“Can I see my baby？” asked the happy new mother. The bundle（婴儿包）was placed in her arms and when she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped—the baby had been born without ears. Time, however, proved that the baby’s hearing was perfect except his appearance.
One day when he rushed home from school and threw himself into his mother’s arms, he cried out bitterly, “A boy, a big boy…called me…a f…freak.” She sighed, knowing that his life was to be endless of heartbreaks.
He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift for literature and music.
The boy’s father had a talk with the family doctor. Could nothing be done？ “I believe we could graft（移植）on a pair of outer ears, if they could be donated,” the doctor decided. So the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man. Two years went by. Then, “You’re going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it’s a secret.” said the father.
The operation was a brilliant success. His talents blossomed into genius. School and college became a series of successes. Later he married and entered the diplomatic service. “But I must know!” he urged his father. “Who gave so much for me？ I could never do enough for him.”
“I do not believe you could,” said the father, “but the agreement was that you are not to know...not yet.” The years kept the secret, but the day did come…one of the darkest days that ever passed through a son. He stood with his father over his mother’s casket（棺材）. Slowly and tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair to let out the secret.
31．From the first paragraph we know that the mother __________.
A．was determined to donate her ears to perfect her son
B．kept her husband unknown about the baby’s situation
C．felt shocked and disappointed to see her new baby
D．complained of her bad luck to have a disabled child
[答案]
32．The underlined word “freak” in Paragraph 2 is the closest in meaning to “__________”.
A．slow-acting person B．ugly-looking child
C．badly-behaved student D．strangely-shaped creature
[答案]
33．What can be inferred from the passage？
A．The agreement was between the donator and the family.
B．The boy was so popular that he was made class president.
C．Finally the boy came to know who the donator was.
D．The mother donated her ears to her son after she died.
[答案]
34．What moral lesson call we draw from this reading？
A．Real love lies in what is done unknown rather than what is done known.
B．It is up to parents to help their children heart and soul.
C．True beauty lies only in the heart not in appearance.
D．It is a virtue for young generations to learn to be grateful.
[答案]
B
The US magazine Time recently released a list of its coolest inventions of 2008. There are several different categories, such as cars, food, and health. Surprisingly, not all the inventions are high-tech. Some are unbelievably simple, and even a little bit silly. Here are some interesting winners:
Flying mattress（床垫）
Your eyes aren’t cheating you: the black thing floating in the air is in fact a bed. The floating bed is the result of a daydream by Dutch designer Janjaap Ruijssenaags. Its secret is a set of magnets（磁铁）built into the bed and floor, which are powerful enough to support almost 900 kilograms. But remember not to wear anything made of iron or steel near the bed, otherwise you will be in trouble.
Inventor: Janjaap Ruijssenaars; Price: US $l.5 million
Hydrogen car
It could be years before you can buy a real hydrogen-fuel-car. Shanghai-based Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies got tired of waiting and designed a 15-centimetre-long toy car. It uses no batteries nor petrol, and runs on hydrogen extracted（提取）from tap water. With a full tank of water, the car can travel more than 100 metres. Since it uses only a little amount of flammable（易燃的）hydrogen, there’s no risk of a hydrogen bomb（炸弹）explosion in the living room.
Inventor: Horizon Fuel Cell；Price: US $115
A plate of coffee
“Don’t spill（洒）it!” many mums shout to teens drinking coffee, because coffee stains are difficult to wash away. Spanish inventor Ferran Adri’s latest invention may save teenagers from nagging. Solid coffee is made by combining coffee with sugar using a secret recipe. The mixture is like cream and you eat it with a spoon. The solid coffee has been available in the US since September and comes in several different flavours.
Inventor: Ferran Adri; Available at Lavazza in Chicago for US $2.49
Hands-free hug
When you’re away from home, phone calls help you keep in touch with the family. If you still miss your parents’ hugs, now they can send you a hug by cellphone with the help of Hug Shirt. When your mum sends you a hug, your cellphone sends a signal to the Hug Shirt. The shirt then gives you a hug with the same warmth, pressure, duration and even heartbeat of your mum’s hug. The Hug Shirt is made of high-tech material and is washable.
Inventor: Cute Circuit; Price: Not yet for sale
Meow, no achoo!（打喷嚏）
Love cats but your nose doesn’t？ Allerca, a US company is breeding（繁殖）a new type of cat that won’t cause allergic（过敏的）reactions. Most cats produce a protein in their saliva that can cause an allergic reaction in humans. But the new cat bred by Allerca doesn’t have this problem. Allerca tests each cat and offers a one-year money-back guarantee. Demand is high: there’s already a l50-month wait for the sniffle-proof（防止抽鼻涕的）cats.
Inventor: Allerca; Price: US $3, 950
35．The purpose of the article is to _________.
A．let you pick the coolest inventions
B．tell you how to invent something
C．explain to you some hi—tech inventions
D．introduce some coolest inventions listed by Time
[答案]
36．Which of the inventions would Lucy, who just started college and missed her family very much, want to buy？
A．Hydrogen car. B．Hug Shirt.
C．Solid coffee. D．Sniffle-proof cats.
[答案]
37．From the article, we can see that _________.
A．the new type of cat will probably enjoy the best sales
B．real hydrogen-fuel-car will be available soon
C．flying mattress is both expensive and silly
D．many people don’t like cats because they smell
[答案]
38．The only invention that has already been put on the market is _________.
A．Flying mattress B．Hug Shirt
C．Solid coffee D．Sniffle-proof cats
[答案]
C
Shopping for clothes is not the same experience for a man as it is for a woman. A man goes shopping because he needs something. His purpose is settled and decided in advance. He knows what he wants, and his objective is to find it and buy it; the price is a secondary consideration. All men simply walk into a shop and ask the assistant for what they want. If the shop has it in stock, the salesman promptly produces it, and the business of trying it on follows at once. All being well, the deal can be and often is completed in less than five minutes, with hardly any chat and to everyone’s satisfaction.
For a man, slight problems may begin when the shop doesn’t have what he wants. In that case the salesman, as the name implies, tries to sell the customer something else; he offers the nearest he can to the article required. No good salesman brings out such a substitute impolitely; he does so with skill: “I know this jacket is not the style you want, sir, but would you like to try it for size？ It happens to be the colour you mentioned.” Few men have patience with this treatment, and the usual response is: “This is the right colour and may be the right size, but I should be wasting my time and yours by trying it on.”
Now how does a woman go about buying clothes？ In almost every respect she does so in the opposite way. Her shopping is not often based on need. She has never fully made up her mind what she wants, and she is only “having a look round”. She is always open to persuasion; indeed she sets great store by what the saleswoman tells her, even by what companions tell her. She will try on any number of things. Uppermost in her mind is the thought of finding something that everyone thinks suits her. Contrary to a lot of jokes, most women have an excellent sense of value when they buy clothes. They are always on the lock-out for the unexpected bargain. Faced with a roomful of dresses, a woman may easily spend an hour going from one rail to another, to and fro, often retracing her steps, before selecting the dresses she wants to try on. It is a laborious process, but apparently an enjoyable one. Most dress shops provide chairs for the waiting husbands.
39．According to the passage, when a man is buying clothes, _________.
A．he buys cheap things, regardless of quality
B．he chooses things that others introduce
C．he does not mind how much he has to pay for the right things
D．he buys good quality things, so long as they are not too dear
[答案]
40．What does the passage tell us about women shoppers for clothes？
A．They welcome suggestions from anyone.
B．Women rarely consider buying cheap clothes.
C．Women often buy things without giving the proper thought.
D．They listen to advice but never take it.
[答案]
41．What does a man do when he can not get exactly what he wants？
A．He buys a similar thing of the colour he wants.
B．He usually does not buy anything.
C．At least two of his requirements must be met before he buys.
D．So long as the style is right, he buys the thing.
[答案]
42．Many jokes make fun of women shoppers by saying that _________.
A．they waste money on inferior（劣质的）goods
B．they should buy only the best clothes
C．they are much more sensible than men
D．they think of the price of clothes and nothing else
[答案]
D
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage VOWS mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here’s what l wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure; it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really had happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that; if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.
43．It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
A．the author is a success in personal life
B．the author didn’t try her best to work well
C．the author spent all her time caring for her children
D．the author likes travelling very much
[答案]
44．How did the author form her view of life？
A．Through social experience.
B．By learning from her friends.
C．Through an unfortunate experience
D．From her children and husband.
[答案]
45．By the underlined sentence “It is so easy to exist instead of to live” in the fifth paragraph, the author really means that people tend to _________.
A．make a living rather than live a real life
B．work rather than enjoy life
C．waste a lot in life
D．forget the most important lessons in life
[答案]
46．What’s the author’s attitude towards work？
A．Do it well to serve others.
B．Earn enough money to make life better.
C．Try your best to get higher position and pay.
D．Don’t let it affect your real life.
[答案]
E
What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America—breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and the weaving machine？
Among the many shaping factors, I would single out the country’s excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors; and above all the American genius for nonverbal “spatial” thinking about things technological.
Why mention the elementary schools？ Because thanks to these schools our early mechanics, especially in the New England and Middle Atlantic states, were generally literate and at home in arithmetic and in some aspects of geometry and trigonometry.
Acute foreign observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational-advantage. As a member of a British commission visiting here in l853 reported,“With a mind prepared by thorough school discipline, the American boy develops rapidly into the skilled workman.”
A further stimulus to invention came from the “premium” system, which preceded our patent system and for years ran parallel with it. This approach, originated abroad, offered inventors medals, cash prizes and other incentives.
In the United States, multitudes of premiums for new devices were awarded at country fairs and at the industrial fairs in major cities. Americans flocked to these fairs to admire the new machines and thus to renew their faith in the beneficence of technological advance.
Given this optimistic approach to technological innovation, the American worker took readily to that special kind of nonverbal thinking required in mechanical technology. As Eugene Ferguson has pointed out, “A technologist thinks about objects that cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process...The designer and the inventor...are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist.”
This nonverbal “spatial” thinking can be just as creative as painting and writing. Robert Fulton once wrote, “The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc., like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as an exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea.”
When all these shaping forces—schools, open attitudes, the premium system, a genius for spatial thinking—interacted with one another on the rich U.S. mainland, they produced that American characteristic, emulation. Today that word implies mere imitation. But in earlier times it meant a friendly but competitive striving for fame and excellence.
47．According to the author, the great outburst of major inventions in early America was in a large part due to__________.
A．elementary schools
B．enthusiastic workers
C．the attractive premium system
D．a special way of thinking
[答案]
48．It is implied that adaptiveness and inventiveness of the early American mechanics_______.
A．benefited a lot from their mathematical knowledge
B．shed light on disciplined school management
C．was brought about by privileged home training
D．owed a lot to the technological development
[答案]
49．A technologist can be compared to an artist because _______.
A．they are both winners of awards
B．they are both experts in spatial thinking
C．they both abandon verbal description
D．they both use various instruments
[答案]
50．The best title for this passage might be _______.
A．Inventive Mind B．Effective Schooling
C．Ways of Thinking D．Outpouring of Inventions
