1 . It took brave European explorers less than 300 years, between 1420 and 1713, to establish that all the seas of the world formed an enormous and continuous ocean. This discovery encouraged them to _____ into areas which hadn’t been charted until then. With the discovery of new lands, new trade routes were _____. In many parts of the world, colonies and settlements were established and many odd-looking products were brought back to _____, arousing great interest and _____ wealth.

It was probably the irresistible desire for wealth that _____ persuaded Europeans of the fifteenth century to _____ their legendary dangers and explore further out into the open seas. They were also _____ by the love for their countries. Many explorers wanted to serve their kings and countries as well as gain personal _____ from their exploring.

The most effective way of gaining wealth was through _____. Silk, gold, silver and ______ stones, and more importantly spices, such as gingers and peppers, were the most profitable trade goods in Europe. Spices were of the greatest ______ because they enabled the Europeans to make their winter diet of salted meat more delicious. These items were ______ mostly from the East by a difficult overland route. The Italian ______, who bought goods from the Arabs of Alexandria, controlled the trade along this route. Other countries of the Mediterranean ______ the wealth which this trade generated and they were ______ to discover new routes which would allow them to share in it.

1.

A．sail

B．walk

C．fly

D．drive

2.

A．set back

B．set off

C．set up

D．set against

3.

A．the East

B．the Mediterranean

C．Europe

D．Italy

4.

A．inheriting

B．creating

C．saving

D．losing

5.

A．frequently

B．hardly

C．frankly

D．eventually

6.

A．recognize

B．risk

C．realize

D．foresee

7.

A．discouraged

B．praised

C．forced

D．inspired

8.

A．business

B．benefit

C．fame

D．rights

9.

A．trade

B．war

C．conquering

D．bargaining

10.

A．precious

B．rough

C．hard

D．smooth

11.

A．interest

B．efficiency

C．value

D．practice

12.

A．exported

B．imported

C．robbed

D．occupied

13.

A．soldiers

B．explorers

C．pioneers

D．merchants

14.

A．lost

B．won

C．possessed

D．envied

15.

A．disappointed

B．available

C．anxious

D．reluctant

2 . 语法填空

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, more commonly     1     (know) as ‘Mahatma’ (meaning ‘Great Soul’) was born in Porbandar, Gujarat, in North West India, on 2nd October 1869, into a Hindu Modh family. His mother, Putlibai, hadn’t received much education but she knew a lot about social affairs and matters of court, and could participate     2     (intelligent) in the talks that took place among the ladies of the royal court.

She used to visit a temple regularly. Gandhi used to accompany her to the temple.     3    , he admitted he was not attracted by the pomp there. But     4     left a lasting mark on his mind was the genuine piety of his mother and her determination to adhere to even the hardest vows     5     the pursuit of her beliefs. To cite an instance, in the rainy seasons, she would vow not to take her meals     6     she saw the sun, and would often have to go without food by the time her children who spotted the sun shouted to her, and she came out to see the sun     7    .

Both Gandhi and his mother were deeply religious although they were not scholars. Many religious visited their house and     8     (engage) in religious discussions. These discussions and     9     atmosphere of the piety in the house must have sown the seeds of faith and tolerance in the mind of young Gandhi. In     10     (late) years, they became the foundation of Gandhi’s firm belief that all religions deserve equal respect.

3 . Sometimes people recall past events differently from how they happened. Have you ever confused dates and events from your life, or people’s names? Don’t be too hard on yourself if this is the case; it happens to almost everyone. Every day, our brain processes an amazing amount of information. In fact, all our experiences are based on the way our brain interprets the information it receives from our senses. It is impossible to store all of this information, so some of it gets lost. The parts that remain make up our memories. All our thoughts and memories depend on the way our senses work, and we cannot always trust everything our senses tell us.

If you have ever tried to make your own short film on a digital camera, you will have noticed that the images you record are often blurry(模糊不清). To stop the same thing from happening when we see things with our own eyes, our brain is always filling in the blanks. Before our eyes can even focus on an object, our brain has created its own picture of it so that we can move smoothly from looking at one thing to another without the world looking strange. If we are moving quickly or are not focusing properly, our brain may not correctly guess what is around us.

Memory is the way we store the information that our senses have experienced. As we have discussed above, our senses do not always see things accurately, so our memory is just how we store our interpretations of these experiences. When our brain takes in new experiences, it uses the information we retrieve from our memory as a reference. This means that we often do not remember the details of things but just the important parts. When we look at something, we often do not really look closely at it, but we merely look at the different hints that help us identify it.

This also happens with our hearing and speaking. It is natural for students of English to confuse the word “kitchen”, with the familiar word “chicken”. As the sounds are similar, the mind mistakenly identifies the new word with the one that is familiar. This is perhaps the most common reason why people make mistakes when they learn a new language.

1. Sometimes things people remember are quite different from how they really happened because ______.

A．not all people are smart enough	B．the main part of the information gets lost
C．people are too strict with themselves	D．information was processed incompletely

2. Taking the short film on a digital camera for an example, the author means _____.

A．images recorded by cameras could not be accurate

B．brain may form an imagery picture without reference

C．blurry pictures are caused by too fast camera movements

D．the process of vision is an interpretive construct by the brain

3. The underlined word “retrieve” in Paragraph 3 probably means ______.

A．recall	B．change
C．borrow	D．differ

4. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE in terms of memory?

A．Memory is exactly what senses have experienced.

B．Memories are made up of the information remaining in minds.

C．Memory is the way to store information experienced by senses.

D．Memories sometimes can be obstacles to learning something new.

4 . A weather map is an important tool for geographers. A succession of three or four maps presents continuous picture of weather changes. Weather forecasters are able to determine the speed of air masses and fronts (冷暖空气团接触的锋) to determine whether an individual pressure area is deepening or becoming shallow and whether a front is increasing or decreasing in intensity. They are also able to determine whether an air mass is retaining its original characteristics or taking on those of the surface over which it is moving. Thus, a most significant function of the map is to reveal a summary picture of conditions in the atmosphere at a given time.

All students of geography should be able to interpret a weather map accurately. Weather maps contain an enormous amount of information about weather conditions existing at the time of observation over a large geographical area. They reveal in a few minutes what otherwise would take hours to describe. The United States Weather Bureau issues information about approaching storms, floods, frosts and all climatic conditions in general. Twice a month it issues a 30-day “outlook” which is a rough guide to weather conditions likely to occur over broad areas of the United States. These 30-day outlooks are based upon an analysis of the upper air levels which often set the stage for development of air masses, fronts and storms.

Considerable effort is being exerted today to achieve more accurate weather predictions. With the use of electronic instruments and satellites, enormous gains have taken place recently in identifying and tracking storms over regions which have but few meteorological stations (气象站). Experiments are also in progress for weather modification (改变) studies. But the limitations of weather modification have prevented meteorological results except in the seeding of super-cooled, upslope mountainous winds which have produced additional orographic (山岳形态) precipitation on the windward side of mountain ranges. Nevertheless, they have provided a clearer understanding of the fundamentals of weather elements.

1. By reading weather maps, students majoring in geography can .

A．design a project of weather modification

B．interpret the weather condition before the time of observation

C．obtain data on atmospheric conditions over a wide area

D．survey ever-changing fronts in local meteorological stations

2. A thirty-day forecast is determined by examining________.

A．daily weather maps	B．upper air levels
C．satellite reports	D．changing fronts

3. The observation of weather conditions by satellites is helpful because ________.

A．electronic instruments are used

B．it enables man to alert the weather

C．it makes weather more time-consuming

D．information not be obtained readily otherwise can be gained

4. At the present time, experiments are being conducted in________.

A．controlling and influencing weather

B．determining density of pressure groups

C．30-day “outlooks”

D．predicting storms

5 . The next morning Alex was waiting in the FMA president’s suite when Jerome Patterton arrived. Alex filled him in quickly on the Jax report. Then he said, “I want you to give an order to the trust department to sell every share of Supranational we’re holding.”

“I won’t!” Patterton’s voice rose. “Who do you think you are, giving orders---“ “I’ll tell you who I am, Jerome. I’m the guy who warned the board against in-depth involvement with SuNatCo. I fought against heavy trust department buying of the stock, but no one---including you ---would listen. Now Supranational is caving in.” Alex leaned across the desk and slammed a fist down hard. “Don’t you understand? Supranational can bring this bank down with it.”

Patterton was shaken. “But is SuNatCo in real trouble? Are you sure?”

“If I weren’t, do you think I’d be here? I’m giving you a chance to salvage something at least.” He pointed to his wristwatch. “It’s an hour since the New York stock market opened. Jerome, get on the phone and give that order!”

Muscles around the bank president’s mouth twitched nervously. Never decisive, strong influence often swayed him. He hesitated, then picked up the telephone.

“Get me Mitchell in the trust department… Mitch? This is Jerome. Listen carefully. I want you to give a sell order immediately on all the Supranational stock we hold… Yes, sell every share.” Patterton listened, then said impatiently, “Yes, I know what it’ll do to the market. And I know it’s irregular.” His eyes sought Alex’s for reassurance. The hand holding the telephone trembled as he said, “There’s no time to hold meetings. So do it! Yes, I accept responsibility.”

He hung up and reached for a glass of water. “The stock is already down. Our selling will depress it more. We’ll be taking a big beating.”

“It’s our clients---people who trusted us---who will take the beating. And they’d have taken a bigger one still, if we’d waited. Even now we’re not out of the woods. A week from now the SEC may disallow those sales. They may rule we had inside knowledge that Supranational was about to be bankrupt, which we should have reported and which would have halted trading in the stock.

1. Alex filled him in quickly on the Jax report. The sentence means____.

A．He filled his name on the Jax report quickly.

B．Alex signed his name to the Jax report quickly.

C．He offered the FMA president the Jax report smartly.

D．He prepared the Jax report for Patterton to sign smartly.

2. From the context we can infer that ________.

A．SuNatCo would bring the stock market down if it sold all the Supranational stock they held.

B．The president was stubborn and would never listen to others.

C．Alex will take the place of Patterton in the future.

D．the clients would take a bigger beating than the bank

3. The New York stock market is the place where_____.

A．the old stock can be bought and sold

B．shares can be bought and sold

C．paper stock can be bought and sold

D．some of the stock can be taken without being paid for

4. In the sentence “Even now we’re not out the woods.” The phrase “out of the woods” means _____.

A．free from danger	B．short of wood
C．running out of wood	D．set free

6 . For busy people, the idea of speed dating has really caught on in popularity. In a speed dating event, usually 8-10 _________ go around from table to table, each spending 6-8 minutes at each one. From that, you may not know for sure if you want to _________ something more with an individual, but, you will _________ know if you don’t want to.

The first thing that you will realize about speed dating is that it makes you _________. Unlike a bar, where you might get a whole evening to _________ check a potential partner out and to see what they’ve got, when it comes to _________, you know that you only have a certain amount of time to put your best foot forward(全力以赴)there. You’ll find the other participants are _________ of this and will put their best foot forward.

An 8-minute speed dating will also give you a chance to see how someone _________ under pressure. You may already know a little more about their _________ if you find someone who can’t seem to make eye-contact. The best advice is to make eye contact, be open and direct. You’ll find that the __________ time can make for some excellent opportunities to really shine, and there’s nothing like a deadline to make you more __________! An important detail to keep in mind is that you will be __________ to a dozen or more singles in a short time. Those who feel that there is an advantage in larger numbers will surely find this __________.

When you are looking for __________, you may not want to do the long search, so think about speed dating and see what you can do to make sure that it works for you. __________, give this exciting opportunity a try!

1.

A．lovers

B．couples

C．youths

D．singles

2.

A．learn

B．have

C．explore

D．develop

3.

A．equally

B．hardly

C．definitely

D．eventually

4.

A．chase

B．hurry

C．focus

D．cheer

5.

A．constantly

B．frequently

C．occasionally

D．unexpectedly

6.

A．making friends

B．speed dating

C．family planning

D．home improving

7.

A．sick

B．fond

C．aware

D．confident

8.

A．acts

B．talks

C．lives

D．loves

9.

A．interest

B．background

C．intention

D．personality

10.

A．spare

B．limited

C．appointed

D．luxurious

11.

A．creative

B．passive

C．negative

D．objective

12.

A．introduced

B．devoted

C．mentioned

D．used

13.

A．demanding

B．surprising

C．convincing

D．appealing

14.

A．fun

B．love

C．friendship

D．adventure

15.

A．In a word

B．As a result

C．On the way

D．Believe it or not

7 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box.Each word can be used by only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. as          B. involve        C. filling        D. rapidly        E. major F. developed       G. all       H. by       I. along       J. needs        K. present

Throughout the 20th century, Japanese towns and cities grew     1    . Today about 80 percent of the Japanese people live in urban areas. The growth of towns and cities, called urbanization (城市化), happens in two ways. One way is     2     rural-urban migration, when people move to the city from the country. As cities prosper and grow, industries and services that     3     many people both as workers and consumers grow to meet the     4     of the increasing population. New industries and services emerge to support the growing business, and the region experiences an upward spiral of growth.

The urban areas on the Japanese island of Honshu (本州岛) continue to grow     5     they attract more people, industries and business. These urban areas contain nearly two-thirds of Japan’s population and manufacturing. City suburbs are     6     in the rural spaces between the towns and cities, and Japan’s efficient and fast transportation system links them all.

Four     7     cities on Honshu-Tokyo Kawasaki (川崎), Chiba (千叶), and Yokohama (横滨) have grown together into one of Japan’s largest urban areas. Two other large urban areas have     8     on Honshu. The area around the city of Nagoya (名古屋) forms one, and the cities of Osaka (大阪)，Kyoto and Kobe (神户) from the other. At the     9     time, these three areas are growing toward one another to form one long, enormous urban area. A single urban system this large is called a megalopolis. This Japanese megalopolis on Honshu, stretching from Tokyo in the east     10     the way to Kobe in the west, is called the Tokaido (东海道) megalopolis.

8 .

Enjoy convenience, Premier service and a thank-you gift. With a busy life abroad, you have enough to think about without worrying about your offshore banking. That’s why we’ve designed our products and services to be easy and convenient. Bank offshore with HSBC Premier and enjoy: ◆24/7 phone access to a Relationship Management team. ◆Internet Banking that provides access to your HSBC accounts in over 34 countries from a single log on and the ability to make transfers immediately, without charge and with a preferential rate. ◆The ability to manage your money in a large range of emerging market currencies, use our global reach and knowledge of international business and get the best help and guidance. ◆An International Wealth Management service to help you make the most of your money. ◆The choice of either 12 months’ Airport Angel membership or an Amazon Kindle™ if you open a Premier account between 20 January 2011 and 30 April 2011 (inclusive) and deposit at least £60,000 (or an equal amount of money ) within 90 days of account opening. To qualify, refer to the full terms and conditions. To enjoy convenience, preferential rates and the expertise and security of the HSBC Group, why not open a premier account now?

1. You can choose 12 months’ Airport Angel membership, if you________.

A．deposit at least $60,000 within 90 days of account opening

B．have qualified for the service

C．deposit an equal amount of money within 90 days

D．open a Premier account on 30 April

2. The advertisement is mainly aimed at________.

A．people who want to do business

B．people who are over 34 years old and still single

C．people who have friends and relatives in foreign countries

D．people who have settled down abroad

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the advertisement?

A．You must know the detailed information before opening an account.

B．To make the best of your money, you are sure to open a premier account.

C．To enjoy the service, you must surf the Internet.

D．It is certain that you can deal with your banking in 24 hours.

9 . Two enterprising graduates are selling advertising space on their faces to pay off a combined student debt of almost ￡50,000. Faced with a challenging job market, former Cambridge students Ed Moyse and Ross Harper are painting different company logos on to their faces.

Anyone can buy the advertising space, from businesses to individuals or groups, on a day-to-day basis. The logos — which can be viewed at www.buymyface.co.uk — are then seen by everyone they pass as they go about their daily business.

The graduates, who met on their first day at Selwyn College, Cambridge, started the business on October 1 and said they made ￡3,500 in the first 10 days. The boys said they are “armed only with massive student debt and a firm grasp of the principles of viral advertising” as they attempt to survive for a year merely on income earned by transforming themselves into walking advertisements.

Mr. Harper, 21, from Greenwich, south London, who studied neuroscience, said, “It’s our untraditional way of paying off our student debt. The graduate job market is incredibly unfriendly, and so we thought we’d try and go through it altogether. We’ve seen so many students unsuccessfully applying for jobs, only to eventually settle in a career that they never really wanted. It’s just something a bit different and has taken off quite nicely.”

Mr. Moyse, 22, from Poole, Dorset, said, “It is well beyond our expectations, but we always knew it had value and is novel and crazy.”

“So far, one of the main contributors has been online betting agency, Paddy Power,” Mr. Harper said.

Mr. Moyse, who studied economics, and Mr. Harper came up with the idea after graduating in the summer as a scheme that would not require much investment.

1. The two graduates set up a business of selling advertising space on their faces because ________.

A．they both have handsome faces	B．they have gained best education
C．they have student loan to repay	D．they can possibly find no jobs

2. The job they engage in now has ________.

A．earned them a lot of money	B．helped them to pay off the debt
C．increased their exposure	D．met their wildest expectations

3. Paddy Power might be the boys’ ________.

A．customer

B．debtor

C．investor

D．designer

4. The word novel here in the passage means ________.

A．fictional

B．meaningful

C．unusual

D．critical

10 . The part of the environmental movement that draws my firm’s attention is the design of buildings. Today, thousands of people come to ________ building conferences, and the idea that buildings can be good for people and the environment will be increasingly ________ in years to come. Back in 1984 we discovered that most manufactured products for decoration weren’t designed for ________ use. The “energy-efficient” sealed commercial buildings constructed after the 1970s energy crisis ________ indoor air quality problems caused by materials such as paint, wall covering and carpet. So for 20 years, we’ve been looking for ways to make these materials ________   for people and the planet.

Home builders can now use materials, such as green paints, that release significantly ________   amounts of chemical compounds, which people believe don’t ________ the quality of the air.   ________, our basic design strategy is focused not simply on being “less bad” but on creating ________ healthful materials that can be either safely returned to the soil or ________ by industry again and again. For example, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer has already ________ a carpet that is fully and safely recyclable.

Look at it this way: no one ________ to create a building that destroy the planet. But our current industrial systems are basically causing these conditions, whether we like it or not. So   ________ of simply trying to reduce the damage, we are ________ a positive approach. We’re giving people high-quality, healthful products and an opportunity to make choices that have a ________   effect on the world. It is not just the building industry, either. Entire cities are taking these environmentally positive approaches to design, planning and building.

1.

A．commercial

B．green

C．traditional

D．simple

2.

A．efficient

B．changeable

C．influential

D．effective

3.

A．relevant

B．indoor

C．flexible

D．forward

4.

A．revealed

B．displayed

C．exhibited

D．discovered

5.

A．careful

B．comfortable

C．stable

D．safe

6.

A．reduced

B．revised

C．delayed

D．defined

7.

A．destroy

B．deny

C．dissolve

D．depress

8.

A．Anyway

B．Besides

C．Anyhow

D．However

9.

A．exactly

B．completely

C．partially

D．superficially

10.

A．restored

B．regain

C．reused

D．retain

11.

A．developed

B．stretched

C．researched

D．constructed

12.

A．sets off

B．sets about

C．sets out

D．sets up

13.

A．instead

B．because

C．out

D．regardless

14.

A．adjusting

B．adopting

C．adapting

D．admitting

15.

A．functional

B．sensible

C．beneficial

D．precious