1 . For the 17 years my life was very happy. Then the first sad thing happened. My mother became very ill, and soon she knew that she was dying. Just before she died, she asked Elizabeth and me to go to her room. She held our hands and said, “Victor and Elizabeth, my children, I’m very happy because you love each other, and because one day you’ll get married. Everyone in the family loves you, Elizabeth. Will you take my place in the family, my dear? I can die happy if you look after them when I have gone.”
My mother died and we were very sad, because we loved her dearly. Elizabeth was brave and helped us; her sweet smile gave us some happiness in the unhappy days after my mother’s death. The time came for me to go to university. I didn’t want to leave my sad family, but we all knew that I should go. It was hard to leave, too, because the parents of my good friend Henry would not let him go to university with me. So I had gone alone.
On my first day at university I met my teacher, Professor Waldman, who was one of the greatest scientists in the world. He gave a wonderful talk to all the students who were starting at the university. He ended his talk by saying, “Some of you will become the greatest scientists of tomorrow. You must study hard and discover everything that you can. This is why God made you intelligent—to help other people.”
After the professor’s talk, I thought very carefully. I remembered the storm when I was 15; I remembered how the lightning had destroyed the tree. From then on, I wanted to use electricity to help people, and I wanted to discover the secrets of life. I decided to work on these two things.
I started to work the next day. I worked very hard and soon Professor Waldman and I realized that I could learn to be a very good scientist.
The professor helped me very much, and other important scientists who were his friends helped me, too. I was interested in my work and I did not take one day’s holiday during the next two years, I did not go home, and my letters to my family were very short.
After two years, I had discovered many things and I built a scientific machine that was the best in the university. My machine would help me answer the most important question of all. How does life begin? Is it possible to put life into dead things? To answer these questions about life I had to learn first about death. I had to watch bodies from the moment when they died and the warm life left them. In the hospital and in the university, I watched the dying and the dead. Day after day, month after month, I followed death, so it was a dark and terrible time.
I built a tall mast about 150 meters high, which is higher than the tallest building in the city, to catch lightning and send the electricity down to my machine in the lab. I believed I could use that electricity to give life to things that were dead.
Then one day, the answer came to me. Suddenly I was sure that I knew the secret of life.
1. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?| A．Victor did not want to leave his family because his mother died not long before. |
| B．Elizabeth married shortly after Victor’s mother died. |
| C．Elizabeth was a brave girl who loved Victor and gave him much help. |
| D．Victor’s mother was very angry when she knew he loved Elizabeth. |
| A．he discovered many things and built a scientific machine |
| B．he learnt much about death both in the hospitals and in the university |
| C．he built a tall mast to catch lightning and send the electricity down to the lab |
| D．he worked hard and took only one day’s holiday during the next two years |
| A．use electricity to cure diseases |
| B．build the best machine to learn about death |
| C．become the greatest scientist of tomorrow |
| D．give life to things that were dead by using electricity |
① Victor’s mother passed away.
② Victor got help from the professor and other scientists.
③ Victor went to university and attended the professor’s talk.
④ Victor found the answer to giving life to things that were dead.
⑤ Victor experienced a storm, seeing the lightning destroying the tree.
| A．①②③④⑤ | B．⑤①③②④ | C．①③②⑤④ | D．⑤①②④③ |
2 . Donating blood is a simple thing to do, but it can make a big difference in the lives of others. The donation process from the time you arrive until the time you leave takes about an hour. The donation itself is only about 8—10 minutes on average. The steps in the process are:
Step 1: Registration
1. Our staff and volunteers will sign you in and go over basic eligibility (资格) and donation information.
2. You will read information about donating blood, and will be asked to show a donor card，driver’s license, or other form(s) of ID.
Step 2: Health History & Mini-Physical
1. You will answer some questions during a private and confidential interview about your health history and places you have traveled.
2. We will check your temperature, pulse, blood pressure and hemoglobin (血红蛋白) level present in a sample of blood.
Step 3: The Donation
1. We will clean an area on your arm and insert a brand new clean needle for the blood draw. This feels like a quick pain and is over in seconds.
2. The actual donation takes about 8—10 minutes, during which you will be seated comfortably. Certain donation types, such as platelets (血小板) or red cells can take up to 2 hours.
3. When approximately a pint of blood has been collected, the donation is complete and a staff person will place a bandage on your arm.
Step 4: Refreshments
1. After donating, you should have a snack and something to drink in the refreshments area. You can leave the site after 10—15 minutes and continue with your normal daily activities.
2. Enjoy the feeling of accomplishment knowing that you have helped save lives.
1. Which of the following can be a proper title for the passage?| A．The process of blood donation |
| B．The benefits of blood donation |
| C．The importance of blood donation |
| D．The preparations for blood donation |
| A．go over his basic donation information |
| B．show something to prove his identity |
| C．answer some questions about his health history |
| D．have his temperature and blood pressure checked |
a. clean an area on the donor’s arm
b. let the donor sit comfortably
c. place a bandage on the donor’s arm
d. draw the blood
e. insert a needle
| A．a，b，d，e，c | B．b，a，c，e，d |
| C．c，b，a，e，d | D．b，a，e，d，c |
3 . For hundreds of years, Japan has been hit, from time to time, by tsunami（海啸）, which is caused by earthquakes or underwater volcanoes. The story of the boy Yuuki is the story of such a disaster.
Yuuki lived with his family in a seaside village, below a small mountain. One day, as he played on top of the mountain, Yuuki felt a small earthquake but it was not strong enough to frighten anybody. Soon after, however, Yuuki noticed the sea darken and begin running away from the shore very fast, leaving behind wide areas of beach that had never been seen before.
Yuuki remembered reading that just before a terrible tsunami, the sea suddenly and quickly rolls backward. He ran to the beach, warning the villagers who had gathered to admire the new beach land.
But no one listened. They laughed at him and continued playing in the new sand.
Desperate, Yuuki could think of only one thing to do. He lit a tree branch, raced to the rice fields and began burning the harvested rice. Then he called out, “Fire! Fire! Everyone run to the mountain! Now!”
When everyone reached the mountain top, a villager cried out, “Yuuki is mad! I saw him set the fire.” Yuuki hung his head in shame, but said nothing as the villagers screamed at him.
Just then, someone shouted, “Look!”
In the distance a huge dark wave of water was speeding towards the shore. When it hit the shore, it destroyed everything.
On the mountain everyone stared at the village ruins in terror.
“I'm sorry I burned the fields,” said Yuuki, his voice trembling.
“Yuuki,” the village chief answered. “You saved us all.”
The villagers cheered and raised Yuuki into the air. “We were going to celebrate our rice harvest tonight,” said one, “but now we’ll celebrate that we’re all still alive!”
1. Where was Yuuki when the earthquake struck?| A．On the beach. | B．On the mountain. |
| C．In the rice fields. | D．At home. |
a. Yuuki ran to the rice fields.
b. The villagers paid no attention to Yuuki’s word.
c. Yuuki went to warn the villagers.
d. The village was in ruins.
e. The people were screaming at Yuuki.
| A．c, b, d, a, e | B．a, c, d, b, e |
| C．c, b, a, e, d | D．a, c, d, e, b |
| A．He told them about the earthquake. |
| B．He explained why the sea was flowing out. |
| C．He told the village chief to warn the people. |
| D．He set fire to the rice field. |
| A．Burn the rice crop. | B．Play on the beach. |
| C．Climb the mountain. | D．Celebrate the rice harvest. |
4 . Airborne dust is normally seen as an environmental problem, but the lack of it is making air pollution over China considerably worse.
A new study suggests less dust means more solar radiation hits the land surface,which reduces wind speed. That lack of wind in turn leads to an accumulation of air pollution over heavily populated parts of China. The researchers found that reduced dust levels cause a 13% increase in human-made pollution in the region.
Hundreds of millions of people across China continue to be impacted by air pollution from factories and coal-fl red power plants. Studies suggest that the dirty、air contributes to 1.6 million deaths a year, about 17% of all mortalities. But this new research says that the human-induced pollution is being made worse or better by naturally occurring dust that blows in from the Gobi desert. Using models to simulate 150 years of wind and dust patterns in the region, the researchers found that the dust deflects significant amounts of sunlight. Without it, more heat from the Sun hits the land. Differences in the temperatures between land and sea cause the winds to blow. Without the dust, the land warms up more and that changes the temperature differential with the sea leading to weaker breezes - and more air pollution.
“There are two dust sources. One is the Gobi and the other is the highlands of north-west China, but we found the Gobi had much more influence," said lead author Yang Yang, from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington State, US. “Less dust in the atmosphere causes more solar radiation to reach the surface. It weakens the temperature difference between the land and the sea and impacts the circulation of the winds and causes a stagnation over eastern- China and that causes an accumulation of air pollution.”
Another study has recently shown a link between declining Arctic sea ice and a major air pollution event in China. The authors of the new study believe that both theories could be true.
“Our study has the same mechanism: the weakening of winds causes more pollution, and what is behind this needs to be studied/ said Yang Yang, “We have two views on this kind of weakening of wind. They found the sea ice, we found the dust-wind interaction can also lead to weakening of the wind. I think both of them are important.”
The researchers believe that the study may inform broader questions about how natural human-created aerosols interact.
Many parts of the world, in addition to China, are now suffering from increased levels of air pollution and understanding how dust, winds and emissions work together may help limit some of the worst impacts of dirty air.
One of the key lessons from this study is that the absence of dusty conditions could mean the air you are breathing is worse for you, not better.
1. According to the new study, the formation of air pollution over heavily populated parts of China is due to_________.| A．the accumulation of dust | B．the shortage of wind |
| C．the high level of living standards | D．the rise of temperature |
①the worse circulation of the winds
②more heat from the sun
③lessening temperature between the land and the sea
④less dust
⑤a worse stagnation
| A．④②③①⑤ | B．①④②⑤③ |
| C．④①③②⑤ | D．①⑤②④③ |
| A．Lack of dust from the highlands of north-west China means we can breathe better air. |
| B．There is little connection between declining Arctic sea ice and air pollution in China. |
| C．Declining Arctic sea ice and dust-wind interaction can cause weakening of the wind. |
| D．The interaction between dust, winds and emissions can worse dusty conditions. |
5 . In the office of the German prime minister Angela Merkel, there is a picture of Catherine the Great, the legendary (传奇的) Russian Empress. When asked why she has the picture, Merkel says, "She was a strong woman". Many say the same of Merkel.
The most powerful woman in the world, according to US Forbes magazine, was in China last week. She came to discuss trade and environmental issues with China's top leaders. Germany's first woman leader is known as a brave and practical statesman (政治家).
Even since her time at school, she had the habit of getting everything in order. Every day before doing her homework she would clean the desk and think about what to do next. "I prefer a long time for full preparations to make my decision. But once I decide, I will stand up for what I believe, "Merkel said. Perhaps it was good habits that helped her do well in her studies. At 32, she got a doctor degree in physics and then she worked as a researcher.
However, the life of a scholar couldn't put off her love of politics. While working in labs, Merkel took time off to read political books and at last joined a political party. "Her calmness helped her stand out in the party. She could always find a way out while others felt hopeless," said one of her old friends.
In her first big political job as Minister for the Environment in 1994, her scientific background proved very useful. In 2005 she became Germany's youngest prime minister since the second World War.
Now half way through her four-year term, the 53-year-old woman has made a name for herself both in Germany and abroad. At the EU summit (欧盟峰会) in 2005 when France quarreled with Britain over the EU budget (预算), some people believed the EU was close to breaking down. But Merkel didn't give up. She shuttled (穿梭) between the heads of the two powers and had them reached an agreement.
"Strength comes from composure (镇定) and courage. Many people say I am a strong woman. But I would rather say I have perseverance, "said Merkel.
1. Why does Merkel put a picture of Catherine the Great on the wall of her office? ______| A．Because Catherine the Great is beautiful. |
| B．Because Merkel wants to be a strong woman too. |
| C．Because Merkel likes the drawing skill of it. |
| D．Because it is very expensive. |
a. became the German Chancellor (总理)
b. got a doctorate (博士学位) in physics and then she worked as a researcher
c. joined a political party
d. took part in the EU summit
e. worked as Minister for the Environment
| A．bcade | B．cbdae | C．bcead | D．cbaed |
| A．Merkel usually hurries to make a decision when facing difficulties. |
| B．At the EU summit in 2005, the relationship between French and Britain was in tension (紧张). |
| C．Merkel is a well-known leader all over the world. |
| D．She is outstanding because of her calmness. |
| A．An excellent lecturer | B．Germany's iron lady |
| C．The change of a scholar | D．The youngest chancellor |
6 . Being a young boy, I began to learn what people said was not always what they really meant or felt. And I knew it was possible to get others to do what I wanted if I read their real feelings and responded suitably to their needs. At the age of eleven, I sold rubber door-to-door after school and quickly worked out how to tell if someone was likely to buy from me. When I knocked on a door, if someone told me to go away but their hands were open and they showed their palms (the inside surfaces of their hands), I knew it was safe to continue because they weren't angry although they may have a dismissive(不屑的) attitude. If someone told me to go away in a soft voice but used a pointed finger or closed hand, I knew it was time to leave.
As a teenager, I became a salesperson, and my ability to read people earned me enough money to buy my first house. Selling gave me the chance to meet people and study them close and to know whether they would buy or not.
I joined the life insurance(保险)business at the age of twenty. And I went on to break several sales records for my company, becoming the youngest person to sell over a million dollars’ worth of business in my first year. This achievement allowed me to become a member of the well-known Million Dollar Round Table(MDRT), which recognizes the world’s top achievers in life insurance. I was lucky that the skills I’d learned as a boy in watching body language while selling could be used in this new area, and were directly related to the success I could have in any business closely connected with people.
1. Which of the following meant the author must give up the rubber sale?| A．A customer’s gentle voice. | B．A customer’s open palms. |
| C．A customer’s finger shape. | D．A customer’s sign of anger. |
| A．To prove the magic of his studying body language |
| B．To show off his unusual insurance-selling achievements |
| C．To attract more people to buy his life insurance |
| D．To simply let readers know about his good luck |
①He bought his first house
②He got the chance to meet people and watch body language
③He became a member of MDRT
④He broke the first sales record for the insurance company
| A．①②④③ | B．②①④③ | C．①④②③ | D．①④③② |
| A．The study of selling products. | B．The life insurance business.. |
| C．The research of body language. | D．The work for the MDRT |
| A．intelligent but overconfident | B．open-minded and determined |
| C．thinking and sharp-eyed | D．grateful and gentle |
7 . By the mid-1920s, Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. had been one of the most celebrated men .In 1957, when Pablo Picasso was in his seventh decade, he joked that x-ray technology might one day reveal a lost work underneath one of his early paintings. Today, that prediction became reality although the technology involved goes far beyond x-rays.
Using hyper-modern tools to peer into one of his Blue Period paintings, researchers have not only shown a hidden piece of art history in astonishing new detail, they have revealed a striking amount of insight into Picasso's creative process and style.
The investigation focused on"La Miséreuse accroupie, "or" Crouching Woman, "painted in 1902 and currently owned by the Art Gallery. The painting, an oil on canvas (画布) piece drawing a crouching (蜷坐的) woman who wears a long coat, shows Picasso’s typical Blue Period colors: grey, green, blue and white. It shows that the innovative modernist was inspired by the lines of an underlying landscape painted by an unknown artist.
The analysis also exposes several changes to the woman described in the painting,many of which Picasso ultimately abandoned. Researchers released their findings on Saturday’s press conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas. “We think now it's a landscape painted by someone enrolled at the fine arts academy in Barcelona, someone in Picasso’s orbit but not in his close circle, ”says Kenneth Brummel, assistant curator of modern art for the Art Gallery of Ontario.
As to why Picasso would have “recycled” another artist’s canvas(油画布), reasons could range from economic necessity, as a young artist still establishing himself, to deep inspiration driven by the lines of the image already laid down there. Picasso often re-used canvases for this reason."
“He didn't shave off the canvas or put a preparatory layer over it,” Brummel says.“ Picasso saw this landscape, found inspiration, and decided he was going to paint it immediately."
1. According to the text ,the most likely process of Picasso's painting?①Picasso reused another artist's canvas.
②Inspired by a landscape painting, Picasso decided to paint one too.
③Picasso painted a woman on the landscape painting.
④Not happy with the landscape, Picasso covered it totally.
⑤Picasso made changes to the woman
| A．②③④ | B．④②③ |
| C．①③⑤ | D．②①④ |
| A．He reused it because he hated wasting anything. |
| B．He hid his own paintings beneath the landscape. |
| C．He took the advantage of it and created a new one. |
| D．He kept it to himself with the permission of its owner. |
| A．People often celebrated Picasso’s success. |
| B．Picasso was not well-off when he started his career. |
| C．Picasso became successful overnight. |
| D．Picasso was good at imitating other artists’ works. |
| A．Picasso's predication turned out to be joke. |
| B．High technology uncovered art mysteries. |
| C．Seeing is not always believing. |
| D．Lost Artwork Found Under Famous Picasso Painting. |
8 . Like many little school girls, Savannah Hart was given the chance to take home her class “pet” — in this case, a sweetly tattered(破烂的) toy monkey named Harriet.
What happened next could be the subject of a children’s storybook: the 5-year-old from Australia took Harriet on a summer trip to Buckingham Palace when things went wrong.
While visiting Queen Elizabeth’s home, the little girl misplaced the toy, and her family assumed(假定) that Harriet would be forever stuck at the bottom of the palace’s lost property collection. But after a teacher at Savannah’s school, Woodside Preschool in Australia, wrote a letter to the Queen to see if the well-worn Harriet could be located, determined palace employees set to work to find it.
Helped by the letter and photos taken during the monkey’s tour around the U.K. with Savannah’s family, Harriet was found and returned to Savannah. But Harriet didn’t come back alone on the 9,000-mile journey from London to Australia — the monkey was also accompanied by Rex, a stuffed corgi dog sent from the palace.
Before leaving the U.K., Harriet even spent some time helping out with palace tours and was given the royal treatment.
“We aim to give every visitor to Buckingham Palace a memorable experience, and after we had found Harriet the monkey near the Family Pavilion(亭，阁), she spent some time helping out the Visitor Services team before heading home,” said a spokesperson for the Royal Collection, which runs the visitor experience at Buckingham Palace over the summer. “We hope Harriet enjoyed telling Rex the corgi dog about her adventures on the journey back to Australia.”
1. According to the text, what can be learned about Harriet?| A．Harriet is Savannah’s home pet. |
| B．Harriet is a sweetly tattered toy dog. |
| C．Harriet has been to the U.K.. |
| D．Harriet has a teacher named Woodside. |
| A．A teacher and her family | B．A teacher and the palace employees |
| C．Her family and the Queen | D．All of them. |
a. Savannah’s teacher wrote a letter to ask for help.
b. Savannah took Harriet on a summer trip to Buckingham Palace.
c. The palace employees set to work to find Harriet.
d. Harriet was given the royal treatment and came back with Rex.
e. Savannah misplaced Harriet and her family thought it would be never seen.
| A．beacd | B．daecb |
| C．dceba | D．adcbe |
| A．Harriet spent some time helping out the Visitor Services team |
| B．Harriet took Rex back together with him and enjoyed telling him stories. |
| C．Whoever visits Buckingham Palace will have a memorable experience. |
| D．The Buckingham Palace employees aim to provide visitors with good service. |
9 . I.M. Pei, the Chinese-American, who was regarded as one of the last great modernist architects, has died at the age of 102.
Although he worked mostly in the United States, Pei will always be remembered for a European project: His redevelopment of the Louvre Museum in Paris in the 1980s. He gave us the glass and metal pyramid in the main courtyard, along with three smaller pyramids and a vast subterranean (地下的) addition to the museum entrance.
Pei was the first foreign architect to work on the Louvre in its long history, and initially his designs were fiercely opposed. But in the end, the French — and everyone else — were won over.
Winning the fifth Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1983, he was thought as giving the 20th century “some of its most beautiful inside spaces and outside forms. His talent and skill in the use of materials approach the level of poetry.”
After studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Pei set up his own architectural practice in New York in 1955.
Designing the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in 1964 established him as a name. His East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1978 changed people’s ideas of a museum. The site was an odd trapezoid (梯形) shape. Pei’s solution was to cut it in two. The resulting building was dramatic, light and elegant — one of the first crowd-pleasing cathedrals of modern art.
Though known as a modernist, and notable for his forms based on arrangements of simple geometric (几何的) shapes, he once urged Chinese architects to look more to their architectural tradition rather than designing in a western style.
In person, I.M. Pei was good-humored, charming and unusually modest. His working process was evolutionary, but innovation (创新) was never an intended goal.
“Stylistic originality is not my purpose,” he said. “I want to find the originality in the time, the place and the problem.”
1. What can we learn about the result of redevelopment of the Louvre Museum?| A．It was criticized by the French. |
| B．It turned out to be a success. |
| C．It made the Louvre Museum look strange. |
| D．It changed the function of the Louvre Museum. |
| A．He is a master in applying materials. |
| B．He is skilled in writing poems. |
| C．He often combines poetry and construction. |
| D．He gets inspiration from poetry in designing. |
a. Design the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum.
b. Study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.
c. Design the National Gallery of Art.
d. Win the fifth Pritzker Architecture Prize.
| A．abcd | B．bacd | C．bcad | D．dacd |
10 . GE’s Bill Run nas a message for anyone who’s confused or doubtful about the company’s new focus on the" Industrial Internet’.The long story made short is that the amount of data being produced by industrial machine” is going to be more than anything you’re ever seen” , and analyzing this data is going to make everyone’s life easier.
Take gas turtbine (涡轮机）at power plants for example. “We’re almost putting a data center on a gas turbine,” Ruh said during a session at GigaOM’s Mobilize conference on Wednesday morning，referring to the hundreds of sensors(传感器）the company is placing on those machines to get data. If those sensors, combined with anyone’s software for managing and analyzing the data, are able to improve efficiency by just one percent, they could save nearly $6 billion a year.
Think about the air travel. Forty-one percent of unplanned downtime for airlines is caused by mechanical errors, Ruh explained, so GE wants to be able to predict when its engines or other airline systems will fail. With this knowledge, carriers can fix problems during scheduled downtime and save everyone's precious time.
Speaking of sensors, Ruh noted just how much potentially predictive data they’re getting. “Using a sensor,” he said,“we could get hundred terabytes(百万兆字节）a day.”
However, he acknowledged that the great effects of the Industrial Internet—cost savings, carbon-footprint reductions and efficiency gains—will come with changes in the employment sector that might not be good for everyone involved. ‘‘Some new kinds of jobs that don’t exist today will get created，”Ruh said. “It takes time and energy for people to get adapted to it.”
1. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?| A．The Industrial Internet—a new kind of machine. |
| B．The Industrial Internet—a large amount of data. |
| C．The Industrial Internet一another name for the Internet. |
| D．The Industrial Internet一a way to get data by sensors. |
| A．the time during which you are upset |
| B．the time during which you have nothing to do |
| C．the time during which a machine is not working |
| D．the time during which the price is very low |
| A．Data—sensors—high efficiency. |
| B．Machines—sensors—high efficiency. |
| C．Sensors一data一high efficiency. |
| D．Sensors一machines一high efficiency. |
| A．More jobs will disappear. |
| B．It brings along some disadvantages. |
| C．Changes will not appear in employment. |
| D．Everyone can adapt to new jobs immediately. |
