第2部分：阅读判断(第16～22题，每题1分，共7分)
　　下面的短文后列出了7个句子，请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断：如果该句提供的是正确信息，请选择A；如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择B；如果该句的信息文中没有提及，请选择C。

Eastern Quakes Can Trigger Big Shakes

In the first week of November 2011,people in central Oklahoma experienced more than two dozen earthquakes. The largest, a magnitude（量）5.6 quake, shook thousands of fans in a college football stadium, caused cracks in a few buildings and scared many people who had never felt a quake before. Oklahoma is not an area of the country famous for its quakes. If you watch the news on TV, you see reports about all sorts of natural disasters. But the most dangerous type of natural disaster, and also the most unpredictable, is the earthquake.
Researchers at the US Geological Survey（USGS）estimate that several million earthquakes occur globally each year. That may sound scary, but people don’t feel many of them because they happen in remote and unpopulated regions. Many quakes happen under the ocean, and others have a very small magnitude.
Scientists know about small, remote quakes only because of very sensitive electronic devices called seismometers（地震仪）. These devices detect and measure the size of ground vibrations（震颤）produced by earthquakes. Altogether, USGS researchers use seismometers to identify and locate about 20000 earthquakes each year.
Although earthquakes can happen anywhere in the world, really big quakes occur only in certain areas. The largest ones register a magnitude 8 or higher and happen, on average, only once each year. Such big ones typically occur along the edges of Earth’s tectonic plates（构造板块）.
Thctonic plates are huge pieces of Earth’s crust（外壳）, sometimes many kilometers thick. Often, edges of these plates temporarily lock together. When plates push and scrape（擦）past each other earthquakes occur. On average, tectonic plates move very slowly--bout the same speed as your fingernails grow.
But sometimes earthquakes rumble（轰轰作响）through portions of the landscape far from a plate’s edges. Although less expected, these “mid-plate” small earthquakes can be stantial damage. Some of the biggest known examples hit the eastern half of the United States two centuries ago. Today, scientists are still puzzling over why the quakes occurred and when similar ones might occur.
16. Oklahoma is an area often experiencing natural disasters.
A. Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
17. The earthquake is the most unpredictable natural disaster.
A. Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
18. Few earthquakes happen without people’s awareness.
A. Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
19. Seismometers can identify and locate most of the earthquakes in China.
A. Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
20. Big earthquakes of a magnitude 8 or higher seldom happen far from the edges of tectonic plates.
A. Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
21. Whenever tectonic plates move, earthquakes happen.
A. Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
22. The earthquake that hit the eastern half of the United States two centuries ago is the biggest”mid-plate” one in history.
A. Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned

　　第3部分：概括大意与完成句子(第23--30题，每题1分，共8分)
　　下面的短文后有2项测试任务：(1)第23～26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第2～5段每段选择1个最佳标题；(2)第27～30题要求从所给的6个选项中为每个句子确定1个最佳选项。

Learn about Noble Gases（惰性气体）

　　1 Have you ever ridden on a balloon? Many tourist spots offer balloon rides in order for people to see the beauty of a place from above. A balloon contains a noble gas called hellum（氦）. Formerly, balloons contained hydrogen but hydrogen is very flammable and dangerous when uncontrolled. Therefore, people shifted to helium, which is safer. Helium is safe because it has the properties of the noble gases.
　　 2 People once belleved that noble gases couldn’t chemically react at all. For this reason, they were called inert gases（惰性气体）. They were also listed under Group 0 in the old periodic table because scientists believed that the gases have zero valence（价）electrons in their outer shell. This was later proven to be untrue when some noble gas compounds were discovered.
　　 3 The gases are elements, which share similar properties. These properties include being monoatomic, colorless, odorless, being able to conduct electricity, and having low chemical reactivity. Noble gases include Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon and Radon. These are all found in Group 18, in the rightmost column of the periodic table. If you look at the periodic table, you will notice that these elements are the only ones, which do not have a charge. Helium has the lowest molecular（分子的）weight while Radon is the heaviest.
　　 4 Remember that chemical reactions occur because atoms have valence electrons, which are electrons in their outer shell. When the outer shell is “unfilled” or the required number of electrons is not yet complete, the atom is more reactive. Noble gases have a full outer shell, meaning that they have complete electrons in their outer shell. This complete number varies. For instance, the outer shell of Helium has 2 valence electrons while the outer shell of Xenon has 8 electrons. Nowadays, there remains to be a few noble gases because of the low chemical reactivity of these said gases.
　　 5 because of their properties, noble gases have many important applications. They are widely used in medicine and industries. For instance, liquid Helium is used for superconducting magnets（磁体）. These magnets are very important in physics and medicine. When a doctor suspects that a person’s brain has been damaged, he might request for Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI). MRI allows the doctor to “see” the brain, without operating on the patient.
　　 23. paragraph 2________
　　 24. paragraph 3________
　　 25. paragraph 4________
　　 26. paragraph 5________
　　 A. How were noble gases discovered?
　　 B. what is the periodic table?
　　 C. what are the applications of noble gases?
　　 D. How were noble gases understood in the past?
　　 E.What causes the low chemical reactivity of noble gases?
　　 F. What are noble gases?
　　 27. Noble gases are not very chemically .
　　 28. Among the elements of noble gases Helium is the .
　　 29. The required number of electrons in noble gases’outer shell is .
　　 30. MRI may make operating on the patient .
　　 A. complete
　　 B. reactive
　　 C.unnecessary
　　 D. flammable
　　 E. important
　　 F. lightest

　

　　第4部分：阅读理解(第31～45题，每题3分，共45分)
　　下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题。请根据短文内容，为每题确定1个最佳选项。

第一篇 Gross National Happiness

　　In the last century, new technology improved the lives of many people in many countries. However, one country resisted these changes. High in the Himalayan mountains of Asia, the kingdom of Bhutan remained separate. Its people and Buddhist（佛教）culture had not been affected for almost a thousand years. Bhutan, however, was a poor country. People died at a young age. Most of its people could not read, and they did not know much about the outside world. Then, in 1972, a new ruler named King Jigme Singye Wangchuck decided to help Bhutan to become modern, but without losing its traditions.
King Wangchuck looked at other countries for ideas. He saw that most countries measured their progress by their Gross Natonal Product(GNP). The GNP measures products and money. When the number of products sold increases, people say the country is making progress. King Wangchuck had a different idea for Bhutan. He wanted to measure his country’s progress by people’s happiness. If the people’s happiness increased, the king could say that Bhutan was making progress. To decide if people were happier, he created a measure called Gross National Happiness(GNH).
GNH is based on certain principles that create happiness. People are happier if they have health care, education, and jobs. They are happier when they live in a healthy, protected environment. They are happier when they can keep their traditional culture and customs. Finally, people are happier when they have a good, stable government.
　　Now these is some evidence of increased GNH in Bhutan. People are healthier and are living longer. More people are educated and employed. Teenty-five percent of the land has become national parks, and the country has almost no pollution. The Bhutanese continue to wear their traditional clothing and follow their ancient Buddhist customs. Bhutan has also become a democracy. In 2008, King Wangchuck gave his power to his son. Although the country still had a king, it held its first democratic elections that year. Bhutan had political parties and political candidates for the first time. Finally, Bhutan has connected to the rest of the world through television and internet.
　　Bhutan is a symbol for social progress. Many countries are now interested in Bhutan’s GNH. These countries are investigating their own ways to measure happiness. They want to create new policies that take care of their people, cultures, and land.
Brazil may be the nest country to use the principles of GNH. Brazilian leaders see the principles of GNH as a source of inspiration. Brazil is a large country with a diverse population. If happiness works as a measure of progress in Brazil, perhaps the rest of the world will follow.
　　31. Who was Jigme Singye Wangchuck?
　　A. A king.
　　B. A president.
　　C. A Buddhist priest.
　　D. A general.
　　32. Apart from modernizing Bhutan, what else did Wangchuck want to do for Bhutan?
　　A. To make its population grow.
　　B. To keep its traditions and customs.
　　C. To keep it separate from the world.
　　D. To encourage its people to get rich.
　　33. A country shows its progress with GNP by
　　A. spending more money.
　　B. spending less money.
　　C. providing more jobs.
　　D. selling more products.
　　34. According to GNH, people are happier if they
　　A. have new technology.
　　B. can change their religion.
　　C. have a good, stable government.
　　D. have more money.
　　35. Today many countries are
　　A. using the principles of GNH to measure their progress.
　　B. working together to develop a common scale to measure GNH.
　　C. taking both Bhutan and Brazil as symbols for social progress.
　　D. trying to find their own ways to measure happiness.

第二篇 Archive Gallery: The Best of Bionics(仿生学)

　　Humans might be the most highly-evolved species on the planet, but most animals possess skills we can only dream of having. Imagine how much electricity we could save if we could see in the dark the way cats do. Imagine leaping from tree to tree like a monkey. Giraffes(长颈鹿), which are otherwise calm and good-natured, sleep only 4.6 hours a day.
　　We realized a long, long time ago that nature provides the best blueprint(蓝图)for invention. We’ve borrowed canals from beavers(河狸)and reflectors from cat’s eyes. Although the words “bionics” became popular only after the 1960s, history shows that nature has always provided ideas on solving everyday problems. Our archives（档案）don’t go back to the time of Leonardo da Vinci and his bird-like flying machines, but we can take you to the late 19th century, where we applied those same principles for building our first practical airplanes.
　　To prepare for their flight at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers studied the movements of pigeons to figure out how they stayed high up when they were heavier than air. Their success inspired scores of successors to improve on the airplane by studying various aspects of nature. One of Orville Wright’s pupils caught and stuffed seagulls to examine their wingspan. Meanwhile, two French inventors examined spinning sycamore(梧桐) seeds in an effort to apply those same motions, reversed, to a helicopter.
　　Some examples are more obvious than others. The outside of the airplane designed by the Wright brothers looks like a minimalistic (简单抽象艺术) structure. On the other hand, Barney Connett’s fish submarine (潜水艇) actually looks like a fish.
　　Some bio-inspired concepts have yet to be invented. In the 1960s, the US Army commissioned several university professors to conduct research on the motor skills animals in hope of applying those same abilities to tanks. Tanks that run like horses or jump like grasshoppers(蚂蚱)-sounds shocking, doesn’t it? But imagine how life would change if we could achieve that.
　　36. “cats”,”monkeys” and “giraffes” mentioned in paragraph 1 are examples to illustrate
　　A. they are highly-evolved species as humans.
　　B. humans can learn animals’skills.
　　C. they are skillful in different ways.
　　D. animals have skills that humans do not possess.
　　37. Which of the following can be found in the archive gallery?
　　A. History books.
　　B. The Wright brothers’sculpture.
　　C. First practical airplanes built in the late 19th century.
　　D. Leonardo da vinci’s bird-like flying machines.
　　38. What happened after the Wright brothers’success?
　　A. People carried out a systematic study on pigeons.
　　B. People studied more animals and plants to develop the airplane.
　　C. People cound fly their airplane for fun.
　　D. People kept their airplane at a French gallery.
　　39. Which of the following in true about the research carried out by the US Army?
　　A. It has changed our life.
　　B. It has cost a large sum of money.
　　C. It has improved the abilities of tanks.
　　D. It has not succeeded yet.
　　40. What does the writer want to tell in the passage?
　　A. Many inventions get ideas from nature.
　　B. Some animals possess unique skills.
　　C. People should protect nature.
　　D. Bionics is far from perfect.

第三篇 "Life Form Found" on Saturn's Titan

　　Scientists say they have discovered hints of alien life on the Saturn's moon. The discovery of a sort of life was announced after researchers at the US space agency,NASA,analyzed data from spacecraft Cassini,which pointed to the existence of methane-based form of life on Saturn's biggest moon.
　　Scientists have reportedly discovered clues showing primitive alien beings are"breathing" in Titan's dense atmosphere filled with hydrogen.
　　They argue that hydrogen gets absorbed before hitting Titan's planet-like surface covered with methane lakes and rivers. This,they say,points to the existence of some"bugs" consuming the hydrogen at the surface of the moon less than half the size of the Earth.
　　"We suggested hydrogen consumption because it's the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan,similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth,"says NASA scientist Chris McKay."If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life,it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth."
　　To date,scientists have not yet detected this form of life anywhere,though there are liquid-water-based microorganisms on Earth that grow well on methane or produce it as a waste product. On Titan, where temperatures are around 90 Kelvin (minus 290 degrees Farenheit),a methanebased organism would have to use a substance that is liquid as its medium for living processes, but not water itself. Water is frozen solid on Titan's surface and much too cold to support life as we know it.
　　Scientists had expected the Sun's interactions with chemicals in the atmosphere to produce a coating of acetylene on Titan's surface. But Cassini detected no acetylene on the surface.
　　The absence of detectable acetylene on the Titan's surface can very well have a non-biological explanation,said Mark Allen,a principal investigator of the NASA Titan team.
　　"Scientific conservatism suggests that a biological explanation should be the last choice after all non-biological explanations are addressed,"Allen said. "We have a lot of work to do to rule out possible non-biological explanations. It is more likely that a chemical process,without biology,can explain these results."
　　41 .What do scientists claim to have found about Saturn?
　　A. Water-based life on it.
　　B. Methane-based life on its biggest moon.
　　C. A new moon moving around it.
　　D. Earthlike life on its biggest moon.
　　42. Which of the following statements about Titan is true?
　　A. It is as large as the Earth.
　　B. There is acetylene on its surface.
　　C. Water on it acts as a life supporting medium.
　　D. Hydrogen consumption is reported to be on it.
　　43. The expression "this form of life" in paragraph 5 refer to?
　　A. Water-based life.
　　B. oxygen-based life.
　　C. Methane-based life.
　　D. Liquid-based microorganisms.
　　44. It can be inferred from Mark Allen’s address that
　　A. Scientists are trying to confirm these is life on Titan.
　　B. Scientists agree that a chemical process is a convincing explanation.
　　C. Scientists share the opinion that a biological explanation is reasonable.
　　D. Scientists are arguing over whether there is life on Titan.
　　45. Which of the following can replace the title of this passage?
　　A . A different Life Form, a Possibility.
　　B. Earthlike Living Beings Found on Titan.
　　C. Finding of One More Moon of Saturn’s.
　　D. Titan, a New Satellite Discovered.

　　第5部分：补全短文(第46～50题，每题2分，共10分)
　　下面的短文有5处空白，短文后有6个句子，其中5个取自短文，请根据短文内容，分别放回原有位置，以恢复文章原貌。

Voice Your Opinion: Change Is Needed in Youth Sports

　　Everywhere you look, you see kids bouncing a basketball or waving a tennis racquet (网球拍). And these kids are getting younger and younger. In some countries, children can compete on basketball, baseball, and volleyball teams starting at age nine. (46) And swimming and gymnastics classes begin at age four, to prepare children for competition.
　　It’s true that a few of these kids will develop into highly skilled athletes and may even become members of the national Olympic teams. (47) This emphasis on competition in sports is having serious negative effects.
　　Children who get involved in competitive sports at a young age often grow tired of their sport. Many parents pressure their kids to choose one sport and devote all their time to it. (48) But 66 percent of the young athletes wanted to play more than one sport-for fun.
　　Another problem is the pressure imposed by over-competitive parents and coaches. Children are not naturally competitive. In fact, a recent study by Paulo David found that most children don’t even understand the idea of competition until they are seven years old. (49)
　　The third, and biggest, problem for young athletes is the lack of time to do their homework, have fun, be with friends—in short, time to be kids. When they are forced to spend every afternoon at sports practice, they often start to hate their chosen sport. A searchers found that 70 percent of kids who take part in competitive sports before the of twelve quit before they turn eighteen. (50) Excessive competitive away all the enjoyment.
　　Need to remember the purpose of youth sports – to give kids a chance to have developing strong, healthy bodies.
　　A.But what about the others, the average kids?
　　B.The youth soccer organization has teams for children as young as five.
　　C.A survey found that 79 percent of parents of young athletes wanted their children concentrate on one sport.
　　D.Very young kids don’t know why their parents are pushing them so hard.
　　E.Sports for children have two important purposes.
　　F.Many of them completely lose interest in sports.

　　第6部分：完形填空(第51～65题，每题1分，共15分)
　　下面的短文有15处空白，请根据短文内容为每处空白确定1个最佳选项。

Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared Cities

　　A new examination of urban policies has been carried out recently by Patricia Romero Lankao．She is a sociologist specializing in climate change and 51 development．She warns that many of the world’s fast-growing urban areas，especially in developing countries．will likely suffer from the 52 of changing climate．Her work also concludes that most cities are failing to 53 emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases．These gases are known to affect the atmosphere．
　　 ”Climate change is a deeply local issue and poses profound 54 to the growing cities of the world,” says Romero Lankao. ”But too few cities are developing effective strategies to protect their residents."
　　Cities are 55 sources of greenhouse gases．And urban populations are likely to be among those most severely affected by future climate change. Lankao’s findings highlight ways in which city-residents are particularly vulnerable, and suggest policy interventions that could offer immediate and longer-term 56 ．
　　The locations and dense construction patterns of cities often place their populations at greater 57 for natural disasters. Potential threats associated with climate include storm surges and prolonged hot weather. Storm surges can flood coastal areas and prolonged hot weather can heat 58 paved cities more than surrounding areas．The impacts of such natural events can be more 59 in an urban environment．For example，a prolonged heat wave can increase existing levels of air pollution，causing widespread health problems．Poorer neighborhoods that may 60 basic facilities such as drinking water or a dependable network of roads，are especially vulnerable to natural disasters．Many residents in poorer countries live in substandard housing 61 access to reliable drinking water，roads and basic services.
　　 Local governments, therefore ,should take measures to 62 their residents.”Unfortunately，they tend to move towards rhetoric 63 meaningful responses, Romero Lankao writes, ” They don’t impose construction standards that could reduce heating and air conditioning 64 . They don't emphasize mass transit and reduce automobile use. In fact, many local governments are taking a hands—off approach.” 65 , she urges them to change their idle policies and to take strong steps to prevent the harmful effects of climate change on cities
　　51．
　　A urban
　　B industrial
　　C economic
　　D rural
　　52．
　　A occasions
　　B impacts
　　C routines
　　D connections
　　53．
　　A reduce
　　B increase
　　C study
　　D measure
　　54．
　　A threats
　　B interests
　　C implications
　　D differences
　　55．
　　A major
　　B repeatable
　　C doubeful
　　D useful
　　56．
　　A signs
　　B benefits
　　C chances
　　D planes
　　57．
　　A cost
　　B mornent
　　C risk
　　D speed
　　58．
　　A locally
　　B heavily
　　C suddenly
　　D mildly
　　59．
　　A standard
　　B meaningful
　　C serious
　　D friendly
　　60．
　　A provide
　　B lack
　　C update
　　D improve
　　61．
　　A with
　　B without
　　C in
　　D on
　　62．
　　A identify
　　B educate
　　C protect
　　D evaluate
　　63．
　　A less than
　　B rather than
　　C more than
　　D better than
　　64．
　　A needs
　　B wastes
　　C areas
　　D resources
　　65．
　　A Still
　　B However
　　C Moreover
　　D Thus