Is it possible that the people of the world today could agree upon a single international language that everyone would be able to speak and understand?

  In the United Nations there are five official languages-English, Chinese,

Russian, French and Spanish. How about making one of them into an international language? English has been worked on for this purpose. A basic word list of 850 English words named Basic English was made. These are the only verbs in the entire list,“come, go, give, keep, let, do, put, make, say, be, seem, may, will, have, send.”Writing in Basic English may require you to use a greater number of words-as in having to say“It came to my ears”instead of I heard-but you can still say anything you want to with just 850 different words and a few sufixes(后缀)and prefixes(前缀).This is a much smaller number of words to have to remember than the ordinary number offered to the students of a foreign language.

  But people have always had a need to do more than simply“Tell it as it is”. Language is for reporting not only one's work. For this, a language needs idioms, needs all kinds of grammar and style(文体)that show its history and development just as a person needs eyebrows(眉毛). Is there some special reason why our lips should be a different color from the rest of our face? Perhaps not, but this is how people-real people-are. For communication between people, languages of all kinds will remain to reflect(反映)the growth and soul of the societies that speak them.

(1) The phrase“tell it as it is”in the third paragraph means __________.

[  ]

A.people can use Basic English to say what they want to

B.people think Basic English can express what they see or hear

C.people say what they want to according to the fact

D.people tell something they like to

(2) If we write a composition in Basic English, it will be________.

[  ]

A.longer than usual

B.shorter than usual

C.hard for us to express what we want to

D.able to express ourselves in different style as we like to

(3) Which of the following Statements is NOT true?

[  ]

A.Basic English is easier for students to learn.

B.Languages are like mirrors which can reflect the growth of the mankind.

C.Grammar and idioms are still necessary for us when we are learning a language.

D.Basic English will take the place not only of Queen's English, but also of the other languages in the world.

(4) This passage begins with a question.According to the writer's opinion, the answer to the question may be _________.

[  ]

A.it will be possible in the future

B.it seems to be possible if people agree to use Basic English

C.it seems impossible that people can use a simple language to express them-selves in various lives

D.it is impossible except that five official UN languages are used at the same time

(5) Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

[  ]

A.The words used in Basic English are strictly limited to 850, and nothing more.

B.Basic English is not a natural development of the English language.

C.Basic English can be used to express our thought easily.

D.Basic English seems not so easy to learn.

Some years ago, writing in my diary used to be a usual activity.I would return from school and spend the expected half hour recording the day's events, feelings, and impressions in my little blue diary.I did not really need to express my emotions by way of words, but I gained a certain satisfaction from seeing my experiences forever recorded on paper.After all, isn't accumulating memories a way of preserving the past?

When I was thirteen years old, I went on a long journey on foot in a great valley, wellequipped with pens, a diary, and a camera.During the trip, I was busy recording every incident, name and place I came across.I felt proud to be spending my time productively, dutifully preserving for future generations a detailed description of my travels.On my last night there, I wandered out of my tent, diary in hand.The sky was clear and lit by the glare of the moon, and the walls of the valley looked threatening behind their screen of shadows.I automatically took out my pen...

At that point, I understood that nothing I wrote could ever match or replace the few seconds I allowed myself to experience the dramatic beauty of the valley.All I remembered of the previous few days were the dull characterizations I had set down in my diary.

Now, I only write in my diary when I need to write down a special thought or feeling.I still love to record ideas and quotations that strike me in books, or observations that are particularly meaningful.I take pictures, but not very often—only of objects I find really beautiful.I'm no longer blindly satisfied with having something to remember when I grow old.I realize that life will simply pass me by if I stay behind the camera, busy preserving the present so as to live it in the future.

I don't want to wake up one day and have nothing but a pile of pictures and notes.Maybe I won't have as many exact representations of people and places; maybe I'll forget certain facts, but at least the experiences will always remain inside me.I don't live to make memories—I just live, and the memories form themselves.

1.Before the age of thirteen, the author regarded keeping a diary as a way of________.

Aobserving her school routine

Bexpressing her satisfaction

Cimpressing her classmates

Dpreserving her history

2.What caused a change in the author's understanding of keeping a diary?

AA dull night on the journey.

BThe beauty of the great valley.

CA striking quotation from a book.

DHer concerns for future generations.

3.What does the author put in her diary now?

ANotes and beautiful pictures.

BSpecial thoughts and feelings.

CDetailed accounts of daily activities.

DDescriptions of unforgettable events.

4.The author comes to realize that to live a meaningful life is________.

Ato experience it

Bto live the present in the future

Cto make memories

Dto give accurate representations of it

 

The octopus’s(章鱼)reputation as a human-killer isn’t simply an exaggeration(夸张)—it is a total myth. The octopus can indeed be a deadly hunter, but only of its natural victims. Some shellfish(壳类动物)and an occasional sick or incautious fish have reason to be frightened of this multi-armed hunter, but a person is much too large to interest even the biggest octopus. Even the largest among octopi is much smaller than most people imagine. Far from being large enough to swallow a ship, as monster octopi in movies have been known to do, the largest octopus, found on the Pacific coast, weighs around 110 pounds and grows to no more than ten feet in width.

   The hard, parrot-like beak(喙)of an octopus is not used for attacking deep-sea divers, but for cutting open shellfish. Indeed, the octopus possesses such a tiny throat that it cannot swallow large pieces of meat. Instead, it feeds by pouring digestive juices into its victims, and then sucking up the soupy remains. A shellfish that finds itself in the grasp of an octopus has only a short time to live. But human beings are perfectly safe. Still, people rarely care to go close enough to these careful creatures to get a good look at them.

1.This passage is mainly about           .

A.the horrors of the octopus

B.the largest octopus in the world

C.octopi and their behavior

D.the octopus’s deadly hunting method

2.It is implied but not stated in the passage that           .

A.people have unreasonable fears about the octopus

B.the octopus is not interested in human beings

C.the octopus is afraid of human beings

D.the octopus is a very cruel sea animal

3.What does the underlined part “careful creatures” refer to in the last paragraph?

A.Octopi.        B.Shellfish.     C.Fish.    D.The victims.

4.The hard beak of the octopus is used for           .

A.attacking deep-sea divers   B.cutting up large pieces of meat

C.cutting open its victims        D.defending itself

5.From the passage, we can conclude that           .

A.the octopus is not dangerous to man

B.people often fear creatures that are not dangerous to them

C.the octopus only hunts its natural victims

D.things described in movies are not to be believed

 

 

第四部分:任务型阅读(每小题1分,满分10分)

请认真阅读下面短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。

注意:每空格1个单词。

At the age of twelve years, the human body is at its most vigorous. It has yet to reach its full size and strength, and its owner his or her full intelligence; but at this age the likelihood of death is least. Earlier we were infants and young children, and consequently more vulnerable; later, we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigour and resistance which, though not felt at first, will finally become so sudden and quick that we can live no longer, however well we look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us. This decline in vigour with the passing of time is called ageing. It is one of the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make that we must decline in this way, that if we escape wars, accidents and diseases we shall eventually die of old age, and that this happens at a rate which differs little from person to person, so that there are heavy odds in favour of our dying between the ages of sixty-five and eighty. Some of us will die sooner, a few will live longer-- on into a ninth or tenth decade. But the chances are against it, and there is a virtual limit on how long we can hope to remain alive, however lucky and strong we are.

Normal people tend to forget this process unless and until they are reminded of it. We are so familiar with the fact that man ages, that people have for years assumed that the process of losing vigour with time, of becoming more likely to die the older we get, was something self-evident, like the cooling of a hot kettle or the wearing-out of a pair of shoes. They have also assumed that all animals, and probably other organisms such as trees, or even the universe itself, must in the nature of things 'wear out'. Most animals we commonly observe do in fact age as we do if given the chance to live long enough; and mechanical systems like a wound watch or the sun, do in fact run out of energy in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics (whether the whole universe does so is a matter about which there may be disagreement or uncertainty at present). But these are not similar to what happens when man ages. A run-down watch is still a watch and can be rewound. An old watch, by contrast, becomes so worn and unreliable that it eventually is not worth mending. But a watch could never repair itself, it does not consist of living parts, only of metal, which wears away by friction. We could, at one time, repair ourselves well enough, at least, to overcome all but the most instantly fatal illnesses and accidents. Between twelve and eighty years we gradually lose this power; an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out, and into our grave. If we could stay as vigorous as we are at twelve, it would take about 700 years for half of us to die, and another 700 for the survivors to be reduced by half again.

 

The ____71____ of ageing

Infants and children under 12 are more easily ____72___ physically or emotionally.

At 12, we are ____73____ active and full of energy.

Later, we will ___74___ our energy or enthusiasm continuously.

Finally we can’t live any longer no matter how ___75___ we are cared for.

The characteristics of ageing

Not noticeable at first

Not avoidable in the end

Not the ____76___ speed for everyone

People’s misunderstanding of ageing

Just taking the ageing with time ____77___ for granted.

Simply thinking all living things or other systems also ___78___ the same way as we humans do.

Truth about ageing

We humans can ___79___ ourselves well enough to live a longer life, ___80___ the other living things or systems can’t.

 

After her husband had gone to work, Mrs. Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was too excited to do any housework that morning, for in the evening she would be going to a fancy-dress party with her husband. She intended to dress up as a ghost(幽灵) and as she had made her costume the night before, she was impatient to try it on. Though the costume consisted only of a sheet, it was very effective. After putting it on, Mrs. Richards went downstairs. She wanted to find out whether it would be comfortable to wear.

Just as Mrs. Richards was entering the dining room, there was a knock on the front door. She knew that it must be the baker. She had told him to come straight in if ever she failed to open the door and leave the bread on the kitchen table. Not wanting to frighten the poor man, Mrs. Richards quickly hid in the small storeroom under the stairs. She heard the front door open and heavy footsteps in the hall. Suddenly the door of the storeroom was opened and a man entered. Mrs. Richards realized that it must be the man from the Electricity Board who had come to read the meter. She tried to explain the situation, saying “ It’s only me”, but it was too late. The man let out a cry and jumped back several paces. When Mrs. Richards walked towards him, he fled(逃走), slamming(砰然关上) the door behind him.

1..

 Mrs. Richards went upstairs because      .

   A. she did not need to do any housework

B. she still had to finish the costume she was going to wear

C. she wanted to change her clothes before doing the housework

D. she wanted to change into her fancy-dress costume

2..

. What do you think of Mrs. Richards’ costume?

 A. She had the costume made tonight.

B. It was comfortable to wear.

C. It didn’t work because it was made of only a sheet.

D. It was effective for the fancy dress.

3..

. By saying “ It’s only me”, Mrs. Richards hoped         .

A. the man would realize she was alone

B. to persuade the man he was seeing a ghost

C. the man would recognize her

D. the man would not close the door of the storeroom

4..

 Suppose you are the man from the Electricity Board, how do you feel in that situation?

A. Satisfied      B. Frightened       C. Worried     D. Disappointed.

 

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