Weekly Practice 23第二部分阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项的标号涂黑。

A"Take your time," Mr. Ballou encouraged. "Read, borrow, and keep. Find something you like. What do you read""I don't know." And I didn't. I generally read what was in front of me, what I could get from the paperback at the grocery, what I found at the library, magazines, the back of boxes. The idea of consciously seeking out a special title was new to me."Pick for me, then." I said.He looked up and down at me as though measuring me for a suit. After a moment, he nodded, and handed me a dark red book, fairly thick."The Last of the Just," I read. "By Andre Schwarz-Bart. What's it about""You tell me," he said. "Next week."I started after supper, sitting outdoors on an uncomfortable kitchen chair, Within a few pages, the yard, the summer, disappeared. Translated from French, the language was beautiful, simple, impossible to resist. When the evening light finally failed I moved inside, read all through the night.To this day, thirty years later, I clearly remember the experience. It was my first meeting with world literature, and I was amazed by the strong power a novel contained. I lacked the vocabulary, however, to translate my feelings into words, so the next week, when Mr. Ballou asked, "Well" I only replied, "It was good,""Keep it, then," he said. "Shall I suggest another"I nodded, and was presented with Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa.To make the story short, Mr. Ballou never paid me a cent for helping cut his grass that year or the next, but for fifteen years I taught anthropology（人类学）at Dartmouth College. That summer when I started to read became a turning point in my life which change the course of all that followed.21. Which of the following is true about the author before he met Mr. BallouA. He was merely fond of magazines.B. He hardly read anything.C. He found no time to readD. He was not an enthusiastic reader22. What happened when the author started to read "The Last of the Just" .A. He became absorbed in his readingB. He didn't know where to goC. He found it impossible to translate itD. He was eager to read another book23. Mr. Ballou offered the author books probably because he .A. found that the author had no money to buy booksB. intended to sell some books to the authorC. wanted to reward the author's helpD. expected the author to translate them24. Why did the author tell this storyA. To inform us of the importance of readingB. To introduce an important experience in readingC. To persuade more people to read in summerD. To show the close relationship between the author and Mr. BallouBThe ideal companion machine - the computer - would not only look, feel, and sound friendly but would also behave in a pleasant manner. Its informal conversational style makes interaction comfortable, and yet the machine would remain slightly unpredictable and therefore very interesting. In its first encounter it might be somewhat hesitant, but as it came to know the user it would progress to a more relaxed and intimate style. The machine would not be a passive participant but would add its own suggestions, information, and opinions; it would sometimes take the initiative in developing or changing the topic and would have a personality of its own.Friendships are not made in a day, and the computer would be more acceptable as a friend if it imitated the gradual changes that occur when one person is getting to know another. At an appropriate time it might also express the kind of affection that stimulates attachment and intimacy. The whole process would be accomplished in a subtle way to avoid giving an impression of over-familiarity that would be likely to produce irritation. After experiencing a wealth of powerful, well-timed friendship indicators, the user would be very likely to accept the computer as far more than a machine and might well come to regard it as a friend.An artificial relationship of this type would provide many of the benefits that people obtain from interpersonal relationships. The computer would participate in interesting conversation that could continue from previous discussions. It would have a familiarity with the user's life as revealed in earlier contact, and it would be understanding and good-humored. The computer's own personality would be lively and impressive, and it would develop in response to that of the user. With features such as these, the computer might indeed become a very attractive social partner.25. What would the computer do according to Paragraph lA. Passively receive information.B. Become intimate right away.C. Behave more like humansD. Know everything about the user.26. The second paragraph intends to tell us .A. it takes time for computers to gain personality of it ownB. friendship is built by expressing love and affection continuouslyC. a computer is more like a machine than a friend in human's eyesD. timing is the key for a computer to make friends with humans27. Throughout the passage, the author is in his attitude toward the computer.A. favorableB. criticalC. hesitantD. vague28. Which might be the most appropriate title of the passageA. Artificial relationshipsB. How to form intimate relationshipsC. The caring and tender machineD. Humans and computersCShoppers on Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season in America, are notoriously aggressive. Some even start queuing outside stores before dawn to be the first to lay their hands on heavily discounted goods. Last year destructive bargain-hunters in the suburbs of New York City trampled a WalMart employee to death. Despite the madness at many stores,however, the global economic recession appears to have accelerated the pace at which shoppers are abandoning physical stores in favour of retailers on the cyberspace such as Amazon and eBay.E-commerce holds particular appeal in poor times as it enables people to compare prices across retailers quickly and easily. Buyers can sometimes avoid local sales taxes online, and shipping is often free. No wonder, then, that online shopping continues to grow even as the offline sort declines. The shift in spending to the Internet is good news for companies like P & G that lack retail shops of their own. But it is a big concern for physical retailers, whose prices are often higher than those of e-retailers, since they must bear the extra expense of running stores. The most obvious response to the trend for traditional retailers is to redouble their own efforts in the virtual space.The concept of "multi-channel" shopping, where people can purchase the same items from the same retailer in several different ways online, via their mobile phones and in shops - is gaining ground, and retailers are trying to motivate users of one channel to try another. Growing online traffic may actually increase sales in stores too. Retailers are also trying to make online shopping seem fun and exciting to act against the low economy. One common tactic is to set up "pop-up" stores, which appear for a short time before disappearing again, to develop a sense of novelty and urgency.29. The writer mentioned Black Friday in the first paragraph in order to .A. show how rude American shoppers areB. accuse the destructive bargain huntersC. explain how bad the economic situation isD. show online shopping is gaining ground30. What does the underlined word "trend" most probably refer toA. The change of purchasing model of the customersB. Buyers started comparing prices when making a purchaseC. Physical retailers' running cost is becoming unaffordableD. Retailers can't keep up with the development of the Internet31. What's the retailer's purpose of setting up "pop-up" storesA. To cut down the operating costB. To increase their online salesC. To make shopping easy and fastD. To avoid local sales taxes32. What is the writer's main purpose of writing the passageA. To convince buyers to abandon aggressive shopping habits.B. To encourage physical stores to compete with online stores.C. To describe a form of business that is on the rise.D. To explain the influence of Internet on people's life.DMay: Happenings from the PastMay 5, 1884Isaac Murphy, son of a slave and perhaps the greatest horse rider in American history, rides Buchanan to win his first Kentucky Derby. He becomes the first rider ever to win the race three times.May 9, 1754Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette produces perhaps the first American political cartoon, showing a snake cut in pieces, with the words "Join or Die" printed under the picture.May 11, 1934The first great dust storm of the Great Plains Dust Bowl, the result of years of drought, blows topsoil all the way to New York City and Washington, .May 24, 1844Samuel F. B Morse taps out the first message, "What Hath God Wrought," over the experimental long-distance telegraph line which runs from Washington, . to Baltimore, Md.33. We know from the text that Buchanan is .A. Isaac's fatherB. a winning horseC. a slave taking care of horsesD. the first racing horse in Kentucky34. What is the title of the first American political cartoonA. Join or DieB. Pennsylvania GazetteC. What Hath God WroughtD. Kentucky Derby35. Which of the following places has something to do with the first telegram in historyA. Washington, .B. New York City.C. Kentucky.D. Pennsylvania.第二节（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。