英语阅读Final Reading (4).doc

Passage 1Time passed and my cards sold well. My enthusiasm for the greeting card business grew quickly. All along, I had been drawing fantasy art: monsters, dragons, castles, etc. With the birth of my first son in 1980, the content of my work went through a pretty dramatic change.Fantasy went out of the window, and I began to illustrate reality.In the spring of 1983, we, The Mary Engelbreit Greeting Card Company, took our 12 little designs to New York to exhibit them at a national card show.I remember how big the show was. I just couldnt get over it. I had no idea there were so many different card companies. And it was exciting because our 12 little cards were getting a lot of attention in that huge place!Ive been told one of the reasons we had so much success at that show is because my card style was different than anything else at the market. I typically draw complicated details and use deep colors and funny or meaningful quotations.By 1985, many greeting card publishers started noticing my art, and two of them approached me with licensing contracts.I have always believed if you choose a job you love, youll never work a day in your life. If you ask about the mystery of my success, all I can say is this: to imagine is everything! 1. Before the birth of her first son, Mary Engelbreits cards focused on _. A. reality B. daily life C. fantasy D. dragons Correct answer: C 2. The New York show was so big that Engelbreit _. A. couldnt walk through it B. couldnt believe it C. couldnt stay to the end of it D. couldnt understand it Correct answer: B 3. Engelbreits cards were successful because _. A. they were distinctive in style B. they had a thank-you sentence C. they had complicated details D. they were rich in color Correct answer: A 4. A couple of greeting card companies _. A. presented Engelbreit with contracts B. asked Engelbreit to make her cards more distinctive C. wanted Engelbreit to use more meaningful quotations D. thought her cards were to complicated Correct answer: A 5. According to Mary Engelbreit, the key to success is _. A. devotion B. opportunity C. good luck D. imagination Correct answer: D Passage 2In the early days of sea travel, seamen on long voyages lived exclusively on salted meat and biscuits. Many of them died of scurvy (坏血病), a blood disease which causes swollen gums, livid (铅色的) white spots on the flesh and general exhaustion. On one occasion, in 1535, an English ship arrived in Newfoundland with its crew seriously ill. The mens lives were saved by Iroquois Indians (易洛魁印第安人) who gave them vegetable leaves to eat. Gradually it came to be realized that scurvy was caused by something lacking in the sailors diet. Captain Cook, on his long voyages of discovery to Australia and New Zealand, established the fact that scurvy could be warded off by the giving fresh fruit to the sailors.Nowadays it is understood that a diet which contains nothing harmful may yet result in serious diseases if certain important elements are missing. These elements are called vitamins. Quite a number of such substances are known and they are given letters to identify them, A, B, C, D, and so on. Different diseases are associated with a lack of particular vitamins. Even a slight lack of Vitamin C, for example, the vitamin most plentiful in fresh fruit and vegetables, is thought to increase our chances of catching colds.The vitamins necessary for a healthy body are normally supplied by a good mixed diet, including a variety of fruit and green vegetables. It is only when people try to live on a very restricted diet, say, during the extended periods of religious fasting (斋戒), or when trying to lose weight, that it is necessary to supply the missing vitamins. 1. Which of the following happens because of scurvy? A. People become hungry. B. People lose blood. C. People become livid. D. People feel pain in their gums. Correct answer: D 2. How would the sailors ward off scurvy on long trips? A. They took fresh fruit with them. B. They stopped in places to relax. C. They often found Indians to help. D. They ate vegetable leaves regularly. Correct answer: A 3. Which vitamin helps protect us against colds? A. Vitamin A. B. Vitamin B. C. Vitamin C. D. Vitamin D. Correct answer: C 4. What supplies all the vitamins we need to be healthy? A. Any one of the different sorts of green vegetables. B. Diets like those taken by religious people. C. Certain important elements known by letters. D. Mixed diets with different fruits and vegetables. Correct answer: D 5. When should people take vitamins? A. When wanting to be healthy. B. When joining a religion. C. When dieting to lose weight. D. When protecting against sickness. Correct answer: C Passage 3You must face the fact that in your inmost heart you hate the thought of moving. It is easiest not to leave the rooms where your children passed through their wonderful childhood and annoying teens to a friendly but slightly distant maturity.Until, suddenly one day, the distance is absolute and they are grown up and gone. Then you find yourself living in too large a house, which consumes in its maintenance too much energy and money. When we found ourselves in this situation a few years ago, we determined to move while we still had the strength and before the emotional ties that the old house had wrapped around us became too powerful to be broken. Move while you can! But be sure you really want to, and do not move too often. It is an exhausting process.Your first task is to find a house that will suit you. It must be smaller, quieter, easier to run, and more conveniently placed for transport. Not so small, though, that it will not have room for your largest pieces of furniture, and located not too far from the neighborhood where so many friendships have been built up.At last we found one: a late Victorian cottage, in a street where the houses, all small, range from late 18th to mid 20th century. It was near enough to where we wanted to live. It had no basement (底下层), which was a great convenience for aging legs; there were only two floors: one for ourselves and one where friends, children, and grandchildren could spread themselves when they came to stay. Each floor had two rooms. There was a kitchen on the ground floor, with the bathroom above it. 1. The passage concerns _. A. buying a house for a newly married couple B. buying a large house for a growing family C. buying a better house when people have more money to spend D. buying a smaller house for older people whose children have left home Correct answer: D 2. The passage implies that grown-up children are _. A. more friendly to their parents when they are grown up B. distant from their parents C. friendly but not very close D. annoying Correct answer: C 3. The author decided to move _. A. when his house gave him too much work and cost too much to run B. when he grew tired of his house C. when he suddenly got the strength to do so D. before the house collapsed Correct answer: A 4. The author advises people in his own situation _. A. to move into a very small house B. to move somewhere where the largest possible pieces of furniture will fit C. not to move too far from the main road D. to choose somewhere not so noisy Correct answer: B 5. According to the passage, the new house had _. A. two floors B. three floors C. four floors D. two bathrooms Correct answer: A Passage 4Is teaching important? Well, of course it is. There was a time when all necessary knowledge could be taught to the young by family members. But as societies became more complex and division of labor more common, it was impossible for family members to teach the information and skills young people needed to become useful members of the society. As the need for specialists appeared, the job of teaching came into being in our country, and teaching as a job has been of increasing importance over the past one hundred years. Today, we have strict rules for teachers. We hope all children can go to school. Many things tell us that teaching is indeed an important job.In recent years, there has been an increasing need for teachers to be responsible. This means that the public expects teachers to succeed in teaching important information to the young. Teachers salaries today, while not much, certainly are much higher than they were in the past. These increases have come about because people have realized that quality people, individuals who are highly able to teach, will not do it if they are not offered enough money. Today almost no one says that anybody will do for a teacher. The public expects quality people to teach the young, and progress is being made to give salaries that will make people who have abilities become teachers. 1. In the authors opinion, the job of a teacher _. A. is done best by family members B. is too complex for most people C. is free of rules D. is important for society Correct answer: D 2. The cause for the new job of teacher was _. A. the increased importance of labor B. the need for specialists C. the strict rules of the government D. the increased number of children in school Correct answer: B 3. According to the writer, _ is on the increase nowadays. A. a need for teachers to have responsibility for themselves B. a need for teachers to teach responsibility to students C. the numbers of students who are entering school D. the numbers of people who take the job of teacher Correct answer: A 4. We learn from this passage that _. A. money encourages teachers to be responsible B. money is not a responsible reason to become a teacher C. money is a good way to attract people to become teachers D. money was much higher for teachers in the past Correct answer: C 5. What do people hardly ever say these days? A. Anyone can be a teacher. B. Progress is being made. C. Teachers have abilities. D. Quality people are teaching the young. Correct answer: A Passage 5For most people learning to drive, the driving test arises ahead as a major barrier. It is also a general source of conversation whenever drivers are gathered together. There are probably more tall stories about the driving test than about any other motoring subjects; the most remarkable thing about those stories is the number of times the old ones appear again, years after they were first heard, in new and exaggerated forms.All driving examiners have had to pass a very strict selection process, followed by at least six weeks training. In the course of this training the Department makes sure that their driving is of a consistently high standard.Driving test centers are chosen with equal care. It would be nice to have centers and examiners town by town. But this is just not possible, because the centers have to be at places where there is enough parking space for candidates (考生) and where there are enough test routes. Routes are carefully chosen to make sure that they are all roughly comparable-the proportion of right and left turns, hills, pedestrian (行人) crossings and so on. The object of all this is to make sure, as far as possible, that all candidates in the driving test have to cope with the same sort of conditions whether they take the test in New York or California.The work that examiners do in actually carrying out tests is checked continuously by supervising examiners. This is to make as sure as possible that every candidate for the driving test has a proper and equal chance of showing the examiner, in the words of the Regulations, that he is competent to drive without danger to and with due consideration for other users of the road. This is all that the examiner is concerned with. 1. It can be learned from the passage that _. A. whenever people learning to drive get together, they often talk about the driving test B. new and exaggerated stories about the test are always appearing C. there are more tall stories about the driving test than any other subject D. the same stories about the test reappear years later Correct answer: