IV.閱讀理解（共16小題；每小題2分，滿分32分）
閱讀下列短文，然后從所給四個選項(xiàng)中選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并標(biāo)在試卷的相應(yīng)位置。  
A holiday is any day when people lay aside their ordinary duties and cares. The word comes from Old English. At first, holidays honored some holy(神的) events or persons. People in Great Britain and other countries speak of holidays as Americans speak of vacations.
Every nation has its special holidays. China observes New Year’s Day(January 1), May Day and National Day as legal(法定的) holidays, as it was on Oct. 1, 1949 that People’s Republic of China was founded. The Chinese have long celebrated the Chinese lunar year. In the United States, congress（國會） has declared(宣告) several as legal days such as New Year's Day (January1), Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and so on. Some holidays celebrate special events in the development of a country, such as Greece’s Independence Day, Italy’s Liberation Day and India’s Independence Day.
In the United States, banks and schools usually close on a legal holiday. When such a holiday falls on Sunday, the following Monday is often observed. Schools and organizations often observe days known as traditional holidays, although schools and businesses do not close then. Those holidays include Valentine's Day and Halloween.
1. Which of the following holidays has nothing to do with a country’s development?
A. China’s National Day            B. Valentine’s Day
C. Italy’s Liberation Day            D. America’s Independence Day
2. From the passage we can infer that _________.
A. Chinese will no longer observe the Spring Festival
B. students don’t have to go to school on any holiday
C. Chinese and Americans share at least one holiday      
D. Americans can easily draw money from banks on legal days
3. In the sentence “China observes New Year’s Day(January 1)”, “observes” means_____.
A. praises         B. spends         C. celebrates        D. cares
4. If a legal holiday falls on Sunday, people usually celebrate on_________.
A. Sunday                   B. the following Sunday
C. the following Monday       D. the following Tuesday

At one time, computers were expected largely to remove the need for copies of documents because they could be stored electronically. But for all the texts that are written, stored and sent electronically, a lot of them are still ending up on paper.
It is difficult to measure the quantity of paper used as a result of use of Internet-connected computers, although just about anyone who works in an office can tell you that when e-mail is introduced, the printers start working overtime. “I feel in my bones this revolution is causing more trees to be cut down,” says Ted Smith of the Earth Village Organization.
Perhaps the best sign of how computer and Internet use pushes up demand for paper comes from the high-tech industry itself, which sees printing as one of its most promising new markets. Several Internet companies have been set up to help small businesses print quality documents from a computer. Earlier this week Hewlett-Packard Co. announced a plan to develop new technologies that will enable people to print even more so they can get a hard copy of a business document, a medical record or just a one-line e-mail, even if they are nowhere near a computer. As the company sees it, the more use of the Internet the greater demand for printers.
Does all this mean environmental concerns (環(huán)境問題) have been forgotten? Some activists suggest people have been led to believe that a lot of dangers to the environment have gone away. “I guess people believe that the problem is taken care of, because of recycling (回收利用),”said Kelly Quirke, director of the Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco. Yet Quirke is hopeful that high-tech may also prove helpful. He says printers that print on both sides are growing in popularity. The action group has also found acceptable paper made from materials other than wood, such as agricultural waste.
1．The growing demand for paper in recent years is largely due to        .
A．the rapid development of small businesses        
B．the opening up of new markets   
C．the printing of high quality copies            
D．the increased use of the Internet
2．Environmentalists believe more one possible way of dealing with the paper situation is     .
A．to encourage printing more quality documents     
B．to develop new printers using recycled paper   
C．to find new materials for making paper     
D．to plant more fast-growing paper
3．Hewlett-Packard Co. has decided to develop new technologies because        .
A．people are concerned about the environment  
B．printers in many offices are working overtime  
C．small companies need more hard copies  
D．they see a growing market for printers
4．What would be the best title for the text?
A．Computers and Printers             B．E-mail and the Business World
C．Internet Revolution and Environment  D．Modern Technology and New Markets

If women are mercilessly exploited year after year, they have only themselves to blame because they tremble at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion; they are always taken advantage of by the designers and big stores. Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be put aside because of the change of fashion. Women usually stand in front of a wardrobe full of clothes, announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear.
Changing fashions are nothing more than the international creation of waste. Many women spend vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn. Women , who cannot afford to throw away clothing in this way, waste hours of their time altering the dresses they have. Skirts are lengthened or shortened; neck-lines are lowered or raised, and so on.
No one can claim that fashion industry contributes anything really important to society. Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital thing like warmth, comfort and durability（持久性）. They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact women will put up with any amount of discomfort, as long as they look right. There can hardly be a man who hasn’t at some time in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shaking in a thin dress on a winter day, or deliberately picking her way through deep snow in high-heeled shoes.
When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion, the conclusion to be drawn are obvious. Do the constantly changing fashions of women’s clothes, one wonders, reflect qualities of inconstancy and instability? Men are too clever to let themselves be cheated by fashion designers. Do their unchanging styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability? That is for you to decide.
1. Designers and big stores always make money _______.
A. by mercilessly exploiting women workers in the clothing industry.
B. because they are capable of predicting new fashions.
C. by constantly changing the fashions in women’s clothing
D. because they attach great importance to quality in women’s clothing.
2. To the writer, the fact that women put aside their old-fashioned dresses is seen as ________.
A. a waste of money                      B. a waste of time
C. an expression of taste                   D. an expression of creativity
3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A. New fashions in clothing are created for the commercial exploitation of women.
B. The constant changes in women’s clothing reflect their strength of character.
C. the fashion industry makes an important contribution to society.
D. Fashion designs should not be encouraged since they are only welcomed by women.
4. By saying “the conclusion to be drawn are obvious”, the writer means that________.
A. women’s inconstancy in their choice of clothing is often laughed at.
B. women are better able to put up with discomfort.
C. men are also exploited greatly by fashion designers.
D. men are more reasonable in the matter of fashion.

Mobile phones should be banned from cars altogether, according to Dr Hole, senior lecturer in psychology, Dr Hole has emphasized the worrying combination of mobile phones and cars in his new book, The Psychology of Driving.
Mobile phones, fatigue(疲勞) , eyesight, drugs and age are among the issues considered by Dr Hole as he examines the factors that influence on driving. The book explores the role of each of these elements in increasing the chances of an accident and was inspired by the author's conversations with road safety experts across the country.
He says: “The government should have banned mobile phones in cars altogether. It has sent out the wrong message by forbidding hand-held phones because this gives the impression that hands-free phones are safe. The problem with mobile phones is not vehicular(車輛的) control and only having one hand on the wheel, but rather it is taking away attention from what is happening outside the car.”
Myths(荒誕的說法) about older people making worse drivers and claims(說法) about an improved reaction time among younger people are explored in the book. Questions about how drivers decide what to attend to while driving, the role of a driver's expectations in determining what they see and how they respond to the road are among the areas covered in the book. Satellite navigation systems and new design aimed at transforming cars into a mobile office, are among the modern developments which he says now compete for driver's attention behind the wheel.
Dr Hole says: “We need to be very careful about how we go about handling modern technology in cars, because we are opening a Pandora's Box. When anyone is driving there is a lot of information outside the car and if there is too much going on inside, then there is a danger of overloading the driver.”
1. Dr Hole’s strong belief that mobile phones should be banned from cars lies in __________.
A. the inconvenience of having only one hand on the wheel caused by mobile phones
B. the correct message of getting rid of hand-held phones sent out by the government
C. the increase of chances of accidents
D. the advice given by some road safety experts        
3. Which of the following is not included in his book?
A. Hand-free phones are safer than hand-held phones.
B. What drivers have to attend to while driving.
C. Whether older age and slower reaction is related.
D. Bad eyesight is one of the factors of causing an accident.                   
3. Which of the following is true?
A. Older people are better at preventing accidents.
B. Younger drivers’ reaction time is relatively shorter.
C. It is a myth that some old people can still drive.
D. A driver’s expectations are not covered in the book.
4. What can we know from the underlined sentence?
A. What is going on outside is of equal importance to what inside.
B. Modern developments call for drivers’ attention behind the wheel.
C. Satellite navigation systems require more cars as mobile offices.
D. Modern technology is responsible for the distraction (分心) of one’s attention while driving.

In our life, we face situations where we are either asked to choose between trust and disbelief. Many of us would say we have to choose trust over disbelief. Actually we are given intellectual(智力的) power to choose what we want, and what we choose certainly need not be the one that sounds pleasing. That is, we can choose both trust and disbelief, but we have to know when to choose between these two.
We should all realize that we are living in a world which is unfortunately mixed with people of various types. We have been given the power of judging who we are working with and who we are partnering with. We cannot give an excuse for believing a scheming(詭計(jì)多端的)person, just because he looked or sounded nice, unless we consider ourselves mentally unskillful.
This world was there before us and it does not owe us a single thing. We are asked to take care of ourselves and our belongings. Trust, too, has to be saved for the deserving(值得的) people. When we give trust universally to all, we end up troubled by the undeserving common cheat. People say trust is life. True! But only wisely exercised trust is life.
When we start a conversation with someone, the first things that we usually notice would be their dress, behavior, style and their language. What sometimes we all forget to look at is the person’s intention. Now how to look at a person’s intention is a lesson everybody has to learn for themselves in their own way -- there is no single standard for it. But it is certainly possible to discover the purpose if we seek a little bit more.
Certainly a false offer of friendship or guidance cannot stand undiscovered for long; we are therefore called to exercise disbelief over trust at least momentarily till we find out that we certainly are in agreement with a mutual(相互的)good-willed person.   
The world teaches you lots of lessons and if we are willing, we can learn all that we want.
1. In the first paragraph, the author ________.
A. concentrates on the reason why we make different choices
B. focuses on how to choose between trust and disbelief
C. suggests that trust should be wisely exercised
D. implies that people are forced to make the choice
2. The underlined sentence means __________.
A. trust and disbelief go hand in hand with each other.
B. disbelief is necessary if you aren’t wise
C. trust is established if two people know each other
D. doubt may serve as the precondition for trust
3. We can infer from the passage that _________.
A. people who we are working with are in fact those who we are partnering with
B. the first thing we notice tends to mislead our judgment
C. the mentally healthy people will not judge a person by his looks 
D. the standards of looking at a person’s intention are various
4. Which of the following can serve as the best title for the passage? 
A. Trust or Disbelief?                         B. Trust Is Life.
C. Trust over Disbelief?                    D. When to Choose between Trust and Disbelief?

All things change except barbers, the ways of barbers, and the surroundings of barbers. These never change. What one experiences in a barber’s shop the first time he enters one is what he always experiences in barbers’ shops afterward till the end of his days.
I got shaved this morning as usual. A man approached the door from Jones Street as I approached it from Main--a thing that always happens. I hurried up, but it was of no use; he entered the door one little step ahead of me, and I followed in and saw him take the only empty chair, the one headed by the best barber. It always happens so. I sat down, hoping that I might sit in the chair belonging to the better of the remaining two barbers, for he was a bit ahead. I watched the probabilities with strong interest. When I saw that No. 2 was gaining on No. 1, my interest grew to solicitude (孤單). When No. 1 was gradually losing the race, my solicitude rose to anxiety. When No. 1 caught up again, and both were about to finish and say “Next!” first, my very breath stood still with the suspense. But when I saw that he had lost the race by a single instant, I rose angrily and quitted the shop, to keep from falling into the hands of No. 2; for I have none of that firmness that enables a man to look calmly into the eyes of a waiting barber and tell him he will wait for his fellow-barber’s chair.
I stayed out fifteen minutes, and then went back, hoping for better luck. Unfortunately, all the chairs were occupied now, and four men sat waiting, silent, and looking bored, as men always do who are waiting their turn in a barber’s shop. I sat down and waited.
At last my turn came. A voice said “Next!” and I give in to No. 2, of course. It always happens so. I smiled and said that I was in a hurry, and it affected him as strongly as if he had never heard it.  
He explored my hair with his claws and suggested that it needed trimming(修剪). I said I did not want it trimmed. He explored again and said it was pretty long for the present style. I said I had had it cut only a week before. He stopped for a moment, and then asked “who cut it?” I stared at him from the mirror and replied “You did!” Then a dog-fight attracted his attention, and he ran to the window and stayed and watched it…
1. The author left the barber’s shop mainly because_________.
A. he would like to wait for “No. 1” outside
B. he would rather be served by the best barber
C. he lacked the courage to tell “No. 2” his intention
D. he was angry at the slow speed of “No. 1”
2. What is the change of the author’s attitude from the moment he went into the barber’s to the moment he left it?
A. Disappointed---Anxious---Hopeful---Angry.
B. Disappointed --Hopeful---Anxious---Angry.
C. Hopeful--- Sad --- Anxious ---Angry.     
D. Hopeful--- Anxious --- Angry --- Sad.
3. The author chose “No. 2” in the end, because________.
A. he had no choice                                  B. he was in a hurry
C. “No. 1” avoided him on purpose            D. he is always one step behind others
4. The underlined word “suspense” in the 2nd paragraph probably means ________.
A. loneliness                                             B. possibility
C. anxiety                                                D. hope
5. What is likely to happen next?
A. The author lost his temper.                    B. “No. 2” ran out of his patience.
C. The author was well-served by “No. 2”. D. The author was treated the same way as usual.

The kids at Shute Country Primary School in Devon are surprisingly quiet when it’s time to go home in the afternoon, instead of the usual shouting and running you can hear them asking each other, “ Are the lights all off?”, “Shall we check the taps in case they are dripping （滴水）?”, “How many paper towels did we use today?”
But it’s not unusual here．The kids have declared a war on waste．
“We’ve never made the children do anything,” explains Liz Templar, the school’s head teacher, “they came up with all ideas themselves．They’re doing this because they want to．”
If you take a look around the school you won’t see anything thrown away unnecessarily．Everything is collected and reused, or sent to be recycled．
Shute School started its green_revolution_two years ago．They looked carefully at every party of school life－from the teaching to the cleaning．They looked at the way stationery（文具） was used－especially photocopying, the way cleaning was carried out, and how food was used and wasted!
Even parents were looked at: how many children came in each car? Did they use unleaded petrol? Could they bring more children in fewer cars?
High on the list was the waste of paper．Next came unfriendly cleaning products．Paper towels were replaced with recycled paper．But the hardest thing for the kids was when they found out how much rubbish was created by the chocolate, crisps and other snacks（小吃） eaten at lunch time．Of their own accord（自愿地）, the children gave them up．Now they bring apples and home-made snacks．
The school has its own garden where they grow vegetables and flowers so that they can learn about the environment．They also use this area for their recycling store-large containers to collect aluminum, bottles, plate and fabric（織物）．
Even the school’s play area is made from recycled things．
Since the children started, the school’s heating and lighting bills have fallen obviously and the number of rubbish bags has gone down from seven a week to two or three．
Everywhere in Shute School there are bright posters asking everyone to take their rubbish home, to save energy and paper and to keep the green flag flying．
1．Which of the following best describes the writer’s idea?
A．The pupils at Shute School are fighting against pollution．
B．The pupils at Shute School are learning to save things．
C．The pupils at Shute School have declared a war on waste．
D．The pupils at Shute School have found a way to recycle waste things．
2．We can infer from the text that “green revolution” means _______．
A．beautifying schoolyard    B．a(chǎn)ctivity against waste
C．planting green plants       D．throwing away waste
3．What do the children think creates the most waste?
A．Paper towels． B．Cleaning products．   
C．Snacks．     D．Paper．
4．We learn from the text that the children’s behavior ____________．
A．has brought arguments   
B．has saved the school’s cost
C．was against by their parents   
D．was forced by their head teacher

Do dogs understand us?
Be careful what you say around your dog．It might understand more than you think．
A border collie named Rico recognizes the names of about 200 objects, say researchers in Germany．The dog also appears to be able to learn new words as easily as a 3-year-old child．Its word-learning skills are as good as those of a parrot or chimpanzee．
In one experiment, the researchers took all 200 items that Rico is supposed to know and divided them into 20 groups of 10 objects．Then the owner told the dog to go and fetch one of the items and bring it back．In four tests, Rico got 37 out of 40 commands right．As the dog couldn't see anyone to get clues, the scientists believe Rico must understand the meanings of certain words．
In another experiment, the scientists took one toy that Rico had never seen before and put it in a room with seven toys whose names the dog already knew．The owner then told Rico to fetch the object, using a word the dog had never heard before．
The correct object was chosen in seven out of ten tests, suggesting that the dog had worked
out the answer by process of elimination（排除法）．A month later, Rico remembered half of the new names, which is even more impressive．
Rico is thought to be smarter than the average dog．For one thing, Rico is a border collie, a breed （品種）known for its mental abilities．In addition, the 9-year-old dog has been trained to fetch toys by their names since the age of nine months．
It's hard to know if all dogs understand at least some of the words we say．Even if they do, they can't talk back．Still, it wouldn't hurt to sweet-talk your dog every now and then．You might just get a big, wet kiss in return!
1．From paragraph 2 we know that __________．
A．a(chǎn)nimals are as clever as human beings
B．chimpanzees have very good word-learning skills
C．dogs are smarter than parrots and chimpanzees
D．dogs have similar learning abilities as 3-year-old children
2．Both experiments show that_____________．
A．Rico is smart enough to get all commands right
B．Rico can recognize different things including toys
C．Rico has developed the ability of learning mathematics
D．Rico won't forget the names of objects once recognizing them
3．Which of the following statements is true?
A．Rico has a better memory partly because of its proper early training．
B．The purpose of the experiments is to show the border collie's mental abilities．
C．The border collie is world-famous for recognizing objects．
D．Rico is born to understand its owner's commands．
4．What does the writer want to tell us?
A．To train your dog．                B．To talk to your dog．
C．To be careful with your dog．              D．To be friendly to your dog．

Freshmen, eager to get home for the Chinese New Year, queue up at the railway station for hours．Days later, they squeeze into a crowded train and dream of the home-cooked meals and love they'll enjoy once they arrive home．This, they say, makes all the trouble of getting home worthwhile.
However, many freshmen come to find that home is not exactly how they remembered it．Living away from their parents has exposed them to a new life of freedom – one that within hours of arriving some begin to miss．Household chores（家務(wù)活）and complaining parents are just a few of the things that can ruin students' winter fantasies．“My parents still treat me like I was in senior high,” Song Ying, a 19-year-old freshman at Shandong University, complained．“I get an earful from them every day.”
During her first term away from her Hubei home, Song missed everything – from her parents cooking to the city bus．She cried and ached to sleep in her own bed．So, upon finishing her exams, she fled home, thinking everything would be just as it used to be．But she was wrong．Now, she spends entire days at a friend's home to “avoid all the restrictions”．She logs online to update friends' profile on SNS, skips meals and sleeps in – just like she did on campus.
Things have been even tenser at home for Luo Ruiqi, a 19-year-old freshman at Beijing Jiaotong University．Instead of moving to a friend's house, though, he has decided to challenge his parents' rules for his right to be an adult at home．When they complained about the amount of time he spent in the toilet, Luo said he decided “enough is enough” and lost his temper．He feels guilty about his attitude, but he still argues that he is grown up enough to live by his own rules．“I just want to live my own way of living, wherever I am,” said Luo．
Recent graduates like Wang Kai know what Song and Luo are going through．But Wang, who graduated in 2008 and now works in Beijing, says students should value the time spent with their family and “just try to be nicer.” Wang says he acted the same way when he first returned home from college, but now, living 1,500 km away from his hometown in Hunan, he regrets his behavior．He realizes that his parents meant well．And, looking back, he says that “the way of living that we got used to on campus is not that healthy anyway”.
Parents, meanwhile, are more understanding than you might think．“Living on their own in a strange place can be hard –we've been there before,” said Luo's father．“We want to make sure that they are healthy and happy．Sometimes maybe we just worry too much.” As for the tension that's arisen between father and son, Luo senior laughed and said, “It's not a problem at all – he's my son; we work things out, always.”
1．Having read the passage, we can infer that home is now a(n) ___________for most freshmen.
A．birdcage                     B．paradise
C．temporary station in life               D．open house
2．Why are things even tenser at home for Luo Ruiqi during the Chinese New Year?
A．He has to spend entire days at a friend's home to “avoid all the restrictions”.
B．He has decided to go against his parents for his right to be an adult at home.
C．He feels guilty about his attitude towards his parents.
D．He has wasted much money his parents gave to him.
3．According to the text, there exists a main problem between parents and children that_______.
A．parents want to bring their children under control as before.
B．children look down upon what their parents always do.
C．their way of life is apparently different now.
D．they are always misunderstanding each other.
4．Who the text implies is mainly responsible for the bad parent-child relationship?
A．parents       B．social changes     C．professors        D．freshmen
5．What does the underlined part in the 2nd paragraph probably mean?
A．learn a lot             B．receive much punishment
C．get a scolding           D．have a narrow escape

Divorce is bad for environment
US researchers raised a new theory on Monday: divorce is bad for the environment.
The global trend toward higher divorce rates has created more households with fewer People，
scientists at Michigan State University reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences．
More households means more houses，fuel and water are Heeded for them，the researchers  wrote．“Globally，the number of households is increasing much faster than the number ofpeople，”said co-author “Jack” Liu in a telephone interview. “Even in regions with declining populationn, we see substantial increase in the number of households. Divorce is the main reason for reducingthe number of people in a household,” he said.
The average divorced person’s household is about 40 to 50 percent smaller than the average married person’s household, Liu said. But whether there are three or six people in a house ,the amount of fuel needed to heat them is about the same. In the United States, divorced households used 74 billion kilowatt—hours of electricity and 2.850 trillion liters of water in 2005, half of which could have been saved if households had stayed the same size as when they were married.
In the United States and 11 other countries between 1998 and 2002, if divorced households had combined to have the same average household size as married households, there could have been 7.4 million fewer households.
The number of divorced households in those countries ranged from 40,000 in Costa Rica to
almost 16 million in the United States around 2000. The number of rooms per person in divorced households was 33 percent to 95 percent greater than in married households.
“If you really want to get divorced, maybe you can remarry with somebody else, or live together with somebody else you like”, Liu said.
1. In America when the number of households is_________, the number of people in a house is__________.
A. increasing, decreasing               B. decreasing, increasing
C. increasing, increasing                   D. decreasing, decreasing
2. What does the word “substantial” in the third paragraph mean?
A. Great        B. Little           C. Sudden                D. Timely
3. How much electricity would have been saved without so many people getting divorced in America in 2005?
A. 7.4 million kilowatt-hours                 B. 16 million kilowatt-hours
C. 37 billion kilowatt-hours             D. about 30 billion kilowatt-hours
4. The last paragraph is the writer’s_________for people.
A. advice            B. encouragement         C. demand          D. order