第二部分 阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）

第一节 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

         When you think of snowy winter festivals, Sapporo in Japan probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind．In Japan, there are winter festivals every year that draw great crowds and offer lots of attractions to everybody．

         The biggest one is the Sapporo Snow Festival which is held every year in February on Japan's snow covered northern island, Hokkaido（北海道）．The Sapporo Snow Festival was the first of its kind held in Japan, and it is still the biggest．Every year, 2 million snow lovers rush to Sapporo, the biggest city in Hokkaido, to enjoy the Snow Festival in the first two weeks of February．At the Festival, you can see hundreds of snow sculptures made by artists from all over the world．Some are a couple of building stories high and weigh tons．There are ice sculptures too, and ice bars where you can go inside and have a beer．

         The Sapporo Snow Festival was started in the 1950's by a group of high school kids．Feeling very bored in winter, they started a snow sculptures competition．Every year, more kids took part in the competition and now the festival draws snow artists from 15 different countries．There are also musical performances, light shows, and snowball fights．

         Every major area has its own snow festival．One of the most popular is the Iwate Snow Festival．It's held in the small town of Shizukuishi in early or mid-February．Iwate is also famous for its yearly fireworks displays, where festival-goers can watch the colors reflected off the snow．In Iwate, you can see traditional Japanese musicians and dancers perform on floats．

         If you want a truly unique winter festival experience, northern Japan is a great place to go．Just make sure you dress warmly．

1．Why is the Sapporo Snow Festival famous in Japan?

         A．The snow in Hokkaido is very thick．

         B．it is the first and the biggest in Japan

         C．There are lots of snow sculptures there．

         D．its snow sculptures are the highest．

2．When is the Sapporo Snow Festival held in Japan?

         A．In late February．

         B．From January to February．

         C．In the first two weeks of February．

         D．Two weeks before February．

3．Who started the Sapporo Snow Festival at first?

         A．The government of Sapporo．

         B．Artists from all over the world．

         C．Kids who liked outside activities．．

         D．A group of high school students．

4．The author wrote the passage to _______．

         A．introduce Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival

         B．attract people to take part in northern Japan’s winter festival

         C．introduce Japan’s winter festival activities

         D．tell us the history of Japan’s winter festivals

 

Chaplin, one of the greatest and funniest actors, was born in London in 1889. When a poor boy, he was often seen waiting outside the London theatres, hoping to get work in show business. He could sing and dance, and above all, he knew how to make people laugh. But he couldn’t get work and therefore wandered about the city streets.

   Charlie Chaplin first acted when he was five. He broke into show business because his mother, a music-hall performer, lost her voice during the performance and had to leave the stage, and Charlie went on and sang a well-known song. Halfway through the song, a shower of money poured onto the stage. Charlie stopped singing and told audiences he would pick the money first and then finish the song. The audiences laughed. This was the first of millions of laughs in Charlie Chaplin’s fabulous(神话) career.

    Twenty years later the same Chaplin became the greatest and best loved comedian in the world. His dream came true in the world. His dream came true in the end. Chaplin became world-famous and almost a king in the world of the film.

    Even people who don’t understand English can enjoy Chaplin’s films because they are mostly silent. The equipment for adding sound to films had not yet been developed. The development of films with sound became a problem for Chaplin, as he was uncertain about making films with dialogues. Instead, he coninued to make films without dialogue, but he added music, which he wrote himself. It isn’t what he says that makes us laugh. His comedy doesn’t depend on words. It depends on little actions which mean the same thing to people the world over.

    Chaplin lived most of his life in America and the last years in Switzerland, where he was buried at Christmas 1977, at the age of eighty-eight. There was sadness all over the world at the news of his death.

    In his book, Chaplin tells us how to succeed in life. He says, “You have to believe in yourself. That’s the secret.”

1.Chaplin is regarded as king of comedy mainly because______.

A. lots of people have seen his films

B. he could sing and dance well

C. he knew how to make people laugh

D. he acted out the common human situations best in his comedy

2.What makes people laugh in Chaplin’s films?

A. It isn’t his words but his actions.               B. Neither his words nor actions.

C. Either his words or his actions.                D. Not only his words but also his actions.

3.The only secret of Charles Chaplin’s huge success is that______.

A. he can make all people, men and women, old and young laugh

B. he has full trust in himself

C. he is always active and hard-working all his life

D. though he is always in trouble, he never loses heart

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. He was too shy to meet the managers of the theatres.

B. People won’t stop laughing until tears run down Chaplin’s face.

C. People all over the world can enjoy Chaplin’s films without translation because most of them are silent.

D. He wouldn’t like to work at the theatre.    

 

London, April 28---The Man Group, a British hedge fund, is betting that investors will want to read more than the latest how-to- get –rich-quick business book.

In a five-year deal worth roughly $3.6 million announced last week, Man has agreed to sponsor(主办)the Booker Prize for Fiction, which will be renamed the Man Booker Prize. Since creating the award in 1969, Booker P.L.G., a British food group, in June 2000, executives began considering attracting outside sponsors. Man will be the first of these. Bill Grimsey, the chief of the Big Food Group, saw little business sense in a link between a food supplier and a literary prize, explained Dotti Irving, a spokeswoman for the Booker Prize foundation.

Such dissimilarities (差异) have not reduced Man’s enthusiasm for the prize which is expected to be open for the first time to American authors. David Browne, a spokesman for Man, said most of the firm’s investors are high-net-worth individuals who appreciate literature. “The people who buy hedge funds,” Mr. Browne said, “also read.”

Under the new agreement, authors will get more money. The winner of the annual prize, to be awarded in October, will receive $73,000 , up from $30,000 the Australian writer Peter Carey won last year for his novel “True History of the Kelley Gang.”

The six short-listed authors will each receive $3,600, up from $1,500. Having a hedge fund as a backer apparently has its perks.(福利).

1.The article is mainly about ____.

A．the disagreement between two groups	B．the Booker Prize Foundation
C．the Big Food Group	D．The new development of Booker Prize

2. This article is most probably seen in a(n) ____.

A．best-selling book

B．magazine

C．newspaper

D．advertisement

3.What can be inferred from the article?

A．Bill Grimsey decided to open the prize for American authors

B．“How-to-get-rich-quick” business was written by Peter Carey.

C．Under the agreement, the Booker Prize will be sponsored only by Man.

D．If you win the prize, you will get $73,000 next October

4.Who is the spokesman for Man?

A．David Browne

B．Peter Carey

C．Bill Grimsey

D．Dotti Irving

 

  Do you now who Stefani Germanotta is? Perhaps not, but you’ll almost certainly know the star called Lady Gaga, a 24-year-old American famous for her cutting edge pop videos and strange fashion sense. She was the biggest winner at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid on November 7, 2010. Her awards included the best female artist and the best song.

  Her popularity doesn’t end there. The BBC reports that the University of South Carolina has a sociology course about the life, work and rise to fame of Lady Gaga. The course is due to start in spring 2011. “We’re going to look at Lady Gaga as a social event,” said professor Mathieu, who will teach Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame.

  Germanotta, in fact, is a college student. She learned to play the piano by age 4. At age 17, she was one of the only 20 young people to get early admission to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, the famous music school. Yet after her second semester, she took a big risk—she decided to quit and concentrate on a music career. But hwo did she manage to go from nowhere to supar star in just two years?

  She may well have had a plan for the top. She created “The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Show” with another artist. It was the first of many strange images. The pair gained enough attention to get a spot at a famous music festival in Chicago. Later, a record company signed Germanotta.

  While Lady Gaga enjoys popularity, there are critics accusing her of regularly using rude language in her lyrics(歌词) and wearing overly sexy clothing.

1. According to the article, Lady Gaga is famous for _______.

 A. her fashion shows                       B. her strange images

 C. her talents in university                   D. her winning awards

2. Which of the following is the correct order for the stages of Gaga’s career?

a. She appeared in a music festival in Chicago   b. She won the award—the best female c. She decided to quit school                 d. She created a show with another artist e. She was signed by a record company         f. Her success has become a university course

A. b—f—c—a—d—e      B. b—f—c—d—a—e

C. c—d—a—e—b—f      D. c—d—a—e—f—b

3.The main reason why Lady Gaga could become famous is that ______.

 A. she knew her dream of life              B. she knew what she would do next

 C. she learned music at a young age        D. she ws brave enough to quit university

4. From this passage, we can infer that ________.

 A. a good performance in university may lead to one’s success.

 B. cooperation with other artists is important in becoming successful

 C. Lady Gaga will become less famous because of her lyrics and clothing

 D. Professor Mathieu believes that Lady Gaga’s success is worth studying

 

 

第三部分阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳答案。

Governors, lawyers and business leaders have to deal with scientists, and every educated person finds his views affected by science. Yet our science teaching of non-scientists, in school and college, has built up mistaken ideas, dislikes, and the common boast(自夸), "I never did understand science." Even those students who arrive at colleges with plans to become scientists usually bring a mistaken picture of science: some have a collection of unorganized facts about science, and some regard the study of science as a game which includes getting the right answer.

The first of these attitudes seems to come from a kind of course which provides various kinds of information; the second, from a training course on how to pass examinations that do not ask about the student's understand but simply require him to put the numbers in the right formula(公式). Neither type of courses in school or college seems to give students an understanding of science as we find it among scientists. Neither shows students how real scientists work and think, how the facts are gathered, how discoveries are made, and what they mean. Young people need good teaching of science, not so much as great wealth of knowledge as a healthy understanding of the nature of science. They need an understanding of knowledge leading to agreement with science and an eagerness of the way scientists work. Given these it is easy to encourage later reading and learning.

56. One of the reasons that cause mistaken ideas of science is due to _______.

A. a mistaken picture in students' mind       

B. the unscientific way of teaching of science

C. the fact that students fail to see the influence of science

D. the fact that students have a collection of unrelated facts about science

57. According to the passage, we can safely say that the subject of the passage is ______.

A. need for good science teaching              

B. young people should form a correct attitude to science

C. students must know what science is and how scientists work and think

D. every person, including governors, lawyers and business leaders should study science

58. A good course of science is ______.

A. to provide students with all kinds of information

B. to teach students to do things according to formulas

C. to help students have a good understanding and form a correct attitude to science

D. to encourage students to make themselves masters of knowledge

59. People such as governors, lawyers and business leaders deal with scientists mainly because ______.

A. scientists are great persons                           

B. they owe much to scientists' contributions

C. they can be affected by scientists when they are together

D. scientists make discoveries and help people live a more comfortable and safer life