第四部分：任务型阅读(共10小题；每小题l分，满分10分)

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。

Experts debunk Maya doomsday（末日） predictions -- But that hasn't stopped books, movies from cashing in.

If the ancient Maya and filmmaker Roland Emmerich are correct, the apocalypse（大灾变） will happen very fast, maybe quicker than his new 2½-hour movie.

Predictions of global ruination are rippling around the globe with seismic（地震的） force, all loosely based on a 5,000-year Maya calendar that ends Dec. 21, 2012. Countless Web sites and blogs anticipate(预料) the end of days, as do various New Age groups and would-be prophets(预言者) offering guidance and how-to tips. On Amazon.com , you can read hundreds of book titles combining the year 2012 with terms such as “apocalypse,” “catastrophe” and “end of the world.”

As always, doomsday sells — and a lot of people are buying it.

“There's the psychobabble(心理呓语) aspect,” said Robert Epstein, former editor of Psychology Today magazine and a lecturer at the University of California San Diego. “It's the Sigmund Freud/death wish idea: People glom onto（对…感兴趣） doomsday predictions because there's some small part of them that wants to die, and die spectacularly（壮观的）. I don't believe it, but it's one way to look at this.”

It's Emmerich's way. The German director specializes in wreaking havoc on an epic scale, from climatic cataclysm in 2004's “The Day After Tomorrow” to angry aliens and reptiles in “Independence Day” and “Godzilla.”  In “2012,” he finishes the job.

The digitized disasters of “2012” are oversized, overwrought and sometimes literally over the top, as when a humongous tsunami washes over the Himalayan mountains, whose average height exceeds 20,000 feet. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, a 10.5-magnitude earthquake — a temblor at least 30 times more powerful than any real quake ever recorded — yanks the city apart like a giant zipper, sending chunks sliding into the Pacific Ocean.

That's not physically possible, of course. Nor is a 10.5-magnitude quake, said Thomas Rockwell, a geologist at San Diego State University. To generate that much energy, “you'd need a rupture that extends all around the planet.”

All of that other stuff “is pure Hollywood bunk,” said Bernard Jackson at the UCSD Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences.

Entertaining, though, unless you happen to believe the Maya really predicted the end of the world. They didn't, said Geoff Braswell, a UCSD anthropologist. The long-count calendar doesn't signal the end of anything except the end of that particular calendar. “It's just like a car odometer. Unfortunately, hardly anybody reads ancient Mayan. Modern media hype（骗局）, on the other hand, is almost inescapable.

Nicholas Christenfeld, a professor of psychology at UCSD, suggests a more elemental human need. Being swallowed by the Earth or incinerated in a giant fireball “fits neatly with the idea that people want to believe there's a plan, that existence isn't random and pointless,” Christenfeld said.

“We all missed creation, but if we can bear witness at the other end, be part of some grand cosmic destruction, that gives life meaning,” he said. 

It helps, too, not to think very hard about the facts, said Lou Manza, a professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. “These claims have been around forever, and they have all been false, 100 percent wrong,” Manza said.

Of course, prognosticators（预言者, 占卜者） usually have an explanation for that, Christenfeld said.

“They might say it was a misinterpretation,” he said. “They got the date wrong. They might claim humanity acted in time to prevent the destruction. Or faith came to the rescue because people believed something bad was going to happen, it didn't have to happen.”

The girl looking for the job turned out to be excellent but she ended up giving her employer a headache when it also turned out that she used an unreal diploma(文凭).
In December, a Civil Administration Bureau in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, an­nounced that it needed five new staff members. Some 120 people applied and took the exam. Ap­plicants were required to show proof of a college degree at least.
Mei Jing beat everyone in the test and the interview. When a follow-up check was done, however, her education certificate(证书) was discovered to be an unreal one.
This was a bit of an embarrassment for the employers. A dilemma, one might say. If she were hired because of her excellent performance, she still wouldn't have the qualifications on pa­per. But, if she were dropped because she didn't meet the education requirements, they would lose a good worker. Tough problem!
While Mei's future hangs in the balance, the public having learned of the case got involved. Some people said the Bureau should employ her, since results are the only important thing. “After all, ability is more important than a diploma, ”said one office worker.
Others, however, have attacked Mei's dishonesty. They said that morality was, after all, more important than talent, especially in the case of a government position. Mei wasn't honest, so she shouldn't be hired.
But, Shen Ronghua, the head of the Shanghai Public Administration and Human Resources Institute, tries to be a bit more philosophical.
“There is still a sort of  'diploma means this'  prejudice among people,” Shen explains, “Many employers regard a diploma as the only sign of ability and talent.”
So, with this in mind, people may pay little attention to whether someone has real ability or not. They turn to chasing a diploma instead. The unreal diploma is the natural product of this thought.
The conclusion? "China needs a new human resource system. The new system will not define a person only by his or her diploma, " Shen says.
【小题1】What's the meaning of the underlined word “dilemma” in Paragraph Four?

第三部分阅读理解 (共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读短文，从每题所给的四个选项 (A、B、C和D) 中，选出最佳选项.
A
Years of storms had taken their toll on the old windmill（风车）. Its wheel, rusted and fallen, lay silent in the lush bluegrass.
　　I hadn‘t walked across our old farm in fifteen years. Fifteen years ago，rain or shine, I used to walk this path each day to see Greta. She always made me smile, even after my sister and I had just had a big quarrel. I would help Greta with her chores. Then we would enjoy her delicious homemade chocolate cookies and ice cream. Being confined to a wheel chair didn‘t stop Greta from being a great cook.
　　Greta gave me two of the greatest gifts I‘ve ever received. First, she taught me how to read. She also taught me that when I forgave Sister for our quarrels, it meant I wouldn‘t keep feeling like a victim(受害者). Instead, I would feel sunny.
　　Mr. Dinking, the local banker, tried to foreclose on Greta‘s house and land after her husband passed away. Thanks to Pa and Uncle Johan, Greta got to keep everything. Pa said that it was the least he could do for someone talented enough to teach me to read!
　　Soon folks were coming from miles around to buy Greta‘s homemade cakes, pies, breads, cookies, cider, and ice cream. Greta even had me take a big apple pie to Mr. Dinking who became one of her best customers and friends. That‘s just what Greta was.  She could turn anyone into a friend!
　　Greta always said, "Dear, keep walking in sunshine!" No matter how terrible my day started, I always felt sunny walking home from Greta‘s house---even beneath the winter starlight.
　　I arrived at Greta‘s house today just after sunset. An ambulance had stopped a few feet from her door, its red lights flashing. When I ran into the old house, Greta recognized me right away.
　　She smiled at me with her unforgettable twinkling blue eyes. She was almost out of breath when she reached out and softly touched my arm. Her last words to me were "Dear, keep walking in sunshine!"
56. Which would be the best title for the passage?
A. What Greta taught me              B. Greta would never die
C. The past sunny days               D. Keep walking in sunshine
57. What can we know about Greta from the passage?
A. She was kind and forgiving         B. She was rich and generous
C. She was energetic and confidence    D. She was practical and helpful
58. The author used to go to see Greta every day mainly because _____.
A. Greta could treat the author with delicious food
B. Greta could give the author comfort
C. the author could learn how to read from Greta
D. the author could learn something valuable from Greta
59. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Greta lived a hard and lonely life.
B. Greta was loved and respected by all the people there.
C. Greta must be a relative of the author’s family.
D. The author had been out of touch with Greta for fifteen years.

第三节．完形填空(共20小题；每小题1．5分，满分30分)

阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从21--40各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。     

Greg Mortenson is a mountaineer. In 1993, he   21   but failed to reach K2, one of the most forbidding of the Himalyayan  22  . He staggered(蹒跚) into a tiny village of Korphe in Pakistan, barely alive. The   23   villagers cared for him and fed him back to health. The __24   they showed to a stranger moved Mortenson, and filled him with a' desire to 25   it.

Looking around, he saw that the poor villagers had actually nothing. 26   , he could see the desire of the villagers to   27   their community. For example, they dreamed of 28   for their children. The children received schooling two days a week from a teacher they   29   with another village, because they couldn't   30   to hire one alone. Naturally, the village had no schoolhouse. Moretenson thought it was by building a school   31   he could best express his   32   for their kindness to him. He left,   33   he would return with necessary materials.

However, things didn't go  34   as he had expected. He was a nurse by profession, and wasn't  well   35    It was a struggle for him to raise the $10,000 or so needed to buy the building materials.    36   problems, including his then Cultural   37   of the area led to a series of frustrations. But with his efforts and cooperation of the villagers, he eventually overcame the __ 38  . He fulfilled his promise.

After that he wanted to return to America,build a career and start a family. However, it ba-came clear that a school for Korphe was just the start. There were so many other villagers in Pa-kistan that had the similar needs. The more   39   he became, the more he came to understand the area and the more he realized how important education was. The   40   was that, in the pe-riod of over a decade, 55 schools were built.

21. A. approached     B. paused           C. hesitated          D. attempted

22. A. peaks          B. levels            C. hills              D. slopes

23. A. cold           B. mean             C. kind              D. tiny

24. A. bravery        Ｂ. ability            C.poverty           D.generosity

25. A. receive        B. repay              C. respect         D. recycle

26. A. Besides        B. However         C. Therefore          D. Moreover

27. A. develop        B. visit              C. design            D. increase

28. A. career         B. development      C. education         D. health

29. A. traded          B. worked           C. communicated    D. shared

30. A. help            B. manage           C. decide            D. afford

31. A. that             B. which            C. what              D. if

32. A. sympathy        B. gratitude          C. attitude           D. anger

33. A. adding          B. promising         C. demanding        D. warning

34. A. smoothly        B. badly             C. closely            D. properly

35. A. dressed          B. received           C. respected          D. paid

36. A. Some             B. Others            C. Other             D. Another

37. A. interaction       B. ignorance         C. background       D. difference

38. A. difficulities       B. fears            C. temptations(诱惑)D, shortcomings

39. A. interested        B. rooted            C. involved          D. lost

40. A. result            B. idea              C. cause             D. report

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