Passage One There are those whom we instantly recognize as clinging to the traditional values of travel, the people who endure a kind of alienation and panic in foreign parts for the after-taste of having sampled new scenes. On the whole, travel at its best is rather comfortless, but travel is never easy: you get very tired, you get lost, you get your feet wet, you get little co-operation, and—if it is to have any value at all—you go alone. Homesickness is part of this kind of travel. In these circumstances, it is possible to make interesting discoveries about oneself and one's surroundings. Travel has less to do with distance than with insight: it is, very often, a way of seeing. The second group of travelers has only appeared in numbers in the best twenty years. For these people, paradoxically, travel is an experience of familiar things; it is travel that carries with it the illusion of immobility. It is going to a familiar airport and being strapped into a seat and held captive for a number of hours—immobile; then arriving at an almost identical airport; being whisked to a hotel so fast it is not like movement at all, and the hotel and the food are identical to the hotel and the food in the city one has just left. This is all tremendously reassuring and effortless; indeed, it is possible to go from, say, London to Singapore and not experience the feeling of having traveled anywhere. For many years in the past, this was enjoyed by the rich. It is wrong to call it tourism, because businessmen also travel this way; and many people, who believe themselves to be travelers, object to being called tourists. The luxury travelers of the past set an example for the package tourists of today. In this sort of travel you take your society with you: your language, your food, your styles of hotel and service. It is of course the prerogative of rich nations—America, Western Europe, and Japan. It has had a profound effect on our view of the world. It has made real travel greatly sought-after and somewhat rare. And I think it has caused a resurgence of travel writing. As everyone knows, travel is very unsettling, and it can be quite hazardous and worrying. One way of overcoming this anxiety is to travel packaged in style: luxury is a great remedy for the alienation of travel. What helps calm us is a reminder of stability and protection, and what the average package tourist looks for in foreign surroundings is familiar sights.
Passage Two The Bay filled the middle distance, stretching out of sight on both sides, and one's eye naturally traveled in a great sight-seeing arc: skimming along the busy Shoreline Freeway, swerving out across the Bay via the long Esseph Bridge to the city's dramatic skyline, dark downtown skyscrapers posed against white residential hills, from which it leapt across the graceful curves of the Silver Span suspension bridge, gateway to the Pacific, to alight on the green slopes of Miranda County. This vast panorama was agitated, even early in the morning, by every known form of transportation—ships, yachts, cars, trucks, trains, planes, helicopters and hovercrafts—all in simultaneous motion, reminding Philip of the brightly illustrated cover of a children's book. It was indeed, he thought, a perfect marriage of Nature and Civilization, this view, where one might take in at a glance the consummation of man's technological skill and the finest splendours of the natural world. The harmony he perceived in the scene was, he knew, illusory. Just out of sight to his left a cloud of smoke hung over the great military and industrial port of Ashland, and to his right the oil refineries of St Gabriel fumed into the limpid air. The Bay, which winked so prettily in the morning sun, was, people said, poisoned by industrial waste and untreated effluent. For all that, Philip thought, almost guiltily, framed by his living-room window and seen at this distance, the view still looked very good indeed. Morris Zapp was less entranced with his view—a vista of dank back gardens, rotting sheds and dripping laundry, huge ill-looking trees, grimy roofs, factory chimneys and church spires—but he had discarded this criterion at a very early stage of looking for accommodation in an English industrial town. You were lucky, he had quickly discovered, if you could find a place that could be kept at a temperature appropriate to human organisms, equipped with the more rudimentary amenities of civilized life, and decorated in a combination of colours and patterns that didn't make you want to vomit on sight. He had taken an apartment on the top floor of a huge old house owned by an Irish doctor and his extensive family. Dr O'shea had converted the attic with his own hands for the use of an aged mother, and it was to the recent death of this relative, the doctor impressed upon him, that Morris owed the good fortune of finding such enviable accommodation vacant. Morris didn't see this as a selling point himself, but O'shea seemed to think that the apartment's sentimental associations were worth at least an extra five dollars a week to an American torn from the bosom of his own family.
1. What sort of movement is suggested by the verbs used to describe the eye's progress in the first paragraph?
A.smooth
B.rapid
C.interrupted
D.reluctant
A B C D
B
skim，swerve，leap，alight这些词都是形容快速发生的动作，故选B。
2. Why did Philip look "almost guiltily" at the view?
A.Because he realized its beauty was deceptive.
B.Because he felt responsible for the pollution.
C.Because he felt he was wasting time looking at it.
D.Because he knew he had a better view than most people.
5. What is Morris's attitude towards accommodation in England?
A.He is charmed by the quaintness of the houses.
B.He finds the contrast with America interesting.
C.He is prepared to make the best of it.
D.He wishes he had stayed at home.
A B C D
C
本题可以用排除法来完成。A、B、D三项都不符合原文。
Passage Three All at once Hazel was coming in through the French windows, pulling off gardening gloves, and Bill was entering through the door, both at once. So I only had time to take one quick look at her before I turned to face him. All very confusing. What that first glimpse showed me was that time had thickened her figure but didn't seem to have made much difference to her face. It still had good skin and youthful outlines. She was holding a bunch of roses—must have been cutting them in the garden while waiting for me. The gardening gloves lent a delightfully informal touch. It was quite an entrance, though Bill spoilt it a bit by making his at the same time. Bill seemed longer and thinner. His tightly massed hair had a tinge of grey. Apart from that, twenty years had done nothing to him, except deepen the lines of thoughtfulness that had already, when I knew him, begun to spread across his face. Or was that all? I looked at him again, more carefully, as he looked away from me at Hazel. Weren't his eyes different somehow? More inward-looking than ever? Gazing in not merely at his thoughts, but at something else, something he was keeping hidden or perhaps protecting. Then we were chattering and taking glasses in our hands, and I came back to earth. For the first ten minutes we were all so defensive, so carefully probing, that nobody learnt anything. Bill had forgotten me altogether, that much was clear. He was engaged in getting to know me from scratch, very cautiously so as not to hit a wrong note, with the object of getting me to contribute a big subscription to his African project. I kept trying to absorb details about Hazel, but Bill was talking earnestly about African education, and the strain of appearing to concentrate while actually thinking about his wife proved so great that I decided it would be easier just to concentrate. So I did. I let him hammer away for about ten more minutes, and then the daughter, who seemed to be acting as parlour-maid, showed in another visitor. Evidently we were to be four at lunch.
1. What effect had time had on Hazel and Bill?
A.They had both lost weight.
B.They were more withdrawn.
C.They hadn't changed at all.
D.They had changed in subtle ways.
A B C D
D
从time had thickened her figure but didn't seem to have made much difference to her face. It still had good skin and youthful outlines和Apart from that, twenty years had done nothing to him看出，这两个人的变化并不大。
2. When they all started talking, the writer ______.
A.relaxed at last
B.stopped dreaming
C.spoke most to Hazel
D.began to remember things
A B C D
B
答案体现在I came back to earth一句。
3. The writer found the first part of their conversation ______.
A.sentimental
B.irritating
C.uninformative
D.trivial
A B C D
C
答案体现在nobody learnt anything一句。
4. Why did Bill speak seriously?
A.Because he wanted some money from the writer.
B.Because he did not remember the writer.
C.Because his wife was present.
D.Because he was talking about the past.
A B C D
A
Bill已经不记得作者，他和作者专注交谈的目的是getting me to contribute a big subscription to his African project。
5. In the end the writer found Bill's conversation ______.
A.monotonous
B.convincing
C.thought-provoking
D.instructive
A B C D
A
hammer away的意思是反复强调。从这个词可以看出答案应选A(单调的)。
Passage Four Diversity is a hallmark of life, an intrinsic feature of living systems in the natural world. The demonstration and celebration of this diversity is an endless rite. Look at the popularity of museums, zoos, aquariums and botanic gardens. The odder the exhibit, the more different it is from the most common and familiar life forms around us, the more successful it is likely to be. Nature does not tire of providing oddities for people who look for them. Biologists have already formally classified 1.7 million species. As many as 30 to 40 million more may remain to be classified. Most people seem to take diversity for granted. If they think about it at all they assume it exists in endless supply. Nevertheless, diversity is endangered as never before in its history. Advocates of perpetual economic growth treat living species as expendable. As a result, an extinction crisis of unprecedented magnitude is under way. Worse yet, when diversity needs help most it is neglected and misunderstood by much of the scientific community that once championed it. Of the two great challenges to the legitimacy of this diversity, the familiar one comes primarily from economists. Their argument, associated with such names as Julian Simon, Malcolm McPherson and the late Herman Kahn, can be paraphrased: "First, if endangered species have a value as resources—which has been greatly exaggerated—then we should be able to quantify that value so that we can make unbiased, objective decisions about which species, if any, we should bother to save, and how much the effort is worth. Secondly, the global threat to the diversity of species, particularly in the tropics, has been overestimated. Thirdly, we have good substitutes for the species and ecosystems that are being lost, and these substitutes will nullify the damage caused by the extinctions." The structure of the argument seems to me to be identical in form to that of an old joke from the American vaudeville circuit. One elderly lady complained to another about her recent vacation at a resort in the Catskill Mountains in New York State. "The food was terrible", she moaned. "Pure poison. I couldn't eat a bite. And the portions were so tiny!" Species may be valuable, but not especially so, and the threat to them has been exaggerated. But this does not matter anyway, say the economists, because we can replace any species that vanishes. It is not cleat how much of an impact this argument has on the informed public, but it has certainly provoked an outcry among scientific conservationists. It has set the terms for, and dominated, most of the pro-diversity literature of the past few years, making it a literature of response, thus limiting its scope and creative force.
1. Which feature of the natural world do people find especially fascinating?
A.Its great variety.
B.Its ancient forms.
C.Its strange rituals.
D.Its unclassified species.
A B C D
A
本文全文都在谈论多样性。文章第一段就开门见山地指出人类对自然世界多样性的着迷。
2. Which adjective best describes the writer's attitude towards the scientific community?
Passage Five We threaded our way out of the noise and confusion of the Customs shed into the brilliant sunshine on the quay. Around us the town rose steeply, tiers of multi-coloured houses piled haphazardly, green shutters folded back from their windows like the wings of a thousand moths. Behind us lay the bay, smooth as a plate smouldering with that unbelievable blue. Larry walked swiftly, with head thrown back and an expression of such regal disdain on his face that one did not notice his diminutive size, keeping a wary eye on the porters who struggled with his trunks. Behind him strolled Leslie, short, stocky, with an air of quiet belligerence, and then Margo, trailing yards of muslin and scent. Mother, looking like a tiny, harassed missionary in an uprising, was dragged unwillingly to the nearest lamp-post by an exuberant Roger, and was forced to stand there, staring into space, while he relieved pent-up feelings that had accumulated in his kennel. Larry chose two magnificently dilapidated horse-drawn cabs, had the luggage installed in one, and seated himself in the second. Then he looked round irritably. "Well?" he asked. "What are we waiting for?" "We're waiting for Mother," explained Leslie. "Roger's found a lamp-post." "Dear God!" said Larry, and then hoisted himself upright in the cab and bellowed, "Come on, Mother, come on. Can't the dog wait?" "Coming, dear," called Mother passively and untruthfully, for Roger showed no signs of quitting the post. "That dog's been a damned nuisance all the way," said Larry. "Don't be so impatient," said Margo indignantly; "the dog can't help it... and anyway, we had to wait an hour in Naples for you." "My stomach was out of order," explained Larry coldly. "Well, presumably his stomach's out of order," said Margo triumphantly. At this moment Mother arrived, slightly disheveled, and we had to turn our attentions to the task of getting Roger into the cab. He had never been in such a vehicle, and treated it with suspicion. Eventually we had to lift him bodily and hurl him inside, helping frantically, and then pile in breathlessly after him and hold him down. The horse, frightened by this activity, broke into a shambling trot, and we ended in a tangled heap on the floor of the cab with Roger moaning loudly underneath us. "What an entry," said Larry bitterly. "I had hoped to give an impression of gracious majesty, and this is what happens... we arrive in town like a troupe of medieval tumblers."
1. What does the town appear to be like?
A.untidy
B.flat
C.picturesque
D.modem
A B C D
C
从作者在第一段的描写景色所使用的词brilliant，steeply，multi-coloured，haphazardly，green，like the wings，smooth，smouldering，unbelievable可知，在作者眼里，小镇的风景是非常美丽的。故选C。
2. What did Mother's behaviour suggest?
A.She was deliberately wasting time.
B.She was angry with Larry.
C.She preferred the dog to her children.
D.She couldn't control the situation.
A B C D
D
从“母亲像是暴动中被骚扰的传教士”以及unwillingly，forced，staring into space可推知答案D。
3. What made the dog panic?
A.The noise on the quay.
B.Larry's shouting.
C.The horse-drawn cab.
D.The heat of the day.
A B C D
C
答案体现在He had never been in such a vehicle, and treated it with suspicion一句。
4. Larry was disappointed at the end of the passage because ______.
A.the cabs were in poor condition
B.the family were so slow
C.their arrival looked ridiculous
D.Margo kept arguing
A B C D
C
答案体现在文章的最后一段。
5. The overall impression of Larry is that he was ______.
深色：已答题 浅色：未答题