Levi Strauss was born in Bavaria (巴伐利亚) in Europe in 1829. He emigrated（移居）to the United States of America when he was seventeen years old. His brothers sold cloth, and he worked for them even though he could not speak English very well. At this time many people were moving to California because gold was discovered there. Strauss went to look for gold, too.

Strauss took a lot of cloth with him to San Francisco. He thought that he could make tents out of the cloth and sell them to people working in the gold fields. But when he got there, he saw that people had a greater need for clothes than tents. Clothes did not last very long in the gold fields. At first Strauss made pants out of canvas（帆布）. They were very strong ---- much stronger than other pants. Soon everyone was wearing them , so he decided only to make pants. He opened a small store and made a lot of money from selling pants.

After a while, Strauss found a material even stronger than canvas. It came from a town in France called Nimes. The French called the material serge de Nimes, which means “cloth from Nimes”. The Americans called it denim. Strauss also bought some cloth from Genoa, a town in Italy. To Americans this name sounds like “jeans”, so they called his pants jeans. The cloth that Strauss used was always blue, so people also called his pants blue jeans and blue denims. Other people called them Levi’s. Levi Strauss jeans are some of the best-selling jeans in the world today. They last a long time and are very comfortable.

56. 1.When Levi Strauss went to San Francisco for the first time, he wanted to ______.

A. find a strong material to make pants

B. work for his brothers

C. make money by selling tents

D. open a store to make pants

57. 2.In the beginning Strauss made pants from ______.

   A. serge de Nimes         B. silk

C. denim                D. canvas

58. 3.The name “jeans” was first used by ______.

A. Bavarians             B. Americans

C. Italians               D. Frenchmen

59. 4.The story is about ______.

A. where cloth came from

B. the man who first made jeans

C. how to make lots of money

D. life on the gold fields

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）
第一节阅读下面五篇短文，从每题后所给的四个选项中选出最佳答案。
Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slow moving. There are some aspects(方面) of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid. I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.
　　For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports — and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them — there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.
　　Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, you are still only half way to good health, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation(放松). It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on. Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activity — physical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other — which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.
41. Pollution, noise and stress are examples of _____.
A. the causes of unfitness                                                         B. unavoidable things in town
C. the things we can completely do away with                 D. bad features of modern living
42. We don’t get much out of separate sports because we _____.
A. don’t do them very often                                                   B. don’t do them actively enough
C. find it hard to get out of our armchairs                          D. don’t find them interesting
43. To be healthy we must _____.
A. keep fit and active                                                              B. have a sound mind
C. be active and practise Yoga                                                        D. keep fit and learn to relax
44. Our forefathers were healthy because______.
A. their way of life closely connected with both exercise and relaxation
B. they were careful to get plenty of fresh air
C. they spent most of the time out of doors
D. their environment was not polluted

As a young man, Al was a skilled artist, a potter. He had a wife and two fine sons. One night, his oldest son   36   a severe stomachache and died suddenly. To make matters worse, his wife left him a short time later,   37   him alone with his six-year- old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two situations were _ 38 _ Al could handle, and he _ 39   to alcohol. Al began to lose everything he possessed---his home, his land, his art objects, everything.   40   he died alone in a San Francisco motel room.

When I heard of Al’s death, I reacted with the same disdain（蔑视）the world shows for one who ends his life with nothing   41 _ left. “What a complete failure!” I thought. “What a totally   42__   life!”

As time went by, I began to re-evaluate my earlier _ 43   judgment. You see, I knew Al’s now adult son, Ernie. He is one of the kindest, most   44   most loving men I have ever known. I watched Ernie with his children and saw the free   45   of the love between them. I knew that kindness and caring had to come   46   somewhere.

I hadn’t heard Ernie talk much about his father. It is so hard to   47   an alcoholic. One day I get up my   48   to ask him. “I’m really puzzled by something,” I said. “I know your father was basically the only one to   49   you.   50   on earth did he do that you became such a special person?

Ernie sat _ 51 _ and thought for a few moments. Then he said, “From my  _52    memories as a child until I left home at 18, Al came into my room every night, gave me a __53   and said, “I love you, son.”

Tears came to my eyes as I realized what a fool I had been to   54   Al as a failure. He had not left any material possession behind,   55   he left behind one of the finest, most giving men I have ever known.

1.A. obtained         B. developed      C. cured            D. recovered

2. A. taking          B. locking            C. finding      D. leaving

3.A. more than        B. less than          C. other than   D. rather than

4. A. got             B. turned         C. loved            D. changed

5.A. Luckily          B. Suddenly          C. Eventually       D. Jokingly

6. A. material        B. expensive      C. real         D. special

7.A. happy            B. thoughtful     C. deserted     D. wasted

8.A. angry            B. sharp          C. actual           D. proper

9.A. handsome         B. rich             C. caring            D. ordinary

10.A. flow            B. rise              C. fly               D. move

11.A. out             B. from           C. up           D. down

12.A. defend          B. become        C. discuss           D. argue

13.A. confidence          B. courage           C. belief            D. strength

14. A. feed           B. love              C. care          D. raise

15.A. How                 B. What              C. Why           D. Which

16. A. angrily      B. comfortably         C. quietly          D. excitedly

17.A. earliest      B. nearest         C. best         D. hardest

18.A. pat           B. lesson          C. kiss         D. present

19.A. judge     B. say             C. remember     D. respect

20.A. so            B. and             C. but          D. or

Plastic is one of the most important technological discoveries of the 20th century. However, it may soon be replaced. The new development- liquid wood- can replace plastics in all branches of modern-day industries.

Plastic as a material enjoys the biggest demand in the modern world, but it does have a number of drawbacks. First and foremost, plastic isn’t recyclable. Secondly, it contains toxins (毒物) helping develop cancerous diseases. Finally, it’s made of oil and oil reserves aren’t endless.

The liquid wood technology is likely to replace plastic and providing mankind with new materials for many years ahead. Norbert Eisenfreich, a senior researcher at the Faunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Germany (ICT), said that arboform, the new material, is made of lignin(木素质）, which can be obtained from soft tissues of wood. Once mixed with several other matenals, it turns into solid and non-toxic alternative for plastics.

ICT team leader Emilia Regina Inone-Kauffmann said the wood-working industry separates wood into three basic components, including lignin. Lignin isn’t used for the production of paper. Specialists of ICT mixed lignin with several natural materials and thus invented the material which could be melted and molded (铸型）.

When solid, arboform looks like plastic and possesses tho qualitie of polished wood. It can be used for the production of any items. Arboform is already used for the production of car parts which require extra strength. In addition, liquid wood can be recycled repeatedly. The material preserved all of its qualities even if it’s reprocessed ten times.

However, the new invention doesn’t enjoy an extensive use due to the high content of sulfur(硫) in it. German researchers are sure to reduce the amount of sulfur by 90% very soon to make arboform usable for home needs.

71. According to the passage, plastic        .

A. helps us to reduce the use of petrol

B. helps to protect our environment in some way

C. does harm to our society in some way

D. has been replaced by the newly discovered material

72. What’s the advantage of arboform over plastic?

A. It is easier made from natural oil.

B. It is more widely used in household

C. It is recyclable and friendly to environment.

D. It contains no poisonous materials.

73. The underlined word “altemative” in Paragraph 3 means        .

A. lignin or arboform                                B.soft tissues of wood

C. plastics or wood                                    D. mixture of several materials

74. It can be concluded that German researchers will focus their future work firstly on     .

A. the material’s extensive use                    B. the content of sulfur in arboform

C. the production cost of arboform                     D. the qualities of liquid wood

75. The main purpose of the text is to     .

A.introduce liquid wood which will replace plastic

B.show readers how to produce arboform

C.advertise the new material-arboform

D.advertise new products made of arboform

You may never connect the words “good” and “eco-friendly”with plastic.It’s time to do a rethink on that as we say hello to hemp(大麻)plastic.Traditionally,plastics have been made from petrochemicals,which are mainly poisonous.Plants,on the other hand,are also a source of cellulose(纤维素),which can be used to make biodegradable (生物所能分解的)plastic.As hemp happens to be one of the richest sources of cellulose,it is only natural that scientists will support its use,considering its ecological benefits.
Hemp plastic is biodegradable and recyclable.If you thought being eco-friendly reduced its solidity,you couldn’t be more wrong.The hard level of hemp plastic can match that of regular plastic.Hemp plastic is resistant to heat;however,the most outstanding feature of a few varieties of hemp plastic is that they are flame resistant too.Finally,if Henry Ford could imagine creating a car with this material,we can perhaps believe that it indeed is“ten times stronger than steel”.
It is a pity that with so many useful qualities,we don’t see hemp plastic being used in our everyday life,the way it ought to be.Hemp plastic can easily take the place of the exiting plastic in products like cell phone chargers(充电器),laptop covers,etc.Currently,hemp plastic is being used to produce audio(音响设备),video,toys,automobile parts and packaging materials.
Hemp fiber is one of the strongest natural fibers known to us.As scientists keep looking for ways to solve the ecological damage that traditional plastics have caused,here is a material that can be produced to be 100% biodegradable.Hemp plastic is known to be several times durable as compared to polypropylene(聚丙烯)plastic,and it comes without all the health and safety threats,It really has long useful life.
Plastics keep reminding us of the damage that we have done to our planet,all under the excuse of convenience.As hemp products have become a new choice into our daily life,Please take a green plan now and make your effort to protect the environment.
【小题1】Plastics produced in the traditional way are______.