During the years after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, structural engineers have been trying hard to solve a question that would otherwise have been completely unthinkable: Can building be designed to stand catastrophic blasts (攻擊；爆破) by terrorists?
Soon after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural engineers from the University at Buffalo and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) traveled to ground zero as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. They spent two days beginning the task of formulating (構(gòu)思) ideas about how to design such structures and to search for clues on how to do so in buildings that were damaged, but still are standing.
“Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and look at the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center, those buildings that are still standing, but that sustained damage,” said Mr. Bruneau, Ph.D. “Our immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those buildings remain standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake engineering technologies can be married to existing technologies to achieve enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks,” he added.
Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate the monumental damage to the World Trade Center towers and buildings nearby. One building a block away from the towers remains standing, but was badly damaged. “This building is many meters away from the World Trade Center and yet we see a column (柱子) there that used to be part of that building,” explained A. Whittaker, Ph.D. “The column became a missile that shot across the road, through the window and through the floor.”
The visit to the area also brought some surprises, according to the engineers. For example, the floor framing (框架) system in one of the buildings was quite strong , allowing floors that were pierced by tons of falling debris (殘礫) to survive. “Good framing systems may provide a simple, but reliable strategy for blast resistance,” he added. Other strategies may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the event that a load-bearing column fails. “We also need a better understanding of the mechanism of collapse,” said A. Whittaker. “We need to find out what causes a building to collapse and how you can predict it.”
A. Reinhorn, Ph.D. noted that “earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of buildings in the past. Solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to blast engineering and terrorist-resistant design. Part of our mission now is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones where none exist at present.”
小題1:The question raised in the first paragraph is one _____ .
A．that was asked by structural engineers a month ago
B．that is too difficult for structural engineers a month ago
C．that was never thought of before the terrorist attack
D．that terrorists are eager to find a solution to
小題2:The column mentioned by Dr. Whittaker _____ .
A．was part of the building close to the World Trade Center
B．was part of the World Trade Center
C．was shot through the window and the floor of the World Trade Center
D．damaged many buildings near the World Trade Center
小題3:A surprising discovery made by the investigators during their visit to ground zero is that _____.
A．floors in the faraway buildings remained undamaged
B．some floor framing systems demonstrate resistance to explosion
C．complex floor framing systems are more blast resistant
D．floors in one of the buildings were pierced by tons of debris
小題4: What Dr. Reinhorn said in the last paragraph may imply all the following EXCEPT that _____.
A．blast engineers should develop new solutions for terror-resistant design
B．blast engineering can borrow technologies developed for terror-resistant design
C．solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to terrorist-resistant design
D．blast engineering emerges as a totally new branch of science

小題1:C
小題1:A
小題1:B
小題1:D
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

A student is learning to speak British English. He wonders(想知道): Can I communicate(交際) with Americans? Can they understand me? Learners of English often ask: What are the differences between British and American English? How important are these differences?
Certainly, there are some differences between British and American English. There are a few differences in grammar. For example, speakers of British English say “in hospital” and “Have you a pen?” Americans say “in the hospital” and “Do you have a pen?”.Pronunciation is sometimes different. Americans usually sound theirs in words like “bird” and “hurt”. Speakers of British English do not sound theirs in these words. There are differences between British and American English in spelling and vocabulary. For example, “colour” and “honour” are British, “color” and “honor” are American.
These differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary are not important, however. For the most part, British and American English are the same language.
小題1:According to this passage, a student who is learning to speak American English might be afraid that __________.
A．British people cannot understand him
B．American people cannot understand him
C．the grammar is too hard for him
D．the spelling is too hard for him
小題2:American English and British English are different in __________.
A．spellingB．pronunciationC．grammarD．a(chǎn)ll of the above
小題3:What is NOT mentioned(提及) in the passage?
A．Whether there are differences between British English and American English.
B．Whether British English and American English are one language or two.
C．How the differences between British English and American English came about.
D．How important the differences are.
小題4:Most ______say “Do you have a watch?”
A．British peopleB．AmericansC．childrenD．teachers
小題5:According to this passage, British people and Americans have ______ difficulty in understanding each other.
A．littleB．muchC．someD．great

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Just as the world’s most respected scientific bodies have confirmed that the world is getting hotter, they have also stated that there is strong evidence that humans are driving the warming． Countless recent reports from the world’s leading scientific bodies have said the same thing． For example, a 2010 summary of climate science by the Royal Society stated that: “There is strong evidence that the warming of the Earth over the last half-century has been caused largely by human activity．”
The idea that humans could change the planet’s climate may be counter-intuitive（與直覺不符的）, but the basic science is well understood． Each year, human activity causes billions of tons of greenhouse gases to be released（釋放）into the atmosphere． As scientists have known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible blanket．
Of course, the planet’s climate has always been changing thanks to “natural” factors（因素） such as changes in solar or volcanic（火山的）activity, or cycles relating the Earth’s going around the sun． According to the scientific literature, however, the warming recorded to date matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build-up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – not the warming we would expect from other possible causes．
Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming observed so far, that would beg a difficult question． As Robert Henson puts it in The Rough Guide to Climate Change: “If some newly discovered factor can account for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide（二氧化碳）and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”
The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths – one with human influence and one without． That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty．
小題1:In most scientists’ opinion, the global warming is mainly caused by      ．
A．solar activityB．volcanic activity
C．the Earth’s going around the sunD．human activity
小題2:The text is developed by      ．
A．giving typical examplesB．following the order of space
C．a(chǎn)nalysing a theory and arguing itD．comparing and finding differences
小題3:The underline word “identical” means      ．
A．totally differentB．exactly the same
C．extremely importantD．relatively independent

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Nuclear radiation （核輻射）has a certain mystery, partly because it cannot be detected （探測(cè)）by human senses. It can’t be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can’t detect them or sense them without a radio receiver. Similarly, we can’t sense radioactivity without a radiation detector. But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things.
At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being at once by killing plenty of cells in important organs(器官). Even the lowest levels can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be serious. This is the case when only a few cells are hit, and when they are killed at once. Your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells are only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in an unusual way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years.
This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the knowledge of the person at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated(放射治療) and feel fine, then die of cancer five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. A child can be born weak or easy to get serious illness as a result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents.
小題1:According to the passage, the danger of nuclear power lies in       .
A．nuclear mysteryB．radiation detection
C．radiation levelD．nuclear radiation
小題2:Radiation can lead to serious trouble even at the lowest level        .   
A．when it kills a few cells
B．because the killed cells can’t be replaced
C．if it damages a few cells
D．unless the damaged cells can reproduce themselves
小題3:What does the author want to tell us?
A．Radiation can hurt us.B．Radiation is a subject scientists work on.
C．Radiation is a mystery.D．Radiation is the source of cancer.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

People say teenagers are no good．They make too much noise in shopping malls; they drive recklessly up and down America’s main streets; they carry chips on their shoulders as big as the Sears Tower．And at least some of the time those things are true．But we shouldn’t forget that there are hard moments in the life of a teenager too．
I watched such a moment not long ago at a woman’s funeral（葬禮）．I didn’t expect the event to affect me．Through much of the ceremony, in fact, I remained unmoved．
Then her teenage grandson stepped forward．With his very first deep breath, every heart in that church was achingly reminded of something we had all forgotten．Softly he began: “I want to share a few values that Nana taught me．She never failed to see light in any situation．When our family dog would literally attact her, what would Nana say? ‘Oh, what beautiful markings that dog has．’ That was Nana．
“She was a strong woman who often lived in the shadow of my grandpa, who was a successful businessman in this city．But she was the one behind the scenes who provided the strength and support for Grandpa’s career,” he said, with a voice now trembling．“That was Nana’s way．”
Through a muffled sob, he continued．“Whenever she did anything worth recognition, you’d have to hear about it from a different source, because she was never one to brag．”
Finally, in a voice breaking free of sorrow, he looked up and said, “Nana taught me courage．She put up an incredible fight to the end, when she died peacefully, which is how she lived her life．That was Nana’s way, and I hope I can carry on in the same manner．”
There are no hearts as sensitive as those of teenagers, because everything is happening to them for the first time．The trouble with teenagers is that they haven’t learned to be controlled．
When that boy rose to speak about the woman who surely had been his truest ally and est friend, his honest voice dragged each of us out into the open where we could no longer hide in the calm ritual．He exposed us to the truth about this very real woman who believed in a boy who probably tried the patience of many adults．He reminded us that his grandmother was more than another dot on the chart of life and death．
All over again we felt those powerful losses crisscrossing our own hearts, and we knew that when you say good-bye to a beloved grandparent, you say good-bye to something happy, something young in yourself．And that something never really returns, and the pain never really goes away．
小題1:From the boy’s speech, we know his grandmother ____________．
A．was a weak woman living in the shadow of his grandpa
B．liked dogs very much even if they often attacked her
C．could see everything around her though she was old
D．had great influence over the boy when she was alive
小題2:According to the first paragraph, _____________．
A．young people should keep quiet before the public
B．people don’t think highly of the teenagers
C．people shouldn’t forget the young people
D．young people are living a hard life
小題3:The writer wanted to tell the readers ____________．
A．the young people were too weak to face the fact
B．the young people had to learn to control themselves
C．the adults could learn something valuable from the young
D．the adults should teach the young how to deal with the death
小題4:We can infer from the passage that the boy ___________．
A．was filled with sadness and gave up finishing his talk
B．was always very good at expressing himself
C．practiced a lot in order to give a moving speech
D．had great difficulty in accepting the loss of Nana

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Googlefight is a simple service available on the Internet which offers you the chance to compare two different items and see how many hits they get on the Google search engine. The seemingly simple device has proved invaluable to users, especially to help win arguments.
For example, imagine that you and your friends are arguing about who are the most popular music or movie stars, you can decide the argument by writing the names in the Googlefight boxes. Let’s say that you are arguing about Jackie Chan and Jet Li. You will quickly discover that Jet Li is mentioned 16 million times on Google pages, whereas Jackie Chan is mentioned a mere 12 million times! In this unscientific way, you can claim victory for one Star over another.
But teachers have come up with ways of using Googlefight which are much more useful from an academic point of view, particularly when it comes to studying languages. You can, for example, find out the frequency of two words with the same meaning, and deduce (推斷) from the answers which one is more common. For example, let’s take the words “buy” and “purchase”, which mean the same thing (although “buy” is only a verb and “purchase” is both a verb and a noun). It is immediately clear from Googlefight that “buy” is much more commonly used, with a massive three and a half billion hits, compared to only one billion occurrences for the more formal word.
But the real value of Googlefight to the language learner is in determining which is the more common of two phrases. For example, “raining cats and dogs” is an old-fashioned English expression about the weather. Do English speakers still use it? Or are they more likely to say “pouring down”? Googlefight suggests the latter. “Pouring down” has 898,000 Google hits, whereas “raining cats and dogs” only has 326,000.
With phrases, it’s important to remember that you need to use quote marks to make the search more accurate. For example, if you type in the similar phrases “l(fā)ook after” and “take care of “ without quote marks, the second phrase seems to be more common, but with quote marks, the result is reversed.
小題1:What is Googlefight?
A．A fight between two people on Google.
B．A way to make sure you win an argument.
C．A website showing how many hits two different things have.
D．A list of all the websites on Google.
小題2:Language teachers find it useful because _______.
A．there are a lot of words on Googlefight
B．it can tell them which of the two words with the same meaning appears more often
C．some words mean the same thing
D．common words have a billion hits
小題3:What must you remember to do if you are checking phrases by Googlefight?
A．Make sure they mean be same thing.
B．Make sure they are different.
C．Remember to put quote marks round the phrase.
D．Don’t put quote marks round the phrase.
小題4:Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?
A．Googlefight is effective to determine the more common of two phrases.
B．Googlefight is a scientific way to decide an argument.
C．Quote marks can make the search more accurate.
D．Googlefight is invaluable to help win arguments.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

It’s hard to track the blue whale, which has almost been killed off by commercial whaling. Attaching radio devices to it is difficult and visual sightings are too unreliable to give real insight into its behavior.
So biologists were delighted early this year when, with the help of the US Navy, they are able to track a particular blue whale for 43 days recording its sounds. This was possible because of the Navy’s former top secret system of underwater listening devices across the oceans.
Tracking whales is but one example of an exciting new world just opening to civilian scientists after the cold war as the Navy starts to share and partly uncover its global network of underwater listening system built over the decades to track the ships of potential enemies.
Earth scientists announced at a news conference recently that they had used the system for closely observing a deep-sea volcanic eruption for the first time and that they planned similar studies. Other scientists have proposed to use the network for tracking ocean currents and measuring changes in the ocean and global temperatures. Different layers of ocean water can act as channels for sounds focusing them in the same way a stethoscope(聽診器) does when it carries faint noises from a patient’s chest to a doctor’s ear. This focusing is the main reason that even relatively weak sounds in the ocean, especially low-frequency ones, can often travel thousands of miles.
小題1:The underwater listening system was originally designed _________________.
A．to trace and locate enemy ships
B．to observe deep sea volcanic eruptions
C．to study the movement of ocean currents
D．to replace the global radio communications network
小題2:The deep-sea listening system makes use of __________________.
A．the ability of sound to travel at high speed
B．the top-level technology of focusing sounds under water
C．the unique characteristic of layers of ocean water in carrying sound
D．low-frequency sounds traveling across different layers of water
小題3:What can we infer from the passage?
A．New radio devices are developed for tracking the blue whales.
B．Blue whales are no longer endangered with the new system.
C．Opinions differ on the use of military technology.
D．Military technology has great potential in civilian use.
小題4:What is the passage chiefly about?
A．An effort to protect an endangered marine species.
B．The civilian use of a military detection system.
C．The exposure of a US Navy top-secret weapon.
D．A new way to look into the behavior of blue whales.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Psychologists tell us that there are four basic stages that human beings pass through when they enter and live in a new culture．This process begins with the “honeymoon stage”．This is the period of time when we first arrive in which everything about the new culture is strange and exciting．We may be suffering from “jet lag” but we are thrilled to be in the new environment, seeing new sights, hearing new sounds and language, eating new kinds of food．This stage can last for quite a long time because we feel we are involved in some kind of great adventure．
Unfortunately, the second stage can be more difficult．After we have settled down into our new life, we can become very tired and begin to miss our homeland and our family, friends, pets．All the little problems in life seem to be much bigger and more disturbing when you face them in a foreign culture．This period of cultural adjustment can be very difficult and lead to rejecting or pulling away from the new culture．
The third stage is called the “adjustment stage”．This is when you begin to realize that things are not so bad in the host culture．Your sense of humour usually becomes stronger and you realize that you are becoming stronger by learning to take care of yourself in the new place．Things are still difficult, but you are now a survivor!
The fourth stage can be called “at ease at last”．Now you feel quite comfortable in your new surroundings．You can cope（deal） with most problems that occur．You may still have problems with the language, but you know you are strong enough to deal with them．
小題1:This passage mainly talks about ________．
A．culture and foreign language learningB．a(chǎn)dventures in a foreign land
C．getting used to a new cultureD．the interaction of different cultures
小題2:Which of the following best describes the first stage?
A．Lonely and depressedB．Bored and homesick
C．Happy and excitedD．Angry and frustrated
小題3:According to the passage, people are most likely to return to their own culture at the ________stage．
A．1stB．2ndC．third D．fourth
小題4:It can be concluded from the passage that ________．
A．people feel better in their own culture
B．it is not easy to adapt to a new culture
C．culture shock doesn’t occur at the beginning
D．it is human nature to long for adventures

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

There are two types of twins; identical and non-identical twins. Identical twins are formed from a single egg in mother’s body which divides to from two separate babies. Identical twins look the same, and are often dressed by their parents in clothes of the same colors. It is often difficult to tell identical twins from each other, even when they are standing side by side. Non-identical twins come into being when the mother produces two separated eggs a the same time, both of which grow to form babies. In this case the twins look like normal brothers and sisters and are easy to tell one from the other.
　　In the 1970s and 1980s a scientist did some research into twins. He invited many pairs of identical twins to university and asked them to take part in a week of tests. He was particularly interested in adopted (收養(yǎng)) twins who had been separated at birth. He would give the twins different kinds of tests to study their speed of thinking, their speech, their memory, the ways they saw and heard different things, and so on. Time and time again he found separated twins who preferred clothes of the same color, used the same kind of shaving soap, wore the same shaped square glasses and the same colored socks.
　　There is a third type of twins, but it is a very unusual one. Twins which are joined together at birth are known in western countries as Siamese twins.
小題1:It is difficult to tell identical twins apart because _______.
A．they are dressed in the same clothesB．they are dressed in the same color
C．they are very alikeD．they are standing side by side
小題2:If the twins are easy to tell from each other, they are ______.
A．very probably non-identical twinsB．surely identical twins
C．surely identical twinsD．a(chǎn)lways a brother and a sister
小題3:Which of the following is NOT true according to this passage?
A．In the 1970s and 1980s a scientist did some research into the two main types of twins.
B．In the week of tests, he tested their speed of thinking, their speech, their memory and some other things.
C．There were twins who had been separated from each other as soon as they were born.
D．Very often, separated twins were found to choose things of the same kind, the same shape and the same color.
小題4:This passage mainly tells us _______.
A．the main types of twinsB．what has been found out about twins
C．how twins are formedD．how a scientist studied twins

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