阅读理解

　　On the 14th day of June, 1777, the Continental Congress passed the following resolution: “Resolved (决心，决定) that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternate (交替的) red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation (星群).”

　　We are told that before this, in 1776, a committee had been appointed to look after the matter, and together with General Washington they called at the house of Betsy Ross, 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia.

　　Betsy Ross was a young widow of twenty-four, heroically supporting herself by continuing the upholstery (室内装璜) business of her late husband, young John Ross, a patriot (爱国者) who had died in the service of his country. Betsy was noted for her exquisite (精致的) needle-work, and was engaged in the flag-making business.

　　The committee asked her if she thought she could make a flag from a design, a rough drawing of which General Washington showed her. She replied, with diffidence (缺乏自信), that she did not know whether she could, or not, but would try. She noticed, however, that the star as drawn had six points, and informed the committee that the correct star had but five. They answered that as a great number of stars would be required, the more regular form with six points could be more easily made than one with five.

　　She responded (做出反应) in a practical way by deftly (灵巧的) folding a scrap (小片) of paper; then with a single clip of her scissors she displayed a true, symmetrical (对称的)、 five-pointed star. This decided the committee in her favor. A rough design was left for her use, but she was permitted to make a sample (样品) flag according to her own ideas of the arrangement of the stars and the proportion (比例) of the stripes and the general form of the whole.

　　Some time after its completion, it was presented to Congress, and soon after the committee had the pleasure of informing Betsy Ross that her flag had been accepted as the nation's standard (旗).

1．Which of the following description about Ross is NOT true?

[　　]

A．Her husband died in the American War of Independence.

B．She was good at needle-work.

C．She was forced to make the national standard.

D．She changed the six-pointed star in the design to five points.

2．When Ross was asked to make the national standard, she was ________.

[　　]

3．The committee decided to ask Ross to make the national standard because ________.

[　　]

A．her husband was a patriot

B．she was very confident

C．General Washington showed her the design

D．they believed she was capable and competent

4．She changed the design because ________.

[　　]

A．she didn't know that the person who showed her the design was General Washington

B．she wanted to display her competence

C．she knew that the true star was five-pointed

D．she thought the star with six points was not easy to make

5．In the sentence “This decided the committee in her favor” (Para. 5), the pronoun “this” refers to ________.

[　　]

A．the design

B．the five-pointed star

C．her making a true star with a scrap of paper

D．her confidence

阅读理解

　　I am a computer expert. I have been in the field for only a short time. I never learned much in the way of science or math. And I am quite puzzled by things like engineering or electronics.

　　Then why am I able to write about computers? I can write on this subject because of these shortcomings. The last two years of learning have been a hard test for me, By hard work I have managed to learn enough to use, computers fairly well, and to work with people who know a great deal more than I. Since I have learned all this at such personal cost, I would like to share, my knowledge with others. More and more people want to know about computers, and want to know quickly.

　　The best way to learn is to take a course. However, many people do not have the time for this. They will have to find other way to get some basic information. I hope to be able to help them by writing about some of the things I have learned myself.

　　I have a home computer on which I've learned in my own time. I have used it like a home study course. I have sat down with it day after day, night after night. I have forced it to give up some of its secrets. Now I can use it to do some of the work that I get paid for. And I can do this work in my own home, instead of in an office. Many people may soon be working in a computer at home, just as many now take in other people's typing.

　　Some things about computers are easier than you may fear. First computers are logical. Things that at first seem difficult will make sense to you after you learn the rules. Second, it is really not hard to learn enough to use today's machines. You do not need to be a great brain. But you do have to learn to think in new ways. And you do have to keep a good bit of information in your head. Finally, there are many people around who are really enthusiastic (热心的) about computers. These people are always happy to be of help.

1．The purpose of the passage is to convince readers that, by studying computes at home, people can become ________.

[　　]

A．computer experts

B．writers about computers

C．computer scientists

D．skilled users of computers

2．According to the passage, a home computer can best be described as ________.

[　　]

3．You can conclude that the author thinks that if a person took a computer course, that person would learn ________.

[　　]

A．very quickly

B．as much as the author's co-workers

C．to think like a computer

D．about computers the easy way

4．According to the passage, a computer can be used to help you ________.

[　　]

A．take special courses in science

B．take in other people typing

C．get other people's secrets

D．do your work at home

阅读理解

　　Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem: it seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.

　　Though he was tired, Howe slept badly. He turned and turned. Then he had a dream. He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle. The king flew into the rage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They came up towards him with their spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was a hole in the tip of each spear. The inventor woke up from the dream, realizing he had just found the answer to the problem. Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole in the centre of the needle. This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practical sewing machine.

　　Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answers to his problem in this way.

　　Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams. So did the great physicist Albert Einstein. Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.

　　To know the value of dreams, you have to understand what happens when you are asleep. Even then a part of your minds is still working. The unconscious (无意识), but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problem you have had during the day. It stores all information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed. It is only when you are asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake. However, the unconscious part acts in a special way. It uses strange images (图像) which the conscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves”.

1．According to the passage. Elias Howe was ________ .

[　　]

A．the first person we know of who solved problems in his sleep

B．much more hard-working than other inventors

C．the first person to design a sewing machine that really worked

D．the only person at the time who knew the value of dreams

2．The problem Howe was trying to solve was ________.

[　　]

A．what kind of thread to use

B．how to design a needle which would not break

C．where to put the needle

D．how to prevent the thread from getting caught around the needle

3．Dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves” because ________.

[　　]

A．strange images are used to communicate ideas

B．images which have no meaning are used

C．we can never understand the real meaning

D．only special trained people can understand them

4．From the passage we know that ________.

[　　]

A．when we sleep, our mind is sleeping too

B．when we sleep, not all our mind is sleeping

C．all great inventors once got their ideas in their dreams

D．if we run into a problem in the day, we'll always have a strange dream at night

阅读理解

　　For some time past it has been widely accepted that babies and other creatures learn to do things because certain acts lead to “rewards”, and there is no reason to doubt that this is true. But it used also to be widely believed that effective rewards, at least in the early stages (阶段), had to be directly related to such basic physiological “drives”(生理的动力) as thirst or hunger. In other words, a baby would learn if he got food or drink or some sort of physical comfort, not otherwise.

　　It is now clear that this is not so. Babies will learn to behave in ways that produce results in the world with no reward except the successful outcome (result).

　　Papousek began his studies by using milk in the normal way to “reward” the babies and so teach them to carry out some simple movements, such as turning the head to one side or the other. Then he noticed that a baby who had had enough to drink would refuse the milk but would still go on making the learned response (反应) with clear signs of pleasure. So he began to study the children's responses in situations where no milk was provided. He quickly found that children as young as four months would learn to turn their heads to right or left if the movement “switched on” a display (显示) of lights, and in deed that they were capable of learning (were able to learn) quite complex (复杂的) turns to bring about this result, for instance, two left or two right, or even to make as many as three turns to one side.

　　Papousek's light display was placed directly in front of the babies and he made the interesting observation that sometimes they would not turn back to watch the lights closely although they would smile or bubble (格格地笑) when the display came on. Papousek concluded that it was not primarily (mainly) the sight of the lights which pleased them, it was the success they were achieving in solving the problem, in mastering the skill, and that there exists a fundamental (basic) human urge (强烈欲望) to make sense of (understand) the world and bring it under intentional (有意识的) control.

1．According to the author, babies learn to do things which ________.

[　　]

A．will satisfy their curiosity

B．will meet their physical needs

C．are directly related to pleasure (are connected with pleasure)

D．wilt bring them a feeling of success

2．Papousek noticed that in his studies that a baby ________.

[　　]

A．would make learned responses when it saw the milk

B．would continue the simple movements without being given milk

C．would turn its head to right or left when it had enough to drink

D．would carry out learned movements when it had drunk enough milk

3．In Papousek's experiment babies make learned movements of the head in order to ________.

[　　]

A．be praised

B．please their parents

C．be rewarded with milk

D．have the lights turned on

4．The babies would “smile and bubble” because ________.

[　　]

A．they succeeded in “switching on” the lights

B．the sight of the lights was interesting

C．they need not turn back to watch the lights

D．the lights were directly related to some basic “drive”

5．According to Papousek, the pleasure babies get in achieving something is a reflection of ________.

[　　]

A．the satisfaction of certain physiological needs

B．their strong desire to solve complex problems

C．a basic human desire to understand and control the world

D．a fundamental human urge to show off their learned skills

阅读理解

　　Japanese students work very hard but many are very unhappy. They feel great pressure from their parents to do well in school and college. Most students are always being told by their parents to study harder so that they can have successful future. Although this may be good advice for those students who are very bright, it can have very bad results for many students who are not quick enough at learning.

　　Unfortunately, a number of students actually kill themselves. Others are after comfort in using drugs. Some students, however, do bad things with groups of bad people and turn to crime (犯罪). Many of them have tried very hard at school, but, in spite of all their tries, have failed in certain examinations and have disappointed their parents. Such students feel that they are less important than everyone else they meet and leave school before they have finished their study.

　　It is surprising that although most Japanese parents are anxious for their children to do well at school, they do not help them in any way. Many parents feel that they are unable to help their children with their lessons and that it is the teacher's job to help their children.

　　To make matter worse, a lot of parents send their children to special schools called juku-cram schools. These schools are open during the evenings and on weekends, and their only purpose is to prepare students to pass exams; they do not try to educate students in any real sense of the world. It thus comes as a shock to realize that almost three quarters of the junior high school population attend these cram schools.

　　Ordinary Japanese schools usually have rules about every thing from the length of the students' hair to their clothes and things in their school bags. Child psychologists (心理学家) now think that such strict rules often lead to a feeling of being unsafe and being unable to fit into society. They regard the rules as being harmful to the development of each student. They believe that no sense of moral values is developed and that students are given neither guidance nor training in becoming good citizens.

1．According to the passage, a lot of Japanese students are unhappy at school because ________.

[　　]

A．they work very hard

B．they find they can't do well in school

C．they feel unimportant

D．they are under too much pressure from their parents

2．Because of their failure at school, some students ________.

[　　]

A．go to cram schools for better education

B．leave school without finishing their study

C．are against the school rules

D．have quarrels with their parents

3．In the fourth paragraph, “cram schools” probably means the schools in which ________.

[　　]

A．you can be taken good care of by the teachers

B．teachers are responsible for their students

C．you learn as much as possible in a short time before taking the examinations

D．students have their classes in the evening

4．Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

[　　]

A．A lot of parents in Japan help their children with their studies.

B．Cram schools can't provide a good education for students.

C．Many parents encourage their children to study hard.

D．Many students become criminals because of their failure.

阅读理解

　　George Washington is remembered as a great general, as one of the founders of the Republic, and as the first president of the United States. But beyond all else he is venerated (崇敬) for his admirable qualities of character.

　　“When we think of Washington,” wrote John Truslow Adams, “…we think of the man who by sheer force of character held a divided and disorganized country together until victory was achieved, and who, after peace was won, still held his disunited countrymen by their love and respect and admiration for himself until a nation was welded (焊接) into enduring strength and unity.” For good cause has he been called “the Father of his Country”.

　　Washington had strong ideals and patriotic leadership. He was scarce in his teens when his father died. No one could have guessed that the rather awkward (笨拙的) youth so lacking in society and education would become the first president of his country. But George had the ability to learn from every experience. Once he was sent on a surveying (勘察) trip with one of his young friends, whose family owned at least a million acres of land, to make sure just where the boundaries lay. Besides the chance to practice the surveying, a skill he had already acquired, the expedition (远征) gave George his first close contact with Indians, and it also gave him his first look at the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Ambitions (雄心) were forming in the silent, determined young man. He saw those vast lands to the West as territory to conquer.

　　Soon Gecrge was making his living as a surveyor and buying up land with earnings. At 19 he was a prosperous (成功的) landowner with a promising (有前途的) future; and had the winds of circumstance (环境)not shifted his course he might have spent his life as a successful planter. But his brave conduct of the dangerous expedition through rough terrain (地形), Indian strongholds, and bitter cold weather foretold his ability as a military (军事的) leader.

1．According to John Truslow Adams, the reason that George Washington has been called “the Father of his Country” is that ________.

[　　]

A．he led the people to achieve the independence and with the peace

B．he is the first president of the country

C．he united the disorganized country into a strong one

D．Both A and C.

2．According to the author, the significance of Washington's surveying trip with his friend when he was young is that ________.

[　　]

A．he learned where the boundaries of his friend’s land lay

B．he had his first look at the beautiful Shenandoah Valley

C．it was the beginning of his life as a surveyor and led him to become a successful landowner

D．he got in the surveying trip what was needed as an excellent military commander

3．The sentence “…and had the winds of circumstances not shifted his course he might have spent his life as a successful planter” in last paragraph most probably means ________.

[　　]

A．during his surveying trip, the strong winds helped him change his direction and discovered many new lands

B．because he met strong winds in his trip, he lost the chance to get a lot of lands

C．the change of the political situation led him to change his life and become a political leader of the country

D．the change of the social circumstances helped him to become a successful planter

4．According to the author, Washington became an outstanding leader because of ________.

[　　]

A．his success as a planter

B．his knowledge about the land

C．his ambition

D．his good qualities of charater

5．Which of the following statements is true?

[　　]

A．Washington was admired just because he is the first president of the country.

B．Because he couldn't succeed in becoming a rich landowner, he changed his career as a military man.

C．Because he felt disgraceful for his father's death, he became lost and silent.

D．Because he had experience about dangerous expedition, he became a military leader.

阅读理解

　　In sports the sexes (性别) are separate. Women and men do not run or swim in the same races. Women are less strong than men. That at least is what people say. Women are called “the weaker sex”, if men want to please them, “the fair sex”. But boys and girls are taught together at schools and universities. There are women who are famous Prime Ministers, scientists and writers. And women live longer than men. A European woman can expect to live until the age of 74, a man only until he is 68．Are women's bodies really weaker?

　　The fastest men run a mile in under 4 minutes. The best women need 4.5 minutes. Women's times are always dower than men's. But same facts are a surprise. Some of the fastest women swimmers today are teenage (青年人) girls. One of them swam 400 meters 21,2 seconds when she was only 16. The first “Tarzan (矫健力大之人)” in films was an Olympic swimmer, Johny Weissmuller. His fastest 400 meters was 4 minutes 59.1 seconds, which is 37.9 seconds slower than a girl 50 years later! This does not mean that women are catching men up. Conditions are very different now, and sports are very. serious. It is so serious that some women athletes (运动员) are given hormone injections. At the Olympics, a doctor has to check whether the women athletes are really women or not. It seems sad that sport has such problems. Life can be very complicated (复杂的) when there are two sexes!

1．Women are called “the weaker sex” because ________.

[　　]

A．women do as much work as men

B．people think women are weaker than men

C．sport is easier for men than for women

D．in sport the two sexes are always together

2．The best women can run a mile ________.

[　　]

A．as fast as the best men

B．half minutes faster than men

C．37．9 seconds slower than men

D．half minute slower than men

3．It is so serious that some women athletes are given hormone injections. In this sentence the word “hormone” may be ________.

[　　]

A．a kind of good food

B．a kind of medicine

C．a kinds of drink

D．a kind of cigarette (烟卷)

阅读理解

　　Tokyo: Three snakes, whose poison could kill a person in ten minutes, are guarding a blue star sapphire (蓝宝石) worth nearly six hundred thousand dollars at a Japanese exhibilion of jewels sent from an Indian museum.

　　“Normally it would be forbidden to let these poisonous snakes guard exhibition objects, but it's different this time because the jewels are being exhibited at a hotel,” a police official said.

　　Exhibition official said that a person bitten (咬) by one of these snakes would need at least 80 ml of anti-poison medicine to be saved. Medicine was being kept ready at a nearby hospital.

　　Star sapphires and other valuable jewels worth a total of one million dollars are on show behind glass. Hundreds of visitors came to see the special blue star sapphires and were surprised when they saw the sixty-centimetre long brown guards.

1．Using snakes at exhibitions of valuable objects is ________.

[　　]

2．The jewels were being shown in ________.

[　　]

3．Why were the snakes and jewels at the same exhibition?

[　　]

A．They were both special things for India.

B．The snakes were there to keep the jewels safe.

C．The organizers wanted to do something

D．People liked to visit an exhibition guarded by snakes.

4．Many visitors came to the exhibition because ________.

[　　]

A．the snakes were on show

B．so many jewels were being exhibited

C．exhibition official said it was special

D．they were interested in seeing the famous jewels

阅读理解

　　It is commonly believed in the United States that school is where people go to get an education. Nevertheless, it has been said that today children interrupt their education to go to school. The difference. between schooling and education implied by this remark is important.

　　Education is much more open-ended and all inclusive than schooling. Education knows not limits. It can take place any-where, whether in the shower or on the job, whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe of informal learning. The agent (door) of education can vary from respected grandparent to the people arguing about politics on the radio, from a child to a famous scientist. Whereas schooling has a certain prodictability (可预料性), education quite often preduces surprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover how little is known of other religions(宗教). People receive education from infancy (婴儿时期) on. Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term. It is a life-long process, a process that starts long before the start of school, and one that should be a necessary part of one's entire life.

　　Schooling, on the other hand, . is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at about the same time, take the assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The pieces of reality that are to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of the workings of government, have been limited by the subjects being taught. For example, high school students know that they are not likely to find out in classes the truth about political problems in their society or what the newest film-makers are experimenting with. There are clear and undoubtful conditions surrounding the formalized process of schooling.

1．The passage is organized by ________

[　　]

A．giving examples of different schools

B．telling stories about excellent teachers

C．listing and discussing several educational problems

D．telling the difference between the meanings of two related words

2．The passage supports which of the following statements?

[　　]

A．Education systems need to be changed as soon as possible.

B．Without formal education, people won't be able to read and write.

C．Going to school is only part of how people become educated.

D．Schooling is of no use because students do similar things every day.

3．What does the writer mean by using the expression “children interrupt their education to go to school” in paragraph one?

[　　]

A．All of life is education.

B．learning takes place everywhere.

C．Education is totally mined by schooling.

D．Schooling prevents people from discover new things.

4．What is the main idea of the passage?

[　　]

A．The best schools teach a variety of subjects.

B Education and schooling are quite different experiences.

C．The more years the students go to school, the better their education is.

D．Students benefit from schools, which require long hours and homework.

阅读理解

　　Certain dustmen prefer to be known as “Refuse Collection and Disposal Officers”. You may think that this is rather silly, and that it is better to call a spade a spade. But dustmen can be as sensitive as people of any other occupation, though we must admit that their job is not the most romantic one in the world. We often take dustmen for granted. Perhaps because they usually come very early in the morning, before most people are up, we are inclined to forget that they exist. Our dustbins are emptied regularly, but we rarely stop to think about the men who do this. However it is one of the most important jobs in the world, and when there are no dustmen to take away the rubbish the general public soon becomes aware that something is wrong.

　　Recently the dustmen of England went on strike for higher wages. During the first. few days it was regarded as a joke. For some reason, jokes have always been made about dustmen, and some people thought this strike was very amusing. But when the first two weeks had passed, and the dustbins were overflowing in nearly every backyard in the country, the joke did not seem so funny any more. As the strike continued, people could not bear the accumulation of rubbish around their dustbins, and they looked for other places in which to get rid of it. Even Leicester Square, in the heart of the west end of London, was piled high with the plastic sacks full of smelly rubbish, This was a tourist attraction that the people of London were not at all happy to see. Even when the strike was over, and the wages dispute had been settled, it took several weeks for the country to get cleaned up immediately, as so much rubbish had accumulated. Perphas now the English people appreciate the work of their dustmen rather more highly, and won't take them for granted any more.

1．Why are dustmen often taken for granted?

[　　]

A．Because they are very sensitive people.

B．Because the dustbins are always emptied at regular intervals.

C．Because their job is a very important one.

D．Because this job is not the most romantic one in the world.

2．When do ordinary people stop to think about dustmen and their work?

[　　]

A．Very early in the morning before other people are up.

B．During a strike, when the dustbins were not emptied.

C．Never.

D．At regular intervals.

3．Why did people at first think that the strike started by the dustmen was funny?

[　　]

A．Because they predicted the strike would end soon.

B．Because the purpose of the dustmen was to amuse the Londoners.

C．Because funny stories had been created about dustmen.

D．Because a city couldn't go on for quite a long while without the rubbish being collected.

4．Why do the English people appreciate the work of their dustmen rather mare highly, and won't take them for granted any mare now?

[　　]

A．Because the dustmen have done their work well.

B．Because they have realized the dustmen's job is very important.

C．Because the dustmen often go on strike for higher wages.

D．Because the dustmen usually come early in the morning, before most people are up.