Passage 1

Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.

Hummingbirds include the smallest birds in the world, but they belong to one of the largest group of birds, the Trochilidae family. These birds are found in deserts, mountains, and plains, but most live in tropical rain forests. Their name refers to the humming sound made by their tiny, beating wings; each species creates a different humming sound, depending on the the speed of its wing beats.

There are 328 hummingbird species. The smallest is the bee hummingbird from Cuba, and the largest is the giant hummingbird from South America. Hummingbird bills(喙) come in different sizes and shapes, too. The long bill is adapted to collect nectar (花蜜) from flowers. The bill protects the long, split tongue and allows each hummingbird species to feed from specific types of flowers. Hummingbirds are called nectarivores(食蜜类),because about 90 percent of their diet is the nectar from flowers. They also snack on insects. A hummingbird hunts insects by flying and diving to snap them up out of the air.

If a hummingbird sees a bird that it doesn’t want in its territory, it gives a high-pitched warning and starts doing dive attacks. Other hummers and even birds of different species often join in to dive-bomb the unwelcome bird until it leaves. The hummingbird is fearless, as it can overcome everything unless taken by surprise.

When it comes to flying, nobody does it better. Like a helicopter, a hummingbird can go up, down, sideways, backward, and even upside down! Most of its wings are made of hand bones instead of arm bones like other birds wings. When hovering, the wings turn in opposite directions and then reverse themselves in a figure-eight movement. Hummingbirds also have muscles that power both the up and down stroke instead of just the down stroke, as in other birds. They can beat their wings from 20 to 200 per second. Hummingbirds are such good fliers that most of them never walk.  

As tough as they are, hummingbirds still face a few clever natural enemies. Hummers have been caught by dragonflies, trapped in spider webs, and snatched by frogs. Other birds occasionally eat hummingbirds.

Where do most hummingbirds live?

A.In plains.,

B.In deserts,

C.In mountains.,

D.In tropical rain forest

Where does the name"hummingbird"come from?

A. From the way they fly.,

B. From the food they live om,

C. From the place they live in,

D. From the sound of their wing beats

What can we learn about hummingbird bills?

A. They are adapted to collect nectar from flowers.,

B. They are too small to protect the tongues

C. They have different colours,

D. They come in 328 shapes.

What will a hummingbird do if it sees an unwelcome bird in its territory?

A. It will do dive attacks,

B. It will fly back into the nest,

C. It will hide among the flowers,

D. It will go away from its territory.

In what way are hummingbirds unique compared with other birds?

A. They often walk,

B. They can go up and down.,

C. Their wings are made of hand bones,

D. Their muscles can power the up stroke.

Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.

Passage 2

Hollywood produces dozens, if not hundreds, of movies annually. Although a significant number of them are meant solely for entertainment and possess little-to-no artistic value, there are also movies in which actors,performance, plot, camera work, atmosphere, and other components are so brilliant that they deserve to be awarded.

In the beginning of the 20th century, such an award had been established; nowadays

known as the Oscar Award, it has become a mass culture event year by year throughout almost a century. The Oscar Awards ceremony was initiated(创始) by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences(AMPAS), formed in 1927 with the goal to honor talented actors, directors, cameramen, and other people involved in the cinema industry.

The first ceremony of awarding was held in May, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Surprisingly, the initial ceremony was a rather private event, with only a little over a hundred people being invited, and with the price for tickets equalling only $5. Originally, there were 12 categories and two special honors, and there was no intrigue in the ceremony itself: the names of all the winners were announced in advance, and the ceremony itself served only for handing out the awards and for the banquet.

To start with, its name is not Oscar; officially it is called "The Academy Award of Merit, and"Oscar"is just a nickname. Nowadays, the Oscar is traditionally made of

gold-covered metal. At the same time, despite its cultural value, an Oscar statue is incredibly cheap--it costs only $1. If an actor or another award nominee wanted, for some reason, to sell their Oscar statue, they are obliged to sell it only to the Academy, for the estimated price of $1. Such practice has been enabled since 1950, and every winner announces whether he or she wants to keep or to sell the statue. In 1989, the heirs of a producer Mike Todd wanted to sell the Oscar statue he received for his movie"Around the World in 80 Days, "but the Academy successfully blocked the deal. However, those Oscars that were awarded before 1950 can be sold and bought freely; for example, the statue received by Orson Welles for"Citizen Kane" was sold in 2011 for $861,542.

The Academy Award of Merit is a sign of  recognition of actors, directors,and other people related to the production of a movie, for their contribution and talent. The ceremony has gradually become one of the main annual events in world culture.

Every year Hollywood produces a large number of movies

A. for entertainment,

B. by brilliant actors,

C. of great artistic value,

D. deserving to be awarded

What is the Oscar award originally called?

A. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,

B. The Academy Award of Merit.,

C. The Hollywood Award.,

D. The Citizen Kane

What does the word"intrigue"in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A. Official,

B. Audience

C. Secret,

D.Cheat

An Oscar statue won in 2011 can be sold to

A. anyone who pays the highest price,

B. anyone who offers $861, 542,

C. the Academy for any price,

D. the Academy for only $1.

What is the proper title for the passage?

A. Hollywood and the Oscar Award,

B.The Oscar Award and Its History,

C. The Oscar Award and Its Ceremony,

D. Hollywood and the Cinema Industry

Passage 3

Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.

Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The disaster has

happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future, but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.

This was more or less Constance Chatterley’s position. The war had brought the roof

down over her head. And she had realized that one must live and learn.

She married Clifford Chatterley in 1917, when he was home for a month on leave. They had a month's honeymoon. Then he went back to Flanders: to be shipped over to England again six months later, more or less in bits. Constance, his wife, was then twenty-three years old, and he was twenty-nine.

His hold on life was marvellous. He didn't die, and the bits seemed to grow together

gain. For two years he remained in the doctors hands. Then he was pronounced a cure, and could return to life again, with the lower half of his body, from the hips down, paralysed (瘫痪) for ever.

This was in 1920. They returned, Clifford and Constance, to his home, Wragby Hall. His father had died, Clifford was now a baronet (准男爵), Sir Clifford, and Constance was Lady Chatterley. They came to start housekeeping and married life in the rather helpless home of the Chatterley’s on a rather inadequate income. Clifford had a sister, but she had departed. Otherwise there were no near relatives. The elder brother was dead in the war Disabled for ever, knowing he could never have any children, Clifford came home to the smoky Midlands  to keep the Chatterley name alive while he could.

He was not really depressed. He could wheel himself about in a wheeled chair,and he

had a bath-chair with a small motor attachment, so he could drive himself slowly round the garden and into the melancholy(令人忧郁的)park, of which he was really so proud, though he pretended not to be so.

Having suffered so much, the capacity for suffering had to some extent left him.He

remained strange and bright and cheerful. Yet still in his face one saw the watchful look,the slight vacancy of a disabled man.

The first paragraph mainly tells us to

A. face whatever difficulty we meet,

B. take a tragic age tragically,

C. build up new little habitats,

D. look forward to the future

While in Flanders, Clifford Chatterley

A.had a honeymoon,

B. often asked for leave,

C. was wounded,

D. got married

Clifford was probably born in

A. an army officer's family,

B. A very poor family,

C.a farmer’s family,

D. a noble family

Clifford decided to go back home to the smoky Midlands so that

A. he could have a child,

B. he could be medically treated,

C. he could keep the Chatterley name alive,

D. he could live on a rather adequate income

What was Clifford proud of when he lived in his hometown?

A. Possessing a garden and a park,

B. Being able to wheel himself about.,

C. Having survived the serious wound.,

D. Having a bath-chair with a motor attachment.

Passage 4

Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.

As those people on board the Mayflower settled on the Atlantic coast in 1620, they did not have to wait for roads to be built to receive passengers and produce from the other parts of the world or to send out their produce in exchange. Safe harbors--Boston, New York, Savannah--opened on ready-made highways to the whole world. The spacious holds of ships that brought settlers could send out furs and com and rice and tobacco. An elegant London-made coach could be delivered directly to George Washington's dock at Mount Vernon on the potomac river.

The English who settled the thirteen American colonies were not the first Europeans to start colonies in America. Adventurers from Spain and Portugal, France and the Netherlands along with others, had long been competing for the treasures of faraway places. A century before the Puritans came to New England, the bold Hernando Cortes, with only two hundred conquered the armed hordes(群)of the Aztec empire. In two years(1519-21) he had made Mexico a colony of Spain. Ten years later, Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish who enjoyed adventures and sword-fighting but could not even write his name, overcame the grand Inca empire and added Peru to the realm of the Spanish king. These Spanish conquerors were as unless and as courageous as any who would ever set foot on the Americas. They aimed to convert the Indians to Christianity and brought friars(修道士) to help them. But they were better at robbing than converting. They lived and died for gold and glory. They had no desire to settle down with their families as hardworking farmers.

In 1620, when the sober William Bradford and the prudent(谨慎的) John Winthrop

came to"New"England, they had another idea. They came not for gold and glory but to build homes for themselves, their children, and their grandchildren. They aimed to make a “city upon a hill”for all the world to admire. Theirs was not a violent adventure of conquest but a long-lasting tale of building. They were a bit kinder to the Indians than the Spanish conquerors had been. One of them, John Eliot, set a friendly example and even translated the Bible into the Algonquian Indian language. The Indians in New England were few in number and had no riches of gold or silver to tempt the newcomers. But they had much to teach the colonists-how to survive in the wilderness, how to hunt, and what would grow. The English colonists planted themselves and put down roots in the New World.

People on board the Mayflower were lucky because they

A. would live in a town near the Potomac River,

B. had products from other parts of the world,

C.had an elegant London-made coach,

D. found safe harbors

Who overcame the Aztec empire with only two hundred men?

A. William Bradford,

B.Francisco Pizarro,

C. Hernando Cortes,

D.John Winthrop

When did Peru become a colony of Spain?

A.In 1519,

B.ln1521,

C.In1531,

D.In1620

What does"to convert the Indians to Christianity "mean in Paragraph 2?

A. To change the Indians who believed in Christianity.,

B. To persuade the Indians to believe in Christianity.,

C. To transfer the Indians to Christian areas,

D. To substitute the Indians with Christians

The general difference between the English colonists and the earlier colonists is that the latter

A. tried to be friends with Indians,

B. regarded wealth as the most important,

C. came to settle down with their families,

D. put the Bible into native Indian languages

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

Storytelling allows families to transmit family lore and values from parents or

grandparents to children, and to help children mature, make sense of their world, lean about their ancestry, and to facilitate parent-child relationships.

Family narratives are collections of stories made up by family members. They are either based on real occurrences, embellished(美化的)events, or fantasy material. Such family-storytelling has been shown to have numerous advantages. For example, family narratives help children develop values through communicating limits, boundaries, and family-endorsed morality. In addition to providing children with a clear sense of right and wrong as perceived by a given family, family stories are also used to pass along parental insights and knowledge. This process of transmitting knowledge may be critical to positive parent-child relationships, as the absence of family stories has been shown to be related to difficulties among parents to establish a caring or meaningful relationship with their children Similarly, the process of parental storytelling has been related to enhanced parent-child relationships.

Family stories can be new or old. Some family stories are passed down across generations and often give strong messages about the historical background of the family, the hardships they have endured, and the values that have helped them carry on. Some stories span a single generation but have become powerful narratives with a strong message, perhaps of survival, perhaps of joy. Other stories are new, perhaps created to help a family or select members cope with a current situation. All family stories are told for a reason, even if that reason is purely for entertainment. Many families have cherished family stories that are cause for laughter year after year, sharing such stories over and over can be a strong bonding experience. Parents telling fairytales and legends are telling stories of the culture.

According to the last paragraph, new family stories are perhaps made up to

A. handle current situations,

B. pass down family legends,

C. empower the select members,

D. facilitate knowledge transmission

This passage about family storytelling is basically

A. explanatory,

B. argumentative,

C.narrative,

D. descriptive

According to the passage, family narratives are

A. about how parents raise their children,

B. usually based on historical records,

C.collected by respectable families,

D. made up by family members

One of the functions of family storytelling is to

A. connect happiness with faith,

B. remember the historical events,

C. show respect for family ancestors.,

D.shape the value system of children

The author thinks that poor parent-child relationship may be related to

A. ignorance of family history,

B. scarcity of family storytelling,

C. indifference to family tradition,

D. incomplete family value system