69．The word “fester'’ in the second paragraph most probably mean　　　　　 ．

A．get infected　　 　　　 B．become uncertain　 C．grow worse 　　　　　 D．go rotten

64．Microsoft’s’ network effect’ probably means　　　　　　　　 ．

A．the more people use PCs，the more software they will buy

B．the more people use Internet，the more money Microsoft can make

C．the better product, the more value

D．the later operating system，the better software

答案　 D B C A

Passage 22

(湖北省部分重点中学2009届高三第一次联考)

C

Space travel used to be a young man’s game，but when John Glenn went into space aboard Discovery, four generations of men and women could gaze into the sky and think “That could be me someday．”At the same time Glenn was looking down and doing some thinking of his own．

“It’s quite something，”he said,“to look down on this blue planet。seeing that little film of air that surrounds it．You fly over the Mediterranean,over the Middle East-and it’s so beautiful．You wonder why in the world humans can’t solve all the problems they’ve created and left to fester over the centuries．”

“I was at the Houston airport on my way back to Washington recently when this older guy walked up to me，all excited．He shook my hand and said，‘Boy, you’re changing my life! I said how’s that? He said，‘I’m 74。and ever since 1 was a kid I’ve wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro．I haven’t done it，and I kept putting it off．And now I’m gonna do it! And all the time his wife is standing behind him，just shaking her head．”

“So I may have killed a man on Kilimanjaro,for all I know．But I’ve noticed something．I’ve noticed that maybe because of all this,people are seeing themselves in a way they haven’t before．They’re realizing that older people have the same ambitions，hopes，and dreams as anybody else．I say you should live a life based on how you feel and not by the calendar．”

63．Microsoft grew at a time when　　　　　　　　　　　 ．

A．‘smart phones’ connect people to Internet

B．Vista was put into market

C．Personal Computers were on every desk and in every home

D．Computers became the main computing tools

62．Which of the following statements is true about Bill Gates?

A．Bill Gates set up Microsoft on his own in 1975．

B．Bill Gates failed to buy Yahoo．

C．Bill Gates was the chief executive officer when he retired．

D．Bill Gates is the richest mall in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation．

61．Bill Gates retired from full-time work in Microsoft because　　　　　　　 ．

A．he had earned enough money

B．Google threatened Microsoft’s leading place

C．PCs were out of fashion

D．of a reason that was not mentioned

68．What is probably the best title for the passage?　　　　 ．

A．The History of the New Look 　　　　　　　　　　 B．The Growth of the Dior Empire

C．An Expression of Freedom-Dior 　　　　 D．The Founder of the New Look-Dior

答案　 CBAD

Passage 21

(湖北省部分重点中学2009届高三第一次联考)

A

Last week，Bill Gates retired from full-tine．rime work at the world’s biggest computer software company, Microsoft．He will remain chairman of the company he established with Paul Allen in nineteen seventy-five．

Mister Gates leaves Microsoft at a time of change in the computing industry．Microsoft grew at a time when personal computers，or PCs，were replacing big mainframe computers as the main computing tools．He showed that huge profits could be made in software as PCs increasingly were found “on every desk and in every home．”

Early on，Microsoft understood the importance of the “network effect．” That is．software is the kind of product that increases in value as more people buy and use it．

Now，free Internet software threatens to replace PC-based software．Devices like “smart phones” connect people to the Internet．Google has become a 1eader in Internet Web searching and advertising．Microsoft has struggled to change with the new computer environment．Its efforts to sell music and its latest operating system，Vista，have not been big successes．And an attempt this year to buy Yahoo for over forty-seven billion dollars failed．

In the last several years，Bill Gates has slowly given control of Microsoft to others．In two thousand，he gave the job of chief executive officer to Steve Ballmer, a friend of his since their years at Harvard University．Mister Ballmer has been with Microsoft since nineteen eighty．Still，it is hard to overestimate the influence of Bill Gates on computing．He developed the business model that put the Windows operating system on about ninety percent of the world’s one billion PCs．Microsoft now has almost ninety thousand employees．

At fifty-two years old，Bill Gates is currently the third richest man in the world．He is worth about fifty-eight billion dollars．He remains Microsoft’s biggest shareholder．

Mister Gates will now spend most of his time working at his charity organization,the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation．The foundation is the world's largest charity with over thirty-seven billion dollars．It provides money for health,education and other projects，mostly in developing countries．

67．We can infer from the passage that　　　 ．

A．Dior and his supporter had different interests in business

B．Dior’s New Look had little influence on people then

C．Dior is only a brand of women’s fashion

D．Dior’s fashion was not accepted at first

66．According to the passage．in Dior’s life，he did NOT　　　　　　 ．

A．make creative fashion designs　　 　　　　　　　 B．work in a diplomatic service

C．1earn craft as his first job　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．open a New Look House

65．Which of the following designs is close to Dior’s?

64．The main purpose of the text is to　　　　　　　　　 ．

A．tell a story　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．provide evidence

C．give a report 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．compare opinions

答案　 DABC

Passage 20

(湖北省部分重点中学2009届高三第二次联考)

B

Dior was born in Normandy in 1905，and his family’s original plans for him included a career in the diplomatic service，but by the time he was twenty-three，with his parents’money，he opened a small art gallery in Paris．By 1931，the money had been used up．Dior’s friends in the art gallery, asked him to draw and he took his flrst step at designing and drawing．His first jot was with Lucien Lelong from whom Dior learned his craft(手艺)．

In February,1947．Dior started the New Look in his first major Paris collection．He was backed by a famous textile producer, Boussac，who looked after the dollars．while Dior looked after the fashions．Dior knew nothing about cutting and sewing，but he was good at fashion design．

The New Look started an entirely different look to costume．with a tiny waist．a rounded shoulder and a shapely bust(胸围)，usually with a low-cut neckline and a long。full skirt．To women who had lived through the war years．the femaleness of the New look was a great success．for people were tired of tile extremely plain，wartime restrictive fashions．

It is said that dresses by Dior were “constructed like buildings。”but young people were attracted to to his design，and all over the western world, manufacturers plunged(投入)into the production of his new style．Dior’s revolutionary designs lighted up a whole cycle of fashion，rounded，gentle，feminine．a delight in elegance．A New Look House of Dior opened in 1948，

followed by one in London．Considered as King of Couture(women’s clothing)for years, the　 Dior empire grew until it covered every country in the western world，and included furs，hosiery, jewelry, perfumes, men’s wear and on and on．More than 1,000 people worked at the Paris headquarters then．

His sudden death in 1957 when he was 53 years old did not stop the growth of the House of　 Dior．Even now, so many years after his death，his name is closely connected with fashion throughout the world，and indeed is one of the most recognized names in the world，His first，great New Look，with its long skirts was an expression of freedom in the late 1940s．