IV. 阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2分，满分30分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
The private automobile(私家车) has long played an important role in the United States. In fact, it has become a necessary and important part of the American way of life. In 1986, sixty-nine percent of American families owned at least one car, and thirty-eight percent had more than one. By giving workers rapid transportation, the automobile has freed them from having to live near their place of work. This has encouraged the growth of the cities, but it has also led to traffic problems.
For farm families the automobile is very helpful. It has made it possible for them to travel to town very often for business and for pleasure, and also to transport their children to distant schools.
Family life has been affected in various ways. The car helps to keep families together when it is used for picnics, outings, and other shared experiences. However, when teenage children have the use of the car, their parents can’t keep an eye on them. There is a great danger if the driver has been drinking alcohol or taking drugs—or is “showing off ” by speeding or breaking other traffic laws. Mothers of victims(受害者) of such accidents have formed an organization called MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). These women want to prevent further tragedies(悲剧). They have worked to encourage the government to limit the youngest drinking age. Students have formed a similar organization, SADD(Students Against Drunk Driving) and are spreading the same message among their friends.
For many Americans the automobile is a necessity. But for some, it is also a mark of social position and for young people, a sign of becoming an adult. Altogether, cars mean very much to Americans.
56.Which of
the following is NOT mentioned in the text?
A. Cars have encouraged the growth of the cities.
B. Cars can bring families together when they go for picnics.
C. Cars have enabled people to live far from their place of work.
D. Cars help city families to transport their children to faraway schools.
57.What has been done to deal with the problem of drunk driving?
A. Parents have paid more attention to their children.
B. Some organizations have been set up against drunk driving.
C. Mothers have tried to persuade their children not to drink alcohol.
D. University students have asked the government to solve the problem.
58.We can infer from the text that __________ in America.
A. it will be more difficult for people to get new cars.
B. parents will not allow their children to have their own cars.
C. the government will encourage people to use public transportation.
D. cars will still be popular though they have caused many problems.
People who cannot tell all colors apart are said to be color-blind. Most color-blind people can see yellows and blues, but confuse reds with green. It is very rare for a person to be blind to all colors, but they may see everything in shades of black, white and gray.
It is interesting to point out that many color-blind people don’t even realize that they are color-blind, they don’t know that the colors they are seeing and naming are not the actual colors that people with normal vision can see. This can be dangerous when a color-blind person confuses the red and green of a traffic light.
Color blindness is thought to be inherited（遗传）and although doctors have tested color blindness, there is no cure to treatment for it.There are four cards here, and each has two colors. Which card’s colors do you think a color-blind person can tell correctly?
| A．Red, Green | B．Green, Yellow | C．Red, Brown | D．Brown, Yellow |
A color-blind person______.
| A．always knows how color-blind he is |
| B．often gives the wrong name of colors |
| C．see everything as the same color |
| D．can hardly see something of strong colors |
It’s especially dangerous for a color-blind person to cross a street when_____
| A．it is crowded |
| B．it is a dark night |
| C．there are no traffic lights at the cross of the streets |
| D．the traffic light turns red |
A person who is color-blind is believed to have something to do with_____.
| A．his old age |
| B．his poor eyesight |
| C．his parents or grandparents |
| D．his living condition |
Up to now, doctors______.
| A．have found a way to prevent a person from getting color-blind |
| B．have found a way to free a person from his color blindness |
| C．have been able to tell whether a person is color-blind or not |
| D．have made it quite clear the cause of color blindness |
Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men”, said Goldspink.
They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease.
“The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to ________.
| A．health | B．long life | C．ageing | D．effect |
The text mainly talks about ________.
| A．men’s heart cells | B．women’s ageing process |
| C．the gender difference | D．hearts and long life |
According to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.
| A．women have more cells than men when they are born |
| B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat |
| C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age |
| D．women never lose their pumping power with age |
If you want to live longer, you should ________.
| A．enable your heart to beat much faster | B．find out the reason for ageing |
| C．exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy | D．prevent your cells from being lost |
We can know from the passage that ________.
| A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out |
| B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells |
| C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss |
| D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20 |
In every British town, large and small, you will find shops that sell second-hand goods. Sometimes such shops deal mostly in furniture, sometimes in books, sometimes in ornaments(装饰) and household goods, sometimes even in clothes.
The furniture may often be “antique（古时制造的，古董的）”, and it may well have changed hands many times. It may also be very valuable, although the most valuable piece will usually go to the London salerooms, where one piece might well be sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. As you look around these shops and see the polished（精致的）wood of chests（箱子）and tables, you cannot help thinking of those long-dead hands which polished that wood, of those now-closed eyes which once looked at these pieces with love.
The books, too, may be antique and very precious; some may be rare first printings. Often when someone dies or has to move house, his books may all be sold, so that sometimes you may find whole libraries in one shop. On the border between England and Wales, there is a town which has become a huge bookshop as well. Even the cinema and castle have been taken over, and now books have replaced sheep as the town’s main trade.
There are also much more humble（卑微的）shops, sometimes simply called “junk shops”, where you can buy small house-hold pieces very cheaply. Sometimes the profits from these shops go to charity(慈善事业). Even these pieces, though, can make you feel sad; you think of those people who once treasured them, but who have moved on, to another country or to death.
Although the British do not worship（崇拜，敬仰）their ancestors（祖先）, they do treasure the past and the things of the past. This is true of houses as well. These days no one knocks them down, they are restored until they are often better than new. In Britain, people do not buy something just because it is new. Old things are treasured for their proven worth; new things have to prove themselves before they are accepted.Books found in second-hand book shops may .
| A．be copies of the earliest printing | B．be on sale for the first time |
| C．never be worth very much | D．never be rare |
What is the small town on the border between England and Wales famous for?
| A．Its sheep. | B．Its books. | C．Its cinema. | D．Its castles. |
Second-hand goods sometimes fill you with sadness because .
| A．they are too expensive for average buyers |
| B．they remind you of the original owners |
| C．they are now neglected（忽视，忽略） |
| D．they are sold for charity |
The average British person .
| A．does not respect old things because they are not fashionable |
| B．likes to build new houses simply because it is fashionable to do so |
| C．likes to buy new things because they are fashionable |
| D．does not like to buy things simply because they are fashionable |
What does the underlined word “them”(Para.4) refer to?
| A．Junk shops. | B．Profits from shops. |
| C．Old things. | D．Old houses. |
This week is National Volunteer Week, a time for the Canadian Red Cross to recognize our dedicated (有奉献精神的) volunteers who devote their time and talents from coast to coast. Over the course of the week we will use this blog to share stories about our volunteers and the amazing work they do --- a small part of the outstanding individuals across the country.
Take Saskatchewan for example. Last year that province was hit by wide-spread flooding, a hurricane and forest fires. Canadian Red Cross staff and volunteers went to work right away and helped more than 2,100 adults and 775 children recover the basic necessities of life.
It’s important to share stories from volunteers to truly appreciate what they do. Christine Hoffman is a Disaster Response Volunteer in Canadian Red Cross in Saskatchewan. She’s a veteran Red Crosser for about 16 years. Still nothing could have prepared her for the call she took in the Recovery Center last year in response to flooding in Maple Greek. This story is best told in her own words. This is what she said:
“I will never forget the first phone call I took in the Recovery Centre. A young man called asking what services Red Cross was offering in town. As we were talking, he told me he had a rope in his backyard but he thought he would be using it for other reasons. My heart stopped. I told him to come to see us so we could work together on a plan to improve his situation. He came in a little while later. Nearly two hours later he left standing straight up with tear- filled eyes. He thanked me for convincing him to come in. His home had been destroyed, but together we put together a plan and he was eventually able to move back into his own home.”
During National Volunteer Week 2011, let’s thank Christine, and the many other volunteers like her. Thanks for making us proud!According to the second paragraph, Canadian Red Cross’ action is ______
| A．slow | B．quick | C．helpless | D．disappointing |
Which of the following is closet in meaning to the underlined word “veteran” in the third paragraph?
| A．Careless | B．Experienced | C．Unskillful | D．Optimistic |
The underlined words in the forth paragraph expressed Christine Hoffman’s feeling of ____
| A．excitement | B．anger | C．happiness | D．nervousness |
What can we infer from what Christine Hoffman said?
| A．The young man felt sad for Christine Hoffman because of her poor experience |
| B．The young man was persuaded by Christine Hoffman and decided to live on |
| C．Christine Hoffman made the young man sad and he cried |
| D．Christine Hoffman offered to give the young man a little money to help him |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．How to become a volunteer |
| B．An excellent volunteer and her family |
| C．Volunteers and their amazing work |
| D．What the Canadian Red Cross does |
Plastic is everywhere because plastic is an extremely useful material. It is cheap, strong and lightweight. What’s more, it can take on nearly any form or shape, from soft and stretchy (有弹性的) to hard and glasslike.
Plastic, however, is far from perfect. It may even be bad for us. Studies now suggest that poisonous chemicals can get out of some types of plastic, get into our bodies, and cause a variety of health problems, including cancer, birth defects and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (注意缺陷障碍).
Two types of chemicals in particular have raised special concern lately. They are called phthalates (邻苯二甲酸盐) and Bisphenol-A (二酚基丙烷), BPA for short. Not all plastic products contain them. But the ones that do are surrounded by controversy (争议). That’s because experts disagree on how dangerous these chemicals are.
Plastic is a single word, but plastic isn’t just one thing. What all plastics share in common are plasticizers -- special chemicals that allow the material to be changed into nearly any shape or texture. Plasticizers (塑化剂) are added to plastic during the manufacturing process.
Phthalates and BPA are two types of plasticizers that work in different ways. Phthalates add softness to things like shampoo bottles, raincoats and rubber. They are also used in perfumes and makeup. BPA, on the other hand, gives a hard, clear, almost glasslike feel to products such as infant bottles. BPA also appears in food and soda cans, DVDs and other unexpected places.
How do these chemicals get into us? When plastic is heated in the microwave or dishwasher, chewed on or scratched, the chemicals can seep (渗透) out of the plastic. Even though we can’t see them, we eat them, drink them and breathe them in.
Scientists and parents are especially worried about young children, who tend to chew on everything, including plastic. Dozens of countries, including the European Union, Japan, Canada and Mexico have already banned phthalates from products made for children younger than three. California and Washington have done the same. And a number of other states are considering similar rules. As for BPA, Canada became the first country to ban the chemical from baby bottles. A dozen states are considering it.What can we know about the plastic from the first paragraph?
| A．Its characters and effects. | B．Its wide use and bad points. |
| C．Its importance and chemicals. | D．Its popularity and advantages. |
Which of the following products contains BPA?
| A．A soft plastic cup. | B．A pencil eraser. |
| C．A baby milk bottle. | D．A new perfume. |
Phthalates and BPA can get into us __________.
| A．through mouth or nose | B．through blood transfusion |
| C．by feeling plastic products | D．by heating in the microwave |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A new ban on plastic products. | B．Problems caused by the plastic. |
| C．Good points of the plastic. | D．The use of plasticizers. |
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