When Charles Strattion was five, he stopped growing. His mother took him to see the famous showman, P. T. Barnum, and thought a small person would be the perfect addition to his show. He hired Charles’ parents along with him, and they traveled around the world together.
He gave the two-foot-tall Charles a new name, general Tom Thumb. He taught Tom how to sing, dance, act, and tell jokes. When he felt Tom was ready to perform on stage, he made up ads. To stir up great interest, he said that Tom was eleven years old and had come from England.
Tom’s act was very popular and brought in a lot of money. By the time Tom was an adult, he had grown very rich. He had become a billionaire at the age of twenty-five.
Fortunately for Tom, Mr. Barnum added more little people to his show, and Tom became lucky in love as well. One of the little people was Lavinia Warren, a school teacher. Tom was able to win her love, and they married.
The ceremony and reception were the talk of the town. They were attended by many rich and famous people and by about two thousand guests. Crowds filled the street of New York to have a look at their tiny wedding carriage. The couple even met with President Abraham Lincoln on their honeymoon, just before going to live in Tom’s house in Connecticut.
Their wedding, which took place during the Civil War, provided a welcome escape from the sad problems of war. Not willing to let this bit of sunshine fade, communities throughout the country held Tom Thumb’s weddings. In these weddings, small boys and girls, all dressed up, went through marriage ceremony for fun.“the talk of the town” means .
| A．they were in the newspaper |
| B．people spread many rumors about them |
| C．they were the most popular things happening |
| D．they were discussed in a city meeting |
What does the author think about Tom Thumb’s wedding?
| A．People gave it too much of their attention. |
| B．It helped people cheer up in a dark time |
| C．It was funny and ridiculous |
| D．Tom and Lavinia were stupid. |
Which of the following is the best description of the fact that Tom was smart?
| A．He became a billionaire at twenty-five |
| B．He learned how to sing, dance, and act at a very young age. |
| C．He met with President Lincoln during his honeymoon |
| D．He married a school teacher. |
It was very funny when Tom danced on a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall because .
| A．the wooden plate would make it sound as of Tom were tap dancing |
| B．it made Tom feel taller |
| C．the eight-foot-tall man was the only tall person Tom trusted |
| D．the difference between them would make Tom look even smaller |
What does the author imply in the last paragraph?
| A．Weddings always make people feel full of sunshine |
| B．People are always disappointed during wartime |
| C．Entertainment can serve an important purpose |
| D．People should be married even if they are small |
D
Wrting artieles about films for The Front Page was my first proper job. Before then I had done bits of reviewing --- novels for other newspapers, films for a magazine and anything I was asked to do for the radio．That was how I met Tom Seaton, the first arts editor of The Front Page, who had also written for television．He hired me, but Tom was not primarily a journalist, or he would certainly have been more careful in choosing his staff．
At first, his idea was that a team of critics should take care of the art forms that didn’t require specialized knowledge: books, TV, theatre, film and radio．There would be a weekly lunch at which we would make our choices from the artistic material that Tom had decided we should cover, though there would also be guests to make the atmosphere sociable．
It all felt like a bit of dream at that time: a new newspaper and I was one of the team．It seemed so unlikely that a paper could be introduced into a crowded market．It seemed just as likely that a millionaire wanted to help me personally, and was pretending to employ me．Such was my lack of self-confidence．
Tom’s original scheme for a team of critics for the arts never took off．It was a good idea, but we didn’t get together as planned and so everything was done by phone．It turned out, too, that the general public out there preferred to associate a reviewer with a single subject area, and so I chose film．Without Tom’s initial push, though, we would hardly have come up with the present arrangement, by which I write an extended weekly piece, usually on one film．
The space I am given allows me to broaden my argument --- or forces me, in an uninteresting week, to make something out of nothing．But what is my role in the public arena? I assume that people choose what films to go to on the basis of the stars, the publicity or the director．So if a film review isn’t really a consumer guide, what is it? I certainly don’t feel I have a responsibility to be ‘right’ about a movie．Nor do I think there should be a certain number of ‘great’ and ‘bad’ films each year．All I have to do is put forward an argument．I’m not a judge, and nor would I want to be．
67．What do we learn about Tom Seaton from the first paragraph?
A．He encouraged Mark to become a writer．
B．He had worked in various areas of the media．
C．He met Mark when working for television．
D．He prefers to employ people that he knows．
68．The weekly lunches were planned in order to .
A．help the writers get to know each other
B．provide an informal information session
C．distribute the work that had to be done
D．entertain important visitors from the arts
69．What does the author mean when he says that Tom’s plan ‘never took off’ in Paragraph 4?
A．It was unpopular.
B．It wasted too much time.
C．It wasn’t planned properly.
D．It wasn’t put into practice.
70．Which of the following best describes what Mark says about his work?
A．His success varies from year to year．
B．He prefers to write about films he likes．
C．He can freely express his opinion．
D．He writes according to accepted rules．
C
At present, in many American cities expecially, many teachers in the public schools say they are underpaid. They point to jobs such as secretary or truck driver, which often pay more to start than that of a teacher. In many other fields, such as law, medicine, computer science, a beginning worker may make more than a teacher who has taught for several years.
Teaching has never been a profession that attracted people interested in high salaries. It is by history a profession that has provided rewards in addition to money—the satisfaction of sharing knowledge, of influencing others, of guiding young people. But in the past several years, there are more difficulties in teaching, for many, than there are rewards.
Unruly students, especially in big cities, large classes and a lack of support from the public in terms of money and understanding have led many public school teachers to leave the profession.
As a result, many of the best students, who would have chosen teaching as their life career in the past, are going into other fields.
Another reason for this change in teacher candidates is the changing status of women in the United States. Until the late 1960s and 1970s, one of the most popular choices for women was teaching. But as other professions, such as law and medicine opened up to women, women stopped pouring into teacher training programs. Thus, a major pool of excellent candidates for the teaching profession dwindled.
Bit by bit government officials and others realized that the status of the teacher had suffered. They talked about change. But the change in a vast society like the United States is not easy. People’s attitudes have formed over many years, and sometimes change takes many years.
63．The underlined word “that” in Paragraph 1 refers to “ ”.
A．money B．job
C．secretary D．truck driver
64．What is the present situation of the teaching?
A．Teachers work harder and get underpaid.
B．Teahcers have no opportunities to work in other fields.
C．Teaching can attract best students to work as a teacher.
D．Teaching can provide rewards as well as high salaries.
65．Many public school teachers turn to other professions because .
A．the government doesn’t finacially support them
B．they have to work longer hours than a lawyer
C．their students refuse to listen to them
D．they are not fairly treated
66．The author believes that change in teachers’ status in the United States .
A．is not great
B．is impossible
C．influences people’s attitude
D．needs time
B
At the middle school level, there are many academic clubs in which students can participate. Students can choose clubs that focus on an area of interest.
Mathcounts Club
Mathcounts tries to increase excitement towards mathematic achievement. It hopes to provide students with the foundation for success in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. Schools select individuals and teams to participate in competitions. Local competitions are held in February with winners progressing to state competitions and then on to the national level. Mathcounts works to challenge student math skills, develop self-confidence and give rewards for their achievements.
Envirothon
The Envirothon program focuses on natural resources knowledge and exposes students to diverse environmental issues, ecosystems, and topography. The ecology field competition for five-member middle school teams offers competitions in wildlife, soils, forestry, current environmental issues and aquatics. Students work and learn in middle school clubs and can compete at the local and state level.
Future Problem Solvers
Future Problem Solvers is an academic club that uses a six-step process to solve problems that may happen in the future. Students who are in the talented and gifted program, who like to “think out of the box,” or who enjoy thinking about futuristic problems may like this club. Teams comprised of four students read future scenes and write up solutions in a booklet using the six-step process. Teams that score high enough can go to the state competition and then to the international competition.
Builders Club
Builders Club is open to any middle school student who wishes to perform community service. Each Builders Club is co-sponsored by a Kiwanis club and the middle school. The members learn by doing, and they learn organization, teamwork, and leadership. Builders Clubs can sponsor a "Teacher of the Year" program, provide a recycling collection point, organize canned food and clothing drives to support local shelters, adopt a resident at a local senior citizens home, adopt a highway, tutor, etc.
Middle school academic clubs offer students a place to explore interests or talents. The clubs they join in middle school can help guide choices in high school and beyond.
59．The students who are not interested in competitions woudld like to choose .
A．Mathecounts Club B．Builders Club
C．Future Problem Solvers D．Envirothon
60．Why do some of the students choose Mathcounts Club?
A．To be successful in science careers.
B．To enjoy solving future problems.
C．To perform community service.
D．To study wildlife and soils.
61．What is the common feature of the four clubs?
A．Competitions. B．Sponsorship.
C．Scientific researches. D．Teamwork.
62．The passage mainly talks about .
A．the state academic competitions B．middle school clubs
C．extra – curricular activities D．the gifted students
三、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，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
A
One warm May day, two eighteen – year – old students from San Francisco State College decided to cool off with a swim at Bakers’ Beach. The two students were named Robert Kogler and Shirley O’Neill. They headed out to sea for a distance of 50 metres. Robert was in front.
“Suddenly, I heard him scream,” Shirley recalls. “I looked round and saw this great grey thing going up in the air. The water seemed to be alive.”
Robert sereamed again. “It’s a shark! Get out of here!”
An eye – witness, Army Sergeant Leo P. Day was on guard at the nearby army post. He saw exactly what happened next. “I could see this boy struggling with the shark in the water,” he said. “The sea was red with blood. He was shouting and signalling someone to go back, go back. Then I saw the girl. She was swimming towards him. She completely ignored his warning.”
Shirley reached Robert, and tried to take his hand.
“When I pulled, all I could see was his arm, handing by a thread,” she said.
So she put her arm about Robert’s back, and started to swim towards the shore. She kept praying “Don't’ let it attack again!” That journey to the shore seemed to last for hours. At last, as they neared the shore, a fisherman threw them a line, and pulled them both the rest of the way.
The young man had lost a lot of blood, and died two and a half hours later, From the teeth marks, experts identified the attacker as a Great White Shark.
For what Sergeant Day called “the greatest exhibition of bravery I have ever seen,” the President of the US gave Shirley a medal for bravery.
56．When Albert was attacked by a shark Shirley .
A．was swimming in the sea
B．was watching him on the shore
C．was on guard at the nearby army post
D．was shouting and struggling with a shark, too
57．Choose the right time order of the following events in the story.
a. Army Sergeant saw the girl swimming to the boy.
b. Shirley saw a great grey thing.
c. They headed out to sea.
d. Robert died.
e. A fisherman threw them a line.
f. He saw a boy struggling with a shark.
A．b,c,e,d,f,a B．c,a,f,d,e,b C．b,c,f,a,d,e D．c,b,f,a,e,d
58．We can learn from the passage that .
A．the two students were brave and considerate
B．the fisherman was adventurous and helpful
C．the experts didn’t do much research on sharks
D．the Sergeant cared too much about his own life
D
The recent, apparently successful, prediction by mathematical models of an appearance of El Nino—the warm ocean How that periodically develops along the Pacific coast of South America has excited researchers．Jacob Bjerknes pointed out years ago how winds might create either abnormally warm or abnormally cold water in the eastern equatorial （赤道附近的） Pacific．Nevertheless, before the creation of the models, no one could explain why conditions should regularly change between appearances of the warm El Nino and the so-called anti-El Nino．The answer, at least if the current model that links the behavior of the ocean to that of the atmosphere is correct, is to be found in the ocean．
It has long been known that during an El Nino, two conditions exist: unusually warm water extends along the eastern Pacific and winds blow from the west into the warmer air rising over the warm water in the east．The contribution of the model is to show that the winds of an El Nino, which raise sea level in the east, send a signal to the west lowering sea level at the same time．According to the model, that signal is created as a negative （负的） Rossby wave, a wave of lower sea level, that moves westward parallel to the equator at 25 to 85 kilometers per day．Taking months to move across the Pacific, Rossby waves march to the western boundary of the Pacific basin, which is modeled as a smootli wall but in reality consists of quite irregular island chains．
When the waves meet the western boundary, they are reflected, and the model predicts that Rossby waves will be broken into many coastal Kelvin waves carrying the same negative sea-level signal．These eventually shoot toward the equator, and then head eastward along the equator drove by the earth at a．speed of about．250 kilometers per day．When enough Kelvin waves of adequate amplitude （振幅） arrive from the western Pacific, their negative sea-level signal overcomes the feedback mechanism, raising the sea level, and they begin to drive the system into the opposite cold mode．This produces a gradual change in winds, one that will eventually send positive sea-level Rossby waves westward, waves that will eventually return as cold cycle—ending positive Kelvin waves beginning another warming cycle．
67．What is the passage mainly about?
A．How Rossby waves are found．
B．Where El Nino is formed．
C．What the models predict．
D．How the models work．
68．Where does El Nino often appear?
A．Along the western coast of the
USA .
B．In the Pacific in the south, of the equator．
C．In the Pacific in the north of the equator．
D．Along the southern coast of South America．
69．What is right according to the passage?
A．Rossby waves and Kelvin waves move in opposite directions along the equator．
B．People could explain El Nino before the creation of the mathematical models．
C．Adequate sea-level waves can produce westward positive cold cycle．
D．The speed of Rossby waves is faster than that of Kelvin waves．
70．What does the underlined word "waves" in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A．Kelvin waves． B．Sea-level signals． C．Coastal waves． D．Rossby waves．
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