A

A higher reading rate, with no loss of comprehension, will help you in other subjects as well as in English, and the general principles apply to any language. Naturally, you will not read every book at the same speed. You would expect to read a newspaper, for example, much more rapidly than a physics or economics textbook-but you can raise your average reading speed over the whole range of materials you wish to cover so that the percentage gained will be the same whatever kind of reading you are concerned with.

The reading passages which follow are all of an average level of difficulty for your stage of instruction. They are all about five hundred words long. They are about topics of general interest which do not require a great deal of specialized knowledge. Thus they fall between the kind of reading you might find in your textbooks and the much less demanding kind you will find in a newspaper or light novel. If you read this kind of English, with understanding at four hundred words per minute, you might skim (浏览) through a newspaper at perhaps 650-700, while with a difficult textbook you might drop to two hundred or two hundred and fifty.

Perhaps you would like to know what reading speeds are common among native English-speaking university students and how those speeds can be improved. Tests in Minnesota, USA, for example, have shown that students without special training can read English of average difficulty, for example, Tolstoy's War and Peace in translation, at speeds of between 240 and 250 words per minute with about seventy percent comprehension. Students in Minnesota claim that after twelve half-hour lessons, once a week, the reading speed can be increased, with no loss of comprehension, to around five hundred words per minute.

According to the passage, the purpose of effective reading with higher speed is most likely to help you ________.

A. only in your reading of a physics textbook

B. improve your understanding of an economics textbook

C. not only in your language study but also in other subjects

D. choose the suitable materials to read

Which of the following does not describe the types of reading materials mentioned in the second paragraph?

A. Those beyond one's reading comprehension.

B. Those concerned with common knowledge.

C. Those without much demand for specialized knowledge.

D. Those with the length of about five hundred words.

The average speed of untrained native speakers in the University of Minnesota is ________.

A. about 300 words per minute

B. about 245 words per minute

C. about 650-700 words per minute

D. about 500 words per minute

According to the passage, how fast can you expect to read after you have attended twelve half-hour lessons in the University of Minnesota?

A. You can increase your reading speed by three times.

B. No real increase in reading speed can be achieved.

C. Yon can increase your reading speed by four times.

D. You can double your reading speed.

A

A rock group called the Rocket Crew is on tour. Their agent (经纪人) has asked the town officials about Wilbour City on the tour. The stadium in the town is large enough to hold the expected crowd. Ticket sales in the area would be good because several towns are around Wilbour City. However, many people in the town don't want a rock concert because they fear the damage the crowd might cause. To settle the problem about whether or not to invite the group to appear, the mayor took a poll(民意测验). The results are:

Would buy tickets Would not buy tickets Undecided 6180 (41.2％) 5914 (39.4％) 2920 (19.4％) Fear the damage Not fear the damage Undecided 3043 (20.3％) 8746 (58.3％) 3225 (21.4％) Thought it would help the city Didn't think it would help the city Undecided 9412 (62.7％) 2085 (13.9％) 3517 (23.4％)

56. The mayor took the poll among _____ people.

A. 15,014 B. 6,180 C. 9,412 D. 8,746

57. From the results of the poll, we know that half of the people or more _____.

A. would buy the tickets for the concert

B. haven't yet given their own opinions

C. are against the invitation to the group

D. are for the invitation to the group

58. The concert is probably to be held in _____.

A. a cinema B. a stadium C. a theatre D. a concert hall

59. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. A Poll B. The City of Wilbour C. Rocket Crew D. A Rock Concert

B
A new study has claimed that men really are more intelligent than women . The study concluded that men’s IQs are almost four points higher than women’s.
British-born researcher John Philippe Rushton says the finding could explain why so few women make it to the top in the workplace.
The Oxford University reached his conclusion after Scrutinizing the results of university ability tests taken by 100,000 students aged 17 and 18 of both sexes.
A focus on the factors such as the ability to quickly grasp a complex concept , verbal reasoning skills(语言推理能力) and creativity—some of the key factors of intelligence ---showed the male teenagers had IQs that were an average of 3.63 points higher. The average person has an IQ around 100 . The findings , which held true for all classes and levels of education , overturn 100-year opinion that men and women average the same in general mental ability. They also conflict（冲突） with evidence that girls do better in school exams than boys.
But Professor Rushton argues that the faster maturing（成熟） of girls leads to them outshining boys in the classroom .
46. The report is mainly about________.
A. a study that shows men are clever than women   B. the “glass ceiling “phenomenon
C. Professor Ruston’s theory on IQ              D. the difference between male and female
47. The underlined word “Scrutinizing” in the fourth paragraph probably means__________.
A. making up      B. carrying out   C. examining carefully   D. looking at
48. The tests were taken by _________.
A. boy students aged 17 and 18.          B. 100,000 boy and girl students aged 17 and 18
C. girl students aged 17 and 18           D. 100,000 girl students
49. We can infer that the average woman has an IQ of _________.
A. a little less than 100   B. 100    C. more than 100    D. 96.37
50. Which of the following opinions does Professor Rushton NOT accept?
A. Men’s IQs are almost four points higher than women’s
B. Few women make it to the top in the workplace.
C. Men and women average the same in general mental ability .
D. The faster maturing of girls leads to them outshining boys in the classroom.

    C(c)hild as he is , he is       taller of the two persons.

B

A powerful earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale shook Haiti on Tuesday, causing several buildings to collapse in the Western hemisphere's poorest nation and leading to an unknown number of fatalities（死亡）, officials and witnesses said.

The earthquake was centered just 10 miles southwest of the crowded and impoverished（贫困的）capital of Port-au-Prince（太子港）.Making matters worse, the earthquake was relatively shallow, at a depth of five miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said Shallow earthquakes can cause more damage.

“I think it's really a huge catastrophe,” Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Alcide Joseph, told Cable News Network.

An Associated Press（美联社）videographer saw the ruins of a hospital in Petionville, near Port-au-Prince. Reuters（路透社）news agency said several buildings had crumbled in the capital and that there were dead and injured trapped in the rubble.

At least 1.8 million people live within the area where the earthquake had its highest intensity, John Bellini, a geophysicist at the USGS, told The Wall Street Journal. “With a strong and shallow earthquake like this in such a populated area, it could really cause substantial damage.” he said.

“The quake was the most powerful to hit Haiti since at least 1770. This isn't normally an earthquake-prone（地震频发）area.” Mr. Bellini added.

Within minutes of the original quake, two aftershocks rolled through the area, measuring 5.9 and 5.5 on the Richter scale.

60.   The main purpose of this passage is to ________.

A. tell people some disasters are very dangerous.

B. introduce some common sense of natural disasters.

C. appeal to readers for help, love and support.

D. present some information of Haiti’s earthquake this year.

61.What can we learn from John Bellini’s words?

A. The earthquake which took place in Port-au-Prince was strong and shallow.

B. Thanks to the shallow earthquake, it did little damage to Port-au-Prince.

C. Earthquakes occur frequently in the area of Port-au-Prince,capital of Haiti.

D. At least 1770 people lost their lives in the earthquake.

62.   The underlined word catastrophe is closest in meaning to __________.

A. problem                   B. disaster                    C. phenomenon             D. news

63.   How many earthquakes of Haiti are mentioned in this article?

A. None.                      B. One                         C. Two.                        D. At least three.