第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。 A
At the age of ten I could not figure out what this Elvis Presley guy had that the rest of us boys did not have. I mean, he had a head, two arms and two legs, just like the rest of us. About nine o’clock on Saturday morning I decided to ask Eugene Correthers, one of the older boys, what it was that made this Elvis guy so special. He told me that it was Elvis’ wavy hair and the way he moved his body. About half an hour later all the boys in the orphanage（孤儿院）were called to the main dining-room and told we were all going to downtown Jacksonville, Florida to get a new pair of Buster Brown shoes and a hair cut. That is when I got this big idea, which hit me like a ton of bricks. If the Elvis hair cut was the big secret, then that’s what I was going to get.
All the way to town I told everybody, including the matron（女管家）from the orphanage who was taking us to town, that I was going to look just like Elvis Presley and that I would learn to move around just like he did and that I would be rich and famous one day, just like him.
When I got my new Buster Brown shoes, I could hardly wait for my new hair cut and now that I had my new Buster Brown shoes I would be very happy to go back to the orphanage and practice being like Elvis.
We finally arrived at the big barber shop, where they cut our hair for free because we were orphans（孤儿). I looked at the barber and said, “I want an Elvis hair cut. Can you make my hair like Elvis?” I asked him, with a big smile on my face. “Let’s just see what we can do for you, little man,” he said. I was so happy when he started to cut my hair. Just as he started to cut my hair, the matron signed for him to come over to where she was standing. She whispered something into his ear and then he shook his head, like he was telling her “No”. Then he told me they were not allowed to give us Elvis hair cuts. Then I saw my hair falling onto the floor.
51.In the author’s eyes, Elvis Presley was _________.
A. disgusting B. admirable C. ambitious D. dynamic
52. From the passage, we can know that _________. A. Buster Brown was more appealing than Elvis Presley B. An Elvis hair cut cost the orphans a lot of money
C. The author was fascinated with the stars Buster and Elvis D. The barber was unwilling to give the boy an Elvis hair cut
53. We can learn from the underlined sentence that the boy was _________.
A. excited to have an Elvis hair cut B. worried to think about the secret C. anxious to remove the ton of bricks D. careful to seize the chance
54. How would the boy probably feel when he walked out of the barber shop?
A. Delighted. B. Guilty. C. Self-satisfied. D. Depressed. B
Talking plants might sound like characters in a fairy tale. But recent scientific studies have shown that plants communicate with each other and with other living things in a surprising number of ways. To understand them, scientists say, we just have to learn their language. Farmers are especially interested in what plants have to say.
“Plants are able to communicate with all sorts of organisms (有机体). They can communicate with giant bacteria, with other plants and with insects. They do this chemically,” said Cahill, an Ecology Professor of the University of Alberta in Canada. Plant scientists are just beginning to understand this chemical “ language”. Cahill says studies have shown, for example, that plants can evaluate conditions in their immediate environment and take appropriate actions. Plants have an ability, for example, to signal pain or discomfort caused by anything from temperature extremes to an insect attack. Jack Schultz, a professor of chemical ecology at the University of Missouri, says when a plant senses that it’s being eaten, it cannot walk away from trouble; on the contrary, it will release a chemical vapor that alerts other plants nearby. “Their language is a chemical language, and it involves chemicals that move through the air that are easy to be changeable, and most of all are smells that we are familiar with,” Schultz explained.
“All plants responded to the attack by changing their chemistry to defend themselves,” Schultz recalled. “But we were quite surprised to find that nearby plants also changed their chemistry to defend themselves, even though they were not part of the experiment.”
Studies have also shown that plants under attack release pleasant chemicals. Those chemicals attract friendly insects that attack the pests eating the plant.
In the end, plants’ ability to communicate their needs---and our ability to understand them--- could help farmers reduce the use of poisonous chemicals, cut operating costs and limit damage to the environment.
55. The recent scientific studies have shown that plants can _________.
A. communicate with other living things in a chemical way
B. hardly react to any sudden change in temperature
C. use a very special chemical language which is familiar to us D. respond to the attack by giving off poisonous chemicals 56.When being eaten by an insect, the plant will _________. A. walk away from trouble
B. change its chemistry to kill the insect
C. release a chemical vapor to “ask” other plants for help
D. give off nice chemicals to attract friendly insects killing the pest 57.The underlined word “alert” most probably means “_________”.
A. warn B. protect C. threaten D. allow 58. Which would be the best title for the passage?
A. Communication between Plants B. A Chemical “Language”
C. Plants Can Talk D. How Plants Protect Themselves C
During the fall months at high school guidance counseling programs, juniors run to the stage to participate in an exercise to help them understand that it is not “where you go” that matters. They hold posters with the names and faces of famous people while their peers (同龄人) and parents shout out with confidence the names of elite (精英) colleges they assume the celebrities attended. The “oohs” and “aahs” follow when they learn that Steven Spielberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropped out of college, that Oprah Winfrey is a graduate of Tennessee State and that Ken Burns graduated from Hampshire College. If even a few stressed students and their anxious parents benefit from this information, it is a worthwhile exercise.
Even better is giving the students a task to identify the happy, successful people in their own circle of family, friends, co-workers and neighbors and challenging them to go and ask “if or where they went to college” as a means of broadening the conversation in their search for a life after high school.
The key to success in college and beyond has more to do with what students do with their time during college than where they choose to attend. A long-term study of 6,335 college graduates published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that graduating from a college where entering students have higher SAT scores -- one marker of elite colleges --- didn’t pay off in higher post-graduation income. Researchers found that students who applied to several elite schools but didn’t attend them --- either because of rejection or by their own choice --- are more likely to earn high incomes later than students who actually attended elite schools.
In a summary of the findings, the bureau says that “evidently, students’ motivation, ambition and desire to learn have a much stronger effect on their future success than average academic ability of their classmates.”
The late author Loren Pope, who wrote Looking Beyond the Ivy League and Colleges That Change Lives, noted that the greater the opportunity for engagement and critical, creative and cooperative learning with staff, peers and community, the more likely the chance for future success.
59. The purpose of the guidance counseling programs is to help students _________.
A. apply for suitable colleges B. learn about college life C. choose the most famous colleges D. know about famous graduates
60. Ken Burns’ example shows that the successful people _________.
A. don’t need support from their friends B. have their own circle of family
C. don’t necessarily graduate from a famous college D. graduate from a famous college
61. What contributes most to students’ success in college and after graduation is
_________. A. whether they enter the elite college or not
B. whether they have spared no effort in college or not C. whether they possess a higher SAT scores or not D. whether they have famous schoolmates or not
62. According to Loren Pope, future success depends more on _________.
A. staff, peers and community
B. motivation, ambition and desire to succeed C. average academic ability of the classmates D. creation, cooperation and opportunity D
Competition. It’s a simple word, yet a very complex word that covers many angles when it comes to how gasoline prices are determined. It seems so easy to explain, but don’t let that trick you—it’s incredibly difficult to explain and adequately understand. Say you’re on a Sunday afternoon drive, and notice a gas station near you charging $3.50. Down the road a few miles, that price could easily be 10 or more cents higher or lower. The question is “how” or “why” is that? Think of it this way. Are you more likely to get a better deal on a car if there are two similar car dealers
next to each other? Perhaps, because the dealers are too close. Say there is a third similar car dealer miles away. Is he going to be at the same level of competition and sell his cars for the same price as the two dealers next to each other? Likely not. He may charge more or less. Maybe people don't know there are two other dealers down the road. Maybe the dealer is almost outside of the city and the land value isn't as high, so his taxes aren't as high.
These situations do take place at gas stations. And more factors can impact what a station will charge. Timing can greatly impact what price a station charges as well! Many motorists fail to realize that the price a station pays for gasoline changes daily. If one station gets lucky and buys gas on Monday and the cost goes up Tuesday, the station that bought on Monday doesn’t necessarily have to raise prices like the station that bought on Tuesday. Maybe the station that got caught buying for a higher price on Tuesday will pass that higher cost on by raising its gas price.
Perhaps the difference is what brand the station is---branded stations usually pay a slightly higher cost for their gasoline. In return for paying a higher cost, those stations are guaranteed first supply in case of emergency situations. Independent stations don’t pay as much, but aren’t guaranteed supply.
While competition sounds easy to understand, there are always a large number of factors that could influence what one station charges. Keep in mind how many variables (变数) there are next time you fill up.
63.What could be the best title for the passage? A. How Competition Impacts Gas Prices B. Gas Prices Go Up or Down
C. Competition---a Very Complex Word
D. We Can’t Stress Enough the Need for Competition 64. The example of car dealers is used to show _________. A. car prices are determined by car dealers B. location is an important factor in pricing C. the quality of service matters most
D. dealing strategy should be flexible
65. The gas prices of a station always change partly because _________. A. a gas station always wants to charge more B. the gasoline is in great demand
C. the cost of the gas the station buys varies daily D. gas is in greater need on Monday
66. According to the passage, branded stations _________. A. spend less money on their gasoline