Reading Comprehension Directions:There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or incomplete statements. For each of them there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
Passage 1 A sustainable transportation system is one that is safe, capable and friendly to the environment. Sustainable transportation is about combining economic, social and environmental factors into decisions that affect transportation activity. In economic aspect, we need a transportation system that is efficient. In social aspect, our transportation system must be safe and easy to be reached. In addition, we need a transportation system that respects the natural environment. It is not always easy to balance these three factors but there are also win-win-win opportunities. Sustainable transportation is important. Although transportation brings many economic and social benefits, the movement of people and goods can have important influences on the environment. These influences can in turn have social and economic consequences. Sustainable transportation calls for ensuring that the environment is considered along with economic and social considerations in transportation decision-making. Environmental influenees of transportation include air and water pollution, greenhouse effeets, and the use of land and other natural resources. A range of transportation activities contribute to these pressures, including the construction of roads; the production, operation, and throwing away of vehicles; and the supply of energy and fuel. A major challenge of sustainable transportation is to control or prevent air pollution and greenhouse effects.
Passage 2 In the United States, elementary education begins at the age of six. At this stage nearly all the teachers are women, mostly married. The atmosphere is usually very friendly, and the teachers have now accepted the idea that the important thing is to make the children happy and interested. The old authoritarian (要绝对服从的) methods of education were discredited (不被认可) rather a long time ago—so much so that many people now think that they have gone too far in the direction of trying to make children happy and interested rather than giving them actual instruction. The social education of young children tries to make them accept the idea that human beings in a society need to work together for their common good. So the emphasis is on cooperation rather than competition throughout most of this process. This may seem curious, in view of the fact that American society is highly competitive; however, the need for making people sociable in this sense has come to be regarded as one of the functions of education. Most Americans do grow up with competitive ideas, and obviously quite a few as criminals, but it is not fair to say that the educational system fails. It probably does succeed in making most people sociable and ready to help one another both in material ways and through kindness and friendliness.
1. According to the passage, the U.S. elementary education is supposed to make children ______.
2. Some Americans complain about elementary schools because they think ______.
A.children are reluctant to help each other
B.schools lay too much emphasis on cooperation
C.children should grow up with competitive ideas
D.schools give little actual instruction to children
A B C D
D
[解析] 事实细节题。答案在第一段最后一句：“...many people now think that they have gone too far in the direction of trying to make children happy and interested rather than giving them actual instruction.”(许多人认为在使孩子们开心、有兴趣方面做得太多，却没给他们实际的指导。)注意选项D里的little表示“几乎没有”。
3. The author's attitude towards American education can be best described as ______.
A.favorable
B.negative
C.tolerant
D.unfriendly
A B C D
A
[解析] 推理判断题。题目要求判断作者对美国教育持何种态度。选项分别为favorable(赞许的)，negative(否定的)，tolerant(容忍的)，unfriendly(不友好的)。答案在第二段最后：“it is not fair to say that the educational system fails. It probably does succeed in making most people sociable and ready to help one another...”(说这种教育制度失败是不公平的。它或许的确成功地使大部分人对人友善并乐于助人。)由此可见，作者对美国教育持赞赏态度。
4. The American educational system emphasizes ______.
A.material wealth
B.competition
C.cooperation
D.personal benefit
A B C D
C
[解析] 事实细节题。答案在文章第二段第二句：“So the emphasis is on cooperation...”，由此得知美国教育制度强调的是合作。
5. The word "sociable" most probably means ______.
Passage 3 How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets. Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities. If a child has good parents, he is well fed, looked after and loved. It is unlikely that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return. In addition, life is always presenting new things to the child-things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well known. A child finds pleasure in playing in the rain, or in the snow. His first visit to the seaside is a marvelous adventure. But a child has his pains: he is not so free to do as what he wishes to do; he is continually being told what to do and what not to do. Therefore, a child is not happy as he wishes to be. When the young man starts to earn his own living, he becomes free from the discipline of school and parents; but at the same time he is forced to accept responsibilities. With no one to pay for his food, his clothes, or his room, he has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may get himself into trouble. If, however, he works hard, goes by the law and has good health, he may feel satisfied in seeing himself make steady progress in his job and in building up for himself his own position in society. Old age has always been thought of as the worst age to be, but it is not necessary for the old to be unhappy. With old age cowries wisdom and the ability to help others with advice wisely given. The old can have the joy of seeing their children making progress in life, they can watch their grandchildren growing up around them; and, perhaps best of all, they can, if their life has been a useful one, feel the happiness of having come through the battle of life safely and of having reached a time when they can lie back and rest, leaving everything to others.
1. The happiest people should be those who ______.
Passage 4 If you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research result of Professor Faulkner, who says that most of our brains are not getting enough exercise and as a result, we are ageing unnecessarily soon. Professor Faulkner wanted to find out why healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and to reason at a relatively early age, and how the process of ageing could be slowed down. He set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages and occupations. Computer technology enabled him to obtain precise measurements of the volume of the front and side sections of the brain, which relate to intelligence and emotion, and determine the human character. Contraction of front and side parts—as cells die off—was observed in some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not evident in some sixty and seventy-year-olds. Faulkner concluded from his tests that there is a simple way to slow the contraction—using the head. The findings show that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the towns. Those least at risk, says Faulkner, are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White-collar workers doing routine work are, however, as likely to have shrinking brains as the farm workers, bus drivers and shop assistants. Faulkner's findings show that thinking can prevent the brain from shrinking. Blood must circulate properly in the head to supply the fresh oxygen the brain cells need. "The best way to maintain good blood circulation is through using the brain," he says. "Think hard and engage in conversation. Don't rely on pocket calculators".
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