What are special effects? Do you enjoy movies that use a lot of special effects? Dinosaurs from the distant past! Space battles from the distant future! There has been a revolution in special effects, and it has transformed the movies we see. The revolution began in the mid-1970s with George Lucas's Star Wars, a film that stunned (使震惊) audiences. That revolution continues to the present, with dramatic changes in special-effects technology. The company behind these changes is Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). And the man behind the company is Dennis Muren, who has worked with Lucas since Star Wars. Muren's interest in special effects began very early. At age 6, he was photographing toy dinosaurs and spaceships. By 10, he had an 8-millimeter movie camera and was making these things move through stop-motion. (Stop-motion is a process in which objects are shot with a camera, moved slightly, shot again, and so on. When the shots are put together, the objects appear to move. ) Talk to Muren and you'll understand what ILM is all about: taking on new challenges. By 1989, Muren decided he had pushed the old technology as far as it would go. He saw computer graphics (CG) technology as the wave of the future and took a year off to master it. With CG technology, images can be scanned into a computer for processing, for example, and many separate shots can be combined into a single image. CG technology has now reached the point, Muren says, where special effects can be used to do just about anything so that movies can tell stories better than ever be-tore. The huge success of Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World, the stars of which were computer-generated dinosaurs, suggests that this may very well be true.
1. The special-effects revolution began in the mid-1980s with Star Wars.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
B
[解析] 由文章第三段第一句话“The revolution began in the mid-1970s with George Lucas's Star Wars…”可知，特效开始于20世纪70年代中期。故选B。
2. ILM is the company responsible for many of the changes in special effects.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
A
[解析] 由文章第三段第三句话“The company behind these changes is Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic(ILM).”可知，ILM公司就是负责特技中的这些变化的，故选A。
3. Dennis Muren started schooling at a very early age.
4. By age 10, Muren was able to use computer graphics to make things seem to move.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
B
[解析] 由文章第四段第三句“By 10, he had an 8-millimeter movie camera and was making these things move through stop-motion.”可知，Muren用的并不是计算机绘图技术，而是电影摄影机，使得物体看起来能活动。故选B。
5. With the stop-motion process, many separate shots can be combined into a single image.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
B
[解析] 由文章第四段最后两句话“Stop-motion is a process in which objects are shot with a camera, moved slightly, shot again, and so on. When the shots are put together, the objects appear to move.”和第七段第一句话“With CG technology, images can be scanned into a computer for processing, for example, and many separate shots can be combined into a single image.”可知，通过计算机绘图技术，许多单一的镜头可以组合成一个静态单一影像，并不是通过单格拍制。故选B。
6. Muren feels that with CG technology, special effects can be used to make movies more expressive.
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
A
[解析] 由文章最后一段第二句“CG technology has now reached the point, Muren says, where special effects can be used to do just about anything so that movies can tell stories better than ever before.”可知，题干的说法正确。故选A。
7. Today's movies are emphasizing special effects at the expense of the story.
1. The weather forecast, a story about the candidates in an election, and movie reviews are examples of messages from the media. A communication medium, of which the plural (复数的) form is media, is a means of communicating a message. Examples of media are television, radio, newspapers, books and the telephone. The media that can reach many people at once are called mass media. 2. It is not difficult to think of other messages we receive through the mass media. Every day we get hundreds of them. Think about advertisements, for example. We see and hear these messages almost every- where we go. Advertisements are important messages, even though they are sometimes annoying. They help us compare and evaluate products. 3. Most of us get more information from the media than from the classroom. Think, for a moment, about how you learn about local news and events. Do you depend on other people or the media? What about inter-national news? What is the most important source of information for you? People who are asked this question usually answer, "Television". 4. Think of all the messages you received today. Perhaps you read a newspaper during breakfast, or maybe you read advertisements on billboards (露天广告牌) on your way to school. Did you listen to a weather forecast or the sports news on the radio this morning? Right now you are getting information through a very important medium of mass communication—a book. 5. We use the information we get from radio, television, newspapers, and other media to make decisions and form opinions. That is why the mass media are so important. Editorials and articles in newspapers help us decide how to vote, consumer reports on television help us decide how to spend our money, and international news on the radio makes us think and form opinions about questions of war and peace.
1. Paragraph 2 ______ A. Importance of classroom learning B. Television—a rich source of information C. Advertisements as important messages from the mass media D. Various messages one may receive each day E. Media—means to communicate messages F. Importance of the mass media
5. Each day we get a lot of messages from ______. A. sports news B. our decisions and opinions C. mass communication D. our messages E. source of information F. the mass media
F
[解析] 由文章第二段前两句话“It is not difficult to think of other messages we receive through the mass media. Every day we get hundreds of them.”可知，我们每天都可以接收到上百条来自大众媒体的信息。故选F。
6. Television, radio and books are all important media of ______.
Rising college selectivity doesn't mean that students are smarter and more serious than in the past, although a few clearly are. It's a function of excess demand for higher education occurring at a time of increased financial privatization of the industry. The recession has only increased demand. The vast majority of students aren't going to college because of a thirst for knowledge, or even for the cultural and social adventure they hope to have. They're there because they need a job, and they need to get the credentials—and, one hopes the knowledge and skills behind the credentials—that will get them into the labor market. As higher education has become a seller's market, the institutions in a position to do so are doing what comes naturally: raising their tuitions and their admissions requirements, but at the expense of contributing to the national goal to increase college attainment. The result is that the United States is losing ground in the international race for educational talent, because although we have some of the best institutions in the world, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The increasing stratification of higher education is happening on the spending side, as well. As the selective institutions have become more expensive and less attainable, the rest have had to struggle with the responsibility to enroll more students without being paid to do so. Gaps between rich and poor have grown even more dramatically than gaps in entering test scores. While spending is a poor measure of educational quality, we can't seriously expect to increase educational attainment if we're not prepared to do something to address these growing inequities in funding. That said, the educational policy problem in our country is not that the elite institutions are becoming more selective. They are what they are, and they're getting more like themselves all the time. The problem is on the public policy side. The president and many governors have set a goal to return America to a position of international leadership in educational attainment. It's the right goal, we just need a financing strategy to get there. That doesn't mean just more money, although some more money will be needed. It also means better attention to effectiveness and to efficiency, and to making sure that spending goes to the places that will make a difference in educational attainment. We know how to do it, if we want to.
1. The demand for higher education has increased because ______.
A.the number of students keeps growing
B.there is a boost in the labor market
C.of the rising college selectivity
D.of the economic depression
A B C D
D
[解析] 由文章第二段第一句话“The recession has only increased demand.”可知，经济衰退只会加剧对于高等教育的需求。故选D。
2. According to most students, what is the most essential condition that enables them to get into the labor market?
4. As it is mentioned in the fourth paragraph, gaps have grown dramatically between ______.
A.the talented students and the slow ones
B.the advanced countries and the others
C.the selective institutions and the rest
D.the rich families and the poor ones
A B C D
C
[解析] 由文章第四段第三句“Gaps between rich and poor have grown even more dramatically than gaps in entering test scores.”可知，名校和一般学校之间的差距已经比投档分数线的差距更加离谱。这里，gaps between rich and poor指的是精英大学和其他大学之间的差距。故选C。
5. What does the author think should be modified?
A.The selectivity of elite institutions.
B.The industrialization of education.
C.The goal of education attainment.
D.The government's funding strategy.
A B C D
D
[解析] 由文章第五段第三句“The problem is on the public policy side.”可知，美国的教育政策问题出在公共政策上；第六段第一句则指出，虽然让美国重新成为入学率全球领先的高等教育大国的目标是正确的，但是我们更需要的是一个合理的财政策略帮助我们达成这一目标。故选D。
第二篇
Why So Risky in Chemical Factories
Which is safer—staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working in the office? Surprisingly, each of these carries the same risk, which is very low. However, what about flying compared to working in the chemical industry? Unfortunately, the former is 65 times riskier than the latter! In fact, the accident rate of workers in the chemical industry is less than that of almost any of human activity, and almost as safe as staying at home. The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby. It is this which makes chemical accidents so newsworthy. Fortunately, they are extremely rare. The most famous ones happened at Texas City ( 1947), Flixborough (1974), Seveso (1976), Pemex (1984) and Bhopal (1984). Some of these are always in the minds of the people even though the loss of life was small. No one died at Seveso, and only 28 workers at Flixborough. The worst accident of all was Bhopal, where up to 3,000 were killed. The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552. The Pemex fire at a storage plant for natural gas in the suburbs of Mexico City took 542 lives, just a month before the unfortunate event at Bhopal. Some experts have discussed these accidents and used each accident to illustrate a particular danger. Thus the Texas City explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate (硝酸铵) ,which is safe unless stored in great quantity. The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management, which took risks to keep production going during essential repairs. The Seveso accident shows what happens if the local authorities lack knowledge of the danger on their doorstep. When the poisonous gas drifted over the town, local leaders were incapable of taking effective action. The Pemex fire was made worse by an overloaded site in an overcrowded suburb. The fire set off a chain reaction of exploding storage tanks. Yet, by a miracle, the two largest tanks did not explode. Had these caught fire, then 3,000 strong rescue team and fire fighters would all have died.
1. Which of the following statements is true?
A.Working at the office is safer than staying at home.
B.Traveling to work on public transport is safer than working at the office.
C.Staying at home is safer than working in the chemical industry.
D.Working in the chemical industry is safer than traveling by air.
3. According to the passage, the chemical accident that caused by the fault of management happened at ______.
A.Flixborough
B.Texas city
C.Seveso
D.Mexico City
A B C D
A
[解析] 由文章第四段第三句话“The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management...”可知，Flixborough火灾是管理不善造成的。故选A。
4. From the passage we know that ammonium nitrate is a kind of ______.
A.natural gas, which can easily catch fire
B.fertilizer, which can't be stored in a great quantity
C.poisonous substance, which can't be used in overcrowded areas
D.fuel, which is stored in large tanks
A B C D
B
[解析] 由文章第三段倒数第二句“The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552.”和第四段第二句“Thus the Texas City explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate(硝酸铵)，which is safe unless stored in great quantity.”可知，硝酸铵是一种不能大量存储的易燃易爆的肥料。故选B。
5. From the discussion among some experts we may conclude that ______.
A.to avoid any accidents we should not repair the facilities in chemical industry
B.the local authorities should not be concerned with the production of the chemical industry
C.all these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measures had been taken
D.natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe
Fall down as you come onstage. That's an odd trick. Not recommended. But it saved the pianist Vladimir Feltsman when he was a teenager back in Moscow. The veteran cellist Mstislav Rostropovich tripped him purposely to cure him of pre-performance panic. Mr. Feltsman said, "All my fright was gone. I already fell. What else could happen?" Today, music schools are addressing the problem of anxiety in classes that deal with performance techniques and career preparation. There are a variety of strategies that musicians can learn to fight stage fright and its symptoms: icy fingers, shaky limbs, racing heart, blank mind. Teachers and psychologists offer wide-ranging advice, from basics like learning pieces inside out, to mental discipline, such as visualizing a performance and taking steps to relax. Don't deny that you're jittery, they urge; some excitement is natural, even necessary for dynamic playing. And play in public often, simply for the experience. Psychotherapist Diane Nichols suggests some strategies for the moments before performance. "Take two deep abdominal breaths, open up your shoulders, then smile," she says. "And not one of these 'please don't kill me' smiles. Then choose three friendly faces in the audience, people you would communicate with and make music to, and make eye contact with them. " She doesn't want performers to think of the audience as a judge. Extreme demands by mentors or parents are often at the root of stage fright, says Dorothy Delay, a well-known violin teacher. She tells other teachers to demand only what their students are able to achieve. When Lynn Harrell was 20, he became the principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra, and he suffered extreme stage fright. "There were times when I got so nervous. I was sure the audience could see my chest responding to the throbbing. It was just total panic. I came to a point where I thought, 'If I have to go through this to play music, I think I'm going to look for another job. " Recovery, he said, involved developing humility—recognizing that whatever his talent, he was fallible, and that an imperfect concert was not a disaster. It is not only young artists who suffer, of course. The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz's nerves were famous. The great tenor Franco Corelli is another example. "They had to push him on stage," Soprano Renata Scotto recalled. Actually, success can make things worse. "In the beginning of your career, when you're scared to death, nobody knows who you are, and they don't have any expectations," Soprano June Anderson said. "There's less to lose. Later on, when you're known, people are coming to see you, and they have certain expectations. You have a lot to lose. " Anderson added, "I never stop being nervous until I've sung my last note. "
1. How many signs of stage fright are mentioned in the second paragraph?
Where do children play? Years ago, any open field, any vacant lot, any group of trees—these were the places where children played. As families left family farms, small towns, and the countryside, and moved into cities, the places for their children to play in became rarer. 1 In fact, all people's lives change a lot when they move to the city. In cities, homes are built on top of one another—in enormous apartment buildings. The feeling of private space and ownership no longer exists in houses literally piled one on the other. Psychologists have been studying the changes people experience when they leave rural areas and move into urban environments. 2 Children can play on paved playgrounds. That's true. 3 Without grass and trees and bushes and, yes, dirt and mud to get dirty in, children miss an important part of childhood. The human soul, it seems, needs to stay close to its roots. Adults can plant lots of things like bulbs in window boxes and large containers. 4 The lack of green space is now recognized and understood as a problem. City planners—the people who design neighborhoods—have begun to work on a solution. They want to build more parks, but land in cities is quite costly. 5 Along rivers, under power lines, near ditches and highways—these are the spaces that no one uses and they are everywhere. Why not use these unused spaces for green areas? Neighborhood groups have coordinated their efforts to clean up the trash or garbage. Soil from new building projects in the city has been trucked by lorries into these areas. This soil has been dumped along the sides of rivers, and strong walls have been erected to hold it there. Trees and bushes have been planted; the roots of these plants will hold the soil, too, and the green leaves make the area beautiful. A. However, they just don't have as much fun as children in small towns. B. Children in the cities had few options, fewer choices of places to play. C. Why is there no place for children in cities to play? D. One clear finding from their studies is that people need green spaces for better mental health. E. However, tending window boxes isn't the same as being an amateur gardener and growing peas, tomatoes and salad greens in a backyard garden. F. So they look for land that no one else wants.
Little girls may be made of sugar and all things nice, but their armpits (腋部) 1 of onions. And while free of slug or snail odours, men's armpits pack a 2 cheesy whiff. That's the 3 of research in Switzerland that involved taking armpit sweat samples from 24 men and 25 women after he had 4 time in a sauna or ridden an exercise bike for 15 minutes. The researchers found marked 5 in the sweat from men and women. "Men smell of cheese, and women of grapefruit (葡萄柚) or onion," says Christian Starkenmann of Firmenich, a company in Geneva 6 researches flavors and perfumes for food and cosmetics companies. The team 7 that the women's armpit sweat constrained relatively high levels of an odourless sulphur-containning compound—5 milligrams per milliliter of sweat versus 0.5 milligrams in men. When the researchers mixed this compound in the lab with bacteria commonly found in the armpit, the bug turned it into a thiol (硫醇)—a previously discovered odour from armpits that is 8 to onion. "The more sulphur (硫) precursor we 9 , the more intense was the malodour (难闻的气味，恶臭)," says Starkenmann, whose team's results appear in Chemical Senses. Bacterial enzymes (酶) turn the otherwise odourless precursor 10 the malodour. The men, meanwhile, had relatively high levels of an odourless fatty acid which turned into a cheesy odour when 11 to the same types of bacteria. The balance of oniony to cheesy precursors in women's sweat made it smell worse than men's as rated by independent smell assessors. Nest; the team hope to develop new ingredients for deodorants that 12 the smells. "We could make inhibitors that neutralize the precursors, or block the bacterial enzymes that do the conversion," says Starkenmann. Some researchers are skeptical that gender is the main deciding factor, 13 that the patterns found in Swiss volunteers might not apply to other populations with different diets and genetic background. "Other factors 14 what you eat, what you wash with, what you wear and what genes you 15 ," says Tim Jacob of Cardiff University in the U. K.
1.
A.eat
B.think
C.smell
D.drink
A B C D
C
[解析] smell of sth. 表示“闻起来像……”，为常用固定搭配。此处修饰的是“armpits(腋部)”，用smell符合语境。
深色：已答题 浅色：未答题