As a junior at McGill University, Doreen Sykora had a difficult time when she first began college. She said, “I was always well prepared for my examinations. But when I go into class to take the exam, I would fall apart. I could just blank out because of nervousness and fear.” Hitoshi Sakamoto, an anthropology(人类学) student at Temple University in Tokyo reports similar experiences.
These two young students were experiencing something called test anxiety. Because a student worries and is stressed about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the severe tension and nervousness.
Now there are special university courses to help students. In these courses, advisors and psychologists try to help students by teaching them to manage test anxiety. Such a course helps students learn to live with stress and not fail because of it. First students take a practice test to measure their worry level. If the tests show that their stress level is high, the students can take a short course to manage the fear. These courses teach students how to relax their bodies. They get training to become calm in very tense situations. By controlling their nervousness, they can let their minds work more easily. Learned information then comes out without difficulty on a test.
Doreen Sykora saw immediate results after taking such a course. She now has enthusiasm about the relaxation methods. “Mostly, what I do is imagine myself in a very calm place. Then I imagine myself picking up a pencil. I move slowly and carefully. I breathe easily and let all the tension out. With each breath, more worry leaves me. It really works too. My grades have improved greatly! I’m really doing well at McGill now. This relaxation method works not only on examinations, but it has improved the rest of my life as well.”
For Hitoshi in Tokyo, the results were much the same. He is enjoying school a lot more and learning more.What is the similarity between Doreen Sykora and Hitoshi Sakamoto?
| A．They both had experiences of test anxiety. |
| B．They failed in all the examinations. |
| C．They are students from the same university. |
| D．They both had the same poor studying habits. |
The underlined phrase “blank out” in Paragraph 1 refers to “_______.”
| A．get an extra paper |
| B．be unable to think clearly |
| C．lose interest in the exam |
| D．refuse to take the exam |
What’s the purpose of some special university student-help courses?
| A．To learn more knowledge about test anxiety. |
| B．To show a stress level experienced by students. |
| C．To help students to reduce test anxiety. |
| D．To have a better understanding of test anxiety. |
More than three years after moving from Australia to this remote part of England, we are still learning how things are done here.
Not too long after we arrived and unpacked, we were invited for “a drink on Sunday morning” by a retired couple nearby. We got there about noon, to find the living-room crowded — lots of chat and discussions, and in all a very jolly occasion.
Trouble was, there was no food — no self-respecting Australian would regard a tray of crisps as food. In Sydney, when you are invited for a drink any time after midday on a Sunday, you know you will be fed as well as watered and you plan accordingly. Meaning the hardworked little woman makes no plans to cook lunch because you are eating out.
By one-fifteen my stomach was sending up “please explain” to me. Even the crisps had gone. There was nothing we could do except wait, and wonder if the hostess was going to perform some magic and feed us fashionably late. Then, as quickly as if word had spread that there was free beer at the local pub, the room emptied. By one-forty-five there were only a few guests left, so we decided to go home. Tinned soup for lunch that day because the little woman was not really interested in real cooking for us.
A few weeks ago we were invited out for “supper” and the hostess suggested 8:15. Ah, we thought greedily, “this is going to be the real thing.”
We dressed with some care — I putting on a dark suit — and arrived on time. My wife looked pretty good, I thought — a little black dress and so on. But when we walked in I had a terrible feeling we had got the night wrong because the hostess was dressed in a daytime kind of way and the husband was in jeans and an open-neck shirt. But no, we were greeted and shown into the sitting-room.
After a drink I looked around and saw that this was indeed a superior cottage because it had a (more or less) separate dining-room. But there were no signs of a table-setting. Not again! I thought. Were we meant to eat before we came? I decided that in future my wife and I would always carry a chocolate bar. About 9:28 our hostess went out of the room, saying something about food. Ten minutes later she returned and asked us to follow. We were led out to the kitchen. There on the table were country style plates and a huge bowl of soup, rough bread and all the makings of a simple meal. And that is what it was. In other words we had not read the signals right when we were invited for “supper”. If they want you to come to dinner, they say so, and you know that means dark suits and so on. If they mean supper, they say it, and you get fed in the kitchen.
1．When the author and his wife were invited out for “a drink on Sunday morning”, they thought _________.
A. they would be the only people there
B. they would be given lunch as well
C. they would be taken to a restaurant for lunch
D. they would be asked to take some food with them
2．The “party” had been going on for about an hour and three quarters when _________.
A. the hostess decided to feed her guests
B. everyone had tinned soup for lunch
C. most of the guests went to lunch at the pub
D. the author realized he would go home hungry
3．When invited out for “supper” a few weeks later, the writer _________.
A. expected to be served a proper dinner
B. arrived on the wrong evening
C. interpreted the invitation correctly this time
D. realized there was no dining-room in the cottage
4．As the evening wore on, the writer became aware that _________.
A. no one used their dining-rooms in the countryside
B. he should have had a meal before going out
C. “supper” meant a simple, informal meal
D. he should, in future, eat only chocolate in the evening
The first people who gave names to hurricanes were those who knew them best — the people of Puerto Rico. The small island of Puerto Rico is in the West Indies, off the coast of Florida. This is where all the hurricanes begin that strike the east coast of the United States. Often they pass near Puerto Rico or cross it on their way north. The people of Puerto Rico expect some of these unwelcome visitors every year. Each one is named after the Saint’s Day on which it arrives. Two of the most destructive storms were the Santo Ana in 1840 and the San Ciriaco in 1899.
Giving girls’ names to hurricanes is a fairly new idea. It all began with a story called “Storm”, written by George Stewart in 1941. In it a weatherman amused himself by naming storms after girls he knew. He named one Maria. The story describes how she Maria grew and developed, and how she changed the lives of people when she struck the United States.
Weathermen of the U.S. Army and Navy used the same system during World WarⅡ. They were studying weather conditions over the Pacific Ocean. One of their duties was to warn American ships and planes when a storm was coming. Whenever they spotted one, they gave it a girl’s name. The first one of the year was given a name beginning with [A]. The second one got a name beginning with [B]. They used all the letters from A to W, and still the storms kept coming. They had to use three lists from A to W to have enough names to go around. This was the first list of hurricane names that followed the alphabet. It served as a model for the system the Weather Bureau (局) introduced in 1942.
Before 1950 the Weather Bureau had no special system for naming hurricanes. When a hurricane was born down in the West Indies, the Weather Bureau simply collected information about it. It reported how fast the storm was moving and where it would go next. Weather reports warned people in the path of the hurricane, so that they could do whatever was necessary to protect themselves.
This system worked out fine as long as weather reports talked about only one hurricane at a time. But one week in September 1950 there were three hurricanes at the same time. The things began to get confused. Some people got the hurricanes mixed up and didn’t know which was which. This convinced the Weather Bureau that it needed a code for naming the storms in order to avoid confusion in the future.
1．Hurricanes were first named after the _________.
A. date on which they occurred
B. place where they began
C. amount of destruction they did
D. particular feature they have
2．The practice of giving girls’ names to hurricanes was started by _________.
A. a radio operator B. an author C. a sailor D. local people
3．The purpose for which weathermen of the army and navy began using girls’ names for hurricanes was _________.
A. to keep information from the enemy
B. to follow the standard method of the United States
C. not given in the article
D. to remember a certain girl
4．The Weather Bureau began naming hurricanes because it would help them _________.
A. collect information more rapidly
B. warn people more efficiently
C. make use of military (军事的) records
D. remember them
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，从每篇短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
HOUSTON (Reuters) — Houston tops a U.S. magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities in the top 25.
Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national average number — are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.
“Americans work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when they’re faced with the worst food choices, they indulge (沉溺于) in those,” he said.
High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute (每天去上班的路程) times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2003 heavy weight champion, the magazine said.
Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major food company to develop healthy food products and the city’s public schools to improve lunch menus, called the report “mostly ungrounded and nonsense.”
“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to deal with,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.
The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.
Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise.
“It’s pure big indulgence, just living big, and that’s part of the culture,” said Boulton.
Seattle ranked as the fittest city. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25.
1．What decides the magazine’s annual fattest list?
A. The size of fat population. B. The number of fast food restaurants.
C. The economic growth rate of the state. D. Things related to unhealthy ways of life.
2．Which city topped 2003 fattest cities list?
A. Houston. B. Dallas. C. Detroit. D. Philadelphia.
3．By saying “living big” (in Paragraph 9), Boulton means people _________.
A. are growing fatter B. are living wastefully
C. eat too many fatty foods D. are spending too much time working
4．Which of the following is best supported by the text?
A. Texas has the most fat cities in the U.S.
B. Bill White is happy with the newspaper report.
C. People in Texas are the most hardworking in the U.S.
D. Most school children in Houston have weight problems.
Venice, one of the cities in Italy,was founded in A.D.811 by the people of Malamocco, fleeing （逃跑）from the Franks. It was said that they were guided by pigeons carrying little crosses, and settled where now Venice lies.
Venice is built on 117 islands. It has 150 canals and 400 bridges. The narrow streets, with their historic names, are covered with stones,but have no footpaths. They are dotted with flower shop signs and lanterns. Shops and palaces stand by side. The brick bridges are high enough to allow boats to pass freely under them.
The center of public life is St. Mark’s Square where tourists and citizens sit in the famous Florian and Quadri cafes to listen to music, enjoying themselves. The Quadri is more popular but the Florian, founded in 1720, is the best-known cafe because it has received such great persons as Byron (an English poet) and Goethe (a German poet).
Unfortunately the special position of Venice is threatening（威胁）it’s own existence. The terrain（地势）on which it is built began to sink while the level of the surrounding waters is constantly rising. Howe’ver, many measures have already been taken to prevent the city from sinking.
1. In the second paragraph, the author ______.
A. showed up where Venice is B. told us who built the city of Venice
C. described what Venice is like D. talked about why Venice is surrounded by waters
2. Which of the following shows the right relationship?（○=Italy;△="Venice;□=St.Marks" Square）
3. Why is the Florian the famous cafe? Because ______.
A. it appeared in Byron and Goethe’s poems
B. it is more close to St. Mark’s Square than the Quadri
C. it was founded in 1720,much older than the Quadri
D. Byron and Goethe were once it’s customers
4. From the article we can see that ______.
A. many people have fled because Venice’s existence is being threatened
B. the level of the surrounding water is constantly rising because the city of Venice began to sink
C. the government has already taken many measures to save the city from going down
D. many steps have already been taken to prevent the terrain from rising
Central Park
Outside among the trees, watch the wildlife — both the human and animal varieties. Call (212)360 — 3465 or (212)360 — 2726 for events and tours. Central Park stretches from 59th to 110th Sts., and from 5th Ave. to Central Park. West.
Empire State Building
This is among the most striking building in the city, the nation,even the world. The observation dock (瞭望台) on the 86th floor is open to general public, offering a wonderful view of the second floor youll find the New York Skyride, a simulated (模拟的) helicopter ride. Over Manhattan.5th Ave. at 34th St., Midtown/ (212)736 — 3100.
Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum
Five blocks west of Time Square, this museum has hundreds of air, deep-sea and space exhibit’s. Walk the fight deck of the 900-foot-long aircraft carrier Intrepid,see dozens of old and modern aircraft and ride the Intrepid Navy Flight Simulator.Pier 86,W. 46th St.and 12th Ave./(212)245-0072.
Madison Square Garden
If it’s big, it probably happens at the Garden. Check out sporting events, concerts and much more.Tours are available. 7th Ave, btwn. 31th and 33th Sts., Midtown/(212)4656-741.
1. The New York Skyride is for ______.
A. sightseeing B. fight training
C. model plane-sports D. city transportation
2. If a visitor is interested in music,he will probably go to______.
A. Central Park B. Empire State Building
C. Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum D. Madison Square Garden
3. What is the purpose of these texts?
A. To provide information of living in New York.
B. To provide directions of city traffic in New York.
C. To give visitors a guide to New York.
D. To give a brief introduction to the history of New York.
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