Part III: Reading Comprehension (40%)
Directions: There are four passages in this part. Each passage is followed by five questions or unfinished statements. Fro each question, there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should chose the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.
Passage 1
Strange things happen to time when you travel, because the earth is divided into twenty-four time zones, one hour apart. You can have days with more or fewer than twenty-four hours, and weeks with more or fewer than seven days.
If you make a five-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean, your ship enters a different time zone every day. As you enter each zone, the time changes one hour. Traveling wast, you set your clock back; traveling east, you set it ahead. Each day of your trip has either twenty-five or twenty-tree hours.
If you travel by ship across the Pacific, you cross the international date line. By agreement, this is the point where a new day begins. When you cross the line, you change your calendar one full day, backward or forward. Traveling east, today becomes yesterday and traveling west, it is tomorrow!
33. When you travel, you will find something strange about time. You may find _____. A. there are only 23 hours in a day B. there are 8 days in a week
C. there are one more hour in a day D. all of the above
34. The difference in time between neighbouring time zones is _____.
A. seven days B. 24 hours C. one hour D. more than seven days
35. If you cross the ocean, going east, you set your watch _____.
A. ahead one hour in each new time zone
B. ahead one hour for the whole trip
C. back one full day for the whole trip
D. back by 24 hours
36. The international date line is the name for _____.
A. the beginning of any new time zone
B. any point where time changes by one hour
C. the point where a new day begins
D. any time zone in the Pacific Ocean
37. The best title for this passage is _____.
A Trip Across the Atlantic
B. How Time Changes Around the World
C. Crossing the International Date Line
D. How Time Zones Were Set Up
Passage 2
Mrs. Peters stopped playing the piano when she began to work. She had lived in a very small flat, and there had been no room for a piano. But when she married, she had a new flat which was big enough for one. So she decided to get one and her husband agreed and helped her. She saved some money, and her parents gave her a generous amount of money for her birthday. Then she went to a shop and said, “I'll choose whichever piano does not cost too much and fits into my living room.”
When she had paid for the piano, the shop assistant asked her if she would like him to get it tuned(调音) every few months. Mrs. Peters agreed.
A few months later she heard from the shop that a man was coming to tune the piano at ten that morning. Now she had not cleaned the house yet, so it was dusty and untidy. Mrs. Peters hated having even the least amount of dirt, and felt ashamed whenever strange people saw her house like that. So she had to hurry to clean everything carefully. It meant a lot of effort, and it made her hot and tired, but anyhow, by the time the man arrived, everything was finished.
She opened the door, and the man was standing there with a big dog. “Good morning,” the man said politely, “will it disturb(打扰) you if I bring my dog in, please? I'm blind, and he leads me wherever I go.”
38. Mrs. Peters stopped playing the piano _____.
A. because she began to work
B. when she had no room to live in
C. because her flat was too small for a piano
D. when she got married
39. Mrs. Peters was soon able to buy a piano because _____.
A. her parents gave her all the money for it
B. she saved enough money for i
C. her husband gave her the money
D. she saved some money and her relatives gave her the rest
40. One morning, _____.
A. the man was coming to tune her piano
B. Mrs. Peters received a telephone call from the shop
C. the piano was sent to her house at 10
D. Mrs. Peters was going to clean the house
41. “It meant a lot of effort, and it made her hot and tired”. Here “it”refers to _____.
A. hating dirt B. cleaning everything
C. waiting for the man D. feeling ashamed of the dirty and untidy house 42. Mrs. Peters had wasted her time getting everything clean as _____.
A. the dog would dirty the house
B. the piano tuner could see nothing in the house
C. the dog disturbed Mrs. Peters
D. the piano tuner always took the dog
