Last year, on report card day, my son and a group of his 13-year-old friends piled into the back seat of my car, ready for the last-day-of-school party at McDonald's. “Jack got a laptop for getting straight A's, and Laurie got a cell-phone,” one boy said. “Oh, yeah, and Sarah got an iPod Nano, and she's only in third grade,” said another. “And how about Brian? He got $10 for each A.”

I suddenly became concerned. These payoffs might get parents through grammar school, but what about high school and beyond? What would be left after the electric guitar, the cell-phone, and the DVD player?       

I saw the road ahead: As the homework load increased, my income would decrease. I saw my comfortable lifestyle disappear before my eyes---no more of those $5 bags of already-peeled organic（施有机肥料的）carrots. No more organic anything!            

I started to feel surprised and nervous. Would every goal achieved by my two children fetch a reward? A high grade point average? A good class ranking? Would sports achievements be included in this reward system: soccer goals, touchdowns（橄榄球底线得分）? What about the orchestra（管弦乐队）? Would first chair pay more than second? I'd be penniless by eighth-grade graduation.

“We never paid anything for good grades,” said my neighbor across the street, whose son was recently accepted at MIT. “He just did it on his own. Maybe once in a while we went out for pizza, but that's about it.”

Don't you just hate that? We're all running around looking for the MP3 player with the most updates, and she’s spending a few dollars on pizza. She gets motivation; we get negotiation. And what about the primary grades? What do these students get? “When the teacher asked if anyone got rewards for good grades, everyone in my class raised their hands and said they got ice cream cones (蛋卷),” said one third-grader.

1.What's the best title for the passage?

A．Tips on Paying Kids for Good Grades

B．New Trends in Paying Kids for Good Grades

C．Good Grades Mean Good Rewards

D．Don't Pay Kids for Good Grades

2.What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably mean?

A．Taking care of my children would influence my work.

B．I would spend less money on my children's good grades.

C．More rewards would be needed as my children grow up.

D．Reducing my children's homework load would cost me a lot.

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________. 

A．if you buy children pizza as a reward, they will work harder

B．if you pay kids for good grades, they will take it for granted

C．children will not ask for rewards when they enter high school

D．good grades won't help kids make great progress in the future

4.The author takes her neighbor as an example to show _______.

A．pizza is the best way to motivate children

B．it is necessary to reward children for their good grades.

C．getting rewards for good grades is common nowadays

D．rewards are not the only way to motivate children

 

Alone in the wilderness. Nothing but jungle. A world of shadow with the rays of light falling like blonde hair from the crowns of the giant trees. Jungle in the midday sun. Everything motionless. Not a sound from sky or earth. Complete silence. Only some coconuts falling, at long intervals, very far away. The world reduced to the soft touch of cool grass along my naked back, and a sweet smell of rich soil and vegetation. Stretched out with closed eyes beside my heavy burden of fruit and firewood, I enjoyed the feeling of fresh blood streaming through every part of my body and fresh jungle air filling every corner of my lungs.

     Resting motionless, I could see the sun through my closed eyelids, alone in the sky, as lonely as I, and as motionless and silent as everything else. The earth had surely stopped turning and somewhere on this planet there was supposed to be roaring traffic in busy streets. What a crazy, unbelievable thought!

       Another coconut fell, to make the world come to a complete standstill. I had to roll over onto my stomach to feel that at least I could move and make noises. Then I found company. A little brown ant was struggling to find its way with a bit of dry straw through the jungle of leaves and grass below my nose. I wondered if I could give the little fellow a lift with its burden, but it showed not the slightest sign of tiredness and struggled on with all six legs, head first or head last, waving its feelers energetically as if the trip had just started. Who ever saw a tired ant? Tiredness, disagreeable tiredness, is restricted to hunted animals, slaves and modern man. It is as great an effort for an office clerk to walk five blocks with a loaded brief-case as it is for a jungle-dweller to cross a valley with a goat on his back. It is as hard to get up and climb or run when you have been seated for years as it is to get up and walk when you have been in bed for months. The body is strange. Spare it, and you get really tired for almost nothing; use it, and almost nothing makes you really tired.

       I rose to my feet. I had heard a horse neighing down in the valley. Above me, on the open highland plains, there were wild horses. But down in the valley there was never a horse unless there was a man on it. Somebody was making his way up the valley and my wife was alone.

71．The author mentions coconuts’ falling to          .

       A．show his loneliness                                            B．add beauty to the jungle

       C．express his love of nature                                          D．stress the absolute silence

72.   What’s the right order of the following vents?

       a. I heard a horse neighing down in the valley.

       b. I went to the jungle.

       c. I found an ant carrying a bit of dry straw.

       d. I lay on the ground to have a break.

       e. I picked fruits and chopped firewood.

A. b, c, e, a, d               B. e, c, b, d, a                            C. b, e, d, c, a               D. e, d, c, b, a

73．How does the author feel about the ant?

       A．He admired its attitude toward work.                   B．He was amazed at its tireless efforts.

       C．He showed sympathy for the little ant.                 D．He was content to have it as a companion.

74．It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the author would probably          .

       A．work harder than before                                     B．talk to the man on the horse

       C．make his way home                                           D．stay in the valley

75．We can learn from the passage that the author          .

       A．enjoyed being alone                                            B．experienced a world of quietness

       C．missed his busy life in the city                             D．had an unforgettable adventure

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和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

WASHINGTON（AP）—Good news for dinosaur fans：There are probably a lot more of them waiting to be discovered．At least，their fossils are．

Peter Dodson of the University of Pennsylvania and Steve Wang of Swarthmore College estimate that 71 percent of all dinosaur genera（种类）—groups of dinosaur species—have yet to be discovered．

“It’s a safe bet that a child born today could expect a very fruitful career in dinosaur paleontology（古生物学），”Dodson said in a statement．

The estimate appears in Tuesday’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences．

Dodson—a professor of anatomy at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine and professor at Penn’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences—first estimated the potential number of dinosaur genera in 1990 and is revising that upward．

The estimates are based on the rates of discovery—about 10 to 20 annually—and the recent increase in finds of fossils in China，Mongolia and South America．

Dodson suggests that 1,850 genera will eventually be discovered．So far 527 genera have been found．

Fossilization itself is a rare event，they note，and as many as half of the dinosaur genera that ever existed may have left no remains．

“I would never suggest that this prediction．however statistically（统计上地）sound．is the final word on dinosaur diversity，“Dodson added．”My intention is to fuel the discussion using the facts at hand，and this is the best estimate we can make with the data available．”

56．The best title for the passage would be______________．

A．Much more dinosaur once lived on the earth

B．Good news for dinosaur fans

C．A very fruitful career in dinosaur paleontology

D．Dinosaurs remain to be discovered

57．Who made the first estimate about the possible number of dinosaur genera?

A．The author of the passage．           B．Steve Wang．

C．Peter Dodson．                                          D．Both B and C．

58．Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．The number of dinosaur fans is getting larger and larger．

B．More dinosaur fossils are expected to be found in future．

C．The estimate was based on plenty of facts of dinosaur paleontology．

D．Not all the dinosaur genera left their fossils．

59．It can be inferred from the text that______________．

A．dinosaurs will return to the world once again

B．about 3700 dinosaur genera once lived on the earth

C．only half of the dinosaur fossils have been found so far

D．all dinosaur fossils have been find in China．Mongolia and South America

60．The underlined sentence in the last paragraph most probably means____________．

A．Enough research work has been done on dinosaur diversity

B．it is probable that more information about dinosaur diversity will be found in future

C．the conclusion drawn by Dodson is not exactly right

D．Dodson will continue his research work on dinosaur diversity

When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from China．

When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans．Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now．

Still, her answer surprised me: “Green tea．”

As long as I can remember she didn’t even drink Indian tea ．

I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story．My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses．

At the turn of the century, China was not really familiar to the average Indian．It was a strange country．

How things change! And how soon!

Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”．And everyone is talking about China．

The govemment of Indin has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done．A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investment(投资)and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”．

But it’s a two-way street．I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software．Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China．

No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago, is expected to hit about US $15 billion for last year and US $20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments．

No wonder, my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino-Indian(中印)century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino-Indian Friendship Year．

But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea．

41．According to the passage, the author left _____ for ______．

     A．India; China             B．China; India     

       C．China; Longjing          D．India; Shenzhen

42．The reason why the writer’s mother asked for Chinese green tea is that_____．

     A．she had a son working in China          B．she believed it had a curing effect

     C．she enjoyed Chinese products      D．she was tired of Indian tea

43．The underlined part “it’s a two-way street” in Paragraph 10 probably means ____．

     A．The exchanges between Indian and China benefit both．

     B．China and India have different traffic rules．

     C．Tea trade works wonders in both India and China．

     D．Chinese produces are popular in both China and India．

44．It can be inferred from the passage that _______．

     A．the author was concerned for his mother’s health

     B．the author was in favor of drinking Chinese green tea

     C．the author was surprised at China’s recent development

     D．the author was curious about the growth of India’s IT industry

When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from China．

When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans．Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now．

Still, her answer surprised me: “Green tea．”

As long as I can remember she didn’t even drink Indian tea ．

I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story．My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses．

At the turn of the century, China was not really familiar to the average Indian．It was a strange country．

How things change! And how soon!

Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”．And everyone is talking about China．

The govemment of Indin has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done．A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investment(投资)and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”．

But it’s a two-way street．I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software．Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China．

No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago, is expected to hit about US $15 billion for last year and US $20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments．

No wonder, my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino-Indian(中印)century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino-Indian Friendship Year．

But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea．

1．According to the passage, the author left _____ for ______．

     A．India; China             B．China; India     

       C．China; Longjing          D．India; Shenzhen

2．The reason why the writer’s mother asked for Chinese green tea is that_____．

     A．she had a son working in China          B．she believed it had a curing effect

     C．she enjoyed Chinese products      D．she was tired of Indian tea

3．The underlined part “it’s a two-way street” in Paragraph 10 probably means ____．

     A．The exchanges between Indian and China benefit both．

     B．China and India have different traffic rules．

     C．Tea trade works wonders in both India and China．

     D．Chinese produces are popular in both China and India．

4．It can be inferred from the passage that _______．

     A．the author was concerned for his mother’s health

     B．the author was in favor of drinking Chinese green tea

     C．the author was surprised at China’s recent development

     D．the author was curious about the growth of India’s IT industry