One of the most fascinating things about television is the size of the audience. A novel can be on the "best sellers" list with a sale of fewer than 100,000 copies, but a popular TV show might have 70 million TV viewers. TV can make anything or anyone well known overnight. This is the principle behind "quiz" or "game" shows, which put ordinary people on TV to play a game for the prize and money. A quiz show can make anyone a star, and it can give away thousands of dollars just for fun. But all of this money can create problems. For instance, in the 1950s, quiz shows were very popular in the U.S. and almost everyone watched them. Charles Van Doren, an English instructor, became rich and famous after winning money on several shows. He even had a career as a television personality. But one of the losers proved that Charles Van Doren was cheating. It turned out that the show's producers, who were pulling the strings, gave the answers to the most popular contestants beforehand. Why? Because if the audience didn't like the person who won the game, they turned the show off. Based on his story, a movie under the title "Quiz Show" is on 40 years later. Charles Van Doren is no longer involved with TV. But game shows are still here, though they aren't taken as seriously. In fact, some of them try to be as ridiculous as possible. There are shows that send strangers on vacation trips together, or that try to cause newly married couples to fight on TV, or that punish losers by humiliating them. The entertainment now is to see what people will do just to be on TV. People still win money, but the real prize is to be in front of an audience of millions.
1. TV can make a beggar world famous overnight.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
A
2. The principle behind "quiz" or "game" shows is to put ordinary people on TV to play a game for prizes and money.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
B
3. Prizes and money are usually provided by TV stars and large companies.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
C
4. One of the TV personalities, Charles Van Doren was proved to be cheating by persuading the Show's producers to give him the answers beforehand.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
B
5. The huge scandal of cheating in TV games shows was not exposed until 40 years later in the movie "Quiz Show".
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
B
6. Nowadays game shows are not treated as seriously as they used to be.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
A
7. Winners of present day TV game shows no longer get money from the shows.
Is There a Way to Keep the Britain's Economy Growing
In today's knowledge economy, nations survive on the things they do best. Japanese design electronics while Germans export engineering techniques. The French serve, the best food and Americans make computers. Britain specializes in the gift of talking. The nation doesn't manufacture much of anything. But it has lawyers, stylists and business consultants who earn their living from talk and more talk. The World Foundation think tank says the UK's four iconic jobs today are not scientists, engineers, teachers and nurses. Instead, they're hairdressers, celebrities, management consultants and managers. But can all this talking keep the British economy going? The British government thinks it can. Although the country's trade deficit was more than ￡60 billion in 2006, UK's largest in the postwar period, officials say the country has nothing to worry about. In fact, Britain does have a world class pharmaceutical industry? And it still makes a small sum from selling arms abroad. It also trades services-accountancy, insurance, banking and advertising. The government believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy. After all, me country of Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a literary tradition of which to be proud. Rock 'n' roll is an English language medium, and there are billions to be made by their cutting-edge bands. In other words, the creative economy has plenty of strength to carry the British economy. However, creative industries account for only about 4 percent of UK's exports of goods and services. The industries are finding it hard to make a profit, according to a report of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts The report shows only 38 percent of British companies were engaged in "innovation activities", 3 percentage points below the EU average and well below Germany (61 percent) and Sweden (47 percent). In fact, it might be better to call Britain a "servant" economy—there are at least 4 million people "in service". The majority of the population are employed by the rich to cook, clean, and take care of their children. Many graduates are even doing menial jobs for which they do not need a degree. Most employment growth has been, and will continue to be, at the low-skill end of the service sector—in shops, bars, hotels, domestic service and in nursing and care homes. A．Growth of Economy B．"Servant" Economy C．Strength of the Creative Economy D．Weakness of the Creative Economy E．Gift of talking F．Export of Talking Machines
1. Paragraph 2 ______
E
2. Paragraph 3 ______
C
3. Paragraph 4 ______
D
4. Paragraph 5 ______
B
5. A．to find jobs B．to do low skill jobs C．to feed its people D．to handle disputes E．to make a profit F．to worry about the British economy Every country has its own way ______.
C
6. The British government doesn't seem ______.
F
7. The creative industries find it difficult ______.
E
8. Many graduates are employed ______.
B
第4部分：阅读理解 下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题。请根据短文内容，为每题确定1个最佳选项。
第一篇
Pool Watch
Swimmers can drown in busy swimming pools when lifeguards fail to notice that they are in trouble. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that on average 15 people drown in British pools each year, hut many more suffer major injury after getting into difficulties. Now a French company has developed an artificial intelligence system called Poseidon that sounds the alarm when it sees someone in danger of drowning. When a swimmer sinks towards the bottom of the pool, the new system sends an alarm signal to a poolside monitoring station and a lifeguard's pager. In trials at a pool in Ancenis, near Nantes, it saved a life within just a few months, says Alistair McQuade, a spokesman for its maker, Poseidon Technologies. Poseidon keeps watch through a network of underwater and overheard video cameras. AI software analyses the images to work out swimmers trajectories. To do this reliably, it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool. "The underwater environment is a very dynamic one, with many shadows and reflections dancing around." says McQuade. The software does this by "projecting" a shape in its field of view onto an image of the far wail of the pool. It does the same with an image from another camera viewing the shape from a different angle. If the two projections are in the same position, the shape is identified as a shadow and is ignored. But if they are different, the shape is a swimmer and so the system follows its trajectory. To pick out potential drowning victims, anyone in the water who starts to descend slowly is added to the software's "pre-alert" list, says McQuade. Swimmers who then stay immobile on the pool bottom for 5 seconds or more are considered in danger of drowning. Poseidon double-checks that the image really is of a swimmer, not a shadow, by seeing whether it obscures the pool's floor texture when viewed from overhead. If so, it alerts the lifeguard, showing the swimmer's location on a poolside screen. The first full-scale Poseidon system will be officially opened next week at a pool in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. One man who is impressed with the idea is Travor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork radio. Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools, and he was once an underwater escapologist with a circus. "I say full marks to them if this works and can save lives," he says. But he adds that any local authority spending ￡30,000-plus on a Poseidon system ought to be investing similar amounts in teaching children to swim.
1. AI means the same as ______.
A.an image.
B.an idea.
C.anyone in the water.
D.artificial intelligence.
A B C D
D
2. What is required of AI software to save a life?
A.It must be able to swim.
B.It must keep walking round the pool.
C.It can distinguish between a swimmer and a shadow.
D.It can save a life within a few months.
A B C D
C
3. How does Poseidon save a life?
A.He plunges into the pool.
B.It alerts the lifeguard.
C.He cries for help.
D.It rushes to the pool.
A B C D
B
4. Which of the following statements about Trevor Baylis is NOT true?
A.He runs.
B.He invented the clockwork radio.
C.He was once an entertainer.
D.He runs a company.
A B C D
A
5. The word "considered" in paragraph 5 could be best replaced by ______.
A."thought".
B."rated".
C."regarded".
D."believed".
A B C D
B
第二篇
Can Buildings Be Designed to Resist Terrorist Attack
In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, structural engineers are trying hard to solve a question that a month ago would have been completely unthinkable. Can building be designed to withstand catastrophic blasts inflicted by terrorists? Ten days after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural engineers from the University at Buffalo and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) headquartered at UB traveled to ground zero as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. Visiting the site as part of an MCEER reconnaissance visit, they spent two days beginning the task of formulating ideas about how to design such structures and searching for clues on how to do so in buildings that were damaged, but still are standing. "Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and look at the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center, those buildings that are still standing, but that sustained damage," said M. Bruneau, Ph.D. " Our immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those buildings remain standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake engineering technologies can be married to existing technologies to achieve enhanced performance of Buildings in the event of terrorist attacks." he added. Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate in startling detail the monumental damage inflicted on the World Trade Center towers and buildings in the vicinity. One building a block away from the towers remains standing, but was badly damaged. "This building is many meters away from the World Trade Center and yet we see a column there that used to be part of that building", explained A. Whittaker, Ph. D. "The column became a missile that shot across the road, through the window and through the floor." The visit to the area also revealed some surprises, according to the engineers. For example, the floor framing systems in one of the adjacent buildings was quite rugged, allowing floors that were pierced by tons of falling debris to remain intact. "Highly redundant ductile framing systems may provide a simple, but robust strategy for blast resistance." he added. Other strategies may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the event that a load-bearing column fails." We also need a better understanding of the mechanism of collapse" , said A. Whittaker. "We need to find out what causes a building to collapse and how you can predict it." A. Reinhorn, Ph.D. noted that "earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of many buildings in the past. It induces dynamic response and extremely high stresses and deformations in structural components. Solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may be directly applicable to blast engineering and terrorist-resistant design. Part of our mission now at UB is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones where none exist at present."
1. The question raised in the first paragraph is one ______.
A.that was asked by structural engineers a month ago.
B.that is too difficult for structural engineers to answer even now.
C.that was never thought of before the terrorist attack.
D.that terrorists are eager to find a solution to.
A B C D
C
2. The project funded by the National Science Foundation ______.
A.was first proposed by some engineers at UB.
B.took about two days to complete.
C.was to investigate the damage caused by the terrorist attack.
D.was to find out why some buildings could survive the blasts.
A B C D
D
3. The column mentioned by Dr. Whittaker ______.
A.was part of the building close to the World Trade Center.
B.was part of the World Trade Center.
C.was shot through the window and the floor of the World Trade Center.
D.damaged many buildings in the vicinity of the World Trade Center.
A B C D
A
4. A surprising discovery made by the investigators during their visit to ground zero is that ______.
A.floors in the adjacent buildings remain undamaged.
B.some floor framing systems demonstrate resistance to explosion.
C.simple floor framing systems are more blast resistant.
D.floors in one of the adjacent buildings were pierced by tons of debris.
A B C D
B
5. What Dr. Reinhorn said in the last paragraph may imply all the following EXCEPT that ______.
A.blast engineers should develop new solutions for terror-resistant design.
B.blast engineering can borrow technologies developed for terror-resistant design.
C.solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to terrorist-resistant design.
D.blast engineering emerges as a new branch of science.
A B C D
D
第三篇
Sino-Japan Animosity Lessens
Chinese and Japanese people view each other slightly more positively than last year, according to a survey released on Wednesday at a press conference in Beijing. The survey is jointly sponsored by China Daily and Genron NPO, a Japanese think tank similar to the American Council on Foreign Relations. It also found overwhelming agreement in both countries that Sino-Japanese relations were important. The survey is a part of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum, an annual gathering of senior government officials and representatives from Chinese and Japanese NGOs designed to improve communication and understanding between the two countries. Conducted every year for five years now, the survey focused on two different groups of people: ordinary citizens, and intellectuals. In China, the intellectual group was comprised mainly of university students from well-known schools like Peking University. In Japan, the "intellectual" group was mainly made up of previous members of Genron NPO. Among ordinary Chinese polled, 35.7 percent said they have "very good" or "relatively good" impressions of Japan, a 5.5-percentage-point increase compared with last year. 45.2 percent of Chinese students had a positive impression of Japan, two percentage points more than last year. Only 26.6 percent of Japanese have a positive impression of China, however. Still, an overwhelming majority of the respondents from each country said Sino-Japanese relations were "important" and wanted their leaders to deepen talks and cooperation with each other. But 51.9 percent of ordinary people and 42.4 percent of students in China said they saw no change in relations between the two countries over the last year. In Japan, 64.8 percent of those ordinary people and 53.4 percent of intellectuals surveyed shared the view that there was no improvement in bilateral ties this year. Historical issues and territorial disputes remain two major obstacles to improving bilateral relations, the survey found. What concerns the Chinese most are historical issues, visits by Japanese officials to Yasukuni Shrine, and the Nanjing Massacre. Perceptions on economic and trade relations have improved, though. About 47 percent of ordinary Japanese said China had been "helpful" this year in fighting the global economic crisis, compared with just 30 percent last year. The percent of Japanese intellectuals who said Chinese economic growth was good for Japan increased from 65.8 percent to 81.4 percent this year. Cooperation in East Asian issues, trade and investment, energy, and the environment and climate change top the list of common concerns that people in China and Japan want their leaders to talk about in bilateral meetings, the survey found. Civil exchanges were regarded by the most people from the both countries as an important way to improve relations. 90.7 percent of the students and 85.7 percent of the ordinary people in China and 95.8% of intellectuals and 74.8% of the ordinary people in Japan viewed civil exchanges as "important" or "relatively important". Chinese and Japanese both learn about each other's countries mostly through television news and newspapers, the survey found.
1. Which of the following statements about the survey is true?
A.The survey was conducted on Wednesday at a press conference in Beijing.
B.The survey is jointly sponsored by China Daily, Genron NPO and the American Council on Foreign Relations.
C.The survey found that people in both China and Japan generally agree that the relationship between the two countries is important.
D.The survey mainly focused on two different groups of people: ordinary citizens, and the university students.
A B C D
C
2. According to the passage, the Beijing-Tokyo Forum ______.
A.is held every year in Beijing.
B.aims at promoting communication between the two countries.
C.mainly attracts representatives from the governments of the two countries.
D.releases a survey on Sino-Japanese relation every five years.
A B C D
B
3. In the last year, ______% of ordinary Chinese and ______% of Chinese students have a positive impression of Japan.
A.35.7; 45.2
B.51.9; 42.4
C.5.5; 26.6
D.30.2; 43.2
A B C D
D
4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the major obstacles to improving bilateral ties?
A.Territorial disputes.
B.Trade frictions.
C.Visits by Japanese officials to Yasukuni Shrine.
D.The Nanjing Massacre.
A B C D
B
5. The survey found that ______.
A.most Japanese had good or relatively good impressions of China.
B.the bilateral relationship was perceived as being improved over last year by the majority of respondents from the both countries.
C.an overwhelming majority of the respondents from each country believed that the Civil exchanges were an important way to improve relations.
D.The territorial issue ranked among the top list of common concerns that people in both countries want their leaders to talk about in bilateral meetings.
In shopping malls, the assistants try to push you into buying "a gift to thank her for her unselfish love". When you log onto website, a small pop-up invites you to book a bouquet for her. Commercial warmth and gratitude are the atmosphere being spread around for this special Sunday in May. 1 The popularity of Mother's Day around the world suggests that Jarvis got all she wanted. In fact, she got more—enough to make her horrified. 2 They buy, among other things, 132 million cards. Mother's Day is the No. 1 holiday for flower purchases. Then there are the various commodities, ranging from jewelry and clothes to cosmetics and washing powder, that take advantage of the promotion opportunities. Because of this, Jarvis spent the last 40 years of her life trying to stop Mother's Day. One protest against the commercialization Mother's Day even got her arrested—for disturbing the peace, interestingly. 3 As Ralph Fevre, a reporter at the UK newspaper The Guardian, observe, traditionally "motherhood is something that we do because we think it's right." But in the logic of commercialism, people need something in exchange for their time and energy. A career serves this purpose better. 4 So they work hard and play hard. Becoming a mother, however, inevitably handicaps career anticipation. 5 According to The Guardian, there are twice as many child-free young women as there were a generation ago. Or, they put off the responsibility of parenting until later in their lives. So, Fevre writes that the meaning of celebrating Mother's Day needs to be updated: "It is to persuade people that parenting is a good idea and to honor people for their attempt to be good people." A．Commercial warmth and gratitude are the atmosphere being spread as early as 1905, by Anna Jarvis, as a way of recognizing the real value of motherhood. B．But what's more, commercialism changes young people's attitude towards motherhood. C．Obviously, the best girl will be a phone call or a visit. D．According to a research by the US card company Hallmark, 96 percent of American consumers celebrate the holiday. E．As a result, motherhood has suffered a huge drop in status since the 1950s. F．In addition, women are being encouraged to pursue any career they desire.
1.
A
2.
D
3.
B
4.
F
5.
E
第6部分：完形填空 下面的短文有15处空白，请根据短文内容为每处空白确定1个最佳选项。
The Old Gate
In the Middle Ages the vast majority of European cities bad walls around them. This was partly for defensive 1 but another factor was the need to keep out anyone regarded as undesirable, like people with contagious 2 . The Old City of London gates were all 3 by the end of the 18th century. The last of London's gates was removed a century ago, but by a 4 of luck, it was never destroyed. This gate is, in 5 fact, not called a gate at all; its name is Temple Bar, and it marked the 6 between the Old City of London and Westminster. In 1878 the Council of London took the Bar down, numbered the stones and put the gate in 7 because its design was 8 it was expensive to 9 and it was blocking the traffic. The Temple Bar Trust was 10 in the 1970's with the intention of returning the gate home. The aim of the trust is the 11 of the nation's architectural heritage. Transporting the gate will mean physically pulling it 12 , stone by stone, removing and rebuilding it near St Paul's Cathedral. Most of the facade of the gate will probably be 13 , though there is a good 14 that the basic structure will be sound. The hardest 15 of all, however, will be to recreate the statues of the monarchs that once stood on top of the gate.
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