第三部分：阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2分，满分30分)

请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

The Inspiration

Greeks in ancient times believed in many deities or gods. One way they showed their devotion to gods was to build temples in their honor.

A Shaky Start

The Greeks were building the original Parthenon in about 480 B.C. when the Persians captured Athens. The Greeks swore an oath called “The Oath of Plateau”. They swore to fight to death. They also vowed never to rebuild the city’s monuments. The Greeks survived the invasion. They used the remains of the monuments to build a defensive wall around the city. After thirty years peace, the Greeks broke their oath. Their ruler, Pericles, ordered the rebuilding of Athens. They started work on Parthenon.

Fit for a Godness

The Greeks used expensive white marble to build the Parthenon. The Parthenon was 60 feet high and was surrounded by 46 tall Doric columns. The temple was adorned with many sculptures, statues and engravings. A continuous sculpture formed a border around the outside of the building. This horizontal band is called a frieze. Only 325 feet of the original 525 feet of the frieze still exist. A huge 40-foot gilt and ivory statue of Athena was placed inside the temple.

Changes in Purpose

Over time, many different groups of people used the Parthenon. It was first a Greek temple. Then in the sixth century, Christians made it a church. Later, in the 1400s, Muslins used it as a mosque. At one point, it was nearly destroyed by war. Turkish invaders used it to store ammunition. An explosion destroyed the inside of the building.

The Parthenon stands as a ruin today. Pollution has harmed the exterior. Despite the changes over time, the Parthenon remains one of the most famous buildings in the world.

56. Why didn’t the Greeks rebuild the Parthenon for thirty years after the Persian invasion?

A. They were unwilling to rebuild it.

B. They had no money to rebuild it.

C. They were angry with Athena for allowing the invasion.

D. They had sworn an oath not to rebuild.

57. In the long history, the Parthenon had been used as the following except ____________.

A. a temple B. a church C. an ammunition D. a mosquito net

58. What caused the temple to lie in ruins?

A. Passing of time, lack of money and people’s neglect.

B. Passing of time, an explosion and pollution.

C. An explosion, a volcanic eruption and an earthquake.

D. Pollution, rain and wind.

B

If you talk about a dog’s life, go to Beijing to see the pampered(过分娇惯的) dogs. Dogs clipped, dressed up, washed and dried. Here, it’s the owners who go to obedience(服从) school, and these people pay almost a thousand US dollars a month to learn how to properly care for their pets. Dogs are hot in Beijing, a symbol of a new middle-class family.

Dogs or pets can take the place of children, even husbands. Qin Lu, 23-year-old dog owner, certainly thinks her dog makes some more loyal partner. She’s spending 1,300 yuan, that’s almost 200 US dollars a month, sending her dog to the training school. Think about it, almost half her monthly salary as a secretary.

Personally, if I have a dog, I want to give it the very best of everything. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have a dog.

Before we get too sentimental(引起伤感情绪的), though, other dogs in China have a far more grisly(令人毛骨悚然的) fate, many still destined for the dinner table, dog meat, a popular delicacy. But appetities are changing. What was once for the eating is now for the treating. Beijing alone is home to more than a million dogs. Owners spend an average 25 dollars a month on pets. Do the math. Dogs are big business. Ning Wei who runs this obedience school on the outskirts of Beijing said. “It has been open for almost three years. There are many dogs. And now we are opening another branch.”

As their owners embrace everything western, so too, are the dogs. Ning Wei’s specializing in producing a new breed of bilingual puppies. Yes, dogs that understand Chinese and now English. “I’m going to do a test now to see if it understands both English and Chinese. Effectively, if its Chinese is better than my English, and its English is better than my Chinese.”

59. From the first paragraph we can know _______ in Beijing.

A. dogs are tired of the hot days B. why people spend so much buying a dog

C. dogs are very expensive D. many new middle-class families raise dogs

60. It can be inferred from the third paragraph that ____________.

A. the author also loves dogs

B. dogs can take the place of children, even husbands or wives

C. no dogs, no life

D. people will live a happy life with a dog

61. What can we know about Ning Wei from the passage?

A. He is an English teacher in an obedience school.

B. He is a businessman who runs a school.

C. He is a dog-keeper who is learning how to properly care for his dog.

D. He is a researcher who is crazy for the bilingual puppies.

62. From the passage we can conclude that _________.

A. there are many different kinds of dogs from all over the world in Beijing

B. many Beijingers love dogs better than their own sons or daughters, even their husbands or wives

C. learning how to treat dogs is a hot business in Beijing now

D. so much money has been spent on treating a dog

C

Though often called the “koala bear”, this cuddly(逗人怜爱的) animal is not a bear at all; it is a marsupial, or pouched mammal. After birth, a female carries a single baby in its pouch for about six months. When the baby comes out, it rides on its mother’s back or grasps her stomach tightly, accompanying her everywhere until it is about a year old.

Koalas live in eastern Australia, where the eucalyptus trees they love are most plentiful. In fact, they rarely leave these trees, and their sharp claws and opposable digits easily keep them in a high position. During the day they sleep lightly, hidden into forks(树叉) in the trees, sleeping for up to 18 hours.

When not asleep a koala feeds on eucalyptus leaves, especially at night. Koalas do not drink much water and they get most of their moisture(水分) from these leaves. Each animal eats a large amount for its size---about two and a half pounds (one kilogram) of leaves a day. Koalas even store snacks of leaves in pouches in their cheeks.

A special digestive system---a long gut(肠)---allows koalas to break down the tough eucalyptus leaves and remain unharmed by their poison. Koalas eat so many of these leaves that they take on a different and particular smell from their oil, reminiscent of cough drops.

These rounded, fat, lovely and fuzzy mammals were widely hunted during the 1920s and 1930s, and their populations decreased suddenly. Helped by reintroduction, they have reappeared over much of their former range, but their populations are smaller and scattered. Koalas need a lot of space---about 100 trees per animal---a pressing problem as Australia’s woodlands continue to shrink.

63. After he came into the world, the baby stays on the mother’s body for _______.

A. half a year B. a year C. a year and a half D. two years

64. Most of the time koala bears sleep _________.

A. between the branches on the trees B. in the caves made of tree forks

C. in the leaves of the top trees D. in the shelter made by humans

65. From the passage we know that _______.

A. koalas even store leaves in pouches when they don’t feed on babies

B. koalas live in the eucalyptus trees along the eastern coast of Australia

C. the leaves don’t poison koalas because of their special digestive system

D. koalas feed on a special smell of tree leaves when they don’t sleep at night

66. What does the underlined word “fuzzy” probably mean in the last paragraph?

A. Soft-haired. B. Sleepy. C. Precious. D. Strange-looking.

D

Storytelling has been an important means of making sense of the environment and of transmitting information, knowledge, and wisdom from generation to generation among many groups across the world, including the North American continent. In fact, although generally emphasized in the context of native cultures, stories are part of all cultures and all cultural groups. Fables, myths, fairy tales, and legends serve the purpose of transmitting values and knowledge, and can become a tool that aids people’s sense of control over their lives and environments. Stories transmitted through the generations are used by the story-tellers to guide the actions of younger members of a cultural group and to help them adapt their behaviors according to the codes and values of the group. Traditional stories serve to reflect or illustrate typical situations people in a given group might face, thus preparing them for their happening and for adjusting to and dealing with them. Through cultural storytelling, human beings developed a means of expressing their experiences to others around them, helping them feel complete into an understanding group. This self-disclosing and sharing purpose of storytelling may well be critical to the keeping of mental health within cultural groups.

Cultural stories have developed across time to adapt to changes within a cultural group and to reflect the shifts in a culture experience as it meet with others. Traditional oral cultures have largely given way to print or literary cultures, which in turn have been replaced in many ways by television and internet (or visual) cultures. Regardless of media (oral, print, or visual), the story meets its purpose of communication and sharing.

67. What can storytelling mainly do according to the passage?

A. It can carry a lot of useful information.

B. It can strengthen friendship between generations.

C. It can increase communication and sharing of different cultures.

D. It can do everything regardless of media.

68. Which of the following is TRUE about storytelling?

A. Storytelling has a long history.

B. Storytelling is as popular as in the past.

C. Young generations do not like stories.

D. Culture has little relationship with storytelling.

69. What’s the author’s attitude towards storytelling in the passage?

A. He thinks highly of storytelling.

B. He thinks little of the modern media.

C. He regards storytelling only as a tool.

D. He thinks little of traditional stories.

70. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A. Storytelling: its past and present

B. Storytelling: a link between generations and cultural groups

C. Storytelling: a way to tell stories of the past and the present

D. Storytelling: like it or not