A
As an old-fashioned explorer, Paul Salopek sets out on foot to circle the world. He is also a modern-day explorer. On top of a few clothes, a small first-aid kit and notebooks, he is carrying a recorder, a video camera, a small computer and a satellite phone — a telephone that connects to a satellite and can be used in many places where cell-phones don’t work.
The journey is long: 21,000 miles! It will take seven years to complete it.
Salopek was born in California and spent his childhood in Mexico. He says he has always liked to travel and doesn’t like to rush. At the age of fourteen, he climbed Mount Whitney in California and crossed the state’s Sierra Nevada Mountains alone. When he was fifteen years old, he walked the length of Death Valley. He once rode a mule 2,000 miles through mountains in Mexico.
A longtime reporter, Salopek has reported from Africa, Asia and Mexico. Now 51 years old, he plans to keep writing. As he travels around the world, he is writing stories about the people he meets and the way they live. He looks for how people find local solutions to big problems such as lack of food and water. He also records the sounds he hears and takes photos of the sky and the Earth’s surface.
The long walk started in the Rife Valley in Ethiopia in East Africa. Many consider East Africa to be home to the first humans, who lived 160,000 years ago.
Salopek is retracing the paths our ancestors took as they left Africa and settled in parts of the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas. As Salopek is walking, he is learning more about himself and all of humankind.
The underlined phrase “on top of” in the first paragraph can be replaced by _______.
| A．on the top of | B．in contrast to |
| C．in addition to | D．on the basis of |
The author develops the third paragraph mainly by ________.
| A．providing examples |
| B．making comparisons |
| C．making a careful analysis |
| D．following the order of time |
According to the passage, Paul Salopek is a ________.
| A．doctor who likes carrying the small first-aid kit |
| B．journalist who likes traveling, exploring, writing and studying |
| C．writer who likes traveling, exploring and studying |
| D．photographer who is good at using satellite communication equipment |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Paul Salopek: Following Man’s First Footsteps |
| B．Paul Salopek: Reflecting People’s Real Lives |
| C．Paul Salopek: Going for a Seven-year Study |
| D．Paul Salopek: Looking back upon the Childhood |
Ⅳ. 阅读理解（共20题；每小题2分，满分40分）
第一节阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给A, B, C和 D项中，选出最佳选项。
In an age when technology moves faster than most can keep up with, a small group of people still remain in the time of old-fashioned letters. Frankly speaking, I was once certain that traditional letters could never be replaced by other means of communication.
But a story about online communication changed my mind.
An old man, who suffered a lot from Parkinson's disease, was not able to talk clearly and could hardly write his name. Living totally alone, he managed to keep in touch with nearly all the members of his family. How did he achieve this? He clicked out words on his computer keyboard.
I, therefore, managed to get an e-mail box as soon as the opportunity came. My life changed. E-mail, and all online communication, is something truly different. It has capabilities that few other products can match.
E-mail is convenient. It takes less time with its fast speed and 24-hour connection. The slow postal service is no match. If you wouldn't want to have a face-to-face talk with your manager, you might talk with him through e-mail even if you are in the same office.
Naming all the good things about online communication is not easy. But wait. E-mail can be inconvenient. It can waste time and energy. Just think what may happen when you take a short vacation and return to find your e-mail box filled with 200 unread messages. You could clearly spend half a day clearing junk ads.
Then, online communication will keep us staying at our computer while it connects us to distant strangers. Once we throw ourselves into the machine, we may forget the human touches we once held so dear. I'm sure there's and always will be a place for the old-fashioned letter, phone call, and face-to-face meeting even in the world of modem communication.
As I listen to the sound of the modem, I was excited at stepping out to the outside world but, at the same time, I sensed a loss of control over something valuable in my personal life.
41. What caused the writer to become interested in e-mail and online communication?
A. The sound of the modem. B. His own illness.
C. The changing of his life. D. A sick old man's experience.
42. What is the most probable meaning of the underlined word "junk" in Paragraph 7?
A. Old and useless. B. New and useful.
C. Short but valuable. D. Long but clear.
43. What does the writer think of online communication?
A. It should replace old-fashioned letters completely.
B. It is perfectly and always does good to you.
C. It is extremely useful and convenient, but it may be inconvenient or even harmful.
D. It does more harm than good.
44. How did the sick old man keep in touch with his family members?
A. With the help of his computer.
B. By writing letters with his pen.
C. By making telephones calls.
D. By visiting them regularly.
45. According to the writer, traditional means of communication will never disappear because .
A. they are convenient and popular though they are slow
B. they help to keep the friendly relationship between people
C. most people cannot keep up with the development of technology
D. modem means of communication does too much harm
A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present．On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin （顽童） was walking around the shining car．“Is this your car, Paul?” he asked．
Paul answered, “Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas．” The boy was surprised．“You mean your brother gave it to you and it cost you nothing? Boy, I wish…” He hesitated．
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for．He wished he had a brother like that．But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly．
“I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brother like that．” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, and then he said again, “Would you like to take a ride in my car?”
“Oh yes, I’d love that．”
After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes shining, said, “Paul, would you mind driving in front of my house?”
Paul smiled a little．He thought he knew what the boy wanted．He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big car．But Paul was wrong again．“Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked．
He ran up to the steps．Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast．He was carrying his little crippled （残疾） brother．He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car．
“There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs．His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent．And some day I’m going to give you one just like it… Then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas window that I’ve been trying to tell you about．”
Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car．The shining-eyed older brother climbed in and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride．
1．The street urchin was very surprised when __________．
A．he saw the shining car
B．Paul told him about the car
C．he was walking around the car
D．Paul received an expensive car
2．From the story we know that the urchin __________．
A．wished to give his brother a car
B．wished Paul’s brother to give him a car
C．wished Paul could be a brother like that
D．wished he could have a brother like Paul’s
3．The urchin asked Paul to stop his car in front of his house ______．
A．to show he had a rich friend
B．to show his neighbors the car
C．to let his brother ride in the car
D．to tell his brother about his wish
4．We can infer from the story that __________．
A．Paul couldn’t understand the urchin
B．the urchin’s wish came true in the end
C．the urchin wished to have a rich brother
D．the urchin had a deep love for his brother
5．The best title for the story probably is __________．
A．A Christmas Present B．A Street Urchin
C．A Brother Like That D．An Unforgettable Ride
Doctors have known for a long time that extremely loud noises can cause hearing damage or loss．The noise can be the sound of a jet airplane or machines in factories of loud music or other common sound at home and at work．A person only needs to hear the noise for little more than one second to be affected．
An American scientist has found that using aspirin （阿斯匹林） increase the temporary （暂时的）hearing loss or damage from loud noise．He did an experiment using a number of students at a university who all had normal hearing．He gave them different amounts of aspirin for different periods of time, then he tested their hearing ability．He found that students who were given four grams of aspirin a day for two days suffered much greater temporary hearing loss than those who did not use aspirin．The hearing loss was about two times as great．
The scientist said millions of persons in the U．S．use much larger amounts of aspirin than were used in his experiment．He said these persons face a serious danger of suffering hearing loss from loud noise．
1．Doctors have long known that__________．
A．one may lose his hearing when he hears a terribly loud noise．
B．one may become deaf when he hears a loud noise．
C．loud noises can cause damage to the hearing of the young people only
D．common sounds at home are not harmful to the ear
2．This passage suggests that one’s hearing________．
A．will be damaged even if he has heard a loud noise for only little more than one second
B．will be damaged even if he has heard a loud noise less than one second
C．will not be damaged if he has heard a loud noise for only little more than one second
D．will not be damaged if he has little more than one second to get ready
3．One conclusion you can draw from the passage is that aspirin________．
A．makes hearing damage from loud noise worse
B．should never be taken more than four grams
C．can damage one’s hearing when it is given more than four grams daily
D．always increases hearing loss by two times
4．Millions of Americans are in danger of suffering hearing loss because they__________．
A．take too much aspirin
B．often take air trips
C．like listening to loud music
D．have too much loud noises at home and at work
5．The American scientist did his experiment in order to find ________．
A．how much aspirin would affect a person’s hearing
B．how much aspirin should be given in the treatment of the patients with hearing damage from loud noise
C．whether aspirin would increase the temporary hearing damage from loud noises
D．whether the people who had hearing damage should use aspirin
第四部分阅读理解（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出一个最佳选项。
Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children．Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia．They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will learn a musical instrument or ballet or other classes which will give them a head start in life．The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is．So the parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education．Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter．
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap．
Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others．What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack （缺乏） self-respect and self-confidence．
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents aren’t teaching them the most important skills they need to be confident, happy and clever．
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing housework．
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life．Cooking demands patience and time．It’s an enjoyable but difficult experiment．A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually to finish his job successfully．His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence．
Some old machines , such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your children to play with will make him curious （好奇） and arouse his interest He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up．These activities aren’t merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind．And that is more important．
1．Parents in China, according to this passage, _________．
A．are too strict with their children
B．are too rich to educate their children
C．have some problems in educating their children correctly
D．are too poor to educate their children
2．Generally speaking, children’s skills_______．
A．come from their parents
B．have nothing to do with their education
C．may be different
D．have something to do with their marks in the exams
3．The writer of this passage doesn’t seem to be satisfied with_______．
A．the parents’ idea of educating their children
B．the education system
C．children’s skills
D．children’s hobbies
4．Doing some cooking at home helps children_________．
A．learn how to serve their parents
B． learn how to become strong and fat
C．benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future
D．make their parents believe that they are clever
5．According to the last paragraph, we can conclude that_________．
A．broken radios and television sets are useful
B．one’s curiosity may be useful for his later life
C．an engineer must fix many broken radios
D．a good student should spend much time repairing radios
A new report says the number of foreign students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by three percent last year. This has been the first obvious increase since 2001.
American schools last fall had 583,000 foreign students. The record is 586,000. That was set in 2002 after many years of gains. But after that the numbers fell. The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 led to more visa (签证) requirements. Now stronger efforts are being made to get more foreign students to study in the United States.
China remained in second place in front of South Korea but behind India, which sent almost 84,000 students last fall. The number of Japanese fell sharply by nine percent, although it remained in fourth place.
There were three percent drops from Indonesia and Kenya, the only African country in the top twenty last year. But there were obvious increases from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Vietnam. The number of Saudi students more than doubled, rising to nearly eight thousand.
For a sixth year, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles had the most foreign students. Columbia University in New York was second. Other schools in the top five were New York University, the University of Illinois and Purdue University.
Unlike American students in other countries, who often choose history and language study, the leading area of study in the USA was business and management. Second was engineering.
The new report also says more than 220,000 Americans studied in other countries. That was during the 2005-2006 school year. It was a record number, and an increase of eight and a half percent from the year before. But only five percent of them stayed for a full year. After 2002, the number of foreign students in the USA fell mainly because ____ .
| A．Americans were worried that foreign students might attack them |
| B．few American universities welcomed students from abroad |
| C．their own countries could offer them a better education |
| D．it was harder for foreign students to get permission to study in the USA |
Which of the following Asian countries has the largest number of students studying in the USA?
| A．China. | B．Japan. | C．South Korea. | D．India. |
Which subject is the most attractive to foreign students in the USA?
| A．Business and management. | B．History. |
| C．Engineering. | D．Language. |
We can learn from the passage that ____ .
| A．Kenya is the only African country that has students in the USA |
| B．now foreign students are encouraged to study in the USA |
| C．the number of students studying in America always increases |
| D．the number of foreign students in the USA will keep increasing in the future |
In which section of a newspaper could you most probably read this passage?
| A．Culture. | B．Science. | C．Education. | D．Business. |
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