This week, we talk about the application process for American colleges and universi-ties. This is part eight in our Foreign Student Series. Earlier, we explained how to begin a search for schools by going to one of the American educational advising centers around the world. We also discussed the rules for entering the United States. And we talked about programs that can be completed on-line.

　　But if your goal is to come to the United States to study, then it is time to make a list of colleges or universities that interest you.Be sure to choose more than one. Directors of foreign students admissions say students should apply to at least three schools.

　　Some students want to attend a small college; others want to go to a big university.If a really big university appeals to you, then there are ones like Ohio State University.That university in Columbus, Ohio, in the Midwest, has almost 52 000 students. There are students this year from around one hun-dred fifty countries. Ohio State provides in-ternational students with an application on its website. You can pay the application charge online with a credit card. Or you can print the forms and mail them with the pay-ment.

　　Many colleges and universities have their applications and also their catalogs on-line. A catalog is the publication in which a school tells about its programs. You should start on your applications at least two years before you want to begin studies. Completing a college application can take some time. But answering all the questions is not enough.Another important step is taking admission tests. The SAT is the college entry test that American high school students most com-monly take. Another one is the ACT. Colle-ges and universities may also require interna-tional students discussing these tests next week.

(1) This passage mainly tells us about________.

[　　]

A．how to apply for American colleges and universities

B．how to begin a search for a school in the United States

C．a series of programs for foreign students into America

D．the rules for foreign students to enter the United States

(2) From this passage we can infer that_______

[　　]

A．many American students want to study abroad

B．Foreign Student Series has lasted for weeks

C．less and less American universities will admit foreign students

D．the process of applying to American big universities is more complicated

(3) The writer mentions the Ohio State Uni-versity so as to________.

[　　]

A．recommend foreign students to apply for the university

B．offer some steps for entering the uni-versity

C．explain how to apply for American big universities

D．explain how big the university really is

(4) If a Chinese student wants to study in the United States, he/she may take the fol-lowing tests EXCEPT________.

[　　]

A．SAT

B．ACT

C．TOEFL

D．HSK

Stepping into a pool of water is common enough, but who could ever imagine stepping into a pool of fish? In February of 1974, Bill Tapp, an Australian farmer, saw a rain of fish that covered his farm. How surprised he must have been when he heard many fish hitting against his roof!

　　 What caused this strange occurrence? This is a question that had long puzzled people who study fish. The answer turned out to be a combination of wind and storm.

　　When it is spring in the northern part of the world, it is fall in Australia. Throughout the autumn season, terrible storms arise and rains flood the land. The strong winds sweep over Australia like huge vacuum cleaners, collecting seaweed, pieces of wood, and even schools of fish. Strong winds may carry these bits of nature for many miles before dropping them on fields, houses, and astonished people.

　　Although they seem unusual, fish-falls occur quite frequently in Australia. When Bill Tapp was asked to describe the scene of fish, he remarked, “They look like millions of dead birds falling down.” His statement is not surprising. The wonders of the natural world are as common as rain. Nature, with its infinite wonders, can create waterfalls that flow upward and fish that fall out of the sky.

　　56. What is this passage about?

　　A. A sad story. 　　　　　　　　　　　　B. A rain of fish.

　　C. Australia’s northern part.　　　　　D. The damage done by floods.

　　57. Fish-falls occur in Australia_________ .

　　A. quite often 　　　　　　B. on large farms

　　C. only in winter　　　　　D. when the air is calm

　　58. It is a known fact that ________.

　　A. one should watch where one steps

　　B. Bill Tapp is a scientist who studies farming

　　C. the natural world can never create waterfalls that fall upward

　　D. the seasons in the southern part are different from those in the northern part

　　59. The word “infinite” is closest in meaning to _________.

　　A. easy 　　　B. difficult 　　　C. countless 　　　D. dangerous

-What’s the old man standing there??　

-He is _____, a new comer.

　 A. Mr. White 　 B. an engineer C. Joe 　 D. Joe’s brother

The 2012 London Olympics had enough problems to worry about. But one more has just been added -- a communications blackout caused by solar storms.

　　After a period of calm within the Sun, scientists have detected the signs of a flesh cycle of sunspots that could peak in 2012, just in time for the arrival of the Olympic torch in London.

　　Now scientists believe that this peak could result in vast solar explosions that could throw billions of tons of charged matter towards the Earth, causing strong solar storms that could jam the telecommunications satellites and interact links sending five Olympic broadcast from London.

　　"The Sun's activity has a strong influence on the Earth. The Olympics could be in the middle of the next solar maximum which could affect the functions of communications satellites," said Professor Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.

　　At the peak of the cycle, violent outbursts called coronal mass ejections (日冕物质抛射) occur in the Sun's atmosphere, throwing out great quantities of electrically-charged matter. "A coronal mass ejection can carry a billion tons of solar material into space at over a million kilometres per hour. Such events can expose astronauts to a deadly amount, can disable satellites, cause power failures on Earth and disturb communications," Professor Harrison added. The risk is the greatest during a solar maximum when there is the greatest number of sunspots.

　　Next week in America, NASA is scheduled to launch a satellite for monitoring solar activity called the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which will take images of the Sun that are 10 times clearer than the most advanced televisions available.

　　The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory helped to make the high-tech cameras that will capture images of the solar flares (太阳耀斑) and explosions as they occur.

　　Professor Richard Harrison, the lab's director, said that the SDO should be able to provide early warning of a solar flare or explosion big enough to affect satellite communications on Earth "If we have advanced warning, we'll be able to reduce the damage. What you don't want is things switching off for a week with no idea of what's caused the problem," he said.

1.The phrase "communications blackout" in paragraph 1 most probably refers to____________ during the 2012 Olympics.

A．the extinguishing of the Olympic torch

B．the collapse of broadcasting systems

C．the transportation breakdown in London

D．the destruction of weather satellites

2.According to the passage, scientists are convinced that __________.

A．the sun’s activities have little to do with the earth

B．the London Olympic broadcasting will be possibly influenced by the 2012 peak of sunspots

C．the 2012 Olympic Games are during the solar maximum of throwing out greatest number of sunspots

D．solar explosion will cause strong storms on the earth

3.What can be inferred about the solar activity described in the passage?

A．The most fatal matter from the corona falls onto Earth.

B．The solar storm peak occurs in the middle of each cycle.

C．It takes several seconds for the charged matter to reach Earth.

D．The number of sunspots declines after coronal mass ejections.

4.According to the passage, NASA will launch a satellite to _________.

A．take images of the solar system

B．provide early warning of thunderstorms

C．keep track of solar activities

D．improve the communications on Earth

5.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Solar Storms: An Invisible Killer

B．Solar Storms: Earth Environment in Danger

C．Solar Storms: Threatening the Human Race

D．Solar Storms: Human Activities to Be Troubled

 

It was eleven o'clock that night when Mr. Pontellier returned from his night out. He was in an excellent humor, in high spirits, and very talkative. His entrance awoke his wife, who was in bed and fast asleep when he came in. He talked to her while he undressed, telling her anecdotes and bits of news and gossip that he had gathered during the day. She was overcome with sleep, and answered him with little half utterances.

　　He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, showed so little interest in things which concerned him and valued so little his conversation.

　　Mr. Pontellier had forgotten the candies and peanuts that he had promised the boys. Still, he loved them very much and went into the room where they slept to take a look at them and make sure that they were resting comfortably. The result of his investigation was far from satisfactory. He turned and shifted the youngsters about in bed. One of them began to kick and talk about a basket full of crabs.

　　Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after. Then he lit his cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.

　　Mrs. Pontellier was quite sure Raoul had no fever. He had gone to bed perfectly well, she said, and nothing had made him sick. Mr. Pontellier was too well familiar with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was burning with fever at that moment in the next room.

　　He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying home to see that no harm done to them. He talked in a dull, repeated and insistent way.

　　Mrs. Pontellier sprang out of bed and went into the next room. She soon came back and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning her head down on the pillow. She said nothing, and refused to answer her husband when he questioned her. When his cigar was smoked out, he went to bed, and in half a minute was fast asleep.

　　Mrs. Pontellier was by that time thoroughly awake. She began to cry a little, and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her nightdress. She went out on the porch, where she sat down and began to rock herself in the chair.

　　It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. There was no sound except the hooting of an old owl and the everlasting voice of the sea, which broke like a mournful lullaby (催眠曲) upon the night.

　　The tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier's eyes that the damp sleeve of her nightdress no longer served to dry them. She went on crying there, not caring any longer to dry her face, her eyes, her arms.

　　She could not have told why she was crying. Such experiences as had just happened were not uncommon in her married life. They seemed never before to have weighed much against theabundance (充足) of her husband's kindness and a uniform devotion which had come to be self-understood.

　　An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with vague pain. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul's summer day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood. She did not sit there inwardly scolding her husband, expressing sadness about Fate, which had directed her footsteps to the path which they had taken. She was just having a good cry all to herself.

　　The mosquitoes succeeded in driving away a mood which might have held her there in the darkness half a night longer.

　　The following morning Mr. Pontellier was up in good time to take the carriage which was to convey him to the ship. He was returning to the city to his business, and they would not see him again at the Island till the coming Saturday. He had regained his calmness, which seemed to have been somewhatweakened the night before. He was eager to be gone, as he looked forward to a lively week in the financial center.

1.Mr.Pontellier comes back home from his night out in a/an ______state of mind.

A．excited           B．confused          C．depressed         D．disappointed

2. Mr. Pontellier criticizes his wife because ______.

A．she is not wholly devoted to her children

B．she does little housework but sleep

C．she knows nothing about fever symptoms

D．she fails to take her son to hospital

3.The writer would most likely describe Mr. Pontellier’s conduct during the evening as ______.

A．impatient and generous                  B．enthusiastic and responsible

C．concerned and gentle                    D．inconsiderate and self-centered

4.The underlined sentence suggests that Mr. Pontellier's complaints to his wife are ______.

A．hesitant and confused                    B．not as urgent as he claims

C．angry and uncertain                     D．too complex to make sense

5.In paragraphs 8 to 13, Mrs. Pontellier’s reactions to her husband’s behavior suggest that ______.

A．she accepts unquestioningly her role of taking care of the children

B．this is one of the first times she has acknowledged her unhappiness with her husband

C．her relationship with her husband is not what has made her depressed

D．she is angry about something that happened before her husband left

6.The passage shows Mr. Pontellier is happiest when he ______.

A．sits near the open door smoking a cigar and talking

B．makes up with his wife after a heated argument

C．has been away from home or is about to leave home

D．has given his children gifts of candies and peanuts