Only about half of this year’s high school graduates have the reading skills they need to succeed in college, and even fewer are prepared for college-level science and math courses, according to a yearly report from ACT, which produces one of the nation’s leading college admissions tests.

The report, based on scores of the 2005 high school graduates who took the exam, some 1.2 million students in all, also found that fewer than one in four met the college-readiness benchmarks① in all four subjects tested: reading comprehension, English, math and science.

ACT sets its college-readiness benchmarks — including the reading comprehension benchmark, which is new this year—by correlating② earlier students’ ACT scores with grades they actually received as college freshmen. Based on that data, the benchmarks indicate the skill level at which a student has a 70 percent likelihood③ of earning a C or better, and a 50 percent chance of earning a B or better.

Among those who took the 2005 test, only 51 percent achieved the benchmark in reading, 26 percent in science, and 41 percent in math; the figure for English was 68 percent. Results from the new optional ACT writing test, which was not widely taken this year, were not included in the report.

About 40 percent of the nation’s 2005 high school graduates took the ACT, and the average overall score was unchanged from the year before. Minority students make up 27 percent of all ACT test takers. Besides, there are also other worrying trends in the ACT report as well, including a continuing decline in the percentage of students planning to major in engineering, computer science and education.

Notes:

① benchmark  n.  基准

② correlate  v.  联系

③ likelihood  n.  可能性

1. The report from ACT mainly tells readers the problem that ______.

  A. few minority students graduates took ACT

  B. many who intend to go to college are not ready

  C. the college-readiness benchmarks is high this year

  D. the tests for some subjects are too difficult

2. According to the benchmarks in 2005, about how many students will not earn C?

  A. 30 percent.      B. 70 percent.      C. 50 percent.       D. 26 percent.

3. Which of the following pictures can correctly show the numbers of the students who achieve the benchmark in different subjects?

   A.        B.

   C.      D.

4. Which of the followings can be found in the report from ACT in 2005?

  A. The report about the writing test is very objective.

  B. More boy students are not good at science and math.

  C. The percentage of students majoring science declined.

  D. The average score of 2005 ACT participants changed greatly.

根据所给的中文和括号内的语法提示, 把下面句子翻译成英语,写在答题卷相应的横线上。
【小题1】 我觉得很奇怪他睡得那么少却能够干得那么卖力。（宾语从句）
I find ______ ________ ______ he is able to work so hard with so little sleep.
【小题2】 这两姐妹一定是吵架了，因为她们互不理睬。(must have done)
The sisters _______ _______ _______ an argument, for they are no longer talking to each other.
【小题3】 那位老师和两个学生参加了会议。（主谓一致）
The ________ with two ________ ________ at the meeting.
【小题4】 是什么事使他不能参加我们的会议仍然是个谜。（主语从句）
_______ prevented him from _______ our meeting still ______ a mystery.
【小题5】老师不用抬头看就已经知道是哪个学生在班上讲话。（V+ing 作宾语）
Without ______ ______ _______ her desk, the teacher already knew which student was talking in class.  

The Elysee Palace in France enjoys equal popularity in the world with the Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom, the Kremlin in Russia as well as the White House in the U. S. It is the residence of the president of the French Republic and the symbol of the supreme authority in France.
The Elysee palace, with an area of 11,000 square metres, is at the eastern end of the Champs Elysee in the city of Paris proper and backed by a large and peaceful garden of more than twenty thousand square metres. Its main building, quite handsome and graceful, is a two-story classical stone architecture of European style, and beside it are two side buildings facing each other and with an extensive rectangular courtyard in the middle. There are altogether 369 halls and rooms of different sizes.
The Elysee Palace, built in 1718, has a ling history of close to300 years to date. This house was at first a private residence of a count named d’Evreau, so it was called Hotel d’Evreau. It had later gone through many changes and its owners had been changed for many times, but all the residents in it were distinguished persons and high officials. The house was renamed Bonaparte Mansion when it was owned by Louis X V and Louis X VI successively when they acted as emperors. Napoleon I signed his act of abdication here when he had suffered defeat in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Nopoleon III moved in the   Mansion in 1848 when he was elected president, and the house became a Royal Palace when he declared himself as emperor. The Third French Republic issued a decree in 1873, appointing officially the Elysee Palace as the residence president of the French Republic. Over the hundred years since then, almost all the president of the French Republic worked and lived there. Starting from 1989, the Elysee Palace is open to the public every year in September on the French Castles Day.
【小题1】The number of the buildings of the Elysee Palace is ______.

第三部分：阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

China launched its first manned spaceship at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, becoming the third country in the world to send a person into orbit after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Astronaut Yang Liwei became China’s first space man.

With a column of beautiful smoke, the Shenzhou V craft cut across a bright northwest China sky at exactly 9:00 a.m. Wednesday and went into orbit 10 minutes later.

China Central Television’s Channel One cut into its regular programming to announce the launch. The station later showed the Shenzhou V streaking(moving very fast)into the sky and disappearing, its tracer billowing (to fill with air and become larger)behind it.

Minutes after the launch, a CCTV announcer said that Shenzhou V and 38-year-old Yang Liwei, an air force pilot since 1983, had “entered orbit at 9:10.” It reported Yang was “reading a flight manual(手册) in the capsule of the Shenzhou V spacecraft and looked composed and at ease.”

The Shenzhou V launch came after four test launches of unmanned capsules that orbited the earth for nearly a week before parachuting back to China’s northern grasslands. Reports said the manned flight was expected to last about 22 hours.

President Hu Jintao watched the launch at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China’s Gansu Province.

Hu called the launch “the glory of our great motherland and a mark for the initial victory of the country’s first manned space flight and for the significant, historic step of the Chinese people in the advance of climbing over the peak of the world’s science and technology.”

He said that: “The Party and the people will never forget those who have set up the outstanding merit(贡献) in the space industry for the motherland, the people and the nation.”

“The launch of the Shenzhou V is long-awaited by the Chinese people,” Foreign Minister spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Tuesday. She said the flight was a key step in the “Peaceful development of space.”

NASA Administrator Sean O’ Keefe also congratulated on China’s first successful human space flight.

41. The following are countries succeeded in sending man into space EXCEPT ____

A. China          B. Germany      C. America             D. the former Soviet Union

42. The underlined word “composed” in paragraph 4 means_____

A. happy      B. nervous        C. calm        D. excited

43. According to the passage which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. It’s the first time that China has sent up its first manned spaceship.

B. Before the Shenzhou V launched, four test launches of it had moved around the earth.

C. The 38-year-old astronaut was sent into space by China’s ShenzhouⅤspacecraft and landed safely the next day.

D. Yang Liwei is China’s first astronaut in space.

44. The writer quoted(引用) Foreign Minister spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue’s words to express ________.

A. the Chinese have been expecting the successful space launch and it’s a great contribution to the peaceful development of space.

B. a lot of Chinese people are waiting for the launch.

C. this launch is the first time in China.

D. China’s manned spaceship made a peaceful development of space.

45. The description of Yang Liwei tells us that _______.

A. Yang didn’t know what to do and he was looking up a flight manual

B. it’s 10 years since he became an air force pilot

C. Yang entered orbit at exactly 9:00 a.m.

D. Yang trained himself well and felt very satisfied with everything in the space craft

Dickson Despommier, a public health professor at Columbia University in New York City developed an idea with his students nine years ago. They imagined people in cities growing crops inside a tall building. Tomatoes could grow on one floor of the skyscraper(摩天大楼), potatoes on the next, small animals and fish on the floor above.

This vertical(垂直的) farm, or "farmscraper", could have space for restaurants and other places that serve food, like schools or hospitals. They could serve foods that are truly locally grown.

But why would anyone want to build a farm indoors in a city? Dickson Despommier believes it will become necessary. The world needs to find places to produce enough food to feed the growing population. Space, he says, is an all-important issue.

The professor also points to the problems of traditional farms. They use a lot of freshwater. Their fertilizer and animal waste can pollute water resources. And their growing seasons can be limited.

But inside the vertical farm, crops could grow all year. And there would be no wind to blow away soil. Farmers would not have to worry about too much or too little rain, or about hot summers, freezing winters or insects. And without insects there would be no need for chemicals to kill them.

Farm machines that .use fossil fuels, like tractors, would not be needed either. And water could be recycled for drinking. "The vertical farm reuses everything, so there is no waste," says Professor Despommier.

Even buildings could be saved. Old buildings could become new farms and provide jobs.

The professor has been actively proposing the idea to cities as far away as Dubai and Canada. But so far it exists only in plans and drawings, and a model at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Critics say building a farmscraper would cost too much, especially considering the price of land in many cities. Dickson Despommier estimates the cost at about twenty to thirty million dollars.

But he says the building would not have to be very tall. And his graduate students have found many empty lots and unused buildings in New York City that could provide space.

1.According to the passage the purpose of proposing the idea of a farm scraper is to      .

A．find places to produce enough food

B．serve food that are truly locally grown

C．prevent polluting the limited land

D．save fresh water

2.Which is one of the advantages of a farm scraper?

A．It costs less

B．It saves labor power.

C．It consumes too much energy

D．It is more environmentally friendly.

3.Those against the idea of farm scrapers argue that

A．it uses too much land in cities

B．it costs too much to build one

C．it causes people to lose their jobs

D．it exists only in unrealistic plans

4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．A vertical farm has been built in Chicago.

B．Old buildings could be changed into new farms.

C．Traditional farms use less water but pollute more water

D．There are some vertical farms being put into use in Canada.