61. The sentence “He was something out of an ancient legend.” ( paragraph 7 ) implies that　　　

　　 A. nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him

　　 B. it was difficult to communicate with this man

　　 C. the man was very strange

　　 D. the man was too old

60. Which of the following is true about the old cobbler.'?

　　 A. He was equipped with the best repairing tools.

　　 B. He was the only cobbler in the Marais.

　　 C. He was proud of his skills.

　　 D. He was a native Parisian.

59. The last paragraph implies that　 　　　　　　.

　　 A. the bees have been driven to Central and North America

　　 B. the bees may bring about trouble in more countries

　　 C. the bees must be stopped from moving north

　　 D. the bees prefer to live in Brazil

答案　 56.C　 57.A　 58.C　 59.B

Passage 45

(06·广东B篇)

He's an old cobbler　 (修鞋匠)　 with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me: “I haven't time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street ; he'll fix them for you right away.”

　　 But I'd had my eye on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman　 (手艺人).　 “No,” I replied, “the other fellow can't do it well.”

　　　 “The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait” -- without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, andwhen they have finished sewing back a sandal strap (鞋带) you might as well just throw away the pair.

　　　 My man saw I wouldn't give in, and he smiled. He wiped his hands on his blue apron ( 围裙), looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said, “Come back in a week.”

　　　 I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.

　　　 “See what I can do?” he said with pride.　 “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work.. ”

　　　 When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange, dusty felt hat, his funny accent from who-knows-where and, above all, his pride in his craft.

　　　 These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old, way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption　 (消费) rather than a way to realize their own abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.

58. Which of the following may be the cause of the new bees' attacking personalities?

　　 A. Their production of honey.

　　 B. Their hard work.

　　 C. Their living environment.

　　 D. Their bad temper.

57. The experiment mentioned in this passage was designed to　 　　　　　　.

　　 A. increase the amount of honey in Brazil

　　 B. make Brazilian bees more easy-going

　　 C. increase the number of bees in Brazil

　　 D. make African bees less active

56. The results of the South American experiment　 　　　　　　.

　　 A. have caused a serious trouble

　　 B. have proved to be wrong

　　 C. are not yet certain

　　 D. are not important

63. Why did Kerrel write the passage?

　 A. To tell people about the sufferings of her father.

　 B. To show how little people knew about AIDS.

　 C. To draw people’s attention to AIDS.

　 D. To remembered her father.

答案　 60.D　 61.C　 62.A　 63.C

Passage 44

(06·广东A篇)

Scientific experiments can sometimes go wrong and when they do the results may range from the disastrous to the troubling. One such experiment took place in South America about fifty years ago. Whether its final consequences will cause serious damage or nothing more than a small trouble still remains to be seen.

　　　 The story began in 1956 when an American scientist working in Brazil decided to solve the problem of increasing the productivity of that country's bees. He imported a very active type of African bee from Tanzania and mated　 (交配)　 it with the more easy-going native variety to produce a new kind of bees. The new bees worked harder and produced twice as much honey. It seemed that Professor Kerr, for that was the scientist's name, had a total success on his hands.

　　　 Then things began to go wrong. For some reason as yet unseen, but perhaps as a result of something in their environment, the new bees began to develop extremely attacking personalities. They became bad-tempered and easy to be angry, attacked the native bees and drove them from their living places.

　　　 But worse was to follow. Having taken over the countryside, the new bees, with their dangerous stings (叮) , began to attack its neighbours -- cats, dogs, horses, chickens and finally man himself. A long period of terror began that has so far killed a great number of animals and about 150 human beings.

　　 This would have been bad enough if the bees had stayed in Brazil. But now they are on the move, heading northwards in countless millions towards Central and North America, and moving at the alarming speed of 200 miles a year. The countries that lie in their path are naturally worried because it looks as if nothing can be done to stop them.

62. Why did Kerrel keep her father’s disease a secret?

　 A. She was afraid of being looked down upon.

　 B. She thought it was shameful to have AIDS.

　 C. She found no one willing to listen to her.

　 D. She wanted to obey her mother.

61. What can we learn from the underlined sentence?

　 A. Kerrel couldn’t understand her teacher.

　 B. Kerrel had special difficulty in hearing.

　 C. Kerrel was too troubled to focus on the lesson.

　 D. Kerrel was too tired to bear her teacher’s words.

60. What does Kerrel tell us about her father?

　 A. He had stayed in the hospital since he fell ill.

　 B. He depended on the nurses in his final days.

　 C. He worked hard to pay for his medication.

　 D. He told no one about his disease.