The economy of the United States after 1952 was the economy of a well-fed, almost fully employed people. Despite occasional alarms, the country escaped any postwar depression and lived in a state of boom. An economic survey of the year 1955, a typical year of the 1950’s, may be typical as illustrating the rapid economic growth of the decade. The national output was value at 10 percent above that of 1954 (1955 output was estimated at 392 billion dollars). The production of manufacturers was about 40 percent more than it had averaged in the years immediately following World War 2. The country’s business spent about 30billion dollars for new factories and machinery. National income available for spending was almost a third greater than it had been it had been in 1950. Consumers spent about 256 billion dollars; that is about 700 million dollars a day or about twenty-five million dollars every hour, all round the clock. Sixty-five million people held jobs and only a little more than two million wanted jobs but could not find them.
Only agriculture complained that it was not sharing in the room. To some observers this was an ominous echo of the mid 1920’s. As farmer’s share of their products declined, marketing costs rose. But there were, among the observers of the national economy, a few who were not as confident as the majority. Those few seemed to fear that the boom could not last and would eventually lead to the opposite-depression.
72. What is the best title of the passage?
A) The Agricultural Trends of 1950’s
B) The Unemployment Rate of 1950’s
C) U.S. Economy in the 50’s
D) The Federal Budget of 1952
73. In Line 4, the word “boom” could best be replaced by______.
A) nearby explosion
B) thunderous noise
C) general public support
D) rapid economic growth
74. Which of the following were LEAST satisfied with the national economy in the 1950’s?
A) Economists
B) Framers
C) Politicians
D) Steelworkers
75. The passage states that income available for spending in the U.S. was greater in 1955 than in 1950. How much was it?
A) 60％
B) 50％
C) 33％
D) 90％

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.
They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.
Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”
(392 words)
【小题1】The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.

A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.

“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.

They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.

While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.

Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”

(392 words)

1.The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.

A．they had no model in their mind

B．they did not have sufficient time

C．they had no ready-made components

D．they could not assemble the components

2.It can be inferred from paragraphs 3 and 4 that the robotic fly __________.

A．consists of a flight device and a control system

B．can just fly in limited areas at the present time

C．can collect information from many sources

D．has been put into wide application

3.Which of the following can be learned from the passage?

A．The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects.

B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments.

C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly.

D．Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments.

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

A．Father of Robotic Fly

B．Inspiration from Engineering Science

C．Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect

D．Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study

第三部分 阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Jordan Makes Basketball Hall of Fame
Last Monday, the former Chicago Bulls great was elected to the 2009 Basketball Hall of Fame class, adding another honor to his long list of accomplishments. With incredible acrobatic (特技的) moves and slam dunks(灌篮), Jordan was a 14-time NBA All-Star, a five-time NBA finals Most Valuable Player and the key figure on the 1992 US Olympic gold medal “Dream” Team.
Jordan retired twice during his 15-year career, and finished with 32,392 points, the third-highest total in NBA history behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. His career average of 30.12 points per game is the best in the league’s history.
Although his career boasts(拥有)many glories, Jordan said entering the hall was what he never imagined. “I don’t like being up here for the Hall of Fame, because at that time, your basketball career is completely over.” Jordan said during a news conference. “I was hoping this day was coming in 20 more years, or that I’d actually go in when I’m dead and done.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, as Jordan accepted a Hall of Fame Jersey(运动衣), he turned to his former competitors David Robinson and John Stockton, who were also among the class of 2009, and threatened another comeback.
“Every time I see these guys, I want to put my shorts on,” said Jordan, 46, whose age has decreased everything but his desire.
His father once said that passion was what made his son special. From the moment he started playing games, Michael had to win. Once, Jordan traveled everywhere and anywhere to feed that competitive urge.
“He doesn’t have a gambling problem.” His father said, “What he does have is a competition problem. He was born with that. The person he tries to outdo(超过)most of the time is himself.”
56．This passage is mainly about__________.
A．everything Jordan has achieved in his life
B．the contribution Jordan has made to basketball
C．how Jordan grew to be a popular basketball player
D．why Jordan deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and his reaction
57．From what Jordan said during the news conference, we know that he_______.
A．dislikes the honor because it makes him feel old
B．hates the new honor because it’s not worth much
C．thinks the honor has been given to him too early
D．is planning a comeback to show his basketball career is not over
58．Paragraphs 1 and 2 are written to__________.
A．analyze what basketball skills Jordan is famous for
B．show how popular Jordan used to be in America
C．introduce what contributions Jordan made to Chicago Bulls
D．explain why Jordan is considered a great basketball player
59．What can we conclude from the passage?
A．Michael Jordan’s continuous efforts to outdo himself made him great.
B．Michael Jordan thinks playing basketball is like gambling.
C．Michael Jordan has gradually lost his desire to play, as he has grown older.
D．However great a player is, there is an end to his best time.

Snow-melting Agent

A heavy snow can kill pests and this means a good harvest next year.This will bring as well as trouble to urbanites.

On Nov.16,2003,a cold air current brought a heavy snow to Beijing.To prevent traffic jams,related government departments mobilized people to clear off snow on streets.

One of the most effective ways to clear off snow on roads is to scatter snow-melting agent on the roads.The major component of the snow-melting agent is salt.The snow-melting agent can make snow stop from freezing,make it easier to clear off the road,and allow traffic to flow smoothly.But it also brings about some hidden dangers.In the spring of 2003,over 300 000 trees in Beijing urban districts died.After analyzing soil around these trees,experts discovered that the salt content of these soils was 392 times higher than normal.Where did the excessive salt come from?After investigating,forestry experts found that when clearing snow in the winter,people usually heap snow containing snow-melting agent at trees’ roots,and that when the snow melts,this agent penetrates the soil and increases its salt content.The snow-melting agent indirectly killed the trees.

Statistics show that during a heavy snow in 2002,over 1000 tons of snow-melting agent was scatterred on streets in Beijing.Snow water containing a large amount of snow-melting agent got into the soil through sewers.

In addition,salt in the snow-melting agent can expedite the corrosion of steel bars in concrete buildings and cause the concrete to crack and peel,shortening the life of roads.

Scientists and government officials are required to solve traffic problems caused by heavy snows as soon as possible and at the same time try to reduce the negative effects of the snow-melting agent.This is a difficult problem placed before them.Related authorities have framed some local criteria to regulate the production and use of snow-melting agents.

Now,more harmless snow-melting agents are being developed.Now that even snow-melting agents that meet today’s criteria must still be used carefully,we have to rely more on our manpower and machines to clear off snow.

This year,in addition to using snow-melting agents,Beijing will use a large number of snow vehicles to clear snow on roads.In more places,citizens are mobilized to clear snow with their hands.This may be a test of a city’s civilization level.

Salt is a snow-melting agent while _________ is a cleaning agent.

A.water                 B.soap     C.a washing-machine     D.a housewife

The third paragraph of the text is mainly about _______.

A.the side effect of snow-melting agent

B.a case of damage to trees caused by snow-melting agent

C.the results of using snow-melting agent

D.the uses of snow-melting agent

According to the text,the most practical way to clear off snow is to _________.

A.use snow-melting agent as much as possible

B.only use more harmless snow-melting agent

C.encourage people to clear snow with their hands

D.use more snow vehicles

This text most probably appears in_________.

A.a newspaper                                                        B.a magazine on latest findings

C.a book on salt                                               D.a magazine on environmental protection