Do you know about a series of books that say they are “for dummies”？ These American self?help books have been translated into more than thirty nine languages including Chinese，Arabic，Russian，French，German，Greek and Spanish.

“Dummy” is a word for a stupid person.The dummies books are not really for stupid people.They are designed to show people how to do something they may never have tried before，like painting a house or learning a language.The books all say in a funny way that they are for dummies，such as World History for Dummies，Rabbits for Dummies，Chinese Cooking for Dummies，and Wedding Planning for Dummies.The first such book，DOS for Dummies，was published in 1991.It helped people learn how to use the DOS operating system for computers.Since then，more than one hundred fifty million dummies books have been sold.

The dummies.com website explains the idea behind the books.It says that they show people can be taught to do anything.First they can make fun of ideas that are difficult to understand.Then they show how the information can be interesting and easy.The publishers say that the books do not provide more information than necessary.They give readers just enough information to do what they want.They say that the dummies books give the best and easiest way to do something.And the books use simple and easy language.

There are more than one thousand different dummies books.A report in New York Times says that the top-selling dummies books are those that explain technology and personal finance.

The publishers say that the best-selling dummies books are those providing information many people need－like information about diseases，education and cooking.People interested in opera，car repair and wine can also find dummies books to help them.And there are even more dummies books to come.The publishers say that they publish about two hundred new dummies books every year.

1.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

2.The dummies books have been popular because ________.

3.According to New York Times，we know that books on ________ sell best.

4.What can we learn from the passage?

第二节：完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

         请认真阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Are you a man or a mouse? When people ask this question they want to know  36  you think you are a  37  person or a coward (懦夫). But you will never really know the answer to this question  38  you are tested in real life. Some people  39  they are brave but when they come face to face with real  40 , they act like cowards. Others think of themselves as cowards, but when they meet danger, they act like  41  .

Lenny had always thought of himself as a  42  person. He got worried before examinations. He worried about his job and health. All he wanted in life was to be safe and healthy.  43 , on January 15th, 2002, a plane crashed into the Potomac River in Washington. Lenny went to the river to see what was happening. He saw a woman in the  44  water. Lenny did not feel afraid. He kept very  45 and did a very dangerous thing. He jumped into the Potomac,  46  to the woman, and kept her head  47  the water. Seventy-eight people died that day. Thanks to Lenny, it was not  48 .

When you are in a very  49  situation and feel afraid, the body automatically produces a chemical in the blood. The chemical is called adrenalin.  50  adrenalin in the blood system, you actually feel stronger and stronger and are  51  to fight or run away. However, when you are absolutely terrified, the body can produce too much adrenalin. When this  52 , the muscles become very hard and you find you  53  at all. You are then paralyzed (使无能为力) with fear. This is  54 when we are very frightened, we sometimes say we’re “petrified”. This word comes from the Greek word “petros”, which means “stone”. We are  55  frightened that we become stonelike.

36. A. how               B. neither         C. whether           D. either

37. A. brave            B. real                 C. hard                  D. certain

38. A. when            B. until                     C. after                   D. once

39. A. realize                  B. find                     C. think                    D. agree

40. A. life                  B. question         C. mouse         D. danger

41. A. soldiers                 B. mice                    C. heroes            D. cowards

42. A. useful                   B. brave            C. nervous             D. terrible

43. A. So                        B. Therefore            C. Then                 D. Actually

44. A. fresh                    B. poisonous            C. warm                 D. ice-cold

45. A. nervous                  B. calm                   C. frightened          D. excited

46. A. went                         B. helped           C. spoke                 D. swam

47. A. in                   B. under            C. above                 D. from

48. A. an accident     B. a mistake                C. seventy-eight      D. seventy-nine

49. A. dangerous               B. comfortable         C. different             D. favorable

50. A. With                    B. Without        C. For                   D. Like

51. A. afraid                    B. unable           C. ready                 D. anxious

52. A. gets                 B. disappears          C. happens                 D. goes

53. A. needn’t                 B. can’t                    C. mustn’t             D. shouldn’t

54. A. where                        B. how                    C. because            D. why

55. A. really                    B. very                    C. such                  D. so

C
Some people worry about being the target of laughter. These people are frightened. They suffer from an emotional disorder called gelotophobia. That long name comes from the Greek language. The word Gelos means laugh, while photos means fear.
Victor Rubio is an expert on human behavior at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He says people laugh at others for many different reasons. He says being laughed at causes a fear response in the victim. That fear leads the victim to avoid social situations. Sadly, gelotophobia limits the way they lead their lives.
Victor Rubio was among researchers in a huge international study about laughter. The researchers wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another goal was to measure the fear of being laughed at within different cultures.
A team from the University of Zurich led ninety-three researchers from many countries in search of answers.
The researchers surveyed more than twenty-two thousand people. They used questions provided in forty-two languages. Their findings were reported in the scientific publication Humor.
Some of the people questioned said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations. But they hid their feelings. Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before. People also admitted to differing levels of fear that they themselves were the targets of other people’s laughter. The researchers measured and compared all these reactions.
Fear of being laughed at, being made fun of, is a common emotion. But the researchers learned that these feelings differed from nation to nation.
For example, the study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia are likely to hide insecure (不安) feelings when they are around others’ laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan who feel they have been victims before may avoid such situations.
People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence were making fun of them. Only eight and a half percent of Finns said they would – compared to eighty percent of those questioned in Thailand.
64. The passage is mainly about______________.
A.    a common emotion                             B. laughter
C.    shyness                                              D. gelotophobia
65. In which country are people most likely to avoid social situations where they have been laughed at before?
A.    Turkmenistan               B. Iraq                 C. Finland            D. Thailand
66. According to the text the following is true EXCEPT that ________.
A. people suffer from gelotophobia because they are shy
B.    not all the people questioned hid their feelings in social situations
C.    perhaps Humor is a magazine
D.    people in Finland are the least likely to suffer from gelotophobia
67. A person who suffers from gelotophobia will probably ______.
A.    be active in social activities                    B. be easily laughed at
C.    like to laugh at others                                D. like to stay alone

Science, as we think, was born when the Greek philosopher ( 哲学家 ) Thales ( about 640-546 B.C.) asked a difficult question: What makes up our universe?

No one had a ready answer, so Thales went on studying the earth around him, the sky and the stars. He saw so much water on earth and so much water falling from the sky as rain that he decided water must be the basic substance ( 物质 ) of the universe.

Other Greek thinkers became interested in this question. They suggested other answers. One said that because air lies around the earth, it must be air that makes up all things. Another said that fire, appearing in different forms, was the building block of the universe.

The Greek philosophers were feeling their way towards the ideas on which chemistry is based. Centuries later, scientists proved that the universe is made up of certain basic substances. But the list is much more complicated than the Greeks realized. We now know of 103 basic substances which we call “ elements ( 元素 )”.

1.Thales, the famous Greek philosopher, died when he was about _______________.

2.The meaning of the underlined word “complicated” in the last paragraph is “ ____________”.

3.After reading the passage, we can be sure that________________.

 Kong Zi, also called Confucius (551 — 479 B.C.), and Socrates (469 — 399 B.C.) lived only a hundred years apart, and during their lifetimes there was no contact between China and Greece, but it is interesting to look at how the world that each of these great philosophers came from shaped their ideas, and how these ideas in turn, shaped their societies.

       Neither philosopher lived in times of peace, though there were more wars in Greece than in China. The Chinese states were very large and feudal, while the Greek city-states were small and urban. The urban environment in which Socrates lived allowed him to be more radical (激进的) than Confucius. Unlike Confucius, Socrates was not asked by rulers how to govern effectively. Thus, Socrates was able to be more idealistic, focusing on issues like freedom, and knowledge for its own sake. Confucius, on the other hand, advised those in government service, and many of his students went on to government service.

       Confucius suggested the Golden Rule as a principle for the conduct of life: “Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you.” He assumed that all men were equal at birth, though some had more potential than others, and that it was knowledge that set men apart. Socrates focused on the individual, and thought that the greatest purpose of man was to seek wisdom. He believed that some had more potential to develop their reason than others did. Like Confucius, he believed that the superior class should rule the inferior (下层的) classes.

       For Socrates, the family was of no importance, and the community of little concern. For Confucius, however, the family was the centre of society, with family relations considered much more important than political relations.

       Both men are respected much more today than they were in their lifetimes.

1.Which of the following is TRUE according to the first paragraph?

       A. Socrates and Confucius had much in common.

       B. The societies were influenced by the philosophers’ ideas.

C. Confucius had much influence on Socrates’ ideas.

       D. There were cultural exchanges between China and Greece.

2.Socrates shared with Confucius the idea that          .

       A. all men were equal when they were born

       B. the purpose of man was to seek freedom and wisdom

C. the lower classes should be ruled by the upper class

       D. people should not ask others to do what they did not want to

3.What made some people different from others according to Confucius?

       A. Family.                    B. Knowledge.              C. Potential.                 D. Community.

4.This passage is organized in the pattern of          .

       A. time and events                                            B. cause and effect

C. comparison and contrast                                D. definition and classification