This year will mark the 120th birthday of the Eiffel Tower. What gift will the P

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This year will mark the 120th birthday of the Eiffel Tower. What gift will the Paris monument get? It will be given a fresh coat of brown paint. About 60 tons of paint to be exact, in a specially mixed color called “Eiffel Tower Brown”.
The landmark (标志性建筑) gets a new coat of paint every seven years. In the past the tower has gone from reddish brown to yellow, brownish-yellow and dark red, before operators settled in 1968 on the current color.
“This is the color that suits the tower best－its most elegant （优雅的）dress,” said Jean-Bernard Bros, head of he company that operates the tower. “So we have decided to keep th

e brown for good.”
The Eiffel Tower is the world’s most visited tourist attraction. It was designed and named after the French architect (建筑师) Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who was also responsible for the frame of the well-known Statue of Liberty in the US.
However, when the tower was first built, it was highly controversial (有争议的). Artists and politicians, including Maupassant (莫伯桑) and Alexandre Dumas (大仲马), spoke out against it. They described it as ugly and said its presence lowered French taste.
67. What’s the best title of the passage?
A. The Eiffel Tower.    B. Birthday gift for the Eiffel Tower
C. How to celebrate the birthday of the Eiffel Tower    D. The history of the Eiffel Tower
68. How often does the Eiffel Tower get a new coat of pain?
A. Every year.    B. Every two years.    C. Every six years.    D. Every seven years.
69. According to the passage, which of the following is WRONG about the Eiffel Towel?
A. It is a place of interest which is most visited in the world.
B. A French architect named Alexandre Gustave Eiffel designed it.
C. Some people expressed their dislike about it when it was first built.
D. The Eiffel Tower was once painted black.
70. The underlined phrase “for good” in the third paragraph means ______.
A. forever    B. temporarily    C. beneficially    D. properly

答案

67-70 BDDA

解析

略

举一反三

If there is a building which symbolizes a country—such as the Eiffel Tower for France and Sydney Opera House for Australia, then it has to be the Taj Mahal for India.
__71__From the time they got married, they wouldn’t be separated. She followed him to wars, advised him on affairs of state, and loved by his people for her good work. __72__The emperor was heartbroken and had the Taj Mahal built as a sign of his love.
It took more than twenty y

ears for the Taj to be built. Workers were brought in, not only from all over Indian, but from central Asia, too. __73__
In 1657, Shan Jahan fell ill and in 1

658 his son, Aurangzeb, imprisoned his father and seized the power. Shah Jahan stayed in prison until his death in 1666. He was finally buried there with his wife he could never forget.
__74__As it is built with white marble stones, its character changes in different lights. It looks more beautiful at sunrise and sunset. At sunset, for example, the color of the Taj changes from white to yellow, then to pink. __75__.
To show respect to the Taj, tourists are asked to take off their shoes during their visit.

A．The Taj is definitely worth more than a single visit.

B．A total of 20,000 people worked on the building.

C．The Taj Mahal is a symbol of India.

D．But she died in 1631 during her childbirth.

E.Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal to memorize his wife.
F.As the moon rises, it turns a silvery white.
G.It was set up by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1653 in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

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第三部分：阅读理解（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分）.
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
IN a surprising discovery about where higher life can survive, scientists have found a shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish (水母) swimming beneath an Antarctic ice sheet.
About 180 meters below the ice where no light can get through, scientists had figured nothing much more than a few microbes (微生物) could exist.
That’s why a NASA team was surprised when they lowered a video camera to get the first long look at the underbelly (下腹部) of an ice sheet in Antarctica. A curious shrimp-like creature came swimming by and then parked itself on the camera’s cable. Scientists also pulled up a tentacle (触须) they believe came from a jellyfish.
“We were operating on the presumption (假定) that nothing’s there,” said NASA ice scientist Robert Bindschadler. “It was a shrimp you’d enjoy having on your plate.”
“We were just gaga (狂热的) over it,” he said of the 7.5cm long, orange creature starring in their two-minute video. Technically, it’s not a shrimp. It’s a Lyssianasid amphipod (片脚类动物), which is distantly related to the shrimp.
The video is likely to inspire experts to rethink what they know about life in harsh (苛刻的) environments. And it has scientists thinking that if shrimp-like creatures can live below 180 meters of Antarctic ice in freezing dark water, what about other cold places? What about Europa, a frozen moon of Jupiter?
Cynan Ellis-Evans, a scientist of the British Antarctic Survey called the finding intriguing (吸引人的). He said it was possible the creatures swam in from far away and don’t live there permanently.
But Kim, who is a co-author of the study, doubts it. The site in West Antarctica is at least 19 km from open seas. Bindschadler drilled a 20cm-wide hole and was looking at a tiny amount of water. That means it’s unlikely that two creatures swam from great distances and were captured randomly in that small of an area, she said.
Yet scientists were puzzled at what the food source would be for these creatures. While some microbes can make their own food out of chemicals in the ocean, complex life like the shrimp can’t, Kim said.
So how do they survive? That’s the key question, Kim said.
“It’s pretty amazing when you find a huge puzzle like that on a planet where we thought we know everything,” Kim said.
56. Scientists had believed that harsh environments could only have been populated by ______.
A. jellyfish      B. mammal    C. microbes      D. shrimp-like creature
57. According to Kim, the shrimp-like creature ______.
A. swam great distances to Antarctic                 B. has always lived in the region
C. gradually evolved from shrimp                   D. has nothing in common with shrimp
58. The finding is significant in that ______.
A. it marks NASA’s first Antarctic biological study
B. it proves there is marine life in the Antarctic
C. it could inspire further study of life in harsh environment
D. it shows that Lyssianasid amphipod is closely related to shrimp
59. The last three paragraphs suggest that ______.
A. researchers will look at the places the creatures came from
B. ice scientists will drill deeper to find more creature
C. scientists know very little about the planet they live on
D. further research will be done about what the creatures live on

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From good reading we can get pleasure, companionship, experience, and instruction．A good book may absorb our attention so completely that for the time being we forget our surroundings and even our identity．Reading good books is one of the greatest pleasures in life．It increases our contentment when we are cheerful, and lessens our troubles when we are sad．Whatever may be our main purpose in reading, our contact with good books should never fail to give us enjoyment and satisfaction．
With a good book in our hands we need never be lonely．Whether the characters portrayed are taken from real life or are purely imaginary, they may become our companions and friends．In the pages of books we can walk with the wise and the good of all lands and all times．The people we meet in books may delight us either because they resemble human friends whom we hold dear or because they present unfamiliar types whom we are glad to welcome as new acquaintances．Our human friends sometimes may bore us, but the friends we make in books need never weary us with their company．By turning the page we can dismiss them without any fear of hurting their feelings．When human friends desert us, good books are always ready to give us friendship, sympathy, and encouragement．
One of the most valuable gifts bestowed by books is experience．Few of us can travel far from home or have a wide range of experiences, but all of us can lead varied lives through the pages of books．Whether we wish to escape from the seemingly dull realities of everyday life or whether we long to visit some far-off place, a book will help us when nothing else can．To travel by book we need no bank account to pay our way; no airship or ocean liner or stream-lined train to transport us; no passport to enter me land of our heart"s desire．
Through books we may get the thrill of risky adventure without danger．We can climb lofty mountains, brave the danger of an Antarctic winter, or cross the hot sands of the desert, all without hardship．In books we may visit the studios of Hollywood; we may walk among the gay crowds of the Paris wide streets; we may join the picturesque peasants in an Alpine village or the kindly natives on a South Sea island．Indeed, through books the whole world is ours for the asking．The possibilities of our literary experiences are almost unlimited．The beauties of nature, the enjoyment of music, the treasures of art, the triumphs of architecture, the miracles of engineering, are all open to the wonder and enjoyment of those who read．
60．Why do we sometimes forget our surroundings and even our identity while reading?
A．No one has come to disturb you．
B．Everything is so quiet and calm around you．
C．The book you are reading is so interesting and attractive．
D．Your book is overdue; you are finishing it at a very fast speed．
61．What can we learn from this passage?
A．Your wish to visit some far-off place can be realized through the pages of the books．
B．To escape from the dull realities of everyday life you should take up reading．
C．Books can always help you to live a colorful life．
D．You may obtain valuable experience from reading good books．
62．The underlined word "weary" means ____．
A．to attract someone"s attention B．to distract someone"s attention
C．to make someone very tired D．to make someone interested
63．The last paragraph of the passage implies that through books ____．
A．the whole world is more accessible to us
B．we can ask to go anywhere in the world
C．it is possible for us to make a round-the-world trip free of charge
D．we can ask for everything in this world

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A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent, increasing the brainpower they had at birth.
Until now, it has been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience — what psychologists call fluid intelligence—is innate and cannot be taught（though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing）.
But in the new study, researchers describe a method for improving this skill, along with experiments to prove it works.
The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory—the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it. This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence, so the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence.
First they measured the fluid intelligence of four groups of volunteers using standard tests. Then they trained each in a complicated memory task—the child’s card game, in which they had to recall a card they saw and heard. During the course, they needed to ignore irrelevant items, monitor ongoing performance, manage two tasks at the same time and connect related items to one another in space and time.
The four groups experienced a half-hour of training daily for 8, 12, 17 and 19 days, respectively. To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills, the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training.
The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were striking. Improvement in the trained groups was a lot greater. Moreover, the longer they trained, the higher their scores were. All performers, from the weakest to the strongest, showed significant improvement.
“Our results show you can increase your intelligence with proper training.” said Dr Jaeggi, a co-author of the paper. No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops, he added, and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains.
64. The researchers thought the key to improving the intelligence was______.
A. memorizing telephone numbers                   B. improving working memory
C. training in concentration                               D. recalling a card
65. The following aspects of the training help increase intelligence Except_______.
A. ignoring irrelevant items                          B. monitoring ongoing performance
C. managing two tasks at the same time                D. using previous experience
66. When the experiment was conducted, the researchers ______.
A. trained the four groups for the same period of time
B. only made comparisons between the four groups
C. compared the four groups with control groups           D. trained the four groups together
67. By writing the article, the writer intends to_____.
A. inform the readers of a new study
B. call on people to be trained to increase intelligence
C. prove one’s born brainpower can be improved
D. tell people the improved intelligence will last forever

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What would you do if you were lost in the dark forest at night? The first sensible lesson is that you shouldn’t bother trying to find your way in the dark at all, but just stay put until dawn. Because then you won’t trip over things? No, mainly because you’ll have an idea of direction. The sun rises in the east. But you will be amazed at how many people forget they know that. Apparently, the area underneath a holly bush provides a good makeshift shelter — they are thick, and evergreen. The next thing to do — or rather not to do — is panic, for the obvious reason that unless there is someone there to hear you scream, it will get you nowhere. Just try to think of nice, happy things.
There is always a point in films when a person who is lost in the desert or the snow, dehydrated(脱水的) and exhausted, comes across a set of their own footprints and realizes they have just walked in a huge, round circle. It is wrong to owe it to the unequal strengths or different lengths of your legs. Experiments prove that, without the sun or the moon (or landmarks) as a fixed guide, lots of small errors add up over time so the brain can’t correctly identify the “straight ahead” direction. To just get out of somewhere, pick a spot on the horizon and just head for it.
There are several ways to find directions in the dark, and by far the best is to establish north using the stars. Most people can identify the Plough, which is part of Ursa Major. It looks a lot like a saucepan. The Plough rotates through the sky, but let’s imagine the saucepan lying horizontally (水平地), with its handle on the left. You need to trace a line from the star at the right-hand base of the pan, through the star at the right-hand rim (边沿), and follow it upwards; the north star is roughly five times the distance between those two “pointer” stars. Then drop a vertical line from the North Star to the horizon and that’s north.
“Tonight is very cloudy and I can’t see the Plough.” Maybe luckily, it is quite windy. Keep in mind that almost all of our weather comes from a south-westerly direction. (This only works if you are in the British Isles). To find the direction, you can throw light bits of dried-out grass in the air and see which way they blow; or, if there are clouds and patches of clear sky, see which way they blow across the stars. You can also get an idea of direction from leggy plants. If they look as if they have been blown over, they will probably be pointing north-east. If they are simply leaning in one direction as they grow, there’s a good chance that is south (they will be reaching towards the sun). The last thing to do is to judge your direction and off you go.
68. What might be the best title of the passage ?
A. How to survive in the forest B. How to protect yourself in the forest
C. How to direct your way out of the wild D. What to do if you are lost
69. Which of the following pictures matches the description of the position of the north star?

70. Why will people often walk in a circle if they are lost in the desert or the snow?
A. Because without anything to refer to for directions, the brain will be confused by errors.
B. Because one of the legs is longer and stronger than the other.
C. Because the desert or the snow usually covers a large area for people to get across.
D. Because people usually feel dehydrated and exhausted in the desert or the snow.

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