大学英语阅读练习

Passage 1 Teachers always plan down to the minute what their students will be doing. This is good for kids, because it teaches them to stay on task and follow a schedule. But most homes arent run this way. If parents do plan their childrens lives minute by minute, what happens when that child grows up and goes to college? At some point, kids need to learn to manage their own time. This can be one of the valuable skills you help your kids develop outside of school. But it generally wont happen all by itself, because theres a big transition that happens when kids leave the structured school environment and come home. If you have kid stay alone at home, think hard about trying to find an adult who can be there and provide the support your child needs. If a supportive adult isnt available, an expert named Martin recommends you find an after-school program led by experienced professionals who will engage them in creative activities, nourish them with healthy snacks, and assist them with their schoolwork. If you are at home on the contrary, to take some break after the guys get started on diversions, because its hard to stop and do something like homework. “If that little bit of downtime is television, good luck . getting them to do their homework.” says a professor of child development at California State University, “TV is addictive.” A better way to help your child unwind is with a healthy snack. “Wait until dinner, make a plate full of energizing food. You could even dish up part of the dinner youre preparing a little early for the kids,” she says. While youre sharing a snack, you can make a list of what your kids will get to do during their study breaks. The types of breaks recommended include shooting baskets, getting a drink, using the bathroom, or even playing a quick card game with parents. Your kids can be the ones to decide which breaks theyd like to take. But, as Freimuth says, your children will have to be honest about what kind of break will energize them and not upset their momentum.1. The main purpose of this passage is _A_.A) to provide some advice for the parents about childrens educationB) to explain how to prepare a pretty snack for your children C) to explain why the parents spoil their childrenD) to describe childrens lives after school2. The words “this way” in the sentence “But most homes arent run this way” in the first paragraph most possibly means _B_. A) to stay on the taskB) to arrange everything in detailsC) to give some lessons to childrenD) to behave in the structured school 3. According to the passage, the expert named Martin, appearing in the second paragraph, most probably takes up the following jobs EXCEPT _C_. A) a specialist in children educationB) a professional consultant in a after-school programC) the leader of a research group about sports, such as basketball D) mostly the same as what Freimuth (in the last paragraph) does 4. According to the last two paragraphs, the appropriate snacks that the parents provide will _D_. A) upset the childrens momentumB) exhaust them by lots of dirty dishesC) make the children get addicted to TVD) bring more energy to children5. Which of the following is NOT recommended for the break during the childrens study after class?CA) Shoot baskets.B) Play some games with parents.C) Go out to drink some beverage in a bar for a long time.D) Relax a bit by using the bathroom.Passage 2This is the weather Scobie loves. Lying in bed he touches his telescope lovingly, turning a wistful eye on the blank wall of rotting mud-bricks which shuts off his view of the sea. Scobie is getting on for seventy and still afraid to die; his one fear is that he will awake one morning and find himself dead-Lieutenant Commander Scobie, O.B.E. Consequently it gives him a severe shock every morning when the water-carriers shriek under his window before dawn, waking him up. For a moment, he says, he dares not open his eyes. Keeping them fast shut (for fear they might open on the heavenly host) he gropes along the cake-stand beside his bed and grabs his pipe. It is always loaded from the night before and an open matchbox stands beside it. The first whiff of tobacco restores both his composure and his eyesight. He breathes deeply, grateful for reassurance. He smiles. He gloats. Then, drawing the heavy sheepskin which serves him as a bed-cover up to his ears, he sings a little triumphal song to the morning. Taking stock of himself he discovers that he has the inevitable headache. His tongue is raw from last nights brandy. But against these trifling discomforts the prospect of another day in life weighs heavily. He pauses to slip in his false teeth. He places his wrinkled fingers to his chest and is comforted by the sound of his heart at work. He is rather proud of his heart. If you ever visit him when he is in bed he is almost sure to grasp your hand in his and ask you to feel it. Swallowing a little, you shove your hand inside his cheap night-jacket to experience those sad, blunt, far-away humps-like those of an unborn baby. He buttons up his pajamas with touching pride and give his imitation roar of animal health-Bounding from my bed like a lion-that is another of his phrases. You have not experienced the full charm of the man unless you have actually seen him, bent double with rheumatism, crawling out from between his coarse cotton sheets like a ruin. Only in the warmest months of the year do his bones thaw out sufficiently to enable him to stand erect. In the summer afternoons he walks in the park, his little head glowing like a minor sun, his jaw set in a violent expression of health. His tiny nautical pension is hardly enough to pay for one cockroach-infested room; he ekes it out with an equally small salary from the Egyptian government, which carries with it the proud title of Bimbashi in the Police Force. Origins he has none. His past spreads over a dozen continents like a true subject of myth. And his presence is so rich with imaginary health that he needs nothing more-except perhaps an occasional trip to Cairo during Ramadhan, when his office is closed and presumably all crime comes to a standstill because of the past. 6. Scobie liked to have his telescope in bed because _C_A) he enjoyed looking at the passers _ by, even if he could see the sea. B) he refused touching it and looking through it at the wall. C) he refused to accept the fact that he could not see the sea. D) he enjoyed looking at he passers _ by, even if he could not see the sea. 7. Every morning Scobie _B_A ) refused to open his eyes until he had had his first cigarette. B) according to himself, did not open his eyes in case he had died in the night. C) denied that he opened his eyes until he had had his first died in the night. D) could not see anything when the first noises in the street woke him. 8. Scobies morning discovery that he was still alive made him feel _A_A) delighted with his success in surviving the night. B) delightful because of his achievement in living. C) satisfied with his victory over life. D) satisfying with his victory over death. 9. When he got out of bed, Scobie _D_ A) jumped out like a young man, to show how healthy he was. B) got out slowly because he was too busy talking. C) could hardly get out although he suffered badly from rheumatism. D) got out with difficulty because his homes were stiff and painful. 10. What can his pension enough to pay for？C A) one big apartment B) a Two- room apartment C) one cockroach-infested room D) his well-being life Passage 3 Doors and windows cant keep them out; airport immigration officers cant stop them and the Internet is an absolute reproduction soil. They seem harmless in small doses, but large imports threaten Japans very uniqueness, say critics. “They are foreign words and they are infecting the Japanese language”. “Sometimes I feel like I need a translator to understand my own language,” says Yoko Fujimura with little anger, a 60-year-old Tokyo restaurant worker. “Its becoming incomprehensible.” Its not only Japan who is on the defensive. Countries around the globe are wet through their hands over the rapid spread of American English. Coca-Cola, for example, is one of the most recognized terms on Earth. It is made worse for Japan, however, by its unique writing system. The country writes all imported utterances - except Chinese - in a different script called katakana（片假名）. It is the only country to maintain such a distinction. Katakana takes far more space to write than kanji - the core pictograph（象形文字）characters that the Japanese borrowed from China 1,500 years ago. Because it stands out, readers complain that sentences packed with foreign words start to resemble extended strings of lights. As if that werent enough, katakana terms tend to get confusing. For example, digital camera first appears as degitaru kamera. Then they became the more ear-pleasing digi kamey. But kamey is also the Japanese word for turtle. “Its very frustrating not knowing what young people are talking about,” says humorously Minoru Shiratori, a 53-year-old bus driver. “Sometimes I cant tell if theyre discussing cameras or turtles.” In a bid to stop the flood of katakana, the government has formed a Foreign Words Committee to find suitable Japanese replacements. The committee is slightly different from French-style language police, which try to support a law that forbids advertising in English. Rather, committee members and traditionalists hope a sustained campaign of persuasion, gentle criticism and leadership by example can turn the tide.11. According to the author, the reason why the Japanese is infected greatly by English is _D_. A) that nothing can prevent it from entering into JapanB) that English is the most recognized language in the worldC) that the government has not set up a special administration department to control this trend before it becomes popular in JapanD) not clearly mentioned in this passage12. By saying “countries around the globe are wet through their hands over the rapid spread of American English,” the author implies that _D_. A) even a restaurant worker in Japan may feel the English infection on JapaneseB) the flood of katakana has covered most of countries in the worldC) Coca-Cola is the most popular brand of beverage on the earth and this product occupy all the global marketD) many other countries are influenced greatly by American English13. According to the passage, the following statements are true EXCEPT _A_. A) now there are two language systems, Kanji and katakana in JapanB) the word “digital camera” appears very different in JapaneseC) people are always confused by the young Japanese pronunciation of “turtle” and “camera” D) Foreign Words Committee is engaged in finding suitable Japanese replacements for the foreign words14. According to the author, the last paragraph mainly deals with _B_.A) how French-style language police has prevented the influence of EnglishB) how Japanese Foreign Words Committee prevents the infection of foreign wordsC) the suitable Japanese replacementsD) why committee members and traditionalists launch a war against the infection of foreign words15. Which conclusion can be drawn based on the opinions from the Japanese people (in paragraph 2 and 4 of this passage)? _A_A) The elders are more strongly in favor of replacing the foreign words than young people.B) All the people dislike speaking the foreign words, such as “digi kamey”.C) They are so old that it is necessary to give some language assistance by a specialist.D) Peoples work determines the language they speak. Passage 4Most people think of lions as strictly African beasts, but only because theyre been killed off almost everywhere else. Ten thousand years ago lions spanned vast sections of the globe. Now lions hold only a small fraction of their former habitat, and Asiatic lions, a subspecies that spit from African lions perhaps 100,000 years ago, hang on to an almost impossibly small slice of their former territory.India is the proud steward of these 300 or so lions, which live primarily in a 560-square-mile sanctuary. It took me a year and a half to get a permit to explore the entire Gir Forest-and no time at all to see why these lions became symbols of royalty and greatness. A tiger will hide in the forest unseen, but a lion stands its ground, curious and unafraid-lionhearted. Though they told me in subtle ways when I got too close, Girs lions allowed me unique glimpses into their lives during my three months in the forest. Its odd to think that they are threatened by extinction; Gir has as many lions as it can hold-too many, in fact. With territory in short supply, lions move about near the boundary of the forest and even leave it altogether, often clashing with people. Thats one reason India is creating a second sanctuary. There are other pressing reasons: outbreaks of disease or natural disasters. In 1994 a serious disease killed more than a third of Africas Serengeti lions-a thousand animals-a fate that could easily happen to Girs cats. These lions are especially vulnerable to disease because they descend from as few as a dozen individuals. “If you do a DNA test, Asiatic lions actually look like identical twins,” says Stephen OBrien, a geneticist who has studied them. Yet the dangers are hidden, and you wouldnt suspect them by watching these lords of the forest. The lions display vitality, and no small measure of charm.Though the gentle intimacy of play vanishes when its time to eat, meals in Gir are not necessarily frantic affairs. For a mother and her baby lion sharing a deer, or a young male eating an antelope (羚羊), theres no need to fight for a cut of the kill. The animals they hunt for food are generally smaller in Gir than those in Africa, and hunting groups tend to be smaller as well.16. In the first paragraph, the author tells us that Asiatic lions _B_ .A). have killed off other lions B). have descended from African lions C). used to span vast sections of the globeD). have lost their habitat17. What impressed the author most when he went to watch the lions in the Gir Forest? CA). Their friendliness.B). Their size.C). Their intimacy.D). Their vitality 18. What does the sentence “meals in Gir are not necessarily frantic affair” mean?BA). The lions do not show intimacy among them any more.B). The lions may not deed to fight for food.C). Food is not readily available in that region.D). Meals can be obtained only with great effort19. The lions in the Gir Forest are especially vulnerable to disease because _A_ .A). they have descended from a dozen or so ancestors B). they are smaller than the African lionsC). they do not have enough to eatD). they are physically weaker than the African lions20. One of the reasons why India is creating a secondary sanctuary for the Asiatic lions is that _A_A). the present sanctuary is not large enoughB). scientists want to do more research on them C). they have killed many people D). the forest is shrinking in size Passage 5One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bank-issued credit card. They give their owners automatic credit in stores, restaurants, and hotels, at home, across the country, and even abroad, and they make many banking services available as well. More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open. For many of us the cashless society is not on the horizon-its already here. While computers offer these conveniences to consumers, they have many advantages for sellers too. Electronic cash registers can do much more than simply ring up sales. They can keep a wide range of records, including who sold what, when, and to whom. This information allows businessmen to keep track of their list of goods by showing which items are being sold and how fast they are moving. Decisions to reorder or return goods to suppliers can then be made. At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employees are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly. And they also identify preferred customer for promotional campaigns. Computers are relied on by manufacturers for similar reasons. Computer analyzed marketing reports can help to decide which products to emphasize now, which to develop for the future, and which to drop. Computers keep track of goods in stock, of raw materials on hand, and even of the production process itself. Numerous other commercial enterprises, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computers. 21. According to the passage, the credit card enables its owner to _B_ . A) withdraw as much money from the bank as he wishes B) obtain more convenient services than order people do C) enjoy greater trust from the storekeeper D) cash money where he wishes to 22. From the last sentence of the first paragraph we learn that _C_. A) in the future all the Americans will use credit cards B) credit cards are mainly used in the United States today C) nowadays many Americans did not pay in cash D) it is now more convenient or use credit cards than before 23. The phrase ring up sales most probably means _B_ . A) make an order of goods B