第1部分：词汇选项(第1—15题，每题1分，共15分)
下面每个句子中均有1个词或短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。
1. Her comments about men are utterly ridiculous.
A. slightly B. partly C. faintly D. completely
2. We almost ran into a Rolls-Royce that pulled out in front of us without signalling.
A. overlook B.passed C. found D. hit
3. He has been granted asylum in France.
A. power B.relief C. protection D. license.
4. When I heard the noise in the next room, I couldn't resist having a peep.
A. chance B. visit C.try D. look
5. The weather was crisp and clear and you could see the mountains fifty miles away.
A. hot B. fresh C.heavy D. windy
6. He was weary of the constant battle between them.
A. found B. proud C. afraid D. tired
7. Our aim was to update the health service, and we succeeded.
A. modernize B. provide C. offer D. fund
8. Newborn babies can discriminate between a man's and a woman's voice.
A. distinguish B. treat C. express D. analyze
9. Every week the magazine presents the profile of a well-known sports personality.
A. description B. success C. evidence D. plan
10. Nothing would induce me to vote for him again.
A. teach B. help C. attract D. Discourage
11. He shifted his position a little, in order to alleviate the pain in his leg.
A. control B. ease C. experience D. Suffer
12. The photographs evoked strong memories of our holidays in France.
A. stored B. blocked C. refreshed D. erased
13. She moves from one exotic location to another.
A. familiar B. similar C. unusual D. proper
14. The walls are made of hollow concrete blocks.
A. empty B. long C. big D. new
15.All the flats in the building had the same layout.
A. color B. size C. arrangement D. Function
参考答案： B C D A C C B C D A C D B A C
二、阅读判断
Europa’s watery underworld
Europa, one of Jupiter’s 63 known moons, looks bright and icy on the surface. But appearances can be deceiving: Miles within its cracked, frigid shell, Europa probably hides giant pools of liquid water. Where scientists find liquid water, they hope to find life as well.
Since we can’t go diving into Europa’s depths just yet, scientists instead have to investigate the moon’s surface for clues to what lies beneath. In a new study, scientists investigated one group of strange ice patterns on Europa and concluded that the formations mark the top of an underground pool that holds as much water as the U.S. Great Lakes.
Pictures of Europa, which is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon, clearly show a tangled, icy mishmash of lines and cracks known as “chaos terrains.” These chaotic places cover more than half of Europa. For more than 10 years, scientists have wondered what causes the formations. The new study suggests that they arise from the mixing of vast underground stores of liquid water with icy material near the surface.
For scientists who suspect that Europa also may be hiding life beneath its icy surface, the news about the new lake is exciting.
“It would be great if these lakes harbored life,” Britney Schmidt, a planetary scientist who worked on the study, told Science News. “But even if they didn’t, they say that Europa is doing something interesting and active right now.”
Schmidt, a scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, and her colleagues wanted to know how chaos terrains form. Since they couldn’t rocket to Europa to see for themselves, they searched for similar formations here on Earth. They studied collapsed ice shelves in Antarctica and icy caps on volcanoes in Iceland. Those features on Earth formed when liquid water mixed with ice. The scientists now suspect something similar might be happening on Europa: that as water and ice of different temperatures mingle and shift, the surface fractures. This would explain the jumbled ice sculptures.
“Fracturing catastrophically disrupts the ice in the same way that it causes ice shelves to collapse on Earth,” Schmidt told Science News. She and her team found that the process could be causing chaos terrains to form quickly on Europa.
The new study suggests that on this moon, elements such as oxygen from the surface blend with the deep bodies of water. That mixture may create an environment that supports life.
16. The liquid water of an underground pool of Europa is estimated xxxxx of the US Great lakes.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mention
答案：A
17. The strange ice patterns on Europa are formed as a result of a xxxxx underground water pool.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mention
答案：B
18. Europa is the most recently discovered one among Jupiter’s
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mention
答案：C
19. The size of Europa is a bit larger than that of Earth’s moon.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mention
答案：B
20. Schmidt and her colleagues are the first group of scientists xxxxx Europa.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mention
答案：B
21. The formations on Europa’s surface are rather unique in the
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mention
答案：B
22. The existence of liquid water is a necessity for a life-support
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mention
答案：A
三、概括大意与完成句子
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 helium(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 believed 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.
A. what is the periodic table?B. What are noble gases?C. What causes the low chemical reactivity of noble gases? D. How were noble gases discovered?E. How were noble gases understood in the past?F. what are the applications of noble 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__ E ___
24. paragraph 3__ B____
25. paragraph 4___C____
26. paragraph 5___F_____
27. Noble gases are not very chemically
答案：A
28. Among the elements of noble gases Helium is the
答案：B
29. The required number of electrons in noble gases’ outer shell is
答案：D
30. MRI may make operating on the patient
答案：F
A. reactive B. lightestC. important D. complete E. flammableF. unnecessary
四、阅读理解
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 National 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 there 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 president.
B. A Buddhist priest.
C. A king.
D. A general.
答案：C
32. Apart from modernizing Bhutan, what else did Wangchuck want to do for Bhutan?
A. To make its population grow.
B. To keep it separate from the world.
C. To keep its traditions and customs.
D. To encourage its people to get rich.
答案：C
33. A country shows its progress with GNP by
A. selling more products.
B. spending more money.
C. spending less money.
D. providing more jobs.
答案：A
34. According to GNH, people are happier if they
A. have new technology.
B. have a good, stable government.
C. can change their religion.
D. have more money.
答案：B
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.
答案：D
第二篇
Download Knowledge Directly to Your Brain
For the first time, researchers have been able to hack into the process of learning in the brain, using induced brain patterns to create a learned behavior. It’s not quite as advanced as an instant kung-fu download, and it’s not as sleek as cognitive inception, but it’s still an important finding that could lead to new teaching and rehabilitation techniques.
Future therapies could decode the brain activity patterns of an athlete or a musician, and use them as a benchmark for teaching another person a new activity, according to the researchers.
Scientists from Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to study the learning process. They were examining the adult brain’s aptitude for visual perceptual learning, or VPL, in which repetitive training improves a person’s performance on a particular task. Whether adults can do this as well as young people has been an ongoing debate in neuroscience.
Led by BU neuroscientist Takeo Watanabe, researchers used a method called decoded fMRI neurofeedback to stimulate the visual cortex. First they showed participants circles at different orientations. Then they used fMRI to watch the participants’ brain activity. The researchers were then able to train the participants to recreate this visual cortex activity.
The volunteers were again placed in MRI machines and asked to visualize shapes of certain colors. The participants were asked to “somehow regulate activity in the posterior part of the brain” to make a solid green disc as large as they could. They were told they would get a paid bonus proportional to the size of this disc, but they weren’t told anything about what the disc meant. The researchers watched the participants’ brain activity and monitored the activation patterns in their visual cortices.
“Participants can be trained to control the overall mean activation of an entire brain region,” the study authors write, “or the activation in one region relative to that in another region.”
This worked even when test subjects were not aware of what they were learning, the researchers said.
“The most surprising thing in this study is that mere inductions of neural activation patterns corresponding to a specific visual feature led to visual performance improvement on the visual feature, without presenting the feature or subjects' awareness of what was to be learned,” Watanabe said in a statement.
Watanabe and colleagues said this method can be a powerful tool.
“It can ‘incept’ a person to acquire new learning, skills, or memory, or possibly to restore skills or knowledge that has been damaged through accident, disease, or aging, without a person’s awareness of what is learned or memorized,” they write.
36. what have researchers been able to do with the help of the study?
A. Discover a person’s learning process in the brain.
B. Make a person know how to do something without learning.
C. Set up different learning patterns for different people.
D. Enable people to learn kung fu instantly.
答案：A
37. what helps a person to do a particular task better in visual perceptual learning?
A. Testing
B. Encouragement
C. Self- assessment
D. Repetition
答案：D
38. which of the following statements is true of the experiment participants?
A. They learned how to control MRL machines in the experiment
B. They were not told what to be learned in the experiment
C. They were paid to take part in the experiment
D. They were not cooperative in the experiment
答案：B
39. the finding of the study is most significant in that learning
A. is full of fun
B. is visualized
C. happens unconsciously
D. becomes unnecessary
答案：B
40. who are most likely to benefit from the study?
A. Teenagers
B. Musicians
C. Senior people
D. Athletes
答案：C
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