Michael Fish may soon be replaced as a weather forecaster by something truly fishier---the shark(鲨鱼).
Research by a British biology student suggests that sharks could be used to predict storms.
Lauren Smith, 24, is close to completing her study on shark’s ability to sense pressure. If her studies prove the theory, scientists may be able to monitor the behavior of sharks to predict bad weather.
Miss Smith had previously studied the behaviour of lemon sharks in the Bahamas.
She then used their close relatives, lesser spotted dogfish, for further research at Aberdeen University. Her work---thought to be the first of its kind to test the pressure theory ---- resulted from the observation that juvenile blacktip sharks off Florida moved into deeper water ahead of a violent storm in 2001.
Miss Smith said: “I’ve always been crazy about traveling and diving and this led me to an interest in sharks.”
“I was delighted to have been able to research in the area for my degree. I know there’s so much more we need to understand ---- but it certainly opens the way to more research.”
It has been discovered that a shark senses pressure using hair cells in its balance system.
At the Bimini Shark Lab in the Bahamas, Miss Smith fixed hi-tech sensors to sharks to record pressure and temperature, while also tracking them using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.
In Aberdeen, she was able to study the effects of tidal(潮汐的) and temperature changes on dogfish----none of which were harmed. She also used a special lab which can mimic(模拟) oceanic pressure changes caused by weather fronts.
She is due to complete her study and graduate later this year. She says she will be looking for a job which will give her the chance to enrich her experience of shark research.The passage is most probably taken from _____.
| A．a short-story collection | B．a popular science magazine |
| C．a research paper | D．a personal diary |
What do we learn from the first four paragraph of the passage?
| A．Sharks may be used to predict bad weather . |
| B．Sharks’ behaviour can be controlled. |
| C．Michael Fish is not qualified for his job. |
| D．Lauren Smith will become a weather forecaster. |
Lauren Smith conducted her research by _______.
| A．removing hair cells from a shark’s balance system |
| B．measuring the air pressure of weather fronts |
| C．recording sharks’ body temperature |
| D．monitoring sharks’ reaction to weather changes |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A popular way of forecasting weather. |
| B．A new research effort in predicting storms. |
| C．Biologists’ interest in the secrets of sharks. |
| D．Lauren Smith’s devotion to scientific research. |
To what degree can a computer achieve intelligence (智力)? The answer to this question may lie in a newly-developed US computer program called Smarter Child and the Internet．
If you ran into Smarter Child online , you would be surprised at this kid’s huge memory．It can recite many facts． For example , Smarter Child knows every baseball player in every team this season．
He knows every word in the dictionary and the weather in every major city areas across the US．However , if you ask Smarter Child other questions , you get stranger answers．A question about Smarter Child’s age returns． “One year, 11 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds!” Asking where he lives gets , “In a clean room in a high-tech building in California．”
Smarter Child uses the vast information on the World Wide Web as his memory bank．To answer questions about spelling , for instance , Smarter Child goes to American Heritage Dictionary online．For the weather , he visits www．intellicast．com．
Some scientists believe that by joining the many systems of the Internet , an artificial being with the combined knowledge of , say , Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and Britney Spears could be born．However if Smarter Child wants to think and learn on his own like the boy-computer David in the movie A．I．, Artificial Intelligence , he must overcome two problems．
The first is that computers find it difficult to read web pages because the files are labeled in different ways．That’s why programmers need to tell Smarter Child where to look for the weather．It would be a much more difficult task to let him find it himself．
Another problem is that while Smarter Child can process (处理) information more exactly and faster than any human , he lacks common sense—a basic grounding of knowledge that is obvious to any young child．
67．From the text we can infer that www．intellicast．com is a website___________．
A．which is specially designed to help Smarter Child
B．where we people can find Smarter Child
C．where weather forecasts are made
D．which is about artificial intelligence
68．It is probably most difficult for Smarter Child to_______．
A．tell us how to spell a difficult word
B．tell us how the American government is run
C．provide us with a famous poem by Shakespeare
D．learn how to tell right behaviors from wrong ones。
69．Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A．Smart Child has his own memory bank big enough for all kinds of information．
B．A．I．Artificial Intelligence is probably the name of a film about a boy-computer．
C．Smart Child can recognize different files and find information needed on his own．
D．We have similar product now which has the knowledge of Einstein , Nixon and Spears．
70．Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A．A New Web Child B．Smarter Child
C．The Future of Internet D．Intelligence Development
Everyone’s at it, even my neighbors. I thought I might be the only person left in the world who hadn’t done an eBay deal. So, I decided to try my hand at online auction（网上拍卖）.
Buying for Beginners
Sign up on www. eBay. co. uk. Most items (e.g. tables, computers and books) ready for auction will come with a picture and a short description; others may be marked with “Buy It Now ” and have a fixed price. You can buy these right away.
If the item is being auctioned, you offer the highest price you are prepared to pay and eBay bids (出价) for you. The bid will be increased little by little until it goes beyond your highest bid, then you are emailed and asked if you would like to bid again. Auctions last up to 10 days and when they finish, you get an email telling you whether you have won the item.
How to Pay
Sellers decide how they would like to be paid and you need to check this before placing a bid as you might not want to post a check or postal orders. The easiest way is through PayPal, an online payment system that takes the money away from your credit card.
Selling Made Simple
If you plan to sell on eBay, it helps to include a picture of the item. I followed my friends’ advice and put up the items I wanted to sell for a 10-day auction, starting on a Thursday. This way buyers had two weekends to bid.
The big Things in Life
It’s easy to post a small item, but furniture is a big part of eBay and this has to be collectively sent by deliverymen. Check the ways of delivery before you bid.
64. What is the passage mainly about?
A. How to make payment online. B. Ways of making delivery online.
C. How to use an online-auction system. D. Advantages of an online auction system.
65. After bidding for an item, a buyer ________.
A. has chances to make higher bids B. will get what he wants in ten days
C. should make payment immediately D. may check its picture and description
66. The easiest way of making payment mentioned in the passage is ________.
A. through a local banking system B. by sending the money to the seller
C. through an online payment system D. by paying the deliveryman directly
“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly way that people in the United States greet each other. B
ut “How are you?” is also a very unusual question. It’s a question that often doesn’t have an answer. The person who asks “How are you?” hopes to hear the answer “Fine.”, even if the person’s friend isn’t fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question and “Fine.” isn’t really an answer. They are simply other ways of saying “Hello!” or “Hi!”.
Sometimes, people also don’t say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks, “Do you agree?”, the other person might be thinking, “No, I disagree. I think you’re wrong …” But it isn’t very polite to disagree strongly, so the other person might say “I’m not sure …”. It’s a nice way to say that you don’t agree with someone.
People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people. For example, many talks over the phone finish when one person says “I’ve to go now.” Often, the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse, “Someone is at the door.” “Something is burning on the stove.” The excuses might be real, or it might not. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn’t want to talk any more, but it isn’t polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn’t hurt the other person.
When they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, or finishing a talk, people often don’t say exactly what they are thinking. It’s an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it’s also a part of the game of language.
60. When a person in the United States asks “How are you?”, he or she wants to hear “___________”
A. How are you? B. Hello! C. I don’t know. D. Fine.
61. When a person wants to disagree with someone, it is polite to say “___________”
A. You’re wrong. I disagree. B. I’m not sure.
C. I’m sure I disagree. D. No, I disagree.
62. When a person says “I’ve to go now. Someone is at the door.”, he or she may be __________.
A. giving an excuse B. hurting someone’s feeling
C. talking to a person at the door D. going to another place
63. One of the rules of the game of language is probably “_________”
A. Always say what you mean. B. Don’t disagree with people.
C. Never say exactly what you’re thinking. D. Be polite.
第三部分：阅读理解（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分)
John was waiting for the girl whose heart he knew，but whose face he didn’t，the girl with the rose．Thirteen months ago，in a Florida library he took a book off the shell and found himself interested in the notes in the margin(页边)．The soft handwriting showed a thoughtful soul and insightful(有洞察力的)mind．
In front of the book，he discovered the name，Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he got her address．He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to keep in touch．
During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail． A romance started．John requested a photograph，but she refused．She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like．Later they agreed on their first meeting—7:00 pm at Grand Central Station in New York．
“You’ll recognize me,” she wrote，“by the red rose I’ll be wearing my coat.” So at 7：00 he was in the station looking for the girl with the red rose．
A girl in a green suit was coming toward him，her figure long and slim and her eyes were blue as flowers．Almost uncontrollably h
e came to her，and just at this moment he saw Hollis Maynell—a woman well past 40．The girl was walking quickly away．
He did not hesitate(犹豫)，saying，“I’m John，and you must be Miss Maynell．I am so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?”
The woman smiled, “I don’t know what this is about，son，” she answered，“but the young lady in the green suit begged me to wear this rose on my coat．And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner，I should tell you that she is waiting for you in the restaurant across the street．She said it was some kind of test!”
56．Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．John once met Miss Maynell somewhere before．
B．Miss Maynell was not honest．
C．John didn’t know who Miss Maynell really was when he spoke to the woman．
D．John and Miss Maynell kept in touch by telephone before they met．
57．From the last paragraph，we can learn that ．
A．the woman was waiting to be asked to dinner by John
B．the woman past 40 was Miss Maynell’s close friend
C．the woman wearing the red rose on her coat was Miss Maynell
D．Miss Maynell wanted to test John before they met
58．How did John learn about Miss Maynell at first?
A．They talked with each other on the Internet．
B．John knew her name while reading in a library．
C．They met each other in a bookstore．
D．The woman well past 40 years introduced them to each other．
59．From the passage，we can infer that ．
A．Miss Maynell would accept John as her boyfriend
B．Miss Maynell used to work in the library
C．John regretted not greeting the girl in green
D．John loved Miss Maynell because of her good looks
Tuvalu, a tiny country in the Pacific Ocean, has asked for help as it fears it will be swallowed up by the sea.
Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu’s nine little islands is more than five meters above the sea level. Salt water is already entering the country’s drinking water supply, as well as damaging plants that produce fruit and vegetable. Without urgent help, the country’s days are numbered.
But Tuvalu is not the first place to face sinking into the sea. Venice, a historic city in Italy best known for its canals, had sunk about 24 cm over the past 100 years. Experts say that it will have sunk another 20-50 cm by 2050. A century ago, St. Mark’s Square, the lowest point in the city, flooded about nine times a year. Nowadays, it happens more than 100 times. While Venice is slowly sinking into the mud on which it stands, Tuvalu’s rising sea level is caused by global warming.
The average global temperature has increased by almost 0.5 centigrade degrees over the past century; scientists expect it to rise by extra 13 degrees over the next 100 years.
Warmer weather makes glaciers (冰川) melt, adding more water to the ocean. The warmer temperatures also make water expand, so it takes up more space, causing the sea level to rise. The sea level has risen 10- 25 cm in the last 100 years.
The main cause of global warming is human pollution. Through burning coal, oil and gas, people have been increasing the green house gases in the atmosphere, such as CO2. This adds to the power of the greenhouse effect, making the planet even warmer.
Many scientists believe that, if the warming is not stopped, there will be huge climate changes. The sea level could rise by one meter this century.
Should this come true, the sea would swallow up millions of homes and the world will be flooded with “climate refugees” looking for somewhere to live.
72.We can infer from the second paragraph that ___________.
A. Tuvalu is in danger of being swallowed up by the sea
B. All Tuvalu’s islands are about five meters above the sea level
C. Drinking water in Tuvalu has been destroyed
D. Tuvalu is often flooded by storms and waves
73.The author uses Tuvalu and Venice as examples in order to explain_______________.
A. they are the first place sinking into the sea
B. they are both sinking into the mud where they stand
C. they will disappear in the future
D. their trouble is caused by global warming
74.What does “climate refugees” mean?
A. People who are forced away from their homeland by climate.
B. Climate changes.
C. Rare animals.
D. Climate effect.
75.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Tuvalu’s nine little islands are less than five meters above the sea level.
B. The average global temperature has risen by 1-3 centigrade degrees over the past 100 years.
C. The warmer temperature causes the sea level to rise.
D. There will be huge climate changes unless the warming is stopped.
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