| 1. 难度：中等 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wherever in the world you’re reading this right now, you will be aware of just how mixed modern society has become in terms of race. Within the UK, mixed-raced children are the largest 1 ethnic minority. Bringing home a partner of a different 2 to yourself is no longer viewed as, “strange” or “different” in a lot of families. When Joseph brought home Hari, the 3 that she was of Indian parentage was never even talked about — she made him happy. They made each other happy. And that was all that 4 . But the reason why they were together for 11 years before they got 5 is that Hari was afraid of telling her 6 about the person that she’d fallen in love with. She was afraid of the consequences it would 7 for her younger sisters. Would they be packed off to India? Would they end up in arranged 8 they may not want? At 22 years old, when she first fell in love with him — it was a large burden to 9 . But she loved him, and 10 they moved in together… and then bought a house by the Brighton coast, where they have 11 for almost 8 years. All the while her parents didn’t know. Her sisters did, and they too loved Joseph — they 12 him as the brother they’d never had. But after nine years together, she finally had to tell her father (her mother 13 away a few years ago). We were on tenderhooks（惶恐不安）the weekend she went up North to tell him. It was emotional and as a family we were worried. Hari had been 14 of our family for so long, we felt for her. We knew how 15 it would be. She loved her father, but knew this would hurt him, who was a very traditional Sikh man.
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| 2. 难度：中等 | |
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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，在空格处填人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标号为16 ~ 25的相应位置上。 As a child, I was always out exploring my local area, whether swimming at the beaches or hiking through the bush. Australia’s outdoor lifestyle had me hooked on adventure and nature. I always wanted to explore 16 else was out there. Going on family holidays to many of the East Coast beach towns was always 17 fun adventure into the 18 (know). I came to love the beauty of world, and began to recognize just 19 much the planet had to offer, even 20 my experience of it was only in my backyard. Also, Australia is very remote and detached from the rest of the world. 21 (Europe) often drive into other countries for 22 summer vacations. We never had that luxury and international travel seemed all the more exotic and 23 (adventure) to me. Very often, we 24 (expose) to other countries through TV and movies, 25 I wanted to experience it for myself.
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| 3. 难度：中等 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The idea about the phoenix goes back to Ancient Egypt, where we find the phoenix described as a handsome, eagle-like bird, with part-golden, part-red plumage, that spent most of its life in the Arabian deserts. It was rarely seen and according to one version of the story, only appeared in Egypt once every five hundred years, when it flew to Heliopolis, “city of the sun”, and deliberately burnt itself to ashes by settling on the altar (祭坛) flame there! However, it seems it did not really die because from those same ashes a young, fully formed phoenix was born and flew away, apparently back to Arabia. It is pretty obvious that no one has ever seen or will see a living phoenix. The interesting thing is that we can find certain clues which may explain one aspect of the Egyptians’ idea. It may sound unbelievable, but some birds are apparently quite charmed by flames and small fires, especially members of the crow family. One zoologist actually proved this by setting fire to some straw near to a tame（驯养的）rook, a large black bird like a crow. Far from becoming nervous and backing away, the bird deliberately stood over the flames, with raised and vibrating wings. It didn’t get burnt, but the image it presented by its strange behavior was almost exactly like that shown in illustrations of the mythical phoenix! Why birds should occasionally behave in this strange way is not clear. One idea is that they carefully use the heat of the flames to relieve the annoyance caused by their feather mites (虱) which all birds have. Whatever the reason, it is quite possible that the Ancient Egyptians saw birds behaving in this way, from time to time, and used it as the basis of their phoenix myth, adding fanciful details which closely linked it to their worship of the sun and their belief in resurrection. Nowadays, the phoenix is much less important to us than it was to the Egyptians. But the logo of modern fire insurance companies, which employ the phoenix as one of their symbols, refers that in one sense the idea of it remains. 1. According to the passage, the phoenix _________ .
2. The reason why birds stand above flames is probably that _________ .
3.Which of the following statements is NOT correct?
4.Which of the following is closest to the underlined word “resurrection” in the 3rd paragraph?
5.What does the phoenix probably mean in the logo of a fire insurance company?
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| 4. 难度：中等 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Making an apology is not the same as making amends. Sometimes we apologize just because it’s the easiest thing to do. What’s actually important is to identify where we go wrong, take full responsibility for our mistakes and , if possible, try to make up for them. A recent case involving Hewlett-Packed, the US computer giant, shows the importance of presenting a sincere apology. The Chinese consumers who had bought notebook computers of certain models, which have been put on Chinese market since 2007, suffered a massive flash screen failures and overheating problems. Through investigation, Chinese AQSIQ (国家质检总局) identified these HP computers had quality problems and HP admitted this. HP made a proposal that they would extend the warranty (保修) period of such computers, but this could not satisfied the consumers. What they needed was a thorough description of the truth. HP has “sincerely” apologized. But the consumers remain angry, and say that only a product recall — as HP has done in the past — will prove that the apology is sincere. Another apology that fell flat on its face was that of Thierry Henry, the famous French footballer. His deliberate handball in November 2009 created the goal which knocked Ireland out of the 2010 World Cup. The incident caused great anger in the football world, and eventually Henry issued an apology. Two days later, he wrote, “I’m not the referee…but if I hurt someone I’m sorry.” Better late than never, perhaps, but even then he passed the blame onto the referee! Such high-profile cases, which attract a lot of publicity often under the spotlight, but similar incidents occur in our everyday lives. Stress caused by schoolwork and tiredness can sometimes result in outbursts of anger against friends and family. Have you ever lost your temper for minor reasons? After calming down, most people are quick to realize their mistake and apologize. But it’s just as important to identify what caused the error in the first place and take action to ensure it doesn’t happen again. No one should hold a negative attitude to making a sincere apology. Empty words are easy to say, but they are as useless as they sound. A real show of remorse（痛悔;自责）demands hard work and commitment to put error right. 1.What does the author intend to tell us in the case of HP?
2. According to the author, when we do anything wrong we firstly _________.
3.We can infer from the case of Thierry Henry that _________ .
4.Which of the following can best explain the word “commitment” in the last paragraph?
5. What’s the best title of this passage?
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| 5. 难度：中等 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Drawings of human colonies on other planets often picture the entire community under a glass or plastic bubble. The bubble is intended to create an atmosphere with adequate oxygen and other essential elements. But similar bubble-like structures have also been constructed on earth. One of the most famous, and controversial, is a site in the Arizona desert. Biosphere 2, as it is called, was built not far from Tucson in 1984 and is now run by Columbia University. This huge（7,200,000-cubic-foot）glass and steel construction contains several separate ecosystems, including a desert, a rain forest, and a 900,000-gallon “ocean.” The climatic conditions-humidity, temperature, air quality-are regulated by sensors and can be adjusted as needed or desired. For example, a rainstorm can be created to increase the humidity. The adjustable features of Biosphere 2 make it an ideal location to perform experiments to help determine the effects of such climatic changes as global warming. The current conditions at Biosphere 2 are vastly different from those in 1993, when eight people who had moved into the environment with great fanfare two years earlier moved out in failure. Though promising to be self-sufficient（自足的）, these “colonists” had so much trouble regulating the environment that they reportedly had food smuggled into them. Oxygen levels became dangerously low; most plants and animals died. In taking over the unsuccessful site, Columbia hopes to erase its notorious past by focusing on small research projects that gradually answer some of Biosphere 1’s — that is, Earth’s most basic environment questions. 1.This passage primarily deals with _________.
2.Biosphere 2 is now run by _________.
3.The passage suggests that earlier colonists of Biosphere 2 _________.
4.The writer helps you understand what Biosphere 2 is like by _________.
5.In paragraph 3 the word “notorious” means _________.
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| 6. 难度：中等 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route — through the boot (行李箱). Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch at Romney Marsin Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. “I couldn’t force the doors open because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.” Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape. Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.” It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up.” His hands and arms cut and bruised (擦伤), Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. 1. Which of the following objects is the most important to Mr. Johnson?
2.Which statement is true according to the passage?
3.“Finally it gave” (Paragraph 5) means that _________.
4.It may be inferred from the passage that _________.
5.What is the best title for this newspaper article?
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| 7. 难度：中等 | |
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阅读下列应用文及相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。请在答题卡上将对应题号的相应选项字母涂黑 (若选择E，请涂AB; 若选择F，请涂CD。)。 首先，请阅读下列的应用文： A. Chapter One. …you probably have an image in your mind of what the “perfect’ or “ideal” body looks like. Try not to press yourself to look that way. Each person is born with genes that control the shape of his / her body. Everyone is different. It’s important to be comfortable with the body you have. B. Chapter Two.…You use energy for everything you do. That energy comes from the food you eat. Too much food or too little exercise causes your body to store the extra energy in fat cells. But, if you exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet, you’ll feel healthier and stronger not to mention look great. C. Chapter Three. … Your body runs best on foods high in carbohydrates and low in fat and sugar. Eating a healthy diet will provide your body with everything it needs to run smoothly. Your body breaks down proteins into amino acids(氨基酸), so you don’t need to take in the amino acids separately. D. Chapter Four. …Exercise does more than just burn calories. For instance, regular exercise makes your muscles strong and flexible, and increases the amount of muscle you have. It also makes your heart stronger and lowers your blood pressure; … E. Chapter Five. …Always warm up and stretch for 5-10 minutes before you do strength or endurance exercises. Afterwards, take 10 minutes to cool down. Your heart should beat normally when you stop. Exercising with a group may help you to exercise regularly. F. Chapter Six. …Supplementation of a mixture of essential amino acids will increase protein synthesis (蛋白质综合体). While supplementing with either carbohydrate or amino acids may limit muscle damage and stimulate protein synthesis, there is increasing evidence that the combination can have an addictive effect. 以下是与上述章节相关的读者，请匹配读者和他/她需要了解的相关信息的所在章节。 1.Charity. He always breathes heavily and his heart beats irregularly when he finishes his exercise. He wonders whether there is something wrong with his body or whether he is not suited for physical exercises. 2. Wander. She likes eating meat a lot every day as she thinks that meat can provide people with energy. Besides, she does sports on weekends. However, she is not energetic enough to face the pressure. 3.Helly. She has tried many ways of keeping fit, but she still gets fat because of stress from work. She doesn’t look well. 4.Tammy. He is a Grade One college student majoring in gymnastics. He must write a passage about what a healthy body is. 5.Pandy. He is a coach, working in a gym. He will start a new course next month on how to lose weight. For the first few lessons, he is going to talk about why people have to exercise.
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