阅读理解

　　The stamp collector can learn a great deal from the colorful pieces of paper he puts in his album. Besides learning some basic things about organization and systematic arrangement, the stamp collector can receive a good course in history and geography from stamps. As a collector progresses and becomes more specialized (有的), stamps teach him some basic facts about carving, paper, and printing.

　　Stamps are excellent sources of historical information. Almost every nation celebrates its military heroes and political leaders on its postage stamps. But scientists and artists, from Einstein to Beethoven, also grace the stamps of the world. Famous battles are frequently printed, as well as buildings and scenes which have historical importance.

　　Stamps also offer instruction in geography. Nations like Liechtenstein, San Marino, Andorra, and Afghanistan, while unknown to many, are usually quite familiar to stamp collectors.

　　To the layman, most stamps appear pretty much the same. But armed with a magnifying glass (放大镜) the more specialized collector can tell the difference between a common issue and a rare (稀有的) variety.

1．Which of the following statements do you think best describes the main idea of the essay?

[　　]

A．A stamp collector must have a great deal of knowledge in history and geography.

B． A stamp collector should be good at organization and systematic arrangement.

C．A stamp collector can learn a lot from the stamps he collects.

D．A stamp collector is a specialist who knows much about carving paper and printing.

2．The word “album” in the first sentence means ________.

[　　]

A．a holder for sets of discs (唱片)

B．a blank book used for collecting stamps

C．a frame in which the best stamps are displayed

D．a small box where colorful stamps are kept

3．“Basic things about organization and systematic arrangement” refers to ________.

[　　]

A．postal organizations and systems that print and issue new stamps

B．various organizations and systems that sell new stamps

C．organizations all over the world that offer help to stamp collectors

D．knowledge or information about how to organize and arrange things in good order

4．Which of the following statements is NOT true?

[　　]

A．Almost all nations produce stamps celebrating their military heroes or political leaders.

B．Famous battles and buildings of historical importance are frequently printed on stamps.

C．Few scientists and artists appear on stamps.

D．Scientists and artists as well as political and military leaders are celebrated on stamps.

5．A layman is a person who ________.

[　　]

A．has just started collecting stamps

B．is a beginning collector

C．is not very much interested in stamp collecting

D．does not have much professional (专业的) knowledge

阅读理解

　　My great-aunt Emma was rather a terrifying old lady. She had been the headmistress of quite an important girls' boarding school and she had come, over the years, to look upon everyone as backward and naughty (淘气) school-girls, especially members of her own family. My brother and I were never very happy when she came to visit us and used to spend as much time out of the house as we possibly could. Luckily for us, even though she had given up teaching many years before, she still led a very full social life and had little time for family visits.

　　But I remember that once she came to bur house for a long weekend during the summer. Mother thought that a few days by the sea would do her good. George and I were sent to the station to meet her, and this time we hadn't been able to find a reasonable excuse to get out of it. There was no doubt about our being able to recognize her at the station as she was always dressed in the same fashion. It was not that she was short of clothes; in fact she had a vast selection, but they all looked exactly the same.

1．At the time of the story Aunt Emma was ________.

[　　]

2．Aunt Emma used to ________.

[　　]

A．look down upon her relatives

B．treat everyone like school girls

C．look backwards at everybody in the family

D．think that Peter and George were not clever

3．In one summer Aunt Emma came to spend a long weekend with the family because ________.

[　　]

A．she wanted to live by the sea

B．she was invited

C．she had not seen the family for a long time

D．she came almost every summer

4．George could recognize Aunt Emma without difficulty because ________.

[　　]

A．she was dressed in a fashionable way

B．she was dressed in a most unusual fashion

C．she was dressed in the same old clothes

D．she was always dressed in the same way

5．From the story we learn that ________.

[　　]

A．Aunt Emma was rather an old-fashioned lady

B．Aunt Emma did not like the two brothers very much

C．Aunt Emma often visit George's family

D．Aunt Emma did not have many clothes

阅读理解

　　Packaging is an important form of advertising. A package can sometimes motivate someone to buy a product. For example, a small child might ask for breakfast food that comes in a box with a picture of a TV character. The child is more interested in the picture than in breakfast food. Pictures for children to colour or cut out, games printed on a package, or small gifts inside a box also motivate many children to buy products or to ask their parents for them.

　　Some packages suggest that a buyer will get something for nothing. Food products sold in reusable containers are examples of this. Although a product in a plain container might cost less, people often prefer to buy the product in a reusable glass or dish, because they believe the container is free. However, the cost of the container is added to the cost of the product.

　　The size of a package also motivates a buyer. Buyers often think the large size has the most product for the least money. But that is not always true. To find out, a buyer has to know how the product is sold and the price of the basic unit.

　　The information on the package should supply some answers. But the important thing for any buyer to remember is that a package is often an advertisement. The words and pictures do not tell the whole story. Only the product inside can do that.

1．As used in the passage, the word “motivate” most probably means ________.

[　　]

A．make one deep in thought

B．make one act

C．supply a story that makes one moved

D．make one believe what he does is right

2．“A buyer will get something for nothing” most probably means that ________.

[　　]

A．a buyer will get something useful without paying anything

B．a buyer will get what he pays for

C．a buyer will gain more than he loses

D．a buyer will not get what he wants

3．People are likely to buy the product sold in a glass or dish because ________.

[　　]

A．they believe the cost of the container is included in the cost of the product

B．the container is too good

C．they think they can get the container for nothing

D．they have no other choice

4．Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?

[　　]

A．Packaging is often a successful advertisement.

B．Children are often made to buy a product by its package with attractive (吸引人的) pictures.

C．A buyer is also attracted by the size of the container.

D．On seeing a well-designed container, a buyer often does not consider what is inside it.

5．What suggestion does the author give in the passage?

[　　]

A．Do not buy the product which is sold in a glass or dish.

B．The quality of a container has nothing to do with the quality of the product.

C．A buyer should get what he needs most.

D．The best choice for a buyer is to get a product in a plain package.

阅读理解

A health study in Framingham, Massachusetts, which began in 1948 and continues to this day, includes examing the survivors among the same 5,200 men and women every two years and carefully deciding the cause of any deaths in the group. A rather surprising conclusion in 1980 was that the lightest men had the shortest life expectancy (期望寿命), and those who weighed more than 25% above the national average also have short life expectancy. Much the same was true of women, with those in the lightest and heaviest groups dying earliest. These results certainly threw doubt on the “Ideal (理想) Weights” in use since the forties which say those who weigh well below the national average will live long. Indeed, they suggest that if any such ideal exists, it is slightly above the average.

1．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

[　　]

A．The Framingham Health Study.

B．5,200 Men and Women Can't Be Wrong.

C．People are Wrong about Weight.

D．Weight and Life Expectancy: Unexpected Proof.

2．The Framingham study ________.

[　　]

A．aims at life expectancy of the heaviest and lightest groups

B．was completed in 1980

C．has been going on for about 50 years

D．still examines 5,200 men and women every two years

3．Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

[　　]

A．The study above and the use of “Ideal Weights” tables began in the same ten years.

B．More deaths have happened in recent two-year periods than before.

C．The study aimed to throw doubt on the “Ideal Weights”.

D．The fattest men die the earliest.

阅读理解

　　In the fall of 1924, Thomas Wolfe, newly corning from his courses in playwriting at Harvard, joined the ten of us who were teaching English composition in New York University. I had never before seen a man so tall as he, and so ungraceful (不体面). I pitied him and went out of my way to help him get his work started and to make him feel at home.

　　His students soon let me know that he had no need of my protectiveness. They spoke of his ability to tell a simple thing in such a manner as to have then bursting into laughter or struggling to keep back their tears, of his habit of writing three pages of remark on a student's one-page composition, and of his astonishing freedom in expressing in words anything he had seen or heard or tasted or felt.

　　Indeed, his students made so much of his powers of observation that I decided to make a little test and see for myself. My chance came one morning when the students were slowly gathering for nine o'clock classes.

　　Upon arriving at the university that day, I found Wolfe alone in the large room which served all the English composition teachers as an office. He did not refuse when I asked him to come with me out into the hall, and he only smiled when we reached a classroom door and I told him to enter alone and look around.

　　He stepped in, remained no more than thirty seconds, and then came out. “Tell me what you see,” I said as I took his place in the room, leaving him in the hall with his back to the door. Without the least hesitation and without a single mistake, he gave the number of seats in the room, pointed out those which boys were seated in and those girls were seated in, named the colors each student was wearing, pointed out the Latin verb written on the blackboard, and pictured in detail (详细) the view of Washington Square from the windows.

　　As I joined Wolfe again, I was speechless with astonishment. He, on the contrary, was wholly calm as he said, “The worst thing about it is that I'll remember it all.”

1．What is the passage mainly discussing?

[　　]

A．Thomas Wolfe's teaching life.

B．Thomas Wolfe's courses in playwriting.

C．Thomas Wolfe's ability of telling stories.

D．Thomas Wolfe's genius (天才).

2．Which of the following is TRUE of Thomas Wolfe?

[　　]

A．He failed to finish his courses at Harvard.

B．He began teaching right after his graduation.

C．He regarded New York University as his home.

D．He had a polite manner.

3．What do the students think of Thomas Wolfe?

[　　]

A．He was a good storyteller.

B．He was willing to protect his students.

C．He was ungraceful.

D．He was easy to get along with.

4．Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?

[　　]

A．Wolfe's students praised Wolfe's power of observation.

B．The writer did an experiment on Wolfe's ability.

C．Wolfe's students asked the writer to have a test of their ability.

D．Wolfe did not feel angry when he was tested.

5．What do we learn about Wolfe from the passage?

[　　]

A．He tried hard to remember what was in the classroom.

B．He stayed in the classroom for a short time.

C．He quickly drew a picture of Washington Square.

D．He followed the writer into the classroom.

6．There were ________ teachers of English in New York University in the autumn of 1924.

[　　]

阅读理解

　　Time talks. It speaks more plainly (明白地) than words. Time communicates in many ways.

　　Consider the different parts of the day, for example. The time of the day when something is done can give a special meaning to the event. Factory managers in the United States fully realize the importance of an announcement made during the middle of the morning or afternoon that takes everyone away from his work.

　　In the United States, it is not customary to telephone someone very early in the morning. If you telephone him early in the day, while he is shaving or having breakfast, the time of the call shows that the matter is very urgent and requires immediate attention. It is the same with telephone calls made after 11:00 p.m. If someone receives a call during sleeping hours, he probably thinks it is a matter of life or death. The time chosen for the call communicates its importance.

　　The meanings of time differ in different parts of the world. Thus, misunderstanding arises (出现) between people from cultures that treat time differently. In the United States, people tend to think of time as something fixed in nature, something fixed which one can not escape. As a rule, Americans think of time as a road into the future, along which one progresses. The road has many sections, which are to be kept separate…“one thing at a time”. Thus, an American may feel angry when he has made an appointment with someone and then finds a lot of other things happening at the same time.

　　Americans look ahead and are concerned (与……有关) almost entirely with the future. The American idea of the future is limited, however. It is the foreseeable future and not the future of involving (牵连) many centuries.

　　Since time has much different meanings in different cultures, communication is often difficult. We will understand each other a little if we can keep this fact in mind.

1．According to the passage, an announcement made during the day in a factory must be very important because ________.

[　　]

A．it interrupts the work of all employees

B．it is made by the manager

C．it makes everyone lose his job

D．it communicates in many ways

2．In the United States, a phone call made after 11:00 p.m. is considered ________, in the view of the writer.

[　　]

A．as important as one made in the morning

B．Impolite since it disturbs the receiver's sleep

C．To be a threat (恐吓) to the receiver's life

D．Even more urgent than one made early in the morning

3．The expression“the foreseeable future”could be most suitably replaced by ________.

[　　]

A．the future that will not be far away

B．the future that one makes progress

C．the future toward which one makes progress

D．the future which involves centuries

4．The writer concludes that people of different countries will understand each other better if ________.

[　　]

A．they know how to communicate with each other

B．they are concerned with the future

C．they learn the way time communicates

D．they keep in mind that different cultures treat time differently

阅读理解

　　When Laura reached school-going age the discussions about moving became more urgent (紧迫的). Her father did not want the children to go to school with the village children and for once her mother agreed with him. Not because, as he said, they ought to have a better education than they could get at Lark Rise; but because she feared they would tear their clothes and catch cold and get dirty heads going a mile and a half to and from the school in the village. So empty cottages in the market town were examined and often it seemed that the next week or the next month they would be leaving Lark Rise for ever, but again each time something would happen to prevent the removal, and gradually a new idea came up. To gain time, their father would teach the two eldest children to read and write, so that, if asked by the School Attendance Office, their mother could say they were leaving the small village shortly, and in the meantime, were being taught at home.

　　So their father brought home two copies of Mavor's First Reader and taught them the alphabet; but just as Laura was beginning on words of one syllable (音节), He was sent away to work on a distant job, only corning home at weekends. Laura, left at the c-a-t s-I-t-s on the m-a-t's stage, then had to carry her book round after her mother as she went about her housework, asking,“Please, Mother, what does h-o-u-s-a spell?”or“W-a-l-k, Mother, what is that?”

　　Often when her mother was too busy or too tired to attend to her, she would sit and fix her eyes on a page that might as well have been printed in Hebrew (希伯来语) for all she could make of it, frowning (锁眉) and studying the print as though she would make out the meaning by force of concentration (专注).

　　After weeks of this, there came a day when, quite suddenly, as it seemed to her, the printed characters took on a meaning. There were still many words, even in the first page of that simple book, she could not understand; but she could jump those and make sense of the whole.“I'm reading! I'm reading!” she cried aloud.“Oh, Mother! Oh, Edmund! I'm reading!”

1．Laura's father didn't want his children to go to school at Lark Rise because ________.

[　　]

A．it was too far away

B．they couldn't learn enough

C．their hair would become dirty

D．they would ruin their clothes

2．The children's father decided to teach them to read and write so that they ________.

[　　]

A．had an excuse not to have to move

B．had a reason for not attending school

C．could write to the School Attendance Office

D．would be educated before they left the village

3．The underlined part “left at the c-a-t s-I-t-s on the m-a-t's stage”means that ________.

[　　]

A．Laura was working hard and learning quickly

B．her father had no time to teach her

C．her mother was too busy to attend to her

D．Laura knew little about how to read and write

4．From the passage we can infer that ________ made Laura stare at a page in her book.

[　　]

A．her lack of concentration

B．her inability to understand

C．her need to understand Hebrew

D．her determination to understand

5．Laura finally discovered she could read when she ________.

[　　]

A．understood the main idea

B．understood all the words in her book

C．recognized the printed characters

D．jumped the first pages of her book

阅读理解

　　According to the recent survey, only a quarter of American children walk or bike to school. Even pupils who live within a mile of school get there in a car. At a school in Atlanta, so many parents drive their children to school. The school has to give each car rider an ID number so they can find their own cars out of hundreds waiting in line.

　　Health officials are worried because the lack of exercise may worsen the country's growing problem of childhood obesity. The number of overweight teens has tripled (三倍) since 1980. At the same time, diabetes (糖尿病), once unheard of in children, is increasing greatly among them.

　　When asked their reasons for not sending their children to school on foot, parents agree that distance, traffic, weather and crime (犯罪) are their top concerns. The mother of a 10-year-old girl said that even though the trip was less than a mile, she was afraid to let her child walk to school.“You hear too many things about kids getting picked up,”she said.

　　Getting more children to walk or bike to school should be a national health goal, some health officials say. A goal has been set to get at least 50 percent of children who live less than a mile from school walking or cycling to school by 2010．

1．Most of American children go to school ________.

[　　]

2．The mother of a 10-year-old girl didn't let her daughter walk to school because ________.

[　　]

A．her daughter was too young to cover such a long walk

B．there were too many cars in the USA

C．she cared more about the safety of her daughter

D．her daughter was once picked up in the street

3．Which of the following is NOT the parents'top concerns?

[　　]

4．The author took a school in Atlanta for example to show ________.

[　　]

A．there are too many cars waiting for school children

B．the school is very kind to school children

C．school children have a bad memory

D．ID number is very useful in telling the difference between cars

5．The main cause of American childhood obesity probably lies in ________.

[　　]

阅读理解

　　In 1945, there was a young boy of 14 in a concentration camp (集中营). He was tall, thin but had a bright smile. One day, a young girl came by the other side of the fence. She noticed the boy and asked him if he spoke Polish, and he said yes. She said he'd looked hungry, and he said he was. She then reached in her pocket and gave him her apple. He thanked her and she went on her way. The next day, she came by again, bringing with her another apple which she gave him. Each day, she walked by the outside of the fence, hoping to see him, and when she did, she happily handed him an apple in exchange for conversation (对话).

　　One day, he told her not to come by any more. He told her he was being shipped to another concentration camp. As he walked away with tears streaming down his face, he wondered if he'd ever see her again. She was the only kind person he'd seen across the fence.

　　He made it out of the concentration camp, and moved to America. In 1957, his friends had fixed him up on a blind date. He had no idea who the woman was. He picked her up, and during the dinner began talking of Poland and the concentration camp. She said she was in Poland at that time. She said she used to talk to a boy and gave him an apple daily. He asked if this boy was tall, skinny and if he had told her that she shouldn't come back because he was leaving. She said yes.

　　It was her, the young girl who came by every day to give him apples. After 12 years, after the war and in another country, they met again. What are the odds (概率)? He proposed (求婚) to her on that very night and told her he'd never again let her go. They are still happily married today.

　　Miracles (奇迹) do happen, and there is a greater force at work in our lives.

1．Which of the following words can be used to describe (描述) the young girl?

[　　]

2．Every day the girl walked by the outside of the fence to ________.

[　　]

A．see what was happening in the concentration camp

B．advise the boy to escape from the concentration camp

C．have a talk with the boy

D．sell an apple to the poor boy

3．When the boy learned that he was being shipped to another concentration camp, ________.

[　　]

A．he knew he would live a happy life

B．he agreed to meet the girl in the USA

C．he didn't know whether he had the chance to meet the girl again

D．he worried about how he could get an apple each day in future

4．The best title for the passage would be ________.

[　　]

5．In 1957 he picked up the woman ________.

[　　]

A．to thank her for what she has done in Poland

B．to find out the girl he had been eager to see

C．because he worked as a driver

D．because his friends had asked him to make a date with her

阅读理解

　　Do you have bright ideas? Ideas or inventions that change society or, at least, make life easier for somebody? Perhaps we all do sometimes, but we don't often make the idea a reality. Recently, in Britain, there was a competition called British Designers for Tomorrow. The competition encourages young people to carry out their bright ideas. There were two groups in the contest: Group One was for schoolchildren under 16; Group Two was for schoolchildren over 16． And there were eleven prizewinners altogether.

　　Neil Hunt, one of the prize-inners, was called “Sunshine Superman (超人)”. It's important when people study the weather to be able to record sunshine accurately. We need to know how many hours of sunshine we have and how strong it is. Most sunshine recorders only record direct sunlight. Neil's is more accurate (精确的) and this is very important for research into the way of using solar (太阳的) power.

　　You can do so much with animated cartoon. Look at Simon West's idea for animated road signs. He uses pictures which appear to move as you go nearer to or farther from them. This isn't a new idea. But it is new to use these pictures on road signs. “We found that people were more likely to see moving signs,” said Simon. So now, you can really see rocks falling, trains moving, horses running or a car falling over the edge of a cliff (悬崖). Quite a warning!

　　The ideas in the competition were so inventive that we are surprised that British industry doesn't ask more schoolchildren for suggestions. Perhaps this will be the start of “pupil power”!

1．The writer holds that people seldom ________.

[　　]

A．have bright ideas

B．turn their bright ideas into reality

C．make their life easier

D．think of inventing something

2．The organizers of the competition hoped the schoolchildren who took part in it would ________.

[　　]

A．become good designers for future Britain

B．invent something for immediate use

C．design something useful for the next day

D．win as many prizes as they could

3．Neil Hunt's design would finally lead to the improvement of the way of ________.

[　　]

A．recording direct sunshine

B．recording the hours of sunshine

C．using the energy of the sun

D．knowing how strong sunlight is

4．What's the use of Simon West's animated road signs?

[　　]

A．To warn people to be careful while working.

B．To warn people on the roads of the danger ahead.

C．To add to the beauty of a city.

D．To help make a car trip more exciting.

5．The writer seems to be encouraging the British industry to ________.

[　　]

A．take better care of schoolchildren

B．help schoolchildren in their studies

C．stop asking school children for suggestions

D．pay more attention to schoolchildren's inventive power