In Singapore, most of us love window-shopping while some others enjoy having a picnic at East Coast Park or Changi Beach on sunny days. Singaporeans are never bothered by the occasional thunderstorm. However, we know that if it rains for long continuous periods, there will be more serious effects. Just recently the main shopping street of Orchard Road was flooded and some part of Bukit Timah was impassable to traffic. People reacted by writing in to the newspaper to complain about this! We forget that other countries suffer much worse effects. Elsewhere, heavy tropical（热带的）storms often result in floods that ruin crops especially in Thailand and Malaysia. This in turn usually means that the price of rice and vegetables here in Singapore will rise because we import these products from them. If there is a typhoon or tsunami, thousands of lives are lost too. This happened in Indonesia and Phuket in Thailand in 2004 and it serves to remind us of how Mother Nature can cause great damage.

Weather patterns in general have changed dramatically in recent years. Scientists believe that global warming and the resulting melting of the polar ice-cap has caused the level of the ocean to rise. This in turn causes flooding of low-lying areas in countries where the land is rather flat and some parts of which is below water level. It is believed that human activities have caused Mother Nature to show her extreme anger, so it is now important that we really work together to cut down on harmful activities, for example, illegal logging（伐木）or irresponsible forest-burning to clear land for farming.

56.From Paragraph 1, we can see that most Singaporeans love________.

A. making complaints           B. going out for picnics

C. doing window-shopping    D. traveling along the coast

【答案】C

【解析】根据第一段第一句可知。

57.What will happen in Singapore if there are floods in its neighboring countries?

A. Heavy tropical storms will follow shortly.

B. The price of rice and vegetables will go up.

C. Many people will write in to the newspaper.

D. More rice and vegetables will be imported.

【答案】B

【解析】根据第一段倒数三，四句可知。热带风暴导致的洪水会毁掉庄稼，新加坡的蔬菜和大米是从这些国家进口的，所以会导致蔬菜，大米的价格上升。

58.The underlined word“it” in Paragraph 2 refers to___________.

A. the arrival of heavy tropical storms

B. the import of rice and vegetables

C. the rising price of rice and vegetables

D. the loss of lives in natural disasters

【答案】D

【解析】上句提到台风和海啸会导致成千上万的人死亡。这在2004年在印度尼西亚和泰国的普吉岛发生过。自然灾害到这人死亡这件事用来提醒我们大自然可以带来巨大损害。

59.Which of the following shows how the low-lying areas are flooded?

a. global warming

b. the rise in ocean level

c. harmful human activities

d. the flooding of low-lying areas

e. the melting of the polar ice-cap

A. c→a→e→b→d         B. a→c→e→b→d        

C. c→a→b→e→d         D. d→a→c→b→e

【答案】A

【解析】根据最后一段可知。

60.What should we do in order not to make Mother Nature angry?

A. Clear more land for farming.           B. Reduce harmful human activities.

C. Bring down the price of food.          D. Improve the quality of weather.

【答案】B

【解析】根据最后一段It is believed that human activities have caused Mother Nature to show her extreme anger, so it is now important that we really work together to cut down on harmful activities,“人们认为是人类的活动导致了大自然极端愤怒， 因此，现在我们真的应该团结合作减少有害活动。”

Tykoon is an online website that allows you to teach your child financial principles through allowances, assignment of tasks and daily chores. As the parent, you can assign a cash value to the things you want your child to do. Then, your child can go in, accept the task and add to their wish list of what they would like to purchase with the money that they earn.

Let’s start with the parent side of things. The parent must be the one to set up the account. You simply enter your information and your child’s information to get started. You are then able to assign allowance amounts to your child.

Then you can add tasks for your child to accept and link them to either their weekly allowance or a pre-determined amount. Your child is then able to accept or decline their tasks. They can see how much each task earns, how often they need to do it and what they will get if they do! They can add items that they are working toward earning and can even earn nn-cash incentives such as extra TV time or staying up late!

Tykoon is a great way to start teaching your child about responsibility and financial principles in fun and safe way. Through the creation of their own profile and the ability to accept or decline tasks, they are taught the skills that they will need later in life when they are managing their own budgets! So, head over and sign up for a free account today and watch your child get excited about doing their chores!

And right now, as a special reward, if you share Tykoon with your friends and have five friends sign up and stay active for more than a month, you’ll earn a ＄25 Amazon.com gift card! So get your child enrolled(注册), tell your friends and let’s start teaching all our kids about the important financial principles today!

66.The purpose of the text is to___________.

A. make an advertisement                    B. share teaching experience

C. describe an online website               D. present a way of making money

【答案】A

【解析】第一段介绍Tykoon，二，三，四段介绍怎样操作以及所带来的好处， 最后一段是奖励措施。因此， 本文的目的是做广告，吸引大家都来参与。

67.The underlined word“incentives” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to “_________”.

A. promises           B. rewards             C. gifts           D. tasks

【答案】B

【解析】根据下文such as extra TV time or staying up late!，可见，“incentives”表示的是一种奖励。

68.What can kids learn from Tykoon?

A. The ability to manage their budgets.        B. The responsibility to do daily chores.

C. The skills to earn their own living.           D. The tricks to accept or refuse tasks.

【答案】A

【解析】根据第四段they are taught the skills that they will need later in life when they are managing their own budgets!他们被教给在以后生活中他们自己管理自己财务时需要的技巧。

69.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that_________.

A. no parents will resist the special reward          B. Amazon is a very popular website

C. Tykoon wants to attract more visitors            D. friends should share information

【答案】C

【解析】如果你能分享给5个朋友，让他们也签约并且保持活跃至少一个月，你就会得到价值25美元的亚马逊礼品卡。

70.What is the best title of the text?

A. Tykoon—A Safe Way to Manage Your Financial Issues

B. How to Create Funny Tasks for Your Kids on the Website

C. Opening an Online Account with the Help of Tykoon

D. Teaching Your Kids Financial Principles with Tykoon

【答案】D

【解析】纵观全文可知。

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

One day a few years ago we had an uninvited guest—a sparrow.  36  the little bird had flown into our open garage. Then I  37  the bird before I saw it.

“What’s that?”I asked when I first heard the sound.

“It’s coming from the  38  .”my wife, Anita, said. “Maybe it’s one of the little  39  .”

I looked into the garage. No children at all. But there was that sound again, coming from right up there. And that’s  40   I saw the sparrow. It was flying  41  just inches below the ceiling. It was clearly  42  to get out, but couldn’t see the way out was not up, but  43  and and out through the garage door. So the bird continued flapping its wings and bumping its little head 44  the ceiling.

I tried to terrify it out, but only succeeded in driving it into the  45  open space between the door and the ceiling. Then I tried to show the bird how to fly down a few feet  46   it could get outside, but that only seemed to  47  it more.

“Why don’t we just leave for a few minutes,” Anita  48  .“I’m sure he’ll figure it out eventually.”

We went back into the house, where we  49  to hear the ongoing struggle between the sparrow and the ceiling. Then suddenly, it was  50  and our uninvited guest was gone.

I’ve  51  that little sparrow through the years, and I’ve decided that birds are not different much from people. We think we were  52  to fly ever upward, and we don’t even consider the  53  that something good might happen if we just fly down a little bit. Once we figure out that we can make  54  without banging（碰）our heads against ceilings, we can usually save ourselves much  55  .

36.A. Still              B. Somehow          C. Instead              D. Perhaps

【答案】B

【解析】不知怎么的，这只小鸟飞进了我们开着的车库。B.不知怎么的。

37.A. heard            B. caught               C. searched           D. observed

【答案】A

【解析】根据下文when I first heard the sound， 可知本句的意思是“未见其鸟，先闻其鸣”。

38.A. house           B. backyard           C. garage               D. basement

【答案】C

【解析】根据36题所在的句子可知， 小鸟进入了garage,所以声音应该从garage传来。

39.A. birds            B. guests               C. cats                  D. kids

【答案】D

【解析】根据下文no children at all.可知, 作者的妻子认为是期中一个孩子

40.A. when            B. how                  C. why                  D. whether

【答案】A

【解析】when引导表语从句。“就在那时我看到了那只麻雀。”

41.A. quickly         B. anxiously           C. cautiously          D. slowly

【答案】B

【解析】anxiously不安的，焦虑的。因为被困，所以很焦虑。

42. A. deciding       B. hesitating           C. trying                D. choosing

【答案】C

【解析】try to get out努力要出去。

43. A. up               B. backward          C. forward            D. down

【答案】D

【解析】但是它看不到出去的路不在上方，而在下方。

44. A. against         B. off                    C. along                D. into

【答案】A

【解析】bump its little head against the ceiling 小脑袋撞击天花板

45. A. free             B. small                 C. wide                 D. dark

【答案】B

【解析】门和天花板之间的空间很小。

46. A. in case         B. even if               C. as though          D. so that

【答案】D

【解析】so that 引导目的状语从句。

47. A. puzzle          B. confuse             C. frighten             D. disturb

【答案】C

【解析】但是这样似乎使它更害怕。Frighten sb使某人害怕， 吓唬某人

48. A. suggested     B. explained           C. insisted             D. demanded

【答案】A

【解析】why don’t sb do 是表示建议的用语。 所以选择A。

49. A. attempted     B. continued          C. refused             D. failed

【答案】B

【解析】continue to do sth继续干某事

50. A. fierce           B. empty               C. safe                  D. silent

【答案】D

【解析】根据下文our uninvited guest was gone， 所以没有声音了，很安静

51.A. looked after   B. worried about    C. thought about    D. brought up

【答案】C

【解析】Ａ．照看　Ｂ．担心 Ｃ．思考  Ｄ． 提出。下文题到“鸟和人没有什么不同”，所以作者是在思考。

52. A. forced         B. determined         C. born                 D. urged

【答案】C

【解析】be born to do 天生就是干某事的。 “我们认为我们天生就是往上飞的”

53. A. idea             B. possibility          C. challenge           D. problem

【答案】B

【解析】我们甚至没有考虑这种可能性，如果我们飞的低一些，好事也可能会发生。

54. A. progress      B. peace                C. decisions           D. efforts

【答案】A

【解析】make progress取得进步

55. A. panic           B. pressure            C. loss                  D. trouble

【答案】D

【解析】save some trouble 省去很多麻烦。

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余选项。
A.　Goods for auction (拍卖) sales
　　B.　Definition of bidding
　　C.　Way to sell more goods by auction
　　D.　Auction sales in history
　　E.　Brief introduction to auctions
　　F.　Making a larger profit as an auctioneer
【小题1】______
Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction-room to make offers, or “bids”, for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down” the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer strikes a small hammer on a table at which he stands.
【小题2】 ______
The ancient Roman probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin auction, meaning “increasing”. The Romans usually sold in this way the goods taken in war. In England in the eighteenth centuries, goods were often sold “by the candle”: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight.
【小题3】 ______
Practically all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, furs, silk and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art.
【小题4】 ______
An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by potential buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot”, is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in the order of numbers: he may wait until he notices the fact that certain buyers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in.
【小题5】 ______
The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also play on the opponents among his buyers and succeed in getting a high price by encouraging two business competitors to bid against each other.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余选项。

A.　Goods for auction (拍卖) sales

　　B.　Definition of bidding

　　C.　Way to sell more goods by auction

　　D.　Auction sales in history

　　E.　Brief introduction to auctions

　　F.　Making a larger profit as an auctioneer

1.______

Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction-room to make offers, or “bids”, for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down” the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer strikes a small hammer on a table at which he stands.

2. ______

The ancient Roman probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin auction, meaning “increasing”. The Romans usually sold in this way the goods taken in war. In England in the eighteenth centuries, goods were often sold “by the candle”: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight.

3. ______

Practically all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, furs, silk and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art.

4. ______

An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by potential buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot”, is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in the order of numbers: he may wait until he notices the fact that certain buyers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in.

5. ______

The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also play on the opponents among his buyers and succeed in getting a high price by encouraging two business competitors to bid against each other.