For an increasing number of students at American universities, Old is suddenly in. The reason is obvious: the graying of America means jobs. Coupled with the aging of the baby-boom (生育高峰) generation, a longer life span(寿命) means that the nation’s elderly population is bound to expand significantly over the next 50 years. By 2050, 25 percent of all Americans will be older than 65, up from 14 percent in 1995. The change brings many problems for government and society, of course. But it also creates career opportunities in medicine and health professions,  and in law and business as well. “In addition to the doctors, we’re going to need more sociologists, biologists, urban planners and specialized lawyers,” says Professor Edward Schneider of the University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Gerontology (老年学).www.zxxk.com

   Lawyers can specialize in “elder law” which covers everything from trusts(信托) and estates to nursing-home abuse and age discrimination. Businessmen see huge opportunities in the elder market because the baby boomers, 74 million strong, are likely to be the wealthiest group of retirees(退休者) in human history. “Any student who combines an expert knowledge in gerontology with, say, an MBA or law degree will have a license to print money,” one professor says.

   Margarite Santos is a 21-year-old senior at USC. She began college as a biology major but found she was “really bored with bacteria.” So she took a class in gerontology and discovered that she liked it. She says, “I did volunteer work in retirement homes and it was very satisfying.”

1..“…Old is suddenly in” (Line 1, Para. 1) most probably means “_____”.

A. America has suddenly become a nation of old people

B. more elderly professors are found on American campuses

C. gerontology has suddenly become popular

D. American colleges have realized the need of getting older students

2.Why can businessmen make money in the emerging elder market?

A. The elderly possess an enormous purchasing power

B. They can employ more gerontologists

C. Retirees are more generous in spending money

D. There are more elderly people working than before

3.Who can make big money in the new century according to the passage?

A. Retirees who are business-minded

B. The volunteer workers in retirement homes

C. Professionals with a good knowledge of gerontology

D. College graduates with an MBA or law degree

4..It can be seen from the passage that the expansion of America’s elderly population ______.

A. will provide good job opportunities in many areas

B. will cause a heavy burden on society

C. may lead to nursing home abuse and age discrimination

D. will create new fields of study in universities

四、阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
Another man-made wonder of the United States was built long before the nation was established. About 900 years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan people built villages high in the walls of canyons in Colorado, where 600 cliff dwellings are now part of the Mesa Verde National Park.     
Visitors can stand at the top of the mesas and look into the dwellings almost hidden in openings of the rock walls. The Puebloan people cut small steps into the rock, which connected buildings containing hundreds of rooms.
The rock walls have protected the buildings from severe weather in the area; therefore, they remain mostly unchanged in the hundreds of years since they were built.
Our final man-made wonder is in the northwestern city of Seattle, Washington. The Space Needle was built as the central structure for the 1962 World's Fair.           
The 184-meter-tall structure was designed by Edward Carlson, which has a wide base on the ground, with its middle narrow and a large ring-like structure on top. The structure was meant to look like a "flying saucer," a vehicle that was popular in science fiction space travel stories.  The saucer includes an observation area and eating place. The restaurant slowly turns to provide visitors with a 360 degree view of Seattle.
The Space Needle, only costing about $4,500,000, was not very costly, and was designed and completed in about a year and opened on the first day of the World's Fair.
Today, the Space Needle is the most popular place for visitors to Seattle. And it remains the internationally known symbol of the city.
56.What the passage before this one can be about?
A.Some natural wonders in the world.
B.Sightseeing in the US.
C.Some other artificial wonders in the US.
D.American geography.
57. What does the underlined word “dwelling” mean?
A. village                     B. house               C. canyon             D. step
58. Which of the following descriptions about the Space Needle is TRUE?
A. It is a man-made wonder in Washington, D.C..
B. Edward Carlson built the structure.
C. It has a ring-like structure on top.
D. It remains the internationally known symbol of the US.
59. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Visiting the US                B. Man-made wonders in the US
C. Wonders in the world              D. Famous places in the US

Popular breakfast foods in the United States, as in many other countries around the world, include coffee, milk , juice, eggs, and bread. Some other breakfast items served in the United States are thought by many to be traditionally American. However, they actually come from other cultures.

             A very popular breakfast food in America is the pancake--- a thin , flat cake made out of flour and often served with maple syrup. The idea of the pancake is very old. In fact, pancakes were made long ago in ancient China.

             Bagels, a round thick bread with a hole in the middle , are also popular for breakfast in America. Polish people in the late 1600s came up with the idea for the first bagels and this new kind of bread soon took off across Eastern Europe.

             In the late 1800s, thousands of Jews from Eastern Europe travelled to the United States and brought the recipe for bagels with them. Today, New York bagels are said to be the best in the world. Many people have them with cream for breakfast on the go.

             Doughnuts (usually spelled “donut” in the United States) came from France. They were served to American soldiers in France in the World War Ⅰ. After the war, American soldiers asked cooks in the United States to make doughnuts for them. Now , served with coffee, they are a very popular breakfast food across the United States.

1.This reading is mainly about ________

A. famous places to eat breakfast.     

B. why people in the United States eat breakfast

C. the most popular types of pancakes in the United States

D. the history of popular breakfast foods in the United States.

 2.The oldest breakfast food in the passage is ______

      A. the pancake   B. the bagel    C. the doughnut    D. The passage doesn’t say.

 3.Which sentence is true for both bagels and donuts?

      A. They both came from Europe      B. They are both easy to make

      C. They are both sweet              D. people in New York make them best

 4.Who brought bagels to America?

      A. Polish people     B. Jewish People   C. Chinese People   D. American soldiers

5.Who served donuts to American soldiers during World War Ⅰ?

      A. French people                   B. Jewish people  

C. other American soldiers           D. cooks from the United States.

You may know the English letters A, B and C. But do you know there are people called ABC? You may like eating bananas. But did you know there is a “banana person”? How strange! Are these people from “another Earth”? No. They are just Chinese people like you and me.

ABC means American-Born Chinese. An ABC is a Chinese, but was born in the United States. Sometimes, people call an ABC a “banana person”. A banana is yellow outside and white inside. So, when a person is a banana, he or she is white inside—thinking like a Westerner and yellow outside—looking like a Chinese.

Do you know why? Usually, ABCs know little about China or the Chinese language. Some of them don’t speak Chinese.

But if ABCs cannot speak Chinese, can we still call them Chinese people? Yes, of course. They are Chinese. They are overseas (海外) Chinese. These people may be citizens(公民) of another country like the US, Canada or Singapore. But they have Chinese blood. Their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were from China. They all have black eyes and black hair.

But they are not Chinese citizens. They are not the people of the People’s Republic of China. For example, we all know the famous scientist  C.N. Yang(杨振宁). He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. The Chinese love him, but he is an American citizen.

1.What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?

2. Chinese in Western countries are called “banana persons” because ____.

3.C.N. Yang is mentioned here to show that ____.

A. American Chinese are great.        B. we love American Chinese

C. The Chinese can win Nobel Prizes   D. American Chinese are not Chinese citizens

You may know the English letters A, B and C. But do you know there are people called ABC? You may like eating bananas. But did you know there is a “banana person”? How strange! Are these people from “another Earth”? No. They are just Chinese people like you and me.
ABC means American-Born Chinese. An ABC is a Chinese, but was born in the United States. Sometimes, people call an ABC a “banana person”. A banana is yellow outside and white inside. So, when a person is a banana, he or she is white inside—thinking like a Westerner and yellow outside—looking like a Chinese.
Do you know why? Usually, ABCs know little about China or the Chinese language. Some of them don’t speak Chinese.
But if ABCs cannot speak Chinese, can we still call them Chinese people? Yes, of course. They are Chinese. They are overseas (海外) Chinese. These people may be citizens(公民) of another country like the US, Canada or Singapore. But they have Chinese blood. Their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were from China. They all have black eyes and black hair.
But they are not Chinese citizens. They are not the people of the People’s Republic of China. For example, we all know the famous scientist  C.N. Yang(杨振宁). He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. The Chinese love him, but he is an American citizen.
【小题1】What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?