The 1980s was called the “Me Decade” because for many this time was marked by a fascination with the self. The idea that each person has a self may seem natural to us, but this concept is actually quite new. The idea that each human life is unique developed between the 11th and 15th centuries in Europe. Before that time, individuals were considered in relation to a group, and even today, many eastern cultures place more emphasis on the importance of a collective self than on a unique and independent self.

  Both eastern and western cultures see the self as divided into an inner, private self and an outer, public self. But where they differ is in terms of which part is seen as the “real you.” Western culture tends to promote the idea of individuality—a self that is separated from other selves. In contrast, many eastern cultures focus on an inter-independent self that gets its diversity in large part from inter-relationship with others.

  For example, a Confucian(孔子) idea stresses the importance of “face”—other people’s views of the self and keeping up one’s desired status in their eyes. In the past, some Asian cultures developed clear rules about the specific clothes and even colors that people in certain social classes and occupations were allowed to display, and these live on today in Japanese style manuals. This style of dress is at odds with such western practices as “casual Fridays,” which encourage employees to dress informally and express their unique selves.

1. According to the passage , what does the author believe about the self?

 A. Many eastern cultures see the self connected with others.

 B. Those born in the 1980s are generally most self-centered than others.

   C. The concept that each person has a self may seem strange to eastern cultures

 D. Western cultures regard the self as an outer, public self while eastern cultures don’t.

2. What does the 2nd paragraph mainly talk about?

   A. How eastern and western cultures see the self.

   B. Eastern cultures contrast sharply with western cultures

   C. Both eastern and western cultures appreciate the importance of self

   D. Eastern cultures are as important as western cultures

3. A Japanese dress code is mentioned in the last paragraph to _________.

   A. explain the importance of “face”   B. say how traditional the Japanese are

   C. emphasize the importance of eastern cultures

 D. show how eastern cultures see the self in relation to others

4. The underlined phrase “at odds with” most probably means_______.

 A. in agreement with                B. in disagreement with

   C. in comparison with                D. in need of

 

 

Hundreds of students from around the world gathered in New York City last week for the Microsoft Imagine Cup finals. They came to present their ideas for using technology to solve world problems.

Microsoft education director Suzi Levine says the nine-year-old program began mainly as a competition to create technology.

SUZI LEVINE: "When we realized that students really actually want to have a purpose for what they're creating, we introduced the idea of inspiring them with the UN Millennium Development Goals and suggesting that they use those for their muse(灵感). "This past year we also rolled out something called the Imagine Cup Solve This library（创新杯求解计划知识库）, where IGOs, NGOs and nonprofits can submit some of the technical challenges that they would like students to consider for their solutions."

Microsoft says over 350，000 high school and college students registered for this year's competition. Judges chose more than four hundred of them to attend the finals.

SUZI LEVINE: "One from Thailand was called NewKrean, where they created a Windows Phone 7 application that allows you to broadcast your location to your social network of friends so that you can be more easily rescued." They named their application Terra.

Suzi Levine says there were also ideas from Egypt inspired by the revolution that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February.

SUZI LEVINE: "One was to use Bluetooth as sort of a Twitter equivalent so that if the government shuts down the Internet, you actually can still have a massive social distribution."

Students competed in nine categories. For example, in software design the top prize of twenty-five thousand dollars went to Team Hermes from Ireland. The students developed a device for cars to collect information on road conditions, driving behavior and traffic incidents.

A team from Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University won first place in the embedded（内嵌的） development category. They developed a network of wireless devices to help plot the safest escape routes during a fire.

Next year's awards ceremony will take place in Australia. Registration for Imagine Cup twenty-twelve opened Friday. Also, Microsoft announced plans for a three million dollar program to help Imagine Cup winners further develop their projects.

1.Which of the following is true ?

A．The program is sponsored by Microsoft.

B．Next year, the awards ceremony will be held in New York City.

C．Any high school or college student can attend the finals.

D．The initial purpose of the program is to solve world problems using technology.

2. What can we infer from the third paragraph?

A．The UN offers great help to the program.

B．Microsoft sets up a library for the students who want to achieve their goals.

C．IGOs, NGOs and nonprofits also provide help for the students.

D．Microsoft takes effective measures to inspire the students.

3.What does the underlined word “overthrew ” in Paragraph 6 mean ?

A． Abandoned       B．Supported         C．Drove away        D．Overturned

4.What can we know from Paragraph 7?

A．They want to replace Bluetooth with Twitter.

B．They want to combine Bluetooth with Twitter.

C．They want to replace Twitter with Bluetooth.

D．Twitter can still be used without the Internet.

 

 

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）

What if you arrived home to find a delicious hot meal waiting for you，prepared by your very own kitchen robot? It might sound like science fiction，but professors at the university of Tokyo have taken the first steps toward making that scenario a reality．The team recently introduced a humanoid kitchen robot that can pour tea and other drinks into cups and serve them to guests．When teatime is over，the robot can also wash the dishes and put them away．

In California，another interesting kitchen robot has been developed．Called the Ready-bot，it can pick up objects and either store them in cabinets or put them in the trash．It also carries a separate floor-cleaning robot that can operate by itself．Unlike the Japanese robot，Readybot is not humanoid．Instead，it looks more like a large box with arms and wheels．[来源:Z|xx|k.Com]

Readybot was created by engineers and designers who established a club called the Readybot Challenge．They believe that in the future millions of robots will be needed in homes to perform ordinary household tasks．Readybot is just the first step in their plan to create a robot that can tackle jobs not only in kitchens but in other rooms of homes and in offices as well．

Clearly there are technological hurdles to overcome before robots can cook a complete dinner，and there are also many safety concerns．Not everyone（especially parents）would be comfortable with the idea of robots in their house，manipulating hot pans and sharp knives．The European Commission recently funded a project to study these concerns．

56．What does the writer imply about the Japanese robot?

A．It performs fewer functions than readybot can．

B．it looks more like a person than Readybot does．

C．It speaks more languages than Readybot does．

D．It costs 1ess to manufacture than Readybot does．

57．Where do the engineers and designers hope that Readybot will operate in the future?

A．On spacecraft                                                      B．In automobiles

C．On playgrounds                                               D．At companies

58．What does the writer imply about parents?

A．They have shown tremendous interest in kitchen robots．

B．They don’t have strong opinions about kitchen robots．

C．They might think that kitchen robots could be dangerous．

D．They can’t wait to buy kitchen robots for their homes．

59．According to the writer，what has the European Commission done for the project?

A．It has built factories                                                B．It has printed manuals

C．It has hired workers                                                D．It has provided money

 

Pierre is a 25-year-old penguin at the California Academy of Sciences. Due to his old age, he was going bald, which made him feel too cold to swim in the pool. Therefore, biologists at the academy had a wetsuit created for this penguin to help him get back in the swimming pool.

Unlike marine mammals, which have a layer of fat to keep them warm, penguins depend on their waterproof feathers. Without them, Pierre was unwilling to jump into the swimming pool and ended up trembling on the side of the pool while his 19 peers played in the water.

"He was cold; he would shake," said Pam Schaller, a senior biologist. Schaller first tried a heat lamp to keep Pierre warm. Then she got another idea: if wetsuits keep humans warm in the cold Pacific, why not make one for Pierre?

Schaller designed the suit, which covered Pierre’s body and had small openings for his flippers.

“I would walk behind him and look at where there were any gaps, and cut and refit and cut and refit until it looked like it was extremely suitable,” she said.

One concern was that the other penguins would reject Pierre in his new suit, but in fact, they accepted his new look. He swam freely and got along with others well, although he was the only penguin with a black stomach.

Schaller couldn’t say for sure whether the wetsuit allowed Pierre to recover his fine feathers, but “certainly we were able to keep him comfortable during a period of time that would have been very difficult for him to stay comfortable”.

Pierre will take off his suit after his new feathers grow back.

1.Pierre felt too cold to swim in the pool because of _____.

A. not having a layer of blubber            B. having few feathers due to old age

C. having no wetsuit                        D. others penguins rejecting him

2.The idea of making a wetsuit for Pierre came from _____.

A. total invention                          B. waterproof feathers

C. the use of wetsuit on humans             D. the use of heat lamp

3.Schaller followed Pierre in order to see _____.

A. whether other penguins would reject him

B. if anywhere of wetsuit needed to be cut and refit

C. if the wetsuit kept warm

D. whether the wetsuit would keep the feathers from recovering

4. The best title of the passage is _____.

A. Wetsuit for An Old Penguin               B. Old Penguin Getting Bald

C. Unwilling to Swim                    D. Strange Look of Pierre

 

第二节 完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

It was summer and I had gotten one of the few jobs a 14-year-old can find—working at Burger King，a fast－food restaurant．It  31  wasn’t a good job，but it meant money，  32  was something I needed.

One day，I was working behind the front counter，taking  33  .The customers were coming and going，and the woman who  34  didn’t seem any different from most others. She ordered her meal and I told her the total. As she searched  35  her purse to find some change，the woman soon  36  that she was about a dollar short.  “I’m  37  to say this, but I guess I won’t be able to make my purchase 38，”she said sadly.

That’s when I had the idea of 39 the difference for her. She refused at first，but after I 40, she agreed. She thanked me and moved to the end of the counter to  41  her order. I continued with my work and thought  42  more of it.

About an hour later  43  had slowed down and I was waiting for my next customer. Then I glanced over towards the  44  and saw the same woman whom I’d helped with the money entering again．I  45  recognized her.

She walked straight up to me and said，“I want to thank you again for what you did. You see，I’m a diabetic(糖尿病患者),and  46  I need to eat something right away．That’s  47  I came in earlier．If you hadn’t helped me as you did，I might have fainted(晕倒). Thank you．”

She  48  me two dollars, twice I’d given her.   

49  the woman walk away, I realized that God had used me to help me. In the end, I was  50  not only with money but also with the satisfaction of knowing that I’d helped someone out of a tight spot.

31．A．firstly          B．badly       C．certainly          D．finally

32．A．which          B．what            C．that                 D．it

33．A．menus             B．orders              C．water             D．food

34．A．reached           B．moved             C．left         D．approached

35．A．through       B．over                  C．about               D．across

36．A．recognized       B．knew           C．admitted          D．said

37．A．glad              B．disappointed     C．sorry     D．surprised

38．A．in all         B．at all        C．above all               D．after all

39．A．costing    B．spending            C．paying          D．taking

40．A．supported            B．insisted           C．stuck          D．watched

41．A．pick up               B．put up         C．pick out            D．put out

42．A．none               B．anything          C．nothing            D．something

43．A．customers        B．orders              C．service           D．business

44．A．entrance          B．restaurant         C．counter            D．window

45．A．suddenly          B．immediately     C．surely              D．completely

46．A．seldom         B．always             C．never         D．sometimes

47．A．when               B．where              C．why                D．how

48．A．threw                B．handed                C．showed              D．put

49．A．Watching         B．Looking           C．Observing        D．Noticing

50．A．awarded          B．honored           C．returned           D．rewarded