第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

On the evening of June 21, 1992, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the beautiful hall of the Bell Tower Hotel in Xi’an with his bicycle. The hotel workers received him and telephoned the manager, for they had never seen a bicycle in the hotel ball before though they lived in “the kingdom of bicycles”.

Robert Friedlander, an American, arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Delhi, India.

When he was 11, he read the book Marco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road. Now, after 44 years, he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dream were coming true. Robert Friedlander’s next destinations(目的地) were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.

1. The best headline (标题) for this newspaper article would be ___________.

A. The Kingdom of Bicycles            B. A Beautiful Hotel in Xi’an

C. Marco Polo and the Silk Road         D. An American Achieving His Aims 

2. The hotel workers told the manager about Friedlander coming to the hotel because ___________.

A. he asked to see the manager          

B. he entered the hall with a bike

C. the manager had to know about all foreign guests

D. the manager knew about his trip and was expecting him

3. Friedlander is visiting the three countries in the following order, _________.

A. China, India, and Pakistan            B. India, China, and Pakistan

C. Pakistan, China, and India            D. China, Pakistan and India

4. What made Friedlander want to come to China?

A. The stories about Marco Polo.         B. The famous sights in Xi’an.

C. His interest in Chinese silk.           D. His childhood dreams about bicycles.

 

Only three local students won Chinese Blog Competition. And 15 of the 18 awards went to students from China.

170 students’ task: to get a fully-designed blog up and running, complete with many postings based on a theme of choice—all written in Chinese.

Themes ranged from local opinions－such as the usage of Singlish, education and whether Singapore can be a cultural centre－to food blogs.

The entries were judged on Language proficiency（熟练程度）and the quality of writing, as well as the design and level of exchanging ideas with readers.

Academics(学者) from the National University of Singapore and the SIM University IT experts, and a journalist from Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao in Singapore made up the judges.

In the end, only three Singaporean students made it to the award list—the rest of the awards were swept up by students from China.

“No surprise, ” said Mr. Chow Yaw Long, 37, teachers in charge from Innova Junior College, which organized the event. “Although the topics were local subjects, the foreign students were generally better in terms of the content of the posts and their grasp of the Chinese language. ”

One of the three local students winning the first prize in the Best Language Award was blogger Christina Gao 19, from the Saint Andrew’s Junior College, who spared no effort in researching for and writing her blog. Each entry took her between five and seven days to produce, complete with pictures and even podcasts

Her advice for bloggers is: Be responsible

“Some bloggers out there only seek to blame the authorities and other bloggers.” Said Miss Gao. “I think they lack responsibilities and there is no value to their posts.”

1.The competition was organized by ___________.

A．the National University of Singapore         B．Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao

C．the Saint Andrew’s Junior College          D．Innova Junior College

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Not all the themes were about local subjects.

B．Chinese students won most of the awards.

C．The blogs could be written in Chinese or Singlish.

D．The judges were from universities in Singapore and China.

3.What Miss Gao said suggests that    ___________.

A．she likes to blame the authorities           B．she thinks highly of the others’ blogs

C．she has a sense of responsibility            D．she loves to read valuable posts

4.The passage is mainly about   ___________.

A．how Chinese students won the awards in the competition

B．why bloggers should take responsibility for their blogs

C．what the result of the competition was

D．how Miss Gao won the first prize in the competition

 

One thing that British and Chinese cultures share is a love for fine tea. Today, when we think of Western tea culture, we often think of the English and beautiful china tea cups.

Afternoon tea

People believe that an English lady, Anna, first introduced the idea of afternoon tea. In the 18th and 19th centuries. the English ate only two main meals each day ,breakfast and a heavy supper that would last for several hours in the evening. As a result, people often got very hungry during the long wait between these two meals. To solve this problem, Anna came up with the clever idea of inviting some friends to join her for an afternoon meal between four and five o'clock. This meal included cakes and sandwiches. and tea was served(提供)to wash down the food. In order to make this afternoon meal important, fine china cups and plates, and silver teapots. knives, forks and spoons were used .Soon, afternoon tea parties became popular social occasions. Today, afternoon tea parties continue to play an important part in the social life in modern Britain.

Will you come for coffee?

Coffee also has an important role in British culture. People often use the words“Will  you come for coffee?” to mean “Would you like to come to my home for a chat?” Normally, several different drinks such as tea, hot chocolate or a soft drink like orange Juice will be served as well as coffee. and you will be asked what you would like. However, you will not normally be offered wine at a "coffee" party.

Coffeehouses and the London Stock Exchange

In the 17th century London, coffeehouses were busy and noisy places. Businessmen and  bankers went to coffeehouses to do their business, as well as to drink coffee. In fact, the London Stock Exchange(股票交易所) is believed to have started from these coffeehouses 

1. Anna introduced the idea of drinking afternoon tee because she _______.

A enjoyed chatting with her friends at home

B loved fine tea and beautiful china tea cups

C. wanted to share nice food with her friends

D found people felt hungry during the long wait between the two meals

2.What does “social occasions” mean in Chinese?

A．集体婚礼

B．社交活动

C．社区表演

D．公共场合

3.f someone says to you “Will you come for coffee?”, you _______.

A．will be offered coffee only

B．are asked what you would like to drink

C．will be asked to have a chat with him or her

D．are invited to take part in an afternoon tea party

4.From the last paragraph (段落) we can see _______.

A. a new business was started in coffeehouses

B. coffeehouses are still used by businessmen and bankers

C. businessmen and bankers went to coffeehouses just for coffee

    D. most people wouldn’t like to go to coffeehouses because of the noise

Any foreigner who has tried to learn Chinese can tell how hard it is to master the tones required to speak and understand. And anyone who has tried to learn to play the violin or other instruments can report similar challenges.

Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese. Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience，researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills draw on the same parts of the brain that help people discover changes in pitch(音调)．

One of the study’s authors，Nina Kraus，said the findings suggested that studying music “actually tunes our sensory system”．This means that schools that want children to do well in languages should hesitate before cutting music programs，Dr.Kraus said. She said music training might also help children with language problems.

Mandarin(普通话)speakers have been shown to have a more complex encoding(编码) of pitch patterns in their brains than English speakers do. This is because in Mandarin and other Asian languages，pitch plays a central role. A single­syllable word can have several meanings depending on how it is intoned.

For this study，the researchers looked at 20 non­Chinese speaking volunteers，half with no musical background and half who have studied an instrument for at least six years.

As they were shown a movie，the volunteers also heard an audio tape of the Mandarin word “mi” in three of its meanings：squint，bewilder and rice. The researchers recorded activities in their brain stems to see how well they were processing the sounds. Those with a music background showed much more brain activities in response to the Chinese sounds.

The lead author of the study，Patrick C．M.Wong，said it might work both ways. It appears that native speakers of tonal languages may do better at learning instruments.

1. When learning Chinese，a foreigner will find ________.

A．he has a difficult time learning music at the same time

B．he has an easier time learning music at the same time

C．it is hard to master the tones required to speak and understand

D．it is easy to use the brain to help him discover changes in pitch

2.Why does Chinese learning have something to do with music training?

A．Because there is the same difficulty in learning Chinese and music.

B．Because skills to learn the two make use of the same parts of the brain.

C．Because music training might help people with language study.

D．Because people who do well in Chinese study do well in music.

3.The underlined word “intoned” in the fourth paragraph can be replaced by the word “____”．

A．created                           B．spelled      

C．seemed                           D．pronounced

4.What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Mandarin Speakers Are Smarter than English Speakers

B．Skilled Ear for Music May Help Language Study

C．Pitch Plays a Central Role in Chinese Learning

D．Schools Need to Develop Music Programs

 

Don’t you think your schoolbag is too heavy to bear? The e-schoolbag will free you from the weight.

It is said that e-schoolbags are going to be brought into use in Chinese middle schools soon. An experiment with several hundred e-schoolbags will begin in seven cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang. And the e-schoolbags are going to cover all over China if the experiment proves to be successful. In fact, the e-schoolbag should perhaps be called an e-notebook. It is a small hand-held computer for school students.

Heavy schoolbags have long been a serious problem for school students. The average schoolbag of middle school students weighs up to 5 kilos. But the e-schoolbag will change everything. It is much lighter than a usual schoolbag, weighing under 1 kilo.

Also, it is no bigger than a usual book, but it can still hold all the things for study, such as a textbook, a notebook and exercise book. They could be made into chips that are as small as a stamp. The students can read the text page by page on the screen. They can still take notes using a special electronic pen. If they want to know the meaning or the pronunciation of a new word, or even e-mail their teachers, it’s just a press of a button.

In some foreign countries, it is becoming common. But it is hard to tell when people will receive this new form of study. Some say that e-textbooks can be easily broken, some say that it is not good to students’ eyesight to look at the screen for long.  But only time will tell.

1.The e-schoolbag has many functions EXCEPT ________.

A．It can pronounce the words.

B．It can send e-mail.

C．It can be used as a dictionary.

D．It can phone somebody.

2.According to the passage, the e-schoolbag ­­­________.

A．is not heavy as before but still large

B．is used as an experiment in Tianjin

C．is made of metal

D．is going to cover China if it proves to be successful

3.Which of the following statement is TRUE?

A．All the students in China will be required to use this new schoolbag soon.

B．All the people think highly of e-textbooks.

C．E-notebooks are very convenient to students.

D．We will not make notes because the e-notebook can make all by itself.

4.The best title for the passage should be ________.

A．An Experiment In China

B．Please Change Your Schoolbag

C．A New Invention, A New Schoolbag

D．Chips