阅读理解To us it seems so natural to put up an umbrella to keep the water off when it rains. But actually the umbrella was not invented as protection against rain. Its first use was as a shade against the sun. Nobody knows who first invented it, but the umbrella was used in very ancient times. Probably the first to use it were the Chinese, was back in the eleventh century B.C. We know that the umbrella was used in ancient Egypt and Babylon as a sunshade. And there was a strange thing connected with its use: it became a symbol of honor and authority. In the Far East in ancient times, the umbrella was allowed to be used only by royalty or by those in high offices. In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. And the umbrella was in common use in ancient Greece. But it is believed that the first persons in Europe to use the umbrella as protection against rain were the ancient Romans. During the Middle Ages, the use of the umbrella practically disappeared. Then it appeared again in Italy in the late sixteenth century. And against it was considered a symbol of power and authority. Byl680, the umbrella appeared in France and later on in England. By the eighteenth century, the umbrella was used against rain throughout most of Europe. Umbrellas have not changed much in style during all this time, though they have become much lighter in weight. It wasn''t until the twentieth century that women''s umbrellas began to be made in a whole variety of colors.

阅读理解So long as teachers fail to distinguish between teaching and learning, they will continue to undertake to do for children that which only children can do for themselves. Teaching children to read is not passing reading on to them. It is certainly not endless hours spent in activities about reading. Douglas insists that "reading cannot be taught directly and schools should stop trying to do the impossible." Teaching and learning are two entirely different processes. They differ in kind and function. The function of teaching is to create the conditions and the climate that will make it possible for children to devise the most efficient system for teaching themselves to read. Teaching is also a public activity: It can be seen and observed. Learning to read involves all that each individual does to make sense of the world of printed language. Almost all of it is private, for learning is an occupation of the mind, and that process is not open to public scrutiny. If teacher and learner roles are not interchangeable, what then can be done through teaching that will aid the child in the quest(探索)for knowledge? Smith has one principal rule for all teaching instructions. "Make learning to read easy, which means making reading a meaningful, enjoyable and frequent experience for children." When the roles of teacher and learner are seen for what they are, and when both teacher and learner fulfill them appropriately, then much of the pressure and feeling of failure for both is eliminated. Learning to read is made easier when teachers create an environment where children are given the opportunity to solve the problem of learning to read by reading.

阅读理解There are great careers in which the increasing emphasis is on specialization. You find these careers in engineering, in production, in statistical work, and in teaching. But there is an increasing demand for people who are able to take in a great area at a glance, people who perhaps know too much about any one field. There is, in other words, a demand for people who are capable of seeing the forest rather than the trees, of making general judgments. And these "generalists" are particularly needed for positions in administration, where it is their job to see that other people do the work, where they have to plan for other people, to organize other people'' s work, to begin it and judge it. The specialist understands one field; his concern is with technique and tools. He is a "trained" man; and his educational background is properly technical or professional. The generalist—and especially the administrator—deals with people; his concern is with leadership, with planning, and with direction giving. He is an "educated" man; and the humanities are his strongest foundation. Very rarely is a specialist capable of being an administrator. And very rarely is a good generalist also a good specialist in a particular field. Any organizations need them in different proportions. It is your task to find out, during your training period, into which of the two kinds of jobs you fit, and to plan your career accordingly. Your first job may turn out to be the right job for you—but this is a pure accident. Certainly you should not change jobs constantly or people will become suspicious of your ability to hold any job. At the same time you must not look upon the first job as the final job; it is primarily a training job, an opportunity to understand yourself and your fitness for being an employee.

阅读理解These days a green building means more than just the color of the paint. Green buildings can also refer to environmentally friendly houses, factories, and offices. Buildings account for 65 percent of total U.S. electricity use. But green buildings can reduce energy and water use. Also, the buildings are often located near public transportation such as buses and subways, so that people can drive their cars less. That could be good for the environment, because cars use lots of natural resources such as gasoline, and give off pollution. Green buildings are often built on previously developed land, so that the buildings don''t destroy forests or other wild habitats (栖息地). Marty Dettling is project manager for a building that puts these ideas into action. The Solaire has been called the country''s first green residential high-rise building. According to Dettling, "We''ve reduced our energy consumption by one-third and our water by 50 percent." Not everyone is leaping to move into a green building, however. Some people think that features such as solar panels cost more money than more traditional energy sources. Despite this, Dettling hopes that green buildings will become common in the future. "It''s going to be big," she said.

阅读理解Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to "think and concentrate." Spihch put young non-smokers, active smokers and smokers deprived (被剥夺) of cigarettes through a series of tests. In the first test, each subject (试验对象) sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized a target letter among a grouping of 96. In this simple test, smokers, deprived smokers and nonsmokers performed equally well. The next test was more complex, requiring all to scan sequences of 20 identical letters and respond the instant one of the letters transformed into a different one. Non-smokers were faster, but under the stimulation of nicotine (尼古丁), active smokers were faster than deprived smokers. In the third test of short-term memory, non-smokers made the fewest errors, but deprived smokers committed fewer errors than active smokers. The fourth test required people to read a passage, then answer questions about it. Non-smokers remembered 19 percent more of the most important information than active smokers, and deprived smokers bested those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing. Active smokers tended not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important information from insignificant details. "As our tests became more complex." sums up Spilich, "non-smokers performed better than smokers by wider and wider margins." He predicts, "Smokers might perform adequately at many jobs until they got complicated. A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if no problems arose, but if something went wrong, smoking might damage his mental capacity."

阅读理解The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, painfree life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness, then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain. As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment (承担的义务), self improvement. Ask a bachelor (单身汉) why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features. Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night''s sleep or a three-day vacation. I don''t know any parent who would choose the word "fun" to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild. Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

阅读理解The purpose of the author in writing this article is to _____________.

阅读理解Why are mobiles so popular? Because people love to talk to each other. And it is easier with a mobile phone. In countries like Russia and China, people use mobile phones in places where there is no ordinary telephone. Business people use mobiles when they''re traveling. In some countries, like Japan, many people use their mobile phones to send e-mail messages and access the Internet. They use a new kind of mobile phone called "i-mode". You can even use a mobile phone to listen to music. Mobile phones are very fashionable with teenagers. Parents buy mobile phones for their children. They can call home if they are in trouble and need help. So they feel safer. But teenagers mostly use them to keep in touch with their friends or play simple computer games. It''s cool to be the owner of a small expensive mobile. Research shows that teenage owners of mobile phones smoke less. Parents and schools are happy that teenagers are safer and smoke less. But many people dislike them. They hate it when the businessman opposite them on the train has a loud conversation on his phone, or when mobile phones ring in a cafe or restaurant. But there is a much more serious problem. It''s possible that mobiles can heat up the brain because we hold the phone so close to our head. Scientists fear that mobiles can perhaps be bad for your memory and even give you cancer.

单选题 {{B}}Questions 16-20 are based on the following passage:{{/B}} Beijing's top hotels are fielding scores of calls from foreigners and Chinese people eager to book rooms during the 2008 Olympic Games in the Chinese capital. The luxurious and recently-renovated Beijing Hotel said it had received nearly 100 telephone inquiries from people wanting to book rooms during the Games since Beijing won its bid to host the event. "Out of these people, foreigners make up 30 to 40 per cent, including people calling from the United States and Europe," a hotel sales manager surnamed Song said. Minutes before the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was announced in Moscow, the hotel had already received 50 to 60 such phone calls from would-be game-goers gambling on the result. Domestic callers have mainly come from the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. Song said the hotel was not taking reservations, but only noting down names of callers, because seven years was too far in advance. The hotel also may be used by the IOC and would then need to set aside rooms for IOC members, he said. Beijing will have more than 800 hotels with star ratings before the Olympic Games in 2008. The city currently has 20 five-star hotels, 34 four-star hotels and 338 other hotels with lower ratings. About 70 hotels will be designated to accommodate athletes and Olympic officials during the Games.

单选题 {{B}}Questions 16-20 are based on the following passage:{{/B}} In Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport resumed its international flights to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations and regions early this month, said an airport official yesterday. And the airport's flow of international passengers for July has reached 80 per cent of the figure for the corresponding month of the previous year. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport had to cancel some international services to Southeast Asian nations and regions because of the outbreak of SARS beginning in April, the official said. The official predicted his airport's international service would return to normal operation and handle even more international passengers in August. Currently, the Guangzhou airport is operating 22 international flights to 20 foreign metropolises. And nine foreign airlines have resumed their international flights to the airport.

单选题A: May I use your phone for a local call? B: ______ sir ! A. Ask me another, B. Certainly, by no means, C. It's out of the question, D. As you wish,

单选题{{B}}Passage 7{{/B}} Late next century, when scholars are scripting the definitive history of the PC, these last few years of high-octane growth may actually be {{U}}(1) {{/U}} as the Dark Ages. Historians will marvel at {{U}}(2) {{/U}} we toiled in front of monolithic, beige BUBs (big ugly boxes), suffering under the oppressive glare of cathode-ray tubes {{U}}(3) {{/U}} our legs scraped against the 10-pound towers beneath our desks. They may also mark 1999 {{U}}(4) {{/U}} the start of the PC renaissance, {{U}}(5) {{/U}} manufacturers finally started to get it: design matters. In this holiday season, computer shoppers will {{U}}(6) {{/U}} unprecedented variety in shapes, sizes and colors—and {{U}}(7) {{/U}} in Apple's groundbreaking line of translucent iMacs and iBooks. {{U}}(8) {{/U}} every major PC maker now has innovative desktop designs {{U}}(9) {{/U}} the way to market, from hourglass-sculpted towers to flat-panel displays with all the processing innards {{U}}(10) {{/U}} into the base. {{U}}(11) {{/U}} industrial designers, who still think the PC has a long way {{U}}(12) {{/U}} you'll want to display it on your mantle, the only question is, what took {{U}}(13) {{/U}} ? "The PC industry has ridiculed design for a long time," says Hartmut Esslinger, founder of Frog Design. "They {{U}}(14) {{/U}}their customers and have underestimated their desires." PC makers are finally catching on-and it's partly {{U}}(15) {{/U}} desperation. Manufacturers {{U}}(16) {{/U}} to sell computers by trumpeting their techno bells and whistles, {{U}}(17) {{/U}} processor speed and memory. But since ever-faster chips have given us more power on the desktop {{U}}(18) {{/U}} we could ever possibly use, computer makers {{U}}(19) {{/U}} on price——a strategy that has dropped most units below ＄1,000 and slashed profits. Last week IBM limped from the battlefield, {{U}}(20) {{/U}} it would pull its lagging Aptiva line from store shelves and sell it only on the Web. Competing only on price "made an industry shakeout inevitable," says Nick Donatiello, president of the marketing-research firm Odyssey.

单选题So long as teachers fail to distinguish between teaching and learning, they will continue to undertake to do for children that which only children can do for themselves. Teaching children to read is not passing reading on to them. It is certainly not endless hours spent in activities about reading. Douglas insists that "reading cannot be taught directly and schools should stop trying to do the impossible." Teaching and learning are two entirely different processes. They differ in kind and function. The function of teaching is to create the conditions and the climate that will make it possible for children to devise the most efficient system for teaching themselves to read. Teaching is also a public activity: It can be seen and observed. Learning to read involves all that each individual does to make sense of the world of printed language. Almost all of it is private, for learning is an occupation of the mind, and that process is not open to public scrutiny. If teacher and learner roles are not interchangeable, what then can be done through teaching that will aid the child in the quest(探索)for knowledge? Smith has one principal rule for all teaching instructions. "Make learning to read easy, which means making reading a meaningful, enjoyable and frequent experience for children." When the roles of teacher and learner are seen for what they are, and when both teacher and learner fulfill them appropriately, then much of the pressure and feeling of failure for both is eliminated. Learning to read is made easier when teachers create an environment where children are given the opportunity to solve the problem of learning to read by reading.

单选题A: Don't you think the concert is terrific? B: ______ A. I want to hear other opinions. B. It certainly is. And I really like the band. C. Yes, the concert is terrible. D. No, everything went on perfectly.

单选题 Directions: In this part there are four passages, each followed with five questions or unfinished statements. For each of them, there are four suggested answers. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. Mark your ANSWER SHEET by drawing with a pencil a short bar across the corresponding letter in the brackets.{{B}}11-15{{/B}} For an increasing number of students at American universities, Old is suddenly in. The reason is obvious: the graying of America means jobs. Coupled with the aging of the baby-boom (生育高峰) generation, a longer life span means that the nation's elderly population is bound to expand significantly over the next 40 years. By 2040, 25 percent of all Americans will be older than 65, up from 14 percent in 1995. The change poses profound questions for government and society, of course. But it also creates career opportunities in medicine and health professions, and in law and business as well. "In addition to the doctors, we're going to need more sociologists, biologists, urban planners and specialized lawyers," says Professor Edward Schneider of the University of Southern California's (USC) School of Gerontology (老年学). Lawyers can specialize in "elder law", which covers everything from trusts and estates to nursing-home abuse and age discrimination (歧视). Businessmen see huge opportunities in the elder market because the baby boomers, 74 million strong, are likely to be the wealthiest group of retirees in human history. "Any student who combines an expert knowledge in gerontology with, say, an MBA or law degree, will have a license to print money," one professor says. Margarite Santos is a 21-year-old senior at USC. She began college as a biology major but found she was "really bored with bacteria". So she took a class in gerontology and discovered that she liked it. She says, "I did volunteer work in retirement homes and it was very satisfying."

单选题She had said little so far, responding only briefly when ______. A. speaking B. spoken to C. spoken D. speaking to

单选题______ on a clear day, far from the city crowds, the mountains give him a sense of infinite peace. A. Walking B. If walking C. While walking D. When one is walking

单选题According to the author, by interacting with people who study liberal-arts, engineering students can______.

单选题By the end of this month we surely ______ a satisfactory solution to the problem.

单选题The output of television sets has ______ in the past five years. A. more than doubled B. more than double C. as many as double D. as much as double