PART THREE   READING COMPREHENSION
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C, and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
A
Prague
Prague is an ancient European city, featuring one of the most magnificent Old Towns in Europe, along with delicious food, inexpensive shopping and friendly people. Prague is also famous as being home to one of the most famous 20th century writers, Franz Kafka. The famous Czech beer is also one of the reasons to visit Prague.
The narrow streets of the older parts of the town are appealing the visitors to take nice long walk and settle in some of the many restaurants, which offer top-quality foods at a low price. The buildings there are mostly tower-shaped，and so Prague is called “city of a hundred spires.”
Mauritius
Also known as the Paradise on Earth, Mauritius lies about 560 miles (900 km) east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It is a place of magnificent natural beauty coupled with excellent customer service, which makes for an unforgettable romantic experience at the edge of the world’s warmest ocean.
There are lots to see and do in Mauritius: the coral reefs (珊瑚礁)surrounding the island offer stunning beauty and great underwater adventures to those who want to dive into the precious waters. The nature of Mauritius mostly resembles that of Paradise, allowing every couple visiting this island to feel like Adam and Eve. That is an experience nobody would want to miss!
Cyprus
The very name Cyprus, it has been said, glitters with an age-old myth. Today, history and hedonism (快乐论)are comfortably mixed on the island. Some five-star resorts within walking distance of well-preserved Greek and Roman ruins offer the convenience the modern traveler has come to expect.
Cyprus features a romantic history, as it was Anthony’s gift to his beloved Cleopatra during the glorious days of the Roman Empire. Maybe that is why you feel always a little special once you set foot on Cyprus.
For more information about many other most romantic places in the world, just log on at http://www.jurgita.com.
56. The underlined word “spires” in Paragraph 2 means        .
A. narrow streets                                                B. inexpensive restaurants
C. top-quality foods                                           D. tower-shaped buildings    
57. We learn from the text that Mauritius        .
A. is part of Madagascar                                     B. is an ideal destination for couples
C. is in central Indian Ocean                               D. is most famous for its good service
58. What makes Cyprus different from the other two places?
A. It is located on an island.                                B. It offers charming resorts.
C. It was given as a present.                                D. It has a very long history.
59. A common feature of Mauritius and Cyprus is that they are         .
A. old                     B. romantic            C. rich              D. mysterious
60. What is the main purpose of the author?
A. To attract more visitors.                                   B. To tell traveling experiences.
C. To sell information on line.                                 D. To introduce historical places.

EI've been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one difference and one practice that have greatly helped my writing processes. The difference is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to use both of the creative mind and the critical (批判) mind to reach a finished result，they cannot work in parallel (平行，并行) no matter how much we might like to think so.
　Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest trouble with writing that most of us meet. If you are listening to a 5th grade English teacher correcting your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting（稍纵即逝的）thought, the thought will die. If you catch the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking as it is.
　The practice that can help you overcome your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls“free writing”. In free writing, the goal is to get words down on paper non-stop，usually for 15-20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The aim is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow，the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.
　Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you’ve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely，you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.
　Instead of staring at a blank start and filling it with words no matter how bad they could be，stop halfway through your available time and rework your raw writing into something closer to the finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.
1. When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind“cannot work in parallel”in the writing process，he means _______.
A. no one can be both creative and critical              
B. they can’t be regarded as equally important
C. they are in constant conflict with each other 
D. one cannot use them at the same time
2. What usually prevents people from writing on is _______.
A. putting their ideas in raw form            B. attempting to edit as they’re writing
C. ignoring grammatical problems           D. trying to capture their fleeting thoughts
3. What is the chief purpose of the first stage of writing？
A. To organize one’s thoughts logically.    B. To choose an appropriate topic.
C. To get one’s ideas down quickly.          D. To collect many more raw materials.
4. In what way does the critical mind help the writer in the writing process？
A. It refines(improves) his writing into a better shape. 
B. It helps him to come up with new ideas.
C. It saves the writing time available to him.
D. It allows him to sit on the side and observe.

Your genetic makeup plays a big part in determining your size and weight. If both your parents are tall, there is a good chance you’ll be tall. But if your parents are smaller than average, you may want to rethink that professional basketball career!
The same goes for your body type. Have you ever heard someone say a person is “big boned?” It’s a way of saying the person has a large frame, or skeleton(骨骼). Big bones usually weigh more than small bones. That’s why it’s possible for two kids with the same height, but different weight, to both the right weight.
Being overweight can run in someone’s family, but it may not be because of their genes. Poor eating and exercise habits also run in families and these may be the reasons the members of a family are overweight. And even though some kids gain weight more easily than others, when they eat right and exercise, most kids can have a healthy weight that’s right for them. It’s true- the way you live can change the way you look.
How much your weight is a balance between the calories you eat and the calories you use. If you eat more calories than your body needs to use, you will gain too much weight. If you spend you free time watching TV, your body won’t use as many calories as it would if you played basketball, skated, or went for a walk. But if you eat more and exercise less, you may become overweight. On the other hand, if you eat less and exercise more, you may lose weight.
【小题1】 Which one can be used as the best title of this passage?

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。
(A)
Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks at play each time we reach out for that particular brand of product on the shelf.
Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell. Health foods are packaged in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours. Ice cream packets are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package—blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.
The size of a product can attract a shopper. But quite often a bottle doesn’t contain as much as it appears to.
It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 percent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know that it’s not enough to have a good product. The founder of Pears soap, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote (推销) their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius to sell it.”
61. Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?
A. The cost of its package.                      B. The price of the product.
C. The colour of its package.                    D. The brand name of the product.
62. The underlined part “the colours turned the customers off” (in Para.3) means that the colours _________.
A. attracted the customers strongly     B. caused the customers to lose interest
C. tricked the customers into shopping  D. had weak effects on the customers
63. Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?
A. The way to promote goods.              B. The discovery of a genius.
C. The team to produce a good product.      D. The brand name used by successful producers.
64. According to the passage, which of the following statement is true?
A. Making soap is so easy that any fool in the world can make it.
B. Greens, yellows or silver are considered to be healthy colours.
C. 25 years ago, the founder of Pears soap was a pretty girl herself.
D. The size of a product can have an effect on the shoppers.
65. Which of the following would be the best title for this text?
A. Choice of Good Products                    B. Disadvantages of Products
C. Effect of Packaging on Shopping               D. Brand Names and Shopping Tricks

Holiday Inns and McDonald’s. both saw unmatched growth in the 1960s. Their growth opened another direct business operation—franchising.
These operations have the same general pattern. The franchisor, the parent company, first establishes a successful retail business. As it expands, it sees a profit potential in offering others the right to open similar business under its name. The parent company’s methods and means of identification with consumers are included in this right. The parent company supplies skill, and may build and rent stores to franchisees. For these advantages the franchisee pays the franchisor a considerable fee. However, some of the advantages and disadvantages are different.
By extending a “proven” marketing method, a parent can profit in several ways. First, the franchisee’s purchase price gives the parent an immediate return on the plan. Then the sale of supplies to the franchisee provides a continuing source of profits. As new businesses are added and the company’s reputation spreads, the values of the franchise increases and sales of franchises become easier. The snowballing effect can be dramatic. Such growth, too, bring into play the economies of scale. Regional or national advertising that might be financially impossible for a franchisor with 20 franchises could be profitable for one with 40.
The parent, then, finds immediate gains from the opportunity to expand markets on the basis of reputation alone, without having to put up capital or take the risk of owning retail stores. Added to this advantage is a less obvious but material one, Skilled, responsible retail managers are rare. People who invest their capital in franchises, though, probably come closer to the ideal than do paid managers. In fact, the franchisee is an independent store operator working for the franchisor, but without an independent’s freedom to drop supplies at will. Of course the factory’s costs of selling supplies are less. But also certainly the franchisee buying goods that have had broad consumer acceptance will not casually change supplies, even when the contract permits. If the hamburger is not what the customer expected, they may not return. Having paid for the goodwill, the franchisee won’t thoughtlessly destroy it.
【小题1】 Franchising refers to a business operation in which a successful parent company          .