第二部分 阅读理解(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读下面的短文，从每题所给的四个选项中选出最佳选项。
A
It may be one of Britain’s most successful exports—Miss World. This 53-year-old event took place in China last week and attracted over 120 women worldwide with knockout looks in a mad struggle for the crown.
Traditional values have long kept the Chinese, especially women, from displaying beauty. But Chinese people have now changed their attitudes toward beauty contest, although some men will still be shouting that the winner is no more beautiful than his wife or his former girlfriend or even his mother in a sour tone. But such men are not shouting for the right reason. The question is：Why isn’t there a Mr. World Beauty Contest?
And a further question to be asked is：Does taking part in a beauty contest show a woman’s courage, wisdom and liberation or rather the opposite a forced choice and revolting act made under conditions of long-term discrimination?
Organizers of such beauty contests claim that the contestants are judged on qualities other than just their physical appearance. But still no answer is given to why there isn’t a Mr. Beauty or a Mr. World Contest? Or at least, why isn’t that kind of contest popular? Why is it that only women’s“qualities”need to be recognized but not men’s?
Think about who is always standing beside a fancy car on show. Is it a boy or a girl? And this is how qualities are judged：If the girl looks good, there is little reason why the car beside her is not of high quality.
The beauty contests go on year after year, with winners enjoying fame which quickly disappears. While such events go on and on, what never changes is the routine practice that in every fancy car show, a girl stands beside a fancy car. What never changes is the need to hold a women’s conference every year to appeal for the promotion of respect for women. What never changes is the fate of women as a class. So let’s put more time and resources into trying to change all these rather than holding beauty contests.
41．The Miss World Beauty Contest in Britain has a history of ________.
A．120 years B．about half a century
C．100 years D．about half a year
[答案]
42．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A．The Miss World Beauty Contest first began in China.
B．In the past, women were not allowed to show their beauty in China.
C．120 women took part in Beauty Contest last week.
D．The Miss world Beauty Contest will be held every two years.
[答案]
43．According to the writer, ________.
A．Chinese women are not allowed to display beauty
B．the winner of Miss World is not as beautiful as his wife
C．some men are not shouting for the right person
D．people can accept a beauty contest in China now
[答案]
44．From the passage we can know the writer thinks that ________.
A．contestants’ qualities are more important than their physical appearance
B．a Mr. World Contest should be held instead of a Miss World Contest
C．a boy should stand by a fancy car
D．women’s social status is still low
[答案]
45．The best title for this passage is ________.
A．What about a Mr. World Contest
B．The History of the Miss World Beauty Contest
C．Quality or Appearance
D．A Boy Standing Beside a Fancy Car
[答案]
B
Eight Days for just $299!
Departs：May-October 2006
Includes：
·Return flights from 8 UK airports to Naples
·The transport from airport to hotel
·Seven nights’ accommodation at the 3 ☆Hotel Nice (double rooms)
·The services of guides
·Government taxes
Join us for a wonderful holiday in one of Europe’s most wonderful corners. Have a wonderful experience with holidaymakers. It is called the area“happy land”simply because its attractive coastline of colourful towns, splendid views and the warm Mediterranean Sea!
Choose between the peaceful traditional village of Sant’ Agata, set on a hillside six miles from Sorrento, or the more lively and well-known international resort town of Sorrento, with wonderful views over the Bay of Naples.
There are breathtaking scenery and famous sights everywhere. From the legend Isle of Capri to the haunting ruins of Pompeii, and from the unforgettable“Amalfi Drive”to the delightful resorts of Positano, Sorrento and Ravello, the area is a feast for the eyes! Should you choose to join us, we know that you will not be disappointed!
With a choice of hotels, and optional excursions including Capri, Pompeii and the“Amalfi Drive”, it is a truly unmissable holiday.
Price based on two tourists sharing a twin/double room at the Hotel Nice.
Like to know more? Then telephone Newmarket Air Holidays Ltd on 0854-226-7766 (All calls charged at local rates).
46．Which of the following is NOT included in the price of $299?
A．Transport between the airport and the hotel.
B．Telephone calls made by tourists.
C．The services of guides to tourists.
D．Double rooms.
[答案]
47．What is the purpose of the passage?
A．To invite people to take a breath in the Bay of Naples.
B．To advise people to telephone Newmarket Air Holidays Ltd.
C．To persuade people to tour in the area of the Mediterranean Sea.
D．To attract people to go to Sant’ Agate or Sorrento for sightseeing.
[答案]
48．The underlined part“the area is a feast for the eyes”in the passage means ________.
A．the area is pleasing to the eyes
B．the area is really unforgettable
C．the area is not very wonderful
D．the area is crowded with tourists
[答案]
49．After reading the advertisement, one will probably join in the tour because ________.
A．the sights are attractive and the tour starts in May or October
B．the price is low for those intending to stay at the 3 ☆Hotel Nice
C．the price offered is reasonable and the sights are beautiful
D．good services are offered to those intending to stay in double rooms
[答案]
C
Richard Wagner was a German musician who lived in the mid-19th century. He gained fame by writing operas, a form of performance combining singing, music on instruments, and drama.
Wagner’s life and work have been very controversial(引起争议的). While he wrote excellent music, many people think his operas are too dark and serious, lacking the fun in most operas written before his time.
Wagner, on the other hand, thought the opera of his time was too simple. He wanted to make opera a serious form of art that combined drama and music to tell deep stories that would have a strong effect on the audience.
Some people thought Wagner’s new kind of music was too different from the operas they were used to hearing. Wagner agreed with them. In fact, he didn’t call his works“operas”at all, but using a German word that means“Musical Festival”or“Musical Play”.
While many people today still do not like Wagner’s operas, they cannot deny that Wagner has had a lot of influence on opera as a form of art. Wagner invented the tradition of turning off the lights before starting a play. He also was the first person to make the whole audience sit down for an entire play. Today, almost all operas are performed in this manner.
Wagner as a man was even more controversial than Wagner as a writer of music. He hated Jewish people, slept with his friends’ wives, and made many people angry-lots of things we would today think of as evil. Some would say he was a good musician, while others hold that he was a bad musician. But it would be difficult to say he was not an important person in music and in the world.
50．Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?
A．Richard Wagner is not worth talking about.
B．Richard Wagner was an evil man.
C．Richard Wagner wrote operas.
D．Richard Wagner is a very controversial man.
[答案]
51．Which of the following uses the word“deep”in the same sense as it is used at the end of Paragraph Three?
A．The ocean is very deep.
B．He has a very deep, booming voice.
C．It is not easy to tell the meaning of this poem, because the poet is very deep.
D．We had the deep issue resolved last week.
[答案]
52．Which of the following is NOT a way in which Wagner’s works were different from normal operas before his time?
A．Wagner called his works“Musical Festival”.
B．Wagner used a combination of drama, music on instruments, and singing.
C．Wagner turned off the lights before starting a play.
D．Wagner made the whole audience sit down for an entire performance.
[答案]
53．Which of the following does not support the point that the author makes in the last sentence?
A．Few musicians have been affected by Wagner’s works.
B．Most writers of opera today think opera as a serious form of music.
C．Today, all operas are performed with the lights off before starting and the audience seated.
D．Wagner’s music had a big influence on Adolf Hitler.
[答案]
D
The smell of chocolate sends brain waves“wild”and relaxes people at the same time, according to experts.
“No other smell tested on volunteers had such a strong effect,”Neil Martin, an expert at London’s Middlesex University, said.
“Chocolate was quite a star performer in the experiment,”Martin said.“It seemed to make the brain go quite, scientifically, wild.”
He added,“We found that they found it pleasing and they found it very relaxing.”
About 20 volunteers were asked to sniff(嗅) smells including chocolate, strawberry, garlic, spearmint, baked beans, coffee and rotting meat.
They sat in specially designed smell-proof rooms, wore clouded glasses and had ear plugs so they had to keep their minds on the smells presented to them.
Volunteers were not told what smells they were going to get. While they sniffed, Martin’s group measured their brain activity.“Chocolate weakened brain waves known as theta waves, which are connected with attention,”Martin said.
“This seems to be the one involved with attention. The more complex a task you do, the more of this brain wave there is,”he said.
Martin said it was not clear why chocolate alone should have such an effect.
“One reason is you are thinking about chocolate, maybe baking cakes or sweets, and because of that you don’t pay much attention to your environment and it relaxes you,”he said.
“Or perhaps somehow the emotional center of the brain is made active—but this would not explain why other pleasant smells did not have the same effect.”he added.
54．Which of the following is what the text mainly tells us?
A．Why the smell of chocolate is pleasing and relaxing.
B．What effect the smell of chocolate has on the brain.
C．Why the smell of chocolate has a stronger effect than the others.
D．How the smell of chocolate is different from the others.
[答案]
55．“Chocolate was quite a star performer in the experiment”, which suggests that ________.
A．chocolate was the main smell tested in the experiment
B．the researchers had no difficulty in testing chocolate
C．the other smells tested in the experiment had no or little effect
D．chocolate proved to be the best among the smells tested in the experiment
[答案]
56．We may infer from the result of the experiment that the smell of chocolate might be most helpful ________.
A．when you start to work
B．when you do careful work
C．when you work for long and need to have a break
D．when you come back to work from your holiday
[答案]
E
Most young people enjoy some forms of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling, swimming, or in winter, skating or skiing. It may be a game of some forms—football, basketball, hockey, golf or tennis. It may be mountaineering.
Those who have a passion (strong emotion) for climbing high mountains are often looked upon with astonishment. Why are men and women, willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks in high mountains? This astonishment is caused, probably, by the differences between mountaineering and other forms of activities.
Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man-made rules as others, such as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of different kinds which it would be dangerous to ignore, but it is this freedom from man-made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to many people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods.
If we compare mountaineering with other more family sports, we might think that one big difference is that mountaineering is not a“team game”. There are, it is true, no“matches”between“teams”of climbers, but when climbers are on a rock linked by a rope on which their lives may depend, there is obviously teamwork.
A mountain climber knows that he may have to fight forces that are stronger and more powerful than man. He has to fight the forces of nature. His sport requires high mental and physical qualities.
A mountain climber continues to improve in skill year after year. A skier is probably past it by the age of thirty, but it is not unusual for men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountain in the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they perhaps climb with more skills and less waste of effort, and they certainly experience equal enjoyment.
57．What movements are popular among people in winter in the passage?
A．Soccer and golf.
B．Skiing and skating.
C．Cycling and hockey.
D．Mountaineering.
[答案]
58．Mountaineering is a sport, not a game, because ________.
A．it has man-made rules
B．it is too dangerous for climbers
C．it can’t bring people joy and leisure
D．it is free for climbers to use their own methods
[答案]
59．According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A．Mountaineering is a match between climbers.
B．Mountaineering is similar to other sports in many ways.
C．Climbers work like a team when their lives may depend on a rope.
D．Climbers help each other in time of difficulty.
[答案]
60．It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A．mountaineering has no appeal to people
B．physical quality is more important than mental quality for climbers
C．a mountain climber would pass it by the age of thirty
D．it is possible for an old man of fifty or sixty to climb the Alps
