三．閱讀理解（共20小題；每小題2分，滿分40分）
閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。
Japanese couples, too busy for a normal social life, are increasingly turning to actors to play their friends on the most important days of their lives．
Several agencies have sprung up(涌現(xiàn))offering actors to attend weddings or even funerals．The
first guest-for-hire company was established about nine years ago and around 10 now send out dozens of pretend friends to family events．
Agencies such as Hagemashi Tai-which means “I want to cheer you up” -charge around £100 for each “guest”．Other services such as giving a speech in praise of a bride or the groom cost extra．
The appearance of the small fake friends industry has been linked to social and economic changes in Japan．With lifetime employment (終身雇傭制)a thing of the past, couples feel uncomfortable about inviting work colleagues to their wedding．Increasingly busy and put upon, many Japanese surround themselves with only a very small circle of friends．
When they marry, however, they are under pressure to match the number of their new partner’s wedding guests．
Office Agents, the largest provider of pretend friends, makes sure that its employees have done their homework and know all about the bride or groom before the wedding．
Hiroshi Mizutani, the company’s founder, said the fake friends he provides must look happy, be well dressed and look like people with good jobs．
1．Why did fake friends industry come into being in Japan?
A．Because of social and economic changes       B．Because of lifetime employment
C．Because of normal social life                       D．Because of work pressure
2．Pretend friends will be present at the following occasions except ________．
A．weddings                B．funerals               C．work                     D．family gathering
3．The agents make sure that ________．
A．fake friends have done their housework
B．fake friends have good jobs
C．fake friends must look happy and be well dressed
D．fake friends feel uncomfortable
4．What is the best title of this passage?
A．Japanese couples are under pressure to get married
B．The first guest-for-hire company in Japan
C．Japanese couples’ social life
D．Japanese couples rely on fake friends

Today when a man steps onto the moon, or something new and important happens, the world learns about it immediately. What did the newspapers say about that first flight in 1903? Strangely enough, they said hardly anything about it at all. There were only a few reports about it in the papers. These reports said very little. Some of the things they said were not even correct. In 1904 the Rights built a second machine. They called it “Flyer No. Two”. They invited some reporters to a field near Dayton to watch them fly. Unfortunately there was some mechanical trouble with the plane and it did not fly at all that day. The newspapermen went away. They were disappointed and did not come back. The Rights went on with their work. In 1905 they built an even better machine, “Flyer No. Three”. They were able to stay up in the air for half an hour and more in this machine. They were ale to turn and climb in the air. Farmers, travelers on the roads around Dayton often saw them flying. But when these people told newspapermen about it, they refused to believe them.
The Rights offered “Flyer No.Three” to the United States Government. The Government was not interested. They seemed to think the Rights wanted money in order to build an airplane. They did not understand the Rights had already done this, and flown it as well. Experts were still saying that mechanical flight was impossible. At the end of 1905, the two brothers took their plane to pieces. The parts were put into a huge wooden case. It seemed nobody was interested.
1. What does the beginning sentence of the passage suggest?
A. The speed of information spreading today makes it possible to learn the world quickly.
B. People of today are only concerned with space exploration.
C. Reporters of today cover important events in a different way.
D. People in the past didn’t care about the outside world.
2. What can we know about “Flyer No.Three”?
A. The Rights had such a successful flight that it aroused the government’s interest.
B. The Rights were able to fly it for half an hour and even turn and climb in the air.
C. There was something wrong with the craft and it did not fly at all that day.
D. The Rights took the plane to pieces and put it into a wooden case immediately after the flight.
3. When the Rights offered “Flyer No.Three” to the United States Government, the Government_______.
A. decided to build an airport for the brothers
B. showed great interest in the machine
C. didn’t believe in the possibility of the flight
D. asked the brothers to put the machine in a wooden case
4. Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?
A. There were only a few reports about the first successful flight in the papers.
B. Some reporters were invited to watch the second flight experiment.
C. Many people witnessed the successful flight but the newspapermen refused to believe them/
D. Before 1903 no one had ever stepped on the moon.

Rules
Students are asked to submit essays of 500 to 700 words of their own work. Any essay containing material plagiarized(剽竊) from another source will be disqualified.
Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced, with the student’s name, address, and grade level on a separate sheet of paper.
Essays must be turned in by 4:00 p.m. on November 30. They can be brought to Mrs. Elton in Room 104 or to Mr. Markham in the school library.
Essay-Writing Tips
Catch your readers’ interests--- Your opening should immediately pull your readers into your essay. Asking a question or starting with an anecdote, quotation, or surprising statement is a good way to do this.
Create a picture--- Use active words that show your readers what is happening. Instead of telling your readers vaguely that “the room was disordered”, paint a picture using active verbs and lively adjectives.
Have a purpose--- Well-written essays do more than just describe an incident or express a viewpoint, and they also communicate a message.
Check for mistakes--- Read your paper over to check for mistakes. Ask another student to read your paper and make suggestions. Another pair of eyes will often spot a mistake you’ve overlooked.
Format your essay--- Neatly type your essay on white paper. Choose an attractive cover for submission. The computer lab will be open after school from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. each day this month so that students can use the computers.
Prizes
Winning essays will be published in the Centerville Times. Every contestant (選手) will also receive a free pass to enter one school activity or athletic game this year.
First Prize:            $150
Second Prize:         Dictionary and thesaurus
Third Prize:           Pen set and journal
Special thanks to the Centerville Writers’ Association for the prizes to help encourage our aspiring authors. Good luck to all contestants.
1. The first writing tip given is mostly about________.
A. the use of quotations and anecdotes in an essay
B. using active verbs and lively adjectives
C. How a student should begin an essay
D. how to submit your essays
2. The prize section of the poster is included in order to _________.
A. show organizations how to donate prizes
B. inform teachers of the prizes available
C. persuade students to enter the essay contest
D. convince students to buy the local newspapers
3. Thanks are given to the Centerville Writers Association because it has_________.
A. offered to judge the contest       B. prepared the essay-writing tips
C. organized the essay contest        D. donated prizes for the contest
4. What do we know by inference from the passage?
A. The computer lab usually closes at 4:15 p.m. each day.
B. Winning essays will be published in the Centerville Times.
C. Every contestant will benefit from the essay contest.
D. The essay contest is held annually at Centerville High School.

Mail was usually carried west on ships that sailed around the bottom of South America and then north to California．That could take several months.  
So, in eighteen fifty-seven, D.C．Lawmakers in Congress（國會(huì)） in Washington wanted to make it possible to send mail all the way across the United States by land．Congress offered to help any company that would try to deliver mail overland to the West Coast. A man named John Butterfield accepted this offer. He developed plans for a company that would carry the mail—and passengers, too.
Congress gave John Butterfield six hundred thousand dollars to start his company. In return, he had to promise that the mail would travel from Saint Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, in twenty-five days or less.
It was not possible to travel straight through because of the Rocky Mountains and the deep snow that fell in winter. So the stagecoach（馬車） would travel south from Saint Louis to El Paso, Texas, then over to southern California, then north to San Francisco. The distance was about four thousand five hundred kilometers.
Two hundred of these stations were built, each about thirty-two kilometers apart. The workers were to quickly change the horses or mules whenever a stagecoach reached the station. There could be no delay. Each stagecoach was to travel nearly two hundred kilometers a day.
One hundred stagecoaches were built and painted red or dark green. They were the most modern coaches that money could buy. They were designed to hold as many as nine passengers and twelve thousand pieces of mail. The seats inside could be folded down to make beds. Passengers either slept on them or on the bags of mail.
The cost would be one hundred fifty dollars to travel from Saint Louis to San Francisco. If a passenger was not going all the way, the cost was about ten cents a kilometer. The passengers had to buy their own food at the stations. The stagecoach would stop for forty minutes, two times a day.
The company warned passengers about the possible dangers. A poster said: “You will be traveling through Indian country and the safety of your person cannot by granted by anyone but God.”
1．What is the passage mainly about?
A．Different ways of sending mail in the United States.
B．The difficulty in sending mails across the USA by land.
C．The first stagecoaches that carried both passengers and mail.
D．The history of the first stagecoaches carrying mail to the American West.
2．The reason why Lawmakers wanted to send mail by land was that ________.
A．mail was usually carried west on ships  
B．it was safer to travel to send mail by land
C．it would take less time to send mail by land
D．stagecoaches could carry passengers and mail
3．As is described in the passage, the stagecoach ________.
A．could only stop once a day           
B．was modern with seats ,beds and cooking equipment
C．was a closed wagon operated only by skillful drivers.
D．had different horses or mules pulled all the way
4．What can we learn from the passage?
A．John Buttterfield got thousands of dollars for delivering mail in stagecoaches.
B．John Buttterfield kept his promise to deliver mail straight to the West Coast.
C．Passengers might be robbed by Indians when traveling through the West.
D．Passengers needed to pay one hundred dollars for their journey. 

The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet (彗星) is heading towards the Earth . Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the Earth.
On 17 July , a piece four kilometers wide enters the Earth’s atmosphere with a massive explosion . About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the sea bed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards from the hole. The wall of water, a kilometer high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned.
Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes are set off in the Andes Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won’t escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won’t be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.
Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the Earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn’t live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end?
1．What is mainly described in the passage?
A．A historic discovery .    B．An event of imagination
C．A research on space .    D．A scientific adventure.
2．When the first piece hits the South Atlantic, it causes  ________  .
A．a(chǎn)n earthquake   B．damages to cities   C．a(chǎn)n Earth explosion   D．huge waves
3．Why can’t the northern half of the earth escape for long ?
A．Because the land is covered with water
B．Because the light and heat from the sun can not reach the earth .
C．Because people there can not live at the temperature of zero .
D．Because wars break out among countries .
4．By giving the example of dinosaurs , the author tries to prove ________ .
A．a(chǎn)nimals could not live in the cold climate
B．what happened 65 million years ago was an invented story
C．the human beings will die out in 2094
D．the Earth could be hit by other objects in space

Every year when the Italian artist Michelangelo’s (1475－1564) birthday comes around, computer users all over the world are filled with fear and use their computers with care. Some may even choose not to turn on their computers on March 3rd. All this fear and care are just because a deadly computer virus(病毒) is ready to cause damages on that day.
What’s a computer virus then? Why do people get so afraid of it?
A computer virus is, in fact, a little program that is put into other programs and that does something bad. It is called a virus because, like any real-life viruses such as AIDS virus, it reproduces(繁殖) itself. And when these programs are run, the virus is brought to life. It hides itself in your computer system waiting for the right moment to make damages. And at the same time it keeps producing itself by copying itself onto other programs.
The Michelangelo virus waits until the artist’s birthday comes around, and then it will wake up to do very bad things like destroying you files. So next time when you turn on your computer, look out for computer viruses!
1. The Italian artist Michelangelo_______.
A. was born six centuries ago             B. was born on March 3rd, 1475
C. died six centuries ago                D. died on March 3rd, 1564
2. Why are computer users full of fear on March 3rd? Because_________.
A. it is the birthday of a famous Italian artist 　　
B. a kind of computer virus will come on that day
C. a deadly computer virus called “ the Michelangelo virus” will wake up and then cause damages to computers on that day  
D. something will easily go wrong with computers
3. In fact, a computer virus is_______.
A. a program which can help the computer avoid something dangerous.
B. a kind of real-life virus
C. a kind of virus like AIDS virus    
D. also a kind of program which is placed into other programs and which makes damages
4. In fact, a computer virus is ready to cause damages_________.
A. any day     B. only on March 3rd
C. on Fridays   D. only on some famous artists’ holidays

Across the United States, there are several places where two independent towns grew together to become one city ---- but kept both their names.
Winston-Salem is one of them. It’s a mid-sized city in what’s called the plateau（high land）, between the Atlantic Coast and the inland mountains in the state of North Carolina. The Winston part is a relatively new place, founded early this century. It’s home to the nation’s biggest open-air tobacco market.?
The giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s headquarters is in Winston-Salem, and Winston is the name of one of Reynolds’ best-known cigarette brands. Fast-growing Winston soon surrounded the much older town of Salem, so in 1913, people in the area voted to combine them into a single place.?
From a historical and tourist point of view, Salem, or Old Salem, as it’s called today, is the interesting and unusual part of town.?
Salem was founded in the 1700s by the Moravians. They spoke German, and their community was religiously based, with single men and single women living apart in separate dormitories. The Moravians greatly valued women’s work and brainpower. In fact, one of the nation’s oldest boarding schools for young women— the Moravians’ Salem Academy founded in 1772 — is still in operation. ?
Over the years, Salem lost its Moravian character. That all changed, though, when a nonprofit group began to rehabilitate the historic area. These days Old Salem is what’s called a living history museum, with exhibits, music, and tours of 18th-century houses, taverns and Moravian dormitory buildings just seven blocks from the tallest skyscraper in Winston-Salem.?
The historic community is booming again. Just as R. J. Reynolds is taking in millions of dollars making cigarettes across town, Old Salem is generating about $ 115 million a year in tourism revenue and donations.?
46. From the passage we can know that____________.?
A. Winston-Salem is the name of a city?  
B. Salem is home to the tobacco market?
C. the city Winston-Salem has two names   
D. Old Salem is the name of a tobacco brand
47. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that__________.?
A. the two cities benefited each other?       
B. Salem developed faster than Winston?
C. R.J. Reynolds Company has moved into Salem?
D. the combination meets the wishes of the people
48. The city Salem is special for its__________.?
A. boarding school                            B. lifestyle and tradition?
C. respect for brainpower                D. religious belief
49. The underlined word “rehabilitate” in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to “_______”.?
A. reconstruct          B. evaluate            C. enlarge         D. decorate?
50. What will probably be talked about in the following part? ?
A. Some other attractions in Winston-Salem. ?
B. How Winston makes profits from tourism. ?
C. Other examples of cities combined by two parts.?
D. Something about the boarding school for women.

三.閱讀理解(40分)
Americans have contributed to many art forms, but jazz, a type of music, is the only art form that was created in the United States. Jazz was created by black Americans. Many blacks were brought from Africa to America as slaves. The black slaves sang and played the music of their homeland.
Jazz is a mixture of many different kinds of music. It is a combination (合并) of the music of west Africa, the work songs the slaves sang, and religious music. Improvisation(即興創(chuàng)作)is an important jazz. This means that the musicians make the music up as they go along, or create the music on the spot. This is why a jazz song might sound a little different each time it is played.
Jazz bands formed in the late nineteenth century. They played in bars and clubs in many towns and cities of the South, especially in New Orleans.
New Orleans is an imitational seaport, and people from all over the world come to New Orleans to hear jazz.
Jazz became more and more popular. By the 1920s, jazz was popular all over the United States. By the 1940s, you could hear jazz not only in clubs and bars, but in concert halls as well. Today, people from all over the world play jazz. Jazz musicians from the United States, Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe meet and share their music at festivals on every continent. In this way, jazz continues to grow and change.
1．From the passage we know that_____________created jazz.
A．white American     B．black Americans
C．West Africans       D．Indian Americans
2．What is the main idea of this passage?
A．It mainly tell about the contributions made by Americans to music.
B．It is mainly about different kinds of music.
C．It is about how jazz bands formed.
D．It is mainly about the history of jazz.
3．It can be known from the passage that jazz bands have a history of_________.
A．a(chǎn)bout 100 years       B．a(chǎn)round 200 years
C．a(chǎn)bout 150 years       D．a(chǎn)round 250 years
4．What kind of characteristics does jazz have?
A．It is always changing.
B．It is only played in the United States.
C．It is completely different from other music.
D．It is played in bars, clubs and concert halls.

The devastation of Typhoon Morakot over Taiwan and eastern China is a reminder that the northwest Pacific is the most dangerous region in the world for tropical storms．The worst of these are typhoons, which are the same as hurricanes in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific, or cyclones in the Indian Ocean and Australia．They all have winds of more than 118km/h (73mph) spinning around a central core．
These storms start off as a mass of thunderstorms in the tropics outside the Equator．Given the right conditions, they form a bigger and more organised storm and feed off warm seas at more than 26．5C (80F) to get the fuel that they need to become a fully-fledged(羽毛豐滿的) typhoon, hurricane or cyclone．Each storm is like a heat engine, extracting heat from the warm, humid air over the sea and turning it into phenomenal amounts of energy — equivalent to about 200 times the entire world’s electrical generating capacity．But warm, moist air is not enough — these storms also need slack winds aloft, because strong high-altitude winds can rip off the top of the storm clouds and send the entire storm tumbling（翻跟頭）．
The damage from tropical storms often comes from their winds, or the storm surges from the sea as the winds pile up water into a huge battering ram(沖擊夯) that floods coastlines．But the devastation from Typhoon Morakot came from its unbelievable rainfall — about a year’s average rain in some places — that set off landslides and mudslides．
1．According to the first paragraph, the common point among typhoons,hurricanes and cyclones is _______．
A．that they all come from the oceans
B．that they all have winds of over 118km/h spinning around a central core
C．that they all cause great damage
D．that they all can generate electricity
2．Which of the following is the best title of this passage?
A．Typhoon Morakat devestates Taiwan and eastern China
B．How is the typhoon formed?
C．Typhoon Morakot was how to devestate the areas it travelled
D．How terrible is Typhoon Morakat!
3．The devastation from Typhoon Morakot is mainly from ______．
A．its wind                     B．its rainfall      
C．landslides and mudslides      D．the storm
4．It can be inferred from the passage that ______．
A．Taiwan is off the northwest Pacific
B．the damage from tropical storms often comes from their winds
C．tropical storms often happen
D．tropical storms only need warm, moist air

第二部分 閱讀理解（共兩節(jié)，滿分50分）
第一節(jié) 閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)（A、Ｂ、Ｃ和Ｄ）中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。（共20小題；每小題2分，滿分40分）
Most American colleges and universities take a spring break. Students might go home to their families -- or spend a week partying on a warm beach with no parents around. That is the popular image, at least.
In the United States, the lawful age to drink alcohol is twenty-one -- one of the highest in the world. Americans debate whether it should be lowered, or whether young drinkers would only drink more. In parts of Europe, the lawful drinking age for beer, and sometimes hard liquor, is sixteen. Yet France may raise the age limit for beer and wine sales to eighteen, the same as for hard liquor there.
Rules on alcohol differ from college to college in the United States. Many schools require all first-year students to take an alcohol prevention and education program, often given online. Some have a “zero tolerance” policy where alcohol is banned from all buildings. Parents are informed of violations and students may be suspended(停學(xué)).
At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, permission is needed to serve alcohol at any event on campus. But alcohol is banned in first-year dorms---where most students are under twenty-one anyway.
Susan Davis, a university lawyer, says campus police and local police report underage drinking violations(違反)to the committee that decides punishments on a case by case basis. For example, the committee might suspend or expel(開除)a student. It might require an alcohol education program. Or it might just give a warning.
Jon Zug is a lawyer in Albemarle County, where the university is located. He says international students would face the same punishment as American citizens for underage drinking in Virginia. That includes a punishment of five hundred dollars or fifty hours of community service. But first law-breakers might be given a chance to complete an alcohol education program instead.
Schools have to report unlawful violations by international students to the Department of Homeland Security. International adviser Richard Tanson at the University of Virginia says even minor violations stay on a student’s permanent immigration record. He says international students should know that this can affect them in the future if they try to re-enter the United States.
1. What does the underlined phrase “by case basis” mean?
A. Depending on the seriousness of the case itself.
B. According to the report of the campus and local police.
C. Depending on the judgment of the committee.
D. According to the former cases in store.
2. To international students, which of the following may be intolerable once they have drinking violations?
A. A punishment of $500 or 50 hours of community service.
B. Being given a warning of being suspended or expelled.
C. Having the violations kept on their permanent immigration record.
D. Receiving an alcohol education program.
3. The passage probably appears in_________.
A. an advertisement                                              B. a local newspaper  
C. a university guide book                                        D. a popular magazine
4. The passage mainly talks about_________.
A. alcohol problems on the U.S. campus    
B. alcohol policy on U.S. campus
C. U.S. universities---zero tolerance to alcohol
D. the punishment to the university alcohol drinkers