四、阅读理解(共15小题;每题2分，共30分。)
阅读下列短文，然后根据短文的内容从每小题的四个选择项中选出最佳的一项，并把它前面的大写字母填入左边的括号里。
A
Mike found that young birds in isolation could only make some simple sound. Mike learned that a young bird has to hear other old birds’ song during the period before it is seven weeks old. Then there is a long time until the next spring before the bird begins to sing. And when it does start, it needs to practise before it finally gets the song right.
Further studies have proved that young birds do indeed need musical education. After several of the young birds raised in isolation were put together for about ten months, they learned from one another and finally could sing. The songs they sang, however, were quite different from the wild birds’. On the other hand, the young birds caught after their time was spent listening to the wild birds’ songs, knew how to sing.
( )51. Mike found the truth that _________.
A. birds were born with the ability to sing
B. birds were born without the ability to sing
C. birds were born without the ability to make noises
D. birds were born without the ability to learn how to sing
( )52. Young birds raised in isolation could only make some simple sound because ____.
A. they had no choice but to do so
B. they couldn’t get the chance of practicing
C. they hadn’t heard the old birds’ song
D. they were too young to sing
( )53. The bird begins to sing when _________.
A. it is seven weeks old B. the next spring comes
C. it gets musical education D. it is very happy
( )54. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
A. Why do Birds Learn to Sing? B. When do Birds Learn to Sing?
C. How do Birds Learn to Sing? D. What do Birds Learn to Do?
B
Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave ￡ 1200 to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground.
As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy-five. Johnson had a sense of humour (幽默). He liked whisky (威士忌酒) and drank some each day. “I have an injection (注射) in my neck each evening,” he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injection.
( )55. The gift of money to the school suggests that Johnson _________.
A. had no children B. was a strange man
C. was very fond of children D. wanted people to know how rich he was
( )56. Many people wrote to Johnson to find out ________.
A. what kind of whisky he had B. how to live longer
C. how to become wealthy D. in which part of the neck to have an injection
( )57. The newspaperman _________.
A. should have reported what Johnson had told him
B. shouldn’t have asked Johnson what injection he had
C. was eager to live a long life
D. should have found out what Johnson really meant
( )58. When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening, he really meant that ________.
A. he drank a glass of whisky in the evening
B. he needed an injection in the neck
C. a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well
D. there was something wrong with his neck
C
Most great inventors often met with much trouble in their work. Before they could succeed, they had to overcome thousands of difficulties which were put in their way. The following is one of such examples.
George Stephenson (1781~1848), a famous British inventor, made the first train in 1825, using a steam engine. When he was experimenting with the engine on the train, he met with troubles from the government, the newspapers and the gentlemen in the country. They said that the noise and the smoke would kill cows, horses and sheep, that the engine would burst or that the hot coals from it would set fire to their houses. People believed what they said. George Stephenson told the people that train could go on samll rails, could pull carriages full of goods and passengers and that there was no great danger to them. It was a very difficult matter for him to make them believe. However, after some time, he was able to do it, and the first train that was driven by Stephenson himself proved what he had said. On the train there was a new steam engine. It was invented by him, and was proved a complete success. The first day when the train ran on the rails, people along the way heard the noise of the train in the distance, and saw it running quickly to them.
They thought it was a genie. They ran quickly back home for fear and closed their doors tightly. They did not dare to come out until it had passed. A week later an old woman still said that her hen had been so frightened that it hadn’t laid any eggs for three days.
( )59. The story tells us something about _________.
A. the life of George Stephenson
B. the invention of the train
C. the trouble of Stephenson in his invention
D. the use of the engine on the train
( )60. Troubles came from ________ during the experiment with the engine on the train.
A. the government B. the newspapers
C. the gentlemen in the country D. Not only A and B, but also C
( )61. People along the way were _______ when the first train ran on the rails.
A. greatly frightened B. very happy
C. running quickly to it D. proud of the invention
( )62. People ran quickly back home because they thought _______.
A. a genie was coming B. the train would kill them
C. the train would set fire to their houses D. the smoke would choke them
D
King Albert of the Belgians was born in 1875. In his youth he studied engineering and was especially interested in ships and planes. One of his favorite sports was mountain climbing, and it was as a result of falling while out climbing that he died in 1934. He was 59.
He is best remembered by the Belgians for his leadership during World War I, which broke out in 1914, only five years after he came into power. Belgium was officially a neutral country at the start of the war, but because the Germans could more easily attack France by crossing Belgium, they did not care about Belgium’s neutrality, and invaded it soon after the beginning of war. Albert realized that his small country had no chance of stopping the German army, but decided that rather than just surrender, the Belgian army should fight. Although almost the whole of their country was conquered, the Belgians, led by their king, continued to fight against the Germans throughout the full four years of the war. King Albert’s wife, Queen Elizabeth, also did her best for the country, working in an army hospital. There she did all kinds of work, from sweeping dirty floors to dressing the wounds of wounded soldiers.
( )63. When the war broke out, King Albert was ________.
A. sure of victory and decided to fight on
B. not sure of victory and decided to fight on
C. certain of defeat and yet decided to fight on
D. not certain of victory and so decided not to fight on
( )64. King Albert’s wife ________.
A. was a doctor before she got married
B. worked as a nurse after the war
C. was willing to work at anything for her country
D. was too proud to do dirty work
( )65. King Albert died ________.
A. in a battle B. in an accident
C. in an army hospital D. in the war against Germany
参考答案
三、完形填空
31.A 32.C 33.C 34.D 35.C 36.A 37.C 38.C 39.A 40.B 41.C 42.D 43.A 44.A 45.A 46.A 47.C 48.A 49.B 50.D
四、阅读理解
51.B 52.C 53.C 54.C 55.C 56.B 57.D 58.A 59.C 60.D 61.A 62.A 63.C 64.C 65.B