HOUSTON (Reuters) — Houston tops a U.S. magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities in the top 25.
　　Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national average number — are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.
　　“Americans work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when they’re faced with the worst food choices, they indulge (沉溺于) in those,” he said.
　　High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute (每天去上班的路程) times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2003 heavy weight champion, the magazine said.
　　Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major food company to develop healthy food products and the city’s public schools to improve lunch menus, called the report “mostly ungrounded and nonsense.”
　　“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to deal with,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.
　　The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.
　　Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise.
　　“It’s pure big indulgence, just living big, and that’s part of the culture,” said Boulton.
　　Seattle ranked as the fittest city. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25.
【小题1】What decides the magazine’s annual fattest list?

完型填空（共20小题：每小题1.5分，满分30分）

The last day of the final examination arrived. In a large eastern university, on the steps of one building, a group of students were talking about the exam that was going to begin in a few 26. On their faces was confidence. This was their 27 exam—then on to graduation and jobs.

　　Some talked of jobs they already had, others talked of jobs they 28 get. With the certainty of four years of college, they felt 29 and able to take control of the world.

　　The coming exam, they knew, would be a(n) 30 task, as the professor had said they could bring 31books or notes they wanted, requesting only that they did not 32 each other during the test.

　　33 they entered the classroom. The professor handed out the papers. And smiles 34 on the students’ faces as they found there were only five questions.

　　Three hours had passed 35 the professor began to collect papers. The students no longer looked confident. On their faces was a frightened expression. Papers in hand, no one spoke as the professor faced the class.

　　He looked at the 36 faces before him, and then asked, “How many completed all five questions?” 37 a hand was raised.

　　“How many answered four?” Still no hand.

　　“Three? Two?” The students moved restlessly in their seats.

　　“One, then? Certainly somebody finished 38 .”But the class remained silent.

　　The professor put down the papers. “That is exactly what I 39 ,” he said. “I just want you to know that, although you have completed four years of study, there are 40 many things about the 41 you don’t know. These questions you could not answer are relatively common in 42 practice.” Then, smiling, he added, “You will all 43 this course, but remember—even though you are now college graduates, your education had just 44 .”

The years have weakened the name of the professor, but not the 45 he taught.

1.                A．seconds        B．minutes         C．hours    D．days

2.                A．only           B．first            C．very D．last

3.                A．would          B．must           C．had to    D．used to

4.                A．glad           B．ready          C．sorry D．nice

5.                A．interesting      B．necessary       C．easy D．unusual

6.                A．no            B．either          C．any  D．some

7.                A．listen to        B．look at          C．care for  D．talk to

8.                A．Hardly         B．Happily         C．Quickly   D．Carefully

9.                A．appeared       B．changed        C．failed D．stopped

10.               A．then           B．as             C．before    D．after

11.               A．pleased        B．worried        C．surprised  D．moved

12.               A．Not            B．Once          C．Only  D．Even

13.               A．all             B．none          C．one  D．it

14.               A．wondered      B．enjoyed        C．hated D．expected

15.               A．even          B．already         C．so    D．still

16.               A．exam          B．subject         C．question   D．college

17.               A．every day       B．yearly          C．everyday  D．monthly

18.               A．pass           B．fail            C．take  D．start

19.               A．begun         B．completed      C．failed D．succeeded

20.               A．subject         B．things          C．words D．lessons

It was Monday. Mrs. Smith's dog was hungry , but there was not any meat in the house.
Considering that there was no better way. Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it：“Give my dog half a pound of meat.”Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently：“Take this to the butcher（* person whose job is selling meat）and he's going to give you your lunch today.”
Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.
At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers.
But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled . He said to himeself,“This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today？”
Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it！
【小题1】Mrs. Smith treated her little dog quite  　　　.

　　In 1961, scientist set up gigantic, sensitive instruments to collect radio waves from the far reaches of space, hoping to discover in them some mathematical pattern indicating that the waves were sent out by other intelligent beings. The first attempt failed, but someday the experiment may succeed.
　　What reason is there to think that we may actually detect intelligent life in outer space？To begin with, modern theories of the development of stars suggest that almost every star has some sort of family of planets. So any star like our own sun （and there are billions of such stars in the universe） is likely to have a planet situated at such a distance that it would receive about the same amount of radiation as the earth.
　　Furthermore, such a planet would probably have the same general composition as our planet; so, allowing a billion years or two or three, there would be a very good chance for life to develop, if current theories of the origin of life are correct.
　　But intelligent life？Life that has reached the stage of being able to send radio waves out into space in a deliberate pattern？Our own planet may have been in existence for five billion years and may have had life on it for two billion, but it is only in the last fifty years that intelligent life capable of sending radio waves into space has lived on earth. From this it might seem that even if there were no technical problems involved, the chance of receiving signals from any particular earth-type planet would be extremely small.
　　This does not mean that intelligent life at our level does not exist somewhere. There are such an unimaginable number of stars that, even at such miserable possibility, it seems certain that there are millions of intelligent life forms scattered through space. The only trouble is, none may be within easy distance of us. Perhaps none ever will be; perhaps the distances that separate us from our fellow “creatures” of this universe will forever remain too great to be conquered. And yet it is conceivable that someday we may come across one of them or, frighteningly, one of them may come across us. What would they be like, these outside-the-earth creatures？
1.What point is the author making by stating that almost every star has some sort of family of planets？
　　A. Sooner or later intelligent beings will be found on one of the stars.
　　B. There must be one or two of the planets on which there are no intelligent beings.
　　C. There are sufficient planets for there to be one that enjoys the same conditions as the earth does.
　　D. One or two billion years later intelligent beings will generate on those planets.
2.What is the main topic of the passage？
　　A. Some probable intelligent life forms on other planets.
　　B. Various stages undergone by the intelligent life on other planets.
　　C. Grounds for probable existence of intelligent life on other planets.
　　D. The possibility of intelligent life existing on our planet.
3.Which of the following can be inferred from the passage？
A. An encounter is probable between people from the earth and intelligent beings from another planet.
B. Though the first attempt failed, scientists did discover the radio waves sent out by other intelligent beings.
C. Other intelligent beings were able to send our radio waves into space well before the last fifty years.
D. It is certain that there are millions of intelligent beings scattered in space but only too far away.
4.According to the author, what is the difference between “we may come across one of them” and “one of them may come across us”？
A. The earth would be dangerously disadvantaged if it is sought after by possibly much more developed creatures.
B. It would prove that there are too many outside-the-earth creatures if “one of them comes across us”.
C. The history of the development of the earth would be proved to be shorter than that of “them” if “they” come across us.
D. it would prove that the distance in between is not so great as we think if “we come across one of them” someday.

完形填空(共20小题;每小题1分,满分20分)

阅读下面短文, 掌握其大意, 然后从36~55各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。

You Did More Than Carry My Books

　　Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed a boy ahead of him had dropped all of the books he was    , along with a baseball bat and several other things. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up these articles. They _____ be going the same way, so Mark helped to carry some of them for him. As they walked, Mark    the boy's name was Bill, that he    computer games, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of    with his other subjects and that he had just broken    with his girl friend.

　　They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark was    in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed    with a few laughs and some shared small talk, and then Mark went home. They    to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, and then both ended up from the same high school. Just three weeks before    , Bill asked Mark if they      talk. Bill     him of the day years ago when they had first met. “Do you ever __  why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker(储物柜)    I didn't want to leave a mess (脏乱 )for anyone else. I    planned to leave this school and I was going home to    my things. But after we spent some time together    and laughing, I realized that    I had done that, I would have    a new friend and missed all the fun we would have together. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You     my life.”

1.A. catching     B. getting  C. making  D. carrying

2.A. happened to           B. led to             C. managed to       D. refused to

3.A. discovered               B. realized                  C. said    D. decided

4.A. played        B. loved    C. tried      D. made

5.A. questions   B. ideas     C. difficulty       D. doubt

6.A. up      B. out        C. off         D. away

7.A. called         B. helped  C. invited  D. allowed

8.A. peacefully B. willingly         C. freely    D. pleasantly

9.A. continued  B. agreed  C. forced  D. offered

10.A. graduation        B. movement    C. separation     D. vacation

11.A. would       B. should  C. could    D. must

12.A .demanded        B. reminded      C. removed       D. asked

13.A. wonder    B. want      C. wander D. wish

14.A. even if     B. because of   C. because         D. as if

15.A. was  B. have      C. am         D. had

16.A. find B. pick       C. pack      D. hold

17.A. talking      B. playing  C. reading D. watching

18.A. before     B. if   C. while     D. as

19.A. forgotten B. passed  C. left        D. lost

20.A. helped     B. recovered     C. improved      D. changed