As a boy, Charles Robert Darwin collected anything that caught his interest: insects, coins and interesting stones. He was not very clever, but Darwin was good at doing the things that interested him.

    His father was a doctor, so Darwin was sent to Edinburgh to study medicine, and was planned to follow a medical career. But Charles found the lectures boring. Then his father sent him to Cambridge University to study to be a priest. While at Cambridge, Darwin’s interest in zoology and geography grew. Later he got a letter from Robert Fitzroy who was planning to make a voyage around the world on a ship, the Beagle. He wanted a naturalist to join the ship, and Darwin was recommended(推荐). That voyage was the start of Darwin’s great life.

    As the Beagle sailed around the world, Darwin began to wonder how life had developed on earth. He began to observe everything. After he was home, he set to work, getting his collection in order. His first great work The Zoology of the Beagle was well received, but he was slow to make public his ideas on the origin of life.

    Later Darwin and Wallace, another naturalist who had the same opinions as Darwin, produced a paper together. Darwin’s great book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (《物种起源》) appeared. It attracted a storm. People thought that Darwin was saying they were descended from monkeys. What a shameful idea! Although most scientists agreed that Darwin was right, the Church was still so strong that Darwin never received any honors for his work.

    Afterwards, he published another great work, The Descent of Man. His health grew worse, but he still worked. “When I have to give up observation, I shall die,” he said. He was still working on 17, April, 1882. He was dead two days later.

1.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. Charles Darwin’s ideas  

B. Charles Darwin’s works 

C. Father of modern biology: Charles Darwin    

D. The greatest scientist: Charles Darwin

2.Darwin’s father sent him to Edinburgh to _____.

A. make him like natural history       

B. make him become a doctor 

C. let him change his hobbies         

D. have him give up his collection

3.According to the passage, Charles Darwin’s whole life was changed by _____.

A. his study at Cambridge University  

B. his collection of coins

C. the naturalists at Cambridge       

D. the voyage of the Beagle

4.The underlined part “they were descended from monkeys” probably means “_____”.

A. they gave monkeys life

B. they were different from monkeys

C. they were developed from monkeys    

D. they had to live with monkeys

 

A man was on the side of the road hitchhiking（搭便车）on a very dark night in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, with no cars on the road．The storm was so strong that the man could hardly see a few feet ahead of him．Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop．The man, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door and only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the steering wheel（方向盘）!   

    The car started to move very slowly．The man looked at the road and saw a curve （拐弯处）coming his way．Terrified, he started to pray, begging for his life．He had not come out of shock when, just before the car hit the curve, a hand suddenly appeared through the window and moved the wheel．The man, paralyzed with fear, watched how the hand appeared every time the car was drawing near a curve．Finally, although terrified, the man managed to open the door and jump out of the spooky car．Without looking back, the man ran through the storm all the way to the nearest town．In a state of complete horror, the man walked into a nearby bar and asked for two glasses of Scotch whisky．

    Then, still shaking with fright, he started telling everybody in the bar about the horrible experience he just went through in the spooky car．Everyone in the bar listened in silence and became frightened, with hair standing on end, when they realized the man was telling the truth because he was crying and he was certainly not drunk!

    About half an hour later, two other young men walked into the same bar and one said to the other, “Hey, there’s a stupid man who jumped into the car while we were pushing it!”

1.When the car was first drawing near a curve, the man ________．

    A．felt very curious               B．was extremely frightened

    C．cried for help                   D．remained as calm as possible

2.According to the passage, what made the man’s experience believable?

    A．His reasonable behavior．       B．His vivid description．

    C．His plain appearance．          D．His honest attitude．

3.We can infer from the passage that ________．

    A．it is unsafe for people to take a free ride

    B．the man was telling a lie to his listeners

    C．the car probably broke down on the way

    D．the two young men were familiar with the man

 

More than 12 300 people were killed and tens of thousands left homeless after a powerful undersea earthquake unleashed giant tsunami waves that crashed into the coasts of south and southeast Asia.

The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra early on Sunday was the biggest in 40 years.It triggered waves that reared up into walls of water as high as 10 meters(30 feet) as they hit coastlines in Indonesia,Sri Lanka,India and Thailand.

Aid agencies rushed staff,equipment and money to the region,warning that bodies rotting in the water were already beginning to threaten the water supply for survivors.

Rescue workers also spoke of bodies still caught up on trees after being flung inland by the waves.

“I just couldn’t believe what was happening before my eyes,”Boree Carlson said from a hotel in the Thai resort of Phuket.

“As I was standing there,a car actually floated into the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong,”said the 45-year-old Swede.

“I heard an eerie sound that I have never heard before.It was a high pitched sound followed by a deafening roar,”said a 55-year-old Indian fisherman who gave his name as Chellappa.

“I told everyone to run for their life.”

In Indonesia,an archipelago of 17 000 islands,one official said nearly 4500 people had died.The worst affected area was Bands Aceh,the capital of Aceh Province,where 3000 were killed.More than 200 prisoners escaped from a jail when the tsunami knocked down its walls.In Sri Lanka（斯里兰卡）,the death toll also reached 4500 and 1 million people,or 5 percent of its population,were affected.It was the worst natural disaster to hit Sri Lanka.Hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans sheltered in schools and temples overnight,and officials expected the death toll to rise further once rescuers resumed searches after daybreak.In southern India,where at least 3000 were estimated to have died,beaches were littered with submerged cars and wrecked boats.Shanties on the coast were under water.

Thai government officials said at least 392 bodies had been retrieved and they expected the final toll to approach 1000.

The earthquake,of magnitude 8.9 as measured by the U.S. Geological Survery (news-web sites),struck at 7:59 a.m.(1959EST).It was the world’s biggest since 1964,said Julie Martinez at the USGS(news-web sites).

The tsunami was so powerful it smashed boast and flooded areas along the east African coast,3728 miles away.

What does the underlined word “tsunami” probably mean?

A.Tidal wave.                                                  B.Wave.

C.Earthquake.                                                  D.A man who kills many persons.

What does the passage mainly talk about？

A.Asian tsunami kills many people,and many more become homeless.

B.An earthquake happens.

C.The tsunami was so powerful that it smashed boats and people.

D.It was the biggest earthquake in 40 years.

The sea waves hit coastlines in _________.

A.Indonesia                         B.Sri Lanka           C.India and Thailand     D.All of above

 

第二节：完形填空（共20小题； 每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36-55各题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

         Growing up, I had a scar on my face — a perfect arrow in the center of my cheek, pointing at my left eye. I 36 it when I was three, long before I knew that scars were a 37 thing, especially for a girl. I only knew that my scar brought me 38 and tenderness and candy. As I got older, I began to take 39in my scar, in part to stop people laughing at me, but mainly as a reaction to the thought that I should feel uncomfortable. It’s true. I was 40 the first couple of times someone pointed at my 41 and asked, “What’s that?” or called me “Scarface.” But the more I heard how 42 my scar was, the more I found myself liking it.

     When I turned fifteen, my parents — 43 the advice of a doctor — decided it was time to 44 on what was now a thick, shiny red scar.

    “But I don’t mind the scar, really,” I told my father as he 45 that I would have the operation during my summer vacation. And my friends, along with my boyfriend at the time, 46 as I did, that my scar was 47 and almost pretty in its own way. After so many years, it was a 48 of me. But my father said it was a deformity (畸形). I don’t know what 49 more that day: hearing my father call my scar a deformity, 50 realizing that it didn’t 51 to him how I felt about it.

     I did have the operation that summer.

         In my late twenties, I took a long look at my scar, something I hadn’t done in years. 52, it could be seen in the right light, but no one 53 me about it anymore. As I leaned uneasily toward the mirror, I felt a sudden 54.

   There was something powerful about my scar and the proud person I 55 because of it. I have never been quite so strong since they cut it out.

36. A. got                     B. remained       C. kept        D. drew

37. A. good       B. bad      C. strange     D. funny

38. A. trouble     B. shame       C. attention    D. reward

39. A. pride        B. place     C. care           D. blame

40. A. uncomfortable                B. proud       C. pleased      D. disappointed

41. A. head        B. cheek        C. mouth           D. nose

42. A. long       B. unfortunate         C. beautiful     D. unbelievable

43. A. in         B. for         C. against           D. on

44. A. operate                      B. talk                C. remove       D. center

45. A. suggested       B. explained     C. told          D. ordered

46. A. felt                     B. acted      C. did           D. hoped[来源:学&科&网Z&X&X&K]

47. A. unlucky         B. ugly               C. unique    D. necessary

48. A. part            B. problem      C. memory       D. dream

49. A. interested         B. encouraged C. hurt       D. surprised

50. A. and             B. or         C. so            D. but

51. A. mind           B. occur      C. concern        D. matter

52. A. Still            B. Though      C. Thus          D. Also

53. A. cared         B. asked      C. questioned  D. mentioned

54. A. happiness        B. satisfaction   C. sadness       D. shock

55. A. respected       B. knew      C. met            D. became

 

At 10 years old, Flynn Mc Garry became sick of the meals his mother cooked for him. So the Los Angeles native took matters into his own hands and started making his own dinners. One of his specialties? Trout with braised leeks(韭葱炖鲑鱼).

Now 13, the young chef is being praised as a “food prodigy(神童)”. He will spend his summer apprenticing with some of the best chefs at LA’s famous restaurants, MSNBC Nightly New reports.

Mc Garry began making a name for himself in the culinary(烹饪) world when John Sedlar, owner of the trendy Playa Restaurant, let Mc Garry take over the kitchen for a special nine-course meal. The meal sold out almost instantly.

“Flynn is a very unusual young man, and he’s very, very passionate,” owner John Sedlar told MSNBC.

By usual teenage boy standards, it’s true. So strong is his passion for cooking that the young man has turned his bedroom into an experimental kitchen laboratory.

Instead of video game consoles, baseball trophies and movie posters, Mc Garry’s room is lined with mixers, pots and pans, cutting boards and a stainless steel worktable. It’s where Mc Garry cooks his monthly pop-up dinners, which are served from his family’s dining room, a monthly supper club he calls Eureka.

Mc Garry is deft(灵巧的) and confident in the kitchen, with skills he’s been practicing since he was a child. What started out as a means of self-preservation from his mom’s unsatisfactory cooking has turned into a passion that the teen hopes to develop into a career.

“My goal? Michelin three stars, a restaurant in the top 50 list,” he told MSNBC. “Hopefully the top five.” Meanwhile, Mc Garry’s 13-year-old resume is already richer and more impressive than most cooks many times his age.

Mc Garry isn’t the only talented young prodigy to surprise experts in his field in recent years. At just 17 years old, physicist Taylor Wilson is already teaching graduate-level courses in physics and has built a functioning nuclear reactor.

1.Mc Garry first started cooking ___________.

A．for himself                            B．as an experiment

C．in his own bedroom                      D．with a teacher’s guidance

2.Compared with many adult chefs, Mc Garry ________.

A．has the best cooking equipment in his kitchen

B．is inventive and has many new specialties to his name

C．has much and impressive cooking experience for his young age

D．wants to open his own Michelin three-star restaurant

3.The author mentions Taylor Wilson in the last paragraph to ______.

A．prove that Flynn’s success is not a rare case

B．compare his talent to that of Flynn Mc Garry

C．introduce a young talent in a different field

D．suggest experts should be trained at a young age

4.Where does this text probably come from?

A．A recipe book                          B．A restaurant introduction

C．A career guide                         D．A news report