Ⅲ 閱讀 (共兩節(jié)，滿分40分)

第一節(jié) 閱讀理解 (共15小題；每小題2分，滿分30分)

閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的A、B、C和D項(xiàng)中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。（湛江市第二中學(xué)2010屆高三級(jí)第二次月考英語(yǔ)）

( A)

①I(mǎi)saac Stern was more than a great violin player. He was one of the most honored musicians in the world. He was an international cultural ambassador. He was a major supporter of the arts in America and in other countries. He was a teacher and activist.

  ②Issac Stern was born in 1920 in what is now Ukraine. His parents moved to San Francisco, California the following year. His mother began teaching Isaac the piano when he was six. He began taking violin lessons after hearing a friend play the instrument. Later, he began studying music at the San Francisco Conservatory (音樂(lè)學(xué)院). He progressed quickly. When he was 16, he played with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The next year, he performed in New York City and was praised by music critics.

  ③During World War II, Mr Stern played for thousands of American soldiers. It was the first time many of them had heard classical music. After the war, he was the first American violinist to perform in a concert in the Soviet Union. He also supported young musicians and cultural organizations in Israel.

  ④In 1979, Isaac Stern visited China. He met with Chinese musicians and students. He taught them about classical Western music. His visit was made into a film, which is called From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. It won an Academy Award for best documentary film.

  ⑤In 1984, Isaac Stern received the Kennedy Center Honors Award for his gifts to American culture through music. He expressed his thoughts about the part that music plays in life. He said he believed that music makes life better for everyone, especially children.

  ⑥Mr Stern supported and guided younger classical musicians. They include violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Yefim Bronfman.

  ⑦Isaac Stern died in 2001 at eh age of 81. He was a major influence on music in the 20th century. He leaves the world richer with his many recordings.

41. Which of the following is the RIGHT time order for these events in Stern’s life?

  a. He began learning music in an institution.

  b. He received the Kennedy Center Honors Award.

  c. He visited the Soviet Union.

  d. He met with Chinese musicians.

  e. He performed for American soldiers.

  A. a,e,c,d,b     B. a,e,b,c,d     C. e,a,b,c,d     D. e,a,c,d,b

42. Paragraph 2 is mainly about ______.

  A. how Stern began to learn music   B. how Stern began his musical career

  C. Stern’s early education          D. Stern’s achievement in music

43. Which of the following statements about Stern is TRUE?

   A. He was an activist in opposing war.

   B. He was active in cultural exchanges between countries.

   C. He had an interest in both playing music and making films.

   D. He made a lot of money from music.

44. The Underlined word “cellist” in Paragraph 6 may refer to ________.

   A. someone who supports young musicians

   B. someone who wants to be a musician

   C. someone who has a gift for music

   D. someone who plays a certain kind of instrument

45. Which of the following shows the RIGHT structure of the text?

   A.        ①                         B.            ①

             ↓                                        ↓

          ②③④⑤                                 ②③④⑤⑥

↓                                        ↓

⑥⑦                                      ⑦

C.   ①②③④⑤⑥                       D.         ①②③

↓                                            ↓

⑦                                       ④⑤⑥⑦

The movie The Promise is ____ than The Fearless, so I like neither of them.

　　A. not less interesting B. no less interesting　C. no more interesting D. not more interesting

What do you mean by saying there are only ten tickets? There    be twelve．

   A. can          B. may           C. should         D. shall

A boy was born to couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the apple of their eyes. When the boy saw around two years old, the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for work so he asked the wife to cap the bottle and put it in the cupboard. The mother, preoccupied in the kitchen, totally forgot the matter.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to it and, fascinated with its color, drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages(劑量). When the child fell down, the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was unconscious. She was terrified how to face her husband.

When the distraught (心煩意亂的)father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just four words.

What do you think those four words were? The husband just said, "I love you, darling".

The husband's totally unexpected reaction is proactive(積極主動(dòng)的) behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he have taken time to put the bottle away, this would not have happened. No point in attaching blame. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.

Sometimes we spend time asking who is responsible or who's to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know and miss out on the warmth in human relationships we could receive by giving each other support. After all, shouldn't forgiving someone we love be the easiest thing in the world to do? Treasure what you have. Don't multiply pain, anguish and suffering by holding onto forgiveness.

If everyone could look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be fewer problems in the world.

Take off all your envies, jealousies, unwillingness to forgive, selfishness, and fears and you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.

60．The meaning of the underlined phrase is         .

       A．a(chǎn)n adult           B．a(chǎn) healthy boy

       C．the love of the parents     D．a(chǎn) naughty boy

61．Why was the mother terrified to face the husband?

       A．Because she was afraid of her husband.

       B．Because she thought that was her fault.

       C．Because she poisoned her son herself.

       D．Because she wanted to kill herself.

62．What does this passage mainly talk about?

       A．Be careful to do everything.

       B．Forgive what you shouldn’t forgive.

       C．Treasure what you have now.

       D．Envy can mislead the way you go.

63．Which column of a paper can we find this article?

      A．Financial aid to students. B．Grand view of science.

       C．Enjoying the countryside view.      D．Life and society.

Beijing-Beijing is to spend up to US $ 20 billion to change the Chinese capital into a 21st century one for the 2008 Olympics.

The government managed to host the 2008 games. The general aim is for Beijing to have the same environmental standards as Paris, London or Washington by 2008.

Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent to pipe natural gas to the city’s homes, taking away dirty coal burning gradually while 60,000 buses will be changed to liquefied gas.

The money also will be used for relocating the polluting factories and building green belts. By 2008 around 90 percent of Beijing’s waste will be treated, compared to only 40 percent at present.

Olympic officials realize the city has a long way to go to match the environmental standards of such cities as Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka.

City officials have already announced that around 50 large projects are being dealt with to improve traffic congestion and cut down pollution. They include construction of Beijing’s first light railway, a 40.5-kilometer line which is expected to be completed in 2005.

Besides, Beijing plans to build an 82.25-kilometer-long subway to add to existing 53 kilometers. Nine major roads will be rebuilt or widened.

Beijing also plans to build a 70-meter-wide green belt along the waterways to protect water quality as well as increase the green areas.

72. The government will pipe natural gas to the city’s homes in order to ____.

A. solve the problem of being short of fuel  

B. bring down the cost of daily life

C. reduce the pollution  of our city    

D. keep up with the development of modern society

73. The underlined word “ relocating” in this report means ____.

A. removing   B. pulling down     C. rebuilding  D. dealing with

74. From the last three paragraphs we know the fact that ____.

A. lengthening the existing 53-kilometer subway is among the 50 large projects

B. a 40.5-kilometer line will be added to Beijing’s first light railway

C. the length of the subway will be up to 135.25 kilometers in 2005

D. a 70-meter-wide green belt will supply us with enough water

75. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. The environment of London is better than Toronto.

B. In the first paragraph “ a 21st century one” refers to a modern and advanced capital

C. Beijing is badly polluted mainly by coal burning.

D. Liquefied gas is more expensive than petrol.1

Perhaps the most important characteristic of rap music is the way ____ the artists sing.

A. that    B. how            C. which          D. as

－ What gave him the chance to go to a college to go on with his studies ?

－______ a scholarship.

A. To win      B. Winning  C. Having winned  D. Won

This year, many Chinese people turned to flowers instead of paper money to have a green Tomb-sweeping Day ______ memory of their lost relatives.

A. on                  B. in              C. for          D. to

When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb(全身麻木). She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours. Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.

On that fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the cold sea, she struggled on ---- hour after hour ---- while millions watched on national television.

Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn't much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had … until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.

She told a reporter hour later, "Look, I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it." It was not tiredness or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing(超出) the men's record by two hours!

44. Florence Chadwick was the first woman to swim across ________.

A.the English Channel              B.the Catalina Channel  

C.the California coast               D.Catalina Island

45. Florence failed on her first trial mainly because of _______.

A. the sharks     B. the tiredness      C. the cold water     D. the bad weather

46. The underlined word “then” in this passage refers to the period when _______.

A. she had swum nearly sixteen hours            B. sharks swam toward her

C. she couldn’t see her support boats           D. millions of people watched her on TV

47. We can infer from the passage that it was ______ that resulted in her success.

A. her family’s encouragement             B. her iron will 

C. her swimming skills 　                D. the good weather

SECTION B

Directions: Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage and the required words limit. Write your answers on your answer sheet.

The unsteady housing market is showing a rare sign of strength: waiting home sales were up significantly in February, a report released Monday said, suggesting that Americans took advantage of a tax credit for home buyers.

Sales rose 8.2 percent in February, the National Association of Realtors(房地產(chǎn)經(jīng)紀(jì)人) said. Analysts had expected sales to stay flat.

Economists said Monday’s data suggested buyers were re-entering the market as the April 30 deadline approached for a government tax credit of up to $8,000. The tax credit drove up sales rapidly in the fall, when it was originally set to end, but it has been slow to push the market this spring.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the association, said Monday’s report “may signal the early stages of a second wave of home sales.”

A separate report on Monday showed the service division in the United States was improving, driven in part by gains in employment.

The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing barometer(晴雨表) rose to 55.4 in March, up from 53 in February, going beyond expectations. Much of the energy came from a rush in new orders and business activity.

It was the highest reading(測(cè)量或調(diào)查的讀數(shù)) for the survey since May 2006. While employment rose, it was short of the break-even point, signaling the service division was still losing jobs. Exports also rose significantly.

“This is a very encouraging report, which indicates acceleration in demand growth from both domestic and foreign customers,” Barclays Capital researchers wrote in a note on Monday.

The jump in waiting home sales was a rare bit of good news for the housing market, which remains in a deep rut(車(chē)轍). Home prices have shown little change.

Analysts expect the housing market to gradually improve as unemployment becomes less and the broader recovery gains steam. But so far, relief has been slow to come.

Monday’s report showed sales rose even in areas hit hard by poor weather in February. Sales climbed 9 percent in the Northeast and South, which were blanketed by snow in February.

The Realtors association bases its data on signed contracts, which usually take one or two months to translate into final sales.

81. What is the effect of the government tax credit? (No more than 5 words)

__________________________________________________________________

82. Who is chief economist for the National Association of Realtors? (No more than 2 words)

_______________________________________________________________________________

83. What could be a surprise according to Monday’s report? (No more than 10 words)

_______________________________________________________________________________

84. If you are asked to describe the rise in home sales in February, which word do you think is the most appropriate? (No more than 1 word)

______________________________________________________________________________