Today, roller skating is easy and fun. But a long time ago, it wasn't easy at all. Before 1750, the idea of skating didn't exist. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin's work was making musical instruments. In his spare time he liked to play the violin. Joseph Merlin was a man of ideas and dreams. People called him a dreamer.
　　One day Merlin received an invitation to attend a fancy dress ball. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think how to make a grand entrance at the party. He had an idea. He thought he would get a lot of attention if he could skate into the room.
　　Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skates. Merlin was very proud of his invention and dreamed of arriving at the party on wheels while playing the violin.
　　On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room playing his violin. Everyone was astonished to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skates. He rolled on and on. Suddenly, he ran into a huge mirror that was hanging on the wall. Down fell the mirror, breaking to pieces. Nobody forgot Merlin's grand entrance for a long time!
【小题1】The text is mainly about_________.

第三部分　阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

A

　　Learners report two main difficulties in reading, which may be linked. There are too many unknown words and as a result reading is simply not a pleasure. For some students, even reading in their own language is a chore.

　　Having a wide vocabulary is essential to making sense of written language. Of course, this is a circular argument, because the more you read the more vocabulary you learn and the more words you know the more easily you can read. Don’t make the mistake of reading with your dictionary beside you, looking up every single new or doubtful word. This is laborious and prevents you from practicing the skill of prediction.

　　Sometimes in reading you find a word you know but the sense doesn’t seem to fit in. This is not surprising because words have so many meanings and degrees of meaning. What is more, part of their meaning is shaped by the words around them. Keep looking at the surrounding words and asking yourself “what sort of meaning would make sense here?”

　　The more that people study the reading process, the better they can pass on to language learners a range of advice to choose from. People have learned to read in all kinds of ways. Here is some information that could help you plan to be a better reader in the foreign language you are studying.

　　1）Work out the general meaning first

　　When people read in a new language they often feel they must take a detailed approach, focusing in every word, particularly those they don’t know. They read as if they were using a microscope, looking carefully at each of the small pieces（the individual words）, but not necessarily seeing the whole picture at first. This is called the “bottom-up” approach. Other readers try to look first at the big picture（the “top-down” approach）, attending to individual bricks only as necessary, a process that involves some intelligent guesswork. Generally this second approach is recommended by successful learners.

　　2）Interactive reading

　　Another way of thinking about reading is to describe it as an interactive process, where the text brings something to you and you bring something to the text. Readers bring together all their knowledge of the world with what they see on the page in front of them. That is why, when reading in our own language, we don’t need to read every word. We add meaning which is not actually stated.

　　3）From supported reading to independent reading

　　Language learners start by needing considerable support as they read. Textbooks supply this support in the form of introductions that summaries the contents, glossaries, pictures, explanations of new grammar points. In your reading you need to move gradually from this support to reading more the text itself.

51．According to the author, ________.

A．looking up the dictionary is of great help for the understanding

B．reading more promotes the gaining of vocabulary

C．the more you read，the clearer the meaning is

D．the amount of vocabulary is the key to reading

52．Successful learners recommend ________.

A．trying to look first at the big picture

B．looking carefully at each of the small pieces

C．focusing on every word

D．“bottom-up”approach

53．The word “chore” in the first paragraph maybe means ________.

A．an important aspect

B．a difficult and tiring thing

C．an easy question

D．something special

54．You come across a new or doubtful word when you are reading, you can ________.

A．just miss it and let it be

B．keep looking at the surrounding words

C．look it up in the dictionary each time

D．make sense of it with the help of dictionary

Can feeling of nostalgia(怀旧) be good for you? Or is it unhealthy to have a strong love for the past?
For years, medical experts have studied nostalgia and the reasons for it. Many experts warn that too much nostalgia is harmful. They say living in the past shows that a person is unhappy with his present life. These feelings keep the person from living his life to its fullest.
　　However, experts say it is normal to love the past sometimes. In fact, a little nostalgia can enrich a person’s life.
　　Dr. Louise Kaplan has written several books about nostalgia. She says these feelings often begin when a young person is between 13 and 19 years old.
　　“This is the time when you must face the loss of your childhood, “Kaplan says. “You see your new life is easily destroyed. But you think romantically about a golden past. You remember your childhood as a time when life is perfect.”
　　These feelings continue as the person gets older, Kaplan adds. She says many grown persons have a hard time keeping up with changes in the modem world, so they think back to their younger years. At that time the world seemed simple and more harmless.
　　Kaplan says these feelings do not always actually exist. The good old days did not always exist. The good old days weren’t always good. However, she says nostalgia can be helpful, if used properly.
　　“Feelings of nostalgia can cause you to remember a time when you had high hopes and dreams, “Kaplan says. “It might give you the strong wish to catch those dreams today in your past life.” She adds that nostalgia can prevent you from “cutting yourself off from your aim”.
【小题1】Feeling of nostalgia ______.

One of the best-known American writers of children’s books is Alfred Strong, or Doctor Strong, as he is better known to readers everywhere. Now, an art show called “Doctor Strong From Then to Now” is travelling around the United States. The pictures and drawings show the history of Doctor Strong.
Doctor Strong first became famous almost fifty years ago when his first children’s book was published. Since then, he has written forty-five books that have sold more than one hundred million copies around the world.
Doctor Strong’s books are known for their easy use of words and colorful, hand-drawn pictures. These drawings bring life to his imaginary creatures. The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and hundreds of others.
The San Diego Museum, in California, organized the art show. It included about three hundred Doctor Strong’s original(最早的) drawings and some of his writings.
Most of Doctor Strong’s books, although written in a funny way, have serious messages. For example, in Mc Elligot’s Pool, he describes the danger of pollution. He discusses the arms race in The Butter Battle Book, written in 1984.
Doctor Strong is almost eighty-four years old now. He says he never planned to write stories just for children. He says he writes stories that interest people of all ages. He says he uses easy words so that everyone, even a child, can understand.
【小题1】Alfred Strong is a famous _______ in the United States.

D

  　　Award­winning author Emma Donoghue's latest book, Room, is a unique and amazing story about a boy's experience living in a small，windowless room with his mother. The 11' x 11' space between the walls of the room is actually all the boy knows because he was born there and has never left. Room will horrify ，surprise, sadden, and finally delight you. Attracted from the start, readers of all sorts won't want to put Room down.

◆First published in the U. S. in September 2010

◆Publisher: Little Brown

◆321 Pages                                                                                                                                     

　　Literary master Ian McEwan returns with Solar, a novel about a Nobel prize­winning physicist. The physicist's personal life is in a mess as his fifth marriage breaks，but this time he actually loves his wife and wants to make things better. Solar is a funny story, completely unusual and as good as anything the writer has ever written.

◆Published in March 2010

◆Publisher: Knopf Doubleday

◆304 Pages                                                                                                                                     

　　One Day by David Nicholls was an international bestseller before it was released in the U. S. in June. Although it is well written and funny at times, don't be fooled—this isn't a good­feeling romantic comedy. If you decide to read it, be prepared for some heavy moments.

◆Published in the U．S. in June 2010

◆Publisher: Vintage Contemporaries

◆437 Pages                                                                                                                                     

　　Fall of Giants by Ken Follett is the first book in a new trilogy (three books)that will take readers through the major events of the twentieth century by following five families. In Fall of Giants, most of the action centers on World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution. Although Fall of Giants is more than 1,000 pages and has many characters，the story is remarkably connected.

◆Published in September 2010

◆Publisher: Dutton

◆1,008 Pages                                                                                                                                  

1.Which of the following is NOT true according to the text?

A. Ian McEwan once won the Nobel Prize.

B. Fall of Giants is mostly set in wars.

C. One day is written by David Nicholls.

D. Solar is a funny story about a physicist.

2.We can know from the text that ________.

A. the main character of Room has a wide range of knowledge

B. Solar is the only book that Ian McEwan has ever written

C. all the four books were not published in the same month

D. One Day is a funny romantic comedy that sells very well

3.We can infer from the passage that ________.

A. the sixth of Ian McEwan's marriages broke

B. Room by Emma Donoghue has a happy ending

C. the publisher of One Day is Little Brown

D. Dutton and Ken Follett are both publishers