填空题 A. the carelessness of the drivers B. increase in the number of cars stolen C. non-professional thieves D. lack of parking space E. safe parking spots F. professional thieves

填空题Voice Your Opinion--Change is Needed in Youth Sports Everywhere you look, you see kids bouncing a basketball or waving a tennis racquet (网球拍). And these kids are getting younger and younger. In some countries, children can compete on basketball, baseball, and volleyball teams starting at age nine. 1 And swimming and gymnastics classes begin at age four, to prepare children for competition. It"s true that a few of these kids will develop into highly skilled athletes and may even become members of the national Olympic teams. 2 This emphasis on competition in sports is having serious negative effects. Children who get involved in competitive sports at a young age often grow tired of their sport. Many parents pressure their kids to choose one sport and devote all their time to it. 3 But 66 percent of the young athletes wanted to play more than one sport-for fun. Another problem is the pressure imposed by over-competitive parents and coaches. Children are not naturally competitive. In fact, a recent study by Paulo David found that most children don"t even understand the idea of competition until they are seven years old. 4 The third, and biggest, problem for young athletes is the lack of time to do their homework, have fun, be with friends—in short, time to be kids. When they are forced to spend every afternoon at sports practice, they often start to hate their chosen sport. A searchers found that 70 percent of kids who take part in competitive sports before the of twelve quit before they turn eighteen. 5 Excessive competitiveness takes away all the enjoyment. Need to remember the purpose of youth sports—to give kids a chance to develop strong, healthy bodies. A. Survey found that 79 percent of parents of young athletes wanted their children to concentrate on one sports. B. The young soccer organization has teams for children as young as five. C. Many of them completely lose interest in sports. D. Sports for children have two important purposes. E. But what about the others, the average kids? F. Very young kids don"t know why their parents are pushing them so hard?

填空题Why Would They Falsely Confess? Why on earth would an innocent person falsely confess to committing a crime? To most people, it just doesn't seem logical. But it is logical, say experts, if you understand what can happen in a police interrogation (审讯) room. Under the right conditions, people's minds are susceptible (易受影响的) to influence, and the pressure put on suspects during police questioning is enormous. (46) "The pressure is important to understand, because otherwise it's impossible to understand why someone would say he did something he didn't do. The answer is; to put an end to an uncomfortable situation that will continue until he does confess. " Developmental psychologist Mary Redlich recently conducted a laboratory study to determine how likely people are to confess to things they didn't do. (47) The researchers then intentionally crashed the computers and accused the participants of hitting the "alt" key to see if they would sign a statement falsely taking responsibility. Redlich's findings clearly demonstrate how easy it can be to get people to falsely confess: 59 percent of the young adults in the experiment immediately confessed. (48) Of the 15-to 16-year-olds, 72 percent signed confessions, as did 78 percent of the 12-to 13-year-olds. "There's no question that young people are more at risk, "says Saul Kassin, a psychology professor at Williams College, who has done similar studies with similar results. (49) Both Kassin and Redlich note that the entire "interrogation" in their experiments consisted of a simple accusation—not hours of aggressive questioning—and still, most participants falsely confessed. (50) "In some ways," says Kassin, "false confession becomes a rational decision. " A In her experiment, participants were seated at computers and told not to hit the "alt" key, because doing so would crash the systems. B Because of the stress of a police interrogation, they conclude, suspects can become convinced that falsely confessing is the easiest way out of a bad situation. C "It's a little like somebody's working on them with a dental (牙齿的) drill, "says Franklin Zimring, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley. D "But the baseline is that adults are highly vulnerable too. " E The court found him innocent and he was released. F Redlich also found that the younger the participant, the more likely a false confession.

填空题 Things to Know about the UK 1. From Buckingham Palace to Oxford, the UK is loaded with wonderful icons (标志) of past eras. But it has also modernized with confidence. It's now better known for vibrant (充满活力的) cities with great nightlife and attraction. Fashions, fine dining, clubbing, shopping-the UK is among the world's best. 2. Most people have strong preconceptions about the British. But if you're one of these people, you'd be wise to abandon those ideas. Visit a nightclub in one of the big cities, a football match, or a good local pub and you might more readily describe the English people as humorous and hospitable. It's certainly true that no other country in the world has more bird-watchers, sports supporters, pet owners and gardeners than the UK. 3. Getting around England is pretty easy. Budget (廉价的) airlines like Easyjet and Rynnair fly domestically. Trains can deliver you very efficiently from one major city to another. Long distance express buses are called coaches. Where coaches and buses run on the same route, coaches are more expensive (though quicker) than buses. London's famous black cabs are excellent but expensive. Minicabs are cheaper competitors, with freelance (个体的) drivers. But usually you need to give a call first. London's underground is called the Tube. It's very convenient and can get you to almost any part of the city. 4. The UK is not famous for its food. But you still need to know some of the traditional English foods. The most famous must be fish and chips. The fish and chips are deep fried in flour. English breakfast is something you need to try. It is fried bacon, sausages, fried eggs, black pudding, fried tomatoes, fried bread and baked beans, with toast and a pot of tea. Other things like shepherd's pie and Yorkshire pudding are also well-known as a part of English food culture. 5. Pubbing and clubbing are the main forms of English nightlife, especially for the young. Pubbing means going to a pub with friends, having drinks, and chatting. Clubbing is different from pubbing and includes going to a pub, or a place of music, or a bar, or any other places to gather with friends. Clubbing can be found everywhere. Usually there is some kind of dress code for clubbing, such as no jeans, no sportswear, or smart clubwear, while pubbing is much more casual. A. Education B. People C. Transport D. Drink E. Food F. Nightlife

填空题 The Beginning of American Literature American has always been a land of beginnings. {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}Europeans "discovered" America in the fifteenth century, the mysterious New World became for many people a genuine hope of a new life, an escape from {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}and persecution, a chance to start again. We can say that, as nation, America begins with that hope. When, {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}, does American literature begin? American literature begins with American experiences. Long before the first colonists arrived, before Christopher Columbus, before the Northmen who "found" America about the year 1,000, {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}Americans lived here. Each tribe's literature was {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of lining with the land. {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}kind of experience, one filled with fear and excitement, found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}home in Spain, French and English. In addition, the journals of the people who lived and died in the New England wilderness tell unforgettable tales of hard and sometimes {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}experiences of those {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}years. Experience, then, is the key to early American literature. The New World {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}a great variety of experiences, and these experiences {{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early American writers. These writers included John Smith, {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}spent only two-and-a-half years on the American continent. They included Jonathan Edwards and William Byrd, who {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}of themselves as British subjects, never {{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}a revolution that would create a United States of America with a literature of its own. American Indians, explorers, Puritan ministers, frontier wives, plantation owner—they are all the {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}of the first American literature. 51. A. Before B. After C. If D. Unless 52. A. happiness B. prosperity C. wealth D. poverty 53. A. but B. however C. and D. so 54. A. naughty B. natural C. national D. native 55. A. loosely B. densely C. tightly D. heavily 56. A. Another B. Other C. The other D. Others 57. A. gave B. sent C. brought D. took 58. A. favourable B. unforgettable C. heartbreaking D. significant 59. A. early B. later C. final D. late 60. A. improved B. promoted C. developed D. provided 61. A. destroyed B. demanded C. disrupted D. disputed 62. A. whose B. that C. which D. who 63. A. imagined B. wondered C. thought D. expected 64. A. to suspect B. suspecting C. suspect D. suspected 65. A. creators B. conductors C. contributors D. conqueror

填空题The Joy of Living Alone More and more Americans are living alone. Some live alone because of divorce or the death of a partner. 6 According to a recent U.S. census (人口普查), 25 per cent of all households in the U.S. are made up of just one person. This is a dramatic change from the extended families of just a couple of generations ago. The typical person living alone is neither old nor lonely. 7 The majority of these people have chosen to live alone. They are responding to decreasing social pressure to get married and have a family. It"s now socially acceptable, even fashionable, to live alone. As people get better jobs and become financially independent, it becomes possible for them to maintain a one-person household. 8 However, people who do get married are marrying at a later age and divorcing more often. The number one reason given by most people for living alone is that they simply enjoy doing what they want when they want to do it. "Living alone is a luxury," says Nina Hagiwara, 38. "Once you do it, you can"t ever go back to living with others." David C"Debaca, 46, agrees. 9 Children think that being grown up means being able to do exactly as they please. 10 The chance to discover whether that freedom is as wonderful as it sounds is a chance more and more Americans are taking. A. There"s more pressure to get married nowadays. B. The growing number of women with good jobs has done much to increase the number of people living alone. C. However, even more people are living alone because they have chosen to. D. It seems that many grown-ups today are realizing that childhood dream. E. In fact, a quarter of the 23 million single people in the U.S. are under the age of 35. F. He says, "I like being by myself."

填空题 阅读下面这篇短文，短文后有2项测试任务：(1)第23～26题要求从所给的6个选项中为规定段每段选择1个正确的小标题；(2)第27～30题要求从所给的6个选项中选择4个正确选项，分别完成每个句子。 {{B}}The Swedes—a charming people{{/B}}1. The Swedes are among the most charming peoples in Europe. And their charm comes from an apparent contradiction in the national character. They are extremely conservative in social relationships; within the family and when meeting friends and business acquaintances, their conduct is governed by strict social patterns. At the same time, they are one of the most intellectually progressive peoples in the world. They are always open to new ideas.2. All social occasions in Sweden are regulated by rules and traditions. And. these traditions, are expressed in a specific ritual made up of formal bows, handshakes, and greetings. When a visitor enters a Swedish home, he is invariably received with a "Welcome"; when he leaves, his host will tell him "You will be welcome again." These charming phrases are an indestructible part of Swedish social life and they give it an old-world flavor of good manners.3. Equally attractive is the Swedish acceptance of modern technological equipment. A traveller never needs to search for a telephone in Sweden: telephone booths are placed at regular intervals along the main streets and highways. And in church, for example, long benches are fitted with hearing aids for worshippers who may be hard of hearing. Swedish homes are among the best equipped in the world and travellers in Sweden find their journeys made easy by the use of the most efficient modern devices.4. The Swedes are an efficient and most capable people. Punctuality is more than a virtue to them—it is a rule of life originating from the most attractive characteristic of this northern people. This is their respect for their friends and acquaintances and especially for the visitor to their country. At whatever cost to themselves, they take care not to give another person the slightest degree of discomfort.5. This respect for human rights runs through the whole Swedish social system. It makes politicians and bureaucrats, indeed anyone with social power, courteous in dealing with citizens and visitors. Courtesy thus has been developed into a social instinct in Sweden. It is part of the spirit of the life based on a national culture which is wholly Scandinavian.A. The most capable people of the worldB. The rules and traditions of social occasionsC. The importance of efficiencyD. The most attractive character—punctualityE. The respect for human rightsF. The use of the efficient modern devices

填空题阅读下面这篇短文，短文后有2项测试任务：(1) 第23-26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第2-5段每段选择1个最佳标题；(2) 第27-30题要求从所给的6个选项中选择4个正确的选项，分别完成每个句子。 Even Intelligent People Can Fail 1 The striking thing about the innovators who succeeded in making our modern world is how often they failed. Turn on a light, take a photograph, watch TV, search the web, jet across the Pacific Ocean, talk on a cell phone (手机). The innovators who left us these things had to find the way to success through a maze (错综复杂) of wrong turn. 2 We have just celebrated the 125th anniversary of American innovator Thomas Edison's success in heating in thin line to white, hot heat for 14 hours in his lab in New Jersey, US. He did that on October 22, 1879, and followed up a month later by keeping a thread of common cardboard alight (点亮着的)in an airless space for 45 hours. Three years later he went on to light up half a square mile of downtown Manhattan, even though only one of the six power plants in his design worked when he turned it on, on September 4,1882. 3 "Many of life's failures" the supreme innovator said, "are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up". Before that magical moment in October 1879. Edison had worked out no fewer than 3,000 theories about electric light. But in only two cases did his experiments work. 4 No one likes failure, but the smart innovators learn from it. Mark Gumz, the head of the camera maker Olympus America Inc. attributes some of the company's successes in technology to understanding failure. His popular phrase is: "You only fail when you quit". 5 Over two centuries, the most common quality of the innovators has been persistence. That is another way of saying they had the emotional ability to keep up what they were doing. Walt Disney, the founder of Disneyland, was so broke after a succession of financial failures that he was left shoeless in his office because he could not afford the US $ 1.50 to get his shoes from the repair shop. Pioneering Car maker Henry Ford failed with one company and was forced out of another before he developed the Model T Car. 6 Failure is harder to bear in today's open, accelerated world. Hardly any innovation works the first time. But an impatient society and the media want instant success. When American music and movie master David Geffen had a difficult time, a critic said nastily that the only difference between Geffen Records (Geffen's company)and the Titanic (the ship that went down) was that the Titanic had better music. Actually, it wasn't. After four years of losses, Geffen had so many hits (成功的作品) he could afford a ship as big as the Titanic all to himself. A. Importance of Learning from Failure B. Quality Shared by Most Innovator C. Edison's Innovation D. Edison's Comment on Failure E. Contributions Made by Innovators F. Miseries Endured by Innovators

填空题The Great Wall of China Walls and wall building have played a very important role in Chinese culture. These people, from the dim mists of prehistory have been wall- conscious; from the Neolithic period (新石器时代 )—when ramparts (防御土墙) of pounded earth were used—to the Communist Revolution, walls were an essential part of any village. (46) The name for" city" in Chinese( ch'eng)means wall, and over these walled cities, villages, houses and temples presides the god of walls and mounts, whose duties were, and still are, to protect and be responsible for the welfare of the inhabitants. (47) However, it is indeed a common mistake to perceive the Great Wall as a single architectural structure, and it would also be erroneous to assume that it was built during a single dynasty. For the building of the wall spanned the various dynasties, and each of these dynasties somehow contributed to the refurbishing and the construction of a wall, whose foundations had been laid many centuries ago. (48) Especially three of these states : the Ch'in, the Chao and the Yen, corresponding respectively to the modern provinces of Shensi, Shanzi and Hopei, over and above building wails that surrounded their kingdoms, also laid the foundations on which Ch'in Shih Huang Di would build his first continuous Great Wall. (49) Throughout the centuries many settlements were established along the new border. The garrison(驻军) troops were instructed to reclaim wasteland and to plant crops on it, roads and canals were built, to mention just a few of the works carried out. (50) Builders, garrisons, artisans, farmers and peasants left behind a trail of objects, including inscribed tablets, household articles, and written work ,which have become extremely valuable archaeological evidence to the study of defense institutions of the Great Wall and the everyday life of these people who lived and died along the wall.A. Not only towns and villages; the houses and the temples within them were somehow walled, and the houses also had no windows overlooking the street, thus giving the feeling of wandering around a huge maze(迷宫).B. All these undertakings greatly helped to increase the country's trade and cultural exchanges with many remote areas and also with the southern, central and western parts of Asia—the formation of the Silk Route.C. Thus a great and extremely laborious task such as constructing a wall, which was supposed to run throughout the country, must not have seemed such an absurdity(谬论).D. The construction of the Great Wall is responsible for a large number of deaths and a vast amount of destruction in various places.E. It was during the fourth and third centuryB.C. that each warring state started building walls to protect their kingdoms, both against one another and against the northern nomads(游牧民).F. The role that the Great Wall played in the growth of Chinese economy was all important on

填空题阅读下面的短文，文章中有5处空白，文章后有6组文字，请根据文章的内容选择5组文字，将其分别放回文章原有位置，以恢复文章原貌。 {{B}} What We Take from And Give to the Sea{{/B}} As long as we have been on earth, we have used the sea around us. We take from the ocean, and we give to it. We take fishes from the ocean - millions of kilograms of fish, every year, to feed millions of people. {{U}}(46) {{/U}}We take minerals from the ocean. One way to get salt is to place seawater in a shallow basin and leave it until it evaporates. {{U}}(47) {{/U}} Much gold and silver drift dissolved in the waters of the sea, too. But the sea does not give them up by simple evaporation. Other gifts from the sea are pearls, sponges and seaweed. Pearls become jewelry. {{U}}(48) {{/U}} Seaweed becomes food of many kinds - even candy, and ice cream - as well as medicine. Believe it or not, fresh water is another gift from the sea. We cannot drink ocean water. {{U}}(49) {{/U}} But ocean water becomes fresh water when the salts are removed. In the future, we will find ourselves depending more and more on fresh water from the sea. The sea gives us food, fertilizer, minerals, water, and other gifts. What do we give the sea? Garbage. {{U}}(50) {{/U}} Huge as it is, the ocean cannot hold all the water that we pour into it. Dumping garbage into the ocean is killing off sea life. Yet as the world population grows, we may need the sea and its gifts more than ever. We are finally learning that if we destroy our seas, we might also destroy ourselves. Hopefully, it is not too late. A Natural sponges become cleaning aids. B We pollute the ocean when we use it as a garbage dump. C The area of the sea is becoming smaller and smaller. D Along with salt, other minerals are left after evaporation. E We even use their bones for fertilizer. F Some of its contents may cause illness.

填空题下面的短文后有2项测试任务：(1)第23～30题要求从所给的6个选项中为第1～5段各其中4段选择1个最佳标题；(2)第 27～30题要求从所给的4个选项中为每个句子确定1个最佳选项。 Is There a Way to Keep the Britain's Economy Growing? 1. In today's knowledge economy, nations survive on the things they do best. Japanese design electronics while Germens export engineering(工程) techniques. The French serve the best food and Americans make computers. 2. Britain specializes in the gift of talking. The nation doesn't manufacture much of anything. But it has lawyers, stylists and business consultants who earn their living from talk and more talk. The World Foundation think the UK's four iconic(图标的)jobs today are not scientists, engineers, teachers and nurses. Instead, they're hairdressers, celebrities, management consultants (顾问) and managers. But can all this talking keep the British economy going? The British government thinks it can. 3. Although the country's trade deficit was more than ￡60 billion in 2006, UK's largest in the postwar period, officials say the country has nothing to worry about. In fact, Britain does have a world-class pharmaceutical(制药学的) industry and it still makes a small sum from selling arms abroad. It also trades services-accountancy, insurance, banking and advertising. The government believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy. After all, the country of Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a literary tradition of which to be proud. Rock' n' roll is an English language medium, and there are billions to be made by their cutting-edge bands. In other words, the creative economy has plenty of strength to carry the British economy. 4. However, creative industries account for only about 4 percent of UK's exports of goods and services . The industries are finding it hard to make a profit, according to a report of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. The report shows only 38 percent of British companies were engaged in "innovation activities", 3 percentage points below the EU average and well below Germany(61 percent) and Sweden(47 percent). 5. In fact, it might be better to call Britain a "servant" economy — there are at least 4 million people "in service". The majority of the population are employed by the rich to cook, clean, and take care of their children. Many graduates are even doing menial jobs for which they do not need a degree. Most employment growth has been, and will continue to be, at the low-skill end of the service sector-in shops, bars, hotels , domestic service and in nursing and care homes. A. Growth of Economy______ B. "Servant" Economy______ C. Strength of the Creative Economy D. Weakness of the Creative Economy E. Gift of Talking F. Export of Talking Machines

填空题The Cost of Higher Education Individuals(个人)should pay for their higher education. A university education is of huge and direct benefit to the individual. Graduates earn more than non-graduates. Meanwhile, social mobility is even more dependent on having a degree. However, only some people have it. So the individual, not the taxpayers, should pay for it. There are pressing calls on the resources(资源)of the government. Using taxpayers" money to help a small number of people to earn high incomes in the future is not one of them. Full government funding(资助)is not very good for universities. Adam Smith worked in a Scottish university whose teachers lived off student fees. He knew and looked down upon 18th-century Oxford, where the academics lived comfortably off the income received from the government. Guaranteed salaries, Smith argued, were the enemy of hard work; and when the academics were lazy and incompetent, the students were similarly lazy. If students have to pay for their education, they not only work harder, but also demand more from their teachers. And their teachers have to keep them satisfied. If that means taking teaching seriously, and giving less time to their own research interests, that is surely something to celebrate. Many people believe that higher education should be free because it is good for the economy (经济). Many graduates clearly do contribute to national wealth, but so do all the businesses that invest (投资) and create jobs. If you believe that the government should pay for higher education because graduates are economically productive, you should also believe that the government should pay part of business costs. Anyone promising to create jobs should receive a gift of capital from the government to invest. In one word, that graduates can contribute to the national economy doesn"t mean that they should get free higher education. Therefore, it is the individual, not the government, who should pay for their university education.

填空题阅读下面这篇短文，短文后有项测试任务：(1)第23～26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第2～5段每段选择1个正确的小标题；(2)第27～30题要求从所给的6个选项中选择4个正确选项，分别完成每个句子。Attention to the Details 1 Attention to detail is something everyone can and should do-especially in a tight job market. Bob Crossley, a human-resources expert notices this in the job applications that come across his desk every day. "It's amazing how many candidates eliminate themselves,"he says. 2 "Resumes(简历)arrive with stains. Some candidates don't bother to spell the company's name correctly. Once I see a mistake, I eliminate the candidate,"Crossley concludes. "if they cannot take care of these details,why should we trust them with a job?" 3 Can we pay too much attention to details? Absolutely. Perfectionists struggle over little things at the cost of something larger they work toward. "To keep from losing the forest for the trees,"says Charles Garfield, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco,"we must constantly ask ourselves how the details we're working on fit into the larger picture. If they don't,we should drop them and move to something else. " 4 Garfield compares this process to his work as a computer scientist at NASA. "The Apollo moon launch was slightly off-course 90 percent of the time. "says Garfield. "But a successful landing was still likely because we knew the exact coordinates of our goal. This allowed us to make adjustments as necessary. "Knowing where we want to go helps us judge the importance of every task we undertake. 5 Too often we believe what accounts for others' success is some special secret or a lucky break (机遇). But rarely is success so mysterious. Again and again,we see that by doing little things within our grasp well, large rewards follow. A) Don't Be a Perfectionist B) The Benefits of Knowing Where We Want to Go C) Hard Work Plus Good Luck D) The Outcomes of Our Efforts E) The Importance of Attention to Detail F) Constantly Asking Ourselves about Details

填空题What Is Old Is New Again Some of the latest toys to hit store shelves include several names that were popular in the 1980s. Among them: He-Man, My Little Pony, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Transformers. Their appearance is surprising in an industry where all but classic toys like Barbie dolls tend to stay in the market for only a few years before they leave kid culture for good. The return of toys introduced a generation ago, say experts, is largely a generational effect. These toys were among the first to be marketed primarily through TV cartoons. The result of this is that these toys carried with them a much stronger brand identity than toys from previous ages. When those who played with these toys during the 1980s began having children of their own, businessmen realized they could take advantage of parents" emotional ties by bringing the toys back. "We are starting to see a lot of properties and products coming back now for the kids of Generation X," says Greg Livingston, vice president of Wondergroup, a children"s product marketing firm. But other industry observers say this return-of-toy trend is more rooted in basic economics. When the economy isn"t strong, they say, toy-makers become more careful. One of the safest marketing techniques is bringing back toys that are proven successes. "If you"re in the business of making and selling toys, you"re going to go the safest route, which is using proven brands," says Stephanie Oppenheimer, co-founder of the Oppenheimer Toy Co., an independent consumer group that rates toys. Other companies use product ideas that have sold well in other countries, such as Japan. Still, Ms. Oppenheimer also believes that American consumers simply are not in the mood for new, high- tech toys anymore. "People are interested less in what we wish we had but more in what we already have," says Oppenheimer. "As a country, we are looking for things that remind us of simpler times."

填空题A everything B a great success C a tremendous failure D nothing E mangy firsts F quite possible

填空题 Adult Education 1. Voluntary learning in organized courses by mature men and women is called adult education. Such education is offered to make people able to enlarge and interpret their experience as adults. Adults may want to study something which they missed in earlier schooling, get new skills or job training, find out about new technological developments, seek better self-understanding, or develop new talents and skills. 2. This kind of education may be in the form of self-study with proper guidance through the use of libraries, correspondence courses, or broadcasting. It may also be acquired collectively in schools and colleges, study groups, workshops, clubs and professional associations. 3. Modern adult education for large numbers of people started in the 18th and 19th centuries with the rise of the Industrial Revolution. Great economic and social changes were taking place: people were moving from rural areas to cities; new types of work were being created in an expanding factory system. These and other factors produced a need for further education and re-education of adults. 4. The earliest programs of organized adult education arose in Great Britain in the 1790s, with the founding of an adult school in Nottingham and a mechanics institution in Glasgow. Benjamin Franklin and some friends found the earliest adult education institution in the U.S. in Philadelphia in 1727. 5. People recognize that continued learning is necessary for most forms of employment today. For example, parts of the adult population in many countries find it necessary to take part in retraining programs at work or even to learn completely new jobs. Adult education programs are springing up constantly to meet these and other needs.

填空题Blasts from the Past 1 Volcanoes were destructive in ancient history. Not because they were bigger, but because the carbon dioxide they released wiped out life with greater ease. 2 Paul Wignall from the University of Leeds was investigating the link between volcanic eruptions and mass extinctions. Not all volcanic eruptions killed off large number of animals, but all the mass extinction cover the past 300 million years coincided with huge formations of volcanic rock. To his surprise, the older the massive volcanic eruptions were, the more damage they seemed to do. 3 Wignall calculated the "killing efficiency" for these volcanoes by comparing the proportion of life they killed off with the volume of lava that they produced. He found that size for size, older eruptions were at least 10 times as effective at wiping out life as their more recent rivals. 4 The Permian extinction, for example, which happened 250 million years ago, is marked by floods of volcanic rock in Siberia that cover an area roughly the size of western Europe. Those volcanoes are thought to have pumped out about 10 gigatonnes of carbon as carbon dioxide. The global warming that followed wiped out 80 percent of all marine genera at the time, and it took 5 million years for the planet to recover. 5 Yet 60 million years ago in the late Palaeocene there was another huge amount of volcanic activity and global warming but no mass extinction. Some animals did disappear but things returned to normal within ten thousands of years. "The most recent ones hardly have an effect at all," Wignall says. He ignored the extinction which wiped out the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous,265 million years ago, because many scientists believe it was primarily caused by the impact of an asteroid. 6 Wignall thinks that older volcanoes had more killing power because more recent life forms were better adapted to dealing with increased levels of CO2. Ocean chemistry may also have played a role. As the supercontinents broke up and exposed more coastline there may have been more weathering of silica rocks. This would have encouraged the growth of phytoplankton in the oceans, increasing the amount of CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere. 7 Vincent Courtillot, director of the Paris Geophysical Institute in France, says that Wignall's idea is provocative. But he says it is incredibly hard to do these sorts of calculations. He points out that the killing power of volcanic eruptions depends on how long they lasted. And it is impossible to tell whether the huge blasts lasted for thousands or millions of years. 8 Courtillot also adds that it is difficult to estimate how much lava prehistoric volcanoes produced, and that lava volume may not necessarily correspond to carbon dioxide or sulphur dioxide emissions. A．Killing Power of Ancient Volcanic Eruptions B．Association of Mass Extinctions with Volcanic C．Calculation of the Killing Power of Older Eruptions D．A Mass Extinction E．Volcanic Eruptions That Caused No Mass Extinction F．Accounting for the Killing Power of Older Eruptions

填空题Every Dog Has His Say Kimiko Fukuda always wondered what her dog was trying to say. Whenever she put on makeup, it would pull at her sleeve. (1) When the dog barks, she glances at a small electronic gadget (装置). The following "human" translation appears on its screen: "Please take me with you. " "1 realized that's how he was feeling," says Fukuda. The gadget is called Bowlingual, and it translates dog barks into feelings. People laughed when the Japanese toymaker Takara Company made the world's first dog-human translation machine in 2002. But 300,000 Japanese dog owners bought it. (2) "Nobody else had thought about it," said Masahiko Kajita, who works for Takara. "We spend so much time training dogs to understand our orders; what would it be like if we could understand dogs?" Bowlingual has two parts. (3) The translation is done in the gadget using a database containing every kind of bark. Based on animal behaviour research, these noises are divided into six categories: happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, declaration and desire. (4) In this way, the database scientifically matches a bark to an emotion, which is then translated into one of 200 phrases. When a visitor went to Fukuda's house recently, the dog barked a loud "bow wow". (5) It was followed by "I'm stronger than you" as the dog growled and sniffed (嗅) at the visitor. The product will be available in U. S. pet stores this summer for about U. S. $120. It can store up to 100 barks, even recording the dog's emotions when the owner is away. A. A wireless microphone is attached to the dog's collar, which sends information to the gadget held by the owner. B. Nobody really knows how a dog feels. C. This translated as "Don't come this way". D. More customers are expected when the English version is launched this summer. E. Now, the Japanese girl thinks she knows. F. Each one of these emotions is then linked to a phrase like "Let's play", "Look at me", or "Spend more time with me".

填空题阅读下面这篇短文，短文后有2项测试任务：(1) 第23-26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第2-5段每段选择1个最佳标题；(2) 第27-30题要求从所给的6个选项中选择4个正确的选项，分别完成每个句子。 Keeping Cut Flowers 1 While everybody enjoys fresh cut flowers around his house, few people know how to keep them for as long as possible. This may be done by keeping in mind a few simple facts. 2 An important thing to remember about cut flowers is that they are sensitive to temperature. For example, studies have shown that cut carnations (康乃馨) retain their freshness eight times longer when kept at 12℃ than when kept at 26℃. Keeping freshly harvested flowers at the right temperatures is probably the most important aspect of flower care. 3 Flowers are not intended by nature to live very long. Their biological purpose is simply to attract birds or insects, such as bees, for pollination (授粉). After that, they quickly dry up and die. The process by which flowers consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide (二氧化碳), called respiration (呼吸), generates the energy the flower needs to give the flower its shape and color. The making of seeds also depends on this energy. While all living things respire, flowers have a high level of respiration. A result of all this respiration is heat, and for flowers the level of heat relative to the mass of the flower is very high. Respiration also brings about the eventual death of the flower. Thus the greater the level of respiration, the sooner the flower dies. 4 How, then, to control the rate at which flowers die? By controlling respiration. How is respiration controlled? By controlling temperature. We know that respiration produces heat, but the reverse is also true. Thus by maintaining low temperatures, respiration is reduced and the cut flower will age more slowly. 5 Another vital factor in keeping cut flowers is the quality of the water in which they are placed. Flowers find it difficult to "drink" water that is dirty or otherwise polluted. Even when water looks and smells clean, it almost certainly contains harmful substances that can endanger the flowers. To rid the water of these unwanted substances, household chlorine bleach (含氯漂白剂) can be used in small quantities. It is recommended that 15 drops of chlorine bleach (at 4% solution) be added to each liter of water. The water and solution should also be replaced each day. A. Control of Respiration B. Beauty of Fresh Cut Flowers C. Role of Respiration D. Most Important Aspect of Flower Care E. Need for Clean Water F. Ways of Stopping Respiration

填空题Even Intelligent People Can Fail The striking thing about the innovators who succeeded in making our modern world is how often they failed. Turn on a light, take a photograph, watch TV, search the web, jet across the Pacific Ocean, talk on a cellphone (手机). The innovators who left us these things had to find the way to success through a maze (错综复杂) of wrong turns. We have just celebrated the 125th anniversary of American innovator Thomas Edison"s success in heating a thin line to white hot heat for 14 hours in his lab in New Jersey, US. He did that on October 22, 1879 and followed up a month later by keeping a thread of common cardboard alight (点亮着的) in an airless space for 45 hours. Three years later he went on to light up half a square mile of downtown Manhattan, even though only one of the six power plants in his design worked when he tamed it on, on September 4, 1882. "Many of life"s failures," the supreme innovator said, "are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." Before that magical moment in October 1879, Edison had worked out no fewer than 3,000 theories about electric light, but in them only two cases did his experiments work. No one likes failure, but the smart innovators learn from it. Mark Gumz, the head of the camera maker Olympus America Inc, attributes some of the company"s successes in technology to understanding failure. His popular phrase is "You only fail when you quit." Over two centuries, the most common quality of the innovators has been persistence. That is another way of saying they had the emotional ability to keep up what they were doing. Walt Disney, the founder of Disneyland, was so broke after a succession of financial failures that he was left shoeless in his office because he could not afford the US $1.50 to get his shoes from the repair shop. Pioneering car maker Henry Ford failed with one company and was forced out of another before he developed the Model T car. Failure is harder to bear in today"s open accelerated world. Hardly any innovation works the first time. But an impatient society and the media want instant success. When American music and movie master David Geffen had a difficult time, a critic said nastily that the only difference between Geffen Records (Geffen"s company) and the Titanic (the ship that went down) was that the Titanic had better music. Actually, it wasn"t. After four years of losses, Geffen had so many hits (成功的作品) he could afford a ship as big as the Titanic to himself.