阅读下列短文，从每题所给的 A、B、C、D 四个选项中选出最佳选项。

A

Rome can be pricey for travelers, which is why many choose to stay in a hostel ( 旅社 ). The hostels in Rome offer a bed in a dorm room for around $25 a night, and for that, you’ll often get to stay in a central location (位置) with security and comfort.

Yellow Hostel

If I had to make just one recommendation for where to stay in Rome, it would be Yellow Hostel.It’s one of the best-rated hostels in the city, and for good reason.It’s affordable, and it’s got a fun atmosphere without being too noisy. As an added bonus, it’s close to the main train station.

Hostel Alessandro Palace

If you love social hostels, this is the best hostel for you in Rome. Hostel Alessandro Palace is fun. Staff members hold plenty of bar events for guests like free shots, bar crawls and karaoke. There’s also an area on the rooftop for hanging out with other travelers during the summer.

Youth Station Hostel

If you’re looking for cleanliness and a modern hostel, look no further than Youth Station. It offers beautiful furnishings and beds. There are plenty of other benefits, too; it doesn’t charge city tax; it has both air conditioning and a heater for the rooms; it also has free Wi-Fi in every room.

Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes

Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes is located just a 10-minute walk from the central city station and it’s close to all of the city’s main attractions. The staff is friendly and helpful, providing you with a map of the city when you arrive, and offering advice if you require some. However, you need to pay 2 euros a day for Wi-Fi.

1 . What is probably the major concern of travelers who choose to stay in a hostel?

A. Comfort.

B. Security.

C. Price.

D. Location.

2 . Which hotel best suits people who enjoy an active social life?

A. Yellow Hostel.

B. Hostel Alessandro Palace.

C. Youth Station Hostel.

D. Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes.

3 . What is the disadvantage of Hotel and Hostel Des Artistes?

A. It gets noisy at night.

B. Its staff is too talkative.

C. It charges for Wi-Fi.

D. It’s inconveniently located.

B

By day, Robert Titterton is a lawyer. In his spare time though he goes 6 on stage beside pianist Maria Raspopova — not as a musician but as her page turner. “I’m not a trained musician, but I’ve learnt to read music so I can help Maria in her performance.”

Mr Titterton is chairman of the Omega Ensemble but has been the group’s official page turner for the past four years. His job is to sit beside the pianist and turn the pages of the score so the musician doesn’t have to break the flow of sound by doing it themselves. He said he became just as nervous as those playing instruments on stage.

“A lot of skills are needed for the job. You have to make sure you don’t turn two pages at once and make sure you find the repeats in the music when you have to go back to the right spot.” Mr Titterton explained.

Being a page turner requires plenty of practice. Some pieces of music can go for 40 minutes and require up to 50 page turns, including back turns for repeat passages. Silent onstage communication is key, and each pianist has their own style of “nodding”to indicate a page turn which they need to practise with their page turner.

But like all performances, there are moments when things go wrong. “I was turning the page to get ready for the next page, but the draft wind from the turn caused the spare pages to fall off the stand,” Mr Titterton said, “Luckily I was able to catch them and put them back.”

Most page turners are piano students or up-and-coming concert pianists, although Ms Raspopova has once asked her husband to help her out on stage.

“My husband is the worst page turner,” she laughed. “He’s interested in the music, feeling every note, and I have to say: ‘Turn, turn!’ “Robert is the best page turner I’ve had in my entire life.”

4 . What should Titterton be able to do to be a page turner?

A. Read music.

B. Play the piano.

C. Sing songs.

D. Fix the instruments.

5 . Which of the following best describes Titterton’s job on stage?

A. Boring.

B. Well-paid.

C. Demanding.

D. Dangerous.

6 . What does Titterton need to practise?

A. Counting the pages.

B. Recognizing the “nodding”.

C. Catching falling objects.

D. Performing in his own style.

7 . Why is Ms Raspopova’s husband “the worse page turner”?

A. He has very poor eyesight.

B. He ignores the audience.

C. He has no interest in music.

D. He forgets to do his job.

C

When the explorers first set foot upon the continent of North America, the skies and lands were alive with an astonishing variety of wildlife. Native Americans had taken care of these precious natural resources wisely. Unfortunately, it took the explorers and the settlers whofollowed only a few decades to decimate a large part of these resources. Millions of waterfowl ( 水 禽 ) were killed at the hands of market hunters and a handful of overly ambitious sportsmen. Millions of acres of wetlands were dried to feed and house the ever-increasing populations, greatly reducing waterfowl habitat (栖息地).

In 1934, with the passage of the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act

8 (Act), an increasingly concerned nation took firm action to stop the destruction of migratory ( 迁徙的) waterfowl and the wetlands so vital to their survival. Under this Act, all waterfowl hunters 16 years of age and over must annually purchase and carry a Federal Duck Stamp. The very first Federal Duck Stamp was designed by J.N. “Ding” Darling, a political cartoonist from Des Moines, lowa, who at that time was appointed by

President Franklin Roosevelt as Director of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Hunters willingly pay the stamp price to ensure the survival of our natural resources.

About 98 cents of every duck stamp dollar goes directly into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund to purchase wetlands and wildlife habitat for inclusion into the National Wildlife Refuge System — a fact that ensures this land will be protected and available for all generations to come. Since 1934, better than half a billion dollars has gone into that Fund to purchase more than 5 million acres of habitat. Little wonder

the Federal Duck Stamp Program has been called one of the most successful conservation programs ever initiated.

8. What was a cause of the waterfowl population decline in North America?

A. Loss of wetlands.

B. Popularity of water sports.

C. Pollution of rivers.

D. Arrival of other wild animals.

9. What does the underlined word “decimate” mean in the first paragraph?

A. Acquire.

B. Export.

C. Destroy.

D. Distribute.

10. What is a direct result of the Act passed in 1934?

A. The stamp price has gone down.

B. The migratory birds have flown away.

C. The hunters have stopped hunting.

D. The government has collected money.

11. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A. The Federal Duck Stamp Story

B. The National Wildlife Refuge System

C. The Benefits of Saving Waterfowl

D. The History of Migratory Bird Hunting

D

Popularization has in some cases changed the original meaning of emotional (情感 的) intelligence. Many people now misunderstand emotional intelligence as almost everything desirable in a person’s makeup that cannot be measured by an IQ test, such as character, motivation, confidence, mental stability, optimism and “people skills.”

Research has shown that emotional skills may contribute to some of these qualities, but most of them move far beyond skill-based emotional intelligence.

We prefer to describe emotional intelligence as a specific set of skills 10 that can be used for either good or bad purposes. The ability to accurately understand how others are feeling may be used by a doctor to find how best to help her patients, while a cheater might use it to control potential victims. Being emotionally intelligent does not necessarily make one a moral person.

Although popular beliefs regarding emotional intelligence run far ahead of what research can reasonably support, the overall effects of the publicity have been more beneficial than harmful. The most positive aspect of this popularization is a new and much needed emphasis (重视) on emotion by employers, educators and others interested in promoting social well-being. The popularization of emotional intelligence has helped both the public and researchers re-evaluate the functionality of emotions and how they serve people adaptively in everyday life.

Although the continuing popular appeal of emotional intelligence is desirable, we hope that such attention will excite a greater interest in the scientific and scholarly study of emotion. It is our hope that in coming decades, advances in science will offer new perspectives ( 视角) from which to study how people manage their lives. Emotional

intelligence, with its focus on both head and heart, may serve to point us in the right direction.

12. What is a common misunderstanding of emotional intelligence?

A. It can be measured by an IQ test.

B. It helps to exercise a person’s mind.

C. It includes a set of emotional skills.

D. It refers to a person’s positive qualities.

13. Why does the author mention “doctor” and “cheater” in paragraph 2?

11 A. To explain a rule.

B. To clarify a concept.

C. To present a fact.

D. To make a prediction.

14. What is the author’s attitude to the popularization of emotional

intelligence?

A. Favorable.

B. Intolerant.

C. Doubtful.

D. Unclear.

15. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about concerning emotional intelligence?

A. Its appeal to the public.

B. Expectations for future studies.

C. Its practical application.

D. Scientists with new perspectives.

阅读下面短文，从短文后的选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。选 项中有两项为多余选项。

My husband and I just spent a week in Paris. 16 So the first thing we did was rent a fantastically expensive sixth-floor apartment the size of a cupboard. It was so tiny that we had to leave our suitcases in the hallway.

The place wasn’t entirely authentic, though. Unlike a normal Parisian apartment, the plumbing (水管) worked. 17 Our building even had a tiny lift with a female voice that said, “ Ouverture des portes ,” in perfect French. That is the only French phrase I mastered, and it’s a shame I don’t have much use for it.

Parisians are different from you and me. They never look lazy or untidy. As someone noted in this paper a couple of weeks ago, they eat great food and never gain weight. 18 French strawberries do not taste like cardboard. Instead, they explode in your mouth like little flavor bombs.

19 On our first morning in Paris, I went around the corner to the food market to pick up some groceries. I bought a handful of perfectly ripe small strawberries and a little sweet melon. My husband and I agreed they were the best fruit we had ever eaten. But they cost $18!

In France, quality of life is much more important than efficiency (效率). You can tell this by cafés life. French cafés are always crowded. 20 When do these people work? The French take their 35-hour workweek seriously — so seriously that some labor unions recently struck a deal with a group of companies limiting the number of hours that independent contractors can be on call.

A. Not all the customers are tourists.

B. The quality of life in France is equally excellent.

C. There was a nice kitchen and a comfortable bed.

D. The amazing food is mainly consumed by local farmers.

E. That’s not the only reason the French eat less than we do.

F. Our aim was to see if we could live, in some way, like real Parisians.

G. The food is so delicious that you don’t need much of it to make you happy.