Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap (寒潮) since 1981. And freezing weather is hitting the Deep South, including Florida’s orange groves and beaches.

Whatever happened to global warming?

Such weather doesn’t seem to fit with warnings from scientists that the Earth is warming because of greenhouse gases. But experts say the cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming at all—it’s just a temporary phenomenon in the long-term heating trend. “It’s part of natural variability,” said Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist. With global warming, he said, “we’ll still have record cold temperatures. We’ll just have fewer of them.”

Scientists say man-made climate change does have the potential to cause more frequent and more severe weather extremes. But experts did not connect the current cold snap to climate change.

 So what is going on?

“We basically have seen just a big outbreak of Arctic air over populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere”, Arndt said.

In the atmosphere, large rivers of air travel roughly west to east around the globe between the Arctic and the tropics. This air flow acts like a fence to keep Arctic air restricted. But recently, this air flow has become bent into a zigzag (之字形) pattern, wandering north and south. If you live in a place where it brings air up from the south, you get warm weather. In fact, record highs were reported this week in Washington state and Alaska.

But in the eastern United States, like some other unlucky parts of the globe, Arctic air is coming from the north. And that’s how you get a temperature of 3 degrees in Beijing, a reading of minus-42 in mainland Norway, and 18 inches of snow in parts of Britain. The zigzag pattern arises naturally from time to time, but it is not clear why it’s so strong right now.

1.What is the best title of the text?

A. Freezing weather is hitting the Deep South.

B. We’ll still have record cold temperatures.

C. The air flow has become a zigzag pattern.

D. Cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming.

2.With global warming, we will ______.

A. also meet with severe cold snap

B. have more hot temperatures forever

C. never experience cold temperatures

D. have more cold temperatures

3.According to experts, the current cold snap ______.

A. suggests that the climate has changed greatly

B. is not related to the climate change

C. shows that the climate will turn cold

D. is affected by global warming

4.Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951 because of ______.

A. a fence from the Arctic                   B. a cooling trend in climate

C. a big outbreak of Arctic air              D. its large population

5.We can conclude that ______.

A. not all the parts of the Northern Hemisphere are cold in face of the cold snap

B. the zigzag pattern arises naturally accidentally

C. Beijing will get cold weather next year

D. Washington state and Alaska will not face cold weather next year

 

People in the United States honor their parents with two special days：Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible(有責(zé)任感的) citizens. They give love and care. These two days make us think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child care.

These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A  red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery(墓地).On these days families get together at home,as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day.These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.

Another tradition is to give cards and gifts.Children make them in school.Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought  in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephone companies, and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.

1.Which of the following is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?

A. Parents bring up children.            

B. Parents give love and care to children.

C. Parents educate children to be good persons.

D. Parents pass away before children grow up.

2.What do you think “florists” do?

A. They sell flowers.

 B. They make and sell bread.                               

C. They offer enough room for having family parties.

D. They sell special gifts for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

3.Which do you think is right about “carnation”?

A .It has only two kinds of colors.

B .It refers to the special clothes people wear on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

 C .It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes.

D. People can wear carnations only on the second Sunday in May.

4.What do you know from the passage?

A .Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May.

B. Fewer women worked outside the home in the past.

C. Not all the children respect their parents.

D. Fathers are not as important as mothers at home.

5.On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day,      .

A. people usually have family parties       B .everyone goes to visit the cemetery

C.children always go to parents’ home      D.hand-made cards are the most valuable gifts

 

 

第二卷（非選擇題  滿分35分）

         第四部分 寫作（共兩節(jié)，滿分35分）

         第一節(jié)  對(duì)話填空（共10小題;每小題1分，滿分10分）

         請(qǐng)認(rèn)真閱讀下面對(duì)話，并根據(jù)各題所給首字母的提示，在答題卡上標(biāo)有題號(hào)的橫線上，寫出一個(gè)英語(yǔ)單詞的完整、正確形式、使對(duì)話通順。

         M＝Mum

         S＝Sara

         P＝Peter

         (When Sara came home from work, she found her mother in an anxious state.)

         S:What’s wrong, Mum? You seem upset.

         M:It’s your (76) y         sister Jill. She should have been here an hour ago.

         S:Don’(77) w     ,Mum!It’s not all that late and she has probably not(78)r    how late it is. I think she’ll

be here soon.

         (Just then Sara’s brother Peter came into the kitchen.)

         P:What’s up?Mum’s on the phone and she seems as though she’s going to cry.

         S:It’s Jill.She should have（79） r    home by now and Mum’s getting anxious.

         P:You needn’ fecl so anxious 。Mum!You know what tecnage girls are like. (80)         she’s all right.

         M;I can’t help but be concerned.I’ve just rung Lucy and she said Jill her our the cinema ages ago to get the

bus.

         P:Well,the bus service isn’t very frequent in the evenings.Perhaps she(81)m        one and is wairting for

another.Have you tried(82)p     her on her mobile?

         M:Yes, but there’s no reply.That made me even more worried.I think(83)s      must have happened to Jill.

      Do you think we should call the （84）p__________.

       S:Calm down,Mum! You’ll make yourself ill.Perhaps she switched her mobile(85)o    in the cinema and

forgot to switch it back on again.Or it may need to be charged.

 

People in the United States honor their parents with two special days：Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days make us think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child care.

These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery. On these days families get together at home, as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.

Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephone companies, and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.

1. Which of the following is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?

A. Parents bring up children.      

B. Parents give love and care to children.

C. Parents educate children to be good persons.  

D. Parents pass away before children grow up.

2. What do you think “florists” do?

A. They sell flowers.                       

B. They make and sell bread.

C. They offer enough room for having family parties.

D. They sell special gifts for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

3.Which do you think is right about “carnation”?

A. It has only two kinds of colors.

B. It refers to the special clothes people wear on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

C. It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes.

D. People can wear carnations only on the second Sunday in May.

4.What do you know from the passage?

A. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May.  

B. Fewer women worked outside the home in the past.

C. Not all the children respect their parents.         

D. Fathers are not as important as mothers at home.

5. On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day,        .

A. people usually have family parties      B. everyone goes to visit the cemetery

C. children always go to parents’ home D. hand-made cards are the most valuable gifts

 

 

                                    In Japan many workers who work in large corporations have a guarantee of lifetime employment. During their employment, they will not be laid off during recessions(經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條) or when the tasks they perform are taken over by robots. To some observers, this is what they call capitalism at its best, because workers are treated as people not things. Others see it as necessarily inefficient and they also believe it cannot continue if Japan is to remain competitive with foreign corporations by being more concerned about profits and less concerned about people.

　　Defenders of the system argue that those who call it inefficient do not understand how it really works. In the first place not every Japanese worker has the guarantee of a lifetime job. The lifetime employment system includes only “regular employees”. Many employees are not included in this category, including all women. All businesses have many part-time and temporary employees. These workers are hired and laid off during the course of the business cycle just as employees in the United States are. These “irregular workers” make up about 10 percent of the non-agricultural work force. Additionally, Japanese firms keep some flexibility through the large-scale use of subcontractors（轉(zhuǎn)承包者）. This practice is much more common in Japan than in the United States.

　　The use of both subcontractors and temporary workers has increased remarkably in Japan since the 1974-1975 recessions. All this leads some people to argue that the Japanese system is not all that different from the American system. During recessions Japanese corporations lay off temporary workers and give less business to subcontractors. In the United States, corporations lay off those workers with the least seniority(資歷). The difference then is probably less than the term “l(fā)ifetime employment” suggests, but there still is a difference. And this difference cannot be understood without looking at the values of Japanese society. The relationship between employer and employee cannot be explained in purely contractual(合同的) terms. Firms hold on to the employees and employees stay with one firm. There are also practical reasons for not jumping from job to job. Most retirement benefits come from the employer. Changing jobs means losing these benefits. Also, teamwork is an essential part of Japanese production. Moving to a new firm means adapting to a different team and at least temporarily, possessing lower productivity and lower pay.

61.It is stated in the second paragraph that ____.

　　A. defenders themselves do not appreciate the system

　　B. about 90% of “irregular workers” are employed in agriculture

　　C. the business cycle occurs more often in Japan and in the U.S.

　　D. not all employees can benefit from the policy

62. During recessions those who are to be fired first in the U.S. corporations are ____.

　　A. regular employees                         B. part-time workers

    C. junior employees                            D. temporary workers

63. According to the passage, Japanese firms are remarkably different from American firms in that the former ____.

　　A. use subcontractors in larger amount

　　B. are less flexible in terms of lifetime employment

　　C. hold on to the values of society

　　D. are more efficient in competition than the latter

64. Which of the following does NOT account for the fact that a Japanese worker is unwilling to change his job?

　　A. He will probably be low-paid.

　　B. He will not be able to possess some job benefits.

　　C. He has got used to the teamwork.

　　D. He will be looked down upon by his prospective employer.

65. Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?

  A. The guarantee of employment in Japan

  B. The consequence of the Japanese system

  C. The advantages of lifetime employment in Japan

  D. The expectations of capitalism