Chinese students get annual stress test
More than nine million people sit the exams.known as the gaokao and it seems that the wholecountry keeps a respectful distance-even the carhorns are banned near the exam halls.
About 280, 000 police officers are put on securitytraffic detail during the exams. There are 106roadblocks around the exam halls in Beijing alone.
People need a bit of help around exam time andthere are large crowds around the Buddhist temples.At Yaoshan in Henan Province, authorities areallowing candidates to "hug the feet" of their 200-metre tall Buddha there for free during theexaminations to bring good luck.
The candidates' chances of getting into college are better than ever — the 9.15 million students are competing for 6.85 million places, and the numbers are falling: they are down l.4 million since 2008.
The education ministry said this was because the graduation-age population has fallen and becausemore students want to study abroad. There is also a feeling that the safe job in the public sector-the"iron rice bow"— which many students are hoping to achieve after graduation,is not the draw it used to be as the private sector becomes more alluring.
Every year at this time, teachers are on thelookout for increasingly inventive cheats. Earlier this week, police in Jiangxi Province discovered a group of people making exam-cheatingequipments, and arrested 63 people.
One 83-year-old man took the exams for the12th time this year, saying everyone needs theirdream. "He needs a better dream," one personquipped on the net. "Don't take a place away from a young person." From the passage we can infer that ____________.
| A．the car whistles are completely cancelledduring the college entrance exam |
| B．the college entrance exam is considered awesome by all the country |
| C．about 280, 000 police officers are put on security traffic detail in Beijing during gaokao |
| D．"hugging the feet"of the Buddha must bring good luck to the candidates |
The number of the students sitting the college entrance exam in 2008 is ________.
| A．more than 10. 5 million |
| B．less than l. 4 million |
| C．9.15 million |
| D．6. 85 million |
Which of the following statements is not the reason for the falling candidate number?
| A．The graduation-age population has fallen. |
| B．More students want to study abroad. |
| C．The "iron rice bowl" is not the draw. |
| D．The cost of attending the college is high. |
The underlined word in the last paragraphprobably means in Chinese.
| A．嘲讽 |
| B．关心 |
| C．担忧 |
| D．装备 |
In China, more and more middle school students are getting shorter sleeping time than before. More students sleep less than nine hours every night, because they have much homework to do. Some homework is given by their teachers, and some by their parents. Also, some students don’t know how to save time. They are not careful enough while they do their homework, so it takes them a lot of time. Some students spend too much time watching TV or playing computer games. They stay up very late. Some students have to get up early every morning on weekdays to get to school on time by bus of by bike . It can be a long way from home to school. It will probably make them sleepy during school hours.
Schools and parents should cut down some of the homework so that our children can enjoy more than nine hours of sleep every night for their health. For children, they should make the most best use of their time. When they have enough time for sleeping .They will find it much better for both their study and health.
1 What make most students sleep less than nine hours every night?
A. Doing housework. B. Playing computer games.
C. Doing homework. D. Watching TV.
2 Who else gives children some homework to do except their teachers according to the article?
A. Their parents. B. Other students. C. Nobody else. D. They themselves.
3 How many hours of sleep is good for students’ health?
A. Only 9 hours. B. Over 9 hours. C. 8 hours. D. Less than 9 hours.
4 Which is the following is NOT true?
A. Some students are careless that they spent much time on the homework.
B. All the students stay up late for their homework.
C. Schools and parents should take care of children’s health.
D. Children should be given less homework.
第二部分 阅读理解 (满分45分)
第一节 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。 (每小题2分)
When we think of Hollywood, we think of films and famous film stars. They are part of Hollywood’s history. Today people make films in other places, too. Not all famous film stars live in Hollywood. But Hollywood is still a very special part in Los Angeles, California.
You can easily see where Hollywood is in Los Angeles. There is a big sign on the hills. It says “HOLLYWOOD”. The white letters are fifty feet tall. You can see the sign from far away. The Hollywood sign is a famous Hollywood landmark (标记) in Los Angeles. Many postcards show this famous Hollywood landmark.
In the hills of Hollywood, there is also the Hollywood Bowl. This is an open-air theatre. It is one of the biggest open-air theatres in the world. It has seventeen thousand seats and a very different stage (舞台). The designer (设计师) of the stage was a great American called Frank Lloyd Wright. You can listen to different kinds of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.
1The best title for the article should be “____”.
A. The History of Hollywood B. Hollywood
C. Famous Films and Film Stars D. Famous Hollywood Sign
2 We learn from the reading that ____ .
A. Hollywood is one part of Los Angeles
B. Hollywood is now a place only for travelers
C. all the films are made In Hollywood
D. “HOLLYWOOD” can just be seen from far away
3 The word “special” in the last sentence of the first paragraph means ____ .
A. unusual B. famous C. old D. new
4At the Hollywood Bowl ____ .
A. all postcards are made B. only 7000 people can get together
C. people can enjoy music D. you can hardly listen to all kinds of concerts
What do consumers really want? That’s a question market researchers would love to answer. But since people don’t always say what they think, marketers would need direct access to consumers’ thoughts to get the truth.
Now, in a way, that is possible. At the “Mind of the Market” laboratory at Harvard Business School, researchers are looking inside shoppers’ skulls to develop more effective advertisements and marketing styles. Using imaging techniques that measure blood flow to various parts of the brain, the Harvard team hopes to predict how consumers will react to particular products and to discover the most effective ways to present information. Stephen Kosslyn, a professor of psychology at Harvard, and business school professor Gerald Zaltman, oversee the lab. “The goal is not to influence people’s preferences,” says Kosslyn, “just to speak to their actual desires."
The group’s findings, though still preliminary (初步的), could change how firms develop and market new products. The Harvard group use position emission tomography (PET) scans to monitor the brain activity. These PET scans, along with other imaging techniques, enable researchers to see which parts of the brain are active during specific tasks(such as remembering a word).Correlations (相互关系) have been found between blood flow to specific areas and future behavior. Because of this, Harvard researchers believe the scans can also predict future purchasing patterns. According to an unpublished paper the group produced, “It is possible to use these techniques to predict not only whether people will remember and have specific emotional reactions to certain materials, but also whether they tend to want those materials months later.”
The Harvard group is now moving into the next stage of experiments. They will explore how people remember advertisements as part of an effort to predict how they will react to a product after having seen an ad. The researchers believe that once key areas of the brain are identified, scans on about two dozen volunteers will be enough to draw conclusions about the reactions of specific sections of the population. Large corporations-including Coca Cola, Eastman Kodak, General Motors, and Hallmark-have already signed up to fund further investigations.
For their financial support, these firms gain access to the experiments but cannot control them. If Kosslyn and Zahman and their team really can read the mind of the market, then consumers may find it even harder to get those advertising jingles-out of their heads when buying things.
1. Which of the following statements can be the best title for this passage?
A. Reading the Mind of the Market. 
B. Influencing the Customers’ Choice.
C. Influencing the Style of Advertising.
D. Experimenting with the Way to Foretell
2. Why do the Harvard researchers use scientific technology in the experiments?
A. Because they want to find a better way to persuade people into purchasing patterns in the future.
B. Because they don’t trust the findings already done by other researchers.
C. Because they want to see how particular products can influence consumers and find out the most effective ways to advertise.
D. Because they think the marketing strategies can actually be changed after the experiments.
3. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A. People sometimes hide their true feelings when questioned by the marketing surveyors.
B. Stephen Kosslyn and Gerald Zaltman are in charge of the experiment and think ill of the study.
C. Harvard researchers have found some relation between people’s brain and future behavior.
D. Many large companies finance the Harvard group’s further investigations.
4. What does “to speak to” in the 2nd paragraph mean?
A. To communicate with. B. To say to.
C. To talk to. D. To respond to.
5. The last sentence of the passage implies that ___________.
A. it is very likely that customers will buy unnecessary things just depending on the ads in the future.
B. in fact, the real purpose of Harvard group’s research is to attract more consumers into the market.
C. Coca Cola or the General Motors can exploit the findings of the experiments in their own marketing.
D. Consumers may find it more difficult to get out of the advertising jungle and it may cause them headaches.
Nine-year-old Barack Obama was looking through a magazine and he was shocked by a series of photos. The pictures were of a black man who destroyed his skin with chemicals that promised to make him white.
For the first time, the African-American boy began to doubt who he was.
However, now the boy who used to struggle with his identity doesn’t see it as a problem any more, but an advantage for his successful career. Last year Obama made history by being elected as the first black president of the United States. He defeated John McCain in a landslide victory.
Obama’s story starts in opposite corners of the world. His white mother was born in the heartland of the US. His black father grew up in a tiny village in Kenya. They met during college in Hawaii, but his father left the family when Obama was just two years old and his mother moved to Indonesia.
At 10, Obama moved back to live with his white grandparents in Hawaii. At his class, a white boy asked Obama if his father ate people. Out of embarrassment, Obama lied to his classmates that his father was a prince. “I kept asking who am I and I ended up trying drugs and drinking,” Obama recalled.
Things came to change after the young men made friends with those with a similar background at college. Their experiences back in Africa helped Obama to finally face up to his African origin. He worked hard to become a star at Harvard Law School and the third black senator(参议员) in US history.
At the beginning of his campaign for the White House, few people viewed Obama favorably. Many doubted his unusual background, which left him neither “black” enough nor “white” enough. But Obama turned his pain of growing up into a tool to make Americans believe: “There’s not a black America and a white America, a Latino American, an Asian America. There’s the United States of America.”
Barack Obama’s victory is “a historic victory that promised change and overcame centuries prejudice. His success accomplished Martin Luther King’s dream that a man be judged not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character”, wrote ABC news.
1. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refers to _______.
A. who he was B. Obama’s successful career
C. making him white D. defeating John McCain
2.According to the last paragraph of the passage, which of the following statements is false?
A. There has been prejudice in United States of America for centuries.
B. Martin Luther King’s dream has already been realized.
C. All men are created equal, no matter he is white or he is black.
D. A man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin.
3. We can learn from the passage that ________.
A. Obama’s parents come from the same country
B. the black man who destroyed his skin was Obama himself
C. Obama was once troubled by his identity
D. Africa is where Obama was born
4. Which of the following is the correct order?
a. being elected the first black president of the US
b. returning to live with his grandparents
c. becoming the third black senator in US history
d. going to college
e. joining in the campaign for the White House
A. b--d-c-e-a B. e-a-b--d-c C. a-b--e-c-d D. c-e-d-b--a
5. The best title of the passage would be _____.
A. The first president of the US B. Martin Luther King’s dream
C. A historic victory D. The history of African Americans
三、阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答案写在答题卡上。
SIXTEEN years ago a boy gave me a nice gift which was a smile.
It was the early autumn of my first year at a middle school, and my old school was far away. As a result, no one knew who I was. I was very lonely, and afraid to make friends with anyone.
Every time I heard the other students talking and laughing, I felt my heart broken. I couldn’t talk with anyone about my problems.
Then one day, my classmates talked happily with their friends, but I sat at my desk unhappily as usual. At that moment, a boy entered the classroom. I didn’t know who he was. He passed me and then turned back. He looked at me, with a smile.
Suddenly, I felt the touch of something bright and friendly. It made me feel happy, lively and warm. That smile changed my life. I started to talk with other students and made friends. Day by day, I became closer to everyone in my class. The boy with the lucky smile has become my best friend now.
One day I asked him why he smiled, but he couldn’t remember smiling at me!
It doesn’t matter because all the dark days have gone. I believe that the world is what you think it is. If you think it lonely, you might always be alone. So, smile at world and it will smile back.
1. When did the writer get the gift?
A. When she was 16 years old.
B. After she made friends with the boy.
C. In her first year at a middle school
D. After she became closer to everyone in her class
2. Why was the smile an important gift?
A. Because the writer’s old school was far away.
B. Because the writer didn’t know who the boy was.
C. Because the smile didn’t mean anything to the boy.
D. Because it helped the writer to make new friends.
3. Where does the writer now think her feeling of unhappiness came from?
A. From her old school. B. From her parents.
C. From herself. D. From her classmate at the new school.
4. Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
An Unforgettable Experience B. My Middle School Days
C. The Power of Smile D. My Best Friend
5. We can infer from the passage that the author used to be a (an)_______ person.
A. outgoing B. friendly C. quiet D. shy
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