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，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The man known as the French “ Spiderman” climbed The New York Times building on Thursday to draw attention to global warming, and six hours later another climber made the same climb.
Alain Robert, 45, the first person to climb the 52-story skyscraper, told reporters ahead of the climb on the UN World Environment Day his aim was to raise awareness of global warming since this is one of the main problems for our time.
His manager Julie Cohen said she knew nothing about the second climber. She added that Robert’s climbs were without risk and he was a professional climber.
Robert climbed without equipment except for climbing shoes. He was greeted at the top by the police who arrested him. 
The second climber was also immediately arrested at the top by police. His climb at the height of the evening rush hour drew crowds and was shown live on at least one TV station.
Several people in the crowd shouted“jump” when he stopped part of the way to rest, but there was a loud cheer as he reached the top. Wearing red pants , black climbing shoes and a white T-shirt that read “ Malaria(疟疾) No More”, the man laughed as he was led away by the police from the building.
“ We don’t look at him as a modern spiderman,” said James Coil, a member of the police emergency services unit. “ We look at him as somebody who not only puts his life at risk but is one of members of the public as well.”
Martin Edlund, director of “ Malaria No More”, which aims to prevent the one million yearly deaths from malaria, said the climber had nothing to do with them, but they appreciated his enthusiasm.
56.When was Alain Robert arrested at the top of the building by police?
A. In the early morning.     B. In the late afternoon.
C. In the evening.          D. About at noon.
57. We learn from the text that Robert’s climb was________.
A. cheered by the police    B. supported by his manager
C. prevented by the owner of the skyscraper
D. laughed at by the people watching him
58. The second climber did the same thing as Robert with the purpose of_____.
A. showing that he is as good as Robert 
B. drawing people’s attention to global warming
C. doing something for people’s health improvement
D. making himself well known in the world
59.The underlined sentence shows that________.
A. risk is popular in the USA
B. the Americans go in for risks
C. the actions like the two men’s are forbidden in the USA
D. the USA government supports the actions of risk

New Year’s Eve is a time to celebrate and enter the new year with a smile on your face. This year, there’re plenty of local activities for all ages and interests, so the smiles will come easily.

BLUE CONCERT

Blues band the Coyotes is playing at the Dance Barn，at 8 Barn View in Sudden Valley, The show will start at 9 p. m. and benefit the charity Bikers Fighting Cancer. Tickets cost $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Call 224-2308 for more information.

NEW YEAR’S LAUGHS

Ring in the New Year and laugh out the old one at the Upfront Theatre Comic improvisers will hit on all the highlights of the year with The Last Laugh of 2008. The 9 p. m. show will cost $15 and is open to all ages. The 11 P. m. show is to 21 and older and costs $18, which includes a champagne (香槟酒) toast. Call 733-8855 for more information.

MAZE

For a fun activity earlier in the evening，walk the labyrinth (迷宫) at the Leopold Crystal Bellroom. Wander through the maze, based on the French Chartres Cathedral, for free from 4 to 9 P. m. Call 752-0048 for more information.

COUNTRY DANCING

At the Bellingham Eagles Hall, live local music will help get the dance started at 8 p. m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and free for kids 12 and younger. For more information, call 676-1554.

1. In what way do these activities have in common?

A. They’re all held in the same day.                            B. They’re all held by the same organization.

C. They’re all organized for children.               D. They’re all about the dancing and music.

2. Which of the following activities may be free for Tom aged 16?

A. COUNTRY DANCING.                                   B. NEW YEAR'S LAUGHS.

C. MAZE.                                                       D. BLUE CONCERT.

3. If you want to know something about the Coyotes at 8 Barn view, you'd better call        .

A. 676-1554         B. 733-8855  C. 752-0048       D. 224-2308

4. Which of the followings will be the highlights of NEW YEAR'S LAUGHS?

A. Wander through the maze.                               B. The champagne toast.

C. Its live music.                                                    D. The Last Laugh of 2008.

5. It can be inferred from the text that            .

A. $10 is enough to book a ticket to Blue Concert   B. you can read the text on a telephone book

C. all these activities are international ones    D. New Year’s Laughs will hold shows three times

The trip to the United State opened my eyes to the fact that there are a lot of similarities as well as differences between American youth and French youth.
The first difference is in appearance. Going around in the U.S., I found that American youth do not really care about their appearance. In the morning, they choose something in their closet and wear it with another thing, often of different colors and styles, without wondering whether their choices make them look strange. The reason behind this is that they don’t care what people look like, but are just interested in their ideas. I think it’s great, but it also causes problems. Since they don’t care about their appearance, they don’t really care about their weight. Often they get fat without realizing it.
There are differences in relationships too. When the American youth fall in love, they don’t really think of the future. Also, there are differences in the rules concerning behavior that is allowed. In some respects, the French are more accepting. For example, in America it is generally unacceptable to make physical display of love. Lovers, actually, can’t kiss or hold each other everywhere they want. People think that not showing love in public places is a way to respect others. On the contrary, the French youth can do almost everything they want.
As for other types of relationships, there are also big differences. Americans act differently from French people in front of unknown people. When an American girl, for example, arrives in front of people she has never met before, she will talk with them, trying to create a kind of tie between her and this new circle of people. The French girls will just think about rather than really do this kind of thing because they are too shy and lacking in self-confidence.
To finish, I noticed that in American classes, when pupils want to say or ask something, they just do it. In general, they don’t really care how the others will judge them. In France, it’s not the same case. If somebody wants to ask something, he/she will think about it before speaking up. I appreciate the freedom in Americans’ behavior, ideas, and ways of expressing themselves.
【小题1】The underlined word “respects” in the third paragraph probably means____.

Levi Strauss was born in Bavaria (巴伐利亚) in Europe in 1829. He emigrated（移居）to the United States of America when he was seventeen years old. His brothers sold cloth, and he worked for them even though he could not speak English very well. At this time many people were moving to California because gold was discovered there. Strauss went to look for gold, too.
Strauss took a lot of cloth with him to San Francisco. He thought that he could make tents out of the cloth and sell them to people working in the gold fields. But when he got there, he saw that people had a greater need for clothes than tents. Clothes did not last very long in the gold fields. At first Strauss made pants out of canvas（帆布）. They were very strong ---- much stronger than other pants. Soon everyone was wearing them , so he decided only to make pants. He opened a small store and made a lot of money from selling pants.
After a while, Strauss found a material even stronger than canvas. It came from a town in France called Nimes. The French called the material serge de Nimes, which means “cloth from Nimes”. The Americans called it denim. Strauss also bought some cloth from Genoa, a town in Italy. To Americans this name sounds like “jeans”, so they called his pants jeans. The cloth that Strauss used was always blue, so people also called his pants blue jeans and blue denims. Other people called them Levi’s. Levi Strauss jeans are some of the best-selling jeans in the world today. They last a long time and are very comfortable.
56. 【小题1】When Levi Strauss went to San Francisco for the first time, he wanted to ______.

The report came to the British on May 21, 1941. The German battleship Bismarck , the most powerful warship in the world , was moving out into the Atlantic Ocean . Her task : to destroy the ships carrying supplies from the United States to war-torn England .

The British had feared such a task . No warship they had could match the Bismarck in speed or in firepower . The Bismarck had eight 15-inch guns and 81 smaller guns . She could move at 30 nautical miles （海里）an hour . She was believed to be unsinkable .

However , the British had to sink her . They sent out a task force headed by their best battleship Hood to hunt down the Bismarck . On May 24 , the Hood found the Bismarck .

It was a meeting that the German commander Luetjens did not want to see . His orders were to destroy the British ships that were carrying supplies , but to stay away from a fight with British warships .

The battle didn’t last long . The Bismarck’s first torpedo （鱼雷）hit the Hood , which went down taking all but three of her 1419 men with her .

But in the fight , the Bismarck was slightly damaged . Her commander decided to run for repairs to France , which had at that time been taken by the Germans . The British force followed her . However , because of the Bismarck’s speed and the heavy fog , they lost sight of her .

For two days , every British ship in the Atlantic tried to find the Bismarck , but with no success . Finally , she was sighted by a plane from Ireland , Trying to slow the Bismarck down so that their ships could catch up with her , the British fired at her from the air . The Bismarck was hit .

On the morning of May 27 , the last battle was fought . Four British ships fired on the Bismarck , and she was finally sunk .

1．The Bismarck sailed into the Atlantic Ocean______________.

A．to sink the Hood

B．to gain control of France

C．to cut off American supplies to Britain

D．to stop British warships reaching Germany

2．Many people believed that the Bismarck could not be defeated because she______________ .

A．was fast and powerful

B．had more men on board

C．was under Luetjens’ command

D．had bigger guns than other ships

3．We learn from the text that on 24 May______________.

A．the British won the battle against the Bismarck

B．the Bismarck won the battle against the British

C．the British gunfire damaged the Bismarck seriously

D．the Bismarck succeeded in keeping away from the British

4．Luetjens tried to sail to France in order to______________.

A．have the ship repaired         B．join the other Germans

C．get help from the French          D．get away from the British