Many people believe the glare from snow causes snow-blindness. Yet, dark glasses or not , they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snow-blindness, when exposed to several hours of “snow light”. The United States Army has now determined that glare from snow does not cause snow-blindness in troops in a snow-covered country. Rather, a man's eyes frequently find nothing to focus on in a broad expanse of barren (少植被的) snow-covered terrain (地形). So his gaze continually shifts and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at. Finding nothing, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and the eyeballs become sore and the eye muscles ache. Nature eases this irritation by producing more fluid which covers the eyeball. The fluid covers the eyeball in increasing quantity until vision blurs (模糊), then is obscured (遮蔽), and the result is total, even though temporary, snow-blindness.

Experiments led the Army to a simple method of overcoming this problem. Scouts ahead of a main body of troops are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes, creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow-covered landscape. Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark colored objects ahead on which they too can focus. The men following can then see something. Their gaze is arrested. Their eyes focus on a bush and having found something to see, stop scouring the snow-blanketed landscape. By focusing their attention on one object at a time, the men can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snow-blind or lost. In this way the problem of crossing a solid white terrain is overcome.

1. To prevent headaches, watering eyes and blindness caused by the glare from snow, dark

glasses are _________.

A. indispensable and essential   B. useful                       C. ineffective      D. available

2. When the eyes are sore tears are produced to _________.

A. balance the pain                                                       B. treat snow-blindness 

C. clear the vision                                                            D. loosen the muscles 

3. Snow-blindness may be avoided by _________.

A. concentrating on the solid white terrain

B. searching for something to look at in snow-covered terrain

C. providing the eyes with something to focus on

D. covering the eyeballs with more fluid 

4. The scouts shake snow from evergreen bushes in order to _________.

A. prevent the men behind losing their way 

B. beautify the landscape of the terrain

C. warm themselves in the severe cold

D. give the men behind something to see

5. A suitable title for this passage would be _________.

A. nature's cure for snow-blindness       B. snow-blindness and how to overcome it

C. soldiers marching in the snow          D. snow vision and its effect on eyesight

Global surface temperatures have increased 0.6—1.2 degrees since the late 19th century. The 20th century’s 10 warmest years all happened within the last 15 years. Of these,1998 was the warmest year on record. The snow covering the Northern Hemisphere（半球）and floating ice in the Arctic Ocean decreased. Globally, sea level has risen 4—10 inches over the past century. World-wide amount of rain and snow over land has increased by about one percent. The number of major rainfall events has increased throughout much of the United States.

Increasing concentrations（集中）of greenhouse gases are likely to make climate change faster. Scientists expect that the average global surface temperature could rise 1.6—6.3 degrees by 2100，and the climate in different areas could change differently. Evaporation（蒸发）will increase as the climate warms, which will increase average global amount of rain and snow. Soil moisture（潮湿）is likely to decrease in many areas, and strong rainstorms are likely to become more frequent.Sea level is likely to rise two feet along most of the U.S coast.

Calculations of climate change for certain areas are much less able to be trusted than global ones, and it is unclear whether the climate in different areas will become more variable（变化无常的）.

64．Which of the following statements is not mentioned in the first paragraph?

A．The snow has been seen covering the Southern Hemisphere .

B．More and more major rainfall events have happened to the U.S.

C．On the whole earth, sea level has risen 4—10 inches.

D．The amount of the rain in the world has increased by about 1%.

65．According to scientists, the reason why the climate becomes warm is that________.

A．the snow covering Northern Hemisphere has decreased

B．evaporation has increased in the recent years

C．greenhouse gases concentrate increasingly

D．the floating ice in the Arctic Ocean has decreased

66．It is because______ that strong rainstorms become more frequent.

A．average global little of rain and snow increases

B．the climate becomes warm

C．soil moisture decreases

D．sea level rises two feet

Having said good-bye to his parents, Alvin, with his wife and one-year-old son, set off back home. Still ____36__, Alvin and Clare talked and laughed happily. And even little Alax  ___37__  from time to time. The family were ___38__ their trip.
But about three hours later things began to ___39__. It was starting to snow. Alvin ___40__ up the car, hoping to arrive home before dark. But it was too dangerous to drive fast now. Because it was snowing more and more heavily. So Alvin had to __41___down. The snow on the    __42___ was getting deeper and deeper until it was hard to __43___on it. Their car slipped of the way and got ___44__in the deep snow and the engine refused to start again. “The snow doesn’t seem to __45___. Shall we stay in the car waiting to be frozen to death or walk ahead through the snow?” Alvin asked. Clare said she __46___to walk. So they got out of the car with their son and began walking. But __47__was to come. Soon they lost their way and had to walk ___48__on and on.
Night came. They were not afraid of the dark. But they __49___that poor Alax would die of cold. However, their faith to keep Alax __50___ filled them with courage, warmth and strength. They ___51__ and rested in turn and then continued their walk. They had ___52__falls but each time true love encouraged them to rise to their feet again.
One, two, three, … seven days passed. On the eighth day, help at last came from Alvin’s  __53___, the police and local people. But the young __54___had to have their feet cut off because of the bad frostbites（冻伤）___55__, there was nothing serious wrong with little Alax!

第Ⅱ卷（共35分）

第四部分：写作（共两节，满分35分）

第一节：单词拼写（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

76. Medals were a______to the best speakers on the debating contest .

77. We should a______for the delay to your flight today .

78. There is a______（猛烈的）wind outside and the snow is so heavy .

79. Has everyone______（证实）that they are coming .

80. The people , s______by the flood , were in great danger .

81. I’m not ill . On the c______, I’m very healthy .

82. He is always______（谦虚的）and ready to help others .

83. The proud man said he would rather s              than beg for food .

84. I will forgive your late______（到达）because it is the first time .

85. The young lady______（行为，表现）bravely in the face of danger .

It was two years ago in winter when I went with my family to Engadine in Switzerland. The journey by car was pleasant until we reached the bottom of the Julier Pass(尤里尔隘口) when it began to snow.

Suddenly, the weather became very bad and soon we found ourselves in a storm. On the top of the pass, the visibility(能见度) was almost zero and we had to guess where the crash barrier(防撞护栏) was. It was terrible, the snow turned into ice and stuck to the windows despite the heating being set at full blast. Several times I had to get out of the car to clear the ice from the windshield(挡风玻璃).

But the way down towards Silvaplana was less stressful and we knew that we would arrive in paradise(乐园). It snowed without interruption the first day of our holidays and not being used to this natural weather, we found it simply magical to watch so much snow falling down on the mountains.

The following day, in this large, amazing area made up of frozen lakes and rivers between white mountains, we discovered a little hut next to the cross-country ski tracks, close to a farm. There was a fridge in this heated wooden cabin that contained milk, cheese and yoghurts for self-service. There was a list of prices for each item. You took what you wanted, then wrote down the total on a notebook what you had taken and put the money into an open box and if necessary took the change.

Where else could you find such trust? As I’ve already told you, Engadine is a paradise.

69.The author and his family were caught in a storm when they_______.

A. began the visit to Engadine                          B. were in Silvaplana

C. were passing the Julier Pass                         D. crashed into barriers

70. According to the passage, in the little hut________.

A. foods were offered to tourists for free    B. tourists had to serve themselves

C. tourists had to enjoy their own food       D. there were several persons on duty every day

71. What may impress the author most?

A. The white mountains.                  B. The Julier Pass.

C. The frozen lake .                            D. The little hut.