65. What is the correct order of the incidents?

　 a. The whale was set to a flatbed truck.

　 b. The whale was discovered.

　 c. The whale exploded.

　 d. The whale died.

　 A. b; c; a; d　　 　　　　B. d; c; b; a　　 　　　C. b; d; a; c　　 　　　D. d; b; a ; c

64. The whale’s explosion is the result of_____.

　 A. pressure from gases building up in the creature as it began to rot

　 B. the long transport of the creature from the beach to the center

　 C. the extremely busy traffic in the streets it passed by

　 D. the quick process of rotting of the animal

63. The purpose of the question at the beginning of this news report is to_____.

　 A. explain the reason　　　　　　　 　　　　　B. sell newspapers

　 C. attract readers　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　D. give an immediate answer

59. What can we learn from this story?

　　 A. Man can never go against nature.

　　 B. It’s necessary to live with some difficulties.

　　 C. One cannot help others without thinking twice.

　　 D. Mankind should take good care of insects.

答案　 56.A　 57.B　 58.A　 59.B

Passage 9

(湖北省黄冈中学2009届高三五月适应性考试(B卷)D篇)

Question: What is more astonishing than a 60-ton whale on a flatbed truck being driven down the street?

Answer: A 60-ton whale on a flatbed truck exploding and raining blubber ( fat of whales) all over the sidewalk.

That’s what happened in Taiwan recently, when a dead sperm whale being shipped to the Halobios Research Center for an autopsy(尸体解剖) developed an extremely bad case of gas and blew up before it reached its destination.

The whale was found alive on a Taiwan beach last weekend, and died shortly after it was discovered. Since the 56-foot whale was the largest whale ever beached on Taiwan’s shores, scientists wanted to study it and perform an autopsy for educational purpose.

Obviously, too much time passed between when the animal died and the time it was set to be moved to the autopsy location, because it had already started to go bad. When things rot, they give off gases as a by-product. In the whale’s case, the gases were trapped in its belly. The pressure inside the rotting creature grew so much that it popped like an over-filled balloon. Unfortunately, it was on a truck in the middle of the city of Taiwan at the time--- cars and shops lining the street were covered with whale bits and juices, much to their owners’ discouragement.

According to the news reports, traffic was tied up for hours while officials tried to clean up the streets.

Newspaper editors worldwide were probably smiling to themselves, since they had a ready-made headline--- several reports about the incident were titled “ There She Blows!” after the famous line from the book Moby Dick.

58. The underlined word “cripple” in Paragraph 7 probably means ______.

　　 A. disable　　　　　　　　 　　 B. climb　　　　　　　　 　　 C. enable　　　　　　　 　　 D. beat

57. What would have happened to the butterfly without the old man’s help?

　　 A. It would have died in the cocoon.　　　　　　

　　 B. It would have become a true butterfly.

　　 C. It would have been strong enough to go farther.

　　 D. It would have stopped struggling through the cocoon.

56. What did the old man find when walking through the woods?

　　 A. A cocoon of a butterfly.　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　 B. A butterfly.

　　 C. A spider.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　 D. A pair of scissors.

45．Through the passage，the author tells us __________________．

A．that albino helped him achieve success　　 B．how an albino studied well

C．what it is like to be an albino　　　 　　　　D．how people should treat an albino

答案　 41.B　 42.C　 43.A　 44.C　 45.A

Passage 8

(哈师大附中2009年高三第四次模拟考试A篇)

Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved everything：animals, spiders, insects...

One day while walking through the woods the nice old man found a cocoon(茧)of a butterfly. He took it home. A few days later, a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged(露出) easily.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract(收缩) in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.

It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

　Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

And we could never fly.

44．Why are people’s jokes about the author mostly signs of respect?

A．Because he is an albino．　　　　　　

B．Because he has a solid education．

C．Because they think he is a great “blind editor”．

D．Because they think he is proud of his achievement．

43．Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．The author’s study was affected by his eyesight at first．

B．The author had to pay adult prices for movies when he was still young

C．Despite his bad eyesight，the author played sport well．

D．”Albino” has already become a positive word now．