It seems that some people go out of their way to get into trouble．That’s more or less what happened the night that Nashville Police officer Floyd Hyde was on duty.

“I was on the way to a personal-injury accident in West Nashville．As I got onto  Highway 40，blue lights and sirens(警笛)going.I fell in behind a gold Pontiac Firebird that suddenly seemed to take off quickly down the highway．The driver somehow panicked at the sight of me．He was going more than a hundred miles an hour and began passing cars on the shoulder．”

But Hyde couldn’t go after him．Taking care of injured people is always more important than worrying about speeders，so the officer had to stay on his way to the accident．But he did try to keep the Firebird in sight as he drove，hoping another nearby unit would be able to step in and stop the speeding car．As it turned out，keeping the Firebird in sight was not that difficult．Every turn the Pontiac made was the very turn the officer needed to get to the accident scene.

Hyde followed the Pontiac all the way to his destination(目的地)．At that point he found another unit had already arrived at the accident scene．His help wasn’t needed.Now he was free to try to stop the driver of the Firebird，who by this time had developed something new to panic about．

“Just about that time，” Hyde said，“I saw fire coming out from under that car，with blue smoke and oil going everywhere.He’d blown his engine．Now he had to stop．”

“After I arrested him．I asked him why he was running．He told me he didn’t have a driver’s license(执照)．”

That accident cost the driver of the Firebird plenty---a thousand dollars for the new engine---not to mention the charges for driving without a license，attempting to run away，and dangerous driving．

1.The underlined word“panicked”in Paragraph 2 means       .

2.The driver of the Firebird suddenly speeded down the highway because         .

3.Which of the following statements is true?

4.Choose the best title for the passage．

Doctors recognize obesity as a health problem. So why is it so hard for them to talk to their patients about it?

The results of two surveys, one of primary care physicians and the other of patients, found that while most doctors want to help patients lose weight and think it is their responsibility to do so, they often don’t know what to say.

So while doctors may tell patients they are overweight, the conversation often ends there, said Christine C. Ferguson, director of the Stop Obesity Alliance. Without being told about options for diabetes, she said. “Doctors don’t feel they have good information to give. They felt they didn’t have adequate tools to address this problem.”

The lack of dialogue hurts patients, too. The patient survey, of over 1,000 adults, found that most overweight patients don’t even know at they’re too heavy. Only 39 percent of overweight people surveyed had ever been told by a health care provider that they were overweight.

Of those who were told they were obese, 90 percent were also told by their doctors to lose weight, the survey found. In fact most have tried to lose weight and may have been successful in the past — and many are still trying, the survey found. And many understand that losing even a small amount of weight can have a positive impact on their health and reduce their risk of obesity-related diseases like hypertension and diabetes.

Dr. William Bestermann Jr., medical director of Holston Medical Group, in Kingsport, Tenn., which ranks 10th in obesity among metropolitan areas in the United States, said the dialogue had to be an ongoing one and could not be dropped after just one mention of the problem. “If you’re going to be successful with helping your patients lose weight, you’re going to have to talk to them at virtually every visit about their progress, and find something to encourage them about, find progress in some aspect of their care and coach them,” he said.

He acknowledged that many doctors tend to be optimistic.

“Part of this is that there’s this common belief, and doctors are burdened by it, too, that heavy people are weak-willed and just don’t have any willpower and are self-indulgent and all that business,” he said. “If you think that way, you’re not going to spend time having a productive conversation.”

61．What is most probably the Stop Obesity Alliance, as in Paragraph 3?

A．An organization of doctors specializing in obesity.

B．An organization of patients suffering from obesity.

C．A research group that conducts special surveys about overweight people.

D．A research group dealing with doctor – patient relationship.

62．How many of the patients surveyed have been advised by their doctors to lose weight?

A．About 350.             B．About 390.      C．About 900.             D．1,000.

63．What can be inferred about obesity patients in Paragraph 5?

A．They are not as hopeless as doctors think they are.

B．Most of them have tried hard to lose weight, but in vain.

C．Without their doctors’ constant coaching, there is little chance of their succeeding in losing weight.

D．Most of them have just given up their hope of becoming less heavy.

64．According to the passage, which factor contributes to the lack of dialogue between doctors and patients?

A．Most doctors just never think of warning their patients about their weight problem.

B．Many doctors find it difficult to persuade overweight people to lose weight.

C．Most patients are too weak – willed to do anything about their weight.

D．Many patients tend not to trust their doctors about their weight problem.

65．Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A．Obesity in the U.S.

B．Trouble of overweight Americans

C．Talk more, help better

D．Doctors or patients – who to bear more blame?

—Can I pay by credit card?

  —Yes, _________.

 A. with pleasure       B. take care        C. no problem       D. don’t mention it

Passage Eight(The Development of Cities)

  Mass transportation revised the social and economic fabric of the American city in three fundamental ways. It catalyzed physical expansion, it sorted out people and land uses, and it accelerated the inherent instability of urban life. By opening vast areas of unoccupied land for residential expansion, the omnibuses, horse railways, commuter trains, and electric trolleys pulled settled regions outward two to four times more distant form city centers than they were in the premodern era. In 1850, for example, the borders of Boston lay scarcely two miles from the old business district; by the turn of the century the radius extended ten miles. Now those who could afford it could live far removed from the old city center and still commute there for work, shopping, and entertainment. The new accessibility of land around the periphery of almost every major city sparked an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we now know as urban sprawl. Between 1890 and 1920, for example, some 250,000 new residential lots were recorded within the borders of Chicago, most of them located in outlying areas. Over the same period, another 550,000 were plotted outside the city limits but within the metropolitan area. Anxious to take advantage of the possibilities of commuting, real estate developers added 800,000 potential building sites to the Chicago region in just thirty years – lots that could have housed five to six million people.

  Of course, many were never occupied; there was always a huge surplus of subdivided, but vacant, land around Chicago and other cities. These excesses underscore a feature of residential expansion related to the growth of mass transportation: urban sprawl was essentially unplanned. It was carried out by thousands of small investors who paid little heed to coordinated land use or to future land users. Those who purchased and prepared land for residential purposes, particularly land near or outside city borders where transit lines and middle-class inhabitants were anticipated, did so to create demand as much as to respond to it. Chicago is a prime example of this process. Real estate subdivision there proceeded much faster than population growth.

1.With which of the following subjects is the passage mainly concerned?

A.Types of mass transportation.

B.Instability of urban life.

C.How supply and demand determine land use.

D.The effect of mass transportation on urban expansion.

2.Why does the author mention both Boston and Chicago?

A.To demonstrate positive and negative effects of growth.

B.To exemplify cities with and without mass transportation.

C.To show mass transportation changed many cities.

D.To contrast their rate of growth.

3.According to the passage, what was one disadvantage of residential expansion?

A.It was expensive.

B.It happened too slowly.

C.It was unplanned.

D.It created a demand for public transportation.

4.The author mentions Chicago in the second paragraph as an example of a city,

A.that is large.

B.that is used as a model for land development.

C.where the development of land exceeded population growth.

D.with an excellent mass transportation system.

One of the traditions which is now a necessary part of Christmas is that of Father Christmas, or Santa Claus. According to the modern legend, he is a magical figure who visits all the children of the world during the night before Christmas Day, leaving presents which they find the next morning. He flies through the night sky in a sledge pulled by reindeer, and enters houses by climbing down chimneys. This strange legend is based on the life of a man called Nicholas, but in fact we know very little about him. Historians think he was a Christian bishop(主教) in Turkey in about 285－350 A. D. One of the stories about him is that he helped three poor girls. No one would marry them because they were so poor. To provide them with money for their weddings, Nicholas secretly dropped some gold coins down the chimney of their house. After Nicholas died, he was made a saint(圣人) by the church. (The name Santa Claus thus comes from St Nicholas.) His feast day was celebrated in December, and parents started giving their children secret presents from St Nicholas. Over the years, this custom became part of our Christmas traditions.

Recently, a psychologist has claimed that Father Christmas is “the perfect fantasy” for children. According to Professor Anthony Clare, children love the character of Father Christmas because he is like an ideal father: he loves children and gives them presents, but he never criticizes them, is never angry, and children do not even need to thank him for the presents. Other writers, however, point out that Father Christmas can be a frightening character to some children. Jane Bidder says that some children are terrified of this fat, bearded old man. It can certainly confuse many children. As parents, we warn our children to be careful of strangers and never to let them into the house, and yet we tell children that a strange man will come into their bedroom at night! Some children can become very worried about this idea and fear that he is a kind of burglar.

Most children, however, understand from their parents and from the media that Father Christmas is basically a benign character, and look forward to his annual visit with joy and excitement.

46. The main point of the first paragraph is that ________.

A. Father Christmas is an important part of Christmas 

B. the tradition of Father Christmas is a modern idea

C. Father Christmas is a magical figure who can fly   

D. the legends about Father Christmas are not true

47. The writer mentions details such as Father Christmas’s sledge, the reindeer and the way he climbs down chimneys because he/she ____________.

A. wants to make it clear that these things are impossible   

B. is describing the history of St Nicholas   

C. wants everyone to believe that Father Christmas is real

D. is explaining the modern legend of Father Christmas

48. Why does the writer mention the story about St Nicholas helping three poor girls?

A. It shows us that historians know very little about him.

B. This story explains why parents give secret presents to children.

C. It supports the writer’s main point that Father Christmas is based on an untrue story.

D. This story explains why we celebrate Christmas in December.

49. In the last paragraph, the word “benign”means _________.

A. religious           B. friendly

C. frightening        D. unreal

50. The best title for this passage would be __________.

A. Is Father Christmas Dangerous?       B. The True History of St Nicholas

C. The Legend of Santa Claus       D. The Traditions of Christmas