第三部分阅读理解(共20小题; 每小题2分，满分40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。
Willa Cather 0nce said. “When people ask me whether writing has been a hard or easy road，I always answer with the famous saying: The end is nothing; the road is all. That is what I mean when I say writing has been a pleasure. I have never used the computer with the thought that one more task had to be done. "
Like most writers. Willa Cather did not write books for the money that they brought her，but rather for the Pleasure that came in their writing. Her works were，like her，simple and full of the vigor of her days in Nebraska，where she grew from child to young womanhood and where she developed a deep 1ove for the treeless land of the great plain with its wild flowers，wheat fields and rivers.
“It’s a rather strange thing about the flat country," she wrote later. "It takes hold of you, it leaves you perfectly cold. A great many people find it very dull; they like a church tower，an old factory. a waterfall，the country all made to look like a German Christmas card…But when I come to the open plain，something happens. I'm home. I breathe differently. ”
56 Willa Cather wrote because she found writing .
A. simple and lively B. opened up a road to success
C. neither too hard nor too easy D. interesting and enjoyable
57. What was the place like where Cather grew up?
A. It was cold，plain and without a church.
B. It was vast, open，flat and wild.
C. It was like a German Christmas card.
D. It was a colorful world of wild flowers.
58. When she said “It takes hold of you，it leaves you perfectly cold. ”，Willa Cather meant that
A. you either love the place or hate it
B.you decide either to stay or to leave
C. some find the place warm: others find it cold
D. some find the place peaceful; others find it wild
59. What happens when Cather comes to the open plain?
A. She breathes differently from others.
B. She wants to make the place her home.
C. She feels completely comfortable.
D. She finds the place similar to her home.
The Global Heritage Fund organization recently released a list of cultural treasures in the developing world that are in danger of disappearing. These“On the Verge” places face many threats. They included war, development pressures, stealing and misuse by visitors. The Global Heritage Fund says these places are important because they are records of our human civilization. And the group says countries can learn to use these treasures to help support responsible development in the future.
One such place is the town of Lamu. Lamu was once a very important trading center in East Africa. This ancient city became part of the United Nations Heritage list in 2001. But it still faces threats. For example, a modern port might be built nearby.
Other endangered places include Ani, a city in Turkey, the town of Maluti in India, the ancient city of Ninevah in northern Iraq, the Sans-Souci palace in Haiti, and the former capital of Ayutthaya in Thailand.
The Global Heritage Fund is nonprofit organization based in California. The group says it only focuses on developing countries which often have few resources to protect places of cultural importance. And, other major cultural organizations often pay more attention to protecting places in the developed world. For example, the fund points out the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has forty-five World Heritage places in Italy. UNESCO has forty-two in Spain. But Peru, famous for its ancient Incan buildings, has only nine World Heritage places. Guatemala has only three.
The Global Heritage Fund says its new report tries to place a value on cultural places so that they can also be considered as economic resources. It estimates that by 2025 these places of cultural importance could produce one hundred billion dollars a year in income for developing countries. The underlined part “On the Verge” in Paragraph 1 is used to show the places are _____.
| A．popular | B．famous |
| C．endangered | D．dangerous |
The town of Lamu faces danger from ________.
| A．development pressures | B．stealing |
| C．misuse by visitors | D．a war |
We can know that The Global Heritage Fund organization mainly _____.
| A．protects places of cultural importance in developing countries |
| B．protects places of cultural importance in developed countries |
| C．provide resources to protect cultural places in every country |
| D．helps people know the importance of protecting cultural treasures |
Which of the following countries has the fewest World Heritage places?
| A．Italy | B．Guatemala |
| C．Peru | D．Spain |
According to The Global Heritage Fund organization, saving the places of cultural
importance_______.
| A．has attracted a lot of attention worldwide |
| B．will start to benefit developing countries in 2015 |
| C．is mainly to increase income of developing countries |
| D．can help developing countries make money out of them |
Trees should only be pruned (修剪) when there is a good and clear reason for doing so and , the number of such reasons is small. Pruning involves the cutting away of overgrown and unwanted branches, and the inexperienced gardener can be encouraged by the thought that more damage results from doing it unnecessarily than from leaving the tree to grow in its own way.
First, pruning may be done to make sure that trees have desired shape or size. The object may be to get a tree of the right height, and at the same time to help the growth of small side branches, which will thicken its appearance or give it a special shape. Secondly, pruning may be done to make the tree healthier. You may cut out diseased or dead wood, or branches that are rubbing against each other and thus cause wounds. The health of a tree may be encouraged by removing branches that are blocking up the center and so preventing the free movement of air.
One result of pruning is that an open wound is left on the tree and this provides an easy entry for disease , but it is a wound that will heal (愈合). Often there is a race between the healing and the disease as to whether the tree will live or die, so that there is a period when the tree is at risk. It should be the aim of every gardener to reduce that risk of death as far as possible. It is important to make the area, which has been pruned, smooth and clean, for healing will be slowed down by roughness. You should allow the cut surface to dry for a few hours and then paint it with one of the materials available from garden shops produced especially for this purpose. Pruning is usually done in winter , for then you can see the shape of the tree clearly without interference (妨碍) from the leaves and also it is very unlikely that the cuts you make will bleed. If this does happen, it is, of course, impossible to paint them properly .．Why should pruning be done?
| A．To make the tree grow taller. | B．To improve the shape of the tree. |
| C．to get rid of the small ranches . | D．To make the small branches thicker. |
．Trees become unhealthy if the gardener__________.
| A．giving a tree a special shape and a definite height |
| B．removing small side branches and making a tree look less thick |
| C．allowing too many branches to grow in the middle |
| D．having a tree surrounded by many other trees |
．Why is a special material painted on the tree?
| A．To help a wound to dry. | B．to cover a rough surface. |
| C．To make a wound smooth. | D．To prevent disease entering a wound. |
．A good gardener prunes a tree _________ .
| A．several times throughout the year | B．as quickly as possible |
| C．occasionally when necessary | D．regularly every winter |
．What was the author’s purpose when writing this passage?
| A．To discuss different methods of pruning. |
| B．To introduce some common knowledge of pruning. |
| C．To explain how trees develop disease. |
| D．To give practical instruction for pruning a tree. |
That “Monday morning feeling” could be a crushing pain in the chest which leaves you sweating and gasping for breath. Recent research from Germany and Italy shows that heart attacks are more common on Monday mornings and doctors blame the stress of returning to work after the weekend break.
The risk of having a heart attack on any given day should be one in seven, but a six-year study helped by researchers at the Free University of Berlin of more than 2,600 Germans showed that the average person had a 20 percent higher chance of having a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day.
Working Germans are particularly not protected against attack, with a 33 percent higher risk at the beginning of the working week. Non-workers, by comparison, appear to be no more at risk on a Monday than any other day.
A study of 11,000 Italians proved 8 am on a Monday morning as the most stressful time for the heart, and both studies showed that Sunday is the least stressful day, with fewer heart attacks in both countries.
The findings could lead to a better understanding of what is the immediate cause of heart attacks, according to Dr Stefan Willich of the Free University. “We know a lot about long-term risk factors such as smoking and cholesterol（胆固醇）but we don’t know what actually causes heart attacks, so we can’t give clear advice on how to prevent them,” he said.
Monday mornings have a double helping of stress for the working body as it makes a rapid change from sleep to activity, and from the relaxing weekend to the pressures of work.
“When people get up, their blood pressure and heart rate go up and there are hormonal（内分泌）changes in their bodies,” Willich explained. “All these things can have an unfavourable effect in the blood system and increase the risk of a clot（血凝块）in the arteries（动脉）which will cause a heart attack.”
“When people return to work after a weekend off, the pace of their life changes. They have a higher workload, more stress, more anger and more physical activity,” said Willich.．Monday morning feeling, as this passage shows, .
| A．is not so serious as people thought |
| B．is harmful to working people in Germany and Italy |
| C．is the first killer in Germany and Italy. |
| D．is created by researchers in Germany and Italy |
．To protect people from suffering from heart attack, doctors have paid much attention to .
| A．people’s working time | B．people’s living place |
| C．people’s diet and lifestyle | D．people’s nationalities |
．It can be learned from this passage that heart attack has nothing to do with .
| A．blood pressure | B．heart rate | C．hormonal changes | D．blood group |
．If the researchers give us some advice to avoid Monday morning feeling, what might it be?
| A．Stop working on Monday | B．Create a pleasant working environment |
| C．Get up late on Monday morning | D．Go to work with a doctor |
.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The risk of having heart attacks on Monday mornings is the same as on any other day of the week to non-workers |
| B．33% of the Germans have heart diseases, therefore heart attacks are more common in Germany than in any other country. |
| C．20%of the Italians appear to have higher possibility of having heart attacks. |
| D．Non-smokers are more likely to have heart attacks on Sundays. |
Joanne was stuck in a traffic jam in central Birmingham at 5：30 and at 6：30 she was expected to be chairing a meeting of the tennis club. At last, the traffic was moving. She swung quickly racing to her house. As she opened the door, she nearly tripped over (被绊倒)Sheba.
“Hey, Sheba,” she said, “I've got no time for you now, but I'll take you out as soon as I get back from tennis club.” Then she noticed Sheba seemed to be coughing or choking. Obviously, she could hardly breathe. Immediately, Joanne realized she would have to take her to the vet (兽医).
When she got there, the vet was just about to close for the day. Seeing the state of Sheba, Dr. Sterne brought her quickly into his office.
“Listen, doctor, I'm really in a rush to get to a meeting, can I leave her with you, and go and get changed? I'll be back in ten minutes to pick her up, and then I'll take her on to the meeting with me. Is that OK?”
“Sure.” said the doctor.
Joanne made the quick trip back to her house in a couple of minutes. As she was once more entering the hallway, the phone by the door began to ring.
“This is Dr. Sterne,” said an anxious voice. “I want you to get out of that house immediately, ”said the doctor's voice. “I'm coming round right away, and the police will be there any time now. Wait outside!”
At that moment, a police car screeched (发出尖锐的声音)to a stop outside the house. Two policemen got out and ran into the house. Joanne was by now completely confused and very frightened. Then the doctor arrived.
“Where’s Sheba? Is she OK?” shouted Joanne.
“She’s fine, Joanne. I took out the thing which was choking her, and she’s OK now. ”
Just then, the two policemen reappeared from the house, half-carrying a white—faced man, who could hardly walk. There was blood all over him.
“My God, ” said Joanne, “how did he get in there? And how did you know he was there?”
“I think he must be a burglar.” said the doctor. “I knew he was there because when I finally removed what was stuck in Sheba’s throat：it turned out to be three human fingers.”. What was Joanne supposed to do at 6：30？
| A．To walk her dog. | B．To see her doctor. |
| C．To attend a club meeting. | D．To play tennis with her friends. |
. Joanne wanted to get back to her home again .
| A．to dress up for the meeting | B．to phone the police station |
| C．to catch the badly hurt burglar | D．to wait for her dog to be cured |
. From the passage, we can infer that .
| A．Sheba fought against the burglar |
| B．the police found the burglar had broken in |
| C．Joanne had planned to take her dog to the meeting |
| D．the doctor performed a difficult operation on the dog |
. In this passage, the writer intends to tell us that the dog is .
| A．clever | B．friendly | C．frightening | D．devoted |
．The underlined word a burglar in the last paragraph probably means ________.
| A．a cleaner | B．a physician | C．a thief | D．a murderer |
In Colombia, there are some unwritten rules that people are used to. These rules are not officially established, but people do respect them. For example, on a bus, a person keeps a distance from another person, and people don’t like to touch each other. Many people come to work late because they prefer to wait for another bus if the first one is too crowded. They don’t want to have to stand too close to another person, or maybe they are afraid of starting a conversation.
A friend of mine in Colombia once said his mom got angry because he came home late, so he asked her, “Mom, what do you think of most people arriving at their jobs so late?” That gave her the a
nswer to her question since everyone knows no one wants to get on a bus that is too crowded. His mother realized at that moment that customs have a big influence on a person’s life.
Sometimes, people don’t like to make any kind of conversation or make eye contact(接触) with others. For example, when they are in line at a bank, they prefer to look up or down rather than look at other people.
Moreover, people usually look down when they are in an elevator. Not only on a bus, in line at a bank, and in an elevator do people usually avoid 
talking to other people, but also in the streets when they are walking, they prefer to look down and to avoid contact with others. Why do many people get to work late in Colombia?
| A．They always think the next bus will be better. |
| B．They don’t want to get on crowded buses. |
| C．It’s an official rule in Colombia. |
| D．They get into conversations and miss their buses. |
From the text we learn that .
| A．customs influence people’s lives | B．a mother always understands her son |
| C．people respect each other in Colombia | D．people like to talk in elevators in Colombia |
When people in Colombia are in line at banks, they .
| A．make eye contact | B．look at other people |
| C．make conversation | D．look up or down |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．What People Do in Different Situations | B．Avoid Getting on a Crowded Bus |
| C．Special Customs in Colombia | D．Obeying Unwritten Rules |
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