72. Mike Perham is ________ that went on the round-the-world trip in the world up till now.

A. the first　　　 B. the bravest　　 C. the luckiest　　 D. the youngest

71. Mike Perham returned to Britain in ________.

A. August　　　 B. September　 　 　C. October　　 　　 D. November

55. What's the writer's purpose in this text?

A. To describe Mollie Hunter's most successful books.

B. To share her enjoyment of Mollie Hunter's books.

C. To introduce Mollie Hunter's work to a wider audience.

D. To provide information for Mollie Hunter's existing readers.

答案　 52-55 ADAC

Passage 16

(山东省淄博市2010届高三第一次摸底考试)

D

LONDON, England(CNN)--- The youngest person to sail solo around the world returned home Thursday from his 30,000-mile, 282-day ocean journey.

Mike Perham, 17, sailed into Lizard Point in Cornwall, the southernmost point in Britain, at 9:47 a.m., his race team said.

“It feels absolutely brilliant,” Mike told CNN by phone hours before crossing the finish line. “I'm really, really excited to be going across the line at last. It doesn't feel like long since I crossed it first.”

Mike set off on his round-the-world trip on November 18, 2008. He has been sailing his yacht,, single-handedly, though a support team has been sailing next to him along the way.

The teen has now achieved the title of Youngest Sailor to Circumnavigate the Globe Solo, according to the Guinness World Records.

Mike learned how to sail when he was seven years old from his father, Peter and at age 14, he sailed across the Atlantic alone.

The teenager's school --- which Mike describes as “highly supportive” of his trip --- has redesigned his coursework to fit in with his trip. It also gave him some coursework to do during “quiet moments,” according to Mike's Web site.

There haven't been many of those quiet moments. Repeated autopilot failures forced him to stop for repairs in Portugal, the Canary Islands, South Africa, and twice in Australia, according to his Web site.

Bad weather in the Southern Ocean --- between Australia and Antarctica --- forced Mike to battle 50ft waves and 57 mph winds. He said at one point, a “freak wave” picked up the boat and turned it on its side.

“My feet were on the ceiling at the time,” he told CNN. “That was a really hairy moment, and I was certainly thinking, ‘Why am I here?’ But we took the sails off and the day after I thought, ‘This is brilliant!’”

Mike describes his father as his biggest hero, always supportive of what he wanted to achieve. Peter Perham said he wasn't too worried about his son facing dangerous situations at sea, as long as he knew what to do and stayed safe.

54. What do we learn about Mollie Hunter as a young child?

A. She didn't expect to become a writer. B. She didn't enjoy writing stories.

C. She didn't have any particular ambitions. D. She didn't respect her teacher's views.

53. In Mollie Hunter's opinion, which of the following is one sign of a poor writer?

A. Being poor in life experience.　　 　 B. Being short of writing skills.

C. The weakness of description.　　　　 　 D. The absence of a story.

52. What does Mollie Hunter feel about the nature of a good book?

A. It should not aim at a narrow audience.

B. It should not be attractive to young readers.

C. It should be based on original ideas.

D. It should not include too much conversation.

52. Why does Jeanne Calment say "Sorry, I'm still alive" to the local lawyer every year on her birthday?

A. Because she had an agreement at 80 with the lawyer which was to her advantage.

B. Because she has asked the lawyer to pay her more rent than they first agreed.

C. Because the lawyer has paid her much more money than the value of the house.

D. Because the house she sold to the lawyer isn't worth the money he has already paid.

答案　 BDAC

[09年11月更新]

Passage 15

(贵州省高武中学2010届高三10月月考)

E

“A good book for children should simply be a good book in its own right,” says Mollie Hunter. Born and brought up near Edinburgh, Mollie has devoted her talents to writing primarily for young people. She firmly believes that there is always and should always be a wider audience for any good book whatever its main market is. In Mollie's opinion it is necessary to make full use of language and she enjoys telling a story, which is what every writer should be doing. “If you aren't telling a story, you're a very dead writer indeed,” she says. With the chief function of a writer being to entertain, Mollie is indeed an entertainer. “I have this great love of not only the meaning of language but of the music of language,” she says. “This love goes back to early childhood. I've told stories all my life. I had a school teacher who used to ask us what we would like to be when we grew up and, because my family always had dogs, and I was very good at handling them, I said I wanted to work with dogs, and the teacher always said ‘Nonsense, Mollie, dear, you’ll be a writer.’ So finally I thought that this woman must have something, since she was a good teacher and I decided when I was nine that I would be a writer.”

This childhood intention is described in her novel, A Sound of Chariots, which although written in the third person is clearly autobiographical and gives a picture both of Mollie's ambition and her struggle towards its achievement. Thoughts of her childhood inevitably(不可避免地)brought thoughts of the time when her home was still a village with buttercup meadows and strawberry fields-sadly now covered with modern houses.“I was once taken back to see it and I felt that somebody had lain dirty hands all over my childhood. I'll never go back,”she said. “Never.”“When I set one of my books in Scotland,” she said, “I can recall my romantic(浪漫的)feelings as a child playing in those fields, or watching the village blacksmith at work. And that's important, because children now know so much so early that romance can't exist for them, as it did for us.”

51. Which of the following could best replace the word "move" in the fourth paragraph?

A. deal　　　　　　　　 B. trick　　　　　　　　 C. march 　　　　　 D. sport

50. Jeanne Calment owes her good health and long life to _______.

A. smoking only a little every day

B. her giving up smoking and drinking

C. drinking two glasses of strong red wine every day

D. the good genes from her parents, a healthy diet and some exercises

49. How does Jeanne Calment feel about her old age?

A. She is miserable and unhappy. B. She is cheerful and humorous.

C. She would like to live much longer. D. She feels she is going to die very soon.