| figure/fīg[/ noun, verb ●noun 1. [C, often pl.] a number representing particular amount, especially one given in official information: the trade /sales figures 2. [C] a symbol rather than a word representing one of the numbers between 0 and 9: a six-figure salary 3. [pl] (informal) the area of mathematics that deals with adding, multiplying, etc 4. a person of the type mentioned: Gandhi was both a political and a religious figure in Indian history. 5. the shape of a person seen from a distance or not clearly 6. a person or an animal as shown in art or a story: a wall with five carved figures in it 7. [C] the human shape, considered from the point of view of being attractively thin: doing exercise to improve one"s figure 8. [C] a pattern or series of movements performed on ice: figure-skating [IDM] be/become a figure of fun: be/ become sb. that others laugh at cut a… figure: (of a person) to have a particular appearance He cut a striking figure in his dinner jacket. put a figure on sth.: to say the exact price or number of sth. | a fine figure of man/woman: a tall, strong-looking and well-shaped person figure of speech: a word or phrase used in a different way from its usual meanings in order to create a particular mental image or effect figurehead: someone who is the head or chief in name only (with no real power or authority) ●verb 1. to think or decide that sth. will happen or is true: I figured that if I took the night train, I could be in Scotland by morning. 2. to be part of a process, situation, etc. especially an important part: My opinion of the matter didn"t seem to figure at all. 3. to calculate an amount or the cost of sth.: We figured that attendance at 150,000. [PHRV] 1. figure in: to include (in a sum): Have you figured in the cost of hotel? 2. figure on: to plan on; to expect sth. to happen: I haven"t figured on his getting home too late. 3. figure out: to work out; understand by thinking: Have you figured out how much the trip will cost? [IDM] It/That figures! (informal): That seems reasonable, logical and what I expect. |
| 1-3: CBC | |
| 阅读理解。 | |
| Can you remember a morning when you"ve woken up to the ring of your alarm clock and wished you could stay in bed? You haven"t slept well, your hair is a mess. Worse, you can"t stop yawning. Yawning is universal to humans and many animals. Cats, dogs and fish yawn just like humans do! Yawning is an involuntary (无意识的,不自觉的) action during which you open your mouth and breathe deeply. The average duration of a yawn is about 6 seconds. The purpose and cause of yawning are still a mystery. Scientists are not sure what causes a yawn. People yawn when they are tired or bored, but they also yawn when they aren"t. There are many ideas explaining why we yawn. One idea is that yawning is a way for the body to become more alert by taking in more oxygen. A yawn increases the heart rate, forces carbon dioxide out of the lungs and blood stream, and brings oxygen to the brain. But one study showed that volunteers given a lot of oxygen did not yawn any less than before, while those given a lot of carbon dioxide did not yawn more. Another idea is that early humans used yawning as a form of communication. If one decided it was time to sleep, they would tell the others by yawning and they would do it in return to show they agreed. A third explanation comes from psychology professor Gordon Gallup of University at Albany in New York. He said that as people yawn, they cool off their brains. "Brains are like computers." he said. "They only operate efficiently and effectively when they"re cool. Many things connected to yawning, like being tired, make the brain hot, and yawning can reduce the heat." Scientists have sent people into space, and created terrible nuclear weapons, but there are lots of seemingly simple things, such as why we yawn, or hiccup, that they can"t figure out. Next time you are in class in the morning, let out a big yawn and watch to see how many of your classmates yawn in response! | |
| 1. What"s the purpose of the description of how bad you may feel when you"re woken up in the morning? | |
| [ ] | |
| A. To explain why humans yawn. B. To explain how humans start yawning. C. To lead into the topic of yawning. D. To complain about being woken up by the clock. | |
| 2. Which is not among the possible reasons for yawning mentioned in the passage? | |
| [ ] | |
| A. A way to show that you feel hot. B. A way to get rid of carbon dioxide. C. A way to cool off your brain. D. A way to communicate. | |
| 3. In which situation are you likely to yawn? | |
| [ ] | |
| A. When you feel sleepy. B. The weather is hot. C. Someone else yawns near you. D. When you breathe in a lot of carbon dioxide. | |
| 4. What can we learn from the passage? | |
| [ ] | |
| A. The real reason why humans and most animals yawn. B. Hiccups are an involuntary human action similar to yawns. C. The more an action can be studied, the easier it is to research. D. Finding out why humans yawn should be easier than sending people into space. | |
| 阅读理解。 | |
| Electronic monitoring devices, mobile phone detectors and giant screens connected to close-circuit TV cameras. Does it sound like a high security operation? Well, the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) in China is nothing less than that. The education authorities" efforts to prevent cheating at the exam have gone almost unnoticed. The authorities launched the country"s new monitoring system for the all- important exam yesterday. The system is based on local schools" networks and is connected to provincial headquarters, especially set up for the exam. The government has plans to cover all the 31 provinces and regions in the next three years and offer the services for other national exams, too. The records of students caught cheating during national tests, such as the college entrance exam, would be stored in the system and made available online for higher educational institutions" and future employers" reference. But despite all these measures, cheating remains a big temptation for some candidates. The number of students caught cheating in last year"s NCEE was 3,000, up from 1,300 in 2005. But this is hardly surprising because passing the NCEE is the only way most of the students can get access to higher education. 10.1 million students registered for this year"s NCEE, 9.6 million taking the exam, but only 5.67 million would enter college. Among the successful candidates will be about 500,000 with special merits who will be admitted to universities directly, which means roughly 13 in every 24 candidates can actually enter college. That should explain why some students are tempted to cheat during the exam. Cheating in such a well-monitored exam is not an easy thing to do, says an MOE official, and it"s very risky business too. The chance of a student getting away with cheating is minuscule. And if caught, he/she risks ruining his/her entire career because higher educational institutions and potential employers can always check his/her record. | |
| 1. The passage is most probably taken from _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. a politics textbook. B. a fashion report. C. a reference book. D. a newspaper. | |
| 2. According to the passage, what will happen if a student is caught cheating in the NCEE? | |
| [ ] | |
| A. He/She will lose the chance to sit for more exams. B. His/Her behavior will be recorded, stored and made available online. C. He/She will get no records and lose the opportunity to go to college. D. He/She will be blamed and his/her career and life will be put an end to. | |
| 3. The underlined word"minuscule" in the last paragraph probably means _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. tiny B. impossible C. difficult D. incredible | |
| 4. We can draw a conclusion from the passage that _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. the education authorities are making great efforts to prevent cheating in exams B. although it is very hard to succeed, many students take a chance to cheat in exams C. honesty is still the best policy when it comes to exams D. it is not easy to get access to higher education in China | |
| 根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项 为多余选项。 | |
| You need the right college What"s out there? How can you learn all of America"s college? How do you find the best match-the best college for you? Big or small, conservative or liberal, private or public 1______ Researchers are essential for making a good college decision. 2______ Don"t easily believe what others say, such as "Someone told me that Colorado College is too small" and "Someone told me that Michigan is too big." Every college has something for someone. 3______ Just because you have heard the name of a college it does not mean it will be a good place for you. Just because you have not heard the name of a college it doesn"t mean that you will not like it. 4______ That means in these colleges you can fit in with the other students, find the level of education you need and feel good on campus. Researching the colleges means finding several colleges where you really want to go. One quick way to research the colleges is to take a virtual (虚拟的) tour of the college on you computer. 5______ Check out the hundreds of colleges on these two websites. When you find one that sounds like a place you would like to be, check out its website and learn more. Make a list of 20 colleges and then choose a short list of 10. | |
| A. There is no college that is wonderful for everyone. B. Here are the two top websites to get you started. C. Get your parents involved in the decision-making process. D. That means collecting information from many sources. E. Don"t take too much time doing your research. F. There are many things to consider. G. There are many colleges where you will be happy. | |
| 阅读理解。 | |
| Perhaps the most famous theory, the study of body movement, was suggested by Professor Ray Birdwhistell. He believes that physical appearance is often culturally programmed. In other words, we learn our looks-we are not born with them. A baby has generally informed face features. A baby, according to Birdwhistell, learns where to set the eyebrows by looking at those around-family and friends. This helps explain why the people of some areas of the United States look so much alike. New Englanders or Southerners have certain common face features that cannot be explained by genetics (遗传学). The exact shape of the mouth is not set at birth, it is learned after. In fact, the final mouth shape is not formed until well after new teeth are set. For many, this can be well into grown-ups. A husband and wife together for a long time often come to look alike. We learn our looks from those around us. This is perhaps why in a single country area where people smile more than those in other areas. In the United States, for example, the South is the part of the country where the people smile most frequently. In New England they smile less, and in the western part of New York State still less. Many southerners find cities such as New York cold and unfriendly, partly because people on Madison Avenue smile less than people on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia. People in largely populated areas also smile and greet each other in public less than people in small towns do. | |
| 1. Ray Birdwhistell believes that physical appearance _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. has little to do with culture B. is ever changing C. is different from place to place D. has much to do with culture | |
| 2. According to the passage, the final mouth shape is formed _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. as soon as one"s teeth are newly set B. sometime after new teeth are set C. around 15 years old D. before birth | |
| 3. Ray Birdwhistell can tell what area of the United States a person is from by _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. what he or she likes best B. how he or she raises his or her eyebrows C. how much he or she smiles D. the way he or she talks | |
| 阅读理解。 | |
| Children become more generous as they get older, learning the principles of equality by the age of eight. That may not be too surprising to anyone who has kids. Humans are born with a sense of fairness that most other animals seem not to share, but it"s not been clear exactly when this concept starts to develop. Dr. Alva Zhao and her colleagues conducted a series of tests to measure just how much children care about equality at different ages. In three different versions of a game, children were asked to choose between two ways of sharing a number of sweets with themselves and an unfamiliar partner. They could choose, for example, between one for me and one for you, or just having one for themselves. At the age of three, children were "almost completely selfish", says Zhao. They refused to give sweets away even if it made no difference to themselves. But by the age of eight, children generally preferred the fair option, sharing a prize equally rather than keeping it all to themselves. Several other factors influenced how fair the children were. The team found that children without brothers or sisters were 28% more likely to share than children with brothers or sisters. On the other hand, the youngest children in a family were 17% less willing to share than children who had only younger brother or sister. In addition, if children knew that their partner was from the same playgroup or school, they were more concerned about being fair. This suggests that being nice to people you know is something that develops a sense of equality. | |
| 1. The main idea of the first paragraph is _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. parents know clearly when their kids are more willing to share B. the kids" willingness of sharing is learned from their family C. the older the kids are,the more selfish they will become D. kids become more generous when they reach a certain age | |
| 2. The tests conducted by Dr. Alva Zhao and her colleagues were aimed at _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. how kids develop a quality of fairness in games B. children"s awareness of equality at different ages C. the reasons why children care about equality D. children"s attitudes towards other partners | |
| 3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? | |
| [ ] | |
| A. Children under three know little about being fair. B. Children above eight years old become less selfish. C. Children with brothers or sisters tend to be more generous. D. The youngest child in a family tends to be less generous. | |
| 4. We can learn that children care more about equality while with _____. | |
| [ ] | |
| A. unknown people B. nice people C. familiar people D. fair people |