1

  The United States is full of automobiles. There are still many families without cars, but some families have two or ever more. However, cars are used for more than pleasure. There are a necessary part of life.
  Cars are used for business. They are driven to offices and factories by workers who have no other way to get to their jobs. When salesmen are sent to different parts of the city, they have to drive in order to carry their products. Farmers have to drive into the city in order to get supplies.
  Sometimes small children must be driven to school. In some cities school buses are provided only when children live more than a mile from the school. When the children are too young to walk that far, their mothers take turn driving them to school. One mother drives on Monday, taking her own children and the neighbors' children as well. Another mother drives on Tuesday, another on Wednesday, and so on. This is called forming a car poll. Men also form car pools, with three or four men taking turns driving to the place where they all work.
  More car pools should be formed in order to put fewer automobiles on the road and to use less gasoline. Parking is great problem, and so is the traffic in and around cities. Too many cars are being driven. Something will have to be done about the use of cars.

1. Which is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Each American family has got at least one car.
B. Some American families have got more than one car.
C. Cars are very common in the United States.
D. Americans do not use cars for pleasure only.

2. According to the passage, children must be taken to school by car when ________.
A. their homes are over one mile away from their school
B. there are no school buses available and the school is too far away for the children to go to on foot
C. there are a number of children in the neighborhood and their families have their own cars
D. the children are too young to walk

3. Which people are forming a car pool?
A. Three or four people who drive in turns to the office or the factory where they all work.
B. A woman who takes her own children and her neighbors' children to school by car.
C. Children who drive to school in turns.
D. Parents who drive their oven children to school in turns.

4. What does the author think of forming car pool?
A. It is a good practice.
B. It is good only for mothers taking children to school
C. It will cause parking problems.
D. It helps cut down the number of cars produced each year.

5. What does the author think is the problem about cars in the United States?
A. There is a shortage of gasoline for a car.
B. There are too many cars in the streets and on the roads.
C. There are not enough cars to go around.
D. Some families still do not have their own cars.

2

  The moon has been described by songwriters and poets as a place for a romantic escape. We know of course that the moon is actually a very unfriendly environment for human beings.
  The moon is completely empty of water because the force of gravity on the moon is much less than on the earth. The back of a strong force of gravity has caused any water the moon may have had to leak out into space over the 4,600 million years that it has been in existence. Of course, since there is no water, there is no plant life either. So if you go, bring your lunch.
  There is no air on the moon because its gravity is not sufficient to keep an atmosphere. Therefore travelers to the moon require not only oxygen and water but also protection against the rays that are not filtered by an atmosphere. No atmosphere also means no weather - no wind, no rain, no clouds.
  Temperatures on the moon are quite extreme, ranging from 110℃ to -173℃. This occurs because there is no atmosphere to filter the sun's rays when it is shining and then to blanket in warm air when the sun goes down. These extremes of temperature are particularly unusual during a solar eclipse(日蚀), when the earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, for the time being, blotting out the sun's light. At such times the temperature on the moon falls very rapidly and then rises immediately as the sun emerges from the earth's shadow. The change in temperature may be as much as 200℃ one hour! Thus if you visit the moon, deciding what to wear could be a problem.

6. The moon is much different from what has been described in poems and songs because __________.
A. it is too far away for most people to get there
B. the environment on the moon is unfit for people to live in
C. the poets and songwriters are ignorant of the moon
D. poems and songs are not to be believed

7. There is no water on the moon because __________.
A. there has never existed water on the moon
B. the temperature there is so high that water evaporates rapidly
C. the moon is unable to keep water from escaping into space
D. there is no plants any kind to reserve water

8. Travelers to the moon need protection against the sun's rays because __________.
A. the sun shines directly over the moon
B. there are no trees to offer shelter from the sun
C. there is no atmosphere to filter the sun's rays
D. there are no wind, rain, or clouds on the moon

9. The temperature on the moon changes sharply between day and night because __________.
A. the moon is much closer to the sun than the earth is
B. there is no water to absorb the sun's heat
C. solar eclipses have great effect on the temperature
D. there is no atmosphere to regulate the temperature

10. Which of the following statement is NOT true about the moon?
A. The change of temperature on the moon is even greater during solar eclipse.
B. There might once exist water on the moon
C. The sun rays are dangerous to life on the moon
D. The moon has been existing for more than 4.600 million years.

3

  One hot night last July, when our new baby wouldn't or couldn't sleep, I tried everything I could think of: a warm bottle, songs, gentle rocking. Nothing would settle him. Guessing that I had s long night ahead of me, I brought a portable TV into his room, figuring that watching the late movie was as good a way as any to kill off the hours until dawn. To my surprise, as soon as the TV lit up, the baby quieted right down, his little eyes focused brightly on the tube. Not to waste an opportunity for sleep, I then walked softly out of the room, leaving him to watch the actors celebrate John Bellushi's forth-fifth birthday.
  My wife and I heard no more of the baby that night, and the next morning when I went into his room, I found him still watching TV himself.
  I found in my baby's behavior a symbol of the new generation. My wife and I had given him some books to examine, but he merely spit(吐唾沫) upon them. When we read to him, he did not feel comfortable. And so it is in the schools. We find that our students don't read, that they look down upon reading and scold those of us who teach it. All they want to do is watch TV. After this experiment with the baby, I have reached a conclusion: "Let them watch it!" If television is that much more attractive to children than books, why should we fight it? Let them watch it all they want!

11. Why did the author bring a TV set into his son's room?
A. To make his son stop crying
B. To spend the night by watching TV programs.
C. To leave it to his son.
D. To make his son go to sleep as soon as possible.

12. The baby's reaction to the TV program was ________.
A. unexpected
B. awful
C. exciting
D. calm

13. From the passage we know that author is ________.
A. a doctor
B. a writer
C. an editor
D. a teacher

14. According to the passage, which is true of the school children?
A. They prefer reading to watching TV.
B. They like watching TV only after school.
C. They would rather watch TV than read books.
D. They like their teachers who teach them reading.

15. What do you think is the author's attitude towards TV expressed in the last two sentences?
A. Favorable.
B. Serious.
C. Not favorable.
D. Not serious.

4

  Sports and games make our bodies strong, prevent us from getting too fat, and keep us healthy. But these are not their only use. They give us valuable practice in making eyes, brain and muscles work together. In tennis, our eyes see the ball coming, judge its speed and direction and pass this information on to the brain. The brain then has to decide what to do, and to send its orders to the muscles of the arms, legs, and so on, so that the ball is met and hit back where it ought to go. All this must happen with very great speed, and only those who have had a lot of practice at tennis can carry out this complicated chain of events successfully. For those who work with their brains most of the day, the practice of such skills is especially useful.
  Sports and games are also very useful for character training. In their lessons at school, boys and girls may learn about such virtues as unselfishness, courage, discipline and love of one's country; but what is learned in books cannot have the same deep effect on a child's character as what is learned by experience. The ordinary day-school cannot give much practical training in living, because most of the pupil's time is spent in classes, studying lessons. So it is what the pupils do in their spare time that really prepares them to take their place in society as citizens when they grow up. If each of them learns to work for his society as citizens when they grow up. If each of them learns to work for his team and not for himself on the football field, he will later find it natural to work for the good of his country instead of only for his own benefit.

16. When we play tennis we have to _________.
A. use, first, our eyes, then the brain and finally the muscles
B. make our eyes, brain and muscles work almost at the same time
C. use mainly the arms and legs to hit
D. use mainly the muscles so that the ball is met and hit back

17. The "complicated chain of events" refers to _________.
A. the passing of information and making of decisions
B. the meeting and hitting back of the ball
C. the coordinated(协调的) movements of our eyes, brain and muscles
D. a lot of practice before playing tennis

18. By character-training, the author means that sports and games can help children _________.
A. live a better life when they grow up
B. know letter how to behave properly in their future life
C. understand better the virtues they learn in books
D. All of the above

19. According to the author, a child's character can be most deeply influenced by _________.
A. what he does out of class
B. what he learns in books
C. his place in society
D. his lessons at school

20. What is of the greatest importance to a football team is 
A. its members
B. its team work
C. the football field
D. the climate

5

  The modern sailing ship was developed by a man who never went to sea. He was Prince Henry of Portugal, the younger son of the Portuguese King and an English princess.
  Prince Henry lived in the fifteenth century. As a boy he became devoted to the sea, and he dedicated himself to improving the design of ships and the methods of sailing them. In 1416, when he was twenty-two, Henry founded a school for mariners, to which he invited everyone who could help him - Jewish astronomers, Italian and Spanish sailors, and Arab mathematicians and map makers who knew how to use the crude compass of the day and could improve it.
  Henry's goal was to design and equip vessels that would be capable of making long ocean voyages without having to keep close to the shore. The caravel(多桅小帆船), which he helped design, carried more sails and was longer and slimmer than any ship then made, yet was tough enough to stand up against gales gales at sea. He also developed the carrack(宽身帆船), which was a slower ship, but one that was capable of carrying more cargo.
  The world owes credit to Prince Henry for the development of the craft that made oceanic exploration possible. He lives in history as Henry the Navigator.

21. Prince Henry started his school for the purpose of _________.
A. helping mariners
B. improving ship design and sailing methods
C. studying astronomy and mathematics
D. improving his own skill as a sailor

22. The teacher in Prince Henry's school seem to have been _________.
A. members of the royal family
B. astronomers, sailors and map makers
C. shipbuilders
D. All of the above

23. Prince Henry's goal was to design vessels that could _________.
A. make longer deep-sea voyages
B. travel faster than those in use at that time
C. explore the coastline of Portugal
D. carry larger crews and more cargo than existing ones

24. Compared with his caravel, Henry's carrack was _________.
A. longer and slimmer
B. able to carry more sails
C. able to carry more cargo
D. shorter

25. Prince Henry's principal achievement was that of _________.
A. making oceanic exploration possible
B. improving the compass
C. founding a school for mariners
D. inventing the clipper ship

参考答案：

1. A  2. B  3. A  4. A  5. B
6. B  7. C  8. C  9. D  10. A
11. B  12. A  13. D  14. C  15. C
16. B  17. C  18. B  19. A  20. B
21. B  22. B  23. A  24. C  25. A