L'HAY-LES-ROSES, France：Three teenage girls admitted starting a fire in a suburban Paris housing project over the weekend that killed 17 people, including three children, police said yesterday．A fourth girl was held yesterday morning．
The fire in a 19-storey building south of Paris was the third fatal blaze in the Paris area in nine days．The death toll rose to 16 after a man died late Sunday in a hospital, where seven others were being treated for serious injuries, police said．
Three teenagers taken in for questioning on Sunday admitted having started the fire for fun, police said．Two of the suspects were 18-year-old, the other was 16, police said．Further details were not available．
Witnesses claimed to have seen a group of youths who lived in the building start the fire, said Patrick Seve, mayor of the town of L'HAY-LES-ROSES, near Orly airport, where the building was located．
The fire is believed to have broken out in the lobby(门厅)of the building before raging up a stairwell at least three floors．Some residents jumped from windows as the fire spread through the building's entrance．
Authorities were investigating possible criminals in an August 26 fire that killed 14 African children and three adults in a Paris apartment building．Three days later, another fire killed seven in a building．
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy suggested on French television on Sunday night that copycats(盲目模仿者)were at work．“Each time there is a new story, sometimes that gives ideas to people who then turn into criminals,”Sarkozy said, promising severe punishment for anyone found guilty of arson(纵火)．
(1)
What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
[ ]
A．
Three girls were caught setting fire to a building．
B．
The fourth girl wasn't present when the fire broke out．
C．
All the people lost their lives before police came．
D．
Paris was troubled by fire during that period．
(2)
Why did the teenagers start the fire?
[ ]
A．
They were interested in playing with fire．
B．
They wanted to make fun of their parents．
C．
They were not satisfied with the surroundings．
D．
They wanted to warm themselves．
(3)
From the fourth and fifth paragraphs we know that ________．
[ ]
A．
the witnesses must have put out the fire
B．
the lobby of the building was covered with wood．
C．
the witnesses were familiar with the teenagers
D．
the residents shouldn't have jumped from windows
(4)
What the Minister said in the last paragraph means that ________．
[ ]
A．
he doesn't like to listen to new stories
B．
he has no time to write new stories
C．
teenagers often have ideas to turn into criminals
D．
teenagers may do the same as others have done
阅读理解
A few years ago, Paul Gerner began to gather a group of architects in Las Vegas to ask them what it would take to design a public school that used 50 percent less energy, cost much less to build and obviously improved student learning．“I think half of them fell off their chairs,”Gerner says．
Gerner manages school facilities(设施)for Clark County, Nevada．By 2018, 143,000 additional students will enter the already crowded public-education system．Gerner needs 73 new schools to house them．Four architecture teams have nearly finished designing primary school prototypes(样品); they plan to construct their schools in 2009．The district will then assess how well the schools perform, and three winners will copy those designs in 50 to 70 new buildings．
Green schools are appearing all over, but in Clark County, which stands out for its vastness, such aggressive targets are difficult because deign requirements like more natural light for students go against the realities of a desert climate．“One of the biggest challenges is getting the right site orientation(朝向),”Mark McGinty, a director at SH Architecture, says．His firm recently completed a high school in Las Vegas．“You have the same building, same set of windows, but if its orientation is incorrect and it faces the sun, it will be really expensive to cool．”
Surprisingly, the man responsible for one of the most progressive green-design competitions has doubts about ideas of eco-friendly buildings．“I don't believe in the new green religion,”Gerner says．“Some of the building technologies that you get are impractical．I'm interested in that work．”But he wouldn't mind if some green features inspire students．He says he hopes to set up green energy systems that allow them to learn about the process of harvesting wind and solar power．“You never know what's going to start the interest of a child to study math and science,”he says．
(1)
How did the architects react to Gerner's design requirements?
[ ]
A．
They burst into cheers．
B．
They expressed little interest．
C．
They showed strong disbelief．
D．
They lost balance in excitement．
(2)
Which order of steps is followed in carrying out the project?
[ ]
A．
Design－Assessment－Prototype－Construction．
B．
Design－Prototype－Assessment－Construction．
C．
Assessment－Prototype－Design－Construction．
D．
Assessment－Design－Prototype－Construction．
(3)
What makes it difficult to build green schools in Clark County?
[ ]
A．
The large size．
B．
Limited facilities．
C．
The desert climate．
D．
Poor natural resources．
(4)
What dose Gerner think of the ideas of green schools?
[ ]
A．
They are practical．
B．
They are out of date．
C．
They are advanced．
D．
They are questionable．
阅读理解
Is the woman pictured on the right more attractive than the woman on the left?
The photograph on the right was changed using a new“beauty making”computer program, which uses a mathematical formula(公式)involving 234 measurements of distances between facial features to get a theoretically more attractive version, while keeping the basic appearance of the face unchanged．Unlike changes done in fashion magazine photos, wrinkles were not smoothed and hair color was not changed．
The program is the latest attempt to combine beauty and science, a subject that has drawn increasing academic interest in the last decade．
Studies have shown there is surprising agreement among people of different cultures about what makes a face attractive．Most important is symmetry(匀称), along with youthfulness, skin smoothness and vivid eyes and hair color．Yet, like the many other scientific or mathematical attempts to define beauty, this software program raises difficult questions about the understanding of beauty．
“How can they prove something is more or less beautiful?”said Lois Banner, a history professor at Chicago University, who studies changing beauty standards．“There can never be a single standard of beauty because so much of it is culturally influenced．”
After viewing“before”and“after”photographs of different people, Banner said the original faces were more attractive．“Attempts to measure beauty are driven by the media's efforts to define beauty and who is beautiful”, said Banner
Martina Eckstut, the woman whose photo was beautified for this article, said she was struck by how different she looked．“I think the”after“picture looks great, but it doesn't really look like me at all．”She added,“I would like to keep my original face．”
For centuries people have tried to define a universal ideal of beauty．“The first reaction we have to faces will be based on face symmetry．”said Alexander Nehamas, a professor who has written about beauty．“But in real life we don't just see a face．We see faces as people express their emotions and ideas, and all those aspects of the face are essential to our deciding whether a face or a person is beautiful．”
(1)
How does the program work to beautify a face?
[ ]
A．
It digitally repairs some obvious facial faults．
B．
It replaces the original face with a similar one．
C．
It changes the distances between facial features．
D．
It smoothes the skin and softens the color of the hair．
(2)
Banner believes that ________．
[ ]
A．
there is no such thing as beauty in the world
B．
efforts to develop a beauty measure should be encouraged
C．
the media is to blame for the failure to agree on beauty standards
D．
it is impossible to show that one thing is more beautiful than another
(3)
When seeing the“after”picture, Martina Eckstut was ________．
[ ]
A．
pleasantly surprised but thought she could look even better
B．
eager to get her face changed although it didn't look like her at all
C．
confused by how different she looked and had no idea what to do
D．
amazed by the attractiveness but preferred not to have a different face
(4)
The purpose of the passage is to ________．
[ ]
A．
tell readers a lady's story of becoming more beautiful
B．
introduce a beauty program and a discussion about beauty
C．
discuss what can be done to make a person beautiful
D．
show disagreement to the attempts to create artificial beauty
阅读理解
Rail passengers are being forced to pay thousands of pounds more in fares as a result of poor advice from the national telephone helpline and individual stations, a consumer organisation reveals today．Research by Which? found that in some cases passengers are being charged almost double the cheapest price because of errors made by staff．
Which? asked 25 questions of both station staff and the National Rail Enquiries(NRES)helpline．Only half of the 50 questions were answered correctly．If customers had followed all the advice given, they would have been ￡1,263.60 worse off．
Bad advice was given for the cheapest fare for a single journey between London and Grantham．For a ticket bought on the day of travel, both NRES and a King's Cross station clerk quoted ￡44.50 fare, ignoring a Hull Trains service which leaves 10 minutes earlier and costs just ￡20．
Some of the most costly misinformation was given for journeys where season tickets should have been recommended．Passengers making a return journey between Swindon and Penzance twice in a week could buy a ticket from one company for ￡70 which would cover all the travel．But both NRES and station staff quoted ￡67 for each journey, making ￡134．However, the NRES website proved to be a much more reliable source of information．
Which? also checked“the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket”claims by five companies and found this was not always the case．On some services, prices went up and down at random．
Ithiel Mogridge, 52, gave one example of poor advice：“Last Christmas I found my brother a ticket on the trainline．com to travel from Blackburn to Yate．While the direct route was ￡51, this one involved a change in Newport and cost just ￡21．I emailed the details to him and his partner．They went to Blackburn station, where the clerk insisted the fare was ￡51．”
Malcolm Coles, editor of which．co．uk, said：“Staff training needs to be improved．In the meantime, we've designed a checklist, available at which.co.uk/railadvice．”
(1)
According to the passage,“Which?”is a ________．
[ ]
A．
tional telephone helpline
B．
nsumer organisation
C．
partment under the British Rail
D．
bsite under the National Rail Enquiries
(2)
hen the author said that customers“would have been ￡1,263.60 worse off”, he was telling us that customers would have _______．
[ ]
A．
spent ￡1,263.60 more than the lowest price
B．
used ￡1,263.60 for the survey of 25 questions
C．
saved ￡1,263.60 if they had followed the advice
D．
paid ￡1,263.60 for the poor advice
(3)
The phrase“at random”in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“________”
[ ]
A．
exactly
B．
purposefully
C．
casually
D．
reasonably
(4)
The passage is mainly concerned with the phenomenon that ________．
[ ]
A．
train passengers get bad advice on fares
B．
rail passengers are ill-treated by station staff
C．
rail passengers can get cheaper tickets if they book earlier
D．
booking clerks and the telephone helpline offer reliable information
阅读理解
Years ago, when I started looking for my first job, wise advisers said,“Barbara, be enthusiastic! Enthusiasm will take you further than any amount of experience．”How right they were!
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm,”wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson．It is the paste that helps you hang on there when the going gets tough．It is the inner voice that whispers,“I can do it!”when others shout,“No, you can't!”It took years and years for the early work of Barbara McClintock, a geneticist(遗传学家)who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted．Yet she didn't let up on her experiments．Work was such a deep pleasure for her that she never thought of stopping．
We are all born with wide-eyed, enthusiastic wonder and it is this childlike wonder that gives enthusiastic people such youthful air, whatever their age．At 90, cellist(大提琴家)Pablo Casals would start his day by playing Bach．As the music flowed through his fingers, his bent shoulders would straighten and joy would reappear in his eyes．As author and poet Samuel once wrote,“Years make the skin old, but to give up enthusiasm makes the soul old．”
Enthusiastic people also love what they do, regardless of money, title or power．Patricia Mcllrath, retired director of the Missouri Repertory Theater in Kansas City, was once asked where she got her enthusiasm．She replied,“My father, a lawyer, long ago told me, I never made a penny until I stopped working for money．”
If we cannot do what we love as a full time career, we can do it as a hobby．Elizabeth Layton of Wellsville, Kan, was 68 before she began to draw．This activity ended her sadness that had troubled her for at least 30 years, and the quality of her work led one critic to say,“I am persuaded to call Layton a genius．”
We can't afford to waste tears on“might-have-beens”．We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after“what-can-be”．We need to live each moment whole-heartedly, with all our senses－finding pleasure in the sweet smell of a backyard garden, the simple picture of a six-year-old, and the beauty of a rainbow．
(1)
The passage mainly shows us ________．
[ ]
A．
enthusiasm is the basic element of everything
B．
enthusiasm makes us experience more life
C．
enthusiasm helps us to succeed to a greater degree
D．
enthusiasm as well as other qualities leads to success
(2)
From the example of the Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock, we may find ________．
[ ]
A．
enthusiasm can encourage us in difficult times
B．
enthusiastic people are happy when working
C．
you are sure to succeed if you are enthusiastic
D．
you can't make any achievement if you have no enthusiasm
(3)
The underlined sentence“I never made a penny until I stopped working for money．”in Paragraph Four refers to“________”．
[ ]
A．
I believe that my work will be rewarded
B．
I wouldn't work unless I could make money
C．
Working for money is what I love to do
D．
Working for money makes no money at all
(4)
The main idea of the last paragraph is ________．
[ ]
A．
we should stay in our garden and enjoy our life
B．
we should try heart and soul to win what we want
C．
enthusiasm with sweat is what we need
D．
enthusiasm can give us pleasure, though we have to sweat
阅读理解
BUKHANNON, West Virginia－Two rescue teams slowly moved along a two-mile path on Monday night to the site of a coal mine explosion that trapped 13 miners, who had not been heard from since the early morning accident．
Meanwhile, at a nearby church, more than 250 family members and friends gathered, waiting for updates on the rescuers' progress．
The miners were trapped at about 6∶30 and many families weren't informed of the accident until about 10 a．m-more than three hours after it happened．“It's very upsetting, but you've got to be patient, I guess,”said John Helms, whose brother, Terry, was trapped in the mine．
The trapped miners were about 260 feet underground and about 10,000 feet from the Sago Mine's entrance, said Roger Nicholson, general counsel from International Coal Group．
At a late night news conference, Nicholson said one team had advanced about 4, 800 feet in the four hours since entering the mine just before 6 p.m．Another team entered the mine about 30 minutes later．
He said the crew was very experienced, with some members having worked underground for 30 to 35 years．The miners were equipped with about one hour of breathable oxygen each．The company has not released the names of the miners．
The teams test the air about every 500 feet, and have to disconnect the power to the phones they use to communicate with the surface before doing that．“We don't want to be energizing anything if it's in an atmosphere with burnable gases,”Kips said．
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known．High levels of carbon monoxide were detected(发现)shortly after the explosion, which delayed rescue efforts, but those levels have since subsided(减退), authorities said．
(1)
According to the passage, we can infer that ________．
[ ]
A．
the rescue started as soon as the accident happened
B．
communication with the trapped miners was cut off
C．
the two rescue teams entered the mine at the same time
D．
all the miners who were trapped underground were still alive
(2)
If the first team advanced at an average speed, they could dig about _______ per hour．
[ ]
A．
1,000 feet
B．
1,200 feet
C．
2,400 feet
D．
4,800 feet
(3)
Where can the passage be seen?
[ ]
A．
In a magazine．
B．
In a science book．
C．
In a newspaper．
D．
On an advertisement．
(4)
Which of the following shows the position where the miners were trapped?_______
阅读理解
You just think you know what will make you happy．Researchers in the new science of happiness know better．They have evidence that married people on average end up being no happier than they were before the wedding．Winning the lottery will probably reduce your pleasure in ordinary events that used to make you happy．And being in good health isn't as much of a factor as the right genes when it comes to satisfaction．
A couple of years ago, Seligman and Diener studied 222 Illinois college students to find out what the happiest 10％ had in common．It turned out they were extroverts(性格外向), had more friendships and romantic relationships, but didn't exercise more and didn't feel they had more good events in their lives than those who weren't as happy．
Some of the results come as a surprise．A classic study of lottery winners and people with spinal cord(脊髓)injuries, for instance, found that neither event changed their lives as much as observers thought they would．
Gilbert is looking into how accurately people predict what will make them happy．It turns out, not accurately at all, what we think will bring us pleasure---a new car, the home teaming winning the NCAA championship, a move to California-usually doesn't bring us as much as we expected, and the positive impact doesn't last as long．The good news is that we also overestimate the impact of catastrophic events．
Even with data from research pouring in, scientists still don't have an easy answer to what we all want to know：How do I get long-term life satisfaction? The answers they do have are often the same ones that philosophers and priests have been giving us for centuries．It's just nice to have them backed up with hard data．
(1)
The topic discussed in the passage is ________．
[ ]
A．
a research on happiness
B．
the level of happiness
C．
the secrets of happiness
D．
the prediction of happiness
(2)
The most important factor of happiness lies in ________．
[ ]
A．
the proper genes
B．
health
C．
marriage
D．
unexpected money
(3)
The happiest people have the following characters except that ________．
[ ]
A．
they are rich
B．
they are outgoing
C．
they are very sociable
D．
they don't pay more attention to exercise
(4)
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
[ ]
A．
We ourselves know what makes us happy the best．
B．
The happiest 10％ in the world have nothing in common．
C．
People can predict the things that make them happy accurately．
D．
We just need to do what the philosophers and priests tell us to keep happy．
阅读理解
New Annotated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Price：￡28.00
Publication Date：30/11/2006
Publisher's description
Collects Doyle's fifty-six classic short stories, arranged in the order in which they appeared in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century book editions, in a set complemented by four novels, editor biographies(传记)of Doyle, Holmes, and Watson as well as literary and cultural details about Victorian society．
Breaking Ground by Daniel Libeskind
Price：￡16.00
Publication Date：11/10/2006
Brief introduction
This is a book about the adventure life that can offer each of us if we seize it, and about the powerful forces of tragedy, memory and hope．For Daniel Libeskind, life's adventure has been through architecture, which he has found has the power to reshape human experience．Although often relating to the past, his buildings are about the future．This memoir(自传)of one man's journey brings together history, personal experience, our physical environment and a fresh international vision．
In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman
Price：￡16.00
Publication Date：02/09/2006
Brief introduction
On 11th September 2001, Art Spiegelman raced to the World Trade Center, not knowing if his daughter Nadja was alive or dead．Once she was found safe-in her school at the foot of the burning towers-he returned home, to meditate(反省)on the trauma(创伤), and to work on a comic strip(连环漫画)．In the Shadow of No Towers is New Yorker Art Spiegelman's extraordinary account of“the hijacking on 9.11 and the following hijacking of those events”by America．
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
Price：￡14.00
Publication Date：07/10/2006
Publisher's description
This is the 11th novel by Anita Shreve, the critically accepted bestseller．A moving story of love and courage and tragedy and of the ways in which the human heart always seeks to heal itself．
(1)
Who is the writer of the book latest published among the four books?
[ ]
A．
Arthur Conan Doyle．
B．
Daniel Libeskind．
C．
Art Spiegelman．
D．
Anita Shreve．
(2)
If one would like to know something about cultural details about Victorian society, he or she may read ________．
[ ]
A．
Light on Snow
B．
In the Shadow of No Towers
C．
Breaking Ground
D．
New Annotated Sherlock Holmes
(3)
Of the four books listed above, there are two referring to tragedies．They are ________．
[ ]
A．
Light on Snow ＆ Breaking Ground
B．
In the Shadow of No Towers ＆ Breaking Ground
C．
Light on Snow ＆ In the Shadow of No Towers
D．
New Annotated Sherlock Holmes ＆ In the Shadow of No Towers
阅读理解
The saying that children don't like reading any more has been proved untrue．A new study finds that 75 percent of kids between 5 and 17 say that although they love technology, they still want to read books．
“The kids ＆ Family Reading Report”also says that 62 percent of kids prefer reading printed books rather than those on a computer．At the same time, those who search an author's website or use the Internet to find books by a particular author, are more likely to read books for fun every day．
The study also once again proves that the time kids spend reading books for fun decreases after the age of eight and continues to drop through the teen years．The report is a follow-up to a 2006 study．But this time the focus is on the role of technology and when kids' interest in reading starts to drop．
“Despite the fact that after the age of eight more children go online daily than read for fun daily, high frequency Internet users are more likely to read books for fun every day．”says Heather Carter, a writer of the report．
One in four kids between 5 and 17 say they read books for fun every day and more than half of kids say they read books for fun at least two to three times a week．One of the key reasons kids say why they don't read more often is that they have trouble finding books they like－a requirement that parents underestimate．
The study also finds that parents have a strong influence on kids' reading, but only about half of all parents begin reading to their kids before their first birthday．The percent of children who are read to every day drops from 38 percent among five-to-eight-year-olds to 23 percent among nine-to-11-year-olds－exactly the same time that kids' daily reading for fun starts to drop．
“Parents' engagement in their children's reading from birth all the way through the teen years can have a great influence on how often their children read and how much they enjoy reading”, adds Carter．
(1)
According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
[ ]
A．
75 percent of kids like surfing the Internet．
B．
Most kids are more likely to read e-books for fun every day．
C．
More children like to go online instead of reading books．
D．
Most kids like reading books as well as technology．
(2)
It can be inferred from the passage that ________．
[ ]
A．
nowadays all the kids still like to read books
B．
most parents begin reading to their kids from their birth
C．
some kids like to get some information using the Internet
D．
the study of kids' reading has been made before
(3)
Parents should ________．
[ ]
A．
begin to read books to kids from the age of 8
B．
read more books to kids as early as possible
C．
help to prevent the decrease of kids' reading
D．
encourage their kids to read at the age of 11
(4)
What does the underlined word“underestimate”mean?
[ ]
A．
evaluate
B．
ignore
C．
undervalue
D．
request
(5)
What's the best title of the passage?
[ ]
A．
Do kids still like reading
B．
Kids' interest in reading drops
C．
New technology on kids' reading
D．
Parents' influence on kids' reading
阅读理解
One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about inventions．The grandson asked his grandfather about the computer age and other inventions．
The grandpa replied,“Well, let me think for a minute…I was born before television, penicillin, frozen foods, Xerox machines, contact lenses and Frisbees．There was no radar, credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens．
Man had not invented air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man hadn't yet walked on the moon．
Time-sharing meant a time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends－not purchasing condominiums．We had never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, or guys wearing earrings．”
If you saw anything with ‘Made in Japan'－or any other countries on it, it was junk．The term ‘making out' referred to how you did on your school exam．Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of．
In my day, ‘coke' was a general cold drink(not the name of Coca Cola); ‘pot' was something your mother cooked in(not a drug), and ‘rock music' was your grandmother's lullaby(摇篮曲)(not a kind of popular music)．‘Aids' were helpers in the high official's office(not a deadly disease);‘chip' meant a piece of wood(not a part of a computer);‘hardware' was found in a hardware(五金器具)store, and ‘software' wasn't even a word．And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby．
No wonder people call us old and think we are confused and say there is a generation gap, and how old do you think I am?
This man would be only 59 years old．
(1)
Which of the following statements suits the writer's opinion?
[ ]
A．
There are too many inventions in the world．
B．
Old people always don't keep up with the society．
C．
The world is changing too fast．
D．
New generation never understands the old．
(2)
It can be inferred from the passage that ________．
[ ]
A．
the young generation looked down upon the old
B．
the old contributed much to the inventions
C．
new inventions usually benefit the young greatly
D．
it is difficult for the old to accept all the changes
(3)
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
[ ]
A．
The grandfather believed that it was reasonable that guys wore earrings．
B．
In the grandfather's opinion, new inventions brought great convenience to human beings．
C．
The grandfather thought there was a better family relationship at his time．
D．
the grandfather thought so many new inventions usually made old people feel stupid．
(4)
What's the grandfather's attitude towards so many changes?
