Art is everywhere in our lives. Every man-made object is linked with art. Throughout history, humans have made articles for a wide variety of purposes；generally for everyday practical requirements. The style of practical objects reflects the outlook and the spirit of the times in which they are made.

It seems that humans possess a natural urge to improve constructed objects with decoration：sometimes for beautification，sometimes for religious reasons，sometimes to show off their wealth and power, and sometimes to tell a story. Unnecessary decoration can ruin the form and perhaps the function of an object, but when decoration is used with care, it can beautify, produce variety, and add interest.

The first essential(要点)in every creation is that it should properly fulfil its purpose；for instance，a teapot should pour perfectly, a block of flats should be a pleasant place in which to live，and a factory or commercial building should be a suitable building in which to work.

The second essential is that an object should please the eye with its form，line，proportion(比例)，colour and texture(质地)，and it should be capable of inspiring the emotions. For example，contemporary furniture designers must think of form，function and structure，and have taken their lead from the outstanding Scandinavian designs of Denmark, Finland and Sweden，whose preference was for simple functional furniture to suit the architectural environment of the day.           Heavy furniture is no longer desirable，and by contrast，modem furniture is often characterized by its good proportion，pleasing lines，simple fittings and attractive structures.

Motor vehicles are a perfect example of how design has changed to suit function. Early car design was greatly influenced by the horse-drawn carriage，but today we find functional design satisfying every requirement of practical use and good appearance. Designs in the 1980s and 1990s included streamlining(流线型)to reduce wind resistance in fast-moving vehicles，and, at the same time，satisfy an important art principle——rhythm. But the cars of today, often half size of their predecessors(前身)，have taken the concept of industrial design way beyond simple strength，comfort and beauty. They now include safety and ecological characteristics，for example，reduced fuel consumption，while at the same time satisfying the need to be stylish，and appealing to the eye. For many people，the 21st-century car represents the greatest work of art.

21. What point does the author make about decorating objects?

A. It is something people would have always done.

B. It can show the object has a range of functions.

C. It always improves the appearance of an object.      

D. It usually makes the objects more noticeable.

22. The author refers to the motor car to show            .

      A. humans have made great progress in art

      B. the motor car has a longer history than many other art objects

      C. design should be appropriately changed according to need

      D. art form should raise concern about the environment

23. What is the best title for the text?

      A. Form Follows Function           B. Life Is Art，Art Is Life 

       C. Art in Everyday Life                D. The Best Work of Art

You will go to college some day and college is one of the most exciting stages of one’s life. If you wish to make the most of your campus(校园)experience and become a better person after those four years，then first you ought to make friends. Close friends contribute to yourself growth for they provide you with moral support that is so important to surviving the stressful college life. Friends can lend a helping hand when necessary like collecting your homework when you’re too sick to leave your dorm，and help you develop the right attitude by pointing out to you your weaknesses.

Being home most of your life and then suddenly finding yourself on your own in a large campus without your parents to hold your hand can be annoying. However, rather than thinking about your missing home too much, why not see this new stage in your life as an opportunity for self growth and develop the right attitude that will prepare you for the rigors of post-graduation life，particularly when you join the workforce?

Special-interest clubs or organizations are great for self growth. Here, not only do you get the opportunity to meet with like-minded people，you can also discover more things about your field of interest. Club meetings usually include lively discussions，so go there with the right attitude. You should try to build a good name in the organization by being respectful，active and considerate to others.

You might not like all of your professors, but they are there to provide knowledge you need to be successful in your chosen field. Thus，show up for each class with the right attitude and determination to learn. Whether you get along well with your professors or not has a huge effect on your self growth as it is a measure of how well you can respect authority and obey requirements.

Actively participating in a class debate or lecture contributes to your self growth as it helps you build confidence in speaking up and improves your communication skills. It also helps you develop the right attitude by exercising diplomacy(外交术)when you choose your words carefully especially when discussing a very politically sensitive issue(问题)and exercising patience when dealing with classmates who shoot down your ideas.

24. In the author’s opinion，what can help college students develop a positive attitude?

      A. Joining special-interest clubs.       B. Focusing on their studies.

      C. Taking up part-time jobs.          D. Making friends with others.

25. The underlined word “rigors” in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by“          ”.

      A. reasons          B. difficulties      C. joys   D. effects

26. The author advises college students to           .

       A. be respectful at club meetings             

B. debate with like-minded people to build confidence

      C. choose words carefully in a club discussion  

D. obey your professor to leave him with a good impression

27. The purpose of the text is to           .

       A. introduce how to show yourself in college            

B. tell college students how to socialize with others

      C. give college students some advice on self growth

 D. explain the importance of four-year college life

Ashok Gadgil has spent the past three decades helping people in need—and he has no plans to stop. On May 2，Gadgil won the $100，000 Lemelson-MIT Award. Each year, the honor is given to an inventor who has improved the lives of people in developing countries. Gadgil’s inventions have helped more than 100 million people around the world.

Gadgil is a professor and physicist at the University of California，Berkeley. When he’s not teaching，he works to find solutions to global problems such as energy efficiency(效率)and water safety.“I chose to focus on problems where my knowledge of science could help，”Gadgil said.

In the 1980s，he came up with a program to make energy-efficient light bulbs more affordable for people in developing countries. Then in the 1990s，Gadgil designed his first life-saving invention，UV Waterworks. It kills deadly disease-carrying germs(病菌)from drinking water. It costs just one cent to clean five liters of water. Gadgil was inspired to find an inexpensive solution to the clean water crisis after more than 10，000 people in his home country of India died from an outbreak of Bengal cholera(霍乱)，in 1993. The disease is spread through polluted food and drinking water.

    So far, the invention has provided safe drinking water to more than 5 million people in India，Liberia, Nigeria，the Philippines and Ghana.

    Families in refugee(难民)camps in Sudan are given food aid. But they still have to cook the meals. In order to do so，refugee women leave the safety of the camps three to five times a week to gather firewood. They walk up to seven hours a day to find enough wood to fuel their stoves. Cooking over an open flame can be dangerous to one’s health and to the environment, too，because of the amount of smoke it produces. Gadgil visited the area many times with his students and his co-workers to work with the refugee women on designing a clean，fuel-efficient stove. The Berkeley-Darfur Stove he created saves 55％ of fuel. That means the women wouldn’t have to leave the houses to find firewood as often. The invention also helps to save homes more than $300 a year. About 125，000 women and their families have been helped.

As a professor, Gadgil encourages his students to stay positive about finding solutions to hard problems.“Be optimistic when you try a hard problem，”he says.“It’s when you solve a large problem that you can have a powerful effect on the world.”

28. Gadgil was given Lemelson-MIT Award for           

      A. his teaching experience         B. his new research report

      C. his vast knowledge          D. his helpful inventions

29. Which of the following is TRUE of the Berkeley-Darfur Stove?

       A. It takes women 7 hours to fuel.           B. It still needs the same firewood as before

      C. It is clean and money-saving.   D. It is equipped with a fire alarm.

30. According to the last paragraph，Gadgil encourages his students           .

      A. to learn lessons from failures        B. to find problems in peaceful life

      C. to make inventions to help poor people    D. to be confident when facing difficulties31. Which of the following can best describe Gadgil?

      A. Caring and optimistic.     B. Powerful and positive.

      C. Independent and sensitive. D. Responsible and strict.

 “Hi，howareya，”some people say when they see a familiar face. The words run together into a mass, all sense and meaning lost. All the same，people do care how you are. After they greet you, it’s likely you will greet them back, with an equally meaningless phrase like，“Can’t complain, can’t complain.”You could probably complain, at length, or share a brilliant thought you were just beginning when a greeting interrupted you. You don’t though，you say,“Great，you?”

You are not giving each other information about your health and well-being. All the same，you are sharing information. You’re acknowledging each other’s positions as acknowledged friends，or at least as accepted acquaintances. And you are reestablishing the ties that may have lapsed(偏离)since yesterday.

It’s what anthropologist(人类学家)Bronislaw Malinoski called a phatic(交流感情的)communication. Its message is not in the words you use，but in the fact that you speak ritually(仪式上地)accepted words. In Asia, for example，people may ask one another if they have eaten, or if they are busy. They’re not really asking for their lunch menu or their agenda，they are saying hello. A phatic signal says hi.

There’s embarrassment of being near people without acknowledging them. That uncomfortable feeling is one reason why lonely passengers in the subway may behave as if they cannot see anyone around them or may escape their uncomfortable situation with a book. Some people read all the way home，and never turn a page.

Your friend isn’t asking how you are，and you aren’t telling him. However, he is recognizing your existence, and when you answer, you are recognizing his. In addition, the set speech you have shared opens the door to closer communications if both agree. Someday, you may come to real close friendship，and really tell one another how you are.

Meanwhile，people who greet one another this way do care. They care enough to recognize someone’s essential (必不可少的)humanity. They send a signal across the space between, to share, very briefly and lightly, in awareness of one another.

Your greetings prove that neither of you has become a social outcast. How are you? You are still a member of society in good status. You are still the one who knows the rituals necessary to get to work each day.

32. According to Bronislaw Malinoski，a phatic communication            .

      A. is rarely used by Asian people

      B. is too complex to be used often

      C. helps establish or keep certain relationships

      D. often ruins the normal relationships between friends or acquaintances

33. Some people seldom greet strangers because            .

       A. they want to be polite to others    B. they feel uncomfortable to do it

       C. they don’t know when to greet them      D. they want to do something meaningful

34. The underlined word “outcast” in the last paragraph probably means            .

      A. a person who is well-educated      B. a person who succeeds suddenly

      C. a person who is a burden to society        D. a person who is not accepted by others

35. What does the text mainly tell us?

      A. Greetings should be better expressed.

      B. Greetings convey different meanings to different people.

      C. Greetings help prove an individual’s social independence.

      D. Greetings help an individual be connected with the society.

My mother is a diligent and kind woman. She is very busy from morning till night. As a teacher, she works hard.36 Both my brother and I love her dearly as she loves us.

My mother has been teaching math at a middle school in my hometown. She goes to work early in the morning and does not return home until late in the afternoon. 37She treats them with patience and teaches them well. For her excellent quality and very good teaching results, she has been elected as a model teacher several times.

38Every day, when she comes back home from work, she sets about doing housework, sweeping the living room and bedrooms or cleaning the furniture, and putting everything in good order. She seems to be busy all the time. As she has been very busy working every day, she looks older than her age. But she looks as cheerful and happy as ever. Mother never buys expensive dresses for herself, but she often buys some inexpensive but high quality clothes for us.39She just eats a plain meal outside when she is too busy to cook herself. She lives a busy yet simple life, without any complaints.

Often she says to us, “work while you work, and play while you play. That is the way to be happy and gay. If you do not work, you will become lazy and be of no use to society”. What a piece of good advice this is! 40This advice of hers will always serve as a guide to my behavior. My mother is great indeed, and I always feel proud of her.

A. She enjoys listening to classic music.

B. As a mother, she takes good care of us and gives us every comfort.

C. She loves her students and cares for them.

D. She never goes to expensive restaurants to enjoy meals.

E. My mother is hard-working and never wastes money.

F. I never forget it and always bear it in my mind.

G. Can you tell us something about your mother?