I entered high school having read hundreds of books.But I was not a good reader.Merely bookish,I lacked a point of view when I read.Rather,I read in order to get a point of view.I searched books for good expressions and sayings,pieces of information,ideas,themes—anything to enrich my thought and make me feel educated.When one of my teachers suggested to his sleepy tenth-grade English class that a person could not have a “complicated(复杂的) idea” until he had read at least two thousand books,I heard the words without recognizing either its irony(嘲讽) or its very complicated truth.I merely determined to make a list of all the books I had ever read.Strict with myself,I included only once a title I might have read several times.(How,after all,could one read a book more than once?)And I included only those books over a hundred pages in length.(Could anything shorter be a book?)

There was yet another high school list I made.One day I came across a newspaper article about an English professor at a nearby state college.The article had a list of the “hundred most important books of Western Civilization.”“More than anything else in my life,”the professor told the reporter with finality,“these books have made me all that I am.”That was the kind of words I couldn’t ignore(忽视).I kept the list for the several months it took me to read all of the titles.Most books,of course,I hardly understood.While reading Plato’s The Republic,for example,I needed to keep looking at the introduction of the book to remind myself what the text was about.However,with the special patience and superstition(迷信) of a schoolboy,I looked at every word of the text.And by me time I reached the last word,pleased,I persuaded myself that I had read The Republic,and seriously crossed Plato off my list.

1.On heating the teacher’s suggestion of reading,the writer thought ______.

A.one must read as many books as possible

B.a student should not have a complicated idea

C.it was impossible for one to read two thousand books

D.students ought to make a list of the books they had read

2.While at high school,the writer ______.

A.had plans for reading

B.learned to educate himself

C.only read books over 100 pages

D.read only one book several times

3.The underlined phrase “with finality” probably means ______.

A.firmly                                        B.clearly

C.proudly                                   D.pleasantly

4.The writer’s purpose in mentioning The Republic is to ______.

A.explain why it was included in the list

B.describe why he seriously crossed it off the list

C.show that he read the books blindly though they were hard to understand

D.prove that he understood most of it because he had looked at every word

5.The writer provides two book lists to ______.

A.show how he developed his point of view

B.tell his reading experience at high school

C.introduce the two persons’ reading methods

D.explain that he read many books at high school

 

E

In 1939 two brothers, Mac and Dick McDonald, started a drive-in restaurant in San Bernadino, California. They carefully chose a busy corner for their location. They had run their own businesses for years, first a theater, then a barbecue (烤肉) restaurant, then another drive-in. But in their new operation, they offered a new, shortened menu: French fries, hamburgers, and sodas. To this small selection they added one new idea: quick service, no waiters or waitresses, and no tips.

Their hamburgers sold for fifteen cents. Cheese was another four cents. Their French fries and hamburgers had a remarkable uniformity (一致性), for the brothers had developed a strict routine (程序) for the preparation of their food, and they insisted on their cooks’ sticking to their routine. Their new drive-in became surprisingly popular, particularly for lunch. People drove up by the hundreds during the busy noontime. The self-service restaurant was so popular that the brothers had allowed ten copies of their restaurant to be opened. They were content with this modest success until they met Ray Kroc.

Kroc was a salesman who met the McDonald brothers in 1954, when he was selling milkshake-mixing machines. He quickly saw the special attraction of the brothers’ fast-food restaurants and bought the right to franchise (特许经营) other copies of their restaurants. The agreement included the right to duplicate (复制) the menu, the equipment, even their red and white buildings with the golden arches (拱门).

Today McDonald’s is really a household name. In 1976, McDonald’s had over $ l billion in total sales. Its first twenty-two years is one of the most surprising success stories in modern American business history.

72. This passage mainly talks about _______.

A. the development of fast food services

B. how McDonald’s became a billion-dollar business

C. the business careers of Mac and Dick McDonald

D. Ray Kroc’s business talent

73. Mac and Dick managed all of the following businesses except _______.

A. a drive-in          B. a theater            C. a cinema           D. a barbecue restaurant

74. We may infer from this passage that _______.

A. Mac and Dick McDonald never became wealthy for they sold their idea to Kroc.

B. the place the McDonalds chose was the only source of the great popularity of their drive-in

C. forty years ago there were lots of fast-food restaurants

D. Ray Kroc was a good businessman

75. The passage suggests that _______.

A. creativity is an important element of business success

B. Ray Kroc was the close partner of the McDonald brothers

C. Mac and Dick McDonald became broken after they sold their ideas to Ray Kroc

D. California is the best place to go into business

Researchers at San Diego Zoo have been studying what has been described as the “secret language” of elephants. They have been monitoring（监测） communications between animals that cannot be heard by human ears.
The elephant’s call will be familiar to most people, but the animals also give out growls (低吼). Their growls, however, are only partly audible (听得见的); two-thirds of the call is at frequencies that are too low to be picked up by our hearing. To learn more about the inaudible part of the growl, the team attached (附在……上面) a microphone sensitive to these low frequencies and a GPS tracking system to eight of the zoo’s female elephants. The researchers could then relate the noises the animals were making to what they were doing. Matt Anderson, who led the project, told BBC News, “We’re excited to learn how they interact and contact with one another.”
The team has already learned that pregnant females use this low frequency communication to announce to the rest of their long gestation (妊娠期) of over two years, in the last 12 days we see the low part of the growl, which we can’t hear. This we believe is to announce to the rest of the herd that the baby is upcoming,” said Dr Anderson.
The researchers believe that this also warns the elephants to look out for coming danger. “You may think that a baby calf of about 300 pounds would not be as open to predation (捕食) as other species,” he says. “But packs of hyenas (袋狼) are a big threat in the wild.”
Female elephants are only in season for around four days every four years and these calls can be heard by males more than two miles away.
【小题1】Why some elephants’ call is called “secret language”?

A．Because it can’t be heard by human ears.

B．Because it can only be heard by female elephants.

C．Because people don’t know its meanings.

D．Because people haven’t studied it completely.

【小题2】By using a sensitive microphone and a GPS tracking system, the researchers wanted to find out             .

A．where the elephants usually go

B．what the elephants’ growls really mean

C．how mother elephants raise baby calves

D．how elephants protect their babies.

【小题3】A pregnant elephant uses inaudible growls to           .

A．show the location where she is staying

B．ask for help when she losses her way

C．scare away the enemy

D．let others know she will have a baby

【小题4】What is the passage mainly about?

A．The elephants can speak like people.

B．The wild elephants’ ways to fight against enemies.

C．The “secret language” between elephants.

D．The special life of female elephants.

You’re standing in the dairy section at the grocery store, searching for your favorite brand. Suddenly, you catch a smell of chocolate cookies. You forget about dairy and head for the bakery (烘烤食品) section. Guess what? You just walked into an odor (气味) trap (陷阱)! The odor was cooked up by scientists in a lab.
For years, scientists have been studying the special powers of smell. They found that more than our other senses, smell changes our mood and helps us remember things.
So companies have begun spending thousands of dollars to scent (使充满香味) entire stores. Artificial (人造的) scents are being used to lead customers by the nose. These smells help to get people inside and put them in the mood to buy. They even make customers remember the store later, so they’ll come back for more. Also, many companies have smartly made use of product smells. A company added lemon fragrance to its dish cleaner. They wanted people to think the soap contained “natural” cleaners. It worked!
New uses for smells are being created every day. One bank, for example, gives customers coupons (优惠券) advertising car loans (贷款). To get people to take out a loan, bank officials hope to coat these coupons with the fresh leather smell of a new car. In Australia, telephone offices are putting sweat odor on unpaid bills. Since some people sweat when they’re scared, this smell might remind them of when they were frightened. And they’ll pay the bills right away!
What lies ahead for our noses? Smell scientists are working on some pretty far-out ideas. Would you believe TV sets that produce smells? Or how about scent diets? Certain food smells will fool your stomach into thinking it’s full. Alarm clocks will scent your bedroom with a strong pleasant smell designed to wake you up. Scientists are even working on ways to keep garbage from smelling. Researchers expect scents to help students make more sense of what they’re learning.
And just think. Someday soon, even your homework may smell nice!
【小题1】How do sales methods affect customers in the stores?

A．They change customers’ preferences.

B．They persuade customers to use credit cards.

C．They make customers avoid bad and unsafe products.

D．They influence customers to make unplanned purchases.

【小题2】Why do telephone offices put sweat odor on unpaid bills?

A．Because the sweat odor is a reminder of terrifying experience.

B．Because the sweat odor can change people’s attitude.

C．Because most people don’t think much of sweating.

D．Because many people dislike paying bills.

【小题3】What does the author mean by saying “Someday soon, even your homework may smell nice!”?

A．Students would benefit more from smell research.

B．Students would be more willing to do homework.

C．Smell research would develop beyond our imagination.

D．Smell research would make great differences to our life.

【小题4】 Why does the author write this passage?

A．To encourage the store owners to use smells.

B．To expose wrong practices by smell scientists.

C．To inform the readers of an interesting subject.

D．To blame the advertisers that use smells to sell.

Some spiders hunt on the ground, others build webs to trap their food, but the grass water spider catches its prey by running along the surface of the water.

This special water spider lives on the grassy banks of streams where mosquitoes, damsel flies and other insects come to feed and breed.

Although it is one of the largest spiders in New Zealand, it has an unusual ability. It doesn’t disturb the water as it waits for its meal, and there is barely a ripple(波纹) when it skims(掠过) across the surface at lightning speed to catch its prey.

Grass water spiders deal swiftly with larger insects like damsel flies by pulling their heads under the water and holding them there until they drown.

After a meal, the grass water spider spends up to half an hour grooming(修饰) itself. It wipes its eight eyes, brushes its antennae(触角), and takes special care to clean the hairs on its body.

It is the hairs that trap tiny bubbles(泡沫) of air so that the spider can run down a blade(叶片) of grass and stay underwater for up to an hour when it is frightened. The hairs also keep the spider dry, even underwater.

It is only when the female spider is caring for the young that she does not hunt on the water. After mating, she produces a large egg sac(囊), which she carries around for five weeks. Once the eggs start to hatch, she attaches the sac to some blades of grass or a thistle. She then tears the sac open and releases the tiny spiders into the nursery web.

1. How does the grass water spider kill its prey?

A. in a web     B. by drowning      C. by poisoning     D. with its antennae

2. the writer describes the special spider as “special” because _______.

A. it walks on water                    B. it has eight eyes　　

C. of its hairy appearance             D. of the way it produces its young

3. The passage tells us that the spider ______.

A. feeds grass and thistles to its young.　　　　

B. lives on blades of grass under the water

C. lives in the grass on the banks of streams　　

D. eats a meal once every five weeks

4. The purpose of the passage is to _______.

A. convince readers that spiders are dangerous　　

B. indicate that the grass water spider is endangered

C. list all of the spiders that can be found in New Zealand

D. describe the characteristics of the grass water spider