阅读理解 Endangered languages are languages that wouldn"t exist any longer, much

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阅读理解
     Endangered languages are languages that wouldn"t exist any longer, much like endangered species of
plants or animals. Languages are considered to be endangered when parents are no longer teaching the
language to their children and are not using it actively in everyday life. A language is considered to nearly
disappear when it is spoken by only a few elderly native speakers.
     The world faces enormous challenges in order to protect different kinds of languages. Of the more than 6,912 languages, half may be in danger of disappearing in the next several decades.
     It is caused by many reasons: small numbers of speakers, the regular use of other languages, attitudes
towards their languages, moving of the younger population, government policies, and languages used in
education and so on. A language may lack important things such as a body of literature, and people who
read and write it. A language may also lack prestige (声望) and support of its speakers.
     The survival of a language is also threatened when speakers move to other areas where different
languages are spoken, or when government policies improve the use of a specific language in school,
official business and the media. These situations encourage people to learn the wider-known language and may cause them, especially the young, to stop using their mother tongue. Often those speaking
lesser-known languages will choose to learn a more prestigious language with the hope of greater
economic opportunities. Most of the world"s parents are teaching their children English, French, Spanish,
Chinese, Arabic, Russian or some other main languages instead of their own languages for social and
economic reasons.
1. What"s the main idea of this passage?
A. Languages in the world.
B. Reasons why languages become endangered.
C. What an endangered language is.
D. Languages spoken by few speakers.
2. About _________ languages will probably disappear in this century according to the passage.
A. more than 6,912
B. more than 3,456
C. 6,912
D. less than 3,456
3. Which of the following best shows the structure of the passage?
①=Paragraph1②=Paragraph2③=Paragraph3④=Paragraph4

4. We can infer that the best way to maintain an endangered language is to _________.
A. forbid the speakers to move about
B. pass laws to protect the language
C. raise the salaries of the people who speak the language
D. teach the language to young children and encourage people to speak it as much as possible
5. All of the following about languages are true EXCEPT __________.
A. many languages will be probably endangered in this century
B. government policies have a big effect on languages
C. the endangered language is a language that is spoken by few people
D. languages are related to their speakers" social and economic position

答案

1-5: BBDDC

举一反三

信息匹:
请阅读下列应用文及相关信息,并按照要求匹配信息.A. Pasta House - new Italian restaurant located in the heart of the city. Simple but delicious inexpensive
meals. Also has a good range of vegetable-only meals. It"s always crowded so be ready to order
take-away or share a table. Open 11 a.m. to midnight.
B. A Taste of India - famous for its spicy curries and many southern Indian dishes using chilli. You will
usually be able to find a table during the week but if you"re planning to go on the weekend make sure you
book a table in advance. Open noon to midnight.
C. Paris Match - this is the finest French restaurant in the city. Wonderful food you can enjoy in luxurious
surroundings. The perfect place to have a romantic meal or impress a business partner, but be prepared
for a large bill. Open noon to 2 a.m. Booking essential.
D. Mountain Diner - not fancy but tasty. Excellent Asian and European dishes. Countryside location
surrounded by forest. It"s at least an hour"s drive from the city so you might want to stay at the nearby
Mountain Hotel overnight. Open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
E. Owl Caf ? - open 24 hours a day the caf ? has a large selection of set breakfast, lunch and dinner
meals for you to choose from, or you can enjoy one of their many delicious snacks and desserts over a
cup of freshly made coffee.
F. Greek Bistro - a lively restaurant that serves great-value Greek food and has live Greek music played
by a local band. Customers are encouraged to take part in the entertainment so be ready for a night of
loud fun and laughter. Open 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
以下是五个人的选择要求,请匹配每个人拟选择的地方:
1. Bill - was late getting up today so hasn"t had time to make breakfast. He wants to pick up something
to eat before he goes to work so he has enough energy to last through to lunch time.
2. Julie - works in the city and wants to get some lunch. She doesn"t want anything too special so long
as it is tasty and not too expensive. Julie likes all kinds of food but because she is on a diet she wants to
avoid anything containing meat.
3. Sally - has friends visiting her from out-of-town and wants to take them to dinner. She wants to take
them somewhere they can enjoy the atmosphere and have fun. She is a university student so doesn"t have
a lot of money and doesn"t like her food too hot.
4. Albert - is a businessman who will meet an important European client for a business dinner next week. Want to book a table at a quiet restaurant that will impress his guest with both its food and its
surroundings.
5. Robert - is meeting his friend Ben for lunch today (Tuesday) and wants to take him to a nice
restaurant. Both Robert and Ben enjoy good quality spicy food. Robert doesn"t like arranging things in
advance so he hasn"t booked a table.

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阅读理解

    The garden city was largely the invention of Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928). After immigrating from
England to the USA, and an unsuccessful attempt to make a living as a farmer, he moved to Chicago,
where he saw the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous fire of 1871.In those days, it was
nicknamed "the   Garden City",almost certainly the source of Howard"s name for his later building plan
of towns.Returning to  London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing_on ideas
that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs.
      The nineteenthcentury poor city was in many ways a terrible place, dirty and crowded; but it offered
economic and social opportunities.At the same time, the British countryside was in fact equally unattractive: though it promised fresh air and nature, it suffered from agricultural depression(萧条) and it offered neither enough work and wages, nor much social life.Howard"s idea was to combine the best of town and country in a new kind of settlement,the garden city.Howard"s idea was that a group of people should set up a
company, borrowing money to establish a garden city in the depressed countryside, far enough from
existing cities to make sure that the land was bought at the bottom price.
     Garden cities would provide a central public open space, radial avenues and connecting industries.
They would be surrounded by a much larger area of green belt, also owned by the company, containing
not merely farms but also some industrial institutions.As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit-Howard suggested 32,000 people; then, another would be started a short
distance away.Thus, over time, there would develop a vast planned house collection, extending almost
without limit; within it, each garden city would offer a wide range of jobs and services, but each would
also be connected to the others by a rapid transportation system,thus giving all the economic and social
opportunities of a big city.

1. How did Howard get the name for his building plan of garden cities?

A. Through his observation of the country life.
B. Through the combination of different ideas.
C. By taking other people"s advice.
D. By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago.

2. The underlined phrase "drawing on" in Paragraph 1 probably means________.

A. making use of
B. making comments on
C. giving an explanation of
D. giving a description of

3. According to Howard, garden cities should be built______.

A. as far as possible from existing cities
B. in the countryside where the land was cheap
C. in the countryside where agriculture was developed
D. near cities where employment opportunities already existed

4. What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?

A. Their number would continue to rise.
B. Each one would continue to become larger.
C. People would live and work in the same place.
D. Each one would contain a certain type of business.

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阅读理解      The 2012 London Olympics had enough problems to worry about.But one more has just been
added-a communications blackout caused by solar storms.
     After a period of calm within the Sun, scientists have detected the signs of a fresh cycle of sunspots
that could peak in 2012, just in time for the arrival of the Olympic torch in London.
      Now scientists believe that this peak could result in vast solar explosions that could throw billions
of tons of charged matter towards the Earth, causing strong solar storms that could jam the
telecommunications satellites and Internet links sending live Olympic broadcast from London.
      "The Sun"s activity has a strong influence on the Earth.The Olympics could be in the middle of the
next solar maximum which could affect the functions of communications satellites," said Professor
Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
      At the peak of the cycle, violent outbursts called coronal mass ejections (日冕物质抛射) occur
in the Sun"s atmosphere, throwing out great quantities of electricallycharged matter."A coronal mass
ejection can carry a billion tons of solar material into space at over a million    kilometers per hour.Such
events can expose astronauts to a deadly amount, can disable satellites, cause power failures on Earth
and disturb communications," Professor Harrison added.The risk is greatest during a solar maximum
when there is the greatest number of sunspots.
     Next week in America, NASA is scheduled to launch a satellite for monitoring solar activity called
the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which will take images of the Sun that are 10 times clearer
than the most advanced televisions available.
     The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory helped to make the hightech cameras that will capture images
of the solar flares (太阳耀斑) and explosions as they occur.
      Professor Richard Holdaway, the lab"s director, said that the SDO should be able to provide early
warning of a solar flare or explosion big enough to affect satellite communications on Earth "If we have
advance warning, we"ll be able to reduce the damage.What you don"t want is things switching off for a
week with no idea of what"s caused the problem," he said.

1. The phrase "communications blackout" in Paragraph 1 most probably refers to________during the
     2012 Olympics.

A. the extinguishing of the Olympic torch
B. the collapse of broadcasting systems
C. the transportation breakdown in London
D. the destruction of weather satellites

2. What can be inferred about the solar activity described in the passage?

A. The most fatal matter from the coronal falls onto Earth.
B. The solar storm peak occurs in the middle of each cycle.
C. It takes several seconds for the charged matter to reach Earth.
D. The number of sunspots declines after coronal mass ejections.

3. According to the passage, NASA will launch a satellite to________.

A. take images of the solar system
B. provide early warning of thunderstorms
C. keep track of solar activities
D. improve the communications on Earth

4. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A. Solar Storms: An Invisible Killer
B. Solar Storms: Earth Environment in Danger
C. Solar Storms: Threatening the Human Race
D. Solar Storms: Human Activities to Be Troubled

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阅读理解      I hated dinner parties.But I decided to give them another shot because I"m in London.And my friend
Mallery invited me.And because dinner parties in London are very different from those back in New
York.There, "I"m having a dinner party" means:"I"m booking a table for 12 at a restaurant you can"t
afford and we"ll be sharing the cheque evenly, no matter what you eat."Worse, in Manhattan there is
always someone who leaves before the bill arrives.They"ll throw down cash, half of what they owe, and
then people like me, who don"t drink,end up paying even more.But if I try to use the same trick,the
hostess will shout:"Where are you going?"And it"s not like I can say I have somewhere to go:everyone
knows I have nowhere to go.
     But in London, dinner parties are in people"s homes.Not only that, the guests are an interesting mix.
The last time I went to one, the guests were from France, India, Denmark and Nigeria; it was like a
gathering at the United Nations.In New York, the mix is less striking.It"s like a gathering at Bloomingdale"s, a wellknown department store.
      For New Yorkers,talking about other parts of the world means Brooklyn and Queens in New York
.But at Mallery"s, when I said that I had been to Myanmar recently, people knew where it was.In New
York people would think it was a usual new club.

1. What does the word "shot" in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A. Choice.
B. Try.
C. Style.
D. Goal.

2. What does the writer dislike most about dinner parties in New York?

A. There is a strange mix of people.
B. The restaurants are expensive.
C. The bill is not fairly shared.
D. People have to pay cash.

3. What does the author think of the parties in London?

A. A bit unusual.
B. Full of tricks.
C. Less costly.
D. More interesting.

4. What is the author"s opinion of some New Yorkers from her experience?

A. Easygoing.
B. Selfcentred.
C. Generous.
D. Conservative.

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阅读理解。

     The Parthenon in Athens is a building with a long and complex history.Built nearly 2,500 years ago
as a temple celebrating the Greek goddess Athena, it was for thousands of years the church of the
Virgin Mary of the Athenians, then a mosque (清真寺), and finally a ruin.The building was changed
and the sculptures were much damaged over the centuries.By 1800 only about half of the original
sculptural decoration remained.
     Between 1801 and 1805, Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which
controlled Athens, acting with the full knowledge and permission of the Ottoman authorities, removed
about half of the remaining sculptures from the fallen ruins and from the building itself.Lord Elgin loved
Greek history and transported the sculptures back to Britain.The arrival of the sculptures in London
had a huge effect on the European public, greatly increasing interest in ancient Greek culture and
influencing contemporary artistic trends.These sculptures were acquired from Lord Elgin by the British
Museum in 1816 and since then they have all been on display to the public, free of charge.
     Since the early 1980s, however, the Greek government has argued for the permanent removal to
Athens of all the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum.They have also challenged the British
Museum Board of Trustees" legal title to the sculptures.
     The British Museum, however, insists that it exists to tell the story of cultural achievement throughout
the world, from the dawn of human history over two million years ago until the present day.The museum
considers itself an important resource for the world: the breadth and depth of its collection allows the world public to reexamine cultural identities and explore the complex network of interconnected world cultures.
     It also says that, within the context of this unparalleled collection, the Parthenon sculptures are an
important representation of ancient Athenian civilization.Each year millions of visitors admire the artistry
of the sculptures and gain insights on how ancient Greece influenced-and was influenced by the other
civilizations that it encountered(遭遇)．

1．For most of its history people went to the Parthenon to________.A．admire the goddess Athena
B．pray to their god
C．search for sculptures
D．learn about its complex history2．The underlined "it" (in Paragraph 4) refers to "________"．A．the British Museum
B．the Greek government
C．the Parthenon
D．the British Museum Board of Trustees3．What can we learn about Lord Elgin from the passage?A．He is greatly admired in Greece.
B．He worked for the Ottoman Empire.
C．He saved the Parthenon sculptures from being destroyed.
D．He had a deep interest in Greek culture.4．The author"s main intention in writing this passage is to tell________.A．the history of the Parthenon and its sculptures
B．what people can see in the British Museum
C．why the British Museum refuses to return the sculptures
D．the influence of Greece on British culture

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