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

37. Does everyone on earth have an equal right (_____)_ an equal share of its resources?

A. 　 by

B. 　 at

C. 　 to

D. 　 over

5. Passage Seven A few centuries ago， people looked at the birds and wondered what it would be like to fly like them. There were stories of heroes who glued bird feathers on their arms and flew up into the sky. About 500 years ago， some people dreamed a different dream. Instead of flying up to the sky， they dreamed of falling from the sky! In the 15th century， Italian inventors designed a cone-shaped (雏形) device that was supposed to bring a man down safely from a great height. The operator held on to a handle with straps strapped to his waist. This was the first known design for a parachute (降落伞) . Even the great inventor Leonardo da Vinci sketched a type of parachute. His parachute design was in the shape of a pyramid (金字塔). Other inventors also sketched their own designs for a parachute. Unfortunately， these were only designs on paper and no one tested them . A Croatian inventor named Fausto Veranzio looked at Leonardo da Vinci’s parachute design and replaced the pyramid shape with one that looked like a sail from a ship. When Veranzio was 65 years old， he fell ill. Thinking he would not live longer， he decided to try out his parachute invention. He built his parachute using wood and cloth. Strapping his invention to his waist， he jumped off the tall bell tower in his city. He landed safely! He was supposedly the first man to successfully use a parachute. However， some people thought this story was not true. If that was the case， then the first person to successfully use a parachute would go to a Frenchman named Louis-Sebastien Lenormand in 1783 .The passage is mainly about ( ) .

A. the origin of the parachute

B. the dreams of flying and falling

C. the courage of dropping from the sky

D. the application of parachute invention

4. Passage Twenty-Two Though some people have suggested that women should return to housework in order to leave more jobs for men， the idea has been rejected by both women and men in public opinion polls (民意测验). Lately some union officials have suggested that too many women are employed in type of work more suitable for men and that women should step aside to make way for unemployed young men. They argue that women—especially women in their childbearing years actually delay economic development and result in lower productivity， poor quality and inefficiency. To solve the problem， they have suggested that the working women stay at home while their husbands or brothers were given double wages. They argue that under these circumstances， families would retain their same level of income， and women could run the house and raise children much better. The suggestion has been rejected by 9 out of 10 people polled. A hundred persons in a big city were questioned last summer. Out of 50 women， 46 said they were unwilling to leave their jobs， no matter what the situation was. The other 4 said they would like to return home if their jobs could be taken by their sons or daughters. Of 50 men polled， only 6 said they would like to see their wives give up their jobs， if it meant higher wages for themselves. Some other people have suggested another way called “phased employment theory” . The theory suggests that a woman worker take leave from her job when she is seven months pregnant (妊娠) and stay off the job until her baby reaches the age of 3. It suggests that women on leave receive 75 percent of their normal salary and be allowed to return to work after the 3-year period. This will benefit children， women， their families and the society. Some of those polled， both women and men， felt the idea is a good one. It definitely seems to be more acceptable than the suggestion that women return to home forever. From the passage we can see “phased employment” means ( ) .

A. two or more women share the same job

B. women stay at home on weekdays and go to work on weekends or holidays

C. a woman should resign her job forever if she has a child

D. women are allowed to take leave from their jobs during their childbearing years

1. Passage Twelve What are the differences between public and private in American higher education? A big difference involves money. Public colleges and universities charger for an education just like private schools. But state schools cost less because they get money from the states that started them to educate local citizens. As a result， out-of-state and international students usually pay more than state residents， at least the first year. The state with the most residents， almost forty million， is California. Its systems of two-year and four-year colleges and universities are among the largest in the world. But the example we are going to focus on today is to the north of California， in a much smaller state on the West Coast: Oregon. The University of Oregon， located in Eugene， is one of the campuses in the Oregon University System. The cost for undergraduates this year is $6，000 for state residents. Housing is an additional $8，000. Non-residents pay the same for housing——but almost $20，000 for tuition and fees. Let’s see how these numbers compare to a private college in Oregon. Lewis and Clark College in Portland has 4，000 students， compared to 20，000 at the University of Oregon. Housing costs $800 more than at the state school. But the big difference is tuition. The published price at Lewis and Clark is almost $34，000. Yet Lewis and Clark is one of the few American colleges to offer financial aid for international students. Each year it awards financial aid to twenty students from other countries. And it says the average award last year was 19，000 dollars. That would make Lewis and Clark cheaper for international students than the University of Oregon. But， of course， prices alone do not say anything about the quality of a school or the value of an education. One of the differences between public and private universities is ( ) .

A. private universities are usually smaller than the public ones

B. attending private universities is less expensive

C. public universities require foreign students to pay more tuitions

D. public universities provide more financial aids to foreign students

4. 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.Why does land become desert after all trees are cut down?

A. Because nothing remains on land except floods.

B. Because there are no longer trees to keep the rain and protect the top-soil.

C. Because too much rain sinks in and washes away the top-soil.

D. Because roots of the trees break up the soil.

40. His efforts to develop new energy sources (_____) to be rewarding.

A. 　 turned up

B. 　 turned back

C. 　 turned out

D. 　 turned away

3. Passage Twenty-Five Online dating has just been revealed to be one of the most common ways to start a relationship. But new research reveals that the concept is still highly flawed (有缺陷的). An analysis of 400 studies into online dating shows that while it offers access to plenty of other singles， users can be overwhelmed and put off by the volume of choice， defeating the purpose. The research， by Northwestern University and published in the journal Psychological Science in the public interest， found that the processes involved don’t lend themselves to forming strong relationships. The findings also indicated that the concept of an online profile (介绍) is not entirely useful and “can result in treating potential partners as mere objects ”. Lead author Eli. J. Finkel explained， “Online dating is a terrific addition for singles to meet. However， there are two problems. ” First， studying over seemingly endless lists of profiles of people one does not know， as on Match.com， does not reveal much about them. Second， it “overloads people and they end up shutting down，” he said. He compared it to shopping at “supermarkets of love” and said psychological research shows people presented with too many choices tend to make lazy and often poor decisions. The study’s authors also questioned the algorithms ( 算法) employed by sites such as eHarmony.com to match people based on their interests or personality—comparing it to having a real estate agent of love. While the algorithm may reduce the number of potential partners from thousands to a few， they may be as unsuitable for each other as two people meeting at random， Dr. Finkel explained， adding the chances are no better than finding a relationship by walking into any bar. “There’s no better way to figure out whether you’re a match with somebody than talking to them over a coffee or beer，” Dr. Finkel said. The phrase “lend themselves to” (Para.3) probably means ( ) .

A. be opposed to

B. be easily used for

C. be happy with

D. be consistent with

3. 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】. According to the passage， where would the project be more easily carried out?

A. In large communities with little sense of unity.

B. In large cities where libraries are far from home.

C. In medium-sized cities with a diverse population.

D. In large towns where agreement can be quickly reached.

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

1. 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 is the most important service of trees to man according to the passage?

A. They help him make money.

B. They give him wood and other products.

C. They help him prevent droughts and floods.

D. They give him shade.