Long bus rides are like television shows.They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials(商业广告)thrown in every three or for minutes.The commercials are unavoidable.They happen whether you want them or not.Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window.“Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” “Drink Good Wet Root Beer.” “Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of “You Need It!Buy It Now!”
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you've traveled that way before.Usually some things have changed new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road.The bus driver has a style of driving and it's fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so.If the driver is particularly reckless(鲁莽的)or daring, the ride can be as thrilling(惊心动魄)as a suspense story, will the driver move into the right―or the left-hand lane?After a while, of course, the excitement dies down.Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride.Food always makes bus rides more interesting.But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat.Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning.You know it will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement in that.The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed.By now you have sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rest even with your hands crossed behind your head.The end comes just at no more ways to sit.
(1)
According to the passage, what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?
[ ]
A.
Buses on the road.
B.
Films on television.
C.
Advertisements on the billboards.
D.
Gas stations
(2)
What is the purpose of this passage?
[ ]
A.
To give the writer's opinion about long bus trips.
B.
To persuade you to take a long bus trip.
C.
To explain how bus trips and television shows differ.
D.
To describe the billboards along the road.
(3)
The writer of this passage would probably favor ________.
[ ]
A.
bus drivers who aren't reckless
B.
drive alone
C.
a television set on the bus
D.
no billboards along the road
(4)
The writer feels long bus rides are like TV shows because ________.
[ ]
A.
the commercials both on TV shows and on billboards along the road are fun
B.
they both have a beginning, a middle, and an end, with commercials in between
C.
the drivers are always reckless on TV shows just as they are on buses
D.
both traveling and watching TV are not exciting
(5)
The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are ________.
The pound new Library of Birmingham(LoB)will be the most visible sign of the way the city is accepting the digitalization(数字化)of everyday life.
Set to open in 2013, the £188 m LoB is already beginning to take shape next to the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with which it will share some equipment.
As digital media(媒介)is important to itsidea, 49the project is already providing chances for some of the many small new local companies working at new technologies.
Brian Gambles, the LoB project director, says 51.a it is about giving people the right tools for learning:“The aim is to mix the physical with the digital.51.b Providing 24-hour services which can be used through many different ways.It is important to enable us to reach more people, more effectively.”
The digital library will, he says, be as important as the physical one, allowing the distant use of the services, making sure that it is never closed to the public.
Even before the LoB is complete, the public has been able to go online to visit the Virtual(虚拟的)LoB, designed by Baden, the Birmingham virtual worlds specialists.50Not only have the public been able to learn about LoB, but the virtual one has also enabled those working on the LoN to understand the building and how it will work before ot even opens.
Two other small Birmingham-based digital companies are working on the LoB projects.Substrat, a digital design company, is developing what it calls an “enlarged reality” project.It is about the use of an exciting smart phone, an important part of LoB the which is the early stages of development.And The People’s Archive is an online library of figures of the city being built content company in Cahoots, 51.d in which users will be encouraged to add to and comment on the material.
Gambles says:“Technology will enable us to make the library’s and services open to citizens as sever before.”
(1)
The underline part “its idea” in Paragraph 3 refers to the idea of _________
[ ]
A.
the equipment
B.
the project
C.
the digital media
D.
the physical library
(2)
While visiting the Virtual LoB, the public can _________
[ ]
A.
get a general idea of the LoB
B.
meet more world-famous experts
C.
learn how to put up a library building
D.
understand how the specialists work on the project
(3)
Which of the following is true of the LoB when it opens?
[ ]
A.
a, b, d
B.
a, c, e
C.
b, c, d
D.
b, d, e
(4)
This text more probably from _________ .
[ ]
A.
a computer book
B.
a library guide
C.
a project handbook
D.
newspaper report
阅读理解
A structure thought to be the world's oldest building has been discovered under the sea off the coast of Japan, and could be evidence of a previously unknown Stone Age civilization.
The monument dates back to at least 8,000 BC; the oldest pyramid in Egypt was constructed more than 5,000 years later.
The structure was first discovered under 75 feet of water by divers in 2000, and was believed to be a natural phenomenon.
Professor Masaki Kimura, the first to study the site, has concluded that the structure is man-made."The object was not formed naturally.If that had been the case, we would have found pieces through erosion(腐蚀)around the site, but there is nothing there," he says.
The discovery of a road surrounding the building is further evidence that the structure was made by humans, along with small underwater stone tombs nearby.
Kimura says it is too early to know who built it or its purpose."It might be an ancient religious shrine(神社), possibly celebrating an ancient god.And it could be evidence of a new culture, since there are no records of a people intelligent enough to have built such a monument 10,000 years ago; it could only have been done by people with a high degree of technology, probably coming from the Asian continent, where the oldest civilizations originated."
Teruaki Ishii, a professor at Tokyo University, said the structure could be natural, but that part of it may have been made by humans.
The first signs of civilization in Japan date back to around 9,000 BC, but nothing in the archeological record suggests the presence of a culture advanced enough to have built such a structure.
Jim Mower, an archeologist at University College Lon-don, says, "If it's proved that the site is as old as 10,000 years and is man-made, then it's going to change an awful lot of the previous thinking on southeast Asian history.It would put the people who made the monument on equal terms with the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia(An an-cient region of southwest Asia)."
(1)
Professor Masaki Kimura believes that the monument is man-made because ________.
①
no pieces through erosion were found around it
②
underwater stone tombs are nearby it
③
a road surrounds it
④
a shrine was built on it
[ ]
A.
①②④
B.
②③④
C.
①③④
D.
①②③
(2)
Which of the following is NOT true, according to the text?
[ ]
A.
The Japanese mastered advanced construction techniques 10,000 years ago.
B.
Professor Masaki Kimura was the first to study the monument.
C.
The purpose of the monument is still uncertain.
D.
The world抯 oldest civilizations originated in Asia.
(3)
What does the underlined word "that" in the fourth paragraph refer to?
[ ]
A.
The structure being man-made.
B.
The structure being a natural phenomenon.
C.
The structure having first been found ten years ago.
D.
The structure dating back to 8,000 BC.
(4)
What do we learn about the monument from the text?
[ ]
A.
It was made at least 5,000 years earlier than the oldest pyramid of Egypt.
B.
It was built by people from Europe.
C.
It抯 the first evidence of the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia.