23．I had reached a point in my career _____ I needed to decide which way to go．

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

18．--- Tom has a lot of parties recently.

---Yes, that may ____ why he didn’t do well in the test.

A, sum up            B. add up to                C. account for      D. make sense of

E

A century ago in the United States, when an individual brought suit against a company, public opinion tended to protect that company. But perhaps this phenomenon was most striking in the case of the railroads. Nearly half of all negligence cases decided through 1896 involved railroads. And the railroads usually won.

Most of the cases were decided in sate courts, when the railroads had the climate of the times on their sides. Government supported the railroad industry; the progress railroads represented was not to be slowed down by requiring them often to pay damages to those unlucky enough to be hurt working for them.

Court decisions always went against railroad workers. A Mr. Farwell, an engineer, lost his right hand when a switchman’s negligence ran his engine off the track. The court reasoned that since Farwell had taken the job of an engineer voluntarily at good pay, he had accepted the risk. Therefore the accident, though avoidable had the switchmen acted carefully, was a “pure accident”. In effect a railroad could never be held responsible for injury to one employee caused by the mistake of another.

In one case where a Pennsylvania Railroad worker had started a fire at a warehouse and the fire had spread several blocks, causing widespread damage, a jury found the company responsible for all the damage. But the court overturned the jury’s decision because it argued that the railroad’s negligence was the immediate cause of damage only to the nearest buildings. Beyond them the connection was too remote to consider.

As the century wore on, public sentiment began to turn against the railroads—against their economic and political power and high fares as well as against their callousness toward individuals.

72. Which of the following is NOT true in Farwell’s case?

A. Farwell was injured because he negligently ran his engine off the track.

B. Farwell would not have been injured if the switchman had been more careful.

C. The court argued that the victim had accepted the risk since he had willingly taken his job.

D. The court decided that the railroad should not be held responsible.

73. What must have happened after the fire case was settled in court?

A. The railroad compensated for the damage to the immediate buildings.

B. The railroad compensated for all the damage by the fire.

C. The railroad paid nothing for the damaged building.

D. The railroad worker paid for the property damage himself.

74. The following aroused public resentment EXCEPT _____.

A. political power   B. high fares    C. economic loss   D. indifference

75. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. Railroad oppressing individuals in the US.

B. History of the US railroads.

C. Railroad workers’ working rights.

D. Law cases concerning the railroads.

第二部分：英语知识运用（共两节，满分45分）

第一节：单项填空（共15小题；每小题1分，满分15分）

从A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

21.The bird ______ its wings and flew to the south.

A. beat       B. hit     C. strike     D. Struck

24．—Do you think he’ll succeed?

       —Well, he’s helped by so many classmates, what is more, he works extremely hard. So he will_____succeed.

       A．probably   B．likely       C．possibly    D．Perhaps

7.  Nobody believed his reason for being absent from his class _____ he had to meet his

   uncle at the airport.

     A. why                      B. was                 C. that           D. because

30. He’s making_____great progress in his lessons that everyone else in his class can’t believe it.

A. So     B. very   C. such a   D. Such

33. Premier Wen Jiabao visited the Red Square_________ by Russia President Putin.

A. accompanying     B. accompanied      C. attending     D. Attended

 —You mean the position is still vacant?

    —Yes, but you must know our job is very demanding.

    —_______.

A. With pleasure      B. I don’t mind         C. Don’t mention it      D. That’s all right

A university math tutor has discovered the science behind “singledom”, finding that our chances of finding the perfect partner are just 1 in 285,000. Peter Backus, a tutor at the University of Warwick, published his “Why I Don’t Have a Girlfriend” paper after a three-year love drought.

His unconventional study uses a famous math formula called The Drake Equation(德雷克等式), which was first used to estimate the existence of extra-terrestrial(地球以外) life.

The results don't look promising for British singles. 30-year-old Mr. Backus found that out of the 30 million women in the UK, only 26 would be suitable girlfriends for him.

The dull equation takes into account the number of women aged 24 to 34, living in his home city of London, and who are single, meaning his chances of meeting his dream woman on a night out are slim.

The economics expert said: “There are 26 women in London with whom I might have a wonderful relationship. So, on a given night out in London there is a 0.0000034% chance of meeting one of these special people. That’s a 1 in 285,000 chance, so it’s not great.”

The puzzling Drake equation reads: N = R* x Fp x Ne x Fi x Fc x L, and helped pioneering scientist Professor Drake to predict that there could be 10,000 civilizations in our galaxy.

Mr. Backus simply replaced the original equation with his own criteria for a dream date, which included the percentage of women likely to find him attractive, and the number of girls aged 24-34 in London. He said: “The research may sound depressing to people looking for love, but the good news for singles is, it’s probably not your fault!”

56. Mr. Backus’ discovery in this passage is mainly concerned about ______.

A. whether there exists life out of our planet

B. the possibility of his being able to find love

C. how to get rid of singledom

D. what math can do to serve our daily life

57. What does Mr. Backus think of the result of his research?

A. Optimistic.     B. Depressing.      C. Unrealistic.     D. Exciting.

58. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A. Mr. Backus’ major research field is “singledom”.

B. Mr. Backus found a girlfriend three years ago.

C. Mr. Backus’ new thesis will surely be well received.

D. Mr. Backus has been searching for love for long.

59. By “the good news for singles” in the last sentence, Mr. Backus probably mean _____.

A. you don’t have to blame yourself for remaining single  

B. maybe the discovery is not reliable at all

C. the result was based on his own criteria

D. there might be more dream date out of London

60. Which of the following statements is true?

A. This passage could be published in a scientific magazine.

B. The passage intends to prove there are other civilizations.

C. The passage writer doesn’t really understand the Drake equation.

D. Most women in London are not suitable for university teachers.