Passage Three
Questions 32 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
32.A. 215,000.B. Less than 250,000.
C. More than 350,000.D. About 300,000.
33.A. Poor health condition of the children.B. Poor quality of village schools.
C. Religious differences.D. Different lifestyle or faith.
34.A. They lack opportunities to interact with children of their age.
B. Their parents are not qualified instructors.
C. They cannot win honor in such an environment.
D. They make no genuine friends.
35.A. Positive.B. Negative.C. Neutral.D. Indifferent.
Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.
I love traveling by train. Fast (36) ________, slow local trains which stop at every station, suburban trains taking business men to their offices and home again; I enjoy them all. It must be the element of romance that (37) ________ to me. There is no romance in a car on a motorway--a box of metal and rubber on a strip of concrete--or in flying (38) ________ the air in a pressurized tube from one (39) ________ plastic and glass airport to another. But trains are different. You can walk around, look at the scenery, (40) ________ your fellow passengers. (41) ________ all you can see are the clouds and the backs of other people’s heads.
Yes, traveling by train is still an (42) ________, even in England. You try to interpret the timetable, persuade the booking-office clerk to sell you a (43) ________ and understand the incomprehensible messages coming over the loudspeaker systems.
Then there’s that delightful uncertainty as you wonder whether you are (44) ________, or the right part of the train. Abroad, of course, it’s even more exciting, (45) ________ in those countries which forget to put names on their railway stations. Not only are you never certain that you are on the right train but you don’t even know when to get off if you are.
Part IV (25’) Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)
Directions: There are 2 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
Nowadays, Internet shopping is becoming increasingly popular and many high street stores and supermarkets are now offering this facility. You can shop for just about anything from the comfort of your own home, and all you need to do is to sit in your armchair and order things directly on the Internet.
Shopping on the Internet offers convenience and time-saving benefits to shoppers, as compared to traditional storefront(店面) shopping. People can shop for a variety of products on the Internet, ranging from physical products, such as books, CDs, clothes and food, to information products, such as online news or magazines stories. If it is too inconvenient for you to go out for shopping on your own, or if lack of time makes it difficult for you to shop at physical locations such as stores and shopping malls, you can choose to do shopping in the Internet. The Internet operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week，and shoppers can expect to find and purchase goods on the Internet anytime, unlike traditional storefronts which have fixed opening hours. No wonder that some research findings indicate that consumers views the Internet as an “instrument of convenience”.
Despite the advantages of Internet shopping, there are also disadvantages of Internet shopping. The main disadvantage on Internet shopping is that you cannot actually see the products you are buying or check their quality. Sometimes the computer image of the products can hardly compare with those that can be touched for quality and put on for comfort. Furthermore, Internet shopping cannot provide the social interaction and the sense of community. Many people will find it completely unpleasant because they may miss the opportunity to talk to friends. Some people are worried about paying for goods using credit cards, so Internet companies are now finding ways to make online payment safe.
As a new type of shopping, Internet shopping is bound to become more and more popular in the future. Moreover, if the problem of the security of the payment can be overcome, there will be more people willing to try online shopping.
46.What is the most important advantage of Internet shopping?
A. The reasonable price.B. The quality of the goods.
C. The convenience it brings to you.D. The speed the goods are delivered to you.
47.The phrase “physical products” (Line 2-3, Para. 2) means________________.
A. anything you can useB. things useful for health care
C. things connected with studyD. things you can see or feel
48.On-line news and magazine stories are _______________.
A. not yet available on the Internet
B. everywhere on the Internet and free to download
C. information products available on the Internet
D. the most popular products on the Internet
49.We can learn from the third paragraph that _____________________.
A. a delivery charge added to the shopping bill discourages people from shopping online
B. online payment is so safe that people can shopping on the Internet securely
C. people who enjoy the social experience will not choose online shopping
D. the quality of the goods is not always exactly what you expect
50. What can you infer from the last paragraph?
A. Sometimes people worry about the money the pay online.
B. Shopping on the Internet is a relatively new shopping mode.
C. Shopping is made easier by Internet shopping.
D. People need to get used to computer system for a secure way of shopping.
Passage Two
Levittown was the name given to three suburban developments constructed in the post World War II decades by Levitt and Sons, the most important private builder of this period. Using new mass production techniques they had learned while building housing for military personnel during the Second World War, they turned home building from a cottage industry into a major manufacturing process.
During World War II, they received government contracts to build homes for war workers. Under deadline pressure, they developed mass production methods to build houses quickly. These techniques were carried over to their postwar suburban developments. On May 7, 1947, William Levitt announced his plans to build 2,000 houses in a former potato field in the state of New York. Then, by the time this Levittown was completed in 1951, it had contained 17,450 homes for 75,000 people in New York. Levitt eventually built two more Levittowns, in the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Each contained the same curving streets, community pools, and neighborhood parks, play grounds as the first development did.
Some observers criticized the monotonous uniformity of the Levittowns, charging that they are just the symbol of materialism, but Levittowns were overwhelmingly welcomed by the public. They were cheap, comfortable, efficient, and ideal for young people just starting out in life. Thousands of middle class people, especially some young couples, crowded in city apartments, or still living with their parents, rushed to purchase them. Fourteen hundred contracts were signed in one day in 1949.
Levittown symbolized the most significant social trend of the postwar era in the United States----the flight to the suburbs. The resulting massive shift in population from the central city to the suburbs was accompanied by a baby “boom” that started after soldiers returned home from World War II and got married. By 1960, one-third of the nation’s population lived in the suburbs. The nation underwent its greatest increase in population since 1910.
51.What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. Levittown was built by William Levitt with the mass-production method.
B. Levittown served as an ideal and leading example of social changes in the US after World War II.
C. Increases in the population of the United States after the war.
D. Why there was a housing shortage after World War II.
52. What was the original reason for Levitt to use the method of mass production to build houses?
A. In order to reduce the cost of the construction.
B. To meet people’s need to own their own houses after the war.
C. There was a population shift from central city to the suburbs.
D. He was forced to do so because of the lack of time.
53. One of the reasons Levittowns were criticized by some observers was that ___________.
A. the land on which the first Levittown was built was previously used for agriculture
B. the methods Levitt used for construction were new to them
C. the Levittown houses were lack of variety
D. home building shouldn’t be changed from a cottage industry into a major manufacturing process
54. Thousands of people rushed to buy Levitt’s houses because of _______________.
A. the low pricesB. the convenient transportation
C. its location in the suburbsD. the crowded family in the city
55.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Levitt’s houses have led to the great shift in population after the Second World War.
B. William Levitt had tapped the postwar desire of young Americans to raise their children outside the central city.
C. Levittown has become the world’s most perfectly planned community.
D. The population of the United States increased sharply after the Second World War.
Part V Translation (15’) (15 minutes)
Directions: This part is to test your ability of translating. Write your translation in the corresponding space on the Answer Sheet.
中国是茶的故乡。据说早在五六千年前，中国就有了茶树,而且有关茶树的人类文明可以追溯到两千年前。来自中国的 茶和丝绸、瓷器—样，在1000年前为世界所知，而且一 直是中国重要的出口产品。目前世界上40多个国家种植茶，其中亚 洲国家的产量占世界总产量的90%。其他国家的茶树都直接或间接 地起源于中国。
