完形填空。
There is a workman in America who earns as much as a company director. He is Max Quarterman, a thirty-year-old plasterer (泥瓦匠).
Max lives in an upper middle-class housing estate. His______are mostly bank managers, business executives, airline pilots and the______, but Max’s seven-bedroom house —______$ 80,000 — is the largest in the area. ______ outside the house are Max’s $ 7000 sports car and his wife’s Morris Mini. Indoors is a 150 colour TV set and the family’s ______ — a circular bath with gold-plated taps. There are also many labour－saving ______ and luxury furniture.
How can a plasterer ______ all this? The answer, says Max, is hard work. In ______ with another plasterer, Max______ contract plastering jobs for a firm. The owner of the firm ______ them as human machines, the best and quickest in the ______ , who can do as much in two days as ______two-man team can in two weeks.
How do they manage it? Not by working overtime. They work a(n) ______ eight-hour day, five days a week. The secret ______ in Max’s hod (桶) in which he carries the plaster to the site of the job. Max’s is a superhod — it contains double the usual ______of plaster, and Max, a strong fellow, runs when he carries it. More time is thus ______ to get on with the plastering. Besides, ______ man wastes time smoking, and they ______ their lunch break to a ______ of an hour a day. Now Max earns over $ 800 a week which is four times the average weekly pay in Britain today, and if he gets as ______ as $ 15, it’s a disaster.
1.A. colleagues B. neighbours C. relatives D. friends
2.A. like B. kind C. class D. same
3.A. worthy B. spending C. costing D. worth
4.A. Stopped B. Stopping C. Parked D. Parking
5.A. property B. honour C. facility D. pride
6.A. objects B. devices C. articles D. materials
7.A. acquire B. use C. afford D. provide
8.A. harmony B. correspondence C. partnership D. terms
9.A. makes B. does C. takes D. gets
10.A. tells B. treats C. compares D. describes
11.A. trade B. job C. area D. walk
12.A. no B. few C. any D. all
13.A. unusual B. extra C. ordinary D. normal
14.A. relies B. lies C. hides D. falls
15.A. quality B. size C. quantity D. weight
16.A. left B. needed C. spent D. kept
17.A. both B. either C. neither D. each
18.A. have B. cut C. miss D. spend
19.A. time B. period C. limitation D. total
20.A. much B. little C. more D. less
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项。（说明：E请填涂AB；F填涂CD；G填涂ABC）
Any car accident is frightening, but an accident in which your vehicle is thrown into the water, with you trapped inside, is absolutely terrifying.1.
However, most deaths result from panic, without a plan or understanding what is happening to the car in the water. By adopting a brace position (防冲击姿势), acting decisively and getting out fast, you can save yourself from a sinking vehicle.
Brace yourself for impact. As soon as you’re aware that you’re going off the road and into a body of water, adopt a brace position. The impact could set off the airbag system in your vehicle, so you should place both hands on the steering wheel in the “ten and two” position.
Undo your seatbelt. 2.Unbuckle the children, starting with the oldest first. Forget the cellphone call. Your car isn’t going to wait for you to make the call.
3.Leave the door alone at this stage and concentrate on the window. A car’s electrical system should work for up to three minutes in water, so try the method of opening it electronically first. Many people don’t think about the window as an escape option either because of panic or misinformation about doors and sinking.
Break the window. If you aren’t able to open the window, or it only opens halfway, you’ll need to break it with an object or your foot. It may feel counter-intuitive (有悖常理的) to let water into the car. 4.
Escape when the car has equalized. If it has reached the dramatic stage where the car cabin has been filled with water and it has become balanced, you must move quickly and effectively to ensure your survival. 5.
While there is still air in the car, take slow, deep breaths and focus on what you’re doing.
A. Open the window as soon as you hit the water.
B. Surviving a sinking car is not as difficult as you think.
C. It takes 60 to 120 seconds for a car to fill up with water usually.
D. Such accidents are particularly dangerous due to the risk of drowning.
E. In conclusion, if you know what to do in the water, you’ll be safe.
F. This is the first thing to attend to, yet it often gets forgotten in the panic.
G. But the sooner the window is open, the sooner you can escape directly through it.
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
The health-care economy is filled with unusual and even unique economic relationships. One of the least understood involves the peculiar roles of producer or “provider” and purchaser or “consumer” in the typical doctor-patient relationship. In most sectors of the economy, it is the seller who attempts to attract a potential buyer with various appealing factors of price, quality, and use, and it is the buyer who makes the decision. Such condition, however, is not common in most of the health-care industry.
In the health-care industry, the doctor-patient relationship is the mirror image of the ordinary relationship between producer and consumer. Once an individual has chosen to see a physician — and even then there may be no real choice — it is the physician who usually makes all significant purchasing decisions: whether the patient should return “next Wednesday”, whether X-rays are needed, whether drugs should be prescribed, etc. It is rare that a patient will challenge such professional decisions or raise in advance questions about price, especially when the disease is regarded as serious.
This is particularly significant in relation to hospital care. The physician must certify the need for hospitalization, determine what procedures will be performed, and announce when the patient may be discharged. The patient may be consulted about some of the decisions, but in general it is the doctor’s judgments that are final. Little wonder then that in the eye of the hospital it is the physician who is the real “consumer”. As a consequence, the medical staff represents the “power center” in hospital policy and decision-making, not the administration.
Although usually there are in this situation four identifiable participants— the physician, the hospital, the patient, and the payer (generally an insurance carrier or government)— the physician makes the essential decisions for all of them. The hospital becomes an extension of the physician; the payer generally meets most of the bills generated by the physician/hospital, and for the most part the patient plays a passive role. We estimate that about 75-80 percent of health-care choices are determined by physicians, not patients. For this reason, the economy directed at patients or the general is relatively ineffective.
1.The author’s primary purpose in writing this passage is to ________.
A. urge hospitals to reclaim their decision-making authority
B. inform potential patients of their health-care rights
C. criticize doctors for exercising too much control over patients
D. analyze some important economic factors in health-care
2.It can be inferred that doctors are able to determine hospital policies because ________.
A. most of patient’s bills are paid by his health insurance
B. it is doctors who generate income for the hospital
C. some patients might refuse to take their physician’s advice
D. a doctor is ultimately responsible for a patient’s health
3.According to the author, when a doctor tells a patient to “return next Wednesday”, the doctor is in fact ________.
A. advising the patient to seek a second opinion
B. warning the patient that a hospital stay might be necessary
C. instructing the patient to buy more medical services
D. admitting that the first visit was ineffective
4.The author is most probably leading up to ________.
A. a proposal to control medical costs
B. a study of lawsuits against doctors for malpractice
C. an analysis of the cause of inflation (通货膨胀) in the US
D. a discussion of a new medical treatment
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Human remains of ancient settlements will be reburied and lost to science under a law that threatens researches into the history of humans in Britain, a group of leading archaeologists (考古学家) says. In a letter addressed to the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, 40 archaeologists write of their “deep and widespread concern” about the issue. It centers on the law introduced by the Ministry of Justice in 2008 which requires all human remains unearthed in England and Wales to be reburied within two years, regardless of their age. The decision means scientists have too little time to study bones and other human remains of national and cultural significance.
“Your current requirement that all archaeologically unearthed human remains should be reburied, whether after a standard period of two years or further special extension, is contrary to basic principles of archaeological and scientific research and of museum practice,” they write.
The law applies to any pieces of bone uncovered at around 400 dig sites, including the remains of 60 or so bodies found at Stonehenge in 2008 that date back to 3,000 BC. Archaeologists have been granted a temporary extension to give them more time, but eventually the bones will have to be returned to the ground.
The arrangements may result in the waste of future discoveries at sites such as Happisburgh in Norfolk, where digging is continuing after the discovery of stone tools made by early humans 950,000 years ago. If human remains were found at Happisburgh, they would be the oldest in northern Europe and the first indication of what this species was. Under the current practice of the law those remains would have to be reburied and effectively destroyed.
Before 2008, guidelines allowed for the proper preservation and study of bones of sufficient age and historical interest, while the Burial Act 1857 applied to more recent remains. The Ministry of Justice assured archaeologists two years ago that the law was temporary, but has so far failed to revise it.
Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at Sheffield University, said, “Archaeologists have been extremely patient because we were led to believe the ministry was sorting out this problem, but we feel that we cannot wait any longer.”
The ministry has no guidelines on where or how remains should be reburied, or on what records should be kept.
1.According to the passage, scientists are unhappy with the law mainly because ________.
A. it is only a temporary measure on the human remains
B. it is unreasonable and thus destructive to scientific research
C. it was introduced by the government without their knowledge
D. it is vague about where and how to rebury human remains
2.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. Temporary extension of two years will guarantee scientists enough time.
B. Human remains of the oldest species were dug out at Happisburgh.
C. Human remains will have to be reburied despite the extension of time.
D. Scientists have been warned that the law can hardly be changed.
3.What can be inferred about the British law governing human remains?
A. The Ministry of Justice did not intend to protect human remains.
B. The Burial Act 1857 only applied to remains uncovered before 1857.
C. The law on human remains hasn’t changed in recent decades.
D. The Ministry of Justice has not done enough about the law.
4.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A. New discoveries should be reburied, the government demands.
B. Research time should be extended, scientists require.
C. Law on human remains needs thorough discussion, authorities say.
D. Law could bury ancient secrets for ever, archaeologists warn.
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Everyone gathered around and Paddy read out loud, slowly, his tone growing sadder and sadder. The little headline said: BOXER RECEIVES LIFE SENTENCE.
Frank Cleary, aged 26, professional boxer, was today found guilty of the murder of Albert Cumming, aged 32, laborer, last July. The jury (陪审团) reached its decision after only ten minutes, recommending the most severe punishment the court could give out. It was, said the judge, a simple case. Cumming and Cleary had quarreled violently at the Harbour Hotel on July 23rd and the police saw Cleary kicking at the head of the unconscious Cumming. When arrested Cleary was drunk but clear-thinking…
Cleary was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Asked if he had anything to say, Cleary answered, “Just don’t tell my mother.”
“It happened over three years ago,” Paddy said helplessly. No one answered him or moved, for no one knew what to do. “Just don’t tell my mother,” said Fee numbly. “And no one did! Oh, God! My poor, poor Frank!”
Paddy wiped the tears from his face and said. “Fee dear, pack your things. We’ll go to see him.”
She half-rose before sinking back, her eyes in her small white face stared as if dead. “I can’t go,” she said without a hint of pain, yet making everyone feel that the pain was there. “It would kill him to see me. I know him so well— his pride, his ambition. Let him bear the shame alone, it’s what he wants. We’ve got to help him keep his secret. What good will it do him to see us? ”
Paddy was still weeping, but not for Frank, for the life which had gone from Fee’s face, for the dying in her eyes. Frank had always brought bitterness and misfortune, always stood between Fee and himself. He was the cause of her withdrawal from his heart and the hearts of his children.
Every time it looked as if there might be happiness for Fee, Frank took it away. But Paddy’s love for her was as deep and impossible to wipe out as hers was for Frank.
So he said, “Well, Fee, we won’t go. But we must make sure he is taken care of. How about if I write to Father Jones and ask him to look out for Frank?”
The eyes didn’t liven, but a faint pink stole into her cheeks. “Yes, Paddy, do that. Only make sure he knows not to tell Frank we found out. Perhaps it would ease Frank to think for certain that we don’t know.”
1.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Frank was found guilty of murder because he was a professional boxer.
B. The family didn’t find out what happened to Frank until three years later.
C. The jury and the judge disagreed on whether Frank had committed murder.
D. Frank didn’t want his family to find out what happened because Paddy disliked him.
2.Paddy didn’t cry for Frank because he thought ________.
A. Frank did kill someone and deserved the punishment
B. Frank should have told Fee what had happened
C. what had happened to Frank was killing Fee
D. Frank had always been a man of bad moral character
3.Which of the following suggests that Fee was deeply shocked by what happened to Frank?
A. “Her eyes in her small white face stared as if dead.”
B. “Let him bear the shame alone, it’s what he wants.”
C. “Every time it looked as if there might be happiness for Fee, Frank took it away.”
D. “The eyes didn’t liven, but a faint pink stole into her cheeks.”
4.“She half-rose before sinking back …” (in Paragraph 6) shows that ________.
A. Fee was so heart-broken that she could hardly stand up
B. Fee didn’t want to upset Paddy by visiting Frank
C. Fee couldn’t leave her family to go to see Frank
D. Fee struggled between wanting to see Frank and respecting his wish
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
An Open Letter to an Editor
I had an interesting conversation with a reporter recently — one who works for you. In fact, he’s one of your best reporters. He wants to leave.
Your reporter gave me a copy of his résumé (简历) and photocopies of six stories that he wrote for you. The headlines showed you played them proudly. With great enthusiasm, he talked about how he finds issues, approaches them, and writes about them, which tells me he is one of your best. I’m sure you would hate to lose him.
Surprisingly, your reporter is not unhappy. In fact, he told me he really likes his job. He has a great assignment, and said you run a great paper. It would be easy for you to keep him, he said. He knows that the paper values him. He appreciates the responsibility you’ve given him, takes ownership of his profession, and enjoys his freedom.
So why is he looking for a way out?
He talked to me because he wants his editors to demand so much more of him. He wants to be pushed, challenged, coached to new heights.
The reporter believes that good stories spring from good questions, but his editors usually ask how long the story will be, when it will be in, where it can play, and what the budget is.
He longs for conversations with an editor who will help him turn his good ideas into great ones. He wants someone to get excited about what he’s doing and to help him turn his story idea upside down and inside out, exploring the best ways to report it. He wants to be more valuable for our paper. That’s what you want for him, too, isn’t it?
So your reporter has set me thinking.
Our best hope in keeping our best reporters, copy editors, photographers, artists — everyone — is to work harder to make sure they get the help they are demanding to reach their potential. If we can’t do it, they’ll find someone who can.
1.What does the writer think of the reporter?
A. Optimistic. B. Imaginative.
C. Ambitious. D. Proud.
2.What does the reporter want most from his editors in their talks?
A. Finding the news value of his stories.
B. Giving him financial support.
C. Helping him to find issues.
D. Improving his good ideas.
3. Who probably wrote the letter?
A. An editor. B. An artist.
C. A reporter. D. A reader.
