阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。
When John Todd was a child，he loved to explore the woods around his house，observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream，for example，often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older，John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.
ㅤAfter studying agriculture，medicine，and fisheries in college，John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria（细菌）？Which kinds of fish can eat cancer﹣causing chemicals？With the right combination of animals and plants，he figured，maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco﹣machine.
ㅤThe task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge（污泥）.First，he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little，these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks，John added the sludge.
ㅤHe was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco﹣machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks，it had all been digested，and all that was left was pure water.
ㅤOver the years，John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse﹣like facility that treated sewage （污水）from 1，600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco﹣machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou，a city in southeast China.
ㅤ"Ecological design"is the name John gives to what he does. "Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor，"he says. "You put organisms in new relationships and observe what's happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self﹣repair."
（1）What can we learn about John from the first two paragraphs？ ＿＿＿＿
| A． |
He was fond of traveling. |
| B． |
He enjoyed being alone. |
| C． |
He had an inquiring mind. |
| D． |
He longed to be a doctor. |
（2）Why did John put the sludge into the tanks？ ＿＿＿＿
| A． |
To feed the animals. |
| B． |
To build an ecosystem. |
| C． |
To protect the plants. |
| D． |
To test the eco﹣machine. |
（3）What is the author's purpose in mentioning Fuzhou？ ＿＿＿＿
| A． |
To review John's research plans. |
| B． |
To show an application of John's idea. |
| C． |
To compare John's different jobs. |
| D． |
To erase doubts about John's invention. |
（4）What is the basis for John's work？ ＿＿＿＿
| A． |
Nature can repair itself. |
| B． |
Organisms need water to survive. |
| C． |
Life on Earth is diverse. |
| D． |
Most tiny creatures live in groups. |
Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth．The first study to compare honesty across a range of communication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails．The fact that emails are automatically recorded—and can come back to puzzle you---appears to be the key to the finding．
Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 30 students to keep a communications diary for a week．In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told．Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium．He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 percent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 percent of phone calls．
His results to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists．Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the indirect contact of emailing would make it easier to lie．Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication．
But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time．People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account, he says．This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone．
People are also more likely to lie in real time---in an instant message or phone call, say---than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock．He found many lies are spontaneous（脱口而出） responses to an unexpected demand, such as: “Do you like my dress?”
Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate．For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth．But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email．Hancock’s study focuses on _______．
| A．the consequences of lying in various communications media |
| B．the success of communications technologies in conveying ideas |
| C．people are less likely to lie in instant messages |
| D．people’s honesty levels across a range of communications media |
Hancock’s research finding surprised those who believed that _____．
| A．people are less likely to lie instant messages |
| B．people are unlikely to lie in face-to-face interactions |
| C．people are most likely to lie in email communication |
| D．people are twice as likely to lie in phone conversations |
According to the passage, why are people more likely to tell the truth through certain media of communication?
| A．They are afraid of leaving behind traces of their lies |
| B．They believe that honesty is the best policy |
| C．They tend to be relaxed wh en using those media |
| D．They are most practised at those forms of communication |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________．
| A．honesty should be encouraged in interpersonal communications |
| B．suitable media should be chosen for different communication purposes |
| C．more employers will use emails to communicate with their employees |
| D．email is now the dominant medium of communication within a company |
Greeks play a special game at Easter and it’s good fun! The rules of the game are as follows: 1．Everyone picks out a hard-boiled Waster Egg．2．Each player finds a partner．One person will be a “holder”, and the other will be a “tapper”．Holders should hold the egg with either the pointy end or the round end facing up．Tappers should hold the egg with that same end facing down．Tapping must be done pointy-end-to-pointy-end or round-end-to-round-end．3．With one good tap, the tapper tries to crack the holder’s egg．One player will end up with a cracked egg．4．Each player finds another partner and repeats steps 2 and 3．（After one end of the egg is cracked, players may continue to play using the uncracked end）．5．A player loses when both ends of his egg have been cracked．The winner is the person who still has an uncracked egg．6．Enjoy eating the eggs!
Dye your Easter eggs．With an adult’s help, dye hard-boiled eggs red using food coloring or egg dye．For a nice sheen, use a paper towel to rub some oil on each egg．But don’t use too much oil---you wouldn’t want your egg to slide out of your hand when you play the egg-cracking game!
Why dye eggs red? Eggs represent new life and the red dye symbolizes the pain and suffering in the past．
Why crack eggs? Some say that the cracking of the eggs symbolizes a wish to break away from human misery and enter the new life．A player has to drop out of the game when _____．
| A．the pointy end of his egg is cracked |
| B．the round end of his egg is cracked |
| C．his egg slides out of the hand |
| D．his egg is cracked at both ends |
Why is oil rubbed on the egg?
| A．To give the egg a shiny appearance |
| B．To make the game more difficult to play |
| C．To protect the hand of the player |
| D．To symbolize the wealth of the Greeks |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The holders hold the eggs with the pointy end facing up in most cases |
| B．If one end of the player’s egg is cracked, he will eat the egg |
| C．The player in the game must dye his egg red independently |
| D．It’s said that the broken eggs represent the wish to lead a new life |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．The suffering of the Greeks | B．The Easter holidays |
| C．Celebrate Greek Easter | D．A special game |
With the rapid social development, the Internet now provides social networks that include online movies and videos．The major television networks have much less control over your mind and their broadcasts for entertainment and, more importantly, advertising．It has long been known that television’s audience will spend more time on the Internet than watching TV．People have found another means of entertainment by going to websites which seem to satisfy their specific interests more completely．This isn’t very good news for the television networks．
The influence of people using DVRs （Digital Video Recorder） also has led to fewer and fewer viewers watching television commercials．Market research indicates the effectiveness of TV ads is getting weaker as a result．Many DVR owners are fast forwarding and skipping television commercials．With viewers now spending an average of four times longer on the Internet and more viewers avoiding commercials, this trend isn’t good for television’s advertising revenues（收益）．
Major TV advertisers know full well that their advertising dollars on TV aren’t as an effective investment as they once were．The major players in advertising have been moving towards the Internet as a serious alternative means of advertising．
For thousands of people involved in Internet marketing, it’s history-making to share the revenue that previously all went to major television networks．There’s already a group of Internet marketers being paid a larger amount of advertising revenue．These are everyday people that work usually from home on their own．Advertisers can direct their advertising to websites where viewer types are more likely to be interested in their product or service．
The development of the Internet and its role and change in our lives cannot be compared to any other form of media created throughout the history of mankind．People are going to websites for entertainment because _______．
| A．they’d like to follow the last trend |
| B．there are fewer commercials |
| C．there are more movies and videos |
| D．they can choose what meets their particular needs |
We can learn from the second paragraph that ______．
| A．viewers are bored with television commercials |
| B．the television viewing time should be limited |
| C．many television commercials are of poor quality |
| D．there are more commercials on DVRs than on TV |
It can be inferred from the passage that _____．
| A．people spend time on the Internet mainly for entertainment |
| B．most people prefer to work at home nowadays |
| C．the Internet will attract more and more advertisers |
| D．the appearance of TV changed our lives |
The passage mainly tells us ________．
| A．the rapid social development |
| B．the fast development of the Internet advertising |
| C．the way to advertise on the Internet |
| D．the influence of television commercials |
“To be or not to be”.Outside the Bible, these six words are the most famous in all the literature of the world.They were spoken by Hamlet when he was thinking aloud, and they are the most famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet was speaking not only for himself but for every thinking man and woman.To be or not to be----to live or not to live, to live richly and abundantly and eagerly, or to live dully and meanly and scarcely．A philosopher(哲学家) once wanted to know whether he was alive or not, which is a good question for everyone to put to himself occasionally.He answered it by saying, “I think, therefore I am.”
But the best definition of existence I ever saw was one written by another philosopher who said, “To be is to be in relations.” If this is true, then the more relations a living thing has, the more it is alive．To live abundantly means simply to increase the range and intensity （强度）of our relations．Unfortunately, we are so constituted (自作决定的)that we get to love our routine．But other than our regular occupation, how much are we alive? If you are interested only in your regular occupation, you are alive only to that extent．So far as other things are concerned----poetry and prose, music, pictures, sports unselfish friendships, politics, international affairs----you are dead.
On the contrary, it is true that every time you acquire a new interest----even more, a new accomplishment----you increase your power of life．No one who is deeply interested in different kinds of subjects can remain unhappy.The real pessimist is the person who has lost interest．
Bacon said that a man dies as often as he loses a friend．But we gain new life by contacts with new friends, and new ideas and thoughts, too．Where your thoughts are, there will be your life also．If your thoughts are limited only to your business, only to your physical welfare, only to your narrow circle of the town in which you live, then you live in a narrow restricted (有限的) life．But if you are interested in the characters of a good novel, then you are living with those highly interested people; if you listen intently to fine music, you are always away from immediate surroundings and living in a world of passion and imagination．
To be or not to be ---- to live intensely and richly, or merely to exist, that depends on ourselves.Let us widen and intensify our relations．While we live, let us live．What does the author mainly want to do by this passage?
| A．Argue against an idea． | B．Put forward an idea． |
| C．Introduce some famous sayings． | D．Explain some famous sayings． |
What does the underlined word “pessimist” most probably mean?
| A．Somebody who always expects the worst to happen． |
| B．Somebody who is always interested in making new friends． |
| C．Somebody who always lives in a world of passion and imagination． |
| D．Somebody who likes to live a rich and abundant life． |
Which of the following behaviors is most probably NOT encouraged by the author?
| A．Thinking more than your own business． |
| B．Caring only about your physical welfare． |
| C．Reading good novels． |
| D．Listening to fine music． |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．To be or not to be, that is a question． | B．I think, therefore I am． |
| C．To be is to be in relations． | D．A man dies as often as he loses a friend． |
Many of the most damaging types of weather begin quickly, strike suddenly, and disappear rapidly, destroying small areas while leaving neighboring areas untouched. Such event as a tornado(龙卷风) struck the northeastern part of Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1987. Total damages from the tornado went beyond $250 million, the highest ever for any Canadian storm.
Traditional computer models of the atmosphere have limited value in predicting short-lived local storms like the Edmonton tornado, because the available weather data are generally not detailed enough to allow computers to study carefully the slight atmospheric changes that come before these storms. In most nations, for example, weather-balloon observations are taken just once every twelve hours at places separated by hundreds of miles. With such limited data, traditional forecasting models do a much better job predicting general weather conditions over large areas than they do forecasting specific local events.
Until recently, the observation intensive (十分细致) method needed for exact, very short-range forecasts, or “Nowcasts,” was not possible. The cost of equipping and operating many thousands of conventional weather stations was extremely high, and the difficulties concerned in rapidly collecting and processing the weather data from such a network were hard to overcome.
Fortunately, scientific and technological advances have overcome most of these problems. Radar(雷达) systems and satellites are all able to make detailed, nearly continuous observation over large areas at a lower cost. Communications satellites can send out data around the world cheaply and immediately, and modern computers can quickly collect and analyze this large amount of weather information.
Meteorologists(气象学者) and computer scientists now work together to design computer programs and video equipment able to change weather data into words and graphic displays(图解) that forecasters can understand easily and quickly. As meteorologists have begun using these new technologies in weather forecasting offices, nowcasting is becoming a reality.Why can’t traditional computer models predict short-lived local storms?
| A．The weather data people collect are often wrong. |
| B．Detailed weather data in some small areas are not available. |
| C．The computers are not advanced enough to predict them. |
| D．The computers are not used to forecast specific local events. |
The word “Nowcast” in Paragraph 3 means .
| A．a network to collect storm data |
| B．a way of collecting weather data |
| C．a more advanced system of weather observation |
| D．a forecast which can predict weather in the small area |
What can make “Nowcasts” a reality according to the passage?
| A．Scientific and technological advances. | B．Advanced computer programs. |
| C．Computer scientists. | D．Meteorologists. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.The advantages of “Nowcatsts”.
B.A tornado in Edmonton, A1bertA.
C.The difficulty in predicting tornado.
D.A great development in weather forecast.
粤公网安备 44130202000953号