题目内容

阅读理解
     English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among
everyday speakers? One expert points out that the percentage of native English speakers is declining
(降低) while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of
people. But English will continue to remain widespread and important.
     However, British language scholar David Graddol says English will probably drop in dominance(主导)
by the middle of this century to rank, after Chinese, about equally with Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu. "The
number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise, but it isn't rising nearly as fast as the
numbers of many other languages around the world, simply because the main population group has been
largely in the less developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken," he says.
     In a recent article in the journal Science, Mr. Graddol noted that three languages that are not near the
top of the list of the most widely spoken now might be there soon. These are Bengali, Tamil and Malay,
spoken in south and southeast Asia.
     David Crystal, the author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia(百科全书) of the English Language, says
about 1.5 billion of the world's six billion people speak it as a second tongue compared to the 400 million
native speakers. But another expert on the English language says Mr. Graddol underestimates (低估) the
future of its dominance. "All the evidence suggests that the English language snowball is rolling down a hill
and is getting faster, but nobody quite knows what's going to happen because no language has been in this
position before." He said.
1. In David Graddol's opinion, English will _____.
A. remain widespread and important
B. be more important than any other language
C. lose its dominant position
D. die away in the near future.
2. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph implies that _____.
A. snowballs will roll down faster than language balls
B. the English language snowball is rolling down faster than any time in the past
C. the English language will soon drop in dominance
D. more and more language user will choose English
3. According to David Graddol, which of the following will possibly be one of the languages that will be most widely spoken?
A. Malay.            
B. Arabic.            
C. Urdu.              
D. German
4. What should be the best title for the passage?
A. English Remaining the Dominant Position
B. The Future of English? Who Knows?
C. Opinions from Different Experts
D. The English Language Snowball Rolling Down
1-4: CDAB
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阅读理解

　　A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms, though my teacher emphasized(强调) the importance again and again．But soon, the importance of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience．

　　One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk．As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be surprised．Gently shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders, he said, “You don't say!” “You don't say!” I was puzzled．I thought, perhaps this is not a proper topic．“Well, I'd better change the topic．” So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? By the way, have you ever been there?” “Certainly, everyone backhome will laugh at me if I leave China without seeing it．It was wonderful．” He was deep in thought when I began to talk like a tourist guide．“The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world．We are very proud of it．” Soon I was stopped again by his words：“You don't say!” I couldn't help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn't ask you to do so,” he answered, greatly surrised．I said, “Didn't you say 'You don't say'?” Hearing this, the Englishman laughed to tears．He began to explain,“‘You don't say’actually means 'really'! It is an expression of surprise．Perhaps you don't pay attention to Eng lish idioms．” Only then did I know how foolish I had been．Since then I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions．

(1)

A year ago, ________．

[　　]

A．

both the author and his/her teacher didn't think English idioms were important

B．

the author was not careful with English idioms

C．

the author's teacher didn't emphasize the importance of them

D．

the author was interested in English idioms

(2)

At first, on hearing “You don't say”, the author thought the foreigner meant ________．

[　　]

A．

he was not interested in the topic

B．

he was only interested in the Great Wall

C．

the author had talked too much

D．

the author had to stop talking

(3)

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

[　　]

A．

This Englishman had no time to visit the Great Wall．

B．

This Englishman wanted to see the Great Wall after the author talked about it．

C．

This Englishman wanted the author to act as his guide．

D．

This Englishman visited the Great Wall and thought it worth visiting．

(4)

After the Englishman explained the idiom “You don't say”, ________．

[　　]

A．

the author thought the Englishman had made him a fool

B．

the Englishman became a real fool

C．

the author felt very foolish

D．

the author became more careful in everything

阅读理解

　　If you ask people to name the one person who had the greatest effect on the English language, you will get answers like “Shakespeare,” “Samuel Johnson,” and “Webster,” but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn’t even speak English-William the Conqueror．

　　Before 1066, in the land we now call Great Britain lived peoples belonging to two major language groups．In the west central region lived the Welsh, who spoke a Celtic language, and in the north lived the Scots, whose language, though not the same as Welsh, was also Celtic．In the rest of the country lived the Saxons, actually a mixture of Anglos, Saxons, and other Germanic and Nordic peoples, who spoke what we now call Anglo-Saxon(or Old English), a Germanic language．If this state of affairs had lasted, English today would be close to German．

　　But this state of affairs did not last．In l066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England．For about a century, French became the official language of Eng-land while Old English became the language of peasants．As a result, English words of Politics and the law come from French rather than German．In some cases, modern English even shows a distinction(区别)between upper-class French and lower-class Anglo-Saxon in its words．We even have different words for some foods, meat in particular, depending on whether it is still out in the fields or at home ready to be cooked, which shows the fact that the Saxon peasants were doing the farming, while the upper-class Normans were doing most of the eating．

　　When Americans visit Europe for the first time, they usually find Germany more "foreign" than France because the German they see on signs and advertisements seems much more different from English than French does．Few realize that the English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the result of one man's ambition．

(1)

The two major languages spoken in what is now called Great Britain before l066 were ________

[　　]

A．

Welsh and Scottish

B．

Nordic and Germanic

C．

Celtic and Old English．

D．

Anglo-Saxon and Germanic

(2)

Which of the following groups of words are, by inference, rooted in French?

[　　]

A．

president, Lawyer, beef

B．

president, bread, water

C．

bread, field, sheep

D．

folk, field, cow

(3)

Why does France appear less foreign than Germany to Americans on their first visit to Europe?

[　　]

A．

Most advertisements in France appear in English．

B．

They know little of the history of the English language．

C．

Many French words are similar to English ones．

D．

They know French better than German．

(4)

What is the subject discussed in the text?

[　　]

A．

The history of Great Britain．

B．

The similarity between English and French．

C．

The rule of England by William the Conqueror．

D．

The French influences on the English language．

阅读理解

　　As China's middle class grows, the demand for entertainment(娱乐)is being met with a rise in cinema construction．300 million people are said to be able to afford movie tickets in China．

　　There has been a sharp rise in movie production in recent years in China．And the Chinese are becoming enthusiastic movie goers．

　　Recently, director(导演)Dayyan Eng brought Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey to China to shoot a comedy．Eng says the multi-million dollar investment(投资)in the film shows that the number of Chinese into movies is on the rise．“More people in the big cities are watching movies,” Eng said．“My feeling is, you know, more and more of the people there get a taste of other types of movies out there．”

　　China's economy has been developing at a fast speed．More income means a greater demand for entertainment．In 2009, box office income grew by 43 percent to ＄1 billion．And that makes movie theaters－in shopping malls－an attractive investment．

　　Shopping centers are huge in China．Fifty-thousand square meters is considered a tiny shopping center, which anywhere else in the world is considered a pretty big center．So, a shopping center covering 100,000 square meters has a large number of shoppers every day, of whom many are probably movie fans．

　　Today, China has only 4,000 cinemas．That's one for every 75,000 moviegoers, just one-tenth the number of cinemas in the United States．So there's a demand for cinemas in China．The government expects there to be a 61％ jump in ticket sales in 2011．

(1)

In recent years, Chinese movie makers ________．

[　　]

A．

have won less and less movie goers

B．

have attracted the world's attention

C．

have built more movie theaters

D．

have produced more films

(2)

The underlined word “shoot” in Paragraph 3 means ________．

[　　]

A．

write a comedy

B．

make a film

C．

choose an actor

D．

direct a film

(3)

What makes movie theatres an attractive investment in China?

[　　]

A．

The greater demand for entertainment．

B．

The government support．

C．

The popularity of large shopping centers．

D．

Increasing movie production．

(4)

How many cinemas does the US have according to the passage?

[　　]

A．

4000．

B．

100,000

C．

75,000

D．

40,000．

(5)

It can be expected that 2011 will see ________．

[　　]

A．

a huge growth in box office income in China．

B．

a 61％ rise in the number of cinemas in China．

C．

ticket sales of nearly ＄1 billion in China．

D．

the construction of 4,000 new movie theaters in China．
阅读理解。
     A student is learning to speak British English. He wonders (想知道): Can I communicate with Americans?
Can they understand me? Learners of English often ask: What are the differences between British and American English? How important are these differences?
     Certainly! there are some differences between British and American English. 'There are a few differences
in grammar. For example, speakers of British English say "in hospital" and "Have you a pen?" Americans say
"in the hospital!" and "Do you have a pen?". Pronunciation is sometimes different. Americans usually sound
theirs in words like "bird" and "hurt". Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words. There are
differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, "colour" and "honour"
are British, "color" and honor" are American.
     These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however. For the
most part, British and American English are the same language.
1. According to this passage, a student who is learning to speak American English might be afraid that _____.
[     ]
A. British people cannot understand him
B. American people cannot understand him
C. the grammar is too hard for him
D. the spelling is too hard for him
2. American English and British English are different in _____.
[     ]
A. spelling
B. pronunciation
C. grammar
D. all of the above
3. What is not mentioned (提及) in the passage?
[     ]
A. Whether there are differences between British English and American English.
B. Whether British English and American English are one language or two.
C. How the differences between British Eng-lish and American English came about.
D. How important the differences are.
4. Most _____ say "Do you have a watch?"
[     ]
A. British people
B. Americans
C. children
D. teachers
阅读理解。
                                                       Get Independence by Ourselves
     The passage is mainly about a father's accompanying his son studying at his university. What makes us
puzzled is that his son is a postgraduate. In most people's opinion, a university student is old e nough to look
after himself.
     I can't understand the father at all. And I am against his idea and action because his son is a postgraduate
and old enough to deal with all the difficulties by himself. All parents should allow their children to face the
reality and win the independence.
      I think independence is important for children. After all, we all will grow up and face the reality by
ourselves. Life is really tough and we will face all kinds of difficulties. We must be independent to solve the
problems. So we should develop our independence from young. After all parents can't accompany us all the
time.
      Certainly all children are facing problems and all parents would like to do all for them. But I think children
should get their inde pendence by themselves and only in this way can they face the real- ity on their own.
     Reading is very important to help you learn English. To learn as much as you can from reading, you need to
read different kinds of English. This book provides not only different kinds of English but also a good way to
check your reading ability.
     There are four parts in the book:
     Part 1 is Messages: In this part somebody wants to send infor mation in writing to somebody else.
     There is a test on timetables and a test on text messages.
     Part 2 is People: In this part all the tests are about people. For example, there is an informal letter between
friends. There is formal (正式的) English in biography (传记). There is a job application as a model to help
with your writing, as well as testing your reading.
     Part 3 is Places: In this part, too, many different kinds of Eng- lish are shown, some informal and some
formal. There is the informal English of a holiday postcard. There is also the formal English in a letter of
complaint.
      Part 4 is Things: You will find some descriptive writing in this part. There are descriptions of clothes and
of a computer.
     You can do these tests in any order you like, or you can do all the tests with a formal or informal text.
     I enjoyed writing this book and I hope you enjoy using it.
1. We can find the introduction to a product in _____.
A. Part 1
B. Part 2
C. Part 3
D. Part 4
2. Which of the following is most probably written in informal English?
A. A letter of complaint.
B. A computer handbook.
C. A letter to a friend.
D. A story of a president.
 3. The passage is most probably written for _____.
A. test designers
B. students
C. test-takers
D. teachers
4. What is the best title of the book?

A. Test Your Reading
B. Help with Your Writing
C. Learn Different Kinds of English
D. Practise English in Different Ways

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