5. Passage Seventeen No one knows how man learned to make words. Perhaps he began by making sounds like those made by animals. Perhaps he grunted like a pig when he lifted something heavy. Perhaps he made sounds like those he heard all round him——water splashing， bees humming， a stone falling to the ground. Somehow， he learned to make words. As the centuries went by， he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language. People living in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. Each contains many thousands of words. A very large English dictionary， for example， contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we do not need all these. Only a few thousand words are used in everyday life. The words you know are called your vocabulary. You should try to make your vocabulary bigger. You’re supposed to read as many books as you can. There are plenty of books written in easy English for you to read. You will enjoy them. When you meet a new word， you should find it in your dictionary. Your dictionary is your most useful book. You can enlarge your vocabulary by ( ) .

2. Passage Three Have you always dreamed of traveling to cool places， meeting lots of different people， and maybe picking up a language or two? No matter what country you live in， you can fly over the world’s highest waterfalls in Venezuela， learn world trade in Japan， study art in France， or take dancing lessons in Ghana. How? Join a study abroad program， where high school and college students live with a host family in a foreign country. Semester， summer， and year-long programs allow you to attend school， take intensive language courses， or perform community service in another country. Besides the excitement of travel， one reason to study abroad is that you will experience new customs， holidays， foods， art， music， and politics firsthand. “I learned the language and am now fluent， but perhaps more important was how much I learned about cultures， people， and myself. I learned this from the viewpoint of an active member of the community and my host family， not from the tourist’s point of view，” says Andrew， who studied in Poitiers， France. Another reason for studying abroad is that you’ll gain self-confidence. Christina studied in Caracas， Venezuela， a city of 10 million people and a huge change from her hometown of 35，000! Christina says she learned how to better stand up for herself and her beliefs and to express herself in another language. What could make you more confident than that? Living away from home can also help you adjust in the transition to college and adulthood. Matthew says he returned from studying in Australia with confidence， social savvy， and a genuine interest in international affairs that really set him apart from his peers. “After having gone abroad in high school， I found the transition to college to be a breeze—moving 560 miles from home didn’t seem particularly daunting after having lived thousands of miles away.” And speaking of college， improving your language skills might help you get into dream colleges and even land future jobs. Colleges and employers know that studying abroad provides leadership skills in a world that is increasingly globally interconnected. Most of all， it’s fun! You’re not likely to suffer from sophomore slump or general boredom while you’re studying in a different learning environment. What are the reasons for studying abroad besides the excitement of travel according to the passage?

A. You will experience new customs， holidays， foods， art， music， and politics firsthand.

B. You will meet lots of different people and pick up a language or two.

C. You will experience new cultures and gain self-confidence.

D. All of the above.

48. If you associate with such people, I' m afraid you(_____)serious trouble.

A. 　 are heading for

B. 　 are making

C. 　 are avoiding

D. 　 are creating

5. Passage Thirteen Trees are useful to man in three important ways: they provide him with wood and other products; they give him shade; and they help to prevent droughts and floods. Unfortunately， in many parts of the world， man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important. In his eagerness to make money from trees， he has cut them down in large numbers， only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. And besides， he is usually too careless to plant and look after new trees. So the forests slowly disappear. This does not only mean that man will have fewer trees. The results are even more serious: for where there are trees， their roots break up soil——allowing the rain to sink in——and also bind the soil， thus preventing it from being washed away easily; but where there are no trees， the rain falls on hard ground and flows away， causing floods and carrying away the rich top-soil. When all the top-soil is gone， nothing remains but worthless desert. Two thousand years ago a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships， with which to gain itself an empire. It set up the empire but， without its trees， its soil became poor and it grew weak. When the empire fell to pieces， the home country found itself faced with floods and starvation.What does the author tell us in this passage?

A. How trees help prevent droughts and floods.

B. The relationship between trees and man.

C. How an empire fell to pieces in ancient times.

D. A story of trees.

3. Passage Twenty-Three Washington Irving was America’s first man of letters to be known internationally. His works were received enthusiastically both in England and in the United States. He was， in fact， one of the most successful writers of his time in the country， and at the same time winning the admiration of fellow writers like Scott in Britain and Poe and Hawthorne in the United States. The respect in which he was held was partly owing to the man himself， with his warm friendliness， his good sense， his urbanity， his gay spirits， his artistic integrity， his love of both the Old World and the New. Thackery described Irving as “a gentleman， who， though himself born in no very high sphere， was most finished， polished， witty; socially the equal of the most refined Europeans. ” In England he was granted an honorary degree from Oxford—an unusual honor for a citizen of a young， uncultured nation—and he received the medal of the Royal Society of Literature. America made him ambassador to Spain. Irving’s background provides little to explain his literary achievements. A gifted but delicate child， he had little schooling. He studied law， but without zeal， and never did practice seriously. He was immune to his strict Presbyterian home environment， frequenting both social gatherings and the theatre. Which of the following best describes the effect of Irving’s Presbyterian background on his life?

A. It fostered his love for the theater.

B. It developed his skill in business.

C. It prompted his interest in law.

D. It had almost no effect on his life.

37. We are looking forward (_____)_ a trip to your country.

A. 　 to take

B. 　 to taking

C. 　 to be taking

D. 　 to having taken

2. Passage Eighteen An idea that started in Seattle’s public library has spread throughout America and beyond. The concept is simple: help to build a sense of community in a city by getting everyone to read the same book at the same time. In addition to encouraging reading as a pursuit (追求) to be enjoyed by all， the program allows strangers to communicate by discussing the book on the bus， as well as promoting reading as an experience to be shared in families and schools. The idea came from Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl who launched the “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book” project in 1998. Her original program used author visits， study guides and book discussion groups to bring people together with a book， but the idea has expanded to many other American cities， and even to Hong Kong. In Chicago， the mayor appeared on television to announce the choice of To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book in the “One Book， One Chicago” program. As a result， reading clubs and neighborhood groups sprang up around the city. Across the US， stories emerged of parents and children reading to each other at night and strangers chatting away on the bus about the plot and characters. The only problem arose in New York， where local readers could not decide on one book to represent the huge and diverse population. This may show that the idea works best in medium-sized cities or large towns， where a greater sense of unity can be achieved. Or it may show that New Yorkers rather missed the point， putting all their energy and passion into the choice of the book rather than discussion about a book itself. Ultimately， as Nancy points out， the level of success is not measured by how many people read a book， but by how many people are enriched by the process or have enjoyed speaking to someone with whom they would not otherwise have 【shared a word】. Why was it difficult for New Yorkers to carry out the project?

A. They had little interest in reading.

B. They were too busy to read a book.

C. They came from many different backgrounds.

D. They lacked support from the local government.

38. They found the lecture hard (_____)_.

A. 　 to be understood

B. 　 to understand

C. 　 for understanding

D. 　 to have been understood

2. Passage Sixteen Justin was always prepared. His motto was “Never throw anything out， you never know when it might come in handy.” His bedroom was so full of flat bicycle tires， bent tennis rackets， deflated basketballs， and games with missing pieces that you could barely get in the door. His parents asked him to clean out his room. “What use is a fish tank with a hole in the bottom?” his father asked. But Justin simply smiled and repeated his motto， “Never throw anything out， you never know when it might come in handy.” When Justin was away from home， he always carried his blue backpack. He liked to think of it as a smaller version of his bedroom——a place to store the many objects that he collected. It was so worn and stretched that it hardly resembled a backpack anymore. It was full of the kind of things that seemed unimportant， but when used with a little imagination， might come in handy. Justin had earned a reputation for figuring things out and getting people out of otherwise hopeless situations. Many of his classmates and neighbors sought him out when they needed help with a problem. On the first day of school， his friend Kenny， came looking for Justin. “Do you think you have something in your bag that could help me remember my locker code?” he asked. “I lost the paper it was written on. I have science class in two minutes and if I’m late on the first day it’ll make me look bad for the rest of the year.” Kenny looked genuinely worried. “Relax，” Justin said， taking his backpack off and opened it. “Remember how you borrowed my notebook in hometown to write the code down? Well， I know how we can recover what you wrote. ” He took the notebook and a soft lead pencil out of his bag. The page that Kenny had written on had left faint indentations (旧凹痕) on another page in the notebook. Justin held the pencil on its side and rubbed it lightly over the indentations. Slowly but surely the numbers of the locker code appeared in white， set off by the gray pencil rubbings. “That’s amazing!” Kenny said. “I owe you one.” And he dashed off to open his locker. In what way is Justin’s backpack a smaller version of his bedroom?

A. He uses it as a place to store objects.

B. He uses it to carry his books and sports equipment.

C. His parents tell him to clean it all the time.

D. He has had it for too long a time.

1. 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 author’s purpose of writing this passage is to ( ) .

A. argue for teaching bright and not-so-bright pupils in the same class

B. recommend pair work and group work for classroom activities

C. offer advice on the proper use of the library

D. emphasize the importance of appropriate formal classroom teaching

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