Music is an international language. The songs that are sung or played by instruments are beautiful to all people everywhere.

Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class and at lunch. Students with cars buy large speakers (扬声器) and play the music loudly as they drive on the street.

Adult drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, politics, and activities of the American people. But most of the radio broadcast is music.

Pop or popular music singers make much money. They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in every state. Once the popular singer is heard throughout the country, young people buy his or her tapes. Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer. Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star.

Besides pop music, there are two other kinds of music that is important to Americans. One is called folk music. It tells stories about the common life of Americans. The other is called western or country music. This was started by cowboys who would sing at night to the cows they were watching. Today, any music about country life and the love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music.

1. In America, every student likes ______.

A. folk music       B. country music    C. pop music       D. western music

2. According to the passage, most of the car radio broadcast is ______.

A. sports           B. the weather  C. politics        D. music

3. What do the cowboys do according to the passage?

A. They sell cows.                   B. They watch cows.

C. They sing and dance.             D. They travel around.

4. How many kinds of music are mentioned in the passage?

A. Three.       B. Four.             C. Five.           D. Six.

5. What’s the best title of the passage?

A. Music in America                  B. Music Listeners

C. Cowboys in America            D. International Language

 

The common cold is the world's most widespread illness， which is plagues（病疫） that flesh receives. The most widespread fallacy（谬误） of all is that colds 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

 

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 caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses(病毒) 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(症状).

1. The writer offered _______ examples to support his argument.

A. 4              B. 5              C. 6              D. 3

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

It was a beautiful day at the beach—blue sky, gentle wind, calm sea．I knew these things because a man sitting five feet from me was shouting them into his mobile phone, like a play-by-play announcer （实况解说员）.

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY,” he shouted．“THE SKY IS BLUE, AND THERE’S A GENTLE WIND, AND THE WATER IS CALM, AND…”

Behind me, a woman, her mobile phone pressed to her ear was walking back and forth.

“She DIDN’T,” she was saying．“No．She DIDN’T．She DID? Really? Are you SERIOUS? She did NOT．She DID? No she…”

And so on．This woman had two children, who were playing in the sea．I found myself watching them, because the woman surely was not．A huge squid could have caught and snatched the children, and this woman would not have noticed．Or, if she had noticed, she’d have said, “Listen．I have to go, because a huge squid just……No! She didn’t ! She DID? No! She……”

And next to me, the play-by-play man would have said: “…AND A HUGE SQUID JUST ATE TWO CHILDREN, AND I’M GETTING A LITTLE SUNBURNED, AND …”

It used to be that the major trouble at the beach was the fellow who brought a boom box （便携式录音机） and turned it up so loud that the bass notes caused seagulls to explode．But at least you knew where these fellows were; you never know which beachgoers have mobile phones．You’ll settle next to what appears to be a sleeping sunbather, or even （you hope） a corpse , and you’ll lie happily on your towel, and you’ll get all the way to the second sentence of your 467-page book before you fall asleep to the hypnotic surge of the surf （催人入梦的潮声）, and …

BREEP! BREEP! The corpse sits up, feels urgently for its mobile phone, and shouts “Hello! I’m at the beach! Yes! It’s nice! Very peaceful! What? She did? No, she didn’t! She DID? No, she…”

Loud mobile-phoners never seem to get urgent calls．Just once, I’d like to hear one of them say, “Hello? Yes, this is Dr．Johnson．Oh, Dr．Smith．You’ve opened the abdominal cavity （腹腔）? Good! Now the appendix should be right under the … What? No, that’s the liver．Don’t take THAT out, ha ha! Oh, you did? My God! OK, now listen carefully…”

From the passage we can know that the writer of the passage _____.

       A．had a wonderful holiday at the beach

       B．must have suffered a lot because of the terrible weather

       C．is only interested in talks by doctors about operation

       D．experienced an unhappy holiday at the beach

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

       A．The writer often spends his holidays at the beach.

       B．A huge squid ate two children while their mother was not watching.

       C．Some people used to play boom box while spending their holidays at the beach.

       D．Some people often make loud mobile phone calls without caring for others.

The underlined word“ corpse”in this passage has the closest meaning to________.

       A．a dead body           B．a loud mobile phone        

       C．a sound sleeper        D．a sleep lover

In the past the fellow who brought a boom box_________.

       A．turned it up to make the seagulls happy

       B．turned it up to cause the seagulls to explode

       C．might cause less trouble than the beachgoers with mobile phones

       D．might cause more trouble than the beachgoers with mobile phones

We can infer from the passage that _______.

     A．the writer is interested in mobile phone.

     B．the writer hates people using mobile phone

     C．the writer hates to be disturbed while enjoying holidays on the beach.

     D．the writer seldom finishes reading a book before going to sleep.

.

Damage to Ozone layer Gets Worse

In the middle of winter, when snow is falling in many parts of the United States, scientists have sounded a warning to people who plan to spend many hours in the sun this summer. The warning is: The sun’s summertime rays are more dangerous than once thought.

A team of scientists from 80 nations recently reported to the United Nations that a layer of ozone (臭氧层) in the atmosphere, which protects humans from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation（紫外线辐射）, will be thinner over the United States this summer. The thinner layer allows more ultraviolet rays from the sun to reach Earth. The extra amount of ultraviolet radiation could cause an increase in the number of cases of skin cancer.

Scientists first became concerned about the ozone layer in the mid-1980s when a hole was discovered in the layer above Antarctica during the winter. The hole was caused by chemicals used in refrigerators and air conditioners. When these chemicals are sent out into the atmosphere, they produce gases that destroy the ozone.

Concern about the protective ozone layer rose more recently when data(数据) from satellites and ground stations showed that ozone levels were dropping over areas other than Antarctica. Low ozone levels were recorded in the spring and summer over the United States and over other populated areas in the world.

Although many countries have already begun stopping the use of ozone destroying chemicals, the new findings are expected to advance the timetable for a total ban(禁止) of the chemicals.

59.   The scientists have observed the ozone layer_____.

A.  since 1980             B.  since last winter      

C.  for about 20 years       D.  for about one year

60. The ozone layer in the atmosphere can _____.

A.  do a lot of good to human beings in many ways.

B.  protect humans from diseases caused by bad weather.

C.  do a lot of harm to human beings in the summer-time.

D.  protect humans from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation.

61. Scientists first found that there was a hole in the ozone layer_____.

A.  above Arctic during the winter in the mid-1980s

B.  above Antarctica during the winter in the mid-1980s

C.  over somewhere in the north of the equator in 1980

D.  over the U.S.A in the summertime in the mid-1980s

62.   The damage to the ozone layer was caused by_____.

A.  the changeable weather

B.  ozone-destroying chemicals

C.  chemicals from refrigerators

D.  chemicals from air conditioners