Passage 1 In department stores and closets all over the world, they are walking. Their outward appearance seems rather appealing because they come in a variety of styles, textures, and colors. But they are ultimately the biggest deception that exists in the fashion industry today. What are they? They are high heels—a woman's worst enemy (whether she knows it or not). High heel shoes are the downfall of modern society. Fashion myths have led women to believe that they are more beautiful or sophisticated for wearing heels, but in reality, heels succeed in posing short as well as long term hardships. Women should fight the high heel industry by refusing to use or purchase them in order to save the world from unnecessary physical and psychological suffering. For the sake of fairness, it must be noted that there is a positive side to high heels. First, heels are excellent for aerating (使通气) lawns. Anyone who has ever worn heels on grass knows what I am talking about. A simple trip around the yard in a pair of those babies eliminates all need to call for a lawn care specialist, and provides the perfect-sized holes to give any lawn oxygen without all those messy chunks of dirt lying around. Second, heels are quite functional for defense against oncoming enemies, who can easily be seared away by threatening them with a pair of these sharp, deadly fashion accessories. Regardless of such practical uses for heels, the fact remains that wearing high heels is harmful to one's physical health. Talk to any podiatrist (足病医生), and you will hear that the majority of their business comes from high-heel-wearing women. High heels are known to cause problems such as deformed feet and torn toe-nails. The risk of severe back problems and twisted or broken ankles is three times higher for a high heel wearer than for a flat shoe wearer. Wearing heels also creates the threat of getting a heel caught in a sidewalk crack or a sewer-grate (阴沟栅) and being thrown to the ground—possibly breaking a nose, back, or neck. And of course, after wearing heels for a day, any woman knows she can look forward to a night of pain as she tries to comfort her swollen, aching feet.
1. What makes women blind to the deceptive nature of high heels?
A.The multi-functional use of high heels.
B.Their attempt to show off their status.
C.The rich variety of high heel styles.
D.Their wish to improve their appearance.
A B C D
D
[解析] A、B两项都极易被排除：A显然是作者对高跟鞋的戏谑，而非妇女穿高跟鞋的理由；B项意为“她们想炫耀自己的身份”，文章中找不到这样的意思。C项有一定迷惑性，因为它与文章第二句话吻合。虽然C项本身是正确的陈述，也与文章内容相符，但它不能作为所问问题的答案。根据第一段第七句话(Fashion myths have led women...)可知D项正确。
2. The author's presentation of the positive side of high heels is meant ______.
A.to be ironic
B.to poke fun at women
C.to be fair to the fashion industry
D.to make his point convincing
A B C D
A
[解析] 态度性问题。ironic是个超纲词，但我们知道irony的意思是n. “反语；嘲弄”。poke fun at是个短语，意为“拿……开玩笑，取笑”。D项意为“支持他的论点”，显然不对，因为作者的论点是高跟鞋有害，the positive side of high heels当然不会支持这种论点；选择C项的考生显然是仅从字面上来理解文章中“For the sake of fairness(为了公平起见)”的意思；文章是批评高跟鞋的危害的，而不是批评妇女，所以B项也不对。
3. The author uses the expression "those babies" to refer to high heels ______.
Passage 2 For centuries, explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons that were to varying degrees economic and nationalistic. Columbus went west to look for better trade routes to the Orient and to promote the greater glory of Spain. Lewis and Clark journeyed into the American wilderness to find out what the U.S. had acquired when it purchased Louisiana, and the Appolo astronauts rocketed to the moon in a dramatic show of technological muscle during the cold war. Although their missions blended commercial and political-military imperatives, the explorers involved all accomplished some significant science simply by going where no scientists had gone before. Today Mars looms (隐约出现) as humanity's next great terra incognita (未探明之地). And with doubtful prospects for a short-term financial return, with the cold war a rapidly fading memory and amid a growing emphasis on international cooperation in large space ventures, it is clear that imperatives other than profits or nationalism will have to compel human beings to leave their tracks on the planet's reddish surface. Could it be that science, which has long played a minor role in exploration, is at last destined to take a leading role? The question naturally invites a couple of others: are there experiments that only humans could do on Mars? Could those experiments provide insights profound enough to justify the expense of sending people across interplanetary space? With Mars the scientific stakes are arguably higher than they have ever been. The issue of whether life ever existed on the planet, and whether it persists to this day, has been highlighted by mounting evidence that the Red Planet once had abundant stable, liquid water and by the continuing controversy over suggestions that bacterial fossils rode to Earth on a meteorite (陨石) from Mars. A more conclusive answer about life on Mars, past or present, would give researchers invaluable data about the range of conditions under which a planet can generate the complex chemistry that leads to life. If it could be established that life arose independently on Mars and Earth, the finding would provide the first concrete clues in one of the deepest mysteries in all of science, the prevalence of life in the universe.
1. According to the passage, the chief purpose of explorers in going to unknown places in the past was ______.
5. The passage tells us that proof of life on Mars would ______.
A.make clear the complex chemistry in the development of life
B.confirm the suggestion that bacterial fossils traveled to Earth on a meteor
C.reveal the kind of conditions under which life originates
D.provide an explanation why life is common in the universe
A B C D
D
[解析] 细节题。选择依据为文章最后一句话。文章中找不到A项的意思；B项的出题依据为第四段第二句话后半部分内容，但仔细阅读该句便可知B项内容与其不符；C项具有一定迷惑性，其出题依据是倒数第二句话。该句谓语部分(包括宾语)与C项意思类似，但主语的含义与题干中宾语从句的主语(proof of life on Mars)含义不同。
Passage 3 Not too many decades ago it seemed "obvious" both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people's natural relations, loosened their responsibilities to kin (亲戚) and neighbors, and substituted in their place superficial relationships with passing acquaintances. However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the "obviousness" is not true. It seems that if you are a city resident, you typically know a smaller proportion of your neighbors than you do if you are a resident of a smaller community. But, for the most part, this fact has few significant consequences. It does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your neighbors you will know no one else. Even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within small, private social worlds. Indeed, the number and quality of meaningful relationships do not differ between more and less urban people. Small-town residents are more involved with kin than are big-city residents. Yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships with people who share similar interests and activities. Urbanism may produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not differ between town and city. Nor are residents of large communities any likelier to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation, a feeling of not belonging, than are residents of smaller communities. However, city dwellers do worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust of strangers. These findings do not imply that urbanism makes little or no difference. If neighbors are strangers to one another, they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young troublemakers. Moreover, as Wirth suggested, there may be a link between a community's population size and its social heterogeneity (多样性). For instance, sociologists have found much evidence that the size of a community is associated with bad behavior including gambling, drugs, etc. Large-city urbanites are also more likely than their small-town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan (见多识广者的) outlook, to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles, to vote for leftist political candidates, and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups, unpopular political groups, and so-called undesirables. Everything considered, heterogeneity and unusual behavior seem to be outcomes of large population size.
1. Which of the following statements best describes the organization of the first paragraph?
A.Two contrasting views are presented.
B.An argument is examined and possible solutions given.
C.Research results concerning the quality of urban life are presented in order of time.
D.A detailed description of the difference between urban and small-town life is given.
4. It can be inferred from the passage that the bigger a community is, ______.
A.the better its quality of life
B.the more similar its interests
C.the more tolerant and open-minded it is
D.the likelier it is to display psychological symptoms of stress
A B C D
C
[解析] 推理题。C项正是文章最后几句话的概括。A项与第二段第五句话(but the quality of life doesn't differ between town and city)相悖；D项与第二段第六句话(Nor are residents...)意思相反。
5. What is the passage mainly about?
A.Similarities in the interpersonal relationships between urbanites and small-town dwellers.
B.Advantages of living in big cities as compared with living in small towns.
C.The positive role that urbanism plays in modern life.
D.The strong feeling of alienation of city inhabitants.
A B C D
A
[解析] 主旨题。本文第一段先提出两种相反的观点，随后便一直在论证第二种观点，即讨论A项的内容。
Passage 4 No woman can be too rich or too thin. This saying often attributed to the late Duchess (公爵夫人) of Windsor embodies much of the odd spirit of our times. Being thin is deemed as such a virtue. The problem with such a view is that some people actually attempt to live by it. I myself have fantasies of slipping into narrow designer clothes. Consequently, I have been on a diet for the better—or worse—part of my life. Being rich wouldn't be bad either, but that won't happen unless an unknown relative dies suddenly in some distant land, leaving me millions of dollars. Where did we go off the track? When did eating butter become a sin, and a little bit of extra flesh unappealing, if not repellent? All religions have certain days when people refrain from eating, and excessive eating is one of Christianity's seven deadly sins. However, until quite recently, most people had a problem getting enough to eat. In some religious groups, wealth was a symbol of probable salvation and high morals, and fatness a sign of wealth and well-being. Today the opposite is true. We have shifted to thinness as our new mark of virtue. The result is that being fat—or even only somewhat overweight—is bad because it implies a lack of moral strength. Our obsession (迷恋) with thinness is also fueled by health concerns. It is true that in this country we have more overweight people than ever before, and that, in many cases, being overweight correlates with an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. These diseases, however, may have as much to do with our way of life and our high-fat diets as with excess weight. And the associated risk of cancer in the digestive system may be more of a dietary problem—too much fat and a lack of fiber—than a weight problem. The real concern, then, is not that we weigh too much, but that we neither exercise enough nor eat well. Exercise is necessary for strong bones and both heart and lung health. A balanced diet without a lot of fat can also help the body avoid many diseases. We should surely stop paying so much attention to weight. Simply being thin is not enough. It is actually hazardous if those who get (or already are) thin think they are automatically healthy and thus free from paying attention to their overall life-style. Thinness can be pure vainglory (虚荣).
1. In the eyes of the author, an odd phenomenon nowadays is that ______.
A.religious people are not necessarily virtuous
B.looking slim is a symbol of having a large fortune
C.being thin is viewed as a much desired quality
D.the Duchess of Windsor is regarded as a woman of virtue
A B C D
C
[解析] 推断题。根据第一段最后一句(纤瘦被认为是一种美德)，再加上前面的our times，可以知道这是现代社会的现象，所以选C项。A项意为“宗教信徒不一定品德高尚”。文章中根本就没有提到这一点，更谈不上对此表示奇怪。文章只是说所有的宗教都有几天要求斋戒，基督教更是将暴饮暴食视为罪恶。B项错误，因为文章只是说财富和纤瘦作为女人追求的目标，永远都不会让她们满足，并没有说苗条是财富的象征。D项错，文章是说第一句话经常被认为是Duchess of Windsor说的。有人可能会根据第三段最后一句话和第四段第一句话认为B项是对的。
2. Swept by the prevailing trend, the author ______.
A.had to wear highly fashionable clothes
B.had to seek help from rich distant relatives
C.had to go on a diet for the greater part of her life
D.could still prevent herself from going off the track
Passage 5 Even plants can run a fever, especially when they're under attack by insects or disease. But unlike humans, plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away-straight up. A decade ago, adapting the infrared scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide (杀虫剂) spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don't have pest (害虫) problems. Even better, Paley's Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded map showing where plants were running "fevers". Farmers could then spot-spray, using 40 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would. The bad news is that Paley's company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long-term backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. "This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States," says George Oerther of Texas A＆M. Ray Jackson, who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, and thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.
1. Plants will emit an increased amount of heat when they are ______.
A.sprayed with pesticides
B.facing an infrared scanner
C.in poor physical condition
D.exposed to excessive sun rays
A B C D
C
[解析] 依据文章第二段第三行，说明植物在发“高烧”，也就是说，“身体状况”不佳时才会散发热。
2. In order to apply pesticide spraying precisely, we can use infrared scanning to ______.
A.estimate the damage to the crops
B.measure the size of the affected area
C.draw a color-coded map
D.locate the problem area
A B C D
D
[解析] 依据文章第二段第四行，说明目的是确定有问题的区域，以使农民有针对性地使用杀虫剂。
3. Farmers can save a considerable amount of pesticide by ______.
A.resorting to spot-spraying
B.consulting infrared scanning experts
C.transforming poisoned rain
D.detecting crop problems at an early stage
A B C D
A
[解析] 依据文章第二段最后一句。
4. The application of infrared scanning technology to agriculture met with some difficulties ______.
深色：已答题 浅色：未答题