IV. Reading Comprehension ( 60 points)

　　Directions:There are five reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by fourquestions. For each question there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Chooseone best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

　　根据下面内容，回答题：

　　Would you like to spend all evening reading a lovely story with beautiful illustrations and make$ 35,000 at the same time? Millions of people all over the world tried to do just that. Only onesucceeded. The book is called Masquerade, and was written by British painter Kit Williams. Withinits pages are clues to the location of a golden jewel, and whoever figured out the clues could find andkeep the treasure.

　　Some years ago, Williams was asked to write a children's book. Wanting to do something no oneelse had done before, he decided to bury a golden treasure and tell where it was in the book. He be-gan painting without a clear idea of what the story would be about, where he would bury the treasure,or even what the treasure would be. As he painted, he decided that in the story a hare, or rabbit,would travel through earth, air,fire and water to deliver a gift from the moon to the sun.

　　After three years, he finished the paintings and then wrote the story. The treasure became an 18- carat gold hare, adorned with precious stones, and it was made by Kit Williams himself. This beauti-ful jewel ,worth around $ 35,000, depending on gold prices, was,buried somewhere in Britain, free toanyone who could decipher the clues. Williams's book kept people of all ages amused trying to solvethe mystery of Masquerade.

　　The rabbit was finally found in the spring of 1982,by a 48-year-old design engineer. It was bur-

　　ied in a park about thirty-five miles from London.

　　36The function of the first sentence in this passage is to __________ .

　　A.give detailB.sum up the storyC.capture the reader's interestD.elaborate upon'a point

　　参考答案：C

　　参考解析：

　　文章的首句并没有给任何细节，也没有阐述任何观点，而是提出了一个问题，排除A、D两项。第一段刚开始，不可能总结，排除选项B。这个问题很有趣，所以，作者以此开篇是为了吸引读者，C项是正确的。

　　37When Williams began working on his book, he __________ .

　　A.was paid $ 35,000B.learned to paintC.had already buried the treasureD.did not know what the story would be about

　　参考答案：D

　　参考解析：

　　有人请Williams写本儿童的书，他接受了，并想把自己的作品写得与众不同，但当他开始运作时，他脑子里还没有清晰的思路。D项是正确的。

　　38We can conclude from the passage that _________.

　　A.the clues in Masquerade are easy to decipherB.Kit Williams has many artistic talentsC.many people bury treasures in BritainD.Kit Williams said he would pay $ 35,000 to whoever found the treasure

　　参考答案：B

　　参考解析：

　　从这段里我们知道，Williams会写书、画画、做珠宝，所以说他有很多的艺术天赋。B项是正确的。

　　39This passage is about __________ .

　　A.British paintersB.golden jewelryC.a modern treasure huntD.writing children's books

　　参考答案：C

　　参考解析：

　　这篇文章主要讲了Williams写这本书的目的是让人们寻宝。C项是正确的。其他三项都只是文章中整个事件的一部分，不是主题。Passage Four

　　根据下面内容，回答题：

　　If we had to rely on only five senses for survival, we would be in very sad shape indeed. Wewouldn't know up from down. We wouldn't know when to eat or drink. We wouldn't know what ourmuscles were doing or what position our limbs were in. We wouldn't know when our body was dam-aged because we wouldn't feel pain. We might freeze to death without even a shiver, or overheat with-out a drop of sweat. The five senses--touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight--respond only to stimula-tion from the outside world, but the inside world of our bodies must also receive and respond to im-portant messages.

　　Our internal senses keep us alive and enable us to use our external senses. In effect, the internalsenses tell our brains how to run our bodies. Hunger or thirst registers in a part of the brain called thehypothalamus(丘脑下部) ,when a lack of food chemicals are detected in the blood.

　　Another internal sense that controls our balance is maintained by three fluid-filled loops in theinner ear. Changes in position and gravity affect the motion of this liquid and cause changes in thebrain. A sense called kinesthesia(肌肉运动知觉)lets us know the relative positions of parts of ourbodies. Even our breathing is caused by a sense that identifies an overabundance of carbon dioxideand a lack of oxygen in the blood.

　　No one has been able to count the number of internal senses. The presence of delicate internal senses shows just how marvelously complex we human beings are.

　　40This passage deal mostly with the __________.

　　A.internal sensesB.sense of balanceC.five sensesD.brain's function

　　参考答案：A

　　参考解析：

　　文章简述了人类的内部感官。B项是其中的一部分。C项是作者用来作引子，引起读者的兴趣，并与之比较，从而说明内部感官究竟是什么。A项是正确的。第40000

　　41Hunger is caused by __________

　　A.too much food and water in the bodyB.a lack of oxygen in the bloodC.seeing or thinking about foodD.a lack of certain chemicals in the blood

　　参考答案：D

　　参考解析：

　　由第二段最后一句知血液中缺少食物化学成分时，大脑就会得到报告。D项是正确的。

　　42The passage implies that there are many senses we __________

　　A.can use only in emergenciesB.may not understand at presentC.never realize we haveD.do not actively use in everyday living

　　参考答案：C

　　参考解析：

　　我们只意识到外部感官，从没有意识到我们的内部感官才是我们生命的根本。第一段尤其强调这一点。C项是正确的。

　　43In the second paragraph, the term "in effect" means __________

　　A.in factB.it is doubtfulC.oftenD.without reason

　　参考答案：A

　　参考解析：

　　前面说明内部感官是干什么的。接着用in effect强调、总结，进一步说明内部感官的作用。A项是正确的。

　　根据下面内容，回答题：

　　In Japan's capital city of Tokyo, earthquake danger limits the height of buildings. The city hasspread out so far and the traffic has become so heavy that it is very difficult to get from one place toanother. The price of land,too,has become very high. All this explains why a group of Japanese landdevelopers came to the conclusion that there was nowhere to go but down. So far they have dug outspace underground for fifteen major shopping centers ,and the underground construction has only begun.What are some of the advantages of shopping and eating underground? Clean ,filtered( ~,,1~ )air is one of them. The city of Tokyo has one of the most serious smog problems in the world. An other advantage is that there won't be traffic accidents as that on the city's busy streets. Still another is the convenience of moving from place to place. You're usually right next to, or even in, a subway station.And you can even spend the night underground if you like. The Kyobashi Station, for example, indown town Tokyo, has a hotel with a bar, restaurant and barbershop.

　　44It is very difficult to get from one place to another in Tokyo because __________.

　　A.the city is so large and so highB.there is no trafficC.we don't know the roadD.the city is so large and the traffic is so heavy

　　参考答案：D

　　参考解析：

　　文中第二句中指出原因即城市太大，交通太拥挤。

　　45All are the seasons for Tokyo to develop underground EXCEPT __________

　　A.the high buildingsB.the high price of landC.the far spreading of the cityD.the heavy traffic

　　参考答案：A

　　参考解析：

　　文中第一段第一句中提到了建筑物的高度是因地震受到限制，因此A项的表述不合适，高大的建筑物并不是东京要向地下发展的原因。

　　46Shopping underground is clean __________ ,.,

　　A.without air pollutionB.of waterC.and tidyD.and beautiful

　　参考答案：A

　　参考解析：

　　文中第二段第二句中提到了地下购物的优点，即干净、空气好。

　　47The second paragraph tells us __________

　　A.underground is convenientB.the advantages of undergroundC.we can have good food undergroundD.you can spend the night underground

　　参考答案：B

　　参考解析：

　　文中第二段具体分析了地下的优点，比如干净、空气好、无交通阻塞问题等。

　　根据下面内容，回答题：

　　The discovery of a dwarfed (矮个的)"human being" who lived in Flores, Indonesia, up to 18,000 years ago is changing the way we think about the human family. This "Flores Human"wasthree foot tall and her brain was smaller than that of the average chimp(黑猩猩) ,yet she and herrelatives apparently lived fully human lives. They seem to have made tools, worked together to findfd and cook it, and perhaps even burried their dead with ceremony.

　　It was a major surprise to find tools associated with the new human family member. The tools arelike those formerly seen only with European fossils (化石)from our own species;Homo sapiens (智人) ;and the oldest of them were made 9,400 years ago. Homo sapiens is thought to have arrived inthe island about 4,000 years ago, much too late to be responsible for the tools. If this tiny humanmade the tools, then the inside structure (结构)of its brain must have been more like our own than a chimp's, despite being just a third the size of ours.

　　This "new human" was suspected to be a dwarfed branch of Homo erectus( 直立人). When crea-tures are separated in regions with rare resources but few enemies, being big is a disadvantage, andevolution tends to shrink them, a process known as island dwafng. Could natural selection make a hu-man smaller while keeping--even improving--mental ability? Quite possibly, believes ChristopherWills of the University of California.

　　Has the "Flores Human" even shown the ability of language? "I find it difficult to imagine thatpeople could make tools, use fire, and kill large animals without fairly advanced communication," Willssays. Did "Flores Human" possess the basic components of human culture--such as the burying of thedead with ceremony? Emiliano Bruner of the Italian Institute points out that Indonesia's hot,wet envi-ronment is bad for fossilization. It is reasonable to assume,he says,that the 18,000-year-old bones ofthe most complete Flores woman were well-preserved because she was buried with special care.

　　48According to the passage," Flores Human"__________ .

　　A.lived a partly human lifeB.was a branch of Homo sapiensC.used tools before Homo sapiens arrivedD.had a brain as large as a common chimp's

　　参考答案：C

　　参考解析：

　　依据在第二段中，比较隐蔽，根据“H0— mo sapiens is thought to have arrived in the island about4，000 years a90，much too late to be responsible for thetools.”可知答案为c项。也可以用排除法，A、B、D三项与文章内容矛盾。

　　49The underlined part "this tiny human" in Paragraph 2 refers to __________ .

　　A.a chimpB.Flores HumanC.Homo sapiensD.Homo erectus

　　参考答案：B

　　参考解析：

　　本文是围绕Flores Human展开的，A、C、D三项都只是说明其中的一部分情况。根据上下文可知B项正确。

　　50This passage mainly talks about __________ .

　　A.the tools made by "Flores Human"B.the language used by "Flores Human"C.the evolution of "Flores Human"D.the major surprising findings about "Flores Human"

　　参考答案：D

　　参考解析：

　　D项把A、B、C三项都概括了。A、B、C三项都是片面的，故最佳答案为D项。

　　51According to the passage, it is believed that "Flores Human"__________ .

　　A.was dwarfed by its enemiesB.could use languageC.left a lot of fossils in the hot and wet environmentD.reached Flores 40,000 years ago

　　参考答案：B

　　参考解析：

　　根据最后一段可知选B项。A、c、D三项的内容均与文章不符。

　　根据下面内容，回答题：

　　Unlike modern animal scientists, dinosaur scientists cannot sit on a hillside and use telescopesto watch dinosaurs in order to know how they lived and whether they were good parents. Instead, theyhave to search hard for information from dinosaurs' fossils (恐龙化石)because dinosaurs died outmillions of years ago.

　　It's very difficult for the scientists to reach an agreement because different results can be gotfrom the same fossils. Many fossils of the same kind of dinosaurs have been dug out from oneplace. They might have formed when an entire group of dinosaurs got stuck (陷人) all at once. Orthey might have been the result of dinosaurs getting stuck one after another over a course of a few centuries. Thus we can say that dinosaurs might have in the first case lived in big groups and inthe second lived alone.

　　Though there are two different results, dinosaur scientists now generally agree tha~" at least somekinds of dinosaurs lived in big groups. "That's pretty much settled at this point," says Paul Sereno.A kind of dinosaurs called Sauropods left behind tracks in the western United States that appear torun north and south, suggesting that they even moved long distances together.

　　As to whether dinosaurs cared for their young, dinosaur scientists have turned to the closest liv-ing relatives of dinosaurs--birds and crocodiles--for possible models. Birds give a lot of care to theiryoung, while crocodiles just help their young to the water. The discovered fossils of dinosaurs sittingon their eggs and staying with their young suggest the parents were taking care of their babies, but westill cannot say that all dinosaurs did the same.

　　There is still a long way to go before the above questions could be answered. Dinosaur scientists

　　will have to find more proof to reach an agreement.

　　52Dinosaur scientists can get information directly by ____________ .

　　A.studying dinosaur fossilsB.examinipg modern animalsC.watching dinosaursD.using tel'es~opes

　　参考答案：A

　　参考解析：

　　根据第一段第二句研究恐龙化石可得到直接信息，故A项正确。

　　53What is pretty much settled according to Paul Sereno?

　　A.Half of the dinosaurs lived alone.B.Most dinosaurs moved long distances.C.Many dinosaurs settled in the north.D.Some dinosaurs lived in big groups.

　　参考答案：D

　　参考解析：

　　根据Paul Seren0所说的话可知that指的是上文提到的内容，再结合本段第一句话可判断D项正确。

　　54Dinosaur scientists can probably know whether dinosaurs were good parents by __________ .

　　A.watching many kinds of animalsB.studying dinosaurs' living relativesC.following the tracks left behindD.working on dug-out dinosaur eggs

　　参考答案：B

　　参考解析：

　　根据倒数第二段第一句的后半句可知B项正确。

　　55Which of the following is TRUE according to the 4th paragraph?

　　A.Birds hardly pay attention to their young.B.Baby crocodiles can look after themselves well.C.Some dinosaurs took care of their young.D.Birds and crocodiles take good care of their young.

　　参考答案：C

　　参考解析：

　　根据本段最后一句可知人们还不能确信所有的恐龙都会照顾它们的后代，由此可判断C项正确。