5. Passage One There are three separate sources of danger in supplying energy by nuclear power. First， the radioactive material must travel from its place of production to the power station. Although the power stations themselves are strongly built， the containers used for the transport of the materials are not. Normally， only two methods of transport are in use， namely road or rail. Unfortunately， both of these may have an effect on the general public， since they are sure to pass near， or even through， heavily populated areas. Second， there is the problem of waste. All nuclear power stations produce wastes that in most cases will remain radioactive for thousands of years. It is impossible to make these wastes nonradioactive， so they must be stored in one of the inconvenient ways that scientists have invented. For example， they may be buried under the ground， or dropped into deserted mines， or sunk in the sea. However， these methods do not solve the problem， since an earthquake could easily break the containers.
Third， there may occur the danger of a leak or an explosion at the power station. Compared with the other two dangers， this is not very likely， so it does not provide a serious objection to the nuclear program. However， it can happen. Separately， these three types of dangers are not a great cause for worry. Taken together， though， the probability of disaster is extremely high. Which of the following is TRUE?

43. So instructive (_____)_ the student wanted to see it again.

A. 　 was the film

B. 　 it was the film

C. 　 the film was

D. 　the film it was

32. Great changes have taken place in my hometown since the 1980s. Still (_____)_ changes will take place in the future.

A. 　 greater

B. 　 great

C. 　 more great

D. 　 greatest

4. Passage Twenty-One What will man be like in the future—in 5，000 or even 50，000 years from now? We can only make guesses， of course， but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today. For man is slowly changing all the time. Let us take an obvious example. Man， even five hundred years ago， was shorter than he is today. Now， on average， men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is relatively short period of time， so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again， in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so， we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity. As time goes on， however， we shall have to use our brains more and more， and eventually we shall need larger ones. This is likely to bring about a physical change to the head， in particular the forehead will grow larger. Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact， we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger. On the other hand， we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These， as a result， are likely to grow weaker. At the same time， however， our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life. But what about hair? It will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future， then， both sexes are likely to be bald. Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at. This may well be true. All the same， in spite of all these changes， future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being， with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.Future man will probably ( ) .

A. have smaller eyes

B. see better

C. have larger eyes

D. wear better glasses

4. Passage Fifteen Big data can be defined as information that is too big or complex to be contained or processed by any one machine or person. As a student at the University of Sussex， Julian Dailly had two majors——English and philosophy. When he completed his studies， Dailly wondered how he would ever earn a living in a world filled with machines and technology. Now， he is part of the big data industry that includes Google and Facebook. Dailly’s research company， Morar Consulting， started three years ago with five employees. The company’s earnings have increased by 25% each year. It now employs 90 people. “What we do here is we try to discover what’s meaningful for people and link that to their economic behavior，” Dailly said. He noted the importance of working with people with different skills. “We have people from traditional research backgrounds， in addition to some in social sciences， economics， people from tech backgrounds， and salespeople，” Dailly said. Companies like Dailly’s employ recent college graduates. The industry profits from the ideas of these young men and women. New forms of data also make it possible for some observers to predict the future. They are more valuable to companies than the traditional forms of data recording or reporting. “We have access to the core information inside people’s heads，” Dailly said， “They tell you what people are going to do as opposed to what they’ve done. That helps people take proper action in advance. This makes it much more useful for strategy.” Julian Dailly dismisses concerns that computers have finally taken control of our daily lives. “Some may worry that humans will be allowed to be replaced by machines. I think it’s a fantasy.” The company is aimed at making use of the information to help people ( ) .

A. take predictive action

B. remember the past

C. learn from each other

D. stick to the tradition

1. Passage Two When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party， they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead，the research finds， the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to examine carefully a lot of information， often to its long-term benefit. Some brains do deteriorate with age. But for most aging adults， researchers say， much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to get hold of just one fact. Although that can be frustrating， it is often useful. “It may be that distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing，” said Shelley H. Carson， a psychology researcher at Harvard. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind. ” For example， in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases， adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean， older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling (结结巴巴地念) over the extra information， but are taking it in and processing it. When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers， the older adults responded much better than the students. “For the young people， it’s as if the distraction never happened，” said a researcher of the review， Lynn Hasher， a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “But for older adults， because they’ve retained all this extra data， they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.” Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world， where it is not always clear what information is important， or will become important. For instance， a seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. According to the first paragraph， it can be inferred that ( ) .

A. the brainpower does not always decline with age

B. older people feel sad for they can’t remember names

C. cocktail parties are popular among older people

D. there are a growing number of people studying the aging brain

31. If I (_____)_ harder at school, I would be sitting in a comfortable office now.

A. 　 worked

B. 　 were to work

C. 　 had worked

D. 　 were working

3. Passage Twenty-Eight On November 19， 1863， Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of President Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of politeness. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett， a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere. It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night， alone in his hotel room and tired out， he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15，000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and remarked， “I have failed again.” On the train back to Washington， he said sadly， “That speech was a flat failure， and the people are disappointed” . Some newspapers at first criticized the speech， but little by little as people read the speech， they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made. Today， every American school child learns Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by heart. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history. It can be inferred from the text that ( ) .

A. Lincoln prepared his speech very carefully before he went to Gettysburg

B. Lincoln was very busy at the time and didn’t have much time to prepare his speech

C. Lincoln’s speech was full of rich words

D. Lincoln’s speech was very long

2. Passage Nineteen A 3-year-old boy who was lost in the woods for two days is now safe at home. But Casey Hathaway told his rescuers that he was not alone in the rainy， freezing cold woods. He said he was with a friend——abear. The child went missing on January 22 while playing with friends at his grandmother’s house in the southern state of North Carolina. When the other children returned to the house and Casey did not， the family searched the area for almost an hour before calling the police. Police formed a search and rescue team to look for the young boy in the nearby woods. But two days went by and still——no Casey. The woods of North Carolina are home to many black bears， like this one. It seems one of them helped a little boy while he was lost in the woods. Then on January 24， someone called the police saying they heard a child crying in the woods. Police followed up on the information and found Casey at about 9:30 that night. They pulled him out of some briar (荆棘). He was in good health. Police Officer Chip Hughes said that Casey did not say how he was able to survive in the woods for two days in the cloud， rainy weather， but that “he did say he had a friend in the woods that was a bear that was with him. ” Hundreds of people helped in the search and rescue efforts， including some 600 volunteers， federal police and members of the military. Hughes told reporters that at no point did he think Casey had been kidnapped (绑架). Doctors at Carolina East Medical Center treated Casey for minor injuries. He was then released to his family on January 25 .The woods are mentioned again and again to indicate that they ( ) .

A. provide good places for children to play in

B. are home to bears and thus dangerous to children

C. stand for good environment around Casey’s home

D. may be the cause of the rainy weather in the area

4. Passage Twenty-Eight On November 19， 1863， Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of President Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of politeness. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett， a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere. It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night， alone in his hotel room and tired out， he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15，000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and remarked， “I have failed again.” On the train back to Washington， he said sadly， “That speech was a flat failure， and the people are disappointed” . Some newspapers at first criticized the speech， but little by little as people read the speech， they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made. Today， every American school child learns Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by heart. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history. It was a fact that Lincoln’s speech was ( ) .

A. an immediate success

B. warmly applauded

C. a total failure

D. not well-received at first

4. Passage Six We find that bright children are rarely held back by mixed-ability teaching. On the contrary， both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming (把 …按能力分班) pupils. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright child. After all， it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade! Besides， it is rather unreal to grade pupils just according to their intellectual (智力的) ability. This is only one aspect of their total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full， not just their academic ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills， and we find that mixed-ability teaching contributes to all these aspects of learning. In our classrooms， we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups: this gives them the opportunity to learn to co-operate， to share， and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to cope with personal problems as well as how to think， to make decisions， to analyze and evaluate， and to communicate effectively. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teacher. Sometimes the pupils work in pairs. Sometimes they work on individual tasks and assignments， and they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is appropriate. We encourage our pupils to use the library， and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this efficiently. An advanced pupil can do advanced work. It doesn’t matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best， not their least， and we give them every encouragement to attain this goal. The pupils often work in groups: this gives them the opportunity to learn ( ) .

A. to cooperate， to share and to develop leadership skills

B. to cope with personal problems

C. to learn how to think， to make decisions， to analyze and evaluate， and to communicate effectively

D. to do all the above things