Part II Reading Comprehension

　　Directions: There are 3 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.

　　Passage One：Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

　　At the bottom of the world lies a mighty continent still wrapped in the ice age and，until recent times， unknown to men.It is a great land mass with mountain ranges(山脉)whose extent and elevation are still uncertain.Much of the continent is a complete blank on our maps.Man bas explored，on foot，less than one percent of its area.

　　Antarctica differs fundamentally from the Arctic regions.The Arctic is a ocean, covered with drifting packed ice and hemmed(包围)in by the land masses of Europe，and North America.The Antarctic is a continent almost as large as Europe and Australia combined，centered roughly on the South Pole and surrounded by the most unobstructed(无限制的，不受阻挡的)water areas of the world-the Atlantic，Pacific，and Indian Oceans.

　　The continental ice sheet is more than two miles high in its centre;the air over the Antarctic is far more refrigerated than it is over the Acrylic regions.This cold air current from the land is so forceful that it makes the nearby seas the stormiest(多风暴的)in the world and renders unlivable those regions whose counterparts at the opposite end of the globe are inhabited.Thus，more than a million persons live within 2,000 miles of the North Pole in an area that includes most of Alaska，Siberia，and Scandinavia-a region rich in forest and mining industry.Apart from a handful of weather stations，within the same distance of the South Pole there is not a single tree，industry or settlement.

　　31.The best title for this selection would be

　　A) Iceland. B) Land of OpportunityC)The Unknown Continent. D) Utopia at Last.

　　32.At the time this article was written ,our knowledge of Antarctic was

　　A)very limited. B)vast. C) fairly rich. D)nonexistent.

　　33.The Antarctic is bordered by the

　　A)Pacific Ocean. B)Indian Ocean.C) Atlantic Ocean. D)All three.

　　34.The Antarctic is made uninhabitable primarily by

　　A)cold air. B)calm seas.C) ice. D)lack of knowledge about the continent.

　　35.According to this article

　　A)2，000 people live on the Antarctic Continent.

　　B) a million people live within 2，000 miles of the South Pole.

　　C)weather conditions within a 2，000 miles radius of the South Pole make settlements impractical

　　D)only a handful of native inhabit Antarctica.

　　Passage Two：Qustions36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

　　For centuries man dreamed of achieving vertical flight.In 400a.d.Chinese children play with a fan-like toy that spun upwards，and fell back to earth as rotation ceased.Leonardo da Venci conceived the first mechanical apparatus.Called a：Helix”, which could carry a man straight up but this was only a design andnever tested.

　　The ancient dream was finally realized in 1940 when a Russian immigrant, an aeronautical engineer, piloted a strange-looking craft of steel tubing with a rotating fan on top.It rose awkwardly and vertically into the air from a standing start，hovered a few feet above the ground，went sideways and backwards，and thensettled back to earth.That vehicle Was a helicopter.

　　Imaginations were fired.Men dreamed of commuting to work in their personnel helicopter.Every man would have one in his backyard.People anticipated that vertical flight transports would carry millions of passages as do the airlines of today.Such fantastic expectations were not fulfilled.

　　The helicopter has now become an extremely versatile machine.It excels(出色完成)in military missions，carrying troops，guns and strategic instruments where other aircraft cannot go.Corporation use them as airborne(空中的)office，many metropolitan areas use them in police work，construction and logging companies employ them in various advantageous ways，engineers use them for site selections and surveys，and oil company use them as the best way to make offshore and remote work stations accessible to crew and supplies.Any urgent mission to a hard-to-get-to place is likely task for a helicopter.Among their other multitude(大批，众多)of uses，they deliver people across town，fly to and from airports，assist in rescue work，and aid in the search for missing or wanted persons.

　　36.What is a helicopter?

　　A) An aircraft that can go faster than the ordinary airplane.

　　B) An aircraft that fit into the smallest place.

　　C) An aircraft that can fly up vertically.

　　D) An aircraft that is used only for commercial service.

　　37.What is said about the development of the helicopter?

　　A) Helicopter have only been worked on by man since 1940.

　　B) An Englishman was the first to achieve flight in a helicopter

　　C) Helicopters were considered more dangerous than the early airplane.

　　D)Some people thought they would become widely used by the average individual

　　38.Under what conditions are helicopters found to be almost indispensable?

　　A)For overseas passenger transportation.

　　B)For extremely high attitude flight.

　　C) For high speed transportation.

　　D)For urgent missions to inaccessible places.

　　39.How has the use of helicopters developed?

　　A) Each year they have become larger to accommodate greater loads.

　　B) They are taking the place of high-flying jets.

　　C) They are often used for rescue work.

　　D) They are now used exclusively for commercial projects.