第三部分：阅读理解（共两节，40 分）
第一节：（共15小题；每小题2分，共30分）
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，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Before I started school, people felt that 1 was not going to be successful．At the age of four I started speech lessons because basically I could not speak well enough for anyone to understand me．The story goes downhill from here．
The first grade was a struggle．I not only had difficulty speaking, but also felt nervous about the fact that I was expected to learn to read and I just couldn't do it．The second grade was not much better．I still struggled with the inability to read．It was in the third grade that the school district built a new school close to my home．I remember going there with my parents and helping to get the school ready so that we could move to the new one．However, things were still not much better as far as my schooling was concerned and did not get better for the next two years．
It was in the fifth grade．Mi-s．Wakefield was my teacher, and if ever there was a teacher that deserved a gold star, it was her．She did not make me feel defeated．On the contrary, she did her best to let me know that I could be whatever I wanted to be．And that is just what I did．
For the past 22 years, I have been a fifth grade teacher．Because of Mrs．Wakefield's influence on my life, I am now encouraging students who have had difficulties in their lives to believe that they can overcome any difficulty and become someone．I have won numerous awards up to now, such as Teacher of the Year．I owe it all to one fifth grade teacher who believed in me and challenged me to be all that I could be．
56．The writer ______ when he was in the third grade．
A．did better in reading B．began speech lessons
C．went to a new school D．received a high award
57．We can learn from the passage that the writer ______．
A．is a very successful teacher now
B．thinks teaching is a challenging job
C, has solved problems with his own effort
D．works in the same school with Mrs．Wakefield
58．What is the writer's purpose in writing the passage?
A．To express his devotion to his work．
B．To show his respect to a special teacher．
C．To share his leaching experience with us．
D．To tell us his story of overcoming difficulties．
Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.
Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person's thoughts.
In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.
“Our brain has billions of nerve cells. These send signals through the spinal cord (脊髓) to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles.” Tavella says. “Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices.
The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp (头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.
Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. “The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair.”
He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time.BCI is a technology that can ________.
| A．help the disabled to recover |
| B．control a person's thoughts |
| C．help to update computer systems |
| D．link the human brain with computers |
How did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?
| A．By talking to the machine. |
| B．By controlling his muscles. |
| C．By using his mind. |
| D．By moving his hand. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries |
| B．BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled |
| C．New Findings About How the Human Brain Works |
| D．Switzerland, the BCI Research Center |
When my mother was alive, she used to tell me again and again about the value of just being nice. “Never underestimate（低估）the power of a smile,” she would say. I fear she would be very disappointed looking at the world today. A lot of people don’t smile and when it comes to service today, they’re just not nice. Now don’t give me wrong, not all service workers but a good many.
I was on the phone the other day with a computer help desk. First a man, then later a woman, who couldn’t have been ruder. And this to a customer, who didn’t know his way around a PC. But no matter, I could tell they thought I was a bother, The woman, in fact, seemed to be chewing gum as she unemotionally clicked off a series of commands for me to perform.
The next day I heard from a friend of mine who got a performance review without his boss once looking up at him. Not once.
You see it everywhere. Gone are the days when people cared about you. It’s a sign of the time, I suspect. But that makes me sad — for them and for us all. People who aren’t happy, who don’t smile, who don’t kid, who don’t joke or make light of even bad situations, make for an even worse situation.
And it spreads like a cancer. Someone’s rude to you, you’re rude to them and to the next fellow you meet, and on and on. Smiles are contagious（易感染的）but so annoyances. The boss who can’t be bothered with his workers. The celebrity who can’t be bothered with her annoying fans.
You know, my mom used to judge presidential candidates by how they smiled. I would say, “But mom, you don’t know if that smile is real.”
“Oh, yes I do,” she would tell me. “I can feel it.”
It’s in their eyes, she would say. And it’s in their smile. The rest just kind of falls into place.Why did the writer mention his phone call?
| A．To show many people aren’t nice. |
| B．To prove his mother is wrong. |
| C．To share his funny experience with us. |
| D．To tell us he knows little about computer. |
What is the author’s attitude towards the boss of his friend?
| A．Respectful. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Opposed. | D．Doubtful. |
When someone is rude to you, you’re advised to ________.
| A．become one just like him or her |
| B．be nice to the people you meet |
| C．be rude to the next person |
| D．make for a worse situation |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Feel a person in his eyes |
| B．Don’t judge a person by his look |
| C．The effect of rudeness |
| D．The power of a smile |
TEN-YEAR-OLD Barack Obama was one of the only three black students at his school in Hawaii, US. He felt very different from most other students. White girls wanted to touch his hair. A white boy asked him whether his father ate people.
“I lied to them that my father was a Kenyan prince. But I kept asking myself who I am,” said Obama.
However, 37 years later, the boy made history. Last year Obama became the first black president in US history.
Obama was born in 1961, to an African father and a white American woman from a small town in the US. He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii. This unusual background made him wonder who he was. He once turned to alcohol to help forget this question.
With help from his friends, Obama finally turned his life around at college. His hard work made him a star at Harvard. Later, he became only the third black senator (参议员) in US history. During his race to the highest post in the US, Obama talked about his background. He called for a United States of America, rather than a white America or a black America.
“Obama’s success has made Martin Luther King’s dream come true. That is: A man should not be judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character,” wrote ABC news.When Obama was ten years old, he was in _______.
| A．Hawaii | B．Kenya | C．Africa | D．Indonesia |
When Obama became president of the US, he was _______.
| A．37 | B．48 | C．47 | D．38 |
Why did Obama lie to his classmates that his father was a Kenyan prince?
| A．Because he was uncertain about his background then. |
| B．Because he dreamed of becoming a Kenyan prince. |
| C．Because he was afraid of being laughed at by his classmates. |
| D．Because he was told his father was a Kenyan prince. |
Which of the following statements is right?
| A．Obama is optimistic all his life. |
| B．Obama was brought up in Africa. |
| C．.According to Luther King, a man should be judged by the content of his |
| D．Obama didn’t work hard at Harvard, but he finally turned president of the US. |
A mother had two daughters. She loved them very much, but two girls would fight with each other from their earliest years. As they grew older, they became total strangers. They had no contact with each other when they were adults.
This caused the mother great pain. Then, later, she had an idea. She decided to write a letter to them. In this letter, she told them how much she loved them, and how she wanted them to love each other in this way. She also gave them news of herself and some guidance on how to live happier lives.
When the letter was ready, she wrote out one copy for each daughter, but these copies were special. Each copy contained only every second sentence of the original letter: the copy for one daughter had only the even (双数的) sentences, and the other daughter’s copy contained only the odd sentences. Neither contained the fullness of the mother’s message.
When the two daughters received their letters, they were puzzled. To understand the half-letter, they would have to put the two letters together and read them as one, which meant they must approach one another again in love and respect. But they each blamed the other for not helping them when trying to read the half-letter.
For a long time, the mother waited in vain. Then one day, when the mother had almost given up hope, there was a knock at the door. There they stood, together. “We’ve come home,” they said at the same time. “We’ve finally put our letters together, and we’ve come to say how much we love you, Mum.” Then she hugged them both, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, and welcomed them back home.The mother gave her daughters incomplete letters mainly to ______.
| A．tell them her news | B．offer them advice |
| C．mend their relations | D．win their hearts |
Upon receiving their letters, the two daughters ______.
| A．complained about each other as usual |
| B．put the letters together and read them |
| C．blamed her mother for the half-letter |
| D．understood the mother’s purpose at once |
Why did the two daughters visit their mother at last?
| A．They missed home very much. |
| B．They felt grateful for the mother. |
| C．They wanted to apologize. |
| D．They had put the letters together. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Two Special Daughters |
| B．A Mother’s Endless Love |
| C．A Sincere Apology to Mother |
| D．An Unusual Letter |
Some children are natural born bosses. They have a strong need to make decisions, manage their environment, and lead rather than follow. Stephen Jackson, a Year One student, "operates under the theory of what's mine and what's yours is mine," says his mother. "The other day I bought two new Star Wars light sabers(剑). Later, I saw Stephen with the two new ones while his brother was using the beat-up ones."
" Examine the extended family, and you'll probably find a bossy grandparent, aunt,
uncle or cousin in every generation. It's an inheritable trait," says Russell Barkley, a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. Other children who may not be particularly bossy can gradually gain dominance(支配地位) when they sense their parents are weak, hesitant, or in disagreement with each other.
Whether it's inborn nature or developed character at work, too much control in the hands of the young isn't healthy for children or the family. Fear is at the root of a lot bossy behavior, says family psychologist John Taylor. Children, he says in his book From Defiance to Cooperation, "have secret feelings of weakness" and "a desire to feel safe." It's the parents' role to provide that protection.
When a "boss child" doesn't learn limits at home, the stage is set for a host of troubles outside the family. The overly willful and unbending child may have trouble obeying teachers or coachers, for example, or trouble keeping friends. It can be pretty lonely as the top dog if no one likes your bossy ways.
"I see more and more parents giving up their power," says Barkley, who has studied bossy behavior for more than 30 years. They bend too far because they don't want to be as strict as their own parents were. But they also feel less confident about their parenting skills. Their kids, in turn, feel more anxious.Bossy children like Stephen Jackson
| A．make good decisions | B．have little sense of fear |
| C．lack care from others | D．show self-centeredness |
The underlined phrase "inheritable trait" in paragraph 2 means
| A．developed character | B．inborn nature |
| C．accepted theory | D．particular environment |
The study on bossy behavior implies that parents _______.
| A．should give more power to their children |
| B．should be strict with their children |
| C．should not be so anxious about their children |
| D．should not set limits for their children |
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