Lastnight’smeteor(流星)showerlef-优题课

SYDNEY: As they sat sharing sweets beside a swimming pool in 1999. Shane Gould and Jessicah Schipper were simply getting along well, chatting about sport, life and anything else that came up.
Yet in Sydney next month, they will meet again by the pool, and for a short time the friends will race against each other in the 50 – meter butterfly in the Australian championships at Homebu Bay.
Gould, now a 47 – year – old mother of four, has announced she will be making a return to elite competition (顶级赛事) to swim the one event, having set a qualifying (合格的)time of 30. 32 seconds in winning gold at last year’s United States Masters championships. Her comeback comes 32 years after she won three golds at the Munich Olympics.
Schipper, now a 17 – year – old girl from Brisbane with a bright future of going to Athens for her first Olympics, yesterday recalled (回忆) her time with Gould five years ago.
“I was at a national youth camp on the Gold Coast and Shane had come along to talk to us and watch us train.” Schipper explained. “It seemed as if we had long been good friends. I don’t know why. We just started talking and it went from there.”
“She had a lot to share with all of us at that camp. She old us stories about what it was like at big meets like Olympics and what it was like to be on an Australian team. It was really interesting.”
Next time, things will be more serious: “I will still be swimming in the 50 m butterfly at the nationals, so there is a chance that I could actually be competing against Shane Gould.” said Schipper, who burst onto the scene at last year’s national championships with second places in the 100 m and 200 butterfly.
46．What is the passage mainly about?
A．Stories happening in swimming competitions.
B．Two women swimmers winning Olympic golds.
C．Lessons learned from international swimming championships.
D．Friendship and competition between two swimmers.
47．Gould and Schipper are going to____________.
A．talk about sport and life B．go back to elite competition
C．set a qualifying time and win gold D．take part in the same sports event
48．Gould won her three Olympic golds when she was____________.
A．15 B．17 C．22 D．30
49．The underlined word “it” in the fifth paragraph probably refers to .
A．the Olympics B．the youth camp
C．the friendship D．the Australian team
50．What Schipper said showed that she___________.
A．was no longer Gould’s friend B．had learned a lot from Gould
C．was not interested in Gould’s stories D．would not like to compete against Gould

Ⅲ阅读（共两节，满分40分）
第一节：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
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，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity, others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self – worth relied (依赖) on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life – and – death affairs. In their single – minded pursuit (追求) of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to se ek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self – respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve (缓解) can we discover a new meaning in competition.
41．What does this passage mainly talk about?
A．Competition helps to set up self – respect.
B．Opinions about competition are different among people.
C．Competition is harmful to personal quality development.
D．Failures are necessary experiences in competition
42．Why do some people favor competition according to the passage?
A．It pushes society forward. B．It builds up a sense of duty.
C．It improves personal abilities. D．It encourages individual efforts.
43．The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 means .
A．those who try their best to win
B．those who value competition most highly
C．those who are against competition most strongly
D．those who rely on others most for success
44．What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a desire to fail ?
A．One’s worth lies in his performance compared with others.
B．One’s success in competition needs great efforts.
C．One’s achievement is determined by his particular skills.
D．One’s success is based on how hard he has tried.
45．Which point of view may the author agree to?
A．Every effort should be paid back.
B．Competition should be encouraged.
C．Winning should be a life – and – death matter.
D．Fear of failure should be removed in competition.

Tell a story and tell it well, and you may open wide the eyes of a child, open up lines of communication in a business, or even open people’s mind to another culture or race.
People in many places are digging up the old folk stories and the messages in them. For example, most American storytellers get their tales from a wide variety of sources, cultures, and times. They regard storytelling not only as a useful tool in child education, but also as a meaningful activity that helps adults understand themselves as well as those whose culture may be very different from their own.
“ Most local stories are based on a larger theme(主题),” American storyteller Opalanga Pugh says, “ Cinderella(灰姑娘), or the central idea of a good child protected by her goodness, appears in various forms in almost every culture of the world.”
Working with students in schools, Pugh helps them understand their own cultures and the general messages of the stories. She works with prisoner too, helping them knowing who they are by telling stories that her listeners can write, direct, and act in their own lives. If they don’t like the story they are living in, they can rewrite the story. Pugh also works to help open up lines of communication between managers and workers. “For every advance in business,” she says, “ there is a greater need for communication.” Storytelling can have a great effect(影响) on either side of the manager-worker relationship, she says.
Pugh spent several years in Nigeria, where she learned how closely storytelling was linked to the everyday life of the people there. The benefits(益处) of storytelling are found everywhere, she says.
“I learned how people used stories to spread their culture,” she says, “What I do is to focus(重视) on the value of the stories that people can translate into their own daily world of affairs. We are all storytellers. We all have a story to tell. We tell everybody’s story.”
46. What do we learn about American storytellers from Paragraph 2?
A. They share the same way of storytelling.
B. They prefer to tell the stories from other cultures.
C. They learn their stories from the American natives.
D. They find storytelling useful for both children and adults.
47. The underlined sentence (Paragraph 4) suggests that prisoners can _____.
A. start a new life B. settle down in another place
C. direct films D. become good actors
48. Pugh has practised storytelling with _____ groups of people.
A. 2 B. 3 C. 4 D. 5
49．The underlined phrase “was linked to” in paragraph 5 means_______.
A. 脱节 B. 与…..无关 C. 与….联系 D.与…..不同
50. What is the main idea of the text?
A. Storytelling can influence(影响) the way people think.
B. Storytelling is important to the growth of business.
C. Storytelling is the best way to educate children in school.
D. Storytelling helps people understand themselves and others.

It was a spring day for end-of-the-year conferences(会议). Mrs. Lake reminded everyone that both parents and students should take part in these important reports, 20 minutes for each family.
Lauri’s name was at the end of the list. But it didn’t matter much to her. Despite the many phone calls her teacher had made, Lauri knew her parents would not be coming. Her father always got drunk, and her mother could do nothing but cry and quarrel with him.
Now Lauri watched all day long as each child went to the door leading into Mrs. Lake’s office, where parents would greet their sons and daughters with proud smiles. Lauri imagined how it might feel to have her parents greet her at the door.
When at last everyone else’s name had been called, Mrs.Lake opened the door and signed for Lauri to come in. Silently Lauri went in and sat down on a chair. As she felt rather uneasy that her parents had not come, she looked down. Mrs Lake had Lauri raise her face so she could see her in the eye. “First of all,” the teacher began, “I want you to know how much I love you.” Lauri saw things she’d never seen: kindness.
“Second,” the teacher continued, “you need to know it is not your fault that your parents are not here today.” Again Lauri looked into Mrs Lake’s face. No one had ever talked to her like this. No one.
“Third,” she went on, “you deserve to hear how well you are doing and how wonderful I think you are.” In the following minutes, Mrs Lake held a conference just for Lauri. She showed Lauri her grades, papers and projects, praising her efforts. She had ever saved a pile of watercolors Lauri had painted.
Lauri didn’t know exactly when, but at some point in that conference she heard the voice of hope in her heart. And somewhere a change started. It was then that Lauri realized, for the first time in her life, that she was lovable.
41. Why were parents required to come to the conferences?
A. To see how important it was to encourage their children.
B. To learn how their children had performed in their studies.
C. To report to the teacher how their children were doing at home.
D. To see how their children were getting along with their classmates.
42. How did Lauri feel at the end of the conference?
A. Encouraged B. Ashamed C. Challenged D. Disappointed
43. What does the underlined word “deserve” mean?
A. 必需　　　　　B. 得到　　　 C.　应该　　　　D.　可能
44. We learn from the text that Mrs. Lake ____________.
A. disliked Lauri’s parents
B. filled Lauri with hope and self-respect.
C. was worried about her poor performance
D. was dissatisfied with the end-of-the-year conferences.
45. What is the best title of this text?
A. A Parents’ Meeting B. Mrs Lake’s Kindness
C. Lauri’s Spring Day D. A Progress Reports Meeting

Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia(痴呆) in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones(荷尔蒙) , U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s(早老痴呆症). University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans.
“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy(怀孕) are protecting the brain, including estrogen(雌激素), which we know has many neuroprotective (保护神经的) effects,” Kinsley said.
“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview. “They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes.”
Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline.
“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.
“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic changes to the brain.”
51. How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”?
A. They know it by experimenting on rats. B. Many women say so.
C. Some researchers have told them. D. They know it through their own experience.
52. What does the phrase “litters of pups” mean in the second paragraph?
A. Old rats. B. Animals. C. Baby rats. D. Grown-up rats.
53. What can protect the brain of a woman according to the passage?
A. Estrogen. B. Taking care of children.
C. More exercise. D. The hormones of pregnancy.
54. “It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals.” What does the sentence suggest?
A. The experiments on the rats are much the same on humans.
B. The experiments on the rats are very important for animals.
C. The experiments on the rats have nothing to do with humans.
D. The experiments on the rats are much the same on other animals.
55. Which title is the best for this passage?
A. Do You Want to Be Smarter? B. An Important Study
C. Mysterious Hormones D. Motherhood Makes Women Smarter