to a room on the first floor where she met her future husband for the very first time.
Carla Germaine and Greg Cordell were the winners of a radio station’s competition. The aim of the competition was to find two strangers prepared to many without having met each other. Miss Germaine, 23, is a model. Mr. Cordell, 27, is a TV salesman. They were among the two hundred people who entered for a peculiar“experiment” organized by BMRB radio in Birmingham, England. Greg and Carla were among eight finalists who were interviewed live on radio. They took a lie detector(测谎仪) test and the station also spoke to their friends and family about their personalities. The competition judges included an astrologer(占星家) who declared that they were suited.
The couple celebrated their wedding with a wedding breakfast and a party for 100 guests in the evening, but not everyone shared their joy. Miss Germaine’s mother looked anxious throughout the wedding and Mr. Cordell’s parents are reported to be less than delighted.
Organizations, including the marriage guidance service Relate, have criticized the marriage. As one person put it, “We have enough problems getting young people to take marriage seriously without this. Marriage should always be about love.”
The couple are now on a Caribbean honeymoon followed by journalists. Their other prizes include a year’s free use of a wonderful apartment in the centre of Birmingham, and a car. But will it last?
2.(★★★★★)Which of the following is the best title of the passage? A.Two Strangers and a Wedding B.A Wedding Based on Love C.A Short-Lived Marriage D.A Well-Matched Couple
C
Since 1989, Dave Thomas, who died at age 69, was one of the most recognizable faces on TV. He appeared in more than 800 commercials (商业广告) for the hamburger chain named for his daughter. “As long as it works,” he said in 1991, “I’ll continue to do those commercials.”
Even though he was successful, Thomas remained troubled by his childhood. “He still won’t let anyone see his feet, which are out of shape because he never had proper-fitting shoes.” Wendy said in 1993. Born to a single mother, he was adopted (收养) as a baby by Rex and Auleva Thomas of Kalamazoo in Michigan. After Auleva died when he was 5, Thomas spent years on the road as Rex traveled around seeking construction work. “He fed me,” Thomas said,“and if I got out of line, he’d beat me.”
Moving out on his own at 15, Thomas worked, first as a waiter, in many restaurants. But he had something much better in mind, “I thought if I owned a restaurant,” he said,“I could eat for free.” A 1956 meeting with Harland Sanders led Thomas to a career as the manager of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant that made him a millionaire in 1968.
In 1969, after breaking with Sanders, Thomas started the first Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, in Columbus, Ohio, which set itself apart by serving made-to-order burgers. With 6 000 restaurants worldwide, the chain now makes ＄6 billion a year in sales.
Although troubled by his own experience with adoption, Thomas, married since 1954 to Lorraine, 66, and with four grown kids besides Wendy, felt it could offer a future for other children. He started the Dave Thomas Foundation (基金会) for Adoption in 1992.In 1993, Thomas, who had left school at 15, graduated from Coconut Greek High School in Florida. He even took Lorraine to the graduation dance party. The kids voted him Most Likely to Succeed.
“The Dave you saw on TV was the real Dave,”says friend Pat Williams “He wasn’t a great
actor or a great speaker. He was just Joe Everybody.”
3.(★★★★★)What is the article mainly about? A.The life of Dave Thomas. B.The dream of Dave Thomas. C.The schooling of Dave Thomas.
D.The growth of Dave Thomas’ business.
D
Tim Berners-Lee is the man who wrote the software programme that led to the foundation of the World Wide Web. Britain played an important part in developing the first generation of computers. The parents of Tim Berners-Lee both worked on one of the earliest commercial computers and talked about their work at home. As a child he would build models of computers from packaging materials. After graduating from Oxford University he went on to the real thing. In the 1980s scientists were already communicating using a primitive version(原始版本） of e-mail. While working at a laboratory in Switzerland, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a programme, which let him store these messages. This gave him another idea:write a programme that will let academics(学术界人士） from across the world share information on a single place. In 1990 he wrote the HTTP(服务程序所用的协议） and HTML(超文本链接标示语言） programmes which formed the basis of the World Wide Web.
The next year his programmes were placed on to the Internet. Everyone was welcome to use them and improve them if they could. Programmers used his codes to work with different operating systems. New things like web browers and search engines were developed. Between 1991 and 1994 the number of web pages rose from 10 to 100 000.
In 1994 Tim Berners-Lee formed the newly formed World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C. More than 200 leading companies and laboratories are represented by W3C. Together they make sure that everyone can share equally on the web. “The web can help people to understand the way that others live and love. It helps us understand the humanity of people,” he says.
4.(★★★★★)The main idea of this passage is ________. A.when the Internet came into being B.how Tim Berbers-Lee formed W3C C.why computers develop so rapidly D.how the World Wide Web started
E
Reducing the use of cars during rush traffic hours will make the environment more livable.Unfortunately,our present living and working environments encourage the use of cars.But,the car is taking us down the road in lower-quality air.The exhaust(废气) from cars:
—damaging the earth’s protective ozone layer and helping to cause the global warming; —causes as much as 50% of the smog-producing compounds and chemical rain in our atmosphere;
—causes 60% of the carbon monoxide in our atmosphere.
When you consider that the average person breathes in 9 000 quarts of air a day,you realize how important clean air is to human being.
The government has spent billions of dollars to control car pollution.Yet,some big cities are still in violation(侵害) of public health standards that protect people from breathing poisonous air.The health care costs related to unclean air are huge.
The traditional way of cleaning up what comes out of tailpipes has not done the job of getting rid of automobile emissions(散发物).Yet today’s cars produces far less pollution than models
from the 1960’s.But there are now almost 51 million more cars on the road than there were in 1960,and drivers are traveling many more miles.As a result,cars are still the single largest source of city pollution today.
If we are going to achieve clean air,we need to discourage car use by individuals,especially during rush driving hours.
At the same time we reduce car use,we must also improve our public transportation system.If going to and from work by public transportation was convenient and cheap,people would use the system instead of using cars to drive to work.
Yes,it will cost money to improve our public transportation system.But we now spend billions each year in controlling car emissions without much success.Giving some of that money to public transportation would be a small price to pay for cleanest air.
Unless we do something to reduce car use and get people to use public transportation,our love affair with the car will be the death of our environment. 5.(★★★★★)What is the main idea of the passage? A.Car use needs to be discouraged.
B.Clean air is only possible if we reduce car use during rush hours.
C.Car use is causing problems with the ozone layer creating poisonous gases.
D.The government spends billions of dollars controlling the pollution coming from cars.
F
After 78 years in the UK,the Dutch clothing retailer (零售商) has closed shop for the last time.But C & A is not alone.In the past week the best known names on British high streets-Marks & Spencer,Boots and littlewoods—have announced some of their worst ever trading figures.
The downturn is not a case of belt tightening.Although there are fears of a recession(衰退),UK consumer (消费者) spending has set new records in the past year.Experts say the sudden fall is the result of a revolution that is changing almost every side of British lives.
Mr.and Mrs.UK Average are throwing out the everyday and trading up to the finer things in life.Consumers are declaring an end to all things ordinary.The good taste revolution has swept the country with remarkable speed.Sales of once popular fashions (时髦) are dropping quickly.Just three years ago Marks & Spencer was the UK’s favorite.People now consider the fashions “ordinary”.
Yet just 100 yards (91 metres) from the empty aisles (通道) in London’s Oxford Street,the story is different.Burberry enjoyed a 35 per cent increase in sales income in the last three months of last year.Gucci saw its sales rise 25 per cent.Armani reported 20 per cent growth.Demand for the logo-print(商标) at Louis Vuitton cannot be satisfied immediately.And growth is not only limited to the wealthy Southeast.
Experts say Britain has moved from a “good enough” culture to “good taste”culture.Almost everywhere you look—from clothes,to food and drink,to cars,to home furnishings,to holidays—Britons are buying into a life less ordinary.
Rising wealth is driving the revolution.New research shows that the average UK household（family） is 40 per cent better off than in 1986.“In the past only those with money and time on their hands were able to devote energy to the search for tasteful living,”says Martin Harward,a director at the Henley Center.“But as incomes rise and free time increases,the privileged(wealthy) many are living higher.More middle-class consumers are developing a sense of their own self-image through what they buy.”
6.(★★★★★)What is the most proper title for the passage? A.Income Increasing in Britain B.Revolution Changing the World C.Britains Going High Fashion D.Sales in Britain Going Down
G
All of us eat every day,but most of us don’t understand nutrition(营养).How much do you know about good nutrition?Are the following statements true or false?
1.People who don’t eat meat can stay healthy.
True.As long as people eat enough milk,eggs and meat alternates(替代物),they can get enough protein(蛋白质).
2.Fresh vegetables cooked at home are always more nutritious than canned vegetables.
False.The difference depends more on how vegetables are prepared than whether they are fresh or canned.Vegetables cooked in too much water can lose a large quantity of vitamins.
3.Food eaten between meals can be just as good for health as food eaten at regular meals. True.Nutritional value depends on what types of food you eat,not when you eat them.Eating an egg or an orange between meals can contribute to a good diet. 4.Taking extra vitamins beyond the recommended daily allowances won’t give you more energy.
True.It’s widely believed that extra vitamins provide more energy.But taking more than the body needs doesn’t make if function better,just as overfilling your gas tank doesn’t make your car run better.
5.Natural vitamins are better supplements(补充) for the diet than synthetic vitamins. False.There is no difference.A vitamin has the same properties(性质) and specific chemical structure whether made in a laboratory or taken from plant or animal parts.
6.Older people need the same amount of vitamins as younger people.
True.Older people need the same quantity of vitamins as younger people although they need fewer calories.Certain illnesses raise the requirements for some vitamins,but that is true for the young as well as the old.
7.Food grown in poor soil is lower in vitamins than food grown in rich soil. False.The vitamins in our foods are made by the plants themselves.They don’t come from the soil.However,the minerals in a plant depend on the minerals in the soil.
If you have answered these questions correctly,you can say you know much about food and nutrition by today’s standards.But remember that nutrition is growing science and that it may be aged as new information is obtained.
7.(★★★★★)The main purpose of the passage is to ________. A.list today’s standards of some food and nutrition B.introduce what should be eaten and what not
C.explain what is helpful to your health and what is not D.test our nutrition IQ by judging the problems listed
H
In a society such as the United States or Canada, which has many national, religious and cultural differences, people highly value individualism—the differences among people. Teachers place a lot of importance on the qualities that make each student special. The educational systems in these countries show these values. Students do not memorize information. Instead, they work
on their own and find answers themselves. There is often discussion in the classroom. At an early age, students learn to form their own ideas and opinions.
In most Asian societies, by contrast, the people have the same language, history and culture. Perhaps for this reason, the educational system in these Asian countries reflects society’s belief in group goals and purposes rather than individualism. Children in China, Japan, and Korea often work together and help one another on assignments(作业).
There are advantages and disadvantages to both of these systems of education. For example, one advantage to the system in Japan is that students there learn much more math and science than American students learn by the end of high school. They also study more hours each day and more days each year than North Americans do. The system is difficult, but it prepares students for a society that values discipline(纪律)and self-control.There is,however, a disadvantage. Memorization is an important learning method in Japanese schools, yet many students say that after an exam, they forget much of the information that they have memorized.
The advantage of the educational system in North America, on the other hand, is that students learn to think for themselves. The system prepares them for a society that values creative ideas. There is, however, a disadvantage. When students graduate from high school, they haven’t memorized as many basic rules and facts as students in other countries have.
8.(★★★★★)In this passage the author mainly discusses ________. A.how Western school systems mirror the value of individualism B.the advantages and disadvantages of the two educational systems C.what Asian schools should do to make students more creative D.the differences in culture, religion, etc. between the East and West
难点24 不可臆断的推理题
此类题目，要求学生在通篇理解文章的基础上，依据文章提供的事实，将各种信息加以分析，从而得出正确的结论，切不可站在自己的立场上凭空臆断。
●难点磁场
1.(★★★★★)In July 1994 Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was struck by 21 pieces of comet(彗星). When the fragments(碎片)landed in the southern part of the giant planet, the explosions were watched by scientists here on earth. But what if our own planet was hit by a comet?
The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the Earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two fragments will probably hit the southern part of the Earth. The news has caused panic.
On 17 July, a fragment four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a huge explosion. About half of the fragment is destroyed. But the major part survives and hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and an enormous wave is created and spreads. The wall of water rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometres an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned. The wave moves into the Indian Ocean and heads towards Asia.
Millions of people are already dead in the southern part of the Earth, but the north won’t escape for long. Tons of broken pieces are thrown into the atmosphere by the explosions. As the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are