A higher reading rate, with no loss of comprehension (理解), will help you in other subjects as well as in English, and the general principle (原则) apply to any language. Naturally, you will not read every book at the same speed. You would expect to read a newspaper, for example, much more rapidly than a physics or economics textbook—but you can raise your average reading speed over the whole range of materials you wish to cover so that the percentage (百分比) gained will be the same whatever kind of reading you are concerned (有关的) with.

  The reading passages which follow are all of an average level of difficulty for your stage of instruction. They are all about five hundred words long. They are about topics of general interest which do not require a great deal of specialized knowledge. Thus they fall between the kind of reading you might find in your textbooks and the much less demanding kind you will find in a newspaper or light novel. If you read this kind of English, with understanding at four hundred words per minute, you night skim (浏览) through a newspaper at perhaps 650-700, while with difficult textbooks you might drop to two hundred or two hundred and fifty.

  Perhaps you would like to know what reading speeds are common among native English-speaking university students and how those speeds can be improved. Tests in Minnesota, U.S.A., for example, have shown that students without special training can read English of average difficulty, for example, Tolstoy’s War and Peace in translation, at speeds of between 240 and 250 words per minute with about seventy percent comprehension. Students in Minnesota claim (自称) that after twelve half-hour lessons, once a week, the reading speed can be increased, with no loss of comprehension, to around five hundred words per minute.　　　　

1．According to the passage, the purpose of effective reading with higher speed is most likely to help you　　   .

A. only in your reading of physics textbook

B. improve your understanding of an economics textbook

C. not only in your language study but also in other subjects

D. choose the suitable material to read

2．Which of the following does not describe the types of reading materials mentioned in the second paragraph?

A. Those beyond (超越) one’s reading comprehension.

B. Those concerned with common knowledge.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 

C. Those without the demand for specialized knowledge.

D. Those with the length of about five hundred words

3．The average speed of untrained native speakers in the University of Minnesota is　　   .

A. about three hundred words per minute

B. about two hundred and forty-five words per minute

C. about sixty words per minute

D. about five hundred words per minute

4．According to the passage, how fast can you expect to read after you have attended twelve half-hour lessons in the University of Minnesota?

A. You can increase your reading speed by three times.

B. No real increase in reading speed can be achieved.

C. You can increase your reading speed by four times.

D. You can double your reading speed.

5．Where do you think the passage is taken from?

A. The introduction to a book on fast reading.

B. A local newspaper for young people.

C. A school newspaper run by students.

D. The introduction to an English textbook.

Cloze   (15分)

Directions: for each blank in the following passages there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C, and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.

If you travel around the world, you will be surprised to find just how different the foreign customs can be __50__ your own.

A visitor to India would do well to remember that people there __51__ it impolite to use the left hand for passing food at table. The left hand is supposed to be __52__for washing yourself. Also in India, you might __53__a man obviously shaking his head at another and assume that he is disagreeing. But in many __54__ of India a shake of the head is a gesture that shows agreement or acceptance. Nodding your head when you are offered a __55__ in Bulgaria is likely to leave your thirsty. In that country you shake your head to indicate “yes”—a nod indicates “no”. The Arabs are __56__ for their hospitality (好客). At a meal in the Arabic countries, you will find that drinking vessel (器皿) is filled again __57__again as soon as you drain it. The way to __58__ that you have had enough is to take the cup or glass in your hand and give it a little shake from side to side or place your hand over the top.

In Europe it is quite usual to __59__ your legs when sitting talking to someone, even at an important meeting. Doing this when meeting an important person in Thailand, however, could __60__ him or her unhappy. It is considered too informal an attitude __61__ such an occasion. Also when in Thailand you are __62__ supposed to touch the head of an adult – it’s just not done. In Japan, it is quite usual for __63__ to plan evening entertainment for themselves and leave their wives at home. In Europe such attitudes are disappearing.

Customs vary from country to __64__. Visitors may be at a loss as to what to do in a foreign environment. In such circumstances, the rule is: When in Rome, do as Romans do.

The south and east of the Great Lakes is famous for the huge amounts of snow it receives. When the snow starts to fall every year,　people start discussing the phrase “lake-effect snow”.

Lake-effect snow which is influenced by the movement of cold air over the relatively warm water of the Great Lakes often comes in late autumn and early winter. Because of the at least 20 degrees’ difference between the lake water and the overrunning air, it’s easy to form huge amounts of snow.

As the cool air crosses the water of Great Lakes, the lowest levels of the atmosphere begin to warm and pick up moisture. This newly warmed atmosphere is lighter than the cold air above it, so it starts rising. As the changed air continues to climb higher and higher, it finally meets much colder atmosphere which changes the moisture into water drops and ice, forming clouds. After this course repeats a number of times, the clouds become heavier and heavier, and then they are changed into snow and fall down.

The most important point that decides the amount of snowfall is the direction of the wind. If the wind runs perpendicularly（垂直地）across the lake, there won’t be plenty of time for clouds to develop. However, if the wind runs in the opposite direction, clouds will form easily. The longer the cold air travels over the lake, the more moisture it is able to produce, which leads to a greater amount of snow.

The largest amount of the lake-effect snow was found across the U.P. of Michigan, the northwestern Pennsylvania and the far southwestern and northwestern New York, which are all along the south or east of the Great Lakes. It has been over 100 inches of snowfall in a winter season.

1.The level of the snowfall depends on ________.

A．the size of the lake

B．the direction of the wind

C．the temperature of the lake

D．the strength of the wind

2.From the passage, we can learn that ________.

A．clouds are easy to produce with the help of the perpendicular wind

B．cold air always falls down and picks up moisture to form clouds

C．the temperature of the lake water is the same as the overrunning air’s above it

D．the longer journey of the cold atmosphere can make a grater amount of snow

3.The passage is mainly about ________.

A．the influences of the lake-effect snow for local people

B．the weight between moisture and atmosphere

C．how the phrase “lake-effect snow” comes in New York

D．how the lake-effect snow forms around the Great Lakes

五、Cloze test(完形填空)20分
In the last century there were not 　1　 big towns in the U.S.　2　 there are today.Most towns in the country were small.And in these small towns,the general store was 　3　 people 　4  the things they couldn't made or grow at home.
  5  the store sold   6  a good deal about life in the United States at that time.People bought tools that they needed on their farms.They bought salt,sugar,coffee and   7  that their farms didn't produce.They bought articles of   8  that they could not make themselves,and cloth or other materials that the  9  would make into dresses for themselves,shirts for the men and clothes for their children.
Life in the   10  century America was   11 .One proves that most people were satisfied with what they had   12  still they looked forward   13  courage to whatever the future would   14  them.It would be interesting to know   15  they would feel about life in the world today.  16  to them that life is too complex,or would they be glad to see that life is   17  in the past?
Nobody will   18  know the   19  people at that time would enjoy life today or not.Perhaps man is always the same of his kind.They did take things for granted,and also they did try to make life more comfortable.We have to admit that it is the same   20  people at present.
1.A.many            B.so many         C.so much           D.a lot of
2.A.where           B.like              C.what              D.as
3.A.where           B.for               C.in which          D.that
4.A.made                B.bought            C.sold          D.paid for
5.A.That                B.No matter         C.Which         D.What
6.A.says                B.talks             C.refers        D.tells
7.A.other things        B.another food C.other foods        D.foods and drinks
8.A.clothes         B.clothing          C.dresses               D.suits
9.A.farmers         B.men               C.women             D.children
10.A.eighteenth     B.nineteenth            C.twentieth         D.next
11.A.easy           B.simple                C.interesting       D.tiresome
12.A.and which      B.and yet               C.and that          D.but what
13.A.in             B.to                    C.of                D.with
14.A.bring          B.take              C.happen to         D.serve
15.A.what           B.whether           C.that              D.how
16.A.Did it appear  B.Would it seem     C.What did it seem  D.What appeared
17.A.still what it used to be           B.better than what it was
C.much more easier than                 D.no more than it was
18.A.never              B.always        C.once              D.ever
19.A.truth that         B.fact whether C.idea how           D.information of
20.A.as                 B.for               C.with                  D.like