The trend in everyday conversation is to use grandiose(夸大的)words．“Outstanding” is the
new “good,”  “amazing” is the new “OK, ” and “huge” is the new “big.”
I was in a restaurant in Washington D．C．last weekend and every question I asked was answered with exaggeration．
Me：How is the salmon?
Sever：Fantastic!
Me：Does it come with rice?
Sever：Absolutely!
Would a “good” and a “yes” have been enough? Of course!
My father is an average-sized man．He hasn’t gained weight or height for the past 30 years. Therefore, his size remains the same．However，in the same amount of time，his T-shirt size has gone from small to medium to large to extra large．
The reason for the exaggerated word is clear：we are bored with our lives. We want the next
—next thing now．Immediately!
And we also want others to think that we still care，that we can still be delighted，that we know that everything is just great．Even when deep inside we know it can’t be．Everything can’t be great．
I’m not a scientist，so many methods of proof leave little to be desired，or a lot to be desired，or an immensity(无限)．   
Listen to the voices around you．Listen to your own voices．There is nothing on the radio that is good or bad，weather is either beautiful or horrible．
Listen，the next time when someone asks you something and you agree，because when you
could simply say “yes”, instead you will say “absolutely’’ or “without doubt ” or “Oh，yeah，unquestionably ---- absolutely without doubt."
Have people forgotten what it is like to be OK? Simply OK with what they have and who they are? If everything is outstanding，if everything is the most amazing thing ever，is anything ever amazing at all?
【小题1】By telling his experience in the restaurant，the author intends to ________．

Ears are for hearing — everyone knows that. But for a creature called the Cuvier’s beaked whale, hearing starts in the throat (喉咙), a new study found.
The observation might help explain how all whales hear. The work might also help scientists understand how animals are affected by underwater sonar (声呐). This sonar, used by some ships, sends out sound waves to locate underwater objects.
The Cuvier’s beaked whale is a so-called toothed whale. Toothed whales dive deep into the ocean in search of food. As the whales hunt, they produce sounds that reach objects and then return to the whales. This allows the animals to “see” the shape, size, and location of objects, even when they’re 1,000 meters under the sea, where it is totally dark.
To better understand how the whale hears, researchers from San Diego State University in California took X rays of two Cuvier’s beaked whales. The whales had died and washed up on the beach.
Ted Cranford and his colleagues used the images to make a computer model of a Cuvier’s beaked whale’s head. Then, they modeled the process of sound traveling through the head.
The researchers knew that some sounds get to the ears of a toothed whale through a structure (构造) called “the window for sound”. Found on the lower jaw, this structure is very thin on the outside and has a large pad (垫) of fat on the inside.
When the researchers used their computer model to work out how sound waves travel in the whale’s head, they were surprised to find that sounds coming from right in front of the whale actually travel under the animal’s jaw. From there, sound waves move through the throat, into a hole in the back of the jaw, and finally to the pad of fat near the animal’s ears.
【小题1】
Toothed whales look for food under the sea by ______.

You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight. They hit one another hard. At the start they only fight with their fists. But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs. And so it goes on until one of the men crashes(撞击） through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below. He is dead！Of course he isn't really dead. With any luck he isn't even hurt. Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars and run out of them even when they catch fire, are professionals. They do this for a living. These men are called stuntmen. That is to say, they perform tricks. There are two sides to their work. They actually do most of the things you see on the screen. For example, they fall from a high building. However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress（床垫）. Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar! But although their work depends on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training. Often a stuntman’s success depends on careful timing. For example, when he is "blown up" in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.

Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives. They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed. A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff（悬崖）a thousand feet high. His parachute（降落伞）failed to open, and he was killed. In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only. Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action. For nowadays there are stuntgirls too.

1. Stuntmen are those who ______.

A. often dress up as actors   

B. prefer to lead dangerous lives

C. often perform seemingly dangerous actions 

D. often fight each other for their lives

2.Stuntmen earn their living by ______.

A. playing their dirty tricks     B. selling their special skills

C. jumping out of high windows D. jumping from fast moving trains

3. When a stuntman falls from a high building, ______.

A. he needs little protection B. he will be covered with a mattress

C. his life is endangered       D. his safety is generally all right

4.Which of the following is the main factor of a successful performance?

 A. Strength.        B. Exactness.        C. Speed.       D. Carefulness

5.What can be inferred from the author’s example of the Norwegian stuntman?

A. Sometimes an accident can occur to a stuntman.

B. The percentage of serious accidents is high.

C. Parachutes must be of good quality.

D. The cliff is too high.

People turn to magic chiefly as a form of insurance—that is, they use it along with actions that actually bring results. For example, hunters may use a hunting charm (咒语). But they also use their hunting skills and knowledge of animals. The charm may give hunters the extra confidence they need to hunt even more successfully than they would without it. If they shoot a lot of game (猎物), they credit the charm for their success. Many events happen naturally without magic. Crops grow without it, and sick people get well without it．But if people use magic to bring a good harvest or to cure a patient, they may believe the magic was responsible.

People also tend to forget magic’s failures and to be impressed by its surface successes. They may consider magic successful if it appears to work only 10 percent of the time. Even when magic fails, people often explain the failure without doubting the power of the magic. They may say that the magician made a mistake in reciting the spell or that another magician cast a more powerful spell against the magician.

Many anthropologists (人类学家) believe that people have faith in magic because they feel a need to believe in it. People may turn to magic to reduce their fear and uncertainty if they feel they have no control over the outcome of a situation. For example, farmers use knowledge and skill when they plant their fields. But they know that weather, insects, or diseases might ruin the crops. So farmers in some societies may also plant a charm or perform a magic rite (仪式) to ensure a good harvest．

1. From the passage, we can learn that the writer of the passage may be _______.

A. a hunter                                                               B. a farmer

 C. a magician                                                   D. an anthropologist

2. Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?

A. Magic And Hunting.

B. Magic And Farming.

C. Why Magic Works?

D. Why People Believe in Magic?

3. The underlined word “spell” (Paragraph 2) most likely means ______.

A. magic words                                      B. magic events 

C. words or expressions                 D. magicians

4. People believe in magic because________.

A. magic powers are greater than natural powers

B. magic can turn dreams into reality

C. they are not sure of themselves

D. magic can bring good results

5. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Even though magic fails, believers in magic will explain the reason.

B. Believers in magic usually overstate the power of magic.

C. People use magic to reduce their uncertainty and give them extra confidence.

D. Magic can solve problems people can’t deal with in a natural way.

The easiest way for the English to deal with their social discomfort is to avoid social interaction altogether, by choosing either leisure (闲暇) activities that can be performed in the privacy of one’s own house, or outdoor activities that follow their interest without direct contact with anyone other than one’s own family members, such as going for a walk, or to the cinema, or shopping．
In recent survey, over half of all the leisure activities were of this private domestic type, and of the top ten pastimes, only two—having friends round for a meal or drink, and going to the pub—could be described as ‘sociable’．The most domestic activities are the most popular: watching TV, listening to the radio, reading, DIY （Do It Yourself） and gardening．Even when the English are being sociable, the survey findings show that most of them would much rather entertain a few close friends or relatives in the safety of their own homes than venture out  among strangers．
In the latest national census survey （人口普查）, over half of the entire adult male population had been DIYing in the four weeks before the census date．Nearly a third of the female population had also been busily improving their homes, and their work with their gardens was equally obvious: 52 percent of all English males and 45 percent of females had been out there, cutting branches and weeding grass．
Even among people claiming to belong to a particular religion, only two percent attend services every week．The rest of the population can be found every Sunday at their local garden center or DIY superstore．And when they want a break from caring about their own homes and gardens, they go on trips to visit bigger and better houses and gardens, such as the stately homes and gardens opened to the public by the National Trust and the Royal Horticulture Society．Visiting grand country houses always ranks as one of the most popular national pastimes．
45．The result of the survey shows that ________.
A．about half English people enjoy working in their gardens
B．8 out of 10 pastimes can be described as social activities
C．2 percent of the religious people enjoy visits to public houses
D．visiting stately homes is the most popular national pastime
46．According to the passage, the English enjoy all of the following EXCEPT________.
A．the social activities, such as gathering with friends
B．working at home and in their gardens
C．dining out in a public place among strangers
D．visits to stately homes and gardens
47．The underlined word “domestic” probably means________.
A．public      B．household     C．outdoor           D．collective
48．The passage mainly tells us about________.
A．why the English don’t like social activities
B．how the English spend their leisure time
C．what the result of a recent census survey is
D．where the English hold their private activities