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The house was quiet at 5 am and Tim’s mother was asleep. Only the sound of the big freezer broke the quiet. He’d dreamt of the cave last night. The purring（轻微颤动声）of the freezer had been the sea .
Tim pulled on a sweater and put some apples into his schoolbag. It was too early for breakfast. He’d eat after he’d been through the cave, sitting on the rocks and staring at the sea.
He wished he had a proper pack. His schoolbag would have to do. What else? Sandwiches—but his mother might wake up if he started pulling out bread for sandwiches, she’d want to know why he had to leave so early. He settled for some biscuits, and left a note stuck to the table:
Gone to Michael’s. Back tonight. Tim.
The sky was high and soft and light outside, though the sun still wasn’t up. Even the highway up the hill was quiet as he made his way down the street. The wind from the sea was fresh and sweet.
The sandhills still breathed heat from yesterday’s sun, though the top of the sand was cool. He ran down to the beach impatiently, but there was no one, just dry sand dancing in the early wind and seabirds marching up and down watching the waves.
The light changed suddenly. The first rays of sunlight stretched（延伸）across the sea . The sun was pushing its way over the edge of the world.
Over the first rocks, along to the point. Tim glanced back. The beach was still empty. The sun sailed higher in the sky.
He could see the cave now, even darker in the morning light. The sand turned silver then dark gold as the water flowed away from it. He had to force himself to go closer. Why was it so much more mysterious now ? But it would be silly to go back now after so much trouble. He needn’t go in all the way …
1. “ He settled for some biscuits ”（in Paragraph 3）means that Tim_______.
A. had to leave the biscuits on the table
B. liked biscuits better than sandwiches
C. had to take biscuits instead of sandwiches
D. could only find some biscuits in the kitchen
2.What made it possible for Tim to see the entry to the cave?
A. The height of the first rocks.
B. The ups and downs of the waves.
C. The change in the position of the sun.
D. The vast stretch of the sunlit beach.
3.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the story?
A. The sea looked like a piece of gold.
B. Seabirds flew away when Tim arrived.
C. Tim was the only person on the beach.
D. The sky got dark as Tim reached the cave.
4.In the story , Tim’s mood changed from_______..
A. loneliness to craziness B. anxiousness to excitement
C. helplessness to happiness D. eagerness to nervousness
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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Australian Flag Designs by Readers of the Sun-Herald
We received dozens of responses after inviting readers to send in their designs for a new flag. The designs we received include:
James Anthony, Drummoyne
James reduces the Union Jack down in size and changes its shape to become a reminder of the British tradition rather than canceling it altogether. At the same time he suggests enlarging the stars of the Southern Cross. His design attempts to use the best of both worlds in a newly designed flag.
As he says, “the British part of the Australian Flag is too big and the Australian bits are too small. When you make the stars bigger the Australian flag can look impressive.”
Joe Bollen, Turranmurra
Joe’s flag has the main elements of a risen sun, white horizon(地平线), red earth at the base and the Southern Cross. He intends to make the risen sun a special Australian symbol on the flag. He believes it represents life. The Southern Cross shows that we live in the Southern Hemisphere. (半球)
Maria Ieraci, Sydney
Maria deleted the Union Jack but otherwise kept the flag as is with the Southern Cross and Federation Star. She says, ‘There is only one correct way to change the Australian flag” and that is “to drop the Union Jack ---- when Australia becomes a Republic”, which she hopes will be before 2010.
Ron Bennett, Sydney
Ron recommends using the Aboriginal colors but replacing their image of the sun with the map of Australia. He says, “Australia is unique being an island continent with an instantly recognizable outline at that” and “this will leave no doubt as to which country the flag belongs.”
1.Which of the four designs can remind you of the past of the country?
A. Joe’s B. Maria’s C. Ron’s D. Jame’s
2.The Southern Cross in some of the designs represents _________.
A. the spirit of the nation B. the position of the country
C. the tradition of Britain D. the expectations of the people
3.What does the Union Jack refer to?
A.the British flag B. A former British ruler
C. group of stars D. A former symbol of Australia
4.Which of the following shows the correct matches of the designs and their designers?
A. by Maria by Ron by Joe by James
B. by Joe by Maria by James by Ron
C. by Ron by James by Maria by Joe
D. by James by Joe by Ron by Maria
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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New York: Staying positive through the cold season could be your best defence against getting ill, new study findings suggest.
In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny disposition were less likely to fall ill. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help protect us from the common cold and other illnesses.
Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective----as in happiness improving immune, function----and subjective----as in happy people being less troubled by a sore throat or funny nose. "People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus," explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "And when they do get a cold, they may interpret their illness as being less severe."
Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less likely to catch a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional trait itself had the effect.
For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality traits, self-perceived health and emotional "style." Those who tended to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense and hostile had a negative style.
The researchers gave them nasal(鼻的) drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus. Over the next six days, the volunteers reported on any aches, pains, sneezing or congestion they had, while the researchers collected objective data, like daily mucus production. Cohen and his colleagues found that based on objective measures of nasal woes, happy people were less likely to develop a cold.
1.Which is the best title for the passage?
A. Stay Away From Being Negative
B. Positive or Negative, It’s Up To You
C. An Effective Medicine For Being Fit
D. Warm People Likely To Keep Cold Away
2.According to Dr Cohen’s research, the reason why some people are unlikely to catch a cold is that ___________________.
A. their cheerful mood benefits the immune system
B. they have developed a certain gene against flu virus
C. they are less likely to have s sore throat and funny nose
D. they have got a stronger self-confidence in their health
3.The underlined word “disposition” (paragraph 2) probably means ________.
A. character B. day C. future D. occupation
4.The passage is probably written for ___________________.
A. medical students B. lead authors C. the public D. the volunteers
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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It’s hard to track the blue whale, which has almost been killed off by commercial whaling. Attaching radio devices to it is difficult and visual sightings are too unreliable to give real insight into its behavior.
So biologists were delighted early this year when, with the help of the US Navy, they are able to track a particular blue whale for 43 days recording its sounds. This was possible because of the Navy’s former top secret system of underwater listening devices across the oceans.
Tracking whales is but one example of an exciting new world just opening to civilian scientists after the cold war as the Navy starts to share and partly uncover its global network of underwater listening system built over the decades to track the ships of potential enemies.
Earth scientists announced at a news conference recently that they had used the system for closely observing a deep-sea volcanic eruption for the first time and that they planned similar studies. Other scientists have proposed to use the network for tracking ocean currents and measuring changes in the ocean and global temperatures. Different layers of ocean water can act as channels for sounds focusing them in the same way a stethoscope(听诊器) does when it carries faint noises from a patient’s chest to a doctor’s ear. This focusing is the main reason that even relatively weak sounds in the ocean, especially low-frequency ones, can often travel thousands of miles.
1.The underwater listening system was originally designed _________________.
A. to trace and locate enemy ships
B. to observe deep sea volcanic eruptions
C. to study the movement of ocean currents
D. to replace the global radio communications network
2.The deep-sea listening system makes use of __________________.
A. the ability of sound to travel at high speed
B. the top-level technology of focusing sounds under water
C. the unique characteristic of layers of ocean water in carrying sound
D. low-frequency sounds traveling across different layers of water
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A. New radio devices are developed for tracking the blue whales.
B. Blue whales are no longer endangered with the new system.
C. Opinions differ on the use of military technology.
D. Military technology has great potential in civilian use.
4.What is the passage chiefly about?
A. An effort to protect an endangered marine species.
B. The civilian use of a military detection system.
C. The exposure of a US Navy top-secret weapon.
D. A new way to look into the behavior of blue whales.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps (快照), maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?”? He looked perturbed (不安). “Do you want to try it first?” he said. It didn’t quite sound like a question. “Do I need to?” I replied ,“There is nothing wrong with it？” This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad. “No, no. But you should try it,” he said encouragingly. “Compare it with the others. ”
I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out of my chosen camera from cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers… and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.
Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.
1.The shop assistant insisted that the writer should________.
A. try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it.
B. compare the camera he had chosen with the others.
C. get more information about different companies.
D. trust him and stop asking questions.
2.What does the writer mean by “it would be worth half what I paid for it ”(paragraph 2)
A. He should get a 50% discount.
B. The price of the camera was unreasonably high.
C. The quality of the camera was not good.
D. The camera would soon fall in value.
3. The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he________.
A. knew very little about it.
B. didn’t trust the shop assistant
C. wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best.
D. had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers.
4.It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion__________.
A. people waste too much money on cameras
B. cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C. we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product
D. famous companies care more about profit than quality
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
