阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　If there is no difference in general intelligence (智力) between boys and girls, what can explain girls' poor performance in science and mathematics?

　　It seems to be that their treatment at school is a direct cause. Mathematics and science are seen as subjects mainly for boys, and therefore, as girls become teenagers, they are less likely to take them. Interestingly, both boys and girls often regard the subjects for boys as more difficult. Yet it has been suggested that girls do not take mathematics courses, not because they are difficult, but for social reasons. Girls do not want to be in open competition with boys because they are afraid to appear less feminine (女性的) and attractive.

　　However, if we examine the performance of boys and girls who have taken mathematics courses, there are still more high-achieving boys than there are girls. This difference appears to be world-wide. Biological explanations have been offered for this, but there are other explanations too.

　　Perhaps the difference which comes out during the teenage years has its roots in much earlier experiences. From their first days in kindergarten, boys are encouraged to work on their own and to complete tasks. Facts show that outstanding (杰出的) mathematicians and scientists have not had teachers who supplied answers.

　　Besides, there can be little doubt that teachers of mathematics and science expect their boy students to do better at these subjects than their girl students. They even appear to encourage the difference between boys and girls. They spend more time with the boy students, giving them more time to answer questions and working harder to get correct answers from them. They are more likely to call on boys for answers and to allow them to take the lead in classroom discussion. They also praise boys more frequently. All of this seems to encourage boys to work harder in science and mathematics and to give them confidence(信心) that they are able to succeed.

　　Such a way of teaching is not likely to encourage girls to take many mathematics and science courses, nor is it likely to support girls who do. When it comes to these subjects it seems certain that school widens the difference between boys and girls.

1．Girls are likely to think that ________.

[　　]

A．science courses are for both boys and girls

B．science courses make them more popular

C．science courses make them succeessful

D．science courses are difficult for them

2．The text mainly discusses ________ reasons for the difference between boys and girls in scientific achievements.

[　　]

3．What are boys usually encouraged to do at school?

[　　]

A．To get help with their homework.

B．To play the leading role in class.

C．To work with girl students in class.

D．To learn to take care of others.

4．What does the passage say about great mathematicians?

[　　]

A．Their teachers did not supply answers to them.

B．They started learning mathematics at an earlier age.

C．They showed mathematical abilities in their teenage years.

D．Their success resulted from their strong interest in mathematics.

5．The author would probably agree that ________.

[　　]

A．boys and girls learn in the same way

B．boys and girls are equal in general intelligence

C．girls are more confident in themselves than before

D．girls should take fewer science courses than boys

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Elephants don't forgetat least, female(雌性的) elephants don't. Elephant families are matriarchal. And the social knowledge gained by the oldest females is the key to a family group's survival (生存), according to a study published in April by Karen McComb, a biologist at Sussex University in England.

　　Elephants announce their presence by making a deep, long sound, a practice referred to as contact calling (联络呼叫). An unfamiliar call may mean that an elephant from outside the family group is nearby. A stranger can cause trouble, interrupting feeding or disturbing the young. So an elephant matriarch signals the family to gather around her; then they all lift their trunks in the air to smell the unfamiliar caller. False alarms can disturb the group and take time and energy away from feeding, so survival may depend in part on getting it right.

　　Working with Cynthia Moss, who founded the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya 30 years ago, McComb tested the social knowledge of 21 Amboseli elephant families with matriarchs 27 to 67 years old. She played recordings of contact calls to each family and found that the oldest matriarchs were much better at picking out unfamiliar calls. In fact, a group with a matriarch in her fifties was several thousand times more likely to form into a group upon hearing an unfamiliar contact call than when hearing a familiar call. However, families with younger matriarchs were less than twice as likely to gather together upon hearing an unfamiliar contact call as compared with a familiar call. And they gathered together a lot. Moreover, the social knowledge of older matriarchs translated into favourable results: Families with older matriarchs produced more baby elephants in each female-reproductive year.

　　This finding shows how difficult it is to protect the oldest members of elephant families. As elephants age, they continue to grow larger, as do their much wanted tusks (象牙). So the olderand wisera matriarch is, the greater the chance she will be killed. About 800,000 elephants have been killed by people in the past 20 years.

1．What does the underlined word “matriarch” mean?

[　　]

A．An old member of an elephant family.

B．A female head of an elephant family.

C．A wise elephant.

D．A large elephant.

2．When do elephants form into a group?

[　　]

A．When they are feeding the young.

B．When they see a familiar elephant.

C．When they are giving birth to baby elephants.

D．When the leading elephant gives out a warning.

3．The research with recordings of contact calls shows ________.

[　　]

A．how fast elephants form into groups

B．how important the age of a leading elephant is

C．how frightened elephants are when hearing a strange call

D．how frequently old elephants call other members of the family

4．The older a female elephant is, ________.

[　　]

A．the stronger she will be

B．the poorer memory she will have

C．the more useless her tusks will be

D．the more likely she will be killed

5．We can infer from the passage that elephants may ________.

[　　]

A．run into other elephant families

B．give wrong warnings to their mothers

C．run away upon hearing a strange sound

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　If you dream of going someplace warm to escape the cold winter weather, a trip to a recently discovered planet would certainly warm you right up. The planet, named OGLE-TR-56b, has temperatures of more than. “This is the hottest planet we know about,” says Dr. Dimitar Sasselov, a scientist who led the discovery team. “It is hot enough to have an iron fog and to rain hot iron droplets (细沫).”

　　The new planet is 30 times farther away than any planet discovered by scientists before. It is in the Milky Way (银河) but it is not in our solar (太阳的) system. The new planet moves around a star much like our sun, however. Scientists discovered the planet by using a new planet-searching method, called “transit technique.” They were able to catch sight of the planet when it moved in front of its star, causing the star's light to dim (变暗). Scientists compare the method to discovering the shadow of a bee flying in front of a searchlight 200 miles away. “We believe the door has been opened wide to go and discover planets like Earth,” says Sasselov.

1．We can infer from the passage that ________.

[　　]

A．there is iron on the new planet

B．we could go to the new planet in winter

C．the star could block our view of the new planet

D．scientists are studying the weather on the new planet

2．The “transit technique”can ________.

[　　]

A．help dim the light of a star

B．help scientists with a searchlight

C．help discover a bee on a planet

D．help find a planet moving before its star

3．Which is the best title for the passage?

[　　]

A．New Planet-searching Technique.

B．New Distant Discovery.

C．Space Searching.

D．Dream Planet.

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　In only two decades (ten years) Asian Americans have become the fastest - growing U S. minority. As their children began moving up through the nation's schools, it became clear that a new kind of culture was coming out. Their achievements are made in the nation's best universities, where mathematics, science and engineering departments have taken on a decidedly Asian character. This special liking for mathematics and science is partly explained by the fact that Asian - American students who began their education abroad arrived in the U S. with a solid grounding in mathematics but little or no knowledge of English. They are also influenced by the promise of a good job after college. Asians feel there will be less unfair treatment in areas like mathematics and science because they will be judged more objectively (客观). And the money spent on education is more immediately returned in something like engineering than with an arts degree.

　　Most Asian - American students owe their success to the influence of parents who are determined that their children should take full advantage of what the American educational system has to offer. An effective measure of parental attention is homework. Asian parents spend more time with their children than American parents do, and it helps. Many researchers also believe there is something in Asian culture, such as family value, the importance of education and so on lead to their success.

　　Both explanations for academic success worry Asian Americans because of fears that they could cause the native Americans' unhappiness. Many can remember when Chinese, Japanese and Filipino immigrants (移民) unequally treated because of social separation. Indeed, it was not until 1952 that laws were laid down giving all Asian immigrants the right to citizenship.

1．While making great achievements at college, Asian - American students ________.

[　　]

A．are afraid that their academic successes take on a strong Asian character

B．still worry about unfair treatment in sociey

C．generally feel it a shame to have to depend on their parents

D．feel they are mistreated because of limited knowledge of English

2．From the passage we can know the major factors that determine the success of Asian Americans are ________.

[　　]

A．hard work and intelligence

B．parental help and a limited knowledge of English

C．Asian culture and the American educational system

D．a solid base in basic mathematics and Asian culture

3．Few Asian - American students major in human sciences mainly because ________.

[　　]

A．they are afraid they might meet with unfair judgement in these areas

B．there is a wide difference between Asian and Western cultures

C．they know little about American cultures and Western cultures

D．their English is not good enough

4．Why did Asian Americans prefer something like engineering to an arts degree?

[　　]

A．They couldn't find a job with an arts degree.

B．People with an arts degree were looked down upon.

C．People majoring in engineering were respected.

D．They could earn more money after graduation.

5．Why do the two “explanations” (Line 1, Para. 3) worry Asian Americans?

[　　]

A．People would think that Asian students depend on their parents for success.

B．Asian Americans would be a danger to other minorities.

C．American academic achievements have taken on too strong an Asian character.

D．They are afraid that they would again be separated from American society in general.

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　The U. S. Department of Labor statistics (collection of information shown in numbers) show that there is an oversupply of college - trained workers and that this oversupply is increasing. Already there is an oversupply of teachers, engineers, physicists, aerospace experts, and other specialists. Yet colleges and graduate schools continue every year to turn out highly trained people to compete for jobs that aren't there. The result is that graduates cannot enter the positions for which they were trained and must take jobs, which do not require a college degree.

　　On the other hand, there is a great need for skilled workers of all sorts: carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, and TV repairmen.

　　These people have more work than they can deal with, and their incomes every year are often higher than those of college graduates. The opinion that white - collar workers make a better living than blue - collar workers no longer holds true. The law of supply and demand now favors the skilled workmen.

　　The reason for this situation is the traditional myth that college degree is a passport to a bright future. A large number of people in American society connects success in life with a college degree. Parents begin forcing their children to believe this myth before they are out of grade school. High school teachers play their part by acting as if high school education were a preparation for college rather than for life. Under this pressure the kids fall in line. Whether they want to go to college or not doesn't matter. Everybody should go to college, so of course they must go. And every year college enrollments (注册) go up and up, and more and more graduates are overeducated for the kinds of jobs suited to them.

　　One result of this importance on a college education is that many people go to college who do not belong there. Of the sixty percent of high school graduates who enter college, half of them do not graduate with their class. Many of them drop out within the first year. Some struggle on for two or three years and then give up.

1．From the passage we can know in the past ________.

[　　]

A．white - collar workers made a better living than blue - collar workers

B．blue - collar workers were looked down upon

C．white - collar workers were looked up to

D．blue - collar workers made a better living than white - collar workers

2．The underlined word myth in the fourth passage means ________.

[　　]

3．By saying that “many people go to college who do not belong there”, the writer means that ________.

[　　]

A．many people who do not have enough money go to college

B．many people who go to college drop out within the first year

C．many people who go to college have their hopes destroyed

D．many people who are not fit for college education go to college

4．We can infer from the passage that the writer believes that ________.

[　　]

A．college education is not a help in getting a job

B．people with a college education should receive higher pay

C．fewer people should go to college while more should be trained for skilled jobs

D．every young man and woman should go to college

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　The fitness movement that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s centered around aerobic exercise (有氧操). Millions of people take part in a variety of aerobic activities and gradually thousands of health spasm developed around the country to gain interest in fitness particularly aerobic dancing for females. A number of fitness spasm existed before this aerobic fitness movement, even a national chain with spasm in most major cities. However, their focus (焦点) was not on aerobics but rather on weight-training programs designed to develop muscular mass (肌体) strength and endurance (耐力) in their primarily male enthusiasts. These fitness spasm did not seem to benefit (利益，有益于) financially from the aerobic fitness movement to better health since medical opinion suggested that weight-training programs offered few if any health benefits. In recent years however weight training has again become increasingly popular for males and for females. Many current programs focus not only on developing muscular strength and endurance but on aerobic fitness as well.

　　Historically most physical-fitness tests have usually included measures of muscular strength and endurance not for health-related reasons but primarily because such fitness parts have been related to performance in athletics. However, in recent years facts have shown that training programs designed primarily to improve muscular strength and endurance might also offer some health benefits as well. The American College of Sports Medicine now recommends that weight-training be part of a total fitness program for healthy Americans. Increased participation in such training is one of the specific physical activity and fitness objectives of Healthy People 2000 National Health Promotion. (促进)

1．Early fitness spasm were intended mainly for ________.

[　　]

A．endurance and muscular development

B．the improvement of women's figures

C．better performance in aerobic dancing

D．the promotion of aerobic exercise

2．People were given physical fitness tests in order to find out ________.

[　　]

A．what their health condition was like

B．what kind of fitness center was suitable for them

C．whether they were fit for aerobic exercise

D．how well they could do in athletics

3．Recent studies have suggested that weight - training

[　　]

A．may well affect the health of the trainees

B．will attract mote people in the days to come

C．contributes to health improvement as well

D．has become an important part of people's life

4．The underlined word recommends in the passage is probably closest in meaning to ________.

[　　]

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　Back in the old days, when I was a child, we sat around the family round table at dinner time and exchanged our daily experiences. It wasn't organized, but everyone was recognized and all the news that had to be told was told by each family member.

We listened to each other and the interest was not put on; it was real. Our family was a unit and we supported each other, cared for each other, and liked each other, andwe were even willing to admitwe loved each other.

　　Today, the family roundtable has moved to the local fast - food franchise (特权) and talk is not easy, much less encouraged.

　　The working parent is far too beaten down each day to spend evening relaxation time listening to the sandbox experience of an eager four - year- old child.

　　So family conversation is no longer in existence and parental questions such as “What have you been doing, Bobby?” have been replaced by “I'm busy, go to watch television.”

　　And watch TV as they do?

　　But it's usually not children's television that children watch. Saturday morning, the children's hour, amounts to only about 8 percent of their weekly viewing.

　　But wait! Where are they to be found? Watching adult television, of course, from the Match Game in the morning, to the afternoon at General Hospital, from the muggings and battles on the evening news right through the family hour and past into Starsky and Hutch. That's where you find our kids, over five million of them, at 10 p.m., not fewer than a million until after midnight! Ad of this is done with parental permission.

　　Television, used well, can provide enriching experiences for our young people, but we must use it with some judgement. When the carpet is clean, we turn off the vacuum cleaner. When the dishes are clean, the dishwasher turns itself off.

　　It is not the same with the television, which is on from the sun in the morning to the moon at night and beyond!

　　Parents must exercise some control and interest themselves in the cultural influence on the child when a program not intended for that child is viewed. Parents need to be intervened (干预). Nonintervention may be a popular policy in international affairs, but the results of parental nonintervention will not be welcome at the United Nations or anywhere else.

1．From the first two paragraphs one may infer that the writer's attitude towards “the old days” is ________.

[　　]

2．The working parent is not willing to listen to her (his) four - year- old child talking about his sandbox games because she (he) is ________.

[　　]

3．If we use television with some ________ television can provide our young people with much knowledge.

[　　]

4．What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

[　　]

A．Nonintervention may be a good policy in international affairs.

B．Parents must exercise some control and interest themselves in the cultural influence on the children.

C．Parents have rights to intervene.

D．Parental nonintervention will have a bad effect on international affairs

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　Ask Steveland Morris and he'll tell you that blindness is not necessarily disabing. Steveland was born earlier than the expected time and totally without sight in 1950．He became Stevie Wondercomposer, singer, and pianist. The winner of ten Grammy awards, Stevie is widely admired for his great contributions to the music world.

　　As a child, Stevie learned not to think about the things he could not do, but to fix his attention on the things that he could do. His parents encouraged him to join his sighted brothers in as many activities as possible. They also helped him to sharpen his sense of hearing, the sense upon which the visually disabled are so dependent.

　　Because sound was so important to him, Stevie began at an early age to experiment with different kinds of sound. He would bang things together and then imitate the sound with his voice. Often depending on sound for entertainment, he sang, beat on toy drums, played a toy hamonica, and listened to radio.

　　Stevie soon graduated from toy instruments to real instruments. He first learned to play the drums. He then mastered the harmonica and the piano. He became a member of the junior church choir and a lead singer. In the evenings and on weekends, Stevie would play different instruments and sing popular songs in the front of neighbors' homes.

　　One of Stevie's recordings was overheard by Ronnie White, a member of a popular singing group called The Miracles. Ronnie immediately recognized Stevie's gift and took him to audition (试音) for Berry Gordy, the president of Histville USA, a large recording company now known as Motown. Stevie recorded his first hit “Fingertips” in 1962 at the age of twelve, and the rest of Stevie's story is music history.

1．By saying “Stevie soon graduated from toy instruments to real instruments”, the author means that ________.

[　　]

A．Stevie started to play real instruments

B．Stevie gave up all his toy instruments and began to buy many real instruments

C．Stevie began to study in a real instruments school

D．Stevie finished his study at a toy instrument school

2．To whom did Steveland should owe his success?

[　　]

A．Just Ronnie White.

B．His parents and brothers.

C．His teachers.

D．His parents, brothers and Ronnie White.

3．The best title for this passage might be ________.

[　　]

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳答案。

　　There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored (忽视) spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, vastly different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority (优先) it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is, how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities (错综复杂的事) of spelling.

　　If spelling becomes the only focal point (焦点) of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to “play safe”. He will tend to write only words within his spelling range (范围), choosing not to use adventurous language. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.

　　I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: “This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling mistakes and your writing is hard to recognize.” It may have been a sharp criticism (批评) of the pupil's technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection (反映) on the teacher who had failed to read the composition which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the mistakes, but if his priorities had centred on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more encouragement to seek improvement.

1．The underlined expression “play safe” in paragragh two probably means “________”.

[　　]

A．to write carefully

B．to do as teachers say

C．to use dictionaries frequently

D．not to write words one is not sure of

2．Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that ________.

[　　]

A．they may spend more time teaching writing techniques

B．they may have less trouble in correcting mistakes

C．students will have more confidence in writing

D．students will learn to be independent of teachers

3．The writer seems to think that the teacher's judgement on that sensitive piece of writing is ________.

[　　]

4．This passage suggests ________.

[　　]

A．the importance of developing writing skills

B．the complexities of spelling

C．the correct way of marking compositions

D．the relationship between spelling and the content of a composition

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳答案。

　　BeijingShanghaiLos Angles,

　　San FranciscoNew York

1．A passenger is ready to leave Beijing for New York. What is the flight that he can take? On what day and at what time does it leave?

[　　]

2．How long does the Flight CA982 stop over at Shanghai?

[　　]

3．Where does the Flight CA982 from New York to Beijing stop over?

[　　]

A．Los Angeles, San Francisco, Shanghai.

B．San francisco, Shanghai.

C．Shanghai.

D．San Francsco.

4．At what time and on what day does the Flight CA983 arrive at Los Angeles?

[　　]