D

If you enjoyed the spring-like sunshine over the weekend and thought the weather has finally turned a corner, you’re sadly mistaken.

Chilly (寒冷的) days and grey clouds are forecast for the week—making it far too early to pack away the winter woollies.

Temperatures will struggle to rise above zero at night and fail to make double figures during the day.

People enjoy the spring sunshine in Sefton Park, Aigburth, Liverpool. Forecasters have predicted a return to chilly weather this week.

Met Office forecaster Charlie said, “It was a nice, dry, bright weekend in many parts and Monday is going to be a similar affair for many.”

“Temperatures will be between 5℃and 8℃, which is below average for the start of spring.”

The sun will disappear from the south of the country after today, with dry but cloudy conditions forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday. 

Wednesday will be warmest of the three, with temperatures peaking at 9℃. But this is still two degrees below the March average for the district.

Overnight, temperatures will drop sharply, with lows of minus 3℃for the next three nights.

    “It will generally stay on the cold side of average,” said Mr. Powell.

The March misery comes at the end of the coldest winter for more than 30 years.

    Temperatures in December, January and February struggled to stay above zero, with the UK’s average 1.5℃, making it the deepest freeze since 1978—79.

It claimed there was just a one-in-seven chance of a cold December to February.

The agency also sadly predicted a “barbecue summer”, saying it was “quite optimistic” that it would be warmer and drier than average.

Following the two mistakes, the Met Office has dropped its long-range seasonal forecasts and will instead publish a monthly prediction for Britain, updated once a week.

In its defense, it says that while short-term forecasts are extremely accurate, Britain’s size and geographical position makes long-term predictions much more challenging.

It also points out that it gave warning of any heavy falls of snow this winter.

68. According to the passage, the weather on Tuesday in the south might be _______.

A. dry but cloudy  B. sunny but chilly  C. sunny and warm  D. cloudy and chilly

69. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

   A. British people can put away their winter clothes now.

   B. The Met Office has shortened its forecast range.

   C. The weather forecast becomes more and more accurate.

   D. The agency was quite confident of long-term predictions.

70. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. The big chill isn’t over yet                    B. A warm spring finally arrives

C. A heavy snow is on the way            D. The Met Office drops forecasts

If you look for a book as a present for a child. You will be spoiled for choice even in a year there is no new Harry Patten J.K Powling’s wizard is not alone the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books, which has set off a large quantity of films and an increased sales of classics such as The lard of the Rings.

Yet despite that , reading is increasingly unpopular among children. According to statistics in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading in all. In 2003, 35% did . And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.

Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability of computes games. Maybe the books boom has affected only the top of the educational pile. Either way, Chancellor Cordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class. In his pre-budget report, he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.

Reading Recovery is wined at six year olds, who receive four months of individual daily half-hour classes with a specially trained teacher. An evaluation either this year reported that children on the school made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress, and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.    

International research tends to find that when British children leave primacy school they read well, but read text often for fun than those elsewhere. Reading for fun matters because children who are been on reading can report lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator of future educational success. According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage

Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?

A. Marry children’s books have been adapted from films.

B. Marry high-quality children’s books have been published.

C. The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films.

D. The sales of presents for children have increased.

Statistics suggested that        .  

A. the number of top students increased with the use of computers

B. a decreasing number of children showed interest in reading

C. a minority of primacy school children read properly

D. a huge percentage of children read regularly

What do we know about Reading Recovery?

A. An evaluation of it will be made sometime this year.

B. Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking.

C. It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading.

D. Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading.

Reading for fun is important because book-loving children _______.

A. take greater advantage of the project

B. show the potential to enjoy a long life

C. are likely to succeed in their education.  

D. would make excellent future researchers

The aim of this text would probably be _______.

A. to overcome primary school pupils reading difficulty.

B. to encourage the publication of more children’s books

C. to remind children of the importance of reading for fun

D. to introduce a way to improve early children reading

A young father was visiting an old neighbor．They were standing in the old man's garden，talking about children. The young man said，“How strict should parents be with their children？”

  The old man pointed to a string（绳子）between a big strong tree and a thin young one． “Please untie（解开）that string，” he said．The young man untied it，and the young tree bent over to one side．“Now tie it again， please，” said the old man，“but first pull the string tight so that the young tree is straight again．”

  The young man did so．Then the old man said，“There，it is the same with children．You must be strict with them，but sometimes you must untie the string to know how they are getting on．If they are not yet able to stand alone，you must tie the string tight again．But when you find that they are ready to stand alone，you can take the string away．”

The story is about ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ ．

  A． how to take care of young trees   

B． how strict parents should be with their children

  C． how the young father should get on with his old neighbor

  D． how to tie and untie the string

The young man untied the string ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ ．

  A． in order to throw it away          

B． so that both of the trees would grow straight

  C． only to find that the thinner one bent over to one side

  D． in order to let the old man teach him

When can the string be taken away？＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ ．

  A． When the old man has left                

B． After you have untied it

  C． When the young man has untied it next time

  D． When the young tree grows strong enough

At last the old man told the young man ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ ．

  A． that he should be strict with his children if they could not yet stand alone

  B． that he should always be strict with his children    

C． that he should be hard on them

  D． that he should tie his children until they are ready to stand alone

C

Some futurologists have assumed that the vast upsurge(剧增)of women in the workforce may portend a rejection of marriage. Many women, according to this hypothesis, would rather work than marry. The converse(反面)of this concern is that the prospects of becoming a multi-paycheck household could encourage marriage. In the past, only the earnings and financial prospects of the man counted in the marriage decision. Now, however, the earning ability of a woman can make her more attractive as a marriage partner. Data show that economic downturns tend to putting off marriage because the parties cannot afford to establish a family or are concerned about rainy days ahead. As the economy comes to life, the number of marriages also rises.

The increase in divorce rates follows to the increase in women working outside the home. Yet, it may be wrong to jump to any simple cause-and-effect conclusions. The impact of a wife’s work on divorce is no less cloudy than its impact on marriage decisions. The realization that she can be a good provider may increase the chances that a working wife will choose divorce over an unsatisfactory marriage. But the reverse is equally plausible(似是而非的). Tensions grounded in financial problems often play a key role in ending a marriage. By raising a family’s standard of living, a working wife may strengthen her family’s financial and emotional stability.

Psychological factors also should be considered. For example, a wife blocked from a career outside the home may feel caged in the house. She may view her only choice as seeking a divorce. On the other hand, if she can find fulfillment through work outside the home, work and marriage can go together to create a stronger and more stable union.

Also, a major part of women’s inequality in marriage has been due to the fact that, in most cases, men have remained the main breadwinners. A working wife may rob a husband of being the master of the house. Depending upon how the couple reacts to these new conditions, it could create a stronger equal partnership or it could create new insecurities.

64．The word “portend” (Line 2, Para.1) is closest in meaning to“_____”.

A．defy       B．signal     C．suffer from   D．result from

65．It is said in the passage that when the economy slides_____.

    A．men would choose working women as their marriage partners

    B．more women would get married to seek financial security

    C．even working women would worry about their marriages

    D．more people would prefer to remain single for the time being

66．One reason why women with no career may seek a divorce is that_____.

A．they feel that they have been robbed of their freedom

B．they are afraid of being bossed around by their husbands

C．they feel that their partners fail to live up to their expectations

D．they tend to suspect their husbands? loyalty to their marriage

67．Which of the following statements can best summarize the authors view in the passage?

A．The stability of marriage and the divorce rate may reflect the economic situation of the country．

B．Even when economically independent, most women have to struggle for real equality in marriage.

C．In order to secure their marriage women should work outside the home and remain

independent

D．The impact of the growing female workforce on marriage varies from case to case.

A story from the Bible tells of old Babylon, where the men decided to build a tower that would touch the sky．But God was unhappy, and he made them speak different languages．They couldn’t understand each other, so their dream never came true．

Yet the dream remains alive: if all men speak the same language, they can do anything．L．L．Zamenhof from Poland was among the men who pursue this dream．He developed Esperanto（世界语）between 1877 and 1885．

As the most successful man-made world language, it is spoken by over two million people around the world．Last month, the World Esperanto Congress（大会）, dealing with language rights, ended in Sweden．The 2004 conference will be held in Beijing．Most Esperanto speakers are in Central and Eastern Europe and in East Asia, particularly Chinese mainland．

Esperanto has two advantages．First, it’s easy．Each letter has exactly one sound and there are just 16 basic grammar rules．The second advantage is that it belongs to no one country．But Esperanto has only reached a small number of people compared with natural languages widely used around the world-such as English or Chinese．While these languages are deeply connected with their nations and cultures, Esperanto doesn’t have this background．

Will Esperanto really become a global language? It remains a question．

The writer tells us a story at the beginning to          ．

           A．explain why men have been making the effort to create a language shared by all

              B．explain why men now speak different languages

              C．show the relationship between man and God

              D．prove that language is very important

What does the underlined word “pursue” in the second paragraph mean?

              A．“Realize”．     B．“Work for”．   C．“Be against”． D．“Follow”．

What is the basic difference between Esperanto and English?

              A．More people speak English than Esperanto．

              B．Esperanto words are easier to spell．

              C．Esperanto has fewer grammar rules．

              D．Esperanto is not supported by any country or culture．

What does the story mainly talk about?

              A．Advantages and disadvantages of Esperanto．

              B．Men’s dream of sharing the same language．

              C．The most successful planned language-Esperanto．

              D．Comparison of Esperanto and other languages like English and Chinese．