The deadly earthquake and tsunami (海啸) that struck Japan on March 11 damaged two nuclear power stations. Officials are now working to prevent dangerous radiation from poisoning the air in the area surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The Japanese government has ordered people living within 12 and a half miles of the plant to evacuate, and asked those living 12 and a half to 20 miles away to stay indoors.

Nuclear power plants create energy using a chemical reaction that produces large amounts of heat. Reactors(反应堆)in Japan have many long, thin rods, called fuel rods(棒), which must be kept cool.

If the reactor’s fuel rods aren’t cooled, the reaction can burn out of control. That’s what happened at the two Japanese plants after the quake caused a power failure and the cooling systems malfunctioned(发生故障). This overheating could cause radiation to escape and sicken many people.

Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors are built to withstand the many small or moderate earthquakes the country faces each year. But Friday’s earthquake was one of the most severe earthquakes ever recorded.

People exposed to unsafe levels of radiation have a higher than normal risk of getting cancer. The Japanese government has been distributing potassium iodide(碘化钾)pills to people in the surrounding areas to protect those who may have come in contact with radiation from the power plant. The pills flood the body with healthy potassium iodide. The potassium iodide works to crowd out “bad” iodine in the body that may have been poisoned by radiation.

On Tuesday morning, 750 workers left the Fukushima Daiichi plant. However, 50 workers stayed behind to use sweater to cool the fuel rods. These dedicated employees are risking their own lives to save many others.

On Thursday, officials used helicopters, fire trucks, and water cannons to spray water on the reactors to cool the fuel rods. But it’s not clear whether these efforts were successful. Officials are now working on a power line to restore electricity to the plant. They hope this will help restart the plant’s cooling system and stop the fuel rods from leaking radiation.

1.The underlined word “evacuate” in Paragraph 1 probably means            .

2.What can we learn from the text?

3.In the last paragraph, the author mainly states            .

4.This text is most probably taken from            .

Imagine when you are sailing an ocean for the first time, you see a big fish swimming near your ship. You might be scared, and worried about whether it will turn over your ship for a meal. In fact, it is not a fish at all, but a gentle giant whale.

Whales are not fishes but mammals (哺乳动物). Their body temperature stays the same, and does not change with the temperature of their environment. They breathe air, so they have to come out of the water to get oxygen. Thus, they cannot afford to fall into a sleeping state for too long, since they need to be awake in order to breathe. It is thought that only half of their brains sleep at a time, so that whales are never completely asleep. Females give birth to the young. They have hair. Although they are not covered in hair or fur like many mammals, whales have some bristles (胡子), usually on their heads.

Whales are highly social animals with complex languages and intelligence. They communicate with each other using romantic sounds, called “whale songs”. Being so large and powerful, these sounds are also loud.

Whales are endangered as a result of whaling (捕鲸) from the eleventh century to the twentieth. It has attracted the attention of environmentalists and some measures (措施) have been taken to protect whales.

1.How many aspects show that whales are mammals?

A．One.             B．Two.              C．Three.            D．Four.

2.We can infer from the second paragraph that ____.

A．whales can breathe in the water

B．if a whale sleeps too long, it will get drowned

C．in order to breathe, whales never sleep

D．whales give birth to the young on the land

3. How do whales communicate with each other?

A．By body language.                       B．By speaking languages.

C．By making song-like sounds.               D．By giving off a smell.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Whales are cold-blooded mammals like fishes.

B．Whales are hunted for food by people.

C．Whales are very harmful to human beings.

D．Whales are in danger because of being killed by people.

In the last years of the Warring States period, the State of Qin attacked the State of Wei on a large scale repeatedly and occupied large areas of land, for the State of Wei was too weak to defend itself. In 273 B.C., the Qin army launched a more serious attack upon the State of Wei than ever. The king of the State of Wei gathered his officials, and asked with a worried look if anyone could propose a way to defeat the Qin army. After years of chaos caused by the wars, the officials trembled when fighting was mentioned, and no one dared to speak of resistance.
At the critical moment when a large enemy force was bearing down upon the border, most of the officials persuaded the king to sue for peace, at the cost of giving away to the State of Qin the large area of land north of the Huanghe River and south of the Taihang Mountain. However Su Dai, a counselor, did not agree. He hurried up to the king and said: "Your Majesty, they don't think about the interests of the country at all. It is just because they are afraid of death that they ask you to sue for peace by betraying the country. Of course you can temporarily satisfy the ambition of Qin, but it will never stop attacking us until our land is totally given away."
He added,“Once there was a man whose house was on fire. People told him to put out the fire with water, but he would not listen. Instead, he carried a faggot to put out the fire, only to make the fire fiercer. Isn't it similar to carrying faggots to put out a fire if you agree to sue for peace at the cost of the land of the State of Wei?”
Though Su Dai's argument was very convincing, the king accepted the suggestion of those officials and gave away to the State of Qin a large area of the land of the State of Wei. As might be expected, the Qin army attacked the State of Wei in 225 B.C. again, surrounding the capital city Daliang and flooding it by digging open the dykes (堤防) of the Huanghe River. The State of Wei was finally destroyed.
【小题1】 When asked how to defeat the Qin army, most officials _______.

A．time

B．logic

C．making comparison

D．cause and effect

I had been to several doctors as a child, but I have a special place in my heart for Dr. Vincent. He was a Pediatric Cardiologist at UCLA back in 1971 who saved my life. I was eight years old at the time with a severe heart problem and I needed heart surgery. My Mom did not have the money, and without the surgery there was a real good chance I would not live to be thirteen years old. After contacting several organizations Dr. Vincent was able to get financial help for me through United Way, a Crippled Children’s Organization.

Dr. Vincent was a handsome man; he was also very gentle and caring. I remember being in the hospital for an Angiogram test, and during the procedure I was crying terribly, so the medical staff called in Dr. Vincent to calm me down, and he was able to comfort me when no one else could. Then the time came for me to have heart surgery; there was a fifty- percent chance that I would not make it through the surgery because it was experimental. At the time I was only the second or third person to have this procedure done. I was absolutely terrified, and again Dr. Vincent reassured me he would see to it that everything would be all right.

I had a lot of confidence and trust in Dr. Vincent; He came to see me after the surgery, which was extremely painful but very successful, and brought me a stuffed animal. I was so surprised to get this gift from Dr. Vincent; I gave him a hug. I guess Dr. Vincent must have known I was feeling very lonely and scared. You see, I had no family or friends visit me while I was in the hospital except for my Mom, and I am not sure why. I do know one thing; I had a wonderful doctor who took the time to help a scared little girl who felt all alone.

This was twenty eight years ago, so wherever you are Dr. Vincent, I want to thank you for not only saving my life, but you helped me live a normal productive life, and for showing me that you truly cared, for that I will be eternally grateful to you.

1.Why did Dr. Vincent have a special place in her heart? Because________.

2.Dr. Vincent was called in during my test to ________________.

3.Which of the following is true except ___________.

4.How did Dr. Vincent get the money for the operation?

(2007年普通高等学校夏季招生考试英语（北京卷）)C

 Lying in the sun on a rock, the cougar （美洲狮） saw Jeb and his son, Tom, before they saw it. Jeb put his bag down quickly and pulled his jacket open with both hands, making himself look big to the cougar. It worked. The cougar hesitated, ready to attack Jeb, but ready to forget the whole thing, too.

 Jeb let go of his jacket, grasped Tom and held him across his body, making a cross. Now the cougar’s enemy looked even bigger, and it rose up, ready to move away, but unfortunately Tom got scared and struggled free of Jeb.

 “Tom, no!” shouted his father.

  But Tom broke and ran and that’s the last thing you do with a cougar. The second Tom broke free, Jeb threw himself on the cougar, just as it jumped from the rock. They hit each other in mid-air and both fell. The cougar was on Jeb in a flash, forgetting about Tom, which was what Jeb wanted.

  Cougars are not as big as most people think and a determined man stands a chance, even with just his fists. As the cougar’s claws（爪子）got into his left shoulder, Jeb swung his fist at its eyes and hit, hard. The animal howled（吼叫）and put its head back. Jeb followed up with his other fist. Then out of the comer of his eye, Jeb saw Tom. The boy was running back to help his father.

 “Knife, Tom,” shouted Jeb.

  The boy ran to his father’s bag, while Jeb started shouting as well as hitting, to keep the cougar’s attention away from Tom. Tom got the knife and ran over to Jeb. The cougar was moving its head in and out, trying to find a way through the wall Jeb was making out of his arms. Tom swung with the knife, into the cougar’s back. It howled horribly and ran off into the mountains.

  The whole fight had taken about thirty seconds.

63. Why did Jeb pull his jacket open when he saw the cougar?

A. To get ready to fight.              B. To frighten it away.   C. To protect the boy.    D. To cool down.

64. What do we know about cougars?

A. They are afraid of noises.                                     B. They hesitate before they hit.

C. They are bigger than we think.                             D. They like to attack running people.

65. How did Jeb try to hold the cougar’s attention?

A. By keeping shouting and hitting.                          B. By making a wall out of his arms.

C. By throwing himself on the cougar.                      D. By swinging his fists at the cougar’s eyes.

66. Which of the following happened first?

A. The cougar jumped from the rock.                        B. Tom struggled free of his father.

C. Jeb asked Tom to get the knife.                                   D. Jeb held Tom across his body.