A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a meeting in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets, one of these salesmen happened to kick over a table which held a display of baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their boarding.
All but one stopped, took a deep breath and experienced a twinge（刺痛）of sorrow for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his friends to go on without him, waved goodbye, and told one of them to call his wife when they arrived and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to where the apple stand had been overturned. He was glad he did.
The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her face. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets, and helped set the display up once more. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become damaged; then he set them aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take the $20 for the damage we did.” He continued, “I’m sorry for what we did and hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”
She nodded with her tears. As the salesman started to walk away, the blind girl called out to him, “Mr. ...”. He stopped, and turned back. She continued, “Thank you very much”.These salesmen were hurrying because they ________.
| A．had to attend an important meeting |
| B．wanted to have plenty of time at home |
| C．almost missed reaching the airplane |
| D．hoped to have Friday night’s party |
Which of the following is the correct order of what the salesman did?
a. He made an apology to the blind girl.
b. He told his friends to go on without him.
c. He experienced a twinge of sorrow.
d. He returned to the fallen apple stand.
e. He paid the girl $20 for the damage.
| A．c-e-b-d-a | B．c-b-d-e-a |
| C．d-b-c-a-e | D．d-c-b-e-a |
Which of the following can describe the salesman?
| A．Popular and friendly. | B．Good and humorous. |
| C．Honest and generous. | D．Kind and considerate. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．A Man’s Kind Action |
| B．Picking up the Fallen Apples |
| C．A Blind Girl’s Bad Luck |
| D．A Blind Girl Who Sold Apples |
Think about the different ways that people use the wind.You can use it to fly a kite or to sail a boat.Wind is one of our cleanest and richest power sources （来源），as well as one of the oldest.Evidence shows that windmills （风车） began to be used in ancient Iran back in the seventh century BC.They were first introduced to Europe during the 1100s,when armies returned from the Middle East with knowledge of using wind power.
For many centuries,people used windmills to grind （磨碎） wheat into flour or pump water from deep underground.When electricity was discovered in the late 1800s,people living in remote areas began to use them to produce electricity.This allowed them to have electric lights and radio.However,by the 1940s when electricity was available to people in almost all areas of the United States,windmills were rarely used.
During the 1970s,people started becoming concerned about the pollution that is created when coal and gas are burned to produce electricity.People also realized that the supply of coal and gas would not last forever.Then,wind was rediscovered,though it means higher costs.Today,there is a global movement to supply more and more of our electricity through the use of wind.From the text we know that windmills .
| A．were invented by European armies |
| B．have a history of more than 2,800 years |
| C．used to supply power to radio in remote areas |
| D．have rarely been used since electricity was discovered |
What was a new use for wind power in the late 19th century?
| A．Sailing a boat. |
| B．Producing electricity. |
| C．Grinding wheat into flour. |
| D．Pumping water from underground. |
One of the reasons wind was rediscovered in the 1970s is that .
| A．wind power is cleaner |
| B．it is one of the oldest power sources |
| C．it was cheaper to create energy from wind |
| D．the supply of coal and gas failed to meet needs |
What would the author probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
| A．The advantages of wind power. |
| B．The design of wind power plants. |
| C．The worldwide movement to save energy. |
| D．The global trend towards producing power from wind. |
Experts have put forward detailed plans for a tunnel to join Taiwan with the Chinese mainland.
The shortest proposed route would be 126 kilometers—more than twice the length of the English Channel Tunnel.And the longest proposed route would be 207 kilometers.
A recent conference in Xiamen，Fujian Province brought together more than 70 experts.The event was co-sponsored（共同发起） by universities from Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
Fujian is the province where both proposed routes would begin.
There is no direct passenger access between the mainland and Taiwan by air or sea at the moment.
Experts say that it is better to start research sooner rather than later，although there is a lack of government funding.There are no technical problems to build a Taiwan tunnel.But it will require an improved political relationship across the Straits（海峡）.
A professor of Tsinghua University said，“A special feature of huge projects is that the period of preparation is longer than the period of construction.”
For example，he said，the English Channel Tunnel took 14 years of planning and had been discussed for two centuries.And preparations for the huge Three Gorges（三峡） dam on the Yangtze River began in the 1950s.
The Xiamen conference focused on the longest southern route，which would use the Taiwan-controlled islands of Jinmen and Penghu as stepping stones.
The first stage of the new project could be a bridge to cross the five kilometres between Xiamen and Jinmen.This would mean that travelling from Xiamen to Jinmen by car would only take five minutes.
The longest tunnel now being planned anywhere in the world is the 54-kilometre land tunnel to link Lyon in France with Turin in Italy.The tunnel will not be completed until 2015-2020.Which is the longest tunnel in the world at present？
| A．The English Channel Tunnel. |
| B．The tunnel between Lyon and Turin. |
| C．The Taiwan Straits tunnel. |
| D．The passage doesn’t mention it. |
The example of the English Channel Tunnel shows
.
| A．it’s not easy to complete a huge project |
| B．there are many problems to be solved before doing something |
| C．discussions among countries usually take a lot of time |
| D．the preparation takes longer time than the construction |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Universities both at home and abroad have sponsored the plan. |
| B．If the project is completed，the world’s longest tunnel will appear. |
| C．You can’t reach Taiwan from the mainland directly at present. |
| D．The starting point of the proposed tunnel is in Fujian. |
What is the possible difficulty in carrying out the plan？
| A．The lack of money for the project from the government. |
| B．Improving the relationship between Taiwan and the mainland. |
| C．The detailed plans for the tunnel. |
| D．The technical problems with the tunnel. |
A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has come up with the unexpected conclusion that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species.
The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard Universities when they were examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to modern elephants—the Asian elephant,African forest elephant,and African savanna elephant.
Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石)，mammoths and mastodons,the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants.They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and mammoths.
The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephant and the African forest elephant have been distinct species for several million years.The divergence of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly mammoths.This result amazed all the scientists.
There has long been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate species,but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different species.
Previously,many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest elephants were two populations of the same species,despite the elephants’ significant size differences.The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5 metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5 metres.The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons,roughly double the weight of the forest elephant.But the fact that they look so different does not necessarily mean they are different species.However the proof lay in the analysis of the DNA.
Alfred Roca,assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois,said,“We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for conservation purposes.Since 1950,all African elephants have been conserved as one species.Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinctive animals,the forest elephant should become a bigger priority(优先) for conservation purposes.”One of the fossils studied by the researchers is that of .
| A．the Asian elephant |
| B．the forest elephant |
| C．the savanna elephant |
| D．the mastodon elephant |
The underlined word “divergence” in Paragraph 4 means “ ”.
| A．evolution |
| B．exhibition |
| C．separation |
| D．examination |
The researchers’ conclusion was based on a study of the African elephant’s .
| A．DNA |
| B．height |
| C．weight |
| D．population |
What are Alfred Roca’s words mainly about?
| A．The conservation of African elephants. |
| B．The purpose of studying African elephants. |
| C．The way to divide African elephants into two units. |
| D．The reason for the distinction of African elephants. |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Naturalists’ Beliefs about Elephants |
| B．Amazing Experiments about Elephants |
| C．An Unexpected Finding about Elephants |
| D．A Long Scientific Debate about Elephants |
Vincent Van Gogh，for whom color was the main symbol of expression，was born in Groot-Zundert，Holland in 1853.He was brought up in a cultured family. Vincent was highly emotional and wasn’t self-confident. Between 1860 and 1880，when he finally decided to become an artist，Van Gogh had two unhappy love stories and worked unsuccessfully in Belgium. He remained there to study art，and decided to give happiness by creating beauty. Of the works of his early Dutch period，the most famous is “The Potato Eaters”.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo ，the manager of Goupil’s gallery. In Paris，Van Gogh studied with Cormon ，later met Pissarro，Monet，and Gauguin，and began to lighten his very dark palette(调色板).His nervousness made him a difficult person to get along with and night-long discussions and painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help set up a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with bad results. Near the end of 1888,Van Gogh ran after Gauguin with an open razor(剃须刀),was stopped by him，but ended up cutting a part of his own ear off. It led Gauguin to finally leave Arles.
In the May of 1890，Van Gogh seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the eye Dr Gachet. Two months later he was dead，having shot himself “for the good of all”. During his life he had sold one painting. Van Gogh’s finest works were produced in less than three years. Vincent Van Gogh expressed himself in his works mainly _______.
| A．by shape |
| B．by color |
| C．with brush lines |
| D．with words |
Before Vincent Van Gogh started to learn art_______.
| A．he did a good job |
| B．he was popular with the other artists |
| C．he lived a frustrating life |
| D．he had no interest in art |
The underlined word “undermined” in the second paragraph could be replaced by “_______”.
| A．affected |
| B．protected |
| C．tested |
| D．changed |
Why didn’t Gauguin want to work with Van Gogh any longer?
| A．Gauguin hated to be a teacher. |
| B．Van Gogh didn’t like him at all. |
| C．Gauguin cut off a part of Van Gogh’s ear. |
| D．Something was wrong with Van Gogh’s mind. |
Which of the following about Van Gogh is TRUE?
| A．He was a confident boy when he was young. |
| B．He was born in Belgium and once worked in Holland. |
| C．He lost a part of his ear at the age of 35. |
| D．He had never sold any paintings during his life. |
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| A．A piece of exercise equipment |
| B．A club membership card |
| C．A commercial health club |
| D．An electric wheelchair |
How many people bought ROM after trying it out?
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One setting point of ROM is that ____
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