When you’re a preteen, a huge problem might be that you just have to have a new rock-rap CD,   1 your parents won’t give you the money for it. I thought life was so  2 when things like this happened-----until September 11, 2001.
I was in P.E. when the planes hit the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. As soon as I got home and for weeks before, I saw the disaster  3 on TV. Seeing the innocent people running for their 4 as the debris(瓦砾) started coming down the fire and smoke rose out of the  5 brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t help imagining what the people on the   6 and in the buildings were thinking and going through, not  7 what was going on. I admired the courage of the firefighters who rushed in and risked their own lives to   8 others. It tore my heart apart to watch the  9 looks on the faces of so many people who didn’t know if their loved ones were dead or alive while  10 in all the debris.
Then it  11 me: All my life I had thought mainly of myself. I had it easy in life and had been taking it all for granted.
A feeling of coldness  12 down my back, and I cried just thinking of the possibility that it could have easily  13 to my family. My mom or dad could have been killed like that, and I would never, ever see them again. I began to evaluate what a real  14 in life was.
This disaster  15 me that awful things can happen to anyone at any time. Now when my mom or dad or sister go somewhere, even if it’s just  16 the store, I try to remember to tell them that I love them because I know there is a   17 that I may never tell them that   18 .
Not getting a new CD is not going to   19 my life. I can live with those kinds of problems. But losing someone I love would  20 make my life miserable.
9/11 showed me just what I am.          

B
From the earliest times, man has been interested in art. People have often worked together to collect and save the world's art treasures.
Fine art treasures from many countries are kept in an art museum called the Louvre in Paris, France. The works of art have been collected by the people of France over many centuries.
The Louvre has not always been a museum. The first building was a fort(炮台). In 1190, it was the king's castle with high walls and a round tower. It had a moat(护城河) to keep out his enemies.
Over the years, the number of buildings around the castle grew. By 1350, the castle was no longer needed as a fort. The Louvre became a palace home for French kings and queens.
During times of peace, new treasures were brought in. During days of war, many treasures were stolen, and the buildings were damaged.
When Francis I became king of France in 1515, he brought in artists from many countries. One of the artists was Leonardo da Vinci from Italy. Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ is the best known painting in the museum today.
In 1793, the Louvre became a public museum, just as it is now. It is a place where art treasures have been saved for everyone to enjoy.
60. On the whole, this passage is mainly about________.???
A. an art museum called the Louvre    
B. an Italian artist named Leonardo da Vinci
C. a king of France named Francis I ?
D. the best known painting in Louvre
61. Which of the following is not true？
A.The Louvre used to be a fort a very long time ago．
B.French kings and queens once lived in it．
C. The Louvre was taken by enemies in 1190．
D. Many treasures were brought into the Louvre over the years．
62. Why is it good for great art to be kept in public museums？
A.It helps people remember who the King of France is．B.It keeps people out of the palaces．
C.It gives everyone a chance to enjoy good art．D.It helps people to know who is the greatest artist．
63. From the passage we know that _____．
A. it is not possible for treasures to be stolen
B. old forts always make the best museums
C. great art should be shared with all the people
D. king Francis I of France brought in artists from an old fort

Given Australia’s size and the fact that early settlements were far apart, Australian society is remarkably homogeneous (同种的). Its citizens are fundamentally prosperous and the way of life in the major cities and towns is much the same however many miles divide them. It takes a sharp ear to identify regional accents.

However, there is some difference in lifestyle between city dwellers and the country people. Almost 90 per cent of the population lives in the fast-paced cities along the coast and has little more than a passing familiarity with the desert. The major cities preserve pockets of colonial heritage, but the overall impression is modern, with new buildings reflecting the country’s youth. In contrast, the rural communities tend to be slow-moving and conservative. For many years, Australia was said to have “ridden on the sheep’s back”, a reference to wool being the country’s main money earner. However, the wool industry is no longer dominant. Much of Australia’s relatively sound economy is now achieved from natural coal and wheat, and by being the largest diamond producer in the world. Newer industries such as tourism and wine making are also increasingly important. Australians are generally friendly and relaxed, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. On the whole, Australia is a society without hierarchies (等级制度), an attitude generally held to stem from its prisoner beginnings.

Yet, contrary to widespread belief, very few Australians have true prisoner origins. Within only one generation of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Australia had become a nation of immigrants. Originally coming almost entirely from the British Isles, today one in three Australians comes from elsewhere. Australia’s liberal postwar immigration policies led to an influx of survivors from war-torn Europe, most notably Greeks, Italians, Poles and Germans.

The emphasis has shifted in recent years and today the majority of new immigrants are from Southeast Asia. Today Australia is a ‘blend of nations’ and although some racism exists, it has generally been a successful experiment and the country is justifiably proud to have one of the most harmonious multicultural communities in the world.

1.What does the writer mean by saying “It takes a sharp ear to identify regional accents.” in the first paragraph?

A. Australians speak Standard English with no local accents.

B. You have to practice a lot to learn to understand the different accents.

C. The Australian regional accents are very difficult to understand indeed.

D. There is not much difference between the accents in different areas of Australia.

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

A. Most Australians have ancestors who were prisoners.

B. The Australian economy is dependent on sheep exports.

C. The majority of people living in Australia come from Europe.

D. The pace of life is different in the city and in the country.

3. The underlined pronoun ‘it’ in the final paragraph refers to “_______”.

A. Community              B. Racism      

C. Blend of Nations          D. Southeast Asia

4.We can infer from the passage that _____.

A. there are no signs of Australia’s colonial past in its modern cities

B. Australia’s recent immigration policy encourages immigrants from Southeast Asia

C. immigrants from Southeast Asia have brought racial problems

D. “riding on sheep’s back” resulted in slow development in rural communities

5.This passage mainly focuses on Australia’s ______.

A. society         B. economy       C. racial problems      D. history

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入1个最恰当的单词。

注意：每个空格只填1个单词。

How we look and how we appear to others probably worries us more when we are in our teens or early twenties than at any other time in our life. Few of us are content to accept ourselves as we are, and few are brave enough to ignore the trends of fashion.

Most fashion magazines or TV advertisements try to persuade us that we should dress in a certain way or behave in a certain manner. If we do, they tell us, we will be able to meet new people with confidence and deal with every situation confidently and without embarrassment. Changing fashion, of course, does not apply just to dress. A barber today does not cut a boy’s hair in the same way as he used to, and girls do not make up in the same way as their mothers and grandmothers did. The advertisers show us the latest fashionable styles and we are constantly under pressure to follow the fashion in case our friends think we are odd or dull.

What causes fashions to change? Sometimes convenience or practical necessity or just the fancy of an influential person can establish a fashion. Take hats for example. In cold climates, early buildings were cold inside, so people wore hats indoors as well as outside. In recent times, the late President Kennedy caused a depression in the American hat industry by not wearing hats, and more American men followed his example.

There is also a cyclical(周期性的) pattern in fashion. In the 1920s in Europe and America, short skirts became fashionable. After World War II, they dropped to ankle length. Then they got shorter and shorter until the miniskirt was in fashion. After a few more years, skirts became longer again.

Today, society is much freer and easier than it used to be. It is no longer necessary to dress like everyone else. Within reason, you can dress as you like or do your hair the way you like instead of the way you should because it is the fashion. The popularity of jeans and the “untidy” look seems to be a reaction against the increasingly expensive fashion of the top fashion houses.

At the same time, appearance is still important in certain circumstances and then we must choose our clothes carefully. It would be foolish to go to an interview for a job in a law firm wearing jeans and a sweater, and it would be discourteous(失礼的) to visit some distinguished scholar looking as if we were going to the beach or a night club. However, you need never feel depressed if you don’t look like the latest fashion photo. Look around you and you’ll see that no one else does either!

Fashion Change

During the years after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, structural engineers have been trying hard to solve a question that would otherwise have been completely unthinkable: Can building be designed to stand catastrophic blasts (攻击；爆破) by terrorists?
Soon after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural engineers from the University at Buffalo and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) traveled to ground zero as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. They spent two days beginning the task of formulating (构思) ideas about how to design such structures and to search for clues on how to do so in buildings that were damaged, but still are standing.
“Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and look at the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center, those buildings that are still standing, but that sustained damage,” said Mr. Bruneau, Ph.D. “Our immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those buildings remain standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake engineering technologies can be married to existing technologies to achieve enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks,” he added.
Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate the monumental damage to the World Trade Center towers and buildings nearby. One building a block away from the towers remains standing, but was badly damaged. “This building is many meters away from the World Trade Center and yet we see a column (柱子) there that used to be part of that building,” explained A. Whittaker, Ph.D. “The column became a missile that shot across the road, through the window and through the floor.”
The visit to the area also brought some surprises, according to the engineers. For example, the floor framing (框架) system in one of the buildings was quite strong , allowing floors that were pierced by tons of falling debris (残砾) to survive. “Good framing systems may provide a simple, but reliable strategy for blast resistance,” he added. Other strategies may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the event that a load-bearing column fails. “We also need a better understanding of the mechanism of collapse,” said A. Whittaker. “We need to find out what causes a building to collapse and how you can predict it.”
A. Reinhorn, Ph.D. noted that “earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of buildings in the past. Solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to blast engineering and terrorist-resistant design. Part of our mission now is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones where none exist at present.”
【小题1】The question raised in the first paragraph is one _____ .