China has input several billion yuan of money to stop the dirty water waste on the upper and middle area of the Pearl River from polluting the lower reaches of the river, especially the Macao Spe­cial Administrative Region．
The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the upper and middle reaches of the Pearl River has been rapidly urbanized（城市化）and industrialized in recent years, leading to a rise in the amount of urban rubbish to the damage of the land, rivers and atmosphere．
Refuse dumps and special plants in most cities treat rubbish to make it harmless, with 5,800 tons of wastes being burnt, buried or made into fertilizers on a daily basis．
He Suping, a woman engineer with the water re­sources department in Guangxi said, it is imperative for the autonomous region to treat sewage wastes to protect the area’s Karst terrain（喀斯特地形）and rain water which brings contact between groundwater and surface water, making groundwater more easily polluted．
The Xijiang River, a branch of the Pearl River which runs from Guangxi to neighboring Guangdong Province, provides fresh water for a number of river­side cities such as Macao, Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Zhaoqing, so Guangxi must begin to treat rubbish quickly to protect the water sources, said Liu Chen, a senior engineer with the Ministry of Water Resources．
The government 2001—2006 plan to spend bil­lions of yuan to turn wastes harmless has been mainly provided by national debt payments and overseas in­vestment．So far wastes treatment projects have re­ceived a total of 400 million yuan（48 million US dol­lars）from national debts and 60 million yuan（7．22 million US dollars）from overseas loans（贷款）．
【小题1】The main idea of the passage is __     

A．A large number of waterways have been polluted in China up to now．

B．Guangxi and Guangdong have taken the lead in making water clean．

C．China's rivers are badly in need of improve­ment．

D．China is making efforts to reduce pollution of the rivers．

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分；满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中选出最佳选项。
A
The first time I saw Carlos, I had my arms full of books and I was tearing into the classroom when I ran into something solid．It was Carlos．
"My, you're tall," he exclaimed． Of course, the class began to laugh．Annoyed, I walked to my seat without a word．
I glanced back to see if Reed Harrington was laughing with the rest．That would be the last straw．To my relief．Reed was studying and did not seem to be aware of it．I didn't know why I considered Reed my friend．Maybe just because he was a good two inches taller than I．
"Take that seat," Mr．McCarthy told the newcomer, pointing to the only empty one, in the back of the room．
Carlos smiled broadly．"But I need a couple of dictionaries．" Again the class laughed, but now they were laughing with Carlos, not at him．He had been here only 10 minutes and already he had them on his side．
It was the school election that made me think of Carlos again．Reed Harrington was voted president and Carlos vice-president．"How come?" I kept asking myself．"How come this shrimp （虾） who's only been in town for a little over a month gets to be so popular?"
So when I met Carlos this morning, I said to him, "It doesn't seem to bother you — being short, I mean．" He looked up at me．"Of course I mind being short．But there isn't anything I can do about it．When I realized I was going to have to spend my life in this undersized skin, I decided to make the best of it．My motto is — don't be afraid to be yourself．"
56．This passage is mainly about a short boy who ____________．
A．won the school election       B．is ashamed of his height
C．has learned to accept his size   D．is embarrassed by the class
57．From the story, we can see that Carlos is ________．
A．shy but diligent    B．humorous and confident                                  
C．proud and popular        D．honest but sensitive
58．Paragraph 4 suggests that the author ______．
A．cared much about Reed's attitude
B．thought Reed was the same as the others
C．couldn't stand Carlos playing tricks on her 
D．hoped Reed was laughing with the others
59．According to the passage, what happened after the election?
A．Carlos and the author argued with each other．                                 
B．Carlos and Reed became very good friends．                            
C．The author changed her attitude toward Carlos．                                     
D．Carlos was elected president of the student committee．

If you still know little about the “IMF”, it’s time you started to read about it, for it has been a hot issue of the whole world．
The International Monetary Fund （IMF） is one of the international financial（金融的） institutions, which works for global growth and economic stability．It provides policy advice and financing to members in economic difficulties and also works with developing nations to help them achieve economic stability and reduce poverty．The“ IMF” currently has a near-global membership of 185 countries．
To become a member, a country must apply for it and then be accepted by a majority of the existing members．On joining, each member of the IMF is assigned a quota（配额）, based broadly on its relative size in the world economy．The IMF’s membership agreed in May 2008 on a rebalancing of its quota system to reflect the changing global economic realities, especially the increased weight of major emerging markets （新兴市场） in the global economy, such as China, India and Russia．
The following diagram gives more information about major international financial institutions．

【小题1】The main cause of the IMF’s decision to make changes in its quota system is ______．

Commencement (毕业典礼) is a time for idealism.

But economic reality is cruel everywhere; especially for new graduate. They have been told repeatedly that a college degree is an open sesame(芝麻) to the global economy. But that’s not necessarily so, according to new research by two economists at he Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Frank Levy and Peter Temin.

It is true that people with college degrees make more money than people without degrees. The gap has narrowed somewhat in recent years, which is disturbing. But the earning power of college graduates still far outpaces that of less-educated workers.

The bad news, though, is that a college degree does not ensure a bigger share of the economics pie for many graduates. In recent decades Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin show, only college-educated women have seen their income grow in line with economy wide gains in productivity. The earnings of male college graduates have failed to keep pace with productivity gains.

Instead, a huge share of productivity growth, which expands the nation’s income, is going to Americans on the top of the income scale. In 2005, the latest year with available data, the top of 1 percent of Americans---whose average annual income was $ 1.1 million--- took in 21.8 percent of the nation’s income, their largest share since 1929.

Administration officials, and other politicians and economists, often, believe that income inequality, reflects an education gap. But Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin show that in the case of men, the average bachelor’s degree is not enough to catch the rising tide of the global economy.

They argue that the real reason that inequality is worsening is the lack of strong policies that broadly distribute economic gains. In the past, for example, a more progressive income tax and unions promote equality. Positive measures have been eroding and new ones have not yet emerged, making the income gap even greater.

Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin conclude that only a new government policy can restore general prosperity. That’s a challenge to the nation’s leader and today’s graduates. America needs them to contribute to the development of the nation in global economy.

1.The passage is mainly about that _______.

A．there is a big income gap between female and male college graduates in America.

B．college graduates find it hard to find an ideal job after graduation in America.

C．research shows that American government should take measures to ensure income equality for college graduates

D．college degrees are losing value in America.

2.What is the main idea of paragraph 5?

A．The whole nation has enjoyed a big income growth with the growth of productivity.

B．Much of the total income in America has been gained by a few very rich people.

C．A small part of people in America have income increase.

D．Upper class Americans contribute most to productivity growth.

3.The underlined word “eroding” in paragraph 7 probably means _______.

A．being gradually destroyed by wind or rain

B．gradually reducing power

C．gradually disappearing

D．gradually not suitable

4.We can infer from the passage that _______.

A．female college graduates have higher income than male ones.

B．female college graduates have benefited from some governmental measures to ensure their income growth.

C．income tax can grantee income equality.

D．new measures and policies have been taken to promote income equality.

5.From the passage, some economists believe that the worsening income inequality is caused by ______.

A．lower college degree of college graduates

B．lack of proper governmental policies

C．gender discrimination

D．underdevelopment of economy and productivity.

—Are you worried about his safety?

—Only         .