（江西省九江一中2010届高三上学期第三次月考）

A

This week, 46-year-old Randy Pausch said goodbye to his students at Carnegie Mellon University with the last lecture called "How to Live Your Childhood Dreams," on his life's journey and the lessons he's learned.In the lecture,he showed the audience how serious his illness was and admitted it was “an elephant in the room”, but he was not that discouraged and he made jokes in his lecture. Randy is not just another story on Good Morning America or even on the local news here in Pittsburgh. He is a man I worked for, a Professor of Liam's and a friend of the family. Randy is dying of Pancreatic cancer and in his words only has "3 to 6 months of quality life".

We met Randy about 5 years ago when Liam and I went to a Building Virtual Worlds show. Liam was hooked and applied to get his master under Randy at the Entertainment and Technology Center or ETC. Randy even came to our home for Liam's graduation party and earlier that year we saw the Flying Karamazov Brothers with him and his wife Jaye. Liam got to know Randy as a professional over the course of two years as a graduate student and then as faculty member. Randy has three small children all under the age of 6. Dillon, his oldest,Ross is younger and the youngest is only 9 months old,Lily. I believe Randy is a good man for a few simple reasons. He gave my husband a future doing something he loves, and he was a kind boss, but the thing I admire most about Randy is that you always know where you stand with him. He may be blunt and harsh at times but you know he is honest. He will be greatly missed at Carnegie Mellon. I wish Jaye and the children the best that life has to offer. Please click on the above underlined link and watch his inspiring lecture. It will be worth your time!

56.Liam is Randy’s______.

A. classmate      B. student        C. relative      D. one of his family

57. We can infer Randy gave his last lecture because______.

A. He would retire                  B.  He would move to Pittsburgh

C. He was seriously ill               D. He was tired of his present job

58. The uderlined phrase “ an elephant in the room” means ________.

A.an elephant which is so big that we should make more room for it

B. a fat man in the room

C.too serious a problem to be ignored

D.a piece of cake

59. Which of the following is NOT right ?

A. Randy’s children are still young.

B. Randy is a visiting professor in Carnegie Mellon.

C. Randy is probably known in Pittsburgh.

D. Randy is optimistic though he is in a poor state of health      

（江西省九江一中2010届高三上学期第三次月考）

Ｂ

 Animals and the places where they live are getting pushed aside as households(家庭) decrease in size and increase in number.

Smaller numbers of people per household on average use more energy and goods per person. Greater numbers of households require more natural resources for construction. The possible result of the double problems may be that there are not enough natural resources to meet consumers’ demand without endangering habitats important to biodiversity.

Personal freedom and social choice may come at a huge environmental cost. Direct costs include visible damage to animal habitats and plant life. Indirect costs include the release of more greenhouse gases.

The effects of such“personal freedom and social choice” have already surfaced in southwest China’s Wolong Nature Reserve. In Wolong they found that a reduced average household size was directly tied to an increase in homes, and thus an increase in the amount of firewood used for cooking and heating. The rise in wood fuel use has led to the disappearance of forests and to the loss of habitats for giant pandas.

Curious about whether other parts of the world were experiencing a similar situation, they enlisted a team of researchers including Stanford’s Paul Ehrlich, well-known for his population studies, to find out the household dynamics in 141 countries-between 1985 and 2000. Their study proved that the Wolong problem is part of a global trend.

In the 76 countries considered biodiversity “hot spots”, such as the United Stated, Brazil, Australia and Kenya, the number of households grew yearly by 3.1%, while the population increased just 1.8%. Meanwhile, the number of people per home dropped from 4.7 to 4.0. The decrease in household size has resulted in 155 million additional households in hot-spot countries, almost always limiting biodiversity.

In the 65 non-hot-spot countries-those without high-density areas of animals and plant species-similar results were found, though to a lesser degree. Even in countries experiencing population decrease, such as New Zealand, the number of households still increased because of a reduction in household size.

60. What is mainly discussed in the passage?

A. Reduction in household size and increase in household numbers is a danger to nature.

B. Reduced household size leads to an increase in household numbers.

C. Modern homes consume more natural resources.

D. How to meet consumers’ demand without endangering animals and their habitats.

61. It can be learned from the passage that China’s Wolong Nature Reserve______.

A. is a place where giant pandas and their habitats are not affected.

B. is a place where animals and their habitats are seriously damaged.

C. sets a good example of protecting animals.

D. is facing the same threat as many other parts of the world.

62. Which of the following is best supported by the last two paragraphs?

A. The threat to nature from reduction in household size is a worldwide problem.

B. Biodiversity is better kept in countries with smaller populations.

C. Biodiversity better kept in hot-spot countries doesn’t face threat.

D. Both hot-spot countries and non-hot-spot countries face threat of the same percentage.

63. Which of the following can best describe the feeling of the author?

A. Disappointed                    B. Hopeful                    C. Worried                    D. Angry