Botany, the study of plants, occupies a special position in the history of human knowledge. For many thousands of years it was the one field of awareness about which humans had anything more than the vaguest (含糊的) of insight. It is impossible to know today just what our Stone Age ancestors knew about plants, but from what we can observe of pre-industrial societies that still exist, a detailed learning of plants and their properties must extremely ancient. This is logical. Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things, even for other plants. They have always been enormously important to the welfare of peoples, not only for food, but also for clothing, weapons, tools, eyes, medicines, shelter, and a great many other purposes. Tribes living today in the jungles of the Amazon recognized accurately hundreds of plants and know many properties of each. To them, botany, as such, has no name and is probably not even recognized as a special branch of knowledge at all.

Unfortunately, the more industrialized we become the farther away we move from direct contact with plants, and the less distinct our knowledge of botany grows. Yet everyone comes unconsciously on an amazing amount of botanical knowledge, and few people will fail to recognize a rose, an apple, or an orchid. When our Neolithic ancestors, living in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, discovered that certain grasses could be harvested and their seeds planted for richer productions the next season, the first great step in a new association of plants and humans was taken. Grains were discovered and from them flowed the wonder of agriculture; cultivated crops. From then on, humans would increasingly take their living from the controlled production of a few plants, rather than getting a little here and a little there from many varieties that grew wild and the built up knowledge of tens of thousands of years of experience and close relationship with plants in the wild would begin fade away.

1. Which of the following statements about early humans is expressed in the passage?

A. They probably had extensive knowledge of plants.    

B. They thought there was no need to cultivate crops.     

C. They did not enjoy the study of botany.      

D. They placed great importance on the ownership of property.

2. What does the comment “This is logical.” In the first paragraph mean?

A. There is no clear way to determine the extent of our ancestor’s knowledge of plants.           

B. It is not surprising that early humans had a detailed knowledge of plants.

C. It is reasonable to assume that our ancestors behaved very much like people in pre-industrial societies.       

D. Human knowledge of plants is well organized and very detailed.

3. According to the passage, why has general knowledge of botany begun to fade?

A. People no longer value plants as a useful resource.       

B. Botany is not recognized as a special branch of science.

C. Research is unable to keep up with the increasing numbers of plants.

D. Direct contact with a variety of plants has decreased.

4. In the second paragraph, what is the author’s purpose in mentioning “ a rose, an apple, or an orchid”?

A. To make the passage more poetic.

B. To give an example of plant that are attractive.

C. To give botanical examples that all readers will recognize.

D. To explain the variety of botanical life.

5. According to the passage, what was the first great step toward the practice of agriculture?

A. The invention of agricultural tools and machinery.       

B. The development of a system of names for plants.

C. The discovery of grasses that could be harvested and replanted.         

D. The changing diets of early humans.   

 

What time is it? Most people are pretty accurate in their answer. And if you don’t know for sure, it’s a very likely that you can find out. There may be a watch on your wrist, there may be a clock on the wall, desk, or computer screen; or maybe you’re riding in a car that has a clock in the dashboard (仪表板).

Even if you don’t have a timepiece of some sort nearby, your body keeps its own beat. Humans have an internal clock that regulates (调节) the beating of our heart, the pace of our breathing, the discharge (排出) of chemicals within our bloodstream, and many other bodily functions.

Time is something from which we can’t escape. Even if we ignore it, it’s still going by, ticking away, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. So the main issue in using your time well is, “Who’s in charge?” We can allow time to slip by and let it be our enemy. Or we can take control of it and make it our ally.

By taking control of how you spend your time, you’ll increase your chances of becoming a more successful student. Perhaps more importantly, the better you are at managing the time you devote to your studies, the more time you’ll have to spend on your outside interests.

The aim of time management is not to schedule every moment so we become slaves of a timetable that governs every waking moment of the day. Instead, the aim is to make informed choices as to how we use our time. Rather than letting the day go by, largely without our awareness, what we are going to discuss next can make us better able to control time for our own purposes.

1.The underlined word “ally” in Para. 3 more likely means somebody or something that is _________.

A．your slave and serves you	B．your supporter and helps you
C．under your control and obeys you	D．under your influence and follows you

2.The author intends to tell us that time _____________.

A．could be regulated by a timepiece such as a clock or a watch

B．could be managed by the internal clock of human bodies

C．should be well managed for our own interest

D．should be saved for outside interests

3.In the next part, the author would most probably discuss with you ________.

A．how to keep up with the times	B．how to make up for lost time
C．how to have a good time	D．how to make good use of time

 

Owning a smartphone may not be as smart as you think. They may let you surf the Internet, listen to music and take photos wherever you are, but they also turn you into a workaholic（工作狂）.
A study suggests that, by giving you access to emails at all times, the smartphone adds as much as two hours to your working day. Researchers found that Britons work an additional 460 hours a year on average as they are able to respond to emails on their mobiles. The study shows the average UK working day is between 9 and 10 hours, but a further 2 hours is spent responding to or sending work emails, or making work calls.
Almost one in ten admits spending up to three hours outside their normal working day checking work emails. Some workers say they are on call almost 24 hours a day. Nearly two-thirds say they often check work emails just before they go to bed and as soon as they wake up, while over a third have replied to one in the middle of the night. The average time for first checking emails is between 6 am and 7 am, with more than a third checking their first email in this period, and a quarter checking them between 11pm and midnight.
Ghadi Hobeika, marketing director of Pixmania, said: “The ability to access millions of applications has made smartphones invaluable for many people. However, there are disadvantages. Many companies expect their employees to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and smartphones mean that people cannot get away from work. The more constantly in touch we become, the more is expected of us in work . ”
【小题1】With a smartphone the average UK working day is _______.

A．2 hours

B．9 to 10 hours

C．11 to 12 hours

D．24 hours

【小题2】It could be inferred from the text that the British people _______.

A．prefer to check emails in the morning

B．are crazy about different smartphones

C．shorten their normal working hours

D．work extra hours with smartphones

【小题3】What does Ghadi Hobeika feel about smartphones?

A．They are unimportant for most of people.

B．They have disadvantages for some companies.

C．They make it impossible for people to rest.

D．They are useful to improve a work ability.

【小题4】Where can we most probably read this text?

A．In a science fiction.	B．In a newspaper.
C．In a travel magazine.	D．In a storybook.

III. Reading Comprehension (35分)

Section A

Directions: For each blank in the following passage, 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.

Billions of people across the world use cell phones. Though cell phones can be wonderful, liberating tools of   50  , freeing us from the confines (界限) of an office and providing more leisure time, they often do the exact   51  . Cell phone use has   52   the line between work and non-work time, increasing stress and tension within families and between friends. As Eric Slate, author of Technoslave commented in his essay: "It seems the more '  53  ' we are, the more detached (不相连的) we become."

There is a risk of being too connected. While I was hiking in Spain, I got   54   a few times. I saw new sights and was surprised by   55   landscapes and towns I wouldn't have otherwise come across. Back in the US, whenever I got lost, I would always call a friend for   56   on my cell phone. With a cell phone, you're less   57   to go down the wrong street and see new things or unexpectedly meet new people.

So, when I recently returned home to Burlington, Vermont, I   58   my cell phone and traded in an old, rusty bike for a regular landline telephone that was connected to the wall and everything. Now, I go outside and don't make a phone call or check my phone.   59  , I've seen things in my neighbourhood I   60  noticed before, like a big flower garden around the block and artwork and sculptures down the road. Now that I'm not __61___ my cell phone, I've met new people on the street and at the supermarket, started   62   with neighbours I haven't spoken with before and talk with my friends face-to-face instead of over the phone. .

Instead of   63   me from the world, getting rid of my cell phone has helped me become more in touch with my community. I am no longer a   64   of my cell phone.

50. A. information                B. communication         C. learning                   D. exchange

51. A. opposite                     B. same                        C. wrong                      D. right

52. A. misused                            B. limited                     C. troubled                  D. confused

53. A. affected                            B. separated                  C. connected                 D. satisfied

54. A. exhausted                  B. disappointed             C. lost                          D. attracted

55. A. inaccessible             B. unexpected               C. familiar                    D. similar

56. A. attention                   B. destination                C. direction                  D. action

57. A. eager                         B. likely                       C. willing                     D. interested

58. A. made use of               B. hung up                   C. got rid of                 D. got hold of

59. A. Therefore                   B. However                  C. Besides                    D. Instead

60. A. once                          B. often                        C. never                       D. ever

61. A. happy with          B. crazy about        C. glue to            D. aware of

62. A . interviews             B. arguments         C. visits                     D. conversations

63. A. isolating                    B. saving                      C. protecting                 D. removing

64. A. fan                                   B. master                      C. friend                      D. slave

 

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选项。

Speaking in public is most people’s least favorite thing. The reason is that we are all afraid of making fool of ourselves.     .

       But stop biting your finger-nails. Public speaking is easy. It’s just plain talking, and you talk all the time. Although I’m basically shy (honest!). I’ve been making speeches and talking on radio and television for more than 30 years. And I can tell you that public speaking is not a “gift” like musical talent , so     .Here are some of the lessons I have learned:

       Your audience is going to go away with one or two of your main ideas．One or two．Not ten or twenty．   ．And if you don't have a clear idea of what you want to say, there's no way your audience will．    —how you are going to open, what major points you want to make and how you're going to close．

       When I do a radio or TV piece, I often write the last sentence first．    ．A strong close is critical; the last thing you say is what your audience will most likely remember．

       The standard length of a audio-visual act is usually 12 minutes．If all those performers singing and dancing their hearts out couldn't go on longer without boring the audience, what makes you think you can?

A. Some people are born to be good at making speech

B. Anybody who can talk can speak in public

C. Try to relax yourself before making the speech

D. The more important the speech is, the more frightened we become

E. If you can't express in a sentence or two what you intend to get across, then your speech

is not focused well enough.

F. When you know where you're heading, you can choose any route to get there

G. No matter how long or short your speech is, you've got to get your ideas organized.