阅读理解

　　The world is running out of oil, and energy experts believe that there could be serious shortages(不足，缺乏)in ten years’ time．Not only is everybody using more oil than ever before, as the living standard(标准)rises, but the rapid growth of population means that each year many more people will be using oil in some form or other．Until recently we believed that oil would never stop flowing．It was so cheap and plentiful that the whole world came to depend on it．It seemed that governments did not pay enough attention to the fact that electricity came from oil and many power stations burned oil to produce electricity．It found its way into many of the products of light industry．Many people are surprised when they learn how many things in their homes contain oil．

　　The increase in the price of oil has brought the world to its senses．Governments are searching for something suitable to take the place of oil, but so far nothing has been found．Instead, they are considering how they can make better use of the two other major fuels, coal and natural gas, but they have found that neither can take the place of oil in their economies．In recent years more and more attention have been paid to the environment, so coal is not a popular fuel with environmentalists．Coal mines are ugly, and their development has a serious effect on animal and plant life; so coal itself is a heavy pollutant．Natural gas, the cleanest of the three fuels, is, though, the most limited in supply．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　In every school there is“top”crowd that sets the pace, while the others follow their lead．Let’s, say the top crowd decides that it is smart to wear bright red sweaters．Pretty soon everybody is wearing bright red sweaters．

　　There is nothing wrong with that, except the fact on some people bright red sweater is mighty unbecoming．

　　The situation can even become dangerous, if the top crowd decides that it is smart to drink or to drive cars at seventy miles an hour．Then the people who follow the lead are endangering(危害)their lives．They are like sheep being led to the slaughter(屠杀)．

　　Now, chances are that you have come across situations like these more than once in your life．Chances are that one time or another you probably did something you knew to be wrong．You may have excused yourself by saying,“Gee, the crowd does it．”Well, let the crowd do it, but don’t do it yourself．Learn to say“No”．

　　Develop your own standards and your own judgement．If you know the crowd is planning something to which you disagree, have the courage to bow out(退出)gracefully．You’ll have the satisfaction of standing on your own two feet．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　When you see or hear the word ‘glass’, most of you will think first of what is used for windows and bottles, which is easily broken．But great changes have taken place in the making of glass．Now it can be made as hard as steel or as soft as silk, as light as paper or as heavy as iron．

　　We don’t know just when or where man first started making glass, but the oldest man-made pieces of it have been found in the Middle East．It was soon discovered that many different kinds of glass could be made by adding different kinds of chemicals．

　　As centuries passed, people could make many useful things of glass, and almost everybody came to make some use of it．Not long ago, plastics, metal and paper began to take the place of many glass bottles, drinking glasses, containers, and so on．So glassmakers realized they needed to improve their products and find new uses for it．It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention．This has proved to be true, because they are now making glass that will bend, stretch, resist great heat and pressure, and do many other useful and interesting things．Today there are over one hundred thousand methods for the making of glass．

　　There is an old saying,“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones．”But now it is safe to live in a glass house, because we have a type of glass that can hardly be broken．It is so strong that it is being used for the wall of large buildings．The walls can be of any colour and they need no care．

　　Another type of glass becomes stronger as the pressure on it increases．It can even be used in space travel．The heads of missiles(导弹)are made of a type of glass．

　　So glass is proving to be the most valuable in many uses．We can hardly do without it in the modern world．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

My dear Mr．Chang：

　　Mr．James Li has been known to me personally for a long time, and I have had an opportunity(机会)to observe his personality and his work．

　　He is a well-trained college man who has used his brains in whatever he does．His family connections have given him an opportunity to associate(使联系)with men and women of ideas．He is democratic(民主的), likeable, and used to meeting men who are influential(有影响的)in business and political circles．

　　Before entering business, he had considerable experience as a teacher．Here he showed himself a natural disciplinarian whose generous, good personality made him the confident(知心人)and adviser of the students．

　　His character is beyond question, his judgement is good, and he has the qualities necessary to make him the successful employment manager in a large corporation(公司)．

Very truly yours,

Wang

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　During the twentieth century there has been a great change in the lives of women．A woman marrying at the end of the nineteenth century would probably have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old and up．By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work．Today women marry younger and have fewer children．Usually a woman’s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and can be expected to live another thirty-five years and is likely to take paid work until sixty．

　　This important change in women’s life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women economic(经济的)position．Even a few years ago most girls left school and took a full-time job．However, when they married their school-leaving age is sixteen．Many girls stay at school after that age, and though women marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born．Very many more afterwards return to fuller part-time work．Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage(婚姻), with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　Most Americans don’t like to get advice from members of their family．When they need advice, they don’t usually ask people they know．Instead, many Americans write letters to newspapers and magazines in which advice is given on many subjects, including family problems, the use of language, health, cooking, child care, clothes, how to buy a house or a car, and so on．

　　Most newspapers regularly print letters from readers with problems．Along with the letters are answers written by people who are supposed to solve(解决)such problems．Some of these writers are doctors; others are lawyers or educators．But two of the most famous writers of advice are women without special training for this kind of work．One of them answers letters addressed to “Dear Abby”．The other is addressed as “Dear Ann Landers”．Experience is their preparation for giving advice．

　　There is one writer who has not lived long enough to have much experience．She is a girl named Angel Caveliere, who started writing advice for newspaper readers at the age of ten．Her advice to young readers, now appears regularly in the Philadelphia Bulletin in a column called DEAR ANGEL．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　Mrs．Turner’s telephone number was 3463, and the number of the cinema in town was 3464．People often made mistakes and telephoned her when they actually wanted the cinema．

　　One evening the telephone rang and Mrs．Turner answered it．A tired man’s voice came over the phone, “At what time does your last film begin?”

　　“I’m sorry,”said Mrs．Turner, “but you have the wrong number．This is not the cinema．”“Oh, it began twenty minutes ago?”said the man．“I’m sorry about that．Well, good-bye．”Mrs．Turner was very surprised, so she told her husband．He laughed and said, “No, that wasn’t a mistake．The man’s wife wanted to go to the cinema, but he was feeling tired, so he telephoned the cinema．His wife heard him, but she didn’t hear you．Now they will stay at home this evening, and the husband will be happy．”

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解

　　Have you ever heard your own voice?“Of course,”you say．

　　Has anyone else ever heard your voice?Again you say,“Of course．”

　　But that’s not quite true．Nobody else has ever heard your voice-the way you hear it．When you talk, you set up sound waves The air outside your head carries the sound waves to your outer ears．But, of course, the sound of your voice begins inside your head．The bones of your head pick up the sound waves, too．They carry the sound waves straight to your inner ears．You get the sound from the outside and the inside too．Other people get just the sound waves from the outside．That is why they don’t hear your voice the way you do．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

　　New York, 10 November－5∶27 p.m., yesterday．Biggest power failure in the city's history．

　　Thousands of people got stuck in lifts．Martin Saltzman spent three hours between the 21st and 22nd floors of the Empire State Building．“There were twelve of us．But no one panicked．We passed the time telling stories and playing word games．One man wanted to smoke but we didn't let him．Firemen finally got us out．”

　　“It was the best night we've ever had,”said Angela Carraro who runs an Italian restaurant on 42nd Street．“We had lots of candles on the tables and the waiters were carrying candles on their trays．The place was full－and all night, in fact, for after we had closed, we let the people stay on and spend the night here．”

　　The zoos had their problems like everyone else．Keepers worked through the night．They used blankets to keep flying squirrels and small monkeys marm．While zoos had problems keeping warm, supermarkets had problems keeping cool．“All of our ice cream and frozen foods melted,”said the manager of a store in downtown Manhattan．“They were worth ＄50,000．”

　　The big electric clock in the lobby(大厅)of the WaldorfAstoria Hotel in downtown Manbattan started ticking(滴答)again at 5∶25 this morning．It was almost on time．

(1)

(2)

(3)

　　“Long time no see”is a very interesting sentence．When I first read this sentence from an American friend's email, I laughed．I thought it was a perfect example of Chinglish．

　　Obviously, it is a word-by-word literal translation of the Chinese greetings with a ruled English grammar and structure!Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American greeting．I was too thrilled to believe her．Her words could not convince(信服)me at all．So I did a research on google.com．To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand web pages containing“Long time no see”．This sentence has been widely used in emails, letters, newspapers, movies, books, or any other possible place．Though it is a sort of informal it is part of the language that Americans use daily．Ironically, if you type this phrase in Microsoft Word, the software will tll you that the grammar needs to be corrected．

　　Nobody knows the origin of this Chinglish sentence．Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan's movies．In the 1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully created a world wide famous Chinese detective named“Charlie Chan”on wide screens．Detective Chan likes to teach Americans some Chinese wisdom by quoting Confucius．“Long time no see”was his trademark．Soon after Charlie Chan,“Long time no see”became a popular phrase in the real world with thanks to the popularity of these movies．

　　Some scholars refer American as a huge pot of stew．All kinds of culture are mixed in the stew together, and they change the color and taste of each other．American Chinese, though a minority ethnic(少数民族的成员)group in the United States, is also contributing some changes to the stew!Language is usually the first thing to be influenced in the mixed stew．

　　You can have some other examples than adoptions from Chinese, such as pizza from Italian, susi from Japanese, and djvu from French etc．There is a long list!Americans do not just simply borrow something from others．They will modify it and make it their own, so you would not be surprised to find a tofu and peanut butter hamburger in a restaurant, or to buy a bottle of iced Chinese green tea with honey in a grocery store．Since Americans appreciate Chinese culture more and more nowadays, I believe more Chinese words will become American English in the future．In this way the American stew keeps adding richness and flavor．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)