阅读理解

　　So much to do, so little time. So much information, so little time to read it. In this age there is more information than ever before. There is not enough time to read everything we want to read. However, you can consume more information in shorter time through speed-reading. This article Will not make you read 3,000 words per minute, but it will show you how to increase your speed significantly. You will also learn the basic techniques of speed-reading.

　　When you first learned to read, you would say the word out loud and sound it out. Then you might whisper the word out loud and sound it out. When you read aloud, the stage you are now at is saying the word in your head. Most people tend to read this way. Saying the word in your head will cut your reading speed greatly.

　　How do you calculate your reading speed? The speed is measured by how many words per minute you can read. Get some reading material, preferably a book. Find out how many words are on the page. Time yourself for one minute. Start your timer and start reading. When the timer stops, stop. If you counted 500 words on the page and you read half of the page, and then you are probably reading at 250 words per minute.

　　The first thing about speed-reading is looking at the word and recognizing it. Don't say the word in your mind, just look at it and recognize its importance. Later you will recognize clumps of four words or more to increase your speed. This is the first and most important step in speed-reading.

　　The next step is technique. As with any other skill, speed-reading requires technique. You should first be sitting up straight with your book flat on a horizontal (水平的) surface, such as a table or a desk. Next, you should be able to see the entire page. This is necessary if you want to recognize clumps of words. Lastly, you should be focused. It is hard to read with a lot of noise. Find a quiet place to read. This will help your understanding of the text.

　　You need something to guide your eyes while reading. That's right. You should use your hand. Remember when you were little, you would read using your finger. That is a great technique, only now you'll use your hand to underline each line. Move your finger smoothly across the page. No need to go rush, start out Slow. Keep your eyes focused on the words as you recognize them while using your hand as a guide. This will increase your speed.

　　The third step is practice. Practice makes perfect. Set time intervals (间歇). Read using different techniques, but make sure you understand what you are reading.

(1)Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

[　　]

A. Now there is limited information than ever before.

B. Now conditions ask people to use less time to know more information.

C. Now people can read what they like.

D. The less you read, the more time you will spend.

(2)What is the subject discussed in the text?

[　　]

A. What speed-reading is.

B. Why we need speed-reading.

C. Now it is much information time.

D. People should practise speed-reading in different kinds of ways.

(3)Which of the following shows the fight way for the speed-reading from the text?

a. Ask for more techniques.

b. Look at many words and recognize them.

c. Practise more.

[　　]

A. c， a， b

B. c， b， a

C. b， a， c

D. a， c， b

(4)The underlined sentence “you should be focused” in the fifth paragraph means that.

________.

[　　]

A. a person should devote his attention to it while reading

B. your feelings will be hurt while reading

C. a person should smooth away difficulties while he reads

D. you should pay attention to your faults while you are reading

(5)To speed up your reading, you should ________.

[　　]

A. sit up straight with your book flat and use something to guide your eyes

B. say every word out loud and sound it out

C. know it is necessary to read quickly

D. underline some important words while you say them

　　阅读理解

    I'm sure you know the song “Happy Birthday”. But to you know who wrote the song, and for whom it was written？

　　A professor named Archibald Hill in Lousiville, USA could tell us the story. Ninety-seven years ago, two of Mr. Archibald Hill’s aunts, Miss Patty Hill and Miss Mildred Hill, were asked to write songs for a book called“ Song Stories for the Sunday Morning”. Miss Patty Hill and Miss Mildred Hill were both kindergarten teachers then. They loved children very much and wrote many beautiful songs for the book. Out of them was the well-known“ Good Morning to You”. The song was very popular at that time among kindergarten children, but many grownups knew it, too. A few years later, little Archibald was born. As his aunt, Miss Patty Hill sang the song “Happy Birthday to You” to the melody of “Good Morning to You” to her little nephew, she sang the song like this:

　　Happy birthday to you！

　　Happy birthday to you!

　　Happy birthday, dear Archie !

　　Happy birthday to you.

　　Miss Patty Hill and her sister had never expected that this song became popular, but it really did. People all over the world like the song because of its simple tune and

friendly words.

(1)Archibald Hill was ________.

[　　]

A. English

B. American

C. Russian

D. Australian

(2)Miss Patty Hill and Miss Mildred Hill wrote ________ for the book  “Song Stories for the Sunday Morning”.

[　　]

A. a book

B. some plays

C. many songs

D. some stories

(3)The professor, Archibald Hill, was Miss Mildred Hill's ________.

[　　]

(4)The song “Happy Birthday” has a history of ________ years.

[　　]

A. ninety-seven

B. more than ninety-seven

C. less than ninety

D. about ninety

(5)The sentence “it really did” means ________.

[　　]

A. the song really became popular.

B. their wish really came true

C. children all over the world like the song

D. the song became more popular

阅读理解

　　Many television programmes are very realistic．One who watches TV often feels that whatever happened in the film could well happen to him. With only a little imagination,every man in the street becomes a thief,a spy or a murderer. Jane had been watching a spy film at a friend's house. In it,a young girl had been followed and murdered．She felt a little frightened,walking to the station. She took a train back to the centre of the city. There were a lot of people travelling with her,so she felt much safer.

　　A man sitting opposite to her reading a newspaper,glanced at her. She thought nothing of it until she saw him staring at her. Remembering the film and feeling very uncomfortable,she got off the train and went to the bus-stop. When he got on the same bus as she did ,she found that he was following her. As long as she had been with other people she Wasn't frightened,but when she got off the bus,the streets were almost empty. She walked as quickly as she could．She could hear footsteps following her,but she didn't dare to look around．After what seemed to have been hours,but was in fact only a few minutes she reached the front door. She felt for her keys,but was unable to find them,because she was so frightened．The footsteps stopped behind her. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Instead of feeling hands round her neck,however,she heard a pleasant voice. “I apologize if I frightened you. I'm your new neighbour. I thought I recognized you in the train,but I wasn't sure. ”

(1)Jane felt frightened,walking to the station,because ________.

[　　]

A．she had seen a murder on television

B．she was being followed

C．she had been at her friend's house

D．she was a girl of rich imagination

(2)Jane's friend lived_______ her.

[　　]

A．very near to

B．a short distance away from

C．a long way away from

D．next to

(3)Jane was really frightened because________.

[　　]

A．the man who followed was her new neighbour

B．the man apologized

C．the street was empty

D．she thought she met a murderer

(4)The man put his hand on her shoulder. He meant to _______ Jane.

[　　]

(5)A girl will be frightened if _________.

[　　]

A．she often watches TV

B．she is followed by a stranger for a long time

C．she meets her neighbour suddenly

D．she feels a hand on her shoulder

阅读理解

　　Pop music is the name for different forms of popular,commercial music．It had its beginning in the United States of America and spread throughout the whole world during the 1950s and 1960s. It is widely liked by the young people. The best known early form of pop music was “rock 'n' roll;”another was “blues” . A more recent development is “folk-rock”. Pop music has taken the place of native music in many parts of the world;it has caused the number of people for jazz to become much smaller than it was in the 1950s and earlier,and it has now begun to rule musical stage productions. It's a big industry. Much pop music is without artistic value,but the work of some pop singers,e.g. the Beatles,Bob Dylan,the groups like Floyd and Crosby,Stills and Nash,is on a higher musical level. And there is still a great interest in it today. Pop music concerts and festivals are held all over the word．

(1)All of the following forms belong to pop music except_______.

[　　]

(2)According to the article,the number of people for jazz in the 1950s and earlier was______it is today.

[　　]

A．much greater than

B．much smaller than

C．as great as

D．as small as

(3)Which of the following is TRUE?

[　　]

A．No pop music is on a high musical level.

B．Much pop music is very artistic．

C．Pop music is highly artistic．

D．Not all pop music is without artistic value.

(4)The passage says that ________has now begun to rule musical stage productions.

[　　]

(5)“It is a big industry”means that _______.

[　　]

A．it makes a lot of musical instruments

B．it is a big musical and commercial business

C．the pop singers are very hardworking

D．pop music is on a very high musical level

阅读理解

　　Few Americans stay for a lifetime. We move from town or city to suburb, from high school to college in a different state, from a job in one region to a better job elsewhere, from the home where we raise our children to the home where we plan to live in retirement. With each move we are forever making new friends, who become part of our new life at that time.

　　For many of us the summer is a special time for forming new friendships. Today millions of Americans vocation abroad, and they go not only to see new sights but also in those places where they do not feel too strange with the hope of meeting new people, No one really expects a vacation trip to produce a close friend. But surely the beginning of a friendship is possible.

　　But as we use the word, “friend” can be applied to a wide range of relationships to someone has known for a few weeks in a new place, to a fellow worker, to a childhood playmate, to a man or woman, to a trusted confident. There are real differences among these relations for Americans, a friendship may be superficial, casual, situational of deep and enduring. But to a European, who sees only our surface behavior, the differences are not clear.

（1）Many Americans move from place to place for the following reasons except __________.

[　　]

A. going to college

B. getting a better job

C. finding a place to live in retirement

D. saving money

（2）When summer comes, many Americans ___________.

[　　]

A. hope to meet new people

B. expect to find some close friends

C. want to begin lasting friendships with new people

D. both A and B

（3）From the passage it can be seen that a “friend” can be _________.

[　　]

A. a fellow worker

B. a football teammate

C. a boy or a girl

D. all of the above

（4）To a European, Americans __________.

[　　]

A. are friendless

B. have superficial friendships only

C. treat all their friends in the same way

D. hold different attitudes towards different people

（5）Which of the following is the topic sentence of the second paragraph?

[　　]

A. For many of us the summer is a special time for forming new friendships.

B. Today millions of Americans vacation abroad.

C. No one really expects a vacation trip to produce a close friend.

D. But surely the beginning of friendship is possible.

阅读理解

　　Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answers to these questions are Yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.

　　It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be intelligent. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random from the population, it is likely that their degree of intelligence will be completely different. If, on the other hand, we take two identical twins, they will be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.

　　Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We should soon find differences in intelligence developing and this shows that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close touch with each other, but who are not related at all are likely to have similar degree of intelligence.

（1）The writer is in favor of the view that man's intelligence is given to him ________.

[　　]

A. at birth

B. through education

C. both at birth and through education

D. neither at birth nor through education

（2）If a child is born with low intelligence, he cannot __________.

[　　]

A. become a genius

B. still become a genius if he should be given

C. exceed intelligence limits in rich surroundings

D. teach his intelligence in his life

（3）In the second paragraph “if we take two unrelated people at random from the population” means “if we”.

[　　]

A. pick out any two persons

B. pick out two different persons

C. choose two persons who are relatives

D. choose two persons with different intelligence

（4）The example of the twins going to college and to a factory

separately shows __________.

[　　]

A. the importance of their intelligence

B. the effect of environment on intelligence

C. the importance of their positions

D. the part that birth plays

（5）The best title of this passage can be __________.

[　　]

A. Surroundings

B. Intelligence

C. Dependence on Environment

D. Effect on Education

阅读理解

　　Elephants don't forget--at least, female (雌性的) elephants don't, elephant families are matriarchal. And the social knowledge gained by the oldest females is the key to a family group's survival (生存),according to a study published in April by Karen McComb, a biologist at Sussex University in England.

　　Elephants announce their presence by making a deep, low sound, a practice referred to as contact calling (联络呼叫). An unfamiliar call may mean that an elephant from outside the family group is nearby. A stranger can cause trouble, interrupting feeding or disturbing the young. So an elephant matriarch signals the family to gather around her; then they all lift their trunks in the air to smell the unfamiliar caller. False alarms can disturb the group and take time and energy away from feeding so survival may depend in part on getting it right.

　　Working with Cynthia Moss, who founded the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya 30 years ago, McComb tested the social knowledge of 21 Amboseli elephant families with matriarchs 27 to 67 years old. She played recordings of contact calls to each family and found that the oldest matriarchs were much better at picking out unfamiliar calls. In fact, a group with a matriarch in her fifties was several thousand times more likely to form into a group upon hearing an unfamiliar contact call than when hearing a familiar call. However, families with younger matriarchs were less than twice as likely to gather together upon hearing an unfamiliar contact call as com-pared with a familiar call. And they gathered together a lot. Moreover, the social knowledge of older matriarchs translated into favorable results: families with older matriarchs produced more baby elephants in each female-re- productive year.

　　This finding shows how difficult it is to protect the oldest members of elephant families. As elephants age, they continue to grow larger, as do their much wanted tusks (象牙). So the older and wiser a matriarch is, the greater the chance she will be killed. About 800,000 elephants have been killed by people in the past 20 years.

(1)What does the underlined word “matriarch” mean?

[　　]

A. An old member of an elephant family.

B. A female head of an elephant family.

C. A Wise elephant.

D. A large elephant.

(2)When do elephants form into a group?

[　　]

A. When they are feeding the young.

B. When they see a familiar elephant.

C. When they are giving birth to baby elephants.

D. When the leading elephant gives out a warning.

(3)The research with recordings of contact calls shows ________.

[　　]

A. how fast elephants form into groups

B. how important the age of a leading elephant is

C. how frightened elephants are when hearing a strange call

D. how frequently old elephants call other members of the family

(4)The older a female elephant is,________.

[　　]

A. the stronger she will be

B. the poorer memory she will have

C. the more useless her tusks will be

D. the more likely she will be killed

(5)We can infer from the passage that elephants may ________.

[　　]

A. run into other elephant families

B. give wrong warnings to their mothers

C. run away upon hearing a strange sound

D. produce more babies by gathering together more often

阅读理解

　　1970 was World Conservation (保护) Year. The United Nations wanted everyone to know that the world is in danger. They hoped that governments would act quickly in order to conserve nature. Here is one example of the problem. At one time there were 1,300 different plants, trees and flowers in Holland but now only 866 remain. The others have been destroyed by modern man and his technology. We are changing the earth, the air and water, and everything that grows and lives. We can't live without these things. If we continue like this, we shall destroy ourselves.

　　What will happen in the future? Perhaps it is more important to ask “What must we do now ?”The people who will be living in the world of tomorrow are the young of today. A lot of them know that conservation is necessary. Many are helping to save our world. They plant trees, build bridges across rivers, forests, and so on. In a small town in the United States a large group of girls cleaned the banks of 11 kilometers of their river. Young people may hear about conservation through a record called “No one's going to change our world”. It was made by the Beatles, Cliff Richard and other singers. The money from it will help to conserve wild animals.

(1)There are fewer plants, trees and flowers in Holland now because ________.

[　　]

A. there has been a lot of conservation in Holland

B. Holland does not need so many plants, trees and flowers

C. many plants, trees and flowers do not grow there any more

D. some plants, trees and flowers are dangerous

(2)We shall destroy ourselves if we don't change ________.

[　　]

A. the United Nations

B. modern technology

C. our rivers and forests

D. the government of Holland

(3)“No one's going to change our world” was ________.

[　　]

A. an important book published in 1970

B. an idea that nobody would accept

C. a record calling on all people to conserve nature

D. a rule worked out by the United Nations

(4)What is the most important thing for us to do to save our world?

[　　]

A. We should plant more trees and flowers.

B. We should clean the banks of our rivers.

C. We should know what we must do and begin to do now.

D. We should know what will happen in the future.

(5)What's the main idea of the passage?

[　　]

A. 1970 was World Conservation Year.

B. The United Nations wanted everyone to know that the world is in danger.

C. Conservation is necessary.

D. It is the young people who are helping to save our world.

阅读理解

　　About three hundred words in the English language come from the names of people. Many of these words are technical words. When there is a new invention or discovery, a new word may be invented after the inventor or scientist.

　　It is interesting to observe how many common words have found their way into the language from the names of people. Lord Sandwich who lived from 1718--1792 used to sit at the table eating pieces of bread with meat in them. As the Lord was the only one among his friends who ate bread in that way, his friend began to call the bread “sandwich”for fun. Later on the word became part of the English language.

　　The word “boycott” means to refuse to have anything to do with somebody or something. It comes from a man called captain Boycott. He was a land agent (经纪人) in 1880 and he collected rents and taxes for an English landowner in Ireland. But the Captain was a very harsh man. He treated his poor tenants very badly. His tenants decided not to speak to him at all. Eventually（终于）word got back to the landowner and the Captain was removed. The word “boycott” became popular and was used by everyone to mean the kind of treatment that was received by Captain Boycott.

(1)Lord Sandwich died in ________.

[　　]

(2)Lord Sandwich was fond of ________.

[　　]

A. eating out all the time

B. sitting with his friends

C. playing games with words

D. taking bread with meat

(3)“Sandwich”is a word invented by ________.

[　　]

A. Lord Sandwich

B. the friends of Lord Sandwich

C. inventors

D. scientists

(4)The tenants did not like ________.

[　　]

A. to collect rents and taxes

B. the harsh land agent

C. the English landowner

D. to speak

(5)When the landowner found out that tenants were boycotting his land agent, he ________.

[　　]

A. dismissed the Captain

B. praised the Captain

C. removed the rents and taxes

D. increased the rents and taxes

阅读理解

　　1970 was World Conservation (保护) Year. The United Nations wanted everyone to know the world is in danger. They hoped that governments would act quickly in order to conserve the nature. Here is one example of the problem. At one time there were 1300 different plants,trees and flowers in Holland but now only 866 remain. The others have been destroyed by modem man and his technology. We are changing the earth,the air and water and everything that grows and lives. We can' t live without these things. If we continue like this,we shall destroy ourselves.

　　What will happen in the future? Perhaps it is more important to ask“What must we do now?” The people who will be living in the world of tomorrow are the young of today. A lot of them know that conservation is necessary. Many are helping to save our world.They plant trees,build bridges across rivers in forests,and so on In a small town in the US a large group of girls cleaned the banks of 11 kilometres of theft river.Young people may hear about conservation through a record called “No one's going to change our world.” It was made by the Beaties Richard and other singers. The money from it will help to conserve wild animals.

(1) There axe few plants,trees and flowers in Holland now 

became______.

　　A. there has been a lot of conservation in Holland

　　B.Holland does not need so many plants,trees and flowers

　　C.many plants,trees and flowers do not grow there any more

　　D.some plants,trecs and flowers are dangerous

(2)  We shall destroy ourselves if we don' t change________.

　　A. the United Nations

　　B.modern technology

　　C.our rivers and forests

　　D.the government of Holland

(3) “No one's going to change our world” was________.

A.an important book published in 1970

B.an idea that nobody would accept

C. a record calling all people to conserve nature

D.a rule worked out by the United Nations

(4)  What is the most important thing for us to do to save our world?

A.We should plant more trees and flowers.

B.We should dean the hanks of our rivers.

C.We should know what will happen in the future.

D.We should know what we must do and begin to do now.

(5)  What's the main idea of the passage?

A.1970 was World Conservation Year.

B. The United Nations wanted everyone to know that the world is in anger.

C. Conservation is necessary.

D. It is the young people who are helping to save our world.