If you look for a book as a present for a child, you will be spoiled for choice even in a year when there is no new Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling’s wizard is not alone: the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books, which has set off a large quantity of films and in turn led to increased sales of classics such as The Lord of the Rings.
Yet despite that, reading is increasingly unpopular among children. According to statistics, in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading at all. In 2003, 35% did. And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.
Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability(可利用性)of computer games. Maybe the books boom(繁荣)has affected only the top of the educational pile. Either way, Chancellor Gordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class. In his pre-budget(预算) report, he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.
Reading Recovery is aimed at six-year-olds, who receive four months of individual daily half- hour classes with a specially trained teacher. An evaluation earlier this year reported that children on the scheme made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress, and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.
International research tends to find that when British children leave primary school they read well, but read less – often for fun than those elsewhere. Reading for fun matters because children who are keen on(热衷) reading can expect lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator(指示物)of future educational success. According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage.
【小题1】Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?

A.Many children’s books have been adapted from films.
B.Many high-quality children’s books have been published.
C.The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films.
D.The sales of presents for children have increased.
【小题2】Statistics suggested that ___.
A.the number of top students increased with the use of computers.
B.a decreasing number of children showed interest in reading.
C.a minority of primary school children read properly.
D.a large percentage of children read regularly.
【小题3】What do we know about Reading Recovery?
A.An education of it will be made sometime this year.
B.Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking.
C.It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading.
D.Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading.
【小题4】Reading for fun is important because book-loving children ____.
A.takes greater advantage of the project.
B.shows the potential to enjoy a long life.
C.is likely to succeed in their education.
D.would make excellent future researchers.
【小题5】The aim of this text would probably be ____.
A.to overcome primary school pupils’ reading difficulty.
B.to encourage the publication of more children’s books.
C.to remind children of the importance of reading for fun.
D.to introduce a way to improve early childhood reading.


第二部分.阅读理解(共25小题。第一节每小题2分,第二节每小题1分;满分45分)
第一节阅读下面五篇短文,从每题后所给的四个选项中选出最佳答案。
Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slow moving. There are some aspects(方面) of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid. I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.
  For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports — and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them — there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.
  Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, you are still only half way to good health, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation(放松). It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on. Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activity — physical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other — which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.
41. Pollution, noise and stress are examples of _____.
A. the causes of unfitness                                                      B. bad features of modern living
C. the things we can completely do away with               D. unavoidable things in town
42. We don’t get much out of separate sports because we _____.
A. don’t do them very often                                                  B. don’t do them actively enough
C. find it hard to get out of our armchairs                         D. don’t find them interesting
43. To be healthy we must _____.
A. keep fit and active                                                             B. keep fit and learn to relax
C. be active and practise Yoga                                                       D. have a sound mind
44. Our forefathers were healthy because______.
A. their way of life closely connected with both exercise and relaxation
B. they were careful to get plenty of fresh air
C. they spent most of the time out of doors
D. their environment was not polluted

About ten years ago, a young and very successful businessman named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his shiny, black, Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.
He was watching for kids rushing out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child came out, but a brick sailed out and — WHUMP! — it hit the Jag’s shiny black side door! SCREECH...!!!! Immediately Josh stopped the car, jumped out, seized the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what are you doing?!" Building up a head of steam, he went on. “That’s my new car.  That brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it?"
"Please, mister, please....I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else to do!" begged the boy. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop!" Tears were streaming down the boy’s face as he pointed around the parked car. "It’s my brother, mister," he said. "He rolled of the curb (路沿) and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up. "Sobbing, the boy asked the businessman," Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”
Moved beyond words, the young businessman tried hard to swallow (咽下) the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapers and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to the black, shining Jaguar XKE — a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent (凹痕) to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. Feel for the bricks of life coming at you.
57. The boy threw a brick at the businessman’s car because ____________.
A. the businessman drove at a high speed                   B. he envied the new car very much
C. he wanted to ask for some money                         D. he wanted to get help from the driver
58. Which of the following is the right order of the story?
a. The younger brother threw a brick at Josh’s car.  b. The elder brother fell out of his wheelchair.
c. The younger brother begged Josh for help. 
d. Josh lifted the elder brother back into his wheelchair.   e. Josh shouted at the younger brother.
A.b, a, e, c, d        B. a, c, d, b, e          C. b, a, c, e, d    D. a, c, b, e, d
59. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Josh would accept the money from the kids.          B. The two kids were Josh’s neighbors.
C. Josh was a kind-hearted man.                               D. Josh’s new car broke down easily.
60. According to the passage, the underlined sentence in the last paragraph means ____________.
A. trying to get ready for the trouble in your future life
B. driving fast in a neighborhood street is dangerous
C. trying to be more understanding seeing others in trouble
D. protecting oneself from being hurt

Can dogs and cats get along well in the same home? People who are thinking about getting a dog as a friend for their cat are worried that they will fight. A recent research has found that if the cat is taken back home before the dog, and if they are introduced when still young (less than 6 months for cats, a year for dogs), it is highly probable that the two pets will get along swimmingly. In two-thirds of the homes cats and dogs have a good relationship.
However, it wasn’t all sweetness and light. There was a reported coldness between the cat and dog in 25% of the homes, while aggression(侵略,好斗) and fighting were found in 10% of the homes. One reason for this is probably that some of their body languages are just different. For example, when a cat turns its head away it means aggression, while a dog doing the same means submission(顺从).
In homes with cats and dogs living peacefully, researchers found a surprising behavior. They are learning how to talk each other’s language. It is a surprise that cats can learn how to talk “Dog”, and dogs can learn how to talk “Cat”.
What’s interesting is that both cats and dogs have appeared to become smarter. They can learn to read each other’s body languages, suggesting that the two may have more in common than was expected. Once familiar with each other’s body language, cats and dogs can play together, and enjoy sleeping together on the sofa.
The importance of this research on cats and dogs may go beyond pets — to people who don’t get along well, including neighbors, colleagues at work, and even countries. If cats and dogs can learn to get along, surely people have a good chance.
【小题1】The underlined word swimmingly in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ________.

A.earlyB.mostlyC.quicklyD.smoothly
【小题2】Some cats and dogs may fight when ________.
A.they are cold to each other
B.they look away from each other
C.they misunderstand each other’s body languages
D.they are introduced at an early age
【小题3】 What is found surprising about cats and dogs?
A.They eat and sleep together.
B.They watch each other’s behaviors.
C.They learn to speak each other’s language.
D.They know something from each other’s voices.
【小题4】It is suggested in Paragraph 4 that cats and dogs ________.
A.have common interestsB.are less different than was thought
C.have a common body languageD.are not so smart as was expected
【小题5】 What can we human beings learn from cats and dogs?
A.We should learn to get along well with others
B.We should know more about animals.
C.We should live in peace with animals.
D.We should learn more body languages.



B
Today, robots come in all shapes and sizes. They can’t complain, even if the work is heavy and dangerous. And they can work or play all day without getting bored. Unlike a human’s arms, a robot’s joints will never get stiff (僵硬的). The end of the arm can be fitted with devices (装置) to perform different tasks. These could be a welding (焊接) point, suction cups (吸附杯) or gripping fingers (钳形指) for lifting and moving objects. Such an arm of these computer controlled industrial robots can work 24 hours a day.
Robopets (机器人宠物) are high-tech robots programmed to play. They can communicate with their owners and recognize their voices. Each one will develop a different “personality”. They can be a lot of fun to play with, but these robots can also be helpful to people who are sick and can’t look after a real animal. Many doctors believe that when a person is happy and laughing, their body recovers faster. A robopet might be just what the doctor ordered.
NeCoRo is a robot cat that has been developed to be more than a toy. The robot uses sensors (传感器) that can detect movement and sound. It can even store helpful information in its memory. Its behaviour changes over time, just like a real pet.
60. From Paragraph 1 we learn that ________.
A. a human’s arms never get stiff
B. robots sometimes get bored just as humans do
C. robots can do some work which humans can’t
D. robots can work all day but they can’t play
61. Rob pets are especially useful in ________according to the passage.
A. schools                 B. Hospitals       C. cinemas             D. factories
62. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. A robot never says “NO” to the dangerous work.
B. A robot can “remember” useful information.
C. NeCoRo is a robot dog.
D. NeCoRo’s behaviour changes over time.
63. What does the underlined word “detect” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. Recognize.         B. Create.          C. Store.                D. Destroy.

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