第三部分：阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的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。
A
We considered a list of the best American books --- but we’d need a whole issue to do them justice. Here are 5 that helped define the national character. Most from a century or so ago, they still entertain, teach and inspire American people.
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
First published in 1851, the book tells the adventure stories of Captain Ahab and his continuous hunting for the white whale and draws us into a universe full of fascinating characters and stories.
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1918, the book provides insight into Adams’ family, including his experience as a private secretary to his father, minister to England during the American Civil War.
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
When Whiteman published Leaves of Grass in 1855, he wanted to define the American experience--- sing for the new country in a new voice, reflecting the great changes in the American literary world that had taken place during his lifetime.
Poems by Emily Dickinson
An enthusiastic poet whose works have had a considerable influence on modern poetry, Dickinson’s frequent use of dashes(破折号)，sporadic(零星的)capitalization of nouns, and unusual metaphors(隐喻)has contributed to her reputation as one of the most innovative poets of the 19th-century American literature.
The song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
First published in 1855, this is Longfellow’s most popular and most recognized poem, showing the heroic life and death of a magic American Indian sent by the Great Spirit to guide the nations in the ways of peace.
56. If you want to learn about a magic American Indian, you can choose ________. A. Moby-Dick B. Leaves of Grass C. Poems D. The song of Hiawatha 57. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage? A. Of the five works, four are poems.
B. Walt Whiteman was an enthusiastic poet and singer. C. The Education of Henry Adams is a non-fiction book. D. Of the five books, Moby-Dick was published last.
B
Reed College offers an educational program based on “an honest effort to remove old historic conflicts between the sciences and the arts and between the formal disagreement between the graduate and the undergraduate attitude of mind”. Each Reed student’s educational program includes one year of humanities(人文学科) studies in the first year. They then have the opportunity to select a major from one of the following majors such as anthropology, literature, science, art, economics, philosophy, etc.
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Instruction at Reed College emphasizes learning as a common adventure of students and teachers in which both cooperate closely in classes, group discussions, laboratories, and individual conferences. Teachers seek to deal with students as individuals with differences in experiences, attitudes, and interests. On their part, students are expected to recognize the responsibility placed upon them to participate actively in the intellectual life of the college, to discover their educational objectives, and to work hard to achieve them. They are encouraged to think about course materials in their cultural contexts and from the viewpoint of a variety of individual disciplines.
Reed’s educational technology center and other campus computing facilities are designed to provide students and other members of the college community with a rich and diverse set of tools for learning, research, and communication. All students have unlimited access to computing labs, known as information resource centers, 24 hours a day, 7days a week. Nearly all of Reed’s students have their own computers. Students and teachers who purchase computer equipment through the college receive discounts on hardware and software. Low-interest loans are available from Reed to help students buy computers. Reed’s wired and wireless computer networks reach all residence halls, classrooms, labs, offices, and study areas, and many open spaces.
Hauser Library is a central part of the intellectual and cultural life at Reed. Its primary goal is to provide collections and services that support the educational goals of the college. Books are open to encourage browsing of the collections. Desks and Internet access are distributed throughout the building, which also supports wireless network access. Reed’s library houses a collection of over 630,000 volumes. A collection of nearly 120,000 digital images supports instruction and research in art, classics, humanities, history, and other disciplines. The library is open over 120 hours each week. Library staff members try their best to keep an atmosphere to aid students in their research and also answer reference questions over campus email, online chat and text messaging.
Reed has a traditional four-point grading system focused on developing analytical and writing skills, where the representative works studied are effective subjects for frequent papers, discussed in individual paper conferences. Passing grades for undergraduates are A+,A, A-,B+,B,B-,C+,C,C-, and D. The failing grade is F.A grade of S(satisfactory) may be recorded at the first progress review of the year; an IN(incomplete) may be recorded as a temporary final grade if the level of the work done up to the point of the IN is passing, and the work could not be completed for reasons of health or extreme emergency. U(unfinished) is recorded as a temporary grade for a thesis not completed on time. Work in courses graded as unfinished or incomplete must be completed by the first day of instruction in the following semester.
Approximately 74 percent of first-year students admitted in the fall of 2006 graduated in spring 2012.
58. According to the passage, the Reed education belief lies in its ________. A. effort to make a compromise between science and arts B. awareness of the similarities between science and arts C. awareness of the differences between science and arts D. effort to bridge knowledge between science and arts
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59. We can learn from the second paragraph that ________. A. teachers in Reed are required to treat every student fairly B. students in Reed will be given an educational goal in advance
C. teachers in Reed are expected to choose course materials for students D. students in Reed are encouraged to choose as many courses as possible 60. According to the passage, students in Reed ________. A. have convenient access to many learning resources B. will receive an F if they don’t finish a thesis on time C. can finish the courses graded U before they graduate D. have to spend at most 6 years there before graduation
C
Cry, The Beloved Country is a great novel that describes South Africa during the years of British rule. It is a novel about black men’s country under white men’s law. It is about all kinds of injustice that man makes his own brothers suffer.
Alan Paton, born in Pietermaritzburg, saw South Africa in the worst of times. Britain was the ruling power of the country that had belonged to blacks for centuries, where the majority of the population were black and where blacks were considered to have a lower rank. It was a time of racial, political, so social injustice, and it was all directed at blacks. Blacks were considered stupid, dirty and unintelligent. As Alan Paton writes in a speech in the novel, “We say we refuse to let blacks receive education because the children of blacks don’t have the intelligence to profit from it; we refuse to give them opportunity to develop gifts because blacks have no gifts; we justify our action by saying that it took us thousands of years to achieve our own advancement, and it would be foolish to suppose that it will take blacks less time, and that therefore there is no need to hurry. We shift our ground again when blacks achieve something remarkable, and decide that it is a kindness not to let blacks become remarkable.”
This alone is so well-written and so consistent with the rest of the book, which made me feel frightened to read it. Paton is a master of words, of dialogue and meaning. He will draw you into a world where it is not difficult to understand the difficulty of blacks in their own country, and it is even easier to become one of them, on their side, hoping for all its worth that they survive.
He adopts John Steinbeck's method of dialogue, with the dash (破折号 ) coming before the actual speech and no quote marks. It gives the novel fluidity(流畅优美) and makes it all come together. It also lends a sort of serious sadness to the characters’ speeches, and it makes their words resound in silence，almost like a word spoken aloud in a lonely and deserted church, coming from nowhere and ending nowhere.
Religion is a central point, as Paton’s main character is a Zulu pastor whose church is in a little valley of old men and old women, of mothers and children. The men have gone away to Johannesburg, one of South Africa’s major cities whose central industry is gold mining. Paton describes the city and its people, black and white, as corrupt.
Stephen Kumalo, the pastor, as Paton's main character comes to Johannesburg to look for his sister. She went to look for her husband, who disappeared into the city and never came back. She is also lost, and Kumalo gives her up for lost. His son, Absalom
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Kumalo, goes to Johannesburg to look for his aunt, and is never seen or heard from again. Stephen, upon receiving news of his ill sister from a kind-hearted pastor in Johannesburg, gathers up his possessions and sets off in search of his lost family. He searches carefully the streets and slums (贫民窟) of Johannesburg and its surrounding areas with his pastor friend, who knows of the city very well. His friend, at first, seems unimportant, but as the story progresses Kumalo knows of how corrupt the city is through his friend. Paton also introduces how cruel the city is through Kumalo’s friend.
The novel will not be the same if you know what’s going to happen, not because it’s like every book, but because the surprise of its incidents is part of its mystery and Johannesburg’s horror. This novel is so rich and so good at describing the sorrow of mankind, the frustration and the incredible sadness of life in a torn world that it will attract you in a way you have never believed possible before and in a way you will remember long after you turn the last page. 61. We can learn from Paragraph 2 that ________.
A. blacks in South Africa were not as clever as white people B. blacks in South Africa were treated unfairly under British rule
C. Alan Paton was a black fighting for the rights of blacks of South Africa D. Alan Paton thought that it was impossible for blacks to achieve success 62. Which of the following statements about the features of the novel is TRUE? A. The way Paton uses dialogue makes readers puzzled. B. The conversations in the novel are mostly very humorous. C. Readers will feel sympathy for blacks after reading the novel . D. The language of the novel is difficult for readers to understand . 63. What does the underlined word “It” (Para. 4) refer to? A. The seriousness of the speeches. B. John Steinbeck's method of dialogue. C. The speech. D. The novel
64. The author mentioned the story of Stephen Kumalo to ________. A. show the close family ties between Kumalo and his sister and son B. show how Kumalo finds his sister and son with the help of his friend C. show that Kumalo never gave up easily D. show what kind of city Johannesburg is
D
Changing technology stimulates (刺激) the brain and increases intelligence. But that may only be true if the technology challenges us. In a world run by intelligent machines, our lives could get a lot simpler. Would that make us less intelligent?
After the Industrial Revolution, machines began to replace manual workers. The process played out in agriculture as well as manufacturing so that groups of agricultural workers were replaced and forced to move to cities to make a living.
When machines took away much of the manual work, people became less physically active and gained weight. The sedentary(久坐的) lifestyle contributed to a worldwide spreading of overweight and related metabolic disorders such as heart disease, secondary diabetes and kidney disease .
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