阅读理解
When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind.
When Doctor Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He hardly watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said you had to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water. So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he’d beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty five years ago. They were all tall, big and robust since they have deep roots now.
I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of attending these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. Adversity(逆境) seemed to benefit Doctor Gibb’s trees in ways comfort and ease never could.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to meet with hardship. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be torn apart.With the trees planted, Doctor Gibbs __________
| A.kept watering them every morning |
| B.paid little attention to them |
| C.talked to them to get their attention |
| D.beat them to make them grow deep roots |
The underlined word “robust” in para.3 probably means _________?
| A.strange | B.deep | C.strong | D.old |
Which of the following will be the author’s prayer on the days ahead?
| A.Have an easy life, without too much to worry about. |
| B.Meet people like Dr. Gibbs in the future. |
| C.Have good luck, encountering less hardship in their life. |
| D.Be able to stand the rain and wind in their lives. |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A.Growing roots |
| B.Doctor Gibbs and his trees |
| C.Prayers for my sons |
| D.Watering trees |
B
From E-mail to online shopping, you may think you’ve heard everything there to know about the electronic frontier (新领域).But with hundreds of thousands of Web pages being added weekly, there are plenty of surprises out there.Here are some of the most intriguing (有迷惑力的).
……
Put your kid on a greeting card.Here is how: simply take some pictures with a regular camera, and then ask the photo service to develop them digitally (数字化).For a small fee, you’ll receive your photos on a desk.Put that into your computer and, with a few clicks of the mouse, you can view your photos on the screen.With a few more keystrokes, you can attach the photos to email and send them to friends and relatives worldwide.
Sign on to one or several greeting card’s Websites (http://www.cardcentral.net/ is an index of more than 1200 electronic card sites) and create an electronic birthday or holiday card.Using your digital photos, you can paste your grandchildren onto the cover.
If you don’t want to use your own photos, go to cards.amzon.com to browse (浏览) hundreds of images in over 30 categories…all of which you can attach to an electronic greeting card for free.For a nominal fee(很低的费用)you can choose from a library of 75,000 images at http://www.phontodisc.com/.
Call Australia for free.To have a telephone conversation over the Internet, the person you want to talk to no longer needs a computer.Now all you need to talk to someone in Sydney is one computer with speakers, a microphone, a sound card and some software (available at http://www.vocaltec.com/ or Mricrosoft.com).Typically, you’ll pay a monthly fee (usually under $20) to a service provider, but after that, the calls themselves are local.Sound quality is the same as that of a cell phone.
Even if you don’t have a computer, you can still use the Web to reduce your long distance phone costs.Some companies offer a service that lets you use an ordinary phone to call another ordinary phone, but charge only a few cents per minute for US calls, because they send them through the Internet.
Today 48 percent of American homes have computers…a figure that is expected to climb to 60 percent by 2003.And by the end of the next decade, Americans will likely be spending more time shopping, banking, investing and learning on the Internet than in the real world.If you can’t do or find something on the Net today, you probably can tomorrow.
60.Over the Internet, you ________.
A.can hear everything there
B.will meet with plenty of surprises which come out every week.
C.will hear the things about the electronic frontier
D.can find some things are very interesting
61.From the passage we can infer that _________.
A.fewer people will use the Internet in the following ten years
B.more people will study in the regular school by the end of the next decade
C.fewer people will go to the regular school in the following ten years
D.more money will be needed for a long-distance call by the end of the next decade
62.If you want to attach to photo to your e-mail, you have to ________ it.
A.digitalize B.take C.picture D.send
63.Which of the following is NOT true?
A.A telephone conversation over the Internet can be carried out without computers.
B.Over the Internet, the receiver of the phone conversation doesn’t need a computer.
C.The phone conversations over the Internet are much cheaper.
D.The long-distance calls are local themselves.
B
You have heard of Webster Toys. Websters have made good safe and interesting toys for more than a hundred years. Now we sell them, and children play with them, in countries from New Zealand to Norway(挪威), and from Japan to Brazil
(巴西). We are looking for someone to sell our toys in the Far East. He(She) will be between the age
s of thirty and forty. He will already have some years of selling in world markets behind him. He will speak good English and at least one other language of the Far East.
The person we are looking for will live in Singapore, and work in our office there but he will travel for up to six months in other countries in one year. He will know the Far East well. He should know how to sell in established(建立) markets and where to find new ones. He will know to make more money than ever, for himself and for Webster Toys.
Websters want someone who can stand on his own feet. If you think you are the person we are looking for, write to Mr.J.Sloman at our office. Webster Toys Company Church Mill Watford.
51. What are Webster Toys?
A. An old kind of toys.
B. Factories where good, safe and interesting toys are made.
C. People who are famous for making toys for children.
D. A company that has been making and selling toys.
52.We can most probably read the text _______.
A. I a book B. in a dictionary C. in a novel D. in a newspaper
53 . Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. If you are thirty years old, you can apply for the position.
B. If you live in Singaore, you can get the position.
C. If you speak good English , you can get the position.
D. The company is looking for some salesmen or saleswomen.
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和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Short and shy, Ben saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket---anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the object of jokes in school gym classes in England’s rural Devonshire.
It was a mount
ain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to cycle along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s School of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man’s cold-water exploits(成就). Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future.
Journeys to the Pole aren’t the usual holidays for British country boys, and many people dismissed his dream as fantasy. John Ridway was one of the few who didn’t say, “You’re completely crazy,” Saunders says.
In 2001, after becoming a skilled skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. He suffered frostbite, had a close encounter(遭遇) with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit.
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.
This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to explore from the coast of Antarctica to the Sou
th Pole and back, an 1800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis.
46. The turning point in Saunders’ life came when________.
A. he started to play ball games
B. he got a mountain bike at age 15
C. he ran his first marathon at age 18
D. he started to receive Ridgway’s training
47. We can learn from the text that Ridgway_________.
A. dismissed Saunders’ dream as fantasy
B. built up his body together with Saunders
C. hired Saunders for his cold-water experience
D. won his fame for his voyage across the Atlantic
48. What do we know about Saunders?
A. He once worked at a school in Scotland.
B. He followed Ridgway to explore the North Pole.
C. He was chosen for the school sports team as a kid.
D. He was the first Briton to ski alone to the North Pole.
49. The underlined word “Intrigued” in the third paragraph probably means______.
A. excited B. convinced C. delighted D. fascinated
50. It can be inferred that Saunders’ journey to the North Pole _______.
A. was accompanied by his old playmates
B. set a record in the North Pole expedition
C. was supported by other Antarctic explorers
D. made him well-known in the 1960s
D
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It is also one of the most interesting. It was named after Jupiter, the most important of the Roman gods, and nicknamed the “King of Planets.” It is the fifth planet from the sun and the fourth brightest object in the sky. Before the invention of the telescope, Jupiter was thought to be a bright star.
In 1610, the famous astronomer Galileo realised that Jupiter was actually a planet. He also noticed that it had four large moons. These are known as the Galilean moons. The biggest is Ganymede, and it is larger than the planets Pluto and Mercury. Next in size is Callisto, which is the farthest away from Jupiter. It is the closest to the planet, and has a lot of active volcanoes. The smallest of the Galilean moons is Europa. Europa is covered in ice, and scientists believe there may be an ocean underneath.
Galileo's discovery that Jupiter was not a star but a planet was very important. Before this time, people believed the Earth to be the centre of the universe. They thought that the sun, stars, and other planets all revolved around the Earth. However, Galileo proved that the sun was at the centre of the universe!
(A) Jupiter is farther out in the solar system than Earth, so it takes longer to revolve around the sun. (B) However, a day on Jupiter is much shorter, only 9.8 Earth hours. (C) This is because it spins(旋转) a lot faster than the Earth does. (D)
Another of Jupiter's interesting features(特性) is its “Great Red Spot.” On the surface of the planet is a large red spot. The spot is actually a huge storm like a hurricane, but bigger. It covers an area twice as big as the Earth and has been going on for at least 400 years!
62. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Features of the planet Jupiter.
B. Differences between Jupiter and other planets.
C. Galileo's accomplishments in astronomy(天文).
D. How Jupiter moves in the solar system.
63. According to Paragraph 3, why is Galileo's discovery important?
A. Because Jupiter was thought to be smaller than Earth.
B. Because people knew that Earth is not the only planet.
C. Because it meant that the planet goes around the Earth.
D. Because it proved that Earth is not the centre of the universe.
64. The underlined word “revolved” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to .
A. approached B. stopped C. sped up D. circled
65. Where would the following sentence best fit into Paragraph 4, (A), (B), (C) or (D)?
This means that one year on Jupiter is as long as 11.6 Earth years.
C
What is it that makes people happy? Youth, health, a good job, good looks, a flash car? None of these things, Spanish experts say.
The concept(概念) of happiness is thought to be determined by genetics, while the rest depends on childhood environment and the process(过程) of growing up. Perhaps the most surprising thing about happiness is coming under increasingly close examination in Spain.
As the nation rises to the club of the world's wealthiest countries, people are discovering that material(物质的) things do not bring happiness.
"Most people use money as a measure of human value," says Jesus Ynfante, author of a book on Spain's 300 biggest fortunes. "Expensive products are regarded as the best. The rich are admired simply for being rich," Ynfante said.
Yet psychologists(心理学家) warn that happiness as a moment of ecstatic pleasure(狂喜)--something that, by definition(定义) ,cannot last--while others speak of it as peace and acceptance of oneself. Polls(问卷调查) in different countries indicate that between 65 and 85 percent of the world's population regard themselves as reasonably happy.
Around 40 percent of a person's happiness is that it has little to do with age, health, wealth, or other values thought to be important in Western society. For most Spaniards, happiness is linked with feeling close to other people. Happy people accept their limitations and set themselves reachable goals, experts say.
There are life-style choices that favour happiness, such as exercise, eating carbohydrates and exposing oneself to sunlight. But the main secret of happiness is to take pleasure in small things.
“If you are given a choice between eternal(永久的)happiness and a cheese sandwich, take the sandwich,” advises musician Julian Hernandez.
58. Spain, as this passage tells us, __________.
A. has built more clubs than the other countries
B. has owned the largest group of experts
C. has become one of the richest countries in the world
D. has produced the most wealth in the world
59. It can be concluded that Jesus Ynfante is__________.
A. a famous expert B. a famous psychologist
C. one of the richest Spaniards D. familiar with the richest Spaniards
60. As psychologists warn in this passage, people can't feel happy even if they_________.
A. have too much money B. only care about themselves
C. don't do any homework D. have a few relations
61 Happy people, as we can find in this passage, __________.
A. are always full of feelings B. are always born in rich families
C. always enjoy every achievement they get D. always look down upon themselves