三、阅读理解(40%)
A
February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.
   On the 14th day, it is a custom for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals! This is what you see on Valentine’s Day, a day named after Valentine who was a priest in the third century Rome. When the emperor decided that single men could become better soldiers than those with wives, he didn’t allow marriage.
   But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor sentenced him to death. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed “From your Valentine”, an expression that is still in use today. Valentine died for what he believed in and so he was made a Saint (圣徒), as well as becoming one of history’s most romantic characters.
   Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is also popular among Chinese young people. Some students are planning to make Valentine’s cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart-shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share in the spirit of St. Valentine.
51. Which of the following is not a custom for a boy to do on Valentine’s Day?
   A. to take his girlfriend out to dinner
   B. to buy his girlfriend flowers and chocolates     
   C. to make Valentine’s cards for teachers and friends
   D. to spell out his girlfriend’s name with rose petals
52. Why did the emperor in Rome not allow marriage in his country?
   A. Because there were few women in his country at that time.
   B. Because he thought men without wives could be better soldiers.
   C. Because there wasn’t enough food for so many people.
   D. Because he wanted to control the birth rate.
53. Valentine was put into prison because ______.
   A. he killed one of the soldiers              B. he stole a lot of food
   C. he didn’t obey the emperor’s order        D. he didn’t want to be a soldier
54. The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.
   A. students in China send cards to their teachers
   B. it is a good idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China
   C. it is interesting to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China
   D. Valentine’s Day is also popular in China now

The official made the demand that the soldiers _____ at once ______ battlefront. 

A. leave; for            B. leave; to           C. left; to          D. to be left; for

London has more than nine million visitors every year. They come and visit some of the most famous places in England: Big Ben, the Tower of London and the River Thames.

You can see some of the most interesting places in London by getting on the tour buses. Or you can take a ride on the London Eye. This large wheel slowly takes you 135m above the River Thames.

The River Thames is London’s main waterway. It has shaped the capital’s landscape, history and geography. So one of the best ways of knowing more about the city is to take a trip along the river.

The clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, has become one of the main symbols of London. The sound of the bell, which you can hear at the beginning of many television and radio programmes, has become well-known throughout the nation.

No visit to London is complete without a look at the Tower of London, in the eastern part of the city. After Big Ben, the Tower may be London’s most visited tourist spot. Directly south is Tower Bridge, which is more than100 years old.

Along all the palaces in London, Buckingham Palace is the most famous. It has been the main London home of the royal family since Queen Victoria moved there in 1873. You can visit some of the rooms in August and September. And most mornings of the year you can watch the soldiers

outside changing the guard.

About one hour by train out of London is the Tower of Windsor. Here you can visit another of the Queen’s homes-Windsor Castle. There was a fire in 1992 and many of the rooms were badly burned. But now they are full of beautiful pictures, tables and chairs again.

Sightseeing in London is great, but it can get very tiring. So, the best way to start the day is to fill up with an English breakfast.

You can buy an English breakfast in nearly every hotel, and at many restaurants and cafes. An English pub is a good place to stop for lunch and a drink. You can get hot or cold food and try one of England’s many ales(浓啤酒). Fish and chips are also a traditional English meal. So look out for fish and chip shops in cities as well as by the sea.

Or you can sit outside one of the many roadside pubs and cafes in London, and simply watch the busy world go by.

1.We can learn from the text that ____________.

2. Which place may be London’s most visited tourist spot?

3.If you go to London in December, you will not be able to ___________

4.The underlined word “landscape” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to _________.

5.The whole passage mainly introduces the ________________.

A. tourism in London              B. tourists in London

B. history in London               D. sightseeing in London

The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is plagues(疫病) that flesh receives.

     The most widespread fallacy(谬误) of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.

During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(战壕), cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds.

In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz Concentration Camp(奥斯维辛集中营), naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds. At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in Experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.

    If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? Despite the most pains-taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.

No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors(止痛片) such as aspirin, but all they do is relieve the symptoms.

1. Which of the following does not agree with the chosen passage?

   A. The Eskimos do not suffer from colds all the time.            

   B. Colds are not caused by cold.

   C. People suffer from colds just because they like to stay indoors.                      .  .

   D. A person may catch a cold by touching someone who already has one.

2. Arctic explorers may catch colds when       .

   A. they are working in the isolated arctic regions

   B. they are writing reports in terribly cold weather

   C. they are free from work in the isolated arctic regions

   D. they are coming into touch again with the outside world

3. Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit       .

   A. suffered a lot   B. never caught colds   C. often caught colds  D. became very strong

4.The passage mainly discusses       .

   A. the experiments on the common cold            B. the fallacy about the common cold

   C. the reason and the way people catch colds        D. the continued spread of common colds

C
Centuries ago, man discovered that removing moisture（湿气） from food helps to store it, and that the easiest way to do this is to expose the food to sun and wind.
All foods including water — cabbage and other leaf vegetables contains as much as 93% water, potatoes and other root vegetables 80%, lean (瘦的) meat 75% and fish, anything from 80% to 60%, depending on how fatty it is. If this water is removed, the activity of the bacteria which cause food to go bad is controlled.
Nowadays most foods are dried mechanically. The conventional method of such dehydration (脱水) is to put food in chambers (室) through which hot air is blown at temperature of about ll0'C at entry to about 43'C at exit. This is the usual method for drying such things as vegetables, minced meat, and fish.
Liquids such as milk, coffee, tea, soups and eggs may be dried by pouring them over a heated steel cylinder (圆筒), then put them into a chamber through which a current of hot air passes. In the first process, the dried material comes off the roller (滚筒) as a thin film which is then broken up into small, though still relatively flakes (薄片). In the second process it falls to the bottom of the chamber as small powder. Where recognizable pieces of meat and vegetables are required, as in soup, the ingredients (成分) are dried separately and then mixed.
Dried foods take up less room and weigh less than the same food packed in cans orfrozen, and they do not need to be stored in special conditions. For these reasons theyare invaluable to the climbers, explorers and soldiers in battle, who have little storagespace. They are also popular with housewives because it takes so little time to cook them.
54．It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A．the fattier fish contain as much water as the lean one
B．the fattier the fish is, the more water it may contain
C．a fatty fish holds less water than a lean one
D．the water content of fish has nothing to do with the content of their fat
55．The underlined word "conventional" in Paragraph 3 can most probably be replaced by ______.
A．traditional       B．scientific       C.particular         D.special
56．Which of the following statements is NOT true about drying food?     
A．The removal of water in food helps prevent it from going rotten.
B．The open-air method of drying food has been known for hundreds of years.
C．In the course of dehydration, the temperature of hot current coming from entry to exit is
gradually going up.
D．The process of drying liquids is much more complex than that of drying solid food.
57．The last paragraph mainly talks about __________.
A．the reason why housewives like dried food
B．the general convenience of dried food
C．the methods of storing food
D．the advantages of dried, canned and frozen food