built around its design and operation. The holiday maker, too, with limited time to spend, patiently endures the busy airports and limited space of the flight to gain those extra hours and even days, relaxing in the sun. Speed controls people’s lives; time saved, in work or play, is the important thing—or so we are told. Perhaps those first horsemen, riding free across the wild, open plains, were enjoying a better world than the one we know today. They could travel at will, and the clock was not their master.What does the writer try to express in Paragraph1?
| A．Travel by plane has speeded up the growth of villages． |
| B．The speed of modern travel has made distances relatively short． |
| C．The freedom of movement has helped people realize their dreams． |
| D．Man has been fond of travelling rather than staying in one place． |
How does the writer support the underlined statement in Paragraph2?
| A．By giving instructions. |
| B．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| C．By following the order of time. |
| D．By giving examples. |
According to Paragraph 3, passengers are turning back to modern high-speed trains because______．
| A．they pay less for the tickets |
| B．they feel safer during the travel |
| C．they can enjoy higher speed of travel |
| D．they don’t have to be “processed” |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Air travel benefits people and industries． |
| B．Train Travel has some advantages over air travel． |
| C．Great changes have taken place in modern travel. |
| D．The high speed of air travel is gained at a cost. |
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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）
阅读下面文章，从每题所给的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。
It was the afternoon of December 24, the day before Christmas, and as the newest doctor in our office, I had to work. The only thing that brightened my day was the beautifully decorated Christmas tree in our waiting room and a gift sent to me by a fellow I was dating(约会)—a dozen long-stemmed red roses.
As I was cleaning my office, I was told a lady urgently needed to speak with me. As I stepped out, I noticed a young, tired-looking woman with a baby in her arms. Nervously, she explained that her husband—a prisoner in a nearby prison—was my next patient. She told me she wasn’t allowed to visit her husband in prison and that he had never seen his son. Her request was for me to let the boy’s father sit in the waiting room with her as long as possible before I called him for his appointment（约见）. Since my schedule wasn’t full, I agreed. After all, it was Christmas Eve.
A short time later, her husband arrived—with chains on his feet and hands, and two armed guards as bodyguards. The woman’s tired face lit up like our little Christmas tree when her husband took a seat beside her. I kept glancing out to watch them laugh, cry and share their child. After almost an hour, I called the prisoner back to my office. The patient seemed like a gentle and modest man. I wondered what he possibly could have done to be held under such conditions. I tried to make him as comfortable as possible.
At the end of the appointment, I wished him a Merry Christmas—a difficult thing to say to a man headed back to prison. He smiled and thanked me. He also said he felt saddened by the fact that he hadn’t been able to get his wife anything for Christmas. On hearing this, I was inspired with a wonderful idea.
I’ll never forget the look on both their faces as the prisoner gave his wife the beautiful, long-stemmed roses. I’m not sure who experienced the most joy—the husband in giving, the wife in receiving, or myself in having the opportunity to share in this special moment.
51.What can be inferred from the first paragraph?
A. The writer was a newcomer to her office.
B. A fellow sent her a dozen red roses as Christmas present.
C. She was in low spirits because she had to work before Christmas.
D. She was at work with a light heart.
52. The young woman came to the writer’s office for the purpose of .
A. having her baby examined
B. giving her husband a chance to make his escape
C. having her husband examined
D. getting a chance for her family to get together
53.The underlined part in Paragraph 3 most probably means “ ”.
A. to be sent to hospital B. to be separated from his family
C. to be comfortable D. to become a prisoner
54. What does the writer learn from the story?
A. The wife experienced the most joy in receiving.
B. An act of kindness can mean a lot.
C. The prisoner was treated with mercy.
D. Whoever breaks the law should be punished.
.
It is sometimes said that strange flying objects have been seen high up in the sky. People call these strange objects Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). These UFOs caused a lot of interest. Some of the reports about them are difficult to believe. Some have been explained in scientific ways. Others have never been explained. Here is an account of UFOs from a report.
Dennis Burdens, who wrote an article, tells us that he once saw a UFO himself. He was having dinner one night with a friend near Tripoli, Libya, and after dinner the two men walked across a yard to his room to look at some papers. Burdens noticed that the moon looked strange that night.
“It wasn’t the moon,” was the reply.
They watched the light and saw that it was moving. It seemed to be an object rather like a big plate. In some ways it looked like smoke with a light on it, but it wasn’t smoke because it didn’t change its shape. It was moving in a regular way. That is to say, it didn’t go suddenly faster or more slowly, and it didn’t go higher or lower. So the two men decided that there must be men in it.
After that, Burdens said that he felt eyes looking at him. He was being watched in the darkness.
When it was nearer, they noticed that the bottom parts were brighter than the top. The bottom was yellow and the top red. Then the object suddenly turned away and left Libya, moving very fast.
On a later day Burdents talked to other people about it, and he found some who had seen it. They all described it in the same way. Could they all be mistaken?
64．UFOs are_________.
A．flying high up in the sky B．very interested
C．difficult to believe D．strange flying objects
65．A UFO was seen one night_________.
A．while they were looking at the light
B．when they were walking across a yard to Burdens room
C．when Burdens noticed the moon appearing strange
D．while they were having dinner
66．The UFO looked like_________.
A．a large plate B．smoke C．light D．a jumping object
67．The UFO was seen_________.
A．by Burdens and his friend
B．brighter in the darkness
C．to have a yellow bottom and a red top in the same way
D．by several people
.
Chinese is spoken by more people than any other language in the world. The Chinese economy is the fastest growing economy in the world. China is developing so quickly that it may be the dominant economic power in the not so distant (遥远的) future.
Today, more and more people are seeing the benefits (好处) of learning the most widely spoken language in the world. Learning Chinese is not only fun and greatly satisfying, but also can create valuable opportunities for students and working professionals in today’s changing world. We offer Chinese language learners a chance to study one-on-one with experienced native Chinese teachers through the Internet, no matter what country they live in.
eChineseLearning provides Chinese language learners an effective (有效的) platform to help them reach their Chinese learning goals in an efficient (效率高的) manner. Our duty is to provide the best Chinese language education service worldwide at an affordable price. We always focus on (集中于) the needs of our customers. And offer them the best language learning experience.
Our management team is made up of members with rich experience in Chinese language instruction from world-famous universities such as Stanford University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Beijing Language and Culture University, all working together to create the best possible product and language learning experience.
60．The underlined word “dominant” in the first paragraph probably means “_________”.
A．most interesting B．most important
C．most useful D．most popular
61．eChineseLearning is probably_________.
A．an online Chinese language school B．an online Chinese language newspaper
C．an online Chinese advertising company D．an online Chinese trading company
62．All the management members of eChineseLearning are from_________.
A．Chinese universities B．American universities
C．world-famous universities D．world-famous companies
63．This passage mainly tells us_________.
A．how to learn Chinese from eChineseLearning
B．why we need to learn Chinese
C．the Chinese economy is growing fastest
D．eChineseLearning can provide good Chinese language training
.
第三部分:阅读理解
What happens to old school buses when they can no longer safely carry kids to school? Most go to waste factories to be changed into pieces of metal. But a few of the old vehicles (车辆) find new lives in the center of Africa. Most of those buses end up on the streets of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Kinshasa buses are that yellow color, which makes them stand out (突出) in the city’s heavy traffic, but the buses don’t look at all as they did in the United States. In Kinshasa their taillights(尾灯) are almost all missing or broken. They don’t obey traffic rules and often race around the city very fast. The buses compete with motorcycles, cars, trucks, and other vehicles for space on the road. They make loud sounds when moving, and they are packed with people carrying loads of goods, such as fish, milk, beans and onions.
However, Kinshasa business people love the old, yellow buses, which they buy from American companies, because the vehicles are strong, reliable (可依靠的) and inexpensive. A used bus sells for about $2,000 in Congo. A new bus is more expensive. In the United States, a new school bus with all its lights working costs about $80,000.
The fare (票价) to travel across the city is usually about 30 US cents. “Transport is a big problem in Kinshasa,” says passenger Bruce Kingambo. “But the yellow buses help people here get around.”
56．The underlined sentence in the first paragraph means “In the center of Africa some old US school buses can be_________.”
A．useful B．expensive C．free D．new
57．Before the school buses leave America for Congo, they_________
A．have broken taillights
B．don’t obey the traffic rules and move at full speed
C．carry many people and goods
D．don’t compete with other vehicles
58．How many used buses can you buy in Congo for the price of a completely new school bus in the USA?
A．10. B．20. C．30. D．40.
59．The passage mainly tells us _________
A．how to use old school buses
B．about new lives for old school buses
C．to try to take old school buses
D．how to drive old school buses
.
Tell the truth or just lie?
You’re busy filling out the application form for a position you really need; let’s assume you once actually completed a couple of years of college work or even that you completed your degree. Isn’t it tempting to lie just a little, to claim on the form that your diploma represents a Harvard degree? Or that you finished an extra couple of years back at State University?
More and more people are turning to final trick like this to land their job or to move ahead in their careers, for personnel officers, like most Americans, value degrees from famous schools. A job applicant may have a good education anyway, but he or she assumes that chances of being hired are better with a diploma from a well-known university. Registrars at most well known colleges say they deal with deceitful like these at the rate of about one per week.
Personnel officers do check up degrees listed on application forms, then. If it turns out that an applicant is lying, most colleges are reluctant to accuse the applicant directly. One Ivy League school calls them “impostors(骗子)”；Another refers to them as “special cases” one well-known West Coast school, in perhaps the most delicate phrase of all, says that these claims are made by ”no such people.”
To avoid total lies, some job-seekers claim that they “attended” or “were associated with” a college or university. After carefully checking, a personal officer may discover that “attending” means being dismissed after one semester. It may be that “being associated with” a college means that the job seeker visited his younger brother for a football weekend. One school that keeps records of false claim says that the practice dates back at least to the turn of the century-that’s when they began keeping records, anyhow.
If you don’t want to lie or even stretch the truth, there are companies that will sell you a phony(假的) diploma. One company, with offices in New York and on the West Coast, will put your name on a diploma from any number of nonexistent colleges. The price begins at around twenty dollars for a diploma from “Smoot State University.” The prices increase rapidly for a degree from the “University of Purdue.” As there is no Smoot State and the real school in Indiana is properly called Purdue University, the prices seem rather high for one sheet of paper.
72.The main idea of this passage is that______.
A. employers are checking more closely on applicants now
B. lying about college degrees has become a widespread problem
C. college degrees can now be purchased easily
D. employers are no longer interested in college degrees
73.According to the passage, “special cases” refers to cases where______.
A. students attend a school only part-time
B. students never attended a school they listed on their application
C. students buy false degrees from commercial firms
D. students attended a famous school
74.We can infer from the passage that______.
A. performance is a better judge of ability than a college degree
B. experience is the best teacher
C. past work histories influence personnel officers more than degrees do
D. a degree from a famous school enables an applicant to gain advantage over others in job competition
75.This passage implies that______.
A. buying a false degree is not normal
B. personnel officers only consider applicants from famous schools
C. most people lie on applications because they were dismissed from school
D. society should be greatly responsible for lying on applications