Passage One Humanity uses a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet occurrences of shortages and droughts are causing famine and distress in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. Since the world's population is expected to double in the next 50 years, many experts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis. But that doesn't have to be the outcome. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world—if we start valuing water more than we have in the past. Just as we began to appreciate petroleum more after the 1970s oil crises, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic perspective. We can no longer afford to consider water a virtually free resource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want. Instead, for all used except the domestic demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect its actual value. This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs. Governments should also protect this resource by providing water in more economically and environmentally sound ways. For example, often the cheapest way to provide irrigation water in the dry tropics is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions and pumping it to nearby cropland. No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their institutional and legal approaches to water use. Rather than spread control among hundreds or even thousands of local, regional, and national agencies that watch various aspects of water use, countries should set up central authorities to coordinate water policy.
1. What is the real cause of the potential water crisis?
A.Only half of the world's water can be used.
B.The world population is increasing faster and faster.
C.Half of the world's water resources have been seriously polluted.
D.Humanity has not placed sufficient value on water resources.
A B C D
D
[解析] 推理题。解题点在第二段。文章提到“Water shortages do not have to trouble the world—if we start valuing water more than we have in the past”，由此可以推出，如果人类重视水资源，就不会出现水资源缺乏的危机。所以正确答案是D选项。
2. As indicated in the passage, the water problem ______.
A.is already serious in certain parts of the world
B.has been exaggerated by some experts in the field
C.poses a challenge to the technology of building reservoirs
D.is underestimated by government organizations at different levels
A B C D
A
[解析] 细节题。根据第一段中第二句话“Yet occurrences of shortages and droughts are causing famine and distress in some areas”可知，水资源的短缺和干旱导致了一些地区饥荒和穷困的发生，因此正确答案是A选项。
3. According to the author, the water price should ______.
A.be reduced to the minimum
B.stimulate domestic demand
C.correspond to its real value
D.take into account the occurrences of droughts
A B C D
C
[解析] 细节题。根据第三段第一句话中的“...governments should price water to reflect its actual value.”可知，作者认为政府应当向使用者征收费用，以此来反映水的真正价值。所以正确答案是C选项。
4. The author says that in some hot and dry areas it is advisable to ______.
A.build big lakes to store water
B.construct big pumping stations
C.build small and cheap irrigation systems
D.channel water from nearby rivers to cropland
A B C D
C
[解析] 细节题。根据第四段第二句话“often the cheapest way to provide irrigation water in the dry tropics is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions and pumping it to nearby cropland.”可知，作者认为在干旱地区，应通过小规模项目来提供灌溉水，如把凹地处聚集的雨水引流到附近的庄稼地。因此，正确答案是C选项。
5. In order to raise the efficiency of the water supply, measures should be taken to ______.
A.guarantee full protection of the environment
B.centralize the management of water resources
C.increase the sense of responsibility of agencies at all levels
D.encourage local and regional protection of water resources
A B C D
B
[解析] 细节题。解题点在文章的最后一段最后一句话。根据最后一句话中的“...countries should set up central authorities to coordinate water policy”可知，作者认为，为了提高水资源的利用效率，国家应设立中央机构来协调水政策，所以正确答案是B选项。
Passage Two Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to one's side, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell. Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World War Ⅱ and marked them GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that "Gift" means poison in German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm's length away from others. Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable. Our linguistic and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world. Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our public buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual guided tours. Very few restaurant menus have translations, and multilingual waiters, bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them. When we go abroad, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. The attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives—usually the richer—who speak English. Our business dealings, as well as the nation's diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters. For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, America was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods. But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper hand.
1. It can be inferred that Americans being approached too closely by Middle Easterners would most probably ______.
A.stand still
B.step forward
C.jump aside
D.draw back
A B C D
D
[解析] 本题的四个选项中，只有D项为正确答案。这可从文中第二段的“Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as...like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable.”推知，即美国人认为与别人保持一定的距离是友好的，所以他们不能适应与别人近距离接触的习惯。A项明显不正确；B项与文章的意思相反；C项在文中未被提及。
2. The author gives many examples to criticize Americans for their ______.
3. In countries other than their own most Americans ______.
A.are isolated by the local people
B.are not well informed due to the language barrier
C.tend to get along well with the natives
D.need interpreters in hotels and restaurants
A B C D
A
[解析] 本题的四个选项中，只有A项为正确答案。这可从文中第五段的第一、二句“When we go abroad, ...who speak English.”推知，即美国人在国外只与少数人交流。
4. American people ignore cultural differences in other countries because ______.
A.they can afford it with powerful economy and great wealth
B.they are aggressive by nature and proud of their own culture
C.people in other cultures respect the American culture
D.people in other cultures are particularly tolerant
A B C D
A
[解析] 本题的四个选项中，只有A项为正确答案。这可从文中的“After all, America was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods.”推知，即美国人认为自己国家强大，忽视其他国家的语言和文化。
5. According to the author Americans' cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance will ______.
A.affect their image in the new era
B.cut themselves off from the outside world
C.limit their role in world affairs
D.weaken the position of the US dollar
A B C D
C
[解析] 本题的四个选项中，只有C项为正确答案。这可从文中最后一段的“American dollars no longer...proper role in the world is changing.”和“we want to have a hand...it may not always be the upper hand.”推知，即美国人如果继续无视他国的语言和文化就会影响到她在国际事件上的影响力。
Passage Three In bringing up children, every parent watches eagerly the child's acquisition (学会) of each new skill—the first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing. It is often tempting to hurry the child beyond his natural learning rate, but this can set up dangerous feelings of failure and states of worry in the child. This might happen at any stage. A baby might be forced to use a toilet too early, a young child might be encouraged to learn to read before he knows the meaning of the words he reads. On the other hand, though, if a child is left alone too much, or without any learning opportunities, he loses his natural enthusiasm for life and his desire to find out new things for him-self. Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness towards their children. Some may be especially strict in money matters. Others are severe over times of coming home at night or punctuality for meals. In general, the controls imposed represent the needs of the parents and the values of the community as much as the child's own happiness. As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child, consistency is very important in parental teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality (道德). Also, parents should realize that "example is better than precept". If they are not sincere and do not practise what they preach (说教), their children may grow confused, and emotionally insecure when they grow old enough to think for themselves, and realize they have been to some extent fooled. A sudden awareness of a marked difference between their parents' principles and their morals can be a dangerous disappointment.
1. Eagerly watching the child's acquisition of new skills ______.
A.should be avoided
B.is universal among parents
C.sets up dangerous states of worry in the child
D.will make him lose interest in learning new things
A B C D
B
[解析] 依据文章第一段，这种做法在父母中是普遍的。C和D两项具有一定的干扰。
2. In the process of children's learning new skills parents ______.
A.should encourage them to read before they know the meaning of the words they read
B.should not expect too much of them
C.should achieve a balance between pushing them too hard and leaving them on their own
D.should create as many learning opportunities as possible
Passage Four In the wake of 11 September, Visionics, a leading manufacturer, issued a fact sheet explaining how its technology could enhance airport security. They called it "protecting civilization from the faces of terror". The company's share price skyrocketed, as did the stocks of other face-recognition companies, and airports across the globe began installing the software and running trials. As the results start to come in, however, the gloss (光滑表面) is wearing off. No matter what you might have heard about face-recognition software, Big Brother it ain't. The concern was based largely on an independent assessment of face-recognition systems carried out in 2000 in the U.S. by the Department of Defense. These tests found that to catch 90 percent of suspects at an airport, face-recognition software would have to raise a huge number of false alarms. One in three people would end up being dragged out of the line and that's assuming everyone looks straight at the camera and makes no effort to disguise himself. Results from the recent airport trials would seem to justify that concern. Most face-recognition systems use some kind of geometric technique to translate a picture of a face into a set of numbers that capture its characteristics. Once it has identified these boundaries, the software calculates their relative sizes and positions and converts this geometry into what Visionics calls a "faceprint". Feed the software a series of mug-shots (通缉犯), and it'll calculate their faceprints. Then it can monitor live CCTV images for the faces of known suspects. When it finds a match, it raises an alarm. Even if the system does manage to capture a face, the problems aren't over. The trouble is that a suspect's faceprint taken from live CCTV is unlikely to match the one in the database in every detail. To give themselves the best chance of picking up suspects, operators can set the software so that it doesn't have to make an exact match before it raises the alarm. But there's a price to pay. the more potential suspects you pick up, the more false alarms you get. You have to get the balance just right. Despite the disappointing tests, some people insist that face-recognition technology is good enough to put terrorists off. After all the claims and counter-claims, with no one able to discern (洞察) the truth, the industry may soon have to face up to reality.
1. The first paragraph tells us that ______.
A.Visionics produced the best face-recognition software enhancing airport security
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