The modern age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights, radio, televisions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them. When there is a power failure, people grope about in flickering candlelight, cars hesitate in the streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food spoils in silent refrigerators.

Yet, people began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for million of years. Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity.

All living cells send out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats, it sends out pulses of record; they form an electrocardiogram, which a doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working. The brain, too, sends our brain waves of electricity, which can be recorded in an electroencephalogram. The electric currents generated by most living cells are extremely small，often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them. But in some animals, certain muscle cells have become so specialized as electrical generators that they do not work as muscle cells at all. When large numbers of these cells are linked together, the effects can be astonishing.

The electric eel is an amazing storage battery. It can send a jolt of as much as eight hundred volts of electricity through the water in which it lives. ( An electric house current is only one hundred and twenty volts, but two hundred and twenty volts in China.) As many as four-fifths of all the cells in the electric eel's body are specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it can deliver corresponds roughly to length of its body

56. Electricity was invented ______.

A. when man had no candles                  

B. about 200 years ago

C. to be operating computers.                           

D. by Thomse Edison

57. The following things can send out pulses of electricity except______.

   A. electric eels and human hearts.

   B. Electrical generators and animal muscle.

   C. Stones and dry wood.

   D. human brain and living cells.

58. The electric current send out by an eel can be

   A. as much as 800 volts.                   B. about one hundred and twenty volts.

   C. as high as the house current in China.      D. stored in the water where it lives.

59. From this shot passage we can infer _____.

   A. the shorter an eel is, the stronger electricity it produces.

   B. we can always feel the electricity produced by living cells.

   C. human beings get their knowledge about electricity from nature.

   D. people learn about electricity from eels.

— I’ve been told that you are not content with your present job.

   — Yeah. I am looking for a job _____ I can put my talent to good use.

  A. which       B. where  C. when   D. why

At present, in many American cities especially, many teachers in the public schools say they are underpaid. They point to jobs such as secretary or truck driver, which often pay more to start than that of a teacher. In many other fields, such as law, medicine, computer science, a beginning worker may make more than a teacher who has taught for several years.

         Teaching has never been a profession that attracted people interested in high salaries. It is by history a profession that has provided rewards in addition to money—the satisfaction of sharing knowledge, of influencing others, of guiding young people. But in the past several years, there are more difficulties in teaching, for many, than there are rewards.

    Unruly students, especially in big cities, large classes and a lack of support from the public in terms of money and understanding have led many public school teachers to leave the profession.

         As a result, many of the best students, who would have chosen teaching as their life career in the past, are going into other fields.

         Another reason for this change in teacher candidates is the changing status of women in the United States. Until the late 1960s and 1970s, one of the most popular choices for women was teaching. But as other professions, such as law and medicine opened up to women, women stopped pouring into teacher training programs. Thus, a major pool of excellent candidates for the teaching profession dwindled.

         Bit by bit government officials and others realized that the status of the teacher had suffered. They talked about change. But the change in a vast society like the United States is not easy. People’s attitudes have formed over many years, and sometimes change takes many years.

60．The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 1 refers to “      ”.

         A．money        B．job       C．secretary D．truck driver

61．What is the present situation of the teaching?

         A．Teachers work harder and get underpaid.

         B．Teachers have no opportunities to work in other fields.

         C．Teaching can attract best students to work as a teacher.

         D．Teaching can provide rewards as well as high salaries.

62．Many public school teachers turn to other professions because        .

         A．the government doesn’t financially support them

         B．they have to work longer hours than a lawyer

         C．their students refuse to listen to them

         D．they are not fairly treated

63．The author believes that change in teachers’ status in the United States       .

         A．is not great                 B．is impossible

         C．influences people’s attitude             D．needs time

阅读下列材料， 从所给的六个选项（A, B,C, D, E, F）中， 选出符合各个小题要求的最佳选项，选项中有一项是多余选项。

The people below are all trying to choose which TV programme to watch.  After the description of these people, there is information about six TV programmes A-F. Decide which programme would be most suitable for the person mentioned in questions 1-5 and then mark the correct letter (A-F) on your answer sheet. There is one extra paragraph about one programme which you do not need to use.

_________Although Rob lead a quiet life in a small village, that doesn’t stop him from wanting to find out about the latest scientific development.

_________Bella enjoys eating out but can’t afford to spend very much at the moment as she is saving for a holiday. She has never learnt how to cook, so now might be quite a good time to find out！

_________Dan is interested in taking wildlife photographs and enjoys the kind of programme which gives him a chance to see a professional photographer at work.

_________Gina is a music teacher. Although she prefers  classical music, she likes to follow the kind of music that interests the teenagers she teaches.

_________Ron’s wife is in hospital. He wants to find a programme suitable for his three-year-old son while he gets on with the housework and prepares a meal.

               TODAYS  TELEVISION  PROGRAMME  PREVIEW

A.  TV1  7:20 p.m. Find out more about Australia’s animal life. This film was made last year by one of Australia’s best-known cameramen, Dougie Bond. He spent over 200 hours filming the birds, animals and fish that inhabit this beautiful continent and for the first time brings some of these unusual animals to our TV screens.

B.  TV3  9:00p.m. The popular science programme is back with the latest in technology and medicine. This week, cars that run on sunlight and the story of one baby’s fight to live.

C.  TV2  8:10p.m. Do you think what goes into the food most of us eat every day of the week? Tonight’s programme takes a serious scientific look at the bread industry. Whether you bake your own bread or just enjoy buying it, this programme will give you an interesting insight into something most of us eat every day of the week.

D.  TV1  5:15p.m. Busy parents? Bored children? Do you want something educational to entertain your children while you do something else? This popular magazine programme is for the under-fives. More music, fun, songs and games with Carla and Larry.

E.  TV3  8:45p.m. If you’ve always wanted to cook, now’s your chance to learn. In the studio are two chefs who will take you through some simple recipes step by step. This is a repeat of the popular series shown last year, and available from good bookshops.

F.  TV3  7:40p.m. The latest new music. Pete Hogg looks at the best of the current rap, raga and new jack swing plus new video releases. This is the programme that tells you all about what’s happening on the music scene and brings you interviews with tomorrow’s young artists.

The soldier rushed into the cave, his right hand _____ a gun and his face _____ with sweat.

   A. held; covered    B. holding; covering     C. holding; covered    D. held; covering

______ to be frightened, the stranger backed to the door and ran away.

  A. Pretending      B. Pretended          C. To pretend       D. Having been pretended

I don’t think you should mention it at the beginning of the story, or it may ____ the shocking ending.

   A. give out      B. give away     C. give up       D. give off

            Most of us are used to seasons. Each year, spring follows winter, which follows autumn, which follows summer, which follows spring. And winter is colder than summer. But the earth goes through temperature cycles over much longer periods than those that we experience. Between 65,000 and 35,000 years, the planet was much colder than it is now .During that time the temperature also changed a lot,  with periods of warming and cooling. Ice melted during the warm periods, which made sea levels rise. Water froze again during the cold periods.

            A new study from Switzerland throws light on where ice sheets（冰川）inched during the ice age. It now seems that the ice melted at both ends of the earth, rather than just in either northern or southern regions.

            This surprised the researchers from the University of Bern. Scientists have long assumed（假设）that most of the ice that melted was in the Northern hemisphere（半球）during the 30,000-year long ice age. That belief was held because the North Pole is surrounded by land, while the South Pole is surrounded by the Antarctic Ocean. It is easier for ice sheets to grow on land .If surrendered by sea the ice can easily just slip into the ocean instead of building up.

            The researchers used a computer model to look at ways the ice could melt and how it might affect sea levels. They compared these results to evidence of how temperatures and currents actually changed during that time. The model showed that if it was only in the Northern hemisphere that ice melted, there would have been a bigger impact（影响）on ocean currents （洋流）and sea temperatures than what actually happened. Studies suggest that melting just in the Southern hemisphere would have been impossible, too. The only reasonable conclusion, the scientists could make, was that ice melted equally in the North and the South.

            It is still a mystery as to what caused the temperature changes that caused the ice to melt.

The North Pole is surrounded by land ,while the South Pole is surrounded by the Antarctic Ocean. So scientists thought that       .

            A．most of the ice melted in the Northern hemisphere

            B．most of the ice melted in the Southern hemisphere

            C．The North Pole is colder than South Pole

            D．The South Pole is colder than North Pole

We can learn from the passage      .

            A．the ice can easily just slip into the ocean

            B．volcanoes caused the ice to melt

            C．melting just in the Northern hemisphere would have been impossible

            D．researchers often use the computer models to help their research work

The scientists are not sure       .

            A．how long the ice age lasted   

            B．where ice sheets melted during the ice age .

            C．what caused the temperature changes 

            D．what the earth is made up of

Which of the following is NOT right ?

            A．The researchers want to know how the melting of ice might affect sea levels by the

        computer model.

            B．Studies show ice melted equally in the North and the South during the ice age.

            C．Most of the ice melted in the Northern hemisphere（半球）during the 30,000-year long

       Ice age.

            D．The temperature changes caused the ice to melt.

The idea puzzled me so much that I stopped for a few seconds to try to _______.

A. make it out             B. make it off              C. make it up                D. make it over

– Can you tell me ___________?           

– An engineer from Jinan Iron and Steel Plants.

   A. what your friend is                 B. who your friend is

   C. what is your friend                 D. who is your friend