He apologized for _____ to inform me of the change in the plan.

  A. his being not able  B. him not to be able 

C. him to be not able  D. his not being able

Rising sea levels and drought caused by global warming could          an increasing number of natural disasters.

A. try out                                   B. come about               C. result in                   D. get into

With the help of this new type of calculator, people will be able to __________ the numbers much faster with more accurate figures.

   A. work out         B. watch over       C. take apart        D. set down

In order to find out how the famous painting was stolen as soon as possible, more experienced policemen have been sent to _____ the case.

A. look for                     B. look up               C. look into          D. look through

At the routine office meeting, the headmaster insisted that the problems _________ paid special attention to.

A. referred to being      B. referred to be      C. refer to being       D. refer to be

She’s very ____ about what she wears and ____ love stories.

A. upset; attached to            B. particular; addicted to

C. curious; employed in         D. concerned; absorbed in

On the floor______ an old man, who had been killed in the fire.

  A. lay    B. lies  C. laid   D. lied

CBC is a famous air company which has over twenty planes carrying passengers and goods, flying along 12 fixed lines all over the world. Its service is very good but some passengers are still not satisfied with it and that is why in 2008 and 2009 the company received letters of complaints from consumers or passengers who pointed out over a dozen kinds of problems which are divided in groups in the following table. Those about passengers’ things carried by the plane are Baggage problems. Consumer service refers to service work which passengers are not satisfied with. Over sales of seats are about the fact that more seats are sold and as a result the plane is too crowded to be safe. Refund（退票）problems appear when passengers fail to receive the money paid back to them because of what they have lost. Fares are problems about the price of tickets.

Consumer Complaints Received by the CBC

By about what percent did the total number of complaints decrease from 2008 to 2009?

A. 40%          B. 60%          C. 75%          D. 100%

If the circle graphs below show total consumer complaints for 2008, which graph shows a dark part that is about Flight problems and Refund problems together?

A.              B.          C.              D.

From the passage we can know that _____.

A. customers are not satisfied with CBC

B. sometimes CBC sells more tickets than its plane’s most desirable seats

C. CBC has more than twenty planes which fly to all the capital cities of the world

D. customers can only buy tickets with ready money

Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.

This was no ordinary class. The students who came together were all science or engineering professors at Cornell University. They had interrupted their research to accept an invitation to take part in an unusual experiment: “an interesting week of poetry”. This class was part of a study to answer the questions: Why is science difficult for many non-science students?

The students in the poetry class listened to lectures and took notes. They had reading tasks and had to write three short papers. All students noticed one thing—the importance of spoken words. In science and engineering classes, the instructors put tables and drawings on the blackboard. But in this poetry class, the instructors just talked. They didn’t write anything on the board.

The scientists and engineers noticed one similarity between science and poetry. In both subjects, students need to find layers of meaning. Some layers are simple, clear, and on the surface; other layers are deeper and more difficult. This search for different levels of meaning doesn’t happen much in undergraduate science classes, but it is important later, in graduate school. And it is always important in humanities(人文科学).

Both the poetry instructors and their students learned something about teaching from this experience. One poetry instructor, for example, now sees the importance of using informational charts as he teaches. Most of the scientists agreed on several points. First, humanities classes might help science students to see patterns and decide which information is important. Second, the poetry class was fun. One engineer decided, “We need to change the way we teach engineering to make it an enjoyable experience for students.” But perhaps the most important result of the experience was this: All of the professors began to think about how they teach and how they can teach better.

（Note： Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TWELVE WORDS.）

Why was this class very unusual?

The experiment was designed to help teachers find out ________.

The poetry class was different from science and engineering classes in that __________.

What influence did the experiment had on those professors?

   — Are you pleased with what he has done?

— It couldn’t be ________. He must have put a lot of effort into his work.

A. any worse            B. any better           C. so bad           D. the best