Section BDirections: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.(C)Scientists Detect Gravitational WavesWhat is gravitational waves(引力波)? Scientists havefor the first time observed ripples in the fabric of space time(时空涟漪) called gravitational waves, arriving at the earthfrom a severely destructive event in the distant universe. Itconfirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 generaltheory of relativity and opens a unique new window onto theuniverse, according to a group of scientists at a press conference in Washington on Thursday.“This is truly scientific moonshot. We did it. We landed on the moon,” declared David Reitz, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory at Caltech, at the conference in the National Press Club.According to the National Science Foundation (NSF) experts, gravitational waves carry information about their dramatic origins and about the nature of gravity that cannot be obtained from elsewhere. Physicists have concluded that the detected gravitational waves were produced during the final fraction of a second(千分之一秒) of the combination of two black holes to produce a single, much bigger turning black hole. This fierce shock of two black holes had been predicted but never observed by NSF.The gravitational waves were detected on Sept 14, 2015 at 5:51 am EDT by both of the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington.Based on the observed signals, LIGO scientists estimate that the black holes for this event were about 29 and 36 times the weight of the sun, and the event took place 1.3 billion years ago.About three times the weight of the sun was changed into gravitational waves in a fraction of a second -- with a peak power output about 50 times that of the whole visible universe. By looking at the time of arrival of the signals -- the detector in Livingston recorded the event 7 milliseconds (毫秒) before the detector in Hanford -- scientists can say that the source was located in the Southern Hemisphere, according to a press release from NSF, which funded the research.This new LIGO discovery is the first observation of gravitational waves themselves, made by measuring the tiny disturbances the waves make to space and time as they pass through the earth. “Our observation of gravitational waves accomplishes an ambitious goal set out over five decades ago to directly detect this puzzling phenomenon and better understand the universe, and, properly, fulfills Einstein’s prediction on the 100th anniversary of his general theory of relativity,” Reitze said.74. By saying “This is truly scientific moonshot. We did it. We landed on the moon,” what doesDavid Reitz mean?A. We humans truly landed on the moon this time.B. The theory of relativity was not proved until today.C. Gravitational waves arrived at the earth in the end.D. Scientists successfully observed gravitational waves.75. What do NSF experts talk about in the third paragraph?A. Gravitational waves carry information about the origins of nature.B. The nature of gravity cannot be obtained from gravitational waves.C. The combination of two black holes can produce a single, much bigger turning black hole.D. Gravitational waves only appear at the final fraction of a second of the shock of two black holes.76. According to the observed signals, LIGO scientists find out that ______.A. the two black holes which brought about this event were much bigger than the sunB. about three times the weight of the sun became gravitational waves in this eventC. the event produced by the observed signals took place 1.3 billion years agoD. the peak power output was about 50 times that of the whole universe77. From this passage, a conclusion can be drawn that ______.A. gravitational waves can make disturbances to space and timeB. Einstein predicted the observed gravitational waves in the universeC. gravitational waves is not a puzzling phenomenon to the world any moreD. this new LIGO discovery was made to test the general theory of relativitySection BDirections: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.(C)When I returned to the common, the sun was setting. The crowd around the hole had increased, and stood out black against the lemon yellow of the sky—a couple of hundred people, perhaps. There were really, I should think, two or three hundred people elbowing one another, the one or two ladies there being by no means the least active. “He’s fallen in the hole!” cried someone. “Keep back!” said several. The crowd moved a little, and I elbowed my way through. Everyone seemed greatly excited. I heard a peculiar humming sound from the hole.“I say!”said Ogilvy; “help keep these idiots back. We don’t know what’s in the puzzling thing, you know!”The end of the cylinder(圆柱体) was being screwed out from within. I turned, and as I did so the screw（螺丝钉）must have come out, for the lid of the cylinder fell upon the ground with a ringing shock. For a moment that circular cavity seemed perfectly black. I had the sunset in my eyes.I think everyone expected to see a man emerge—possibly something a little unlike us earthly men, but in all essentials a man. But, looking, I presently saw something exciting within the shadow: clumsy movements, one above another, and then two disc-like eyes. Then something resembling a grey snake, about the thickness of a walking stick, climbed up out of the twisting middle, and moved in the air towards me—and then another.A sudden chill came over me. I stood frightened and staring. A big gray rounded bulk, thesize, perhaps, of a bear, was rising slowly and painfully out of the cylinder. As it bulged up and caught the light, it looked like wet leather.Anyone who has never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the Gorgon groups of tentacles(触手), the unstable breathing of the lungs in a strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and painfulness of movement due to the greater gravitational energy of the earth—above all, the extraordinary intensity of the huge eyes, which was unforgettable—were at once vital, intense, inhuman, and monstrous. There was something fungoid in the oily brown skin, something in the clumsy deliberation of the tedious movements unspeakably nasty. Even at this first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and dread.73. Why was the crowd “elbowing one another” according to paragraph 1?A. There were no officials to control them.B. They were curious and wanted to get a good view of the hole.C. They were angry and trying to push people into the hole.D. They were trying to get away from the hole in fear.74. The Martian shocked the narrator because__________.A. it did not look like the other Martians that had arrived earlierB. it arrived on Earth in a strange and nasty-looking cylinderC. it was moving surprisingly slowly for a MartianD. like most people, he had thought it would resemble a human75. A “sudden chill”（paragraph 5）came over the narrator because________.A. the Martian was heading directly towards the crowdB. a cold tentacle had almost reached the narratorC. he saw the Martian’s terrifying features as it climbed out of the cylinderD. the sun had set and he suddenly noticed the night-time chill76. What did the narrator find most impressive about the creature?A. The horrible shape of its mouth and face.B. Its long and strange tentacles.C. The way it moved in the Earth’s atmosphere.D. Its unusual large and intense eyes.77. The description of the Martians implies that they are _______.A. cute and charmingB. friendly and cooperativeC. frightening and probably dangerousD. ugly but unluckily misunderstoodSection BDirections: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.(C)In the 1990s, when an area of Brazilian rainforest the size ofBelgium was cut down every year, Brazil was the world’senvironmental villain(反派角色) and the Amazonian jungle theimage of everything that was going wrong in green places. Now,the Amazon ought to be the image of what is going right.Government figures show that deforestation fell by 70% in theBrazilian Amazon region during the past decade. If clearances had continued at their rate in 2005, an extra 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide would have been put into the atmosphere. That is an amount equal to a year’s emissions from the European Union. Arguably, then, Brazil is now the world leader in addressing climate change.But how did it break the vicious cycle(恶性循环)? The answer, according to a paper is that there was no silver bullet but instead a three-stage process in which bans, better governance in frontier areas and consumer pressure on companies worked.The first stage ran from the mid-1990s to 2004. This was when the government put its efforts into bans and restrictions. The Brazilian Forest Code said that, on every farm in the Amazon, 80% of the land had to be set aside as a forest reserve. As the study observes, this share was so highthat the code could not be followed—or enforced. This was the period of the worst deforestation. Soybean prices were high and there was a vast expansion of soybean farming on the south-eastern border of the rainforest.During the second stage, which ran from 2005 to 2009, the government tried to boost its ability to police the Amazon. Brazil’s president made stopping deforestation a priority, which resulted in better co-operation between different bits of the government. The area in which farming was banned was increased from a sixth to nearly half of the forest.The third stage, which began in 2009, was a test of whether a system of restrictions could survive as soybean expansion continued. The government shifted its focus from farms to counties (each state has scores of these). Farmers in the 36 counties with the worst deforestation rates were banned from getting cheap credit until those rates fell.By any standards, Brazil’s Amazon policy has been a success, made the more remarkable because it relied on restrictions rather than rewards, which might have been expected to have worked better. Over the period of the study, Brazil also turned itself into a farming superpower, so the country has shown it is possible to get a huge increase in food output without destroying the forest. Moreover, the policies so far have been successful among commercial farmers who care about the law and respond to market pressures. Most remaining deforestation is by small holders who care rather less about these things, so the government faces the problem of persuading them to change their ways, too. Deforestation has been slowed, but not yet stopped.73. Brazil is considered to play a leading role in dealing with climate change because ______.A. it has rainforest as large as BelgiumB. it has cut down too much rainforestC. it has taken action to reduce deforestationD. it sent 3.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air74. The underlined phrase “silver bullet” in Paragraph 2 most probably refers to______.A. a powerful weaponB. an effective solutionC. an intelligent deviceD. a golden opportunity75. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?A. 80% of the farmland was allowed for farming in the 1st stage.B. Soybean prices went up where farming land was expanded.C. The government hired more policemen in the Amazon area.D. The government enlarged its range of supervision in the 3rd stage.76. What can we infer from the last paragraph?A. Brazil has successfully eliminated deforestation.B. All the farmers care much about forest protection.C. Small farm holders are a headache for the Brazilian government.D. Both the food output and the forest in Brazil have greatly increased.77. What can be the best title of the passage?A. Cutting Down on Cutting DownB. Brazil, the World Leader in FarmingC. Restrictions Outperforming RewardsD. Former Awareness Working WondersSection BDirections: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.(C)Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of Deniliquin, a country town in New South Wales, misses the constant whir (嗡嗡声) of the rice mill whose giant fans dried the rice. The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere (南半球), once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people globally. But six years of drought have had a destructive effect, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and lea ding to the mothballing of the mill last December.Drought affects every agriculture industry based in Australia, not just rice –from sheep farming, the country’s other backbone, to the cultivation of grapes for wine, the fastest-growingcrop there, with that expansion often coming at the expense of rice. The drought’s effect on rice has produced the greatest impact on the rest of the world, so far. It is one factor contributing to skyrocketing prices, and many scientists believe it is among the earliest signs that a warming planet is starting to affect food production.Researchers are looking for solutions to global rice shortages – for example, rice that blooms earlier in the day, when it is cooler, to fight against global warming. Rice plants that happen to bloom on hot days are less likely to produce grains of rice, a difficulty that is already starting to emerge in inland areas of China and other Asian countries as temperatures begin to climb. “There will be problems very soon unless we have new varieties of rice in place,” said Reiner Wassmann, climate change director at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The recent reports on climate change carried a warning that could make the news even worse: that existing models for the effects of climate change on agriculture did not yet include newer findings that global warming could reduce rainfall and make it more variable.Yet the effects of climate change are not uniformly bad for rice. Rising concentrations (浓度) of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, can actually help rice – although the effect reduces or disappears if the plants face unnecessary heat, inadequate water, severe pollution or other stresses. Still, the flexibility of farmers here has persuaded some climate experts that, particularly in developed countries, the effects of climate change may be relieved, if not completely avoided. “I’m not as negative as most people,” said Will Steffen, director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University. “Farmers are learning how to do things differently.”Meanwhile, changes like the use of water to grow wine grapes instead of rice carry their own costs, as the developing world is discovering. “Rice is an essential food,” said Graeme Haley, the general manager of the town of Deniliquin. “Wine is not.”73. By “the mothballing of the mill” (in Paragraph 1) the author most probably means the mill is______.A. kept unprocessedB. left unusedC. being entirely restoredD. being pushed round74. To find the ways to cope with the global rice shortage, researchers are ______.A. seeking new types of rice which could bloom at a lower temperatureB. building greenhouses which could provide more heat for rice to growC. studying climate changes in China which may affect rice growing in AsiaD. looking for alternative agriculture industries which may take the place of rice75. Which of the following can be learned from the passage?A. Rice plants are fond of higher temperature in the process of growing.B. Global warming has shown few signs of influence on agriculture.C. Rice prices are rising steadily owing to the crop failure in Australia.D. Global warming may contribute to more complicated weather conditions.76. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.A. Australia is the largest rice producing country around the worldB. most people look on the bright side of the flexibility of farmersC. climate changes have simply brought negative effects to people’s livesD. wine grape cultivation has threatened the rice production in Australia77. Which of the following best serves as the title of the passage?A. Rice shortage and wine boomB. Drought, the enemy of rice productionC. Rice crisis and its solutionD. Rice issue, a focus of the public attentionSection BDirections: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.(C)Women are still underrepresented in top academic positions. One of the possible explanations for this is the increasing importance of obtaining research funding. Women are often less successful in this than men. Psychology researchers Dr. Romy van der Lee and professor Naomi Ellemers investigated whether this difference also occurs at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and examined potential explanations.The researchers were assigned by NWO to carry out this study as part of the broader evaluation of NWO's procedures and its gender diversity policy. The aim was to gain more insight into the causes of the differences in awarding rates for male and female applicants for research funding. The analysis addressed an important “talent programme” of NWO, the Veni grant. “Whoever receives this grant has a greater chance of obtaining an important appointment at a university,” says Naomi Ellemers.Van der Lee and Ellemers investigated all the applications submitted by male and female researchers over a period of three years: a total of 2823 applications. Under the direction of NWO these applications were assessed by scientific committees consisting of men and women. The results demonstrate that the awarding rates for female applicants (14.9%) are systematically lower than those for male applicants (17.7%). “If we compare the proportion of women among the applicants with the proportion of women among those awarded funding, we see a loss of 4%,” said Ellemers.The study reveals that women are less positively evaluated for their qualities as researcher than men are. “Interestingly the research proposals of women and men are evaluated equally positively. In other words, the reviewers see no difference in the quality of the proposals that men and women submi t,” says Romy van der Lee.In search for a possible cause for the differences in awarding rates and evaluations, the researchers also investigated the language use in the instructions and forms used to assess the quality of applications. This clearly revealed the occurrence of gendered language. The words that are used to indicate quality are frequently words that were established in previous research as referring mainly to the male gender stereotype (such as challenging and excellent). Romy van der Lee exp lains: “As a result, it appears that men more easily satisfy the assessment criteria, because these better fit the characteristics stereotypically associated with men.”In response to the results of this research, NWO will devote more attention to the gender awareness of reviewers in its methods and procedures. It will also be investigated which changes to the assessment procedures and criteria can most strongly contribute to more equal chances for men and women to obtain research funding. This will include an examination of the language used by NWO. NWO chair Jos Engelens said, “The research has yielded valuable results and insights. Based on the recommendations made by the researchers we will therefore focus in the comingperiod on the development of evidence-based measures to reduce the difference in awarding rates.”74. Van der Lee and Ellemers carried out the research to find out whether ____________.A. women are less successful than men in top academic positionsB. female applicants are at a disadvantage in getting research fundingC. NOW’s procedures and gender diversity policy enhance fair playD. there are equal chances for men and women to be admitted to a university75. Van der Lee and Ellemers’ study shows that _____________.A. grant receivers were more likely to get appointments at universitiesB. men applicants for research funding outnumbered women applicantsC. the research proposals of women are equally treated with those of menD. the reviewers have narrow, prejudiced conceptions of women candidates76. What might be the main cause for the differences in awarding rates and evaluations?A. The words used in the instructions and forms.B. T he reviewers’ preference to applications.C. The methods and procedures for evaluation.D. The vague and unclear assessment criteria.77. What will NWO probably do next in response to the results of this research?A. Eliminate possibilities for difference in awarding rates.B. Design a language examination for all the reviewers.C. Emphasize the importance of gender awareness.D. Improve the assessment procedures and criteria.Section BDirections: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.(C)During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, almost nothing was written about the contributions of women during the colonial period and the early history of the newly formed United States. Lacking the right to vote and absent from the seats of power, women were not considered an important force in history. Anne Bradstreet wrote some significant poetry in the seventeenth century, Mercy Otis Warren produced the best contemporary history of the American Revolution, and Abigail Adams penned important letters showing she exercised great political influence over her husband, John, the second President of the United States. But little or no notice was taken of these contributions. During these centuries, women remained invisible in history books.Throughout the nineteenth century, this lack of visibility continued, despite the efforts of female authors writing about women. These writers, like most of their male counterparts, were amateur historians. Their writings were celebratory in nature, and they were uncritical in their selection and use of sources.During the nineteenth century, however, certain feminists (女权主义者) showed a keen sense of history by keeping records of activities in which women were engaged. National, regional, and local women’s organizations a ssembled accounts of their doings. Personal correspondence (通信), newspaper clippings, and souvenirs were saved and stored. These sources from the core of the two greatest collections of women’s history in the United States, one at the Elizabeth and Arthur Schlesinger Library at RadclifféCollege, and the other the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. Such sources have provided valuable materials for later generations of historians.Despite the gathering of more information about ordinary women during the nineteenth century, most of the writing about women confo rmed to the “great women” theory of history, just as much of mainstream American history concentrated on “great men”. To demonstrate that women were making significant contributions to American life, female authors singled out women leaders and wrote biographies, or else important women produced their autobiographies. Most of these leaders were involved in public life as reformers, activists working for women’s right to vote, or authors, and were not representative at all of the great of ordinary woman. The lives of ordinary people continued, generally, to be untold in the American histories being published.74. What is the passage mainly about?A. The role of literature in early American histories.B. The place of American women in written histories.C. The keen sense of history shown by American women.D. The “great women” approach to history used by American historians.75. In the 1st paragraph, Bradstreet, Warren, and Adams are mentioned to show that ________.A. a woman’s status was changed by marriageB. even the contributions of outstanding women were ignoredC. only three women were able to get their writing publishedD. poetry produced by women was more readily accepted than other writing by women76. In the 2nd paragraph, what weakness in 19th-century histories does the author point out?A. They put too much emphasis on daily activities.B. They left out discussion of the influence of money on politics.C. They were printed on poor-quality paper.D. The sources of the information they were based on were not necessarily accurate.77. What use was made of the 19th-century women’s history materials in the SchlesingerLibrary and the Sophia Smith Collection?A. They were combined and published in a multivolume encyclopedia.B. They formed the basis of college courses in the nineteenth century.C. They provided valuable information for twentieth-century historical researchers.D. They were shared among women’s colleges throughout the United State s.Section BDirections: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.(C)What we know of prenatal development makes all this attempt made by a mother to mold the character of her unborn child by studying poetry, art, or mathematics during pregnancy seem totally impossible. How could such extremely complex influences pass from the mother to the child? There is no connection between their nervous systems. Even the blood vessels of mother and child do not join directly. An emotional shock to the mother will affect her child, because it changes the activity of her glands (腺体) and so the chemistry of her blood. Any chemical change in the mother's blood will affect the child for better or worse. But we can not see how a looking for mathematics or poetic genius can be dissolved in blood and produce a similar liking or genius in the child.In our discussion of instincts we saw that there was reason to believe that whatever we inherit must be of some very simple sort rather than any complicated or very definite kind of behavior. It is certain that no one inherits a knowledge of mathematics. It may be, however, that children inherit more or less of a rather general ability that we may call intelligence. If very intelligent children become deeply interested in mathematics, they will probably make a success of that study.As for musical ability, it may be that what is inherited is an especially sensitive ear, a peculiar structure of the hands or the vocal organs connections between nerves and muscles that make it comparatively easy to learn the movements a musician must execute, and particularly vigorous emotions. If these factors are all organized around music, the child may become a musician. The same factors, in other circumstance might be organized about some other center of interest. The rich emotional equipment might find expression in poetry. The capable fingers might develop skill in surgery. It is not the knowledge of music that is inherited, then nor even the love of it, but a certain bodily structure that makes it comparatively easy to acquire musical knowledge and skill. Whether that ability shall be directed toward music or some other undertaking may be decided entirely by forces in the environment in which a child grows up.74.Which of the following statements is not true?A. Some mothers try to influence their unborn children by studying art and other subjectsduring their pregnancy.。