英语试题

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）

A

There was a time when most people in the United States believed that the tomato was a poisonous food. In the 1820s, a farmer realized the value of the tomato and wanted to make it popular.

Unfortunately people were afraid to try it. They thought that if you ate a tomato, you would surely get sick.“Eat a tomato with fish, and you’d better have a doctor handy. Eat a tomato with fish and ice cream, forget the doctor. Call an undertaker.”

The farmer decided to do something surprising. He let everybody know far and wide that on the next market day, he would stand on the Court House steps and eat a tomato. People came from all over to watch him. The farmer waited until a large crowd had gathered. Then he walked quickly to the Court House steps, lifted a basket of tomatoes for all to see, and ate one. Another. A third. And he didn’t die.

Farmers have been growing tomatoes ever since. Boxes of tomatoes go to the market Poisonous? They are just wonderful, as most people now agree.

56．What is the main idea of the text?

A．People often have wrong beliefs

B．It is easy to change people’s minds

C．How tomato became popular in the US.

D．Tomatoes were first grown by US farmers.

57．From the underlined sentences in the second paragraph we learn that in the 1820s people

thought .

A．fish and ice cream were very good food

B．one tomato had enough poison to kill a person

C．only an undertaker could save the life of a person who ate tomatoes

D．fish, tomato, and ice cream if eaten together could kill a person

58．The last word“undertaker”in the second paragraph means .

A．a person whose job is burying the dead

B．a person who takes care of his business

C．a person who digs the earth

D．a person who makes the dead people come to life again

B

Safe driving starts before you turn the engine. You can get ready to drive always by:

1. Seating yourself right behind the wheel（方向盘）rather than to the side where it is difficult to reach all the controls.

2. Fastening yourself up not only for safety, but to prevent being thrown from the wheel during sudden turns.

3. Turning your mirrors so you can see most of the fields.

4. Placing your hands on the wheel in the nine and three o’clock position for quick turning.

Now you are ready for safe driving. On the way there are six things you can do to have a safe journey:

1. Look ahead attentively. At the first sign of fog, slow down, turn on lights and make sure you know where you are.

2. Check behind. Look at the side-and view mirrors at least every seven seconds.

3.Keep proper distance from other vehicles.（车辆）ahead to prevent the danger of their sudden stop.

4. Pay special attention to on-coming vehicles. The best way to meet the on-coming vehicles is to slow down and move as fast as possible to the right.

5. Take care at crossing. Slow down and look left, then right, then left again before passing through. Keep watching until you are safely past the point of danger.

Practise patience and be polite. A driver who has patience and is polite will have time to act properly if there should be a problem to develop.

59．Before getting your car going, you should put your hands .

A．on the upper and lower parts of the wheel

B．on the left side and right side of the wheel separately

C．on the central part of the wheel near the clock

D．on the lower part of the wheel

60．Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．During the journey the driver must take a right position

B．While passing a crossroad, the driver should keep looking to the left and then to the right.

C．While driving, the driver should put the mirror at a right angle（角度）so as to see well

D．Hurrying is perhaps one of the worst enemies to a driver.

61．While the driver is driving, .

A．he should closely follow other vehicles ahead

B．his car should keep away from the vehicles ahead as far as possible

C．there shouldn’t be too many vehicles in front of his car

D．his car shouldn’t be too close to the vehicles ahead

62．What is the most basic thing a good driver should have?

A．A perfect skill of driving. B．A very good eyesight.

C．Politeness and patience. D．Good memory of the driving rules

C

The famous director of a big and expensive movie planned to film a beautiful sunset over the ocean, so that the audiences could see his hero（男主角）and heroine（女主角）in front of it at the end of the film as they said goodbye to each other for ever. He sent his camera crew（摄制组）out one evening to film the sunset for him.

The next morning he said to the men, “Have you provided me with that sunset?”

“No, sir.” The men answered.

The director was angry. “Why not? ” he asked.

“Well, sir. ” one of the men answered, “We’re on the east coast here, and the sun sets in the west. We can get you a sunrise over the sea, if necessary, but not a sunset.”

“But I want a sunset!” the director shouted. “Go to the airport, take the next flight to the west coast, and get one.”

But then a young secretary had an idea.“Why don’t you photograph a sunrise,” she suggested,“and then play it backwards? Then it’ll look like a sunset.”

“That’s a very good idea!” the director said. Then he turned to the camera crew and said, “Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.”

The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over the beach in the middle of a beautiful bay（海湾）.Then at nine o’clock. They took it to to the director.“Here it is, sir. ”they said, and gave it to him. He was very pleased.

They all went into the studio（摄影棚）.“All right, ”the director explained, “now our hero and heroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the ‘sunset’ behind them.”

The “sunset” began, but after a quarter of a minute, the director suddenly put his face in his hands and shouted to the camera crew to stop.

The birds in the film were flying backwards, and the waves on the sea were going away from the beach.

63．One evening, the director sent his camera crew out .

A．to watch a beautiful sunset B．to find an actor and an actress

C．to film a scene on the sea D．to meet the audience

64．Why did the director want to send his crew to the west coast?

A．Because he changed his mind about getting a sunset.

B．Because he was angry with his crew.

C．Because it was his secretary’s suggestion.

D．Because he wanted to get a scene of sunset.

65．Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The crew had to follow the secretary’s advice.

B．If you want to see a sunrise, the east coast is the place to go to.

C．The camera crew wasn’t able to film the scene the first day.

D．The director ordered his crew to stop filming the “sunset”.

66．The director wanted to film a sunset over the ocean because .

A．it went well with the separation of the hero and the heroine

B．when they arrived at the beach it was already in the evening

C．it was more moving than a sunrise

D．the ocean looked more beautiful at sunset

67．After the“sunset”began, the director suddenly put his face in his hands .

A．because he was moved to tears

B．as he saw everything in the film moving backwards

C．as the sunrise did not look as beautiful as he had imagined

D．because he was disappointed with the performance of the hero and heroine

D

ZHUHAI—China will soon put a person into space and become the third nation in the world to have manned spaceflight, a top Chinese aerospace（航空航天）official said on November 5.

A manned launch（发射）was not far off, Vice President Hu Hongfu of China Aerospace Science Technology corp（CASTC）told a news conference at the third Zhuhai Air Show.“It will not be long before Chinese astronauts（宇航员）can ride locally-made spaceships into space,”Hu said. The official gave no timetable but said it would happen“at the beginning of the 21st century.”

The former Soviet Union and the United States have been putting people into orbit since the early 1960s, but other nations have not considered the challenge（挑战）worth following.

China has already built and sent up its own satellites for communications and weather forecasting. The new communication satellites would help to encourage the country’s broadcasting industry, Hu said.

China would gradually close the distance between its country’s space industry and that of other nations. He added that they were willing to send up commercial（商业）satellites for Taiwan.

On China’s plan to send up manned spaceflights, Hu said China had made important development after the successful launch in November last year of the country’s first experimental spaceship, Shenzhou. “The whole project is in the research stage and a lot of work needs to be done,”Hu said. “We need to have more tests of the unmanned spaceship.”

China last year announced a four-step manned spaceflight plan, with the aim of setting up a space-station served by a spaceship traveling between two places.

68．There are countries that have sent up manned spaceflight up to now.

A．two B．three C．four D．five

69．The main ida of the 6th paragraph is .

A．we haven’t tested the manned spaceship

B．before we send a manned spaceship, we should carry out many tests

C．though we have made important improvement, we need to do more tests of the unmanned spaceship

D．sending up a manned spaceship can show a country’s scientific level

70．Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “close”?

A．shut B．drop C．shorten D．widen

71．The writer wrote the passage to .

A．tell us the present situation of China’s aerospace technology

B．remind us what we should do compared to other countries

C．find out the reason why China falls behind

D．tell us that China will send up its manned spaceship soon

E

There are stock markets（股票市场）in large cities in many countries. Stock markets in Paris, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and New York are among the largest and the best known. The stock market, also called stock exchange, is a place where people can buy or sell shares（股票）of a factory or a company. And each share means certain ownership of a factory or a company.

Different people go to stock markets. Some are rich. Who want to get more money than they have. Others are not very rich, who buy stocks and try to become rich. Still others buy stocks as part of their plan to save money.

Of course, investing（投资）money in the stock market is not the safest way to make money. No one can tell exactly whether the shares will be doing well. The factory or company may do badly. Then the stocks will go down and investors will lose money. The stocks may go up or down for a number of untold reasons. Everyone wants the stock to go up, but sometimes even if a factory or a company does a good job, the stock may still go down.

No wonder going to the stock market is often compared to gambling（赌博）.All are eager to make money, “gambling”in the stock market. Factories and companies that need money are pleased that so many people are willing to“gamble”. Indeed, the stock market is an attractive part of the business world.

72．If you are an investor, what may happen to you in the market?

A．You can always make money

B．You can tell exactly when the stock goes up or down.

C．You may sometimes lose money.

D．Your gambling is always safe.

73．The article mainly wants to tell us .

A．how to buy or sell shares

B．the stock market is like a gambling house

C．some common knowledge of stock markets

D．investing money in the stock market is not the safest way

74．If a factory or a company does a good job, .

A．investors will always get money

B．the stock will never go down

C．going to the stock market is the safest way

D．the stock can also go down sometimes

75．Factories and companies are pleased that so many people“gamble,” because .

A．they need the money to do business

B．they need more people to work for them

C．gambling is great fun

D．some people win and some lose

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