“We do look very different; we’re older. Leo’s 38, I’m 37. We were 21 and 22 when we made that film. You know, he’s fatter now -- I’m thinner.” So says Kate Winslet, who is thrilled at the 3-D re-release of Titanic to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ship’s demise. “It happens every time I get on any boat of any kind." She recalls. There are all the people who want her to walk to the front of the ship and re-create her famous pose, arms flung wide. Most people remember the tragedy: The British passenger ship—said to be unsinkable—hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from England to New York City. More than 1,500 people died. But little known is what the world learned from the sinking to prevent future incidents.

Probably the greatest deficiency (不足) of the Titanic was that she was built 40 years before the widespread use of the wonderful invention radar (雷达). Her only defense against icebergs and hidden obstacles was to rely on manned lookouts. On that fateful night the eyesight of trained lookouts only provided 37 seconds of warning before the collision.

Traveling at nearly 30 miles an hour, the Titanic was moving far too fast to avoid the huge iceberg. The warning did prevent a head-on collision as the officer on the bridge managed to turn the ship slightly.

The last ship to which it could send an SOS message was the California. She was within ten miles of the Titanic during the disaster, but her radio operator went to bed at midnight and never received any of the SOS messages from the Titanic. That was one of the important lessons learned from the catastrophe, the need for 24-hour radio operators on all passenger liners.

Another lesson learned was the need for more lifeboats. The Titanic remained afloat (漂浮) for almost three hours and most of the passengers could have been saved with enough lifeboats.

1,500 passengers and workers died in the 28 degree waters of the Atlantic. Out of the tragedy, the sinking did produce some important maritime reforms. The winter travel routes were changed to the south and the Coast Guard began to keep an eye on the location of all icebergs. The new rules for lifeboats were obvious to all. There must be enough lifeboats for everybody on board.

The most important lesson learned was that no one would ever again consider a ship unsinkable—no matter how large or how well constructed. Never again would sailors place their faith in a ship above the power of the sea.

1.The text mainly tells us ______.

A．the reason why the Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean

B．how the unsinkable ship of Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean

C．the lessons that we could learn from the accident of the Titanic

D．the things we should do to protect the lives on the ship

2.According to the passage, which of the following could we infer?

A．If the captain had been more careful, he could have had the chance to save the Titanic.

B．If radar had existed 40 years ago, the Titanic would have never disappeared from the world.

C．If the lookout had had much more experience, he could have had the time to save the Titanic.

D．If there had been enough lifeboats on the Titanic, the Titanic would not have sunk in the Atlantic.

3.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Lessons from the Titanic                  B．Technology is Important

C．Demands of Passengers                   D．Power of Sea

4.What’s the sailors’ attitude towards the ships after the tragedy?

A．They think there really exists the unsinkable ship.

B．They think ships could eventually defeat the sea.

C．They think there is no power that could control the sea.

D．They think the bigger the ship is, the safer it is.

第二节：完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Mr. Smith gave his wife ten pounds for her birthday. The day after her birthday Mrs. Smith went shopping. She got on   16   and sat down next to an old lady.   17  she noticed that the old lady’s handbag was   18   .  Inside it, she found a wad（沓）of pound notes   19   the one her husband had given her. She quickly   20  her own bag—the notes were   21   . Mrs. Smith was now sure that the old lady sitting   22   her must have stolen them. She thought   23 not have to call the   24  as she didn’t like getting people   25  . 
So she decided to take back the money   26   the lady’s handbag and say   27    about it. She looked around the bus to make sure   28  was watching, then she carefully put her hand into   29   handbag, took out the notes and   30  her own handbag． 
When she got home that evening, she showed   31   the beautiful hat she had bought. “How did you  32  it?” he asked. “ 33   you gave me for my birthday, of course.” “Oh,   34  then?” he asked, as he   35   a wad of pound notes on the table. 
16. A. a bus          B. a train         C. an old ship        D. a plane
17. A. In a minute      B. After a while    C. For a second       D. On the moment
18. A. good           B. old            C. open             D. shut
19. A. the same that    B. perhaps was      C. probably as        D. exactly like
20. A. looked at       B. watched carefully  C. saw to            D. looked into
21. A. gone           B. missed        C. disappear          D. found
22. A. close          B. next to              C. before             D. behind
23. A. she would      B. he can         C. she must          D. he may
24. A. driver         B. old lady             C. police            D. husband
25. A. to difficulty     B. into trouble     C. out of work       D. seeing her
26. A. into           B. out           C. away           D. from
27. A. something     B. everything      C. anything         D. nothing
28. A. nothing       B. somebody            C. nobody            D. neither
29. A. the old lady’s   B. her husband’s    C. the police’s        D. her own
30. A. gave it away   B. put them into    C. brought them out  D. took it to
31. A. the driver     B. the police            C. the old lady       D.her husband
32. A. pay for       B. spend on            C. cost in            D. take to
33. A. Use them     B. With the money   C. With that              D. Using it
34. A. how is it      B. what’s that      C. where is it         D. why is this
35. A. put up       B. held out             C. pointed to          D. handed up

Violent winds swept the ocean, and waves thundered to shore, shaking the lookout tower at Pea Island Rescue Station. Surfman Theodore Meekins was on watch that evening of 11 October 1896. A hurricane had struck the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the tide was so strong that beach patrols(巡逻)had been canceled. Still, Meekins paid close attention to the horizon. This was the type of weather that could blow ships hundreds of miles off course.

Offshore, the ship E.S. Newman was caught in the storm. The captain, whose wife and child were on the ship, feared the Newman would soon break up. He made the decision to beach his ship, then fired a signal, praying that someone onshore would see it.

Meekins, whose eyes were trained to cut through rain and surf mists, thought he saw the signal, but so much spray (水雾) covered the lookout windows that he could hardly make sure. Still, he took no chances. After summoning (召集) the station keeper, Captain Richard Etheridge, Meekins set off a coston signal, a signal made by using lamps of different colors. Together, the two men searched the darkness for a reply. A few moments later, they saw a flash of light to the south and knew a shop was in distress (遇险). Even before the return signal burned out, Etheridge had summoned his men and begun rescue operations.

For the lifesavers, the rescue of the Newman was nothing unusual. Over the years, so many ships had foundered off the Outer Banks that sailors called the region the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Noting the dangerous surf and wind conditions, Captain Etheridge quickly decided the surf boats would be impossible to control. Instead, he decided to use another way to help the survivors.

The crew set off on the long journey down the beach to the scene of the wreck (海滩). Captain Etheridge hoped to fire a line from a gun to the ship’s mast (船桅). After the ship’s crew dragged the line onboard, the surfmen would fire a second line and carry survivors safely to shore.

The surfmen crossed three miles of sand to reach the ship Newman. The water was freezing, and the men often sank up to their knees in sand. Captain Etheridge noted in his diary that “the voice of gladdened hearts greeted the arrival of the station crew,” but that “it seemed impossible for them to do anything under such circumstances. The work was often stopped by the sweeping current.”

Even when the rescue equipment proved useless, Etheridge refused to give up. Choosing two of his strongest surfmen, he tied rope lines around their waists and sent them into the water. The two men, holding a line from shore, walked with huge effort as far as they could before diving through the waves. Nearly worn out while swimming against the tide, they finally made it to the shore.

The first to be rescued were the captain’s wife and child. With the two passengers tied to their backs, the surfmen fought their way back to shore. Taking turns, Etheridge and his crew made ten trips to the Newman, saving every person onboard. It was 1:00 a.m. when the crew and survivors finally made it back to the station.

That night, as the exhausted survivors lay sleeping and his lifesaving crew rested, Captain Etheridge picked up his pen, and in the light of an oil lantern, wrote with satisfaction that all the people onboard had been saved and were “sheltered in this station”—words he would remember for many years to come.

1.The beach patrols were canceled because ________.

  A. Meekins paid enough attention to the horizon

B. there was too much spray on the windows

C. the winds and tide were too strong

D. there was no ship near the station

2.The underlined word “foundered” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to “___________”.

  A. stopped          B. sank          C. sailed          D. arrived

3.What was the author’s main purpose in writing the passage?

  A. To warn sailors of the dangers of hurricanes.

B. To create a story describing a rescue at sea.

C. To inform people about Richard Etheridge.

D. To record the details about the Newman.

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

  A. The newman was very dangerous before Richard Etheridge and his team members saw the signal.

B. A terrible hurricane took place off the coast of North Carolina and threatened the lives of many sailors.

C. At no other time in American history have so many shipwrecked passengers survived such a violent storm.

D. All the passengers of a shipwreck were rescued because of heroic the efforts of a special leader and his crew.