第三部分:阅读理解(共两节,满分40分)
第一节(共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
A
I travel a lot, and I find out different “styles” of directions every time I ask “How can I get to the post office?”
Foreign tourists are often confused in Japan because most streets there don’t have names; in Japan, people use landmarks(地标) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, “Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop.”
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.”
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. “How far away is the post office?” you ask. “Oh,” they answer, “it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “Yes, but how many miles away is it?” They don’t know.
It’s true that a person doesn’t know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “Sorry, I have no idea.” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “I don’t know.” People in Yucatan believe that “I don’t know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!
56. When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place, they usually ______.
A. describe the place carefully                   
B. show him a map of the place
C. tell him the names of the streets   
D. refer to recognizable buildings and places
57. What is the place where people measure distance in time?
A. New York.   B. Los Angeles.         C. Kansas.             D. Iowa.
58. People in Yucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ______.
A. in order to save time  B. Los Angeles.  
C. so as to be polite        D. for fun
59. What can we infer from the text?
A. It’s important for travelers to understand cultural differences.
B. It’s useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.
C. People have similar understandings of politeness.
D. New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.


(C)
Daban town is famous for girls and windmills , while Loulan is a myth(神话) in the desert. Two thousand years ago, beside the beautiful and rich Loubu Lake, there lay Loulan ancient city of the Silk Raod. Businessmen from every country gathered and there were dancing parties. Everything shows that people in Loulan lived a rich life then.
However, two thousand years later, this rich land suddenly disappeared from the map of China. It became an area covered with sand and dead tree trunks.
Loulan was first“discovered” by a Swedish man named Sven Hedin in 1900. People from America, British , Japan and Sweden, all set foot here. Then in the 1930’s, a Chinese man named Huang Wenbi came to Loulan for the first time. He visited and studied this area and found many relics that were beautifully and carefully made.
It is recorded that the ancient city of Loulan was the capital of the Loulan Kingdom during the Han and Jin Dynasties, and covered an area of some 100,000 sq. metres. Inside the city , there are the ruins of government offices, temples and other old buildings. Outside the city there are some dried-up rivers and much farmland. In the past century, many things have been dug up there including Han Dynasty coins, mirrors and many others of Greek and Roman times. All these things show that a lot of business between the East and West once took place there.
Lying on the northwest of the Lop Nur area, the Loulan Kingdom is now a lifeless area with endless “forests” of mounds( 小丘 ) which aren’t easily seen in other parts of the world. Its mystery has been attracting many people from many countries.
46.The first person to set foot in Loulan in the 20th century was______.
A. a European     B. an American     C. an Englishman    D. a Japanese
47.Before Loulan disappeared, ________.
A. people from America and Japan had set foot there.
B. much business between the East and West had taken place there.
C. a lifeless area with lots of mounds could easily be seen there
D. there were no government offices or temples
48. We can infer from the passage that_______.
A. Loulan was destroyed by the terrible weather there
B. wars between Dynasties made Loulan disappear
C. foreigners came to Loulan and destroyed it
D. how Loulan disappeared is still unknown to us
49. What makes so many people visit the Loulan Kingdom now?
A. Its beautiful scenery .                               B. Its developing business.
C. Its mystery.                                              D. The treasures.
50. The title for this passage might be_______.
A. Famous Town, Daban                               B. Ancient Town in the Desert
C. Business in Ancient Loulan                       D. Cities in Ancient China


Schedules, as the 21st century people know, simply did not exist in the 17th and 18th centuries. We are upset if a plane arrives an hour late. Our ancestors weren’t upset if an April ship didn’t show up until June. They began to worry in July and were often happy when it showed up in August. When a long-distance ship finally did get to the port, the whole city became busy and excited. Businessmen hurried down to check the goods they had ordered. The ship would probably stay in port for at least three days, often a week, to take on businessmen, give the sailors a rest, find out about the latest news, weather conditions, and so on.
Travel time could only be approximate. One never knew when the winds would be good. So even though “average sailing time” was given, time could change considerably, shortening the voyage by up to 25% or putting it off by up to 500% or more! The average run from England to Boston was about a month and a half, but there were also voyages of three months. One voyage in 1640 lasted six months!
Travel time is not the same in both directions, due to the winds and currents. This is especially true in the Caribbean, where winds are from the southeast the entire year. Ships sailing west across the Atlantic spend longer than ships sailing east, and the contrary winds can prevent a ship from actually making it to the harbor even if it gets close. One ship was held off the North Carolina coast for 17 days before being able to land!
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?
A. No sailor was allowed to have fun when the ship reached land.
B. People in ancient times didn’t care about other people’s safety.
C. The ship would leave for a voyage when all of the preparations were made.
D. A long-distance ship would create a lot of excitement in the place where it landed.
2. According to the passage, travel time can’t be fixed due to ___________ .
A. the people at the port                  B. average sailing time
C. the changeable climate                    D. the businessmen and the sailors
3. The underlined word “currents” in the third paragraph means __________ .
A. the movement of water                   B. the movement of winds
C. direction of the traveling ship      D. travel time of ships

Most visitors come to the UK expecting the rain and weather for which the country is famous. However, when summer finally arrives, British people like nothing more than heading for the coast. Here are some of more famous places of interest that you could expect to visit on a trip to Britain. Black pool, in the northwest of England, is the most visited place in the UK. Each year around 6.5 to 7 million people come to enjoy the miles of sandy beaches, the 158m Black pool Tower and the 11km-long Golden Mile, where there are entertainments, pubs, ice rinks (溜冰场) and even a zoo. On the south coast of the country you can find Brighton. Until 1786, Brighton was a sleepy village. Then the future king, George IV, decided to build a house there, and now it has become a large, international centre. Apart from the beaches, Brighton is famous for its pier (码头). There are theatres, entertainments and restaurants there. Brighton is also fantastic for shopping. If you want to travel a little further, why not go to Corn-wall in the far southwest of the UK? South Cornwall offers miles of sandy beaches and beautiful scenery. The climate there is warmer than the rest of Britain, and you can even find palm trees. For a bit more excitement, go to North Cornwall. The scenery there is nicer, and the beaches are famous for their powerful waves. As a result, North Cornwall has become the home of British surfing. One word of warning though, if you are using the roads in the UK during holidays, you can expect long traffic jams on the motorways. It might be better to take the train.
【小题1】Which is the best title for this passage?

A.Let’s Go to the Beach! B.How to Enjoy Your Holidays
C.Welcome to Britain!D.How to Travel in Britain
【小题2】We may find this passage in a ______.
A.geography book B.storybookC.travel guideD.news magazine
【小题3】If Andrew likes surfing, which is the best place for him to spend his holidays?
A.Black pool.B.Brighton. C.South Cornwall. D.North Cornwall.
【小题4】Which is NOT the reason why Brighton is famous?
A.In Brighton you can satisfy your appetite for shopping.
B.In 1786, George IV decided to build a house there.
C.There is an interesting pier in Brighton.
D.You can enjoy yourself on the beautiful beaches.
【小题5】From the passage we can infer that ______.
A.there are no beaches in the east and west of Britain
B.Black pool is the most famous place in the UK
C.the pier is more interesting than the beaches in Brighton
D.the climate in South Cornwall is attractive to many people

From bankers to factory staff, employees in the west face the bleak prospect (暗淡的前景) of losing their jobs as a global recession (衰退) starts to bite. For colleagues in the East the pain is more likely to come through a pay cut.
Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian firms try harder to keep jobs in difficult times, which will stop unemployment and may help keep Asian economies afloat at a time of slowing exports.
The East Asian attitude may also make it easier for firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, leaving some experts predicting Western shift to Eastern flexibility.
“In the Confucian (儒家的) attitude, the right thing to do is to share the burden. There is the sense of collective responsibility whereas (然而) in the West, it’s more about the individual survival,” said Michael Benotlel, associated professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University.
Steven Pang, Asian Regional Director for Aquent, a headhunting firm, said in many East Asian companies there was a responsibility “ to take care of the members of the family and go through the pain together” even if that meant causing losses.
US firms from General Motors to Goldman Sachs plan to lay off workers by the thousand. But at the Asian units of Western multinationals, job cuts will probably be less severe.
Japan’s jobless rate was 4 percent in September, up from 3.8 percent in January, while Hong Kong’s was flat at 3.4 percent. But US unemployment is expected to have jumped to 6.3 percent last month from below 5 percent in January.
Experts say that while there are noticeable differences in labor practices in East and West, the gap will narrow as more firms become more multinational and competition forces firms to adopt the best practices of rivals (对手) from abroad.
(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)
【小题1】What caused the different practices of Asian and Western firms facing the global recession?
【小题2】Why is it easier for the East Asian firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn?
【小题3】Firms in the west would lay off workers when facing a bleak prospect because of ______.
【小题4】______ will make the differences in East and West less noticeable.

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