Baron Pierre de Coubertin was a Frenchman. At his time sports were not taught in French schools. De Coubertin believed that sports should go hand in hand with studies. He had an idea. His idea was to start the Olympic Games all over again.

　　Sports teachers of other countries liked De Coubertin's idea. So in 1896, the modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. Since then the Olympics has been held once every four years, except three times, when there were wars.

　　The modern Games have many foot races and field sports programmes. The longest race in the Games is called the Marathon.

　　Before the start of the Olympic Games, runners carry a lighted torch through many nations towards the stadium where the Games will be held. These sports men are from different countries. Yet they work together to carry the Olympic Torch. It is passed from runner to runner. When the last runner enters the stadium, he or she places the Torch in a special basin filled with oil. It catches fire. It is then, only then, that the Olympic Games can begin.

　　Before the start of the Olympic Games, runners carry a lighted torch through many nations towards the stadium where the Games will be held. These sports men are from different countries. Yet they work together to carry the Olympic Torch. It is passed from runner to runner. When the last runner enters the stadium, he or she places the Torch in a special basin filled with oil. It catches fire. It is then, only then, that the Olympic Games can begin.

　　The Olympic Flame burns throughout the Games. It is the “Flame of Peace”.

(1) Before 1896, French schools didn't teach ________.

[　　]

(2) De Coubertin ________.

[　　]

A．was the first man to start the Olympic Games

B．helped start the modern Olympic Games

C．believed that sports were less important than studies

D．failed to begin the modern Olympic Games

(3) According to this passage, the third modern Olympic Games should have been held in ________.

[　　]

(4) “Marathon” in this passage is ________.

[　　]

(5) Which of the following is NOT true?

[　　]

A．The Olympic Games doesn't begin until the basin of oil catches the fire.

B．The Torch is carried from runner to runner through many countries.

C．Runners who carry the Torch can be men or women.

D．After the start of the Olympics, the Olympic Flame is put out.

　　In 776 BC the first Olympic Games was held at the foot of Mount Olympus to honour （尊敬） the Greeks' chief God, Zeus （宙斯）. The Greeks emphasized （强调） physical fitness and strength in their education of the youth. Therefore, contests in running, jumping, discus （铁饼） and javelin （标枪） throwing, boxing, and horse and chariot （战车） racing were held in individual （个别的） cities, and the winners competed every four years at Mount Olympus. Winners were greatly honoured by having flower rings placed on their heads and having poems sung about their deeds. Originally （最初） these were held as games of friendship, and any wars in progress stopped to allow the Games to take place.

　　The Greeks attached so much importance to these games that they calculated （计算） time in four-year cycles called “Olympiads” dating from 776 BC.

(1) The first Olympic Games was held in order to ________.

[　　]

A．prevent wars

B．honour Zeus

C．choose the best players

D．sing songs for the winners

(2) Then what happened and ceased the Games?

[　　]

(3) Which of the following statements is NOT true?

[　　]

A．Fights were held up to allow the Games to take place.

B．The Games were held in Greece every four years at that time.

C．Winners sang songs about their own deeds.

D．Flower rings were placed on the winners' heads.

(4) Which of the following was NOT mentioned in the passage?

[　　]

(5) In the author's opinion, the ancient Greeks ________.

[　　]

A．were fond of sports

B．liked fighting

C．enjoyed making friends

D．were proud of Mount Olympus

　　The leaders of Russia and China vowed to support each other's fight against Muslim separatists and urged peaceful solutions in Iraq, during a meeting in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on December 2, 2002.

　　Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's Jiang Zemin signed a joint declaration calling for a “multipolar world”.

　　His two-day visit comes shortly after the conclusion of the 16th Party Congress which elected the new CPC leadership. Putin said that Russia wants to“work hard” with the new generation of Chinese leaders.

　　The Treaty（条约）of Good-Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation, signed in July last year, has provided a solid legal foundation for lasting friendship for generations to come, according to Jiang,“China and Russia will be good neighbours, friends and partners forever.”

　　The Russian Government, in return, said it would continue to give priority （优先权）to relations with China in its foreign policies.

　　Putin spoke on the morning of Dec. 3rd at Peking University and took questions from students on his understanding of Chinese literature, Russian reform（改革）and NATO enlargement.

　　He said a growing number of young people in Russia are interested in Chinese literature and one of his daughters is learning Chinese.

(1) We can infer from the last paragraph that ________.

[　　]

A．many young Russian people hope to study Chinese in China

B．China is richer and stronger than Russia

C．Russia will give some support to China

D．the relation between China and Russia is developing healthily

(2) It is implied in the sentence“Putin said that Russia wants to'work hard' with the new generation of Chinese leaders” that ________.

[　　]

A．Russia will co-operate closely with China

B．There are many differences between Russia and China

C．Putin knew little of the new generation of Chinese leaders

D．It will be long before Putin gets to know the new generation of Chinese leaders

(3) The underlined word“multipolar” is likely to mean ________.

[　　]

(4) Which of the following is mentioned in the passage?

[　　]

A．Putin agreed that NATO was enlarged.

B．Putin was invited to the 16th Chinese Communist Party Congress.

C．Russia puts China first.

D．Muslim separatists make trouble only in Russia.

　　In the northeast of the USA there are six small states. Together they are called New England. The most important state of New England is Massachusetts. Its capital city is Boston, with a population of just over half a million, which is the biggest city in New England. Greater Boston is make up of 78 cities and towns. It has a population of nearly 3 million, which is half the population of Massachusetts.

　　Boston was founded in 1630. The American Revolution began here when the people of Boston took up their arms to fight their English rulers.

　　The Boston tea is famous in America. Americans were very fond of tea, and much tea was brought to the port of Boston. The British government was looking for more ways to get money out of America. So it put a big tax on tea. They made the Bostonians angry. They rushed to the port and then onto a ship there. They threw all the tea into sea. This led to a war between the people of Boston and the British soldiers.

　　Thus the American Revolution began.

(1) What do you think Greater Boston is?

[　　]

A．Another name for Boston City.

B．Another city in Massachusetts.

C．An area in Massachusetts where Boston is.

D．A city that is greater than the city of Boston.

(2) The state of Massachusetts has a population of ________.

[　　]

(3) The British government put a big tax on tea because ________.

[　　]

A．it could greatly benefit from it

B．the American people liked tea very much

C．the people of Boston often drank tea

D．tea was too expensive at that time

(4) The American Revolution began when ________.

[　　]

A．Boston was founded in 1630

B．the Bostonians did not take their fate lying down

C．the people of Boston had no tea to drink

D．tea was first brought to the pert of Boston

　　Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language, but few people are even just a little skilled at pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the important reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and as a result never set about dealing with it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is skill, one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be reached just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of a good accent, tend to take no notice of, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So, the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this and his whole attitude to the subject should get the student to feel that here is matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So, there should be time when other aspects（方面）of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place.

　　Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique.

　　It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can generally be learned from books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic（语言）theory. It is also possible in this may to get a clear. mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students' pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time-wasted.

(1) According to the passage, ________ pronouncing foreign languages.

[　　]

A．few people are extremely good at

B．even modern people are not good at

C．only few people are somewhat good at

D．few people are at the average level in

(2) According to the author, pronunciation is a skill that can NOT be ________.

[　　]

(3) In the author's opinion, ________.

[　　]

A．grammar is less important than pronunciation

B．grammar and spelling should always make room for pronunciation

C．grammar and spelling are sometimes less important than pronunciation

D．grammar is more important than spelling

　　Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time: if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people's. In the same way, children learning to do all the other things they learn to do without being taught to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle compare（比较）their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.

　　If it is a matter of right answer, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book, Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time to such routine work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can't find the way to get the right answer. Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know.

(1) According to the passage, the best way for children to learn things is by ________.

[　　]

A．listening to skilled people's advice

B．asking older people many questions

C．making mistakes and having them corrected

D．doing what other people do

(2) Which of the following does the writer think teachers should NOT do?

[　　]

A．Give children correct answers.

B．Allow children to make mistakes.

C．Point out children's mistakes to them.

D．Let children mark their own work.

(3) According to the writer, teachers in school should ________.

[　　]

A．allow children to learn from each other

B．point out children's mistakes whenever found

C．correct children's mistakes as soon as possible

D．give children more book knowledge

(4) The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a bicycle are ________.

[　　]

A．different from learning other skills

B．the same as learning skills

C．more important than other skills

D．not really important skills

(5) The title of this passage could probably be ________.

[　　]

A．Let Us Teachers Stop Work

B．Let Us Make Children Learn

C．Let Children Correct Their Exercises

D．Let Children Learn by Themselves

　　With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone（克隆）the animal and save the endangered species（物种）. That's a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah's Ark.”

　　Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos（胚胎）, semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M's College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.

　　It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

　　This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.

　　The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

　　“The nuclear transfer（核子移植）of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available （capable of being used）panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy（having a baby）. It takes a long time and it's difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A & M, the firstever attempt at cloning a dog.

　　“They are trying to do something that's never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark. We're both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research that is very much needed.”

(1) The aim of“Noah's Ark” project is to ________.

[　　]

A．make efforts to clone the endangered pandas

B．save endangered animals from dying out

C．collect DNA of endangered animals to study

D．transfer the nuclear of one animal to another

(2) According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of ________.

[　　]

(3) The best title for the passage may be ________.

[　　]

A．China's Success in Pandas Cloning

B．The First Cloned Panda in the World

C．Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas

D．China--the Native Place of Pandas Forever

(4) From the passage we know that ________.

[　　]

A．Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog

B．scientists try to implant a panda's egg into a rabbit

C．Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches

D．about two thousand of species will probably die out in a century

　　Today business cards are distributed with abandon by working people of all social classes, illustrating not only the uniquity of commercial interests but also the fluidity of the world of trade. Whether one is buttonholing potential clients for a carpentry service, announcing one's latest academic appointment, or“networking” with fellow executives, it is permissible to advertise one's talents and availability by an outstretched hand and the statement“Here's my card.” As Robert Louis Stevenson once observed, everybody makes his living by selling something. Business cards facilitate this endeavor.

　　It has not always been this way. The cards that we use today for commercial purposes are a vulgarization of the nineteenth century social calling cards, an artifact with a quite different purpose. In the Gilded Age, possessing a calling indicated not that you were interested in forming business relationships, but that your money was so old that you bad no need to make a living. For the calling-card class, life was a continual round of social visits, and the protocol（礼仪）governing these visits was inextricably linked to the proper use of cards. Pick up any etiquette manual predating World War I, and you will find whole chapters devoted to such questions as whether a single gentleman may leave a card for a lady; when a lady must, and must not, turn down the edges of a card; and whether an unmarried girl of between fourteen and seventeen may carry more than six or less than thirteen cards in her purse in months beginning with a “J”. The calling card system was especially cherished by those who made no distinction between manners and mere form, and its preciousness was well defined by Mrs John Sherwood. Her 1887 manual called the card“the field mark and device” of civilization.

　　The business version（说法）of the calling card came in around the turn of the century, when the formerly well defined borders between the commercial and the personal realms were used widely, society mavens（专家）considered it unforgivable to fuse the two realms. Emily Post's contemporary（当代的）Lilian Eichler called it very poor taste to use business cards for social purposes, and as late as 1967 Amy Vanderbilt counseled that the merchant's marker “may never double for social purposes.”

(1) Business cards are usually used to ________.

[　　]

A．announce one's latest academic appointment

B．establish business relationships

C．make a living

D．illustrate the fluidity of the world of trade

(2) The statement which has not been mentioned in the passage is ________.

[　　]

A．business cards are a vulgarization of the nineteenth century social calling card

B．The calling card system was especially cherished by those who made no distinction between manners and mere form

C．most people thought it improper to use business cards for social purposes

D．everyone makes his living by selling something

(3) The sentence that“your money was so old” in the second paragraph means ________.

[　　]

A．you have an old pound note

B．your money was useless

C．you have a lot of money

D．you inherited a fortune from your ancestors

(4) Business cards are likely to have appeared ________.

[　　]

A．at the beginning of the nineteenth century

B．at the beginning of the twentieth century

C．before the nineteenth century social calling card

D．after World War Ⅰ

(5) In the Gilded Age, people who possessed a calling card ________.

[　　]

A．had to make their living

B．were interested in forming business relationships

C．boasted of their wealth

D．advertised their talents and availability

　　Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It serves directly to bring about a rapid sale of goods at reasonable prices, so setting up a firm home market and making it possible to provide for export（出口）at good prices. By drawing attention to new ideas, it helps greatly to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand, it causes an increased need for labor, and is therefore a nice way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services: without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television program would need to be doubled, and travel by bus or subway would cost more.

　　And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a promise of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Besides the fact that twenty-seven Acts of Parliament（国会）govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare produce anything that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for the public has the good sense not to buy the poor goods more than once. If you see a product frequently advertised, it is the proof I know that the product does what is promised for it, and that it has good value.

　　Advertising does more for the good of the public than any other force I can think of. There is one more point I feel I ought to touch on. Recently I heard a well-known television person declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs. He was telling us the real difference. Of course advertising tries to persuade.

　　If its message were nothing but information, that would be difficult to get more people to buy, for even the choice of the color of a shirt is a bit persuasive（有说服力的）--advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention. But perhaps that is what the well-known television person wants.

(1) By the first sentence of the passage the writer means that ________.

[　　]

A．he is fairly familiar with the cost of advertising

B．everybody knows well that advertising is a waste of money

C．advertising costs more money than everything else

D．money on advertising is worth spending

(2) In the passage, which of the following is NOT included in the advantages of advertising?

[　　]

(3) The writer thinks that the well-known TV person is ________.

[　　]

A．quite right in passing his judgement on advertising

B．interested in nothing but the buyers' attention

C．correct in telling the difference between persuasion and information

D．obviously unfair in his views on advertising

(4) In the writer's opinion, ________.

[　　]

A．advertising can seldom bring material interest to man by providing information

B．advertising informs people of new ideas rather than wins them over

C．there is nothing wrong with advertising in persuading the buyer

D．the buyer is not interested in getting information from an advertisement

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项中选出最佳答案.

It is only a shiny, yellow metal, but it is one of the most valuable on earth. Since the beginning of time, men have looked for this extremely valuable item, gold.

    Gold is soft and easy to form into different objects. If it gets wet, it does not rust like iron or other metals. Acids (酸) do not change it. One important reason that gold is so valuable is that it is scarce, because of its softness, gold must be combined with other metals to harden it and give it strength. By hardening gold, people can then make coins and jewelry with it. Metals commonly mixed with gold are nickel (镍), platinum (铂), and copper. Gold jewelry bears (刻有) a number and the letter K. The K means karat (carat), which is a measure of the amount of pure gold in the jewelry. Pure gold is 24K. Therefore, a necklace which is 14K is fourteen parts gold and ten parts other metals.

   Many countries make use of gold for certain coins, but this practice is not as common now as it once was. The United States, for instance, stopped making gold coins in 1933.

(1)Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

[　　]

A．Valuable Metal

B．Looking for Gold

C．Jewelry and Coins

D．What is Karat?

(2)Which is NOT the reason why gold is highly valuable?

[　　]

A．It can be made into jewelry

B．It is not easily found

C．It is soft and shiny

D．It does not rust when wet

(3)In order to make it stronger, gold is often mixed with ________.

[　　]

(4)If a ring is marked 12K, then the percentage of gold in it is ________.

[　　]

(5)Gold may be correctly described by the following EXCEPT ________.

[　　]