阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的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。

1“Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it’s a girl.”Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different answer from every man who hears these words. Some feel proud when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child,it is obvious that the shift from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this remobilization process. Although numerous books have been written about American mothers, only recently has literature focused on the role of a father.It is argued by some writers that the transition to the father’s role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the transition the wife must make to the mother’s role. The mother’s role seems to require complete transformation in daily routine and highly innovative adaptation; on the other hand,the father’s role is less demanding and immediate. However, even though we mentioned the fact that growing number of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household.1. According to the author, being a father______.A. brings a feeling of excitement to some menB. has a different meaning for those who have daughtersC. makes some men feel proud and others uneasyD. means nothing but more responsibilities2. It is stated in the passage that______.A. some parents are not prepared to have a childB. young couples do not like children at allC. working couples do not have much time to take care of their childrenD. many parents look forward to having a boy as their first child3. The transition to the mother’s role requires that the wife______.A. change her lifestyle in a highly innovative wayB. make a complete change in her everyday life to deal with the new situationC. stay at home to take care of the babyD. help her husband in his remobilization process4. Some writers argue that with respect to the change of roles,fathers,compared with mothers, ______.A. have to shoulder more burdensB. have to make more difficult adaptationsC. have an easier job to doD. can usually do a better job【参考答案】32.CABC2Being the head of a high school for many years, I grew tired of budget meetings, funding cuts, and many other administrative chores (杂务). I started to dream of retirement. Sitting in traffic on a weekday morning, I would find my mind wandering, I would imagine spending time with my grandchildren, quiet evenings with my wife, traveling, or rediscovering some great books. I told myself that I wouldn’t sign myself up for any committees, any classes, or anything requiring a schedule.My first day of retirement came at last!I cooked a great breakfast for my wife and me, leisurely read the paper, cleaned a bit of the house, and wrote a few letters to friends. On the second day, I cooked breakfast, read the paper . . . On the third day, . . . This is retirement? I tried to tell myself that it was just the transition(过渡), that those golden moments were right round the corner, and that I would enjoy them soon enough. But something was missing.A former colleague asked a favor. A group of students were going to Jamaica to work with children in the poorest neighborhoods. Would I interrupt my new found “happiness” and return to the students, just this once? One trip. That’s all. My bags were packed.The trip was very inspiring. I was moved not only by the poverty I saw but also by the sense of responsibility of the young people on the trip. When I returned home, I offered to work one day aweek with a local youth organization. The experience was so positive that I was soon volunteering nearly full-time, working with students across North America to assist them in their voluntary work.Now, it seems the tables have turned. Some days I am the teacher, other days I am the student. These young people have reawakened my commitment (责任感) to social justice issues by challenging me to learn more about the situation in the world today, where people are still poor and suffer because of greed, corruption and war. Most importantly, they have given me the opportunity to continue to participate in helping to find solutions. In return, I help them do their charitable projects overseas. I’ve gone from running one school to helping oversee the construction of schools in twenty-one countries!1. What did the writer expect to do after he retired?A. To stay away from busy schedules.B. To write some great books.C. To do some voluntary work.D. To plan for his future.2. Why did the writer decide to go to Jamaica?A. He missed his students in that country.B. He couldn’t refuse his colleague’s favor.C. He was concerned about the people there.D. He was not satisfied with his retired life.3. Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?A. My Retired Life.B. Being the Head of a High School.C. My Attitudes towards Life.D. An Experience of Being a V olunteer.4. What does the writer think of his retired life now?A. Disappointing.B. Troublesome.C. Promising.D. Meaningful.【参考答案】33.ADAD3Millions of British people have ditched the traditional ‘thank you’ and replaced it with the less formal ‘cheers’, according to a survey.Although the average person will say ‘thank you’ nearly 5,000 times a year, one in three are more likely to throw in a ‘cheers’ or ‘ta’ where it’s needed, rather than risk sounding old fashioned.One in 20 now say ‘nice one’ instead, while younger generations are more likely to offer a ‘cool’ than a ‘thank you’.‘Merci’, ‘fab’ and even ‘gracias’ were also listed as common phrases to use, as was ‘much appreciated’.One in twenty who took part in the survey of 2,000 people by the Food Network UK for Thank You Day, which is marked on November 24, 2011, said a formal ‘thank you’ was now not often needed in everyday conversation. More than one in ten adults said they regularly won’t say thank you if they are in a bad mood.Most people declared that saying thank you was something drilled into them by their parents. A huge 70 percent of those questioned will say thank you to a person’s face without even meaning it, while a fifth avoid saying it when they know they should — on at least two occasions every day.It seems our friends and family get the brunt (压力) of our bad manners with half admitting they’re not good at thanking those closest to them — many justifying (为……辩解) the lack of thanks because their family ‘already know I’m grateful’.When spoken words won’t do, it falls to a nice text to do the job for most people. A third will still send a handwritten thank-you note — but 45 percent admit it’s been more than six months since they bothered to send one.A quarter of British people say thank you with food, with 23 percent cooking a meal to show their appreciation to someone. Another 15 percent bake a cake.It follows that 85 percent of people will be annoyed at not getting the gratitude (感激) they feel they should receive.56. Most of the people who took part in the survey say that they say “thank you” ________.A. when they are in good moodB. completely out of habitC. when they feel truly gratefulD. purely out of politeness57. The underlined word “ditched” in Paragraph 1 means “________”.A. abandonedB. usedC. sharedD. grasped58. It can be learned from the passage that _______.A. different ways of expressing gratitude are all fashionableB. people should avoid saying “thank you” nowadaysC. a thank-you note is still appreciated by most peopleD. people in a bad mood never say “thank you”59. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?A. Most people express their gratitude to others by buying food for them.B. About fifty percent of people try not to say thank you when they should.C. Most people may feel natural when they fail to receive others’ gratitude.D. Many people think it unnecessary to say thanks to their family members.4Two talented Sheffield High School pupils have just found out they’ve been shortlisted in the top five of their categories in the new national Ambition AXA Awards.Natalie Chan-Lam (Year 12) and Clare Rees-Zimmerman (Year 11) are both in the running to win a prize that will help them to achieve their ambition. The new national Ambition AXA Awards have been created to recognize excellence in 11—18 year olds. The national awards programme covers five categories: The Arts, Sport, Science, Enterprise and Community. Natalie is up for the Ambition AXA Award for Sport while Clare has earned her top five place in the Ambition Award for the Arts. The Ambition AXA Award for Sport aims to find the young person who thinks they may one day win an Olympic medal. Natalie is a Badminton International who has a long string of singles and double National titles behind her from U11 National Singles Champion (冠军) right through the ages to the latest U17 UK Schools Games, as well as a run of titles won with the England Badminton team over the last few years. Through her achievements in badminton and through her promotion of the sport in school and at club level, Natalie has inspired many other students to take up the sport and badminton is now a major sport at Sheffield High School. Amazingly, she still makes time to play for and coach school teams, encouraging and assisting others to have the opportunity to reach their own level of personal excellence. Natalie’s ambition is to be selected for the Olympics in 2016. The Ambition Award for the Arts is awarded to a young person who dreams of reaching the top in their field. Clare is a remarkable musician who has already, at the age of fifteen, achieved the highest marks ever seen at SHS for grade 8 violin and viola. Clare’s music teacher Val Linnemann says ofClare, “To me, one of the most outstanding things about Clare is her total willingness to listen and ask intelligent questions. She is patient and good-natured and willing to help with other players.” If she were to receive an Ambition Award, Clare has plans to use this money to enhance (增加) opportunities for others through workshops.If they get enough votes, they’ll make the top three in the country and be one step further towards the top awards. To vote for them, click on this link.60. The Ambition AXA Awards are meant for ________.A. anyone who is the best in one of the five categoriesB. those who are likely to be future stars in certain fieldsC. some pupils who have won great success in certain fieldsD. children who have ambitions in all the five categories61. We can conclude from the passage that Natalie and Clare are both girls with ________.A. belief, patience and confidenceB. courage, curiosity and enthusiasmC. caution, sympathy and experienceD. ability, kindness and achievements62. The main purpose of the passage is ________.A. to introduce the Ambition AXA AwardsB. to tell us what the two girls have doneC. to persuade us to vote for the two girlsD. to inspire more people to win the awards5The Importance of Setting Speech GoalsA speech is a wonderful opportunity to inform, persuade or entertain. The best speeches often take on a combination of all three of these components. However, before you can go about the writing of a great speech, it is important to set goals. Goals keep you, your speech and your audience focused. What a goal isIn the context of a speech, a goal is the purpose of the speech, and what it hopes to accomplish. For example, the goal of a eulogy (颂歌) might be to celebrate the life of a loved one. The goal of a speech at a political gathering would be to inform the crowd about the political position of a candidate and persuade them to vote and campaign for the candidate in question.Why a goal is importantWithout a goal, a speech is without direction. The goal informs the structure and content of the speech. For example, if a speech’s goal is to convince people that smoking is bad for them, thespeech will be structured with persuasive arguments to back up the goal. A speech with a goal of informing the audience will keep the information fair and factual.A goal is incredibly important to the speech’s ability to connect with an audience. If the speaker is unaware of the goal of the speech, the audience will likely be unaware as well. This severely reduces the effectiveness of the message.Aside from informing the audience of the content and structure, a speech’s goal drives the speaker to greater heights. If a speaker is asked to speak on a specific subject, but never establishes the goal, they won’t know where to start in the research, organizing and writing of the speech.___________________________________If you have been charged with (被委以) delivering a speech, establishing a goal can seem difficult at first. There are several things to take into consideration. First, think about who you will be speaking to. The demographic (人口统计) of your audience will likely determine whether you will be able to persuade them, or whether they will be able to sit through. Second, think about the topic its elf. If the topic is something controversial, it may worth your while to consider an informative approach to present both sides of the issue. Finally, consider your resources. A speech with an informative or persuasive goal usually requires a great deal of research, and sometimes takes more time to write.63. According to the passage, what three components does the best speech combine?A. Informing, delivering and entertaining.B. Informing, persuading and entertaining.C. Informing, writing and delivering.D. Informing, writing and persuading.64. The goal of a speech at a political gathering might be _______.A. to persuade the audience to vote for a candidateB. to celebrate the life of a person you admireC. to entertain the audience with humor and magicD. to persuade the audience to buy new products65. All the following indicate the importance of a speech goal EXCEPT that _______.A. a speech will lose its direction without a goalB. a speech goal can help keep the audience aware of the speechC. a speech goal can help the speaker know about the research, organizing and writingD. a speech goal makes it possible for the speaker to achieve whatever he wants in life66. Which of the following can be filled into the blank as the subtitle for the last paragraph?A. How to achieve a speech goalB. How to deliver a difficult speechC. What to consider to establish a goalD. What to consider to deliver a speech6Kepler 22b, a planet more like Earth than any yet discovered, has been identified as a potential future home for mankind.Kepler 22b contains both land and water and has temperatures which average around 22℃. It also contains the right atmosphere to potentially support life.It is, however, 600 light years from Earth. The planet, where a year lasts 290 days, was first spotted two years ago.However, NASA scientists using the agency’s Kepler space telescope have now concluded that it offers the best hope yet for future human habitation outside the Solar System.One of the key standards for a plan et to be habitable is that it remains roughly the right distance from its main star to be neither too cold nor too hot.This range of ideal temperatures is known to scientists as the “Goldilocks” zone, as the temperature is “just right” for life.Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Centre, said: “We have now got good planet confirmation with Kepler 22b. We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface it ought to have a nice temperature.”There are now three planets outside the system, known as exoplanets, which experts believe could potentially be colonised (建殖民地) by future generations.In May, French astronomers identified Gliese 581d, which is far closer at around 20 light years away. It is about six times the mass (质量) of Earth and is one of a family of at least six planets.In August, a team from Switzerland reported that another planet called HD 85512b and 36 light years away seemed to be habitable.The planet is in the constellation of Vela, measuring around 3.6 times the Earth’s mass. According to an online catalogue that indexes bodies outside our solar system, a total of 47exoplanets and exomoons are potential habitable candidates but not enough research has been done to be sure.67. Whether a planet is suitable for mankind to live on doesn’t depend on ________.A. whether there are proper temperaturesB. whether it is close enough to EarthC. whether there is atmosphere around itD. whether there is land and water on it68. In what way is Kepler 22b like Earth?A. Its mass.B. Its size.C. Its conditions.D. Its shape.69. It can be learnt from the passage that ________.A. Kepler 22b is closer to Earth than Gliese 581dB. Kepler 22b is most likely to be habitable of allC. Kepler 22b’s year lasts longer than the earth’sD. Kepler 22b’s mass is greater than HD 85512b’s70. We can infer from the passage that ________.A. the farther a planet is away from the earth, the more likely it is to be habitableB. the longer a year of a planet lasts, the farther it is away from the Solar SystemC. the smaller mass a planet has than the earth, the less possibly there is water on itD. the more potential habitable exoplanets are found, the more research we should do7Who hasn’t found themselves reaching for the closest food available when they’re tired and stressed? More and more research is proving that this isn’t all in our mind．Some foods really do lead to a change in our moods(心情)．Carbohydrate(碳水化合物)for calmThis is how some people medicate themselves with food—by reaching for cookies or pasta(意大利面食)whenever they’re upset．Unfortunately，it doesn’t always work．You must eat a meal consisting of 100％carbohydrate，on an empty stomach，to obtain the serotonin(血清素)increase so that you have a good mood．To get the wished-For effect．you must not eat anything for four hours and then eat at least 30 grams of straight carbohydrate．Dry cereal(谷类食品)，a piece of bread with jam，or a potato should do the trick．Protein(蛋白质)for powerOf course．sometimes we don’t need to be calm and sleepy．Sometimes we need a great deal of mental concentration，so this is when it’s important to mix protein and carbohydrate．The protein will prevent the tryptophan(色氨酸)from flooding your brain，and the rise in serotonin won’t occur．Why dessert makes us happyFat and sugar cause the brain to let go endorphins(内啡肽)，which send pleasure signals throughout the body．This would be fine，except humans are not particularly good at stopping at one cookie or cake．You can also satisfy your sweet tooth by choosing fruit for dessert．Timing your meals for energyBlood sugar drops after four hours of going without food，causing a decrease in energy．Eating usually fixes this within 20 to 30 minutes，but don’t suppose that eating more will cause a faster increase in energy.When you eat has as much of an effect on your mood as what you eat. If you regularly go for a long period of time between meals，rethink your schedule and plan ahead.(1)The underlined phrase in the third paragraph means_________.A. be extremely smartB. intend to cheat someoneC. bring about the desired resultD. do something to amuse people(2)The function of protein is_________.A. to help you keep calm-and-sleepyB. to make you feel energeticC. to lead you to slownessD. to increase serotonin in your brain(3)We can infer from the last two parts that_________________.A. fat and sugar can greatly help people feel happyB. we humans tend to eat lots of cookies and cakesC. the more we eat, the faster we will gain energyD. what we eat is more important than when we eat(4)The main idea of the passage is____________.A. eating for a better moo dB. eating to make you calmC. eating for more proteinD. eating to make us strong8Looking back on China’s road to outer space, people can easily find it has not been very smooth. In the past years, Chinese people have made hard and determined efforts to realize the dream their ancestors had for thousands of years.After China’s first satellite into the Earth’s orbit in 1970 came four flights of unmanned Shenzhou missions from 1999 to 2002.The country carried out its first one-piloted space flight in 0ctober, 2003, making China the third country in the world to have independent human spaceflight ability after the Soviet Union and the United States. Then came another breakthrough oil October 12,2005,when Shenzhou 6, China’s’ second human spaceflight, was launched, with a crew of two astronauts. What’s more, the landmark(里程碑)spacewalk done by Zhai Zhigang ,one of the three boarding Shenzhou 7, launched on Sept.25,2008,Leads the country further in its space exploration.Meanwhile, China’s moon exploration project, started in 2004, has also been progressing satisfactorily. Fifry years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first man made satellite, China’s first circumlunar(绕月的)satellite Chang’e l took off on Oct.24,2007,which became another milestone in China’s space achievements after the. above-men-tioned manned flights. Chang’e l was expected to fulfill four scientific goals, one of which was to probe(探测)mineral elements on the moon, especially those not existent on the Earth. It’s said that the1unar regolith(月壤)is abundant in helium-3, a clean fuel that may support th e Earth’s energy demands for more than a century. Nearly 3 years later,Oct.1.2010 witnessed the blasting off of Chang’e 2.China’s 2nd unmanned lunar probe, marking another step forward in moon exploration. This time the aim is to test the key techniques of Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4, as a preparation for a soft lunar landing in the future.With great expectations, people all over the world are looking forward to China’s greater space achievements.(1)According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?A. China sent its first satellite into the moon’s orbit in 1970.B. China is the third country in Asia to make human spaceflight.C. By now, altogether 5 astronauts have made successful spaceflight by Shenzhou spaceship.D. The launching of Chang’e l became the third milestone in China’s space achievements.(2)Paragraph 2 mainly deals with information about China’s______________.A. landmark spacewalkB. manned Shenzhou missionsC. first circumlunar satelliteD. unmanned Shenzhou missions(3)We can infer from the text that_______________.A. China’s road to outer space has not been very smooth for a long timeB. the lunar regolith is believed to be rich in a clean flue called helium-3C. China’s lunar exploration project was started in 2004 and completed in 2007D. China’s scientists are researching into techniques for soft lunar landing(4)What can b e the best title for the text.A. Ancient Chinese’s DreamB. China’s Major Space AchievementsC. China’s Moon ExplorationD. The World’s Great Expectations【解析】这篇文章回顾了中国太空探索所取得的成就——神舟号载人飞行和嫦娥探月卫星的成功发射。