For as long as they can remember Jynne Martin and April Surgent had both dreamed of going to Antarctica. This winter, they each made it to the icy continent as guests of the National Science Foundation (NSF). But they didn’t go as scientists. Martin is a poet and Surgent is an artist. They went to Antarctica as participants in the NSF’s Artists and Writers program. The NSF is the government agency that funds scientific research in Antarctica. But it also makes it possible for artists, including filmmakers and musicians, to experience Antarctica and contribute their own points of view to our understanding of the continent.
The mixing of science and art in Antarctica isn’t new. Some of the earliest explorers brought along painters and photographers. Edward Wilson was a British painter, doctor, and bird expert who journeyed with Robert Falcon Scott on two separate Antarctic expeditions more than 100 years ago. Herbert Ponting was a photographer who also accompanied Scott on one of those expeditions. In hundreds of photos, Ponting captured the beauty of the continent and recorded the daily lives and heroic struggles of the explorers.
Today’s scientists write articles for scientific journals. Unlike the early explorers’ journals, scientific papers can now be very difficult for non-scientists to understand. Writers in Antarctica work to explain the research to the public. Peter Rejcek is editor, writer, and photographer for the Antarctic Sun, an online magazine devoted to news about the U.S. Antarctic Program. Rejcek began his career in the Antarctic in 2003 by spending a year at the South Pole. He has returned every year since, interviewing scientists about research at Palmer, McMurdo, and South Pole stations.
There are also scientists in Antarctica who work hard to explain their research to the public. Scientist Diane McKnight wrote The Lost Seal, a children’s book that explains the research she and others are doing in an unusual ice-free area in Antarctica called the Dry Valleys.
Antarctica is full of stories and wonders that are scientific, historical, and personal. People such as Martin, Surgent, Rejcek, and McKnight are devoted to bringing those stories to as many people as they can. “Some people are going to be scientists, some people are going to be journalists, some people are going to be artists, but we can all work together,” says Surgent, “to celebrate this extraordinary place.”What do we know about the NSF?
| A．It is a government agency. |
| B．It only funds scientists in Antarctica. |
| C．It encourages the understanding of human nature. |
| D．It enables the mixing of science and art for the first time. |
Why didn’t some earliest explorers bring writers along?
| A．Writers were not funded at that time. |
| B．Writing can’t capture the beauty of the continent. |
| C．Writers were not interested in popularizing science. |
| D．Early explorers’ journals can be easily understood by the public. |
By mentioning Diane McKnight, the author may try to suggest that ______.
| A．scientists should explain their research to children |
| B．writers are not necessary since scientists can tell stories as well |
| C．telling stories to children is more important than knowing the truth |
| D．no matter what role we play, we can work together to appreciate Antarctica |
What would be the best title for this article?
| A．Antarctica: A Land for All |
| B．The NSF: A Program for All |
| C．Antarctica: A Land of Beauty and Stories |
| D．The NSF: A Program for Artists and Scientists |
Some people who find themselves facing a problem react by just giving up. But it is not good to escape from problems by giving up or by making excuses for failures. You may be sure that all young people go through the same difficult process that you are going through: meeting new situations, developing new skills, and testing their abilities.
If you are unhappy about something, face it. Try to state the problem in a few words, so that you will know exactly what you are up against. Then see if you can “put your finger” on the cause of your unhappiness.
In many cases, we only “think” there is no solution to a particular problem. But often we can overcome the problem and achieve the goal by making a direct attack.
For example, a boy wanted to be a debater(辩论家). When he tried out for the debating team as a freshman, the coach thought he was hopeless. He was shy; he had a high-pitched voice; and his posture(体态) was poor. Although he was given little hope of success, he took advantage of every opportunity to debate. He studied successful speakers and evaluated his own weaknesses and advantages. Then he spent many hours learning all the facts on the topics for debate, and worked at developing good posture and at speaking clearly. By his junior year, he made the school debating team, and in his senior year he was on the winning team in his state. He achieved his goal because he had made a direct attack upon his problem.
Although direct attack is often the best way to meet problems, we have to be realistic(现实的) in judging situations. Sometimes it is necessary to change either the method or the goal.
A boy who wants to be a great football player may not be too strong and not quite fast enough for football. In this situation, becoming a great football player may be an unreasonable goal for him. However, he may become outstanding in tennis or golf, and satisfy his desire to take part in sports.
A girl who is not good-looking may decide that she cannot win popularity with her face, and so she may try to develop an interesting personality, which eventually will get her much further. In this situation, she must change her method of achieving her goal.
So, although direct attack is often the best way to handle problems, it is important to study the situation and make a wise decision about what to do.
63. From the first paragraph, we can infer that .
A. not all people will meet the problems that they can’t solve
B. not all people can solve the problems that they meet
C. all people will not give up finding the solutions to problems
D. all people will make some excuses for failures
64. The underlined phrase “are up against” in the second paragraph could be best replaced by .
A. are dealing with B. are faced with C. meet with D. look after
65. Which of the following best shows the structure of the text?
(①-⑧ stand for “paragraph 1—paragraph 8”)
A. ① B. ①
② ② ③
③④ ⑤⑥⑦⑧ ④⑤ ⑥⑦⑧
C. ① D. ①
② ② ③
③④⑤ ⑥⑦⑧ ④⑤⑥ ⑦⑧
66. Which of the following is not right?
A. When we meet difficulties, it is the best to give a direct attack.
B. If a girl is not good looking, she’d better change her style of appearance.
C. Whenever we face difficulty, we can find a way out, whatever it is.
D. Both a direct attack and a good analysis of the reality are good for solving problems.
It might have been a really bad stressful day, feeling trapped inside by the cold and snow which surrounded us. My husband was the first to shift his consciousness. He dressed accordingly and announced that he was going outside to build a giant snowman.
At first he stood alone, piling massive amounts of snow. Soon after a neighbor joined in my husband’s quest to embrace the opportunity the winter presented. Maintaining less than desirable attitudes, we reluctantly put on our snow gear(用具) and headed outside. It wasn’t long before we were smiling and enjoying the abundance of snow that Mother Nature had provided. Others came to our yard one by one to give a hand in the making of our giant snowman.
In the end we all stood back and marveled at what we had created. He was eleven feet high, twenty-five feet around at the base and decorated with many household items supplied by various families. There he stood, our glorious, gigantic (巨人般的) snowman.
People drove by and smiled. Some even stopped to enjoy his existence. The spirit that went into creating him seemed to catch on and we all enjoyed it while the cold temperatures allowed.
With the passing of time, the spring made its way back into our yard and the snowman changed form considerably. In a final effort to save what we created for just a little bit longer somebody stopped by and changed the snowman’s remains to look like a rabbit.
As I prepared for the start of another week, I decided to check my email before going to bed. I found a curious message that contained the subject line: enjoy the snowman. I decided to read the message even though I did not recognize who sent it. The words it contained melted my heart.
The email said: … your neighbor looks on in disbelief! I am sure you people are enjoying the sounds and smells, along with sights of spring. The energy displayed in Mr. Snowman or Ms, is filled with vigor and joyous energy. You and your family keep it up, as this is what the world needs now. Love sweet love. More power to you and your loved ones, keep sharing with the world around.
Perhaps it was more than snowman we built that day. I’d like to agree that it was. The message seems clear. Our circumstances will turn out to be what we make of them. The possibilities are endless and the choice is ours.
60. How did the author plan to spend that cold day at first?
A. By having a busy day. B. By staying at home. C. By building a snowman. D. By visiting neighbors.
61. The reason for her husband to make a snowman was that ________.
A. he had to please his neighbors B. he was better at it than others
C. he wanted to cheer himself up D. he must get the last chance before spring
62. From the passage we can know that the snowman_______.
A. was built only by the author’s family B. was surprisingly big in size
C. made people more forgiving D. made building snowman popular
第三部分阅读理解
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
By analyzing academic data from 10 states, representing the testing of more than 7.2 millions of youths, U.S. researchers found that gender differences in math scores were extremely small among all ethnic groups in grades 2-11.
These findings are in contrast to earlier results from 1990 that indicate measurable differences favoring males in complex problem-solving, beginning in the high school years.
Janet Hyde from University of Wisconsin and colleagues reported their study results in the journal Science on Friday.
Currently, women are largely absent from the highest levels of careers in mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering. In the United States, Ph.D. programs in engineering currently average only about 15 percent women, and similar statistics have led to stereotypes (成见)about girls and women lacking in mathematical ability.
Now, it is clear that the general population no longer shows a gender difference in mathematical skills, according to this latest report.
And this new data on academic performance in the United States shows that students are tested frequently on "recall" and "skill/concept" items, but rarely on "strategic thinking"(战略思维) or "extended thinking" concepts.
If standardized tests do not assess (评估)the sorts of reasoning that are crucial to careers in science and math, then the skills may not be taught, putting American students at a disadvantage to students in other countries where testing and instruction focuses on more challenging content. "This is a gap that should be fixed," Hyde said.
56. What is the best title of the passage?
A. A new study result about math. B. No gender differences in math.
C. Girls are not good at math. D. Girls do better in math than boys.
57. The underlined word “crucial” in the last paragraph most probably means______.
A. necessary B. unimportant C. important D . cruel
58. What Hyde said in the last paragraph means that ________.
A. standardized tests should assess the sorts of reasoning so that the skills may be taught
B. testing and instruction focuses on more challenging content in the USA
C. students in other countries are cleverer than American students
D. students should be tested frequently on "recall" and "skill/concept" items
59. The passage is most probably taken from _______.
A. a science magazine B. a research paper C. a personal diary D. a newspaper
At 227 billion yuan ($33 billion) for 2008, Guangdong's cultural industries accounted for 6.4 percent of its GDP and experienced a growth rate of 13.8 percent. But Lai admits that size does not equal weight. "Our businesses are mostly small, financing difficult and brands few."
One local brand that has made it big is Pleasant Goat and Big, Big Wolf, also translated as Happy Sheep and Gray Wolf, China's most popular cartoon series currently being aired. But Liu Manyi, general manager of Creative Power Entertaining Inc, the firm behind the hit show, is not laughing to the bank. Instead she is bitter: "Pirate discs were all over the streets before our first movie hit the screen. Their images appear on all kinds of products. All this has no proper licensing."
In case you don't know, China produces the largest amount of animated(动画的) programming in the world. But quantity is not quality. Behind every Pleasant Goat there are tens of thousands of flops. The best way for the government to promote the country's creative industries is to crack down on piracy (盗版). Hollywood often raises its voice about being victimized (受害) in China. Truth be told, Hollywood is probably the least affected since there is a quota system for China's importation of Hollywood films.
Many Chinese producers are taking baby steps and the domestic market is all they have. If their rights in the home market are not protected, they will never see the day their products find a foreign audience.
The sudden closure(关闭) of BT websites where copyrighted materials used to flow freely suggests a determination on the part of the government to take intellectual property rights seriously. This kind of websites is bad for us, so we should ban them.
Much of the news coming out of the 2009 International Cultural Industries Forum was encouraging. China's film industry is expected to get 6 billion yuan ($879 million) in box office receipts this year. A decade from now, this number may go up to 30 billion, according to some forecasts.
If the government takes serious action against online and offline pirates, China's creative industries may well have a bright future.
51. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 1 mean?
A. Fast as the development of Guangdong's cultural industries is, they don’t have a big challenge in the world.
B. Guangdong's cultural industries can make a big profit although they are just the small companies.
C. Guangdong's cultural industries make a big contribution to its GDP because of their strong economic power.
D. The development of Guangdong's cultural industries cannot catch up with any other
industries.
52. What does Liu Manyi think about Pleasant Goat and Big, Big Wolf?
A. It is a failure since it is a local brand.
B. It is a success but cannot get the expected profit.
C. Its profit from the images has been shared legally.
D. Pirate discs make it more popular among the children.
53. Hollywood films are mentioned to tell us that __________.
A. Hollywood films make our creative industries have less space to survive
B. it is piracy that makes it possible for Hollywood films to get less influenced
C. our creative industries need enough protection to have a bright future
D. foreign films have taken up more market in China than the local ones
54. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Chinese creative industries are more advanced than foreign ones.
B. The domestic market is of little significance to the survival of Chinese creative
industries.
C. BT websites stand in the way of the development of Chinese creative industries.
D. The growth of China's film industry is always slow and needs more support.
55. In which column of a newspaper will you probably read this passage?
A. Regional B. Economic C. Sports D. Cartoon
About 97% of the world’s water is salty and is found in our oceans and seas. But, as we can’t drink sea water, how can it be important?
Every part of our seas and oceans contains an amazing number of animals and fish that live at different ocean depths. Most of the different species of animals and fish depend on simple plants for their food. These simple plants called algae (海藻) drift near the surface of the ocean and use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into food and oxygen. In fact, algae produce over half of the oxygen people breathe. How important sea water is!
Each plant or animal in our seas and oceans is an important link in a food chain. The algae are eaten in large amounts by microscopic animals, which are in turn consumed by larger animals. These food chains are delicately balanced.
The bad news about the food chains in the oceans is that they are under threat because of man. People once thought that the oceans were so big that it didn’t matter if we dumped rubbish into them or caught huge quantities of fish and whales for food. But we now know this is not true and fish stocks in the oceans have started to drop.
Thankfully, the world is taking steps to protect the future of our oceans by introducing international agreements to protect marine habitats. Most countries have introduced fishing restrictions to protect fish stocks in the oceans and new techniques are being pioneered to cope with pollution. Finally, the importance of protecting oceans is being made known to more people. This is just the beginning of a long process to protect the oceans for our future. We depend on the oceans for fish which are an important part of the human diet. How important sea water is!
46. Which of the following is the proper order of the food chain?
A. small animals→algae→microscopic animals→large animals→man
B. algae→microscopic animals→large animals→larger animals→man
C. small animals→algae→large animals→microscopic animals→man
D. microscopic animals→algae→large animals →larger animals→man
47. People used to think that the rubbish thrown into the sea ________.
A. wouldn’t harm the fish in the sea B. would change the balance of the food chain
C. would be broken down in the sea D. wouldn’t do much harm to the sea
48. From the passage, we learn that _________.
A. most fish and sea animals live at the surface of the seas
B. it is very difficult to break the balance of a food chain
C. excessive fishing has caused the decrease in fish stock
D. it won’t be long before the problems concerning oceans will be solved
49. Which of the following is NOT a way being used to protect oceans?
A. The use of international agreements.
B. Forbidding fishing to protect fish stocks.
C. The use of new techniques.
D. Raising people’s awareness of the need to protect oceans.
50. What would be the best title of the passage?
A. The importance of seawater.
B. Life in the oceans.
C. How to protect food chains.
D. How to deal with seawater pollution.