III 阅读（共两节，满分40分）
第一节阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）       阅读下列短文，
从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
China has now mapped out plans for its next four launches in the Shenzhou program on the next flight. But one conclusion seems to have escaped most reports in the aerospace media. The flight of Shenzhou 7 could be timed to coincide with the Beijing Olympics. Plans for the 2008 Summer Olympics call for the events to be held between the 8th and 24th of August. It's reasonable to expect that China will use the event to promote its achievements before the world, and human spaceflight is China's most significant recent breakthrough.
Shenzhou 7, China's next manned space mission, was originally advertised for 2007. This fit into the pattern of staging a two-year gap between crewed Shenzhou missions, which have previously launched in 2003 and 2005. But Chinese media statements have recently amended this to 2008. Chinese media have reported that while the overall program is going well, more time is needed to work on the spacesuit that will be used on this flight to stage China's first spacewalk. It's possible that Chinese engineers want to make best preparations for this complex mission.
China could intend to carry out the mission of Shenzhou 7 just as media attention is focused on the lead-up to the Olympics. The crew of the flight, and possibly China's other flown astronauts, could then take part in the opening ceremony. China has previously feted her space travellers in great celebrations, such as the Hong Kong event that saw Yang Liwei singing with actor Jacky Chan.
China has also suggested that the activity will be carried out by a single astronaut, and has indicated that half an hour is a rough estimate of the planned time for the spacewalk. China is apparently following suit, probably for the same reasons of conservative mission planning and safety.
41. From the first paragraph we can infer that ________.
A. China hasn’t made its plan for the Beijing Olympics
B. The new Shenzhou program are known to all the reporters
C. China has planned to send up Shenzhou 7 in 2008
D. Beijing Olympics will be held during the flight of Shenzhou 7
42. China has decided to carry out its human spaceflight in 2008 in order to ______.
A. make the Beijing Olympics more interesting
B. show its great achievements to the world
C. prove that China is a developed country
D. introduce its science and technology to the world
43. Which one of the following is WRONG according to this passage?
A. China sent its first manned spacecraft in October of 2003.
B. Chinese engineers want to make more preparations for Shenzhou 7.
C. The spacesuit for the flight of Shenzhou 7 hasn’t been prepared well.
D. Two Chinese astronauts walked in space in 2003.
44. The underlined word “amended” in the passage has a similar meaning to ______.
A. improve            B. change                     C. expect               D. decide
45. What would be the best title for this passage?
A. The Beijing Olympics.                        B. The Shenzhou Olympics.
C. China’s Shenzhou Program.                 D. Spacewalk in 2008.

China may be the world's most populous country ,and it won the most gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. But its prowess at soccer is lamentable. China is ranked 84th in the sport's world standing.

Chinese are huge soccer fans, and hundreds of millions are expected to tune in to the World Cup, with all the matches broadcast live on public TV. But this time the Chinese don't have their own team to root for.

"Chinese have a reputation of being good at math, but they have trouble explaining why a population of 1.3 billion cannot produce a winning 11-member soccer team," said Xu Guoqi, a history professor at the University of Hong Kong. Journalists and soccer fans offer a number of reasons, most often money issues, politics, corruption（腐败）and culture, and sometimes a combination of the four.

Even though China now boasts wealthy companies and individuals who could sponsor（赞助） teams, there is little support as long as Chinese teams are perceived as perennial losers. "This is a very bad circle," Ma said. "No results, no money. No money, no results."

Few Chinese children are playing soccer. Some sports journalists and fans attribute the lack of interest partly to schools de-emphasizing sports in general and the lack of playing venues in the country's dense urban areas. "What can Chinese kids do?” said Fan Huiming, 61, a Chinese soccer fan who grew up watching matches at Beijing's Workers' Stadium, which was built in 1958 near his childhood home. "If they play soccer, the ball may fly directly into the glass of someone's home."

For young people, soccer has largely been eclipsed by basketball, thanks in part to Chinese NBA players who are treated like rock stars. Journalists and fans say NBA's aggressive campaign of marketing and merchandise in China has helped swell the popularity of basketball. By comparison, they noted that international soccer does not even have an office in China.

Rowan Simons, a Briton who came to China more than two decades ago and discovered he wasn't able to play weekend soccer, has been on a campaign to popularize the sport here. Simons said the main problem is that soccer elsewhere has traditionally started as a series of neighborhood clubs, but in China, "there's virtually no football at community level".

"Football in China can only succeed if it's a grass-roots activity organized by the people," he said.

This time the Chinese don't have their own team to root for in the World Cup because__________.

A.China is ranked 84th in soccer 's world standing.

B.they are angry about why China cannot produce a winning soccer team.

C.the Chinese huge soccer fans support other soccer teams.

D.the Chinese soccer team is not capable to go as far as the final part of the World Cup.

Why are few Chinese children playing soccer?

  A.No results, no money. No money, no results.

B.If the footballs fly directly into the glass of someone's home,they’ll be criticised.

C there is little support from wealthy companies and individuals sponsoring teams.

D.schools don’t pay much attention on sports and they lack playing venues in dense urban areas.

The underlined word“eclipsed”in the six paragraph can be replaced by      .

  A.occupied.                      B.beaten.                  C.led.                     D.compared.

According to Rowan,what can be inferred ?

  A.NBA players are more popular than soccer players in China.

B. The future of Chinese football is rather promising.

C. Chinese football should get into the life of ordinary people to survive.

D.Grass-roots Chinese football players can be popular .

阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空。

BEIJING---World-renowned Oxford and Cambridge have come to China   1.   (attract) top-rank postgraduate students in cooperation with the China Scholarship Council.

Oxford made its first   2.  (appear) at the China Scholarship Council's annual International Graduate Scholarship Fair,   3.  opened on Saturday in Beijing. The school wants to encourage excellent Chinese students to consider   4.   Oxford can offer for  5.  academic and professional careers.

"The students came well-prepared with specific questions and were serious about the chance," said Sherwood, director of graduate admissions and funding at Oxford, who will make   6.   two stops for the fair in Wuhan and Shanghai.

The University of Cambridge  7. (attend) the fair since its first session in 2009, and stresses that it would continue to invest to train students to be problem-solvers.

  8.   Cambridge and Oxford present at the fair in competition for   9.   best and brightest, Osterfield and Sherwood agree that the two universities usually have more interest in cooperation   10.  competition, except in their traditional annual boat race.

语法填空 （共10小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）

　　阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卡括号为16—25的相应位置上。

BEIJING---World-renowned Oxford and Cambridge have come to China   16   (attract) top-rank postgraduate students in cooperation with the China Scholarship Council.

Oxford made its first   17   (appear) at the China Scholarship Council's annual International Graduate Scholarship Fair,   18   opened on Saturday in Beijing. The school wants to encourage excellent Chinese students to consider   19   Oxford can offer for   20   academic and professional careers.

"The students came well-prepared with specific questions and were serious about the chance," said Sherwood, director of graduate admissions and funding at Oxford, who will make   21   two stops for the fair in Wuhan and Shanghai.

The University of Cambridge   22   (attend) the fair since its first session in 2009, and stresses that it would continue to invest to train students to be problem-solvers.

  23   Cambridge and Oxford present at the fair in competition for   24   best and brightest, Osterfield and Sherwood agree that the two universities usually have more interest in cooperation   25   competition, except in their traditional annual boat race.

Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap (寒潮) since 1981. And freezing weather is hitting the Deep South, including Florida’s orange groves and beaches.
Whatever happened to global warming?
Such weather doesn’t seem to fit with warnings from scientists that the Earth is warming because of greenhouse gases. But experts say the cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming at all—it’s just a temporary phenomenon in the long-term heating trend. “It’s part of natural variability,” said Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist. With global warming, he said, “we’ll still have record cold temperatures. We’ll just have fewer of them.”
Scientists say man-made climate change does have the potential to cause more frequent and more severe weather extremes. But experts did not connect the current cold snap to climate change.
So what is going on?
“We basically have seen just a big outbreak of Arctic air over populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere”, Arndt said.
In the atmosphere, large rivers of air travel roughly west to east around the globe between the Arctic and the tropics. This air flow acts like a fence to keep Arctic air restricted. But recently, this air flow has become bent into a zigzag (之字形) pattern, wandering north and south. If you live in a place where it brings air up from the south, you get warm weather. In fact, record highs were reported this week in Washington state and Alaska.
But in the eastern United States, like some other unlucky parts of the globe, Arctic air is coming from the north. And that’s how you get a temperature of 3 degrees in Beijing, a reading of minus-42 in mainland Norway, and 18 inches of snow in parts of Britain. The zigzag pattern arises naturally from time to time, but it is not clear why it’s so strong right now.
【小题1】What is the best title of the text?