Tristan da Cunha, a 38-square-mile island, is the farthest inhabited island in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records. It is 1,510miles southwest of its nearest neighbor, St. Helena, and 1,950miles west of Africa. Discovered by the Portuguese admiral（葡萄牙海军上将）of the same name in 1506, and settled in 1810, the island belongs to Great Britain and has a population of a few hundred.

       Coming in a close second –- and often wrongly mentioned as the most distant land － is Easter Island, which lies 1,260 miles east of its nearest neighbor, Pitcairn Island, and 2,300 miles west of South America.

       The mountainous 64-square-mile island was settled around the 5th century, supposedly by people who were lost at sea. They had no connection with the outside world for more than a thousand years, giving them plenty of time to build more than 1,000 huge stone figures, called moai, for which the island is most famous.

       On Easter Sunday, 1772, however, settlers from Holland moved in and gave the island its name. Today, 2,000 people live on the Chilean territory （智利领土）. They share on street, a small airport, and a few hours of television per day.

56．It can be learned from the text that the island of Tristan da Cunha _____________.

       A．was named after its discoverer              B．got its name from Holland settlers

       C．was named by the British government    D．got its name from the Guinness Book of Records

57．Which of the following is most famous for moai?

       A．Tristan da Cunha.           B．Pitcairn Island.

       C．Easter Island.                 D．St. Helena.

58．Which country does Easter Island belong to?

       A．Britain.    B．Holland.   C．Portugal.  D．Chile.

If we say the four great inventions (Gunpowder,Compass,Paper and Art of Printing) reflected ancient China’s scientific achievements,then Zhaozhou Stone Bridge perfectly represented one of the greatest contributions to ancient China’s bridge building.Nobody was unfamiliar with the stone bridge full of legends and vivid folk stories.

The ancient Zhaozhou stone bridge started to be built in 590 during the Sui Dynasty (581～618) and established in 608.The pioneer for building the bridge was Li Chun who overcame unimaginable difficulties,undergoing all hardships.The location of the bridge is in Zhao County south,Hebei Province.It lay across the Xiaoshui River,far away from the mountains that provided rocky materials.In ancient times,it was such a busy,deep and wide river that could be used as an important carriage to transport heavy rocks and other materials.As we know,no train,no lifting machine could be used to move granite(花岗岩)blocks to the construction site.As an intelligent stonemason and engineer,Li Chun worked out his plan and design all from his own direct observation and investigation.It took his whole life-time in completing the great historical project inChina.Nowadays it is not only a historical remarkable model of architecture,but also a brilliant Chinese cultural crystallization(结晶) of wisdom.

The entire length of the bridge is 50.82 meters with 10 meters width.The whole stone bridge looks like a big bow,the span of which is 37.02 meters,and its height from the top to the surface of water at a regular position is 7.23 meters.The bridge arch seems to be moving smoothly and flatly.The whole arch consists of 28 big granite blocks connected each other tightly together.On both end sides of the general arch there are 4 smaller arches,2 of which on one side,the other 2 on the other side.The smaller arches could be used to decrease the weight of the bridge and save stone materials,and help flood get through easily,which seems to be much prettier.Such a hard-thinking and careful consideration of the engineering article is really a model of design and layout.The span was much wider than the other stone bridge in ancient times all over China.

Today Zhaozhou Stone Bridge is one of international cultural relics and perfectly protected and preserved by the concerned administration of China.

The best title of this passage is _________.

A.Great engineer in ancient China                      B.Zhaozhou stone bridge

C.Four great inventions                                     D.How to build a bridge

The third paragraph mainly tells us _________.

A.the materials of Zhaozhou bridge                    B.the structure of Zhaozhou bridge

C.the arches of Zhaozhou bridge                        D.the importance of Zhaozhou bridge

The underlined word “carriage” probably refers to _________.

A.cart                          B.transport                   C.channel                     D.resourse

PART THREE  READING COMPREHENSION (30 points)

Directions: There are 3 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should choose the answer that fits best according to the information given in the passage.

A

One dark and stormy night, an elderly man and his wife entered the hall of a small hotel in Philadelphia, hoping to get room for the night.

The clerk, a friendly man with a beautiful smile, explained that there were three conferences in town. “All of our rooms are taken,” the clerk said, “but I can't send a nice couple like you into the rain at one o’clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my room? It’s not a suite(套房), but it will be good enough to make you comfortable for the night.” The couple agreed.

As the elderly man paid the bill the next morning, he told the clerk, “You are the kind of person who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I’ll build one for you.” The clerk looked at them and smiled. The three of them had a good laugh.

Two years passed. The clerk had almost forgotten the incident when he received a letter from the elderly man, asking the clerk to pay him a visit. The elderly man met him in New York, and led him to the corner of the Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. He then pointed to a great new building there, a reddish stone one with watchtowers(塔楼) thrusting up to the sky, and told the clerk that it was the hotel he had just built for him。

That wonderful building was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. And this young clerk whose names was George C. Boldt never foresaw the return of events that would lead him into the manager of one of the world's most attractive hotels.

56 .When the elderly couple left the hotel, they      .

A. tried to make the clerk pleased

B. wanted to build the same hotel in the future

C. hoped that the clerk would replace the boss of the hotel

D. thought the clerk was talented in managing hotels

57. Why did the elderly man build a hotel for the clerk?

A. He was grateful to the clerk.         B. They had a bet(打赌) at first.

C. He wanted to fool the clerk.         D. He wanted to sell the hotel.

58. According to the text, the clerk      .

A. helped the couple because he thought they were poor

B. hoped that the old couple could give him a large amount of money

C. didn't expect to receive things in return from the old couple

D. became rich, thanks to his own efforts

59. From the text, we can infer that      .

A. anybody can be a successful manager          B. old people are always very rich

C. good luck is always waiting for lucky people    D. kindness can bring a good return

60. What do you think of the clerk?

A. He was willing to help.                      B. He was very attractive.

C. He tried to make money for his hotel．         D. He liked making friends

Goats are being hired to do the work of people near SanDiego. The fires that occurred in Hillborbough four years ago destroyed thirty homes, most of which have been rebuilt. While people were rebuilding the homes, the grasses and bushes were growing back. The area is now so overgrown in bushes that there is again a major danger of fire.

The city council asked for offers to remove the bushes. The lowest bid they received was $50,000-----and that was if the city provided breakfast and lunch for the workers for thr six weeks it would take to clear the overgrown area. The city only wanted to give unlimited coffee and a piece of bread a day for each person. When that offer was rejected, the city asked for help on its website.

A sheepherder（养绵羊的人） in Montanta and a goatherder（养山羊的人） in San Bernardino read about the city’s plight （困境）while surfing the Web on their laptops. They both offered to do the job for $25,000. The council chosed the goatherder because he lived closer. When he was told that the city dump（垃圾场） was overflowing , the gotherder said, “No problem. My goats will eat everything in your dump, except the car engines, of course.” So ,for another $5,000, the city killed two birds with one stone. If all goes well, they will invite the goatherder and his “family” back every three years. The goatherder said that he would probably visit San Diego while his goats were in the dump. “I want to go there by plane, I just hope we don’t crash. My goats will miss me a lot.” He said.

1.Why did the city council want to remove the bush?

 A. Because the fires in hillborbough destroyed 30 homes.

 B. Because people wanted to build their homes there.

 C. Because the overgrown bushes could cause fires again.

 D.Because two sheeherder offered to do the job.

2.The goatherder was chosen to do the job because       

 A. He offered to do it for the lower price

 B. It was easier to transport his goat

 C. Goats can do the job better than the job

 D. The city wanted to raise more goats

3.According to the passage,          

A. the sheepherder offered to do the job for $50.000

B. the lowest bid to remove the bushes was $50,000

C. the sheepherder and the goatherder were both addicted to surfing the Internet.

D. hiring goats to do the job saved the government lots of money.

4. we can infer from the passage that          

A. the city will remove the bushes in this area regularly

B. the goatherder asked for $50,000 to kill the birds with stones.

C. the goatherder was invited to San Diego to do some sightseeing.

D. the city council was not kind to the people who worked for it.

Seventeenth-century houses in colonial(殖民地的) North America were simple structures that were primarily functional, carrying over traditional designs that went back to the Middle Ages. During the first half of the eighteenth century, however, houses began to show a new fashion. As wealth increase, more and more colonies built fine houses.

Since art of constructing houses was not yet a specialized profession in the colonies, the design of buildings was left to carpenters who were responsible for interpreting handbooks relating to the design of houses imported from England. Libraries still preserve an astonishing number of these handbooks for builders, and the houses appeared during the first three-quarters of eighteenth century show their influence. Nevertheless, most of them display a wide difference of taste and freedom of using the rules in these books.

Increasing wealth and growing experience throughout the colonies resulted in houses of improved design, whether the material was wood, stone, or brick. New England still favored wood, though brick houses became common in Boston and other towns, where the danger of fire urged the use of more durable material. A few houses in New England were built of stone, but only in Pennsylvania and neighboring areas were stone widely used in accommodations. An increased use of brick in houses and outbuildings is noticeable in Virginia and Maryland, but wood remained the most popular material even in houses built by wealthy landowners. In the Carolinas, wooden houses were much more common than brick houses.

Eighteenth-century houses showed great interior improvements over what they were before. Windows were made larger and shutters were taken away. Large, clear sheet of glass replaced the small leaded glass of the seventeenth century. Doorways were larger and more decorative. Fireplaces became decorative features of rooms. Walls were made of plaster(灰泥) or wood, sometimes were decorated with square or rectangular wooden boards. White paint began to take the place of blues, yellows, greens and lead colors, which had been popular for walls in the earlier years. After about 1730, advertisements for wallpaper styles in scenic pattern began to appear in colonial newspapers.

51. What does the passage mainly about?

A. The improvement design of eighteenth-century colonial houses.

B. The comparison of eighteenth-century houses and modern ones.

C. The structures of eighteenth –century colonial houses.

D. The roles of carpenters in building eighteenth-century houses.

52. What was one of the main reasons for the change in eighteenth-century houses in North America?

A. More designers arrived in the colonies in North America.

B. The carpenters were smart and experienced enough.

C. Bricks were more widely used in North America.

D. The colonists had more money to spend on housing.

53. According to the passage, who designed houses in eighteenth-century North America?

A. Professional designers.                             B. House owners.

C. Businessmen.                                    D. Carpenters.

54. Where was stone commonly used to build houses?

A. Virginia.               B. Pennsylvania.           C. Boston.             D. Charleston.

55. What does the author imply about the use of wallpaper before 1730?

A. Wallpaper was introduced in handbooks of designing houses.

B. Wallpaper was the same color as what the wall was painted.

C. Patterned wallpaper was not widely used.

D. Wallpaper was not used in stone houses.