Department stores sell ready- to-wear clothing, which is also called ready-made clothing. Such clothing is made in fixed sizes. Those people who find that ready-made clothing fits them well can save money by buying it. Most often, people do not fit exactly into a producer’s size. Their clothing must be altered to make it fit better. However, most alterations are not very expensive. The small cost of most alterations means that ready-made clothing can meet the needs of most customers.
Those who can afford it often get someone to design and make their clothing. Such clothing is called custom-made. The person who makes it measures the customer, and then sews it so that it fits perfectly. Alterations are not needed. Custom-made clothing is largely sewn by hand, has better quality, better material, and is of the style you have chosen. Of course, it costs much more than ready-to-wear clothing. You need to pay the difference for the special fitting and better skill that you are receiving. This often means that you spend double or more than you would for a ready-made garment.
Custom-made clothing is not always that much better than ready-made clothing. It costs more partly because only one garment has been made, just for you. Companies that produce ready-made products make thousands of garments at a time. This means they can buy large quantities of material. Workers cut each size by the hundreds. Companies work out ways to make the garments quickly by machine and pay workers according to their skill. Thus they can sell the finished products at a low price while still making money. Most of the clothing sold in the United States is made in this way. Customers gain from the lower prices which are made possible by mass production. It may or may not give them high quality.
【小题1】 According to the passage, people who buy ready-made clothing ______.

Electric cars will not be really much cleaner than autos powered by mineral fuels until they rely less on electricity produced from usual coal-fired power plants.
“For electric vehicles to become a major green alternative, the power fuel has to move away from
coal, or cleaner coal technologies have to be developed,” said Jared Cohon, the chairman of a National
Research Council report released on Monday. About half of US power is produced by
burning coal, which gives off many times more of traditional pollutants than natural gas, and about
twice as much of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Nuclear and renewable power have to
generate a larger portion of US power for electric cars to become much greener compared to
gasoline-powered cars, Cohan, who is president of Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview.
Advances in coal burning, like capturing carbon at power plants for permanent burial underground,
could also help electric cars become a cleaner alternative to vehicles powered by fossil fuels, he said.
Pollution from energy sources did $120 billion worth of damage to human health, agriculture and
recreation in 2008, and electricity was responsible for more than half of the damage, said the NRC
report.
Electric cars have their benefits such as reducing imports of foreign oil. But they also have hidden
costs. Materials in electric car batteries are hard to produce, which adds to the energy it takes to make
them. In fact, the health and environmental costs of making electric cars can be 20 percent greater
than usual cars, the report said.
The report estimated that electric cars could still cost more than gas-powered cars to operate and
manufacture in 2030 unless US power production becomes cleaner.
1. Why are electric cars not clean enough?
A. Because they run too slowly              B. Because they are too expensive
C. Because they rely on coal-fired power.      D. Because they give off more carbon dioxide.
2. We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. electric cars will soon take the place of gas-powered cars
B. no one holds hope for electric cars at present
C. electric cars waste more energy than before
D. some people believe that electric cars are cleaner
3. The underlined word “them” refers to “______”.
A. electric cars     B. batteries       C. producers        D. materials
4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a way to make electric cars cleaner?
A. Developing cleaner coal technologies.        B. Making electric cars run faster.
C. Generating more unclear power.             D. Making advances in coal burning.

The rat is named Lola and she’s at the top of her class of risk-running animals being trained to smell out landmines (地雷) in Colombia, home to the world’s highest number of mine-related deaths and injuries last year. Of the victims, many are children who died in the accidents while walking to school or playing in the countryside.

The smartest rat among the first six that the government is teaching to locate landmines equipment planted by rebels(叛乱者) has a 90 percent success rate in locating landmines material in her lab training.

Police animal trainers, tired of seeing their landmines-smelling dogs blown up by stepping on mines, hope the white-furred, pink-eyed creature will lead her classmates through coming open field tests and then into the country mine fields before the end of the year. It takes about 400 grams of pressure to detonate (引爆) a mine while Lola only weighs about 220 grams. “The dogs can easily set off the landmines, sometimes killing people nearby,” they said.

Police animal trainer Jose Pineda says that rats have more sensitive noses than dogs, which should allow them to better smell out mines in difficult terrain (地形).

Plus, it takes the police about six months to train mine-smelling dogs. Training the rats is expected to take about half that time once the program is established.

Trainers think that they are much smarter than the dogs. The second-best scorer in the laboratory is Lucrecia, with an 83 percent success rate. Males, such as one named   Runcho, have fallen behind until now but may do better in the coming field tests. Pineda said that the next step of training will present new challenges to the rats as they are sure to meet distractions (分心的事) in the open.

1.What do the underlined words “the accidents” in the first paragraph mean?

A. Children were shot while playing outside.

B. A buried landmine was walked on and set off.

C. A rebel blew up a landmine and killed children.

D. Children got hurt in traffic accidents on the way to school.

2.Which of the following is NOT a reason why rats are chosen to find buried landmines?

A. They have a good sense of smell.

B. They are too light to set off buried landmines.

C. They can smell all kinds of explosive materials.

D. They cost people less time in terms of training

3.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. Rats will perform as well in the open air as in the lab.

B. Until now, female rats are better than the male ones.

C. Trainers should have chosen only female rats for the program.

D. Because they are foolish, dogs are not preferred for the program.

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Dogs Bring Peace to the People in Colombia

B. Colombia Develops a New Way to Reduce Deaths

C. Buried Landmines are a Great Danger to Colombians

D. Colombian Police Train Rats to Sniff Out Landmines

.

阅读下面短文, 并回答问题。（每小题2分）

　　   This is really a very fast game, the fastest I have seen so far this year. Both sides are fighting for the ball all the time. The crowd love every minute of it. They are shouting at the top of their voices.

　　 Willis has the ball now. This is only his third game for Scotland, but

he            that it won’t be his last, I’m quite sure.

　　   Willis passes the ball to Cotton. Cotton kicks it over the heads of the waiting Frenchmen, towards the goalmouth. But he’s too far away, Dupond picks it up easily, and throws it to Patou, out on the left.

　　   France and Scotland still have one goal each, and there are only two minutes left of the game. But during that time, anything can happen. Patou kicks the ball across to Crozat. It’s a beautiful kick, but Steven jumps and just stops the ball with the side of his head. But Meunier is there, he passes to Crozat, and Crozat, without waiting a second, puts the ball into the back of the goal. It takes everybody by surprise. I’ve never seen a goal like it.

71. Why does the crowd enjoy every minute of the game?

_______________________________________________________________________________

72. Why cannot Cotton kick the ball into the goalmouth?

_______________________________________________________________________________

73. Who are in the same team with Crozat?

_______________________________________________________________________________

74. Please fill in the blank in the second paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 5 words.)

_______________________________________________________________________________

75. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph.

_______________________________________________________________________________

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

　　1. It is a new term in today's tourism industry．But in an age of growing environmental awareness, it is not too difficult for us to imagine and understand this new form of holiday．

　　Ecotourism, which is considered as a kind of responsible tourism, is typically defined（定义）as travel to places where special and unusual plants, animals and cultural heritages （遗产） are the main ttractions．  2. Therefore, programs concerning the protection of some natural and cultural spots also form'a part of ecotourism．　　Ecotourism is developing at great speed．According to a recent report by the World Tourism Organization, ecotourism in recent years has enjoyed an annual growth of about 5% worldwide． 3.  They include bird watching, hiking, diving, photography and taking part in various kinds of local cultural events．　　4.  However, it looks like some smaller towns and country areas may well become the new destinations for people to visit tomorrow because they are rich in ecological, cultural and historical resources （资源）．

　　Ecotourism has been gaining increasing recognition and popularity mainly for the relaxing, natural and vivid experience it offers to tourists．People are attracted to nature  and long to be close to it．However, a conflict between nature and human beings is unavoidable． 5.

　　A．The definition of ecotourism is beyond words．

　　B．It takes ecology and culture into consideration．

　　C．You may not be very familiar with "ecotourism"．

　　D．More than 80 activities have been listed for ecotourism．

　　E．People can have great fun enjoying nature through ecotourism．

　　F．Big cities are still the major places that attract tourists in our society today．

　　G．How to protect natural resources while taking advantage of them is of great importance．