18. The author states that icebergs are rarely seen because they are 　　　　　.

　　 A. broken by waves soon after they are found　　　 B. hidden under the mountains

　　 C. located in remote regions of the world　　　　　 D. surrounded by fog

17. The underlined word “dazzlingly” in Paragraph 2 probably means “　　　　　 ”.

　　 A. brilliantly　　　　　　　　 B. abundantly　　　 C. beautifully　　 　　 D. approximately

16. What would be the best title for the passage?

　 　A. High Cost Troubles University Students in UK.

　 　B. Students Swaps is Welcomed by Students in UK.

　 　C. Two Mothers’ Good Intention to Help Students in UK.

　 　D. Website Helps Students Live at Someone Else’s Home.

E

Icebergs are among nature’s most impressive creations, and yet most people have never seen one. They come into being somewhere in faraway, freezing waters, amid thunderous noise and splashing turbulence(漩涡), which in most cases no one hears or sees. They exist only a short time and then slowly melt away just as unnoticed.

They have been called objects of complete beauty. Appearing in an endless variety of shapes, they may be dazzlingly white, or they may be glassy blue, green or purple, in light colors or in dark colors. They are graceful, stately, inspiring in calm, sunlit seas.

But they are also called frightening and dangerous, and that they are in the night, in the fog, and in storms. Even in clear weather one is wise to stay a safe distance away from them. Most of their main part is hidden below the water, so their underwater parts may extend out far beyond the visible top. Also, they may roll over unexpectedly, stirring the waters around them.

Icebergs are parts of glaciers that break off, drift into the water, float about awhile, and finally melt. Icebergs floating today are made of snows that have fallen over long ages of time. They include snows that drifted down hundreds, or many thousands, or in some cases maybe a million years ago. The snows fell in Polar regions and on cold mountains, where they melted only a little or not at all, and so collected to great depths over the years and centuries.

As each year’s snow accumulation lay on the surface, evaporation(蒸发)and melting caused the snowflakes slowly to become tiny grains of ice. When new snow fell on top of the old, it too turned to icy grains. So blankets of snow and ice grains mounted(increased)layer upon layer and were of such great thickness that the weight of the upper layers pressed the lower ones. With time and pressure from above, the many small ice grains joined and changed to larger crystals, and eventually the deeper crystals merged into a solid mass of ice.

15. What can students do on Student Swaps?

　 　A. They can find students to exchange homes with.

　 　B. They can make friends with students from a different city.

　 　C. They can borrow money to pay for their higher education.

　 　D. They can voice their opinions against the rising cost of a degree.

14. What is Kate Barnham and Amanda Flude’s purpose of launching Student Swaps?

A. To provide cheaper accommodation for students.　　　　　

B. To let students stay close to their universities.

C. To help students spend less on accommodation costs.　

D. To let students exchange ideas freely online.

13. A “cash-strapped” student means one who __________.

A. lacks money　 　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　 B. prefers to stay at home

C. is careful with money 　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　 D. wants to change cash

12．We can learn from the passage that ___________.

　　　 A．the party should be finished before midnight

　　　 B．sweatbands might appeal to girls who attend the party

　　　 C．the goods of High School Musical can be easily obtained

　　　 D．boys attending the party can meet the captain of the high school team

D

Free and secure accommodation, no bills and even the odd home-cooked meal. It sounds like the perfect living arrangement for cash-strapped students.

Two mothers believe they have devised a way for struggling students to save on accommodation costs when they leave home to study at university.

Kate Barnham and Amanda Flude have launched Student Swaps, an online accommodation forum (论坛) for parents and students, in advance of the introduction in September of ￡3,000 higher education top-up fees.

Their website says, “The principle behind Student Swaps is to enable students to literally swap (交换) family homes.” The website will hold a database of students who would like to swap and link them with suitable matches. So those from one town / city could swap with those from a different town / city.

The site describes itself as offering a “cost-free accommodation alternative… at a time of growing student debt”. There is no charge for the service at the moment but Ms Barnham and Ms Flude intend to introduce a ￡10 annual fee if it becomes established.

However, the National Union of Students (NUS) has warned that, while the scheme may sound appealing to struggling freshers, it lacks any formal regulation.

Veronica King, NUS vice-president of welfare, said, “The fact that this scheme has even been suggested is evidence to the high levels of debt students now face on graduation.” Recent research has shown that students are more likely to live at home in coming years, in a bid to cut down on the cost of a degree.

“This is worrying, as it may mean that students choose their university on the basis of where it is, rather than because it offers the best course for them. It also means students will miss out on what is for some a key part of the student experience-living away from home.”

11．The following activities will be held at the party EXCEPT __________.

　　　 A．watching a movie　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．emailing digital movies

　　　 C．playing word games　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．having team competitions

10．A High School Musical theme party will be popular with teens because ________.

　　　 A．the movie is becoming increasingly hot　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．products of the movie are on sale now

　　　 C．the movie has an inspiring story for kids　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．parents have known much about the movie

9．The passage is written to tell ______. 　

　　　 A．adults how to prepare a party for teens　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．teens how to direct a stage musical

　　　 C．teachers how to entertain teens　　　　　　　　 D．children how to decorate a party room