提高班阅读专练（二） 5.15EWhat do you do if you don't get into your first choice of university? That's the question that faces thousands of students in Britain every year.Many students turn to Clearing, an education agency that helps find university places for students at the last moment. If students don't have enough marks to get into their first choice of universities, Clearing tells them about places available at other universities, though they might have to study another subject.But this year has seen a record number of students who want to study in universities. This means that there's been a fiercer competition for university places than usual. Education officials say six students competed for one place. It’s said almost 190,000 studen ts still don't have a place in a university. That's a rise of over 46,000 students from last year.Faced with these numbers, some students are going to be disappointed, others might be thinking of an interesting choice: studying abroad. The University of Nottingham, for example, is offering places in Ningbo, near Shanghai.Because of the problems with university entrance, the UK's Higher Education Minister, David Willetts, encourages students to study at home or to learn one kind of skills, such as cooking, hairdressingand so on . But some people say that rising university costs, less hope to find jobs in the future, and a drop in graduate recruitment（大学招生）mean it's the worst time to be a university student in the UK.74. Thousands of _________ students don’t know what to do if they can’t enter their first choice ofuniversities.A) American B) Chinese C) Brazilian D) British75. What does the underlined "place " mean? It means ______.A) room B) playground C) chance D) location76. What suggestion does David Willetts give to help solve the problems in university entrance?A) To study abroad. B) To turn to Clearing.C) To study at home. D) To turn to parents.77. What is NOT the reason that makes it the worst time to be a university student in the UK?A) British economic crisis (危机). B) Rising University costs.C) A drop in graduate recruitment. D) less hope to find jobs in the future.78. Which of the following statements is NOT true ?A) 190,000 students still don’t have a place in a university.B) Students in UK compete for places in universities.C) Students can study in Ningbo if they can't afford expenses in the University of Nottingham.D) Studying abroad may be another chance for those who don’t have enough marks to ge t into theirfirst choice of university.79. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?A) Clearing, the key to university. B) University Disappointment.C) Graduate recruitment. D) Studying abroad.FIf you want to find out a piece of information about anything, the best place to search for it is Wikipedia. This online encyclopedia is written by thousands of people around the world. Anyone can add or change the information if he or she finds it not correct or not well written. In this way, people who know a lot about a certain subject can write about it even if they are not university professors.What is more, Wikipedia includes articles written in about 253 languages. This fact makes it one of the few websites (网站) on the Internet that are truly international. It was started in 2001 by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales, as a free online English-language encyclopedia project. By April 2008, over 10 million articles had been put on Wikipedia. A quarter of the articles are in English. Wikipedia is also a place where people can find the latest news.However, Wikipedia has its own problems. There have been many complaints that some of the information on Wikipedia is not accurate and some important subjects are not included. This has led to arguments between the writers of the articles. The people running Wikipedia say that the accuracy of the information is improving and that it is one of the top 20 visited websites on the Internet.So, if you are looking for some information, why not try Wikipedia?74. Wikepedia is .A) a computer game B) an online magazineC) a free university D) a website encyclopedia75. People who write on Wikepedia .A) know much about a certain subject B) likes writing different storiesC) should be university professors D) are usually famous scientists76. Wikipedia is truly international because .A) everything is written in English B) the articles are in about 253 languagesC) there are over 10 million articles D) each writer can write in various languages77. People didn’t see Wikepedia on the Internet until .A) 1998 B) 2001 C) 2008 D) 201178. Besides information about different subjects, people can also on Widipedia.A) watch interesting movies B) send e-mails to friendsC) read about the latest news D) play exciting games79. The underlined part in Paragraph 3 probably means .A) caused B) stopped C) become D) reportedGGeorge Washington Carver was a scientist who helped farmers learn how to grow new crops and take better care of the soil. He studied many different plants and crops, but some of his favourites were peanuts, sweet potatoes and pecans（美洲山核桃）.We don’t know exactly when George Washington Carver was born, but it was probably sometime in the 1860s. His mother was a slave（奴隶）owned by a farmer in Missouri（密苏里州）named Moses Carver. Young George Carver was fascinated by plants and flowers. He tended （照料）his own little garden. People began to see what a gift （天赋）he had for growing things. They called him the “the plant doctor” and asked him to help them grow their gardens better.George longed to go to school. But in those days most schools only taught white children. So, George had to move to a town eight miles away to attend a school for black children. At that time, some people wrongly believed that a black child should not get any education.His determination carried him all the way through college. In 1894, George Washington Carver graduated from Iowa State University. Soon he was invited to teach at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, a college created especially for African-American students. It was just what Carver wanted: a place where he could study plants and agriculture, and help educate other black men and women.Carver wanted to help farmers in the South. They had been raising cotton for many years，and the crops weren't growing strong and healthy any more. Carver said they needed to improve the soil by growing other crops, like peanuts. People laughed and called peanuts monkey food. Nobody ate peanuts then. One evening a group of important people came to dinner at Tuskegee. George Washington Carver planned the menu. What do you think he served? Peanut soup, peanut bread, creamed peanuts, peanut cookies and peanut ice cream for dessert(甜点)！In his laboratory Carver learned how peanuts could be used to make shoe polish(鞋油)，ink, oil, shampoo(洗发精), soap(肥皂)，and shaving cream (剃须膏). Altogether, Carver discovered over three hundred ways to use the peanut. People started calling him “the Wizard (奇才）of Tuskegee”.93.What did George Washington Carver help farmers do?___________________________________________________________.94.People don’t know the exact birthday of George Washington Carver, do they?____________________________________________________________.95.Why did he study at a school far away?____________________________________________________________.96.How could the farmers in the South improve their soil?____________________________________________________________.97.How many things could peanuts be used to make in Carver’s laboratory?____________________________________________________________.98.Why did Carver serve some important guests with a lot of peanut food?____________________________________________________________.HHITTING the water with almost superman’s love and strength, Sun Yang has made history after his excellent performance at the London Olympic Games.The 20-year-old Sun became the first Chinese man to win gold in swimming. He took home four medals in total, two golds, one silver and one bronze.Sun said his success was down to hard work. For years he has made it a rule to swim 20km eve ry day. “When I trained in Australia, it was winter. Although the weather was cold and I wastired, I started training at 4:30am,” he said. The post-1990 athlete is popular not only because of his victory in London, but also his sportsmanship.Nicknamed “Sun Mengmeng” online, which in Chinese refers to his innocent appearance and charming personality, Sun has gained more than 10 million followers on Sina Weibo. His first message about his trip back to his hometown, Hangzhou, after the Olympics, received thousands of responses. “The high-speed train on my way home has been blocked for three hours due to Typhoon Haikui,” it said. “Is it possible for me to arrive home tonight?” Some Weibo users even visited his page to give funny repl ies, such as, “Why not swim home?”Sun may dream of matching his idol, American Michael Phelps, who has won 22 Olympic medals. But as a third-year student in Zhejiang University, he says he has a long way to go.“Sun works hard in class. His diligence show s the choices of a new generation of Chinese athletes, who are making more time for their education and not just focusing on sport,” said his professor, Zheng Fang.93. Is Sun Yang the first Chinese man to win gold in swimming?____________________________________________________________.94. Why is Sun Yang, the post-1990 athlete, so popular?____________________________________________________________.95. What does Sun Yang’s nickname refer to?____________________________________________________________.96. What did Sun’s first message about his trip back to his hometown mean?____________________________________________________________.97. Sun Yang thinks it’s easy to match his idol ‘Michael Phelps’, doesn’t he?____________________________________________________________.98. Would you like to be a person like Sun Yang? Why?____________________________________________________________.93. Yes, he is.94. Not only because of his victory in London, but also his sportsmanship. /Because of his victory and sportsmanship.95. His innocent appearance and charming personality.96. (It meant) he couldn’t go back home (in time)/he wanted to go home very much/he had been blocked by the typhoon. (Any reasonable answers)97. No, he doesn’t.98. Yes. Because he is hardworking/successful. (Any possible answers)D C C A C B 74. D 75. A 76. B 77. B 78. C 79. A。