Scientist Florence Wambugu works with farmers in Kenya, a country in East Africa. She helps them grow bigger and better crops. Wambugu is especially interested in finding simple ways to produce more food.

In the past ten years, Wambugu has spent much of her time studying sweet potatoes, which are an important food in her part of Kenya. A virus (病毒) kept attacking the plants. It stopped the sweet potatoes from growing well. Because of the virus, some farmers lost three quarters of their crops.

Wambugu went to war against the virus. Her research for a way to save the sweet potatoes led to a lab in St. Louis, Missouri.

The lab mainly works on genes (基因), the chemical “computer programs” found in the cells of living things. Genes tell a plant to produce pink flowers or an animal to grow black hair. Now scientists have found ways to move genes from one living thing to another. That process is called genetic engineering.

Wambugu spent three years in the lab. As a result, she created a sweet potato plant that could fight off the virus. Wambugu tested her research in Kenya, and her plants produced wonderful sweet potatoes.

That’s just the beginning, Wambugu believes. Genetically modified (转基因的) foods, she thinks, could help farmers in poor countries grow badly needed crops, thus, fewer people will go hungry.

1.The text is written mainly to _______.

2.What caused Wambugu to set up a lab in St. Louis, Missouri?

3.The fourth paragraph mainly explains what ________ is.

4. What is Wambugu’s attitude toward “genetic engineering”?

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项

I’m an operating engineer, running crane in New York City. I was in the countryside, playing golf when we got the call that a plane had   36   the World Trade Centre. We checked out of the hotel immediately and started   37   our way downtown. When I got home, I called the rescue center and they told me to come   38   and get on the   39   list.

The next morning I went down to the   40   at about 5 A. M., and four hours later I   41   the call to come down to West Street. I called my wife and told her not to   42   me, and that I would stay in   43   with her. I took the subway. It stopped at West Fourth Street, so I had to   44   the rest of the way.

And somewhere in there I became   45   that I was going into something I   46  . I once worked there in 1966 for the   47   of the World Trade Centre. On halfway on September 12, I was frightened to see the World Trade Centre was a huge pile, maybe ten   48   tall. And it was burning. I started to ask   49   in which my crane might be   50   a whistle blew suddenly warning us of some danger. I saw people running away and I really didn’t know what to do. So I did the same, too. It was as if they had   51   the bulls go in Spain and we were running through the street. People falling down, people   52   them up as they came by, and carrying them, just to get them out of the way, because something was extremely   53  . I didn’t even look back. We stopped running when we got to the Battery Tunnel, and I caught my   54   and said, “Oh, my God, I’m going to   55  .”

Then I settled down a little bit, thinking about what we should do next. As we started again we knocked into a fire chief officer and we asked, “What can we do to help you?”

A．noticed  B．reached     C．hit     D．passed

A．finding  B．making     C．getting      D．losing

A．away     B．near  C．in      D．down

A．volunteer      B．soldier      C．police       D．fireman

A．company       B．hotel C．center     D．home

A．answered       B．made       C．heard D．got

A．miss      B．forget       C．stop   D．expect

A．peace     B．touch C．silence    D．anger

A．walk      B．complete   C．cancel       D．smooth

A．delighted     B．frightened C．surprised   D．interested

A．built    B．met   C．designed   D．had

A．construction B．plan  C．destruction       D．use

A．miles   B．meters      C．stories      D．floors

A．ways    B．numbers   C．position    D．directions

A．as B．why  C．when D．because

A．driven  B．let     C．asked D．enjoyed

A．pushing       B．giving      C．holding     D．picking

A．dangerous    B．urgent      C．emergent  D．important

A．view    B．sight  C．breath       D．sense

A．leave    B．die    C．remain      D．work

Jack ______ the bus as soon as it stopped; and then to his joy he met an old friend of his on that bus.

A. got on  B. got into        C. got off D. got out of

When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices（装置）tell the time — which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007.

But while the wise have realized that they don’t need them, others—apparently including some distinguished men of our time—are spending total fortunes on them. Brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breitling command shocking prices, up to ￡250,000 for a piece.

This is ridiculous. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions — but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?

If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world.

Watches are now classified as “investments”（投资）. A 1994 Patek Philippe recently sold for nearly ￡350,000, while 1960s Rolexes have gone from ￡15,000 to ￡30,000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It’s a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up—they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that ￡350,000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex.

The sales of watches to young people have fallen because they______.        

A. have other devices to tell the time                      B. think watches too expensive

C. prefer to wear an iPod                                      D. have no sense of time

It seems ridiculous to the writer that ______.

A. people dive 300 metres into the sea

B. expensive clothes sell better than cheap ones

C. cheap cars don’t run as fast as expensive ones

D. expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell

What can be learnt about Swiss watch industry from the passage?

A. It targets rich people as its potential customers.

B. It’s hard for the industry to beat its competitors.

C. It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising.

D. It’s easy for the industry to reinvent cheap watches.

Which would be the best title for the passage?

A. Timex or Rolex?                                      B. My Childhood Timex

C. Watches? Not for Me!                               D. Watches — a Valuable Collection

Ⅰ     语言知识及应用（共两节，满分45分)

第一节 完形填空(共15小题；每小题2分．满分30分)

         阅读下面短文，掌握其大意．然后从1—15各题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

As the plane circled over the airport, everyone guessed that  1    was wrong .The plane was moving unsteadily(不稳定地)through the  2    , and the passengers were suddenly thrown forward. At that moment ,the air hostess(空中小姐) appeared. She looked very pale, but was quite  3      . Speaking quickly but almost in a whisper she told everyone that the pilot was badly ill and asked if any of the passengers knew anything about machines or at  4    knew how to drive a car. After a moment’s  5    , a man got up and followed the hostess into the pilot’s room.  6  the pilot aside, the man took his seat and listened carefully to the orders  7  were being sent by radio from the airport  8    . The plane was now dangerously  9    to the ground, but it soon began to   10    .

         The man had to circle the airport several times in order to become familiar with the controls. But the danger had not yet passed. The terrible moment came when he had to  11    . Following orders, the man controlled the plane towards the airfield. It shook greatly  12     it touched the ground and then moved rapidly  13    the field, but after a long   14    it stopped safely. Outside, a lot of people, who had been watching anxiously, ran forward to  15    the “pilot ”on an excellent landing .

 1. A. nothing                    B. what                           C. something                      D. the plane

 2. A. airport                B. heaven                                     C. air                                     D. cloud

 3. A. natural                B. calm                           C. worried                           D. excited

 4. A. most                    B. last                             C. first                                  D. least

 5. A. thought                    B. quiet                           C. darkness                         D. hesitation

 6. A. Moved                B. Sending                      C. Moving                            D. Being put

 7. A. they                     B. that                            C. these                               D. this

 8. A. down                   B. below                         C. there                               D. nearby

 9. A. up                         B. over                            C. close                                D. downstairs

10. A. fly                         B. go down                    C. stop                                 D. climb

11. A. land                     B. drive                           C. rise                                   D. set

12. A. as                   B. before                             C. after                                D. until

13. A. above                  B. onto                            C. around                                      D. across

14. A. fly                         B. forward                     C. run                                   D. drive

15. A. congratulate          B. praise                         C. thank                               D. reward