第三部分：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

　　请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该项涂黑。

A

   On this fine winter day, when much of the country is freezing, I know I shouldn’t complain. I live in the Mojave Desert on a hill overlooking Las Vegas, so I can sit outside, feel the sun on my face and not feel cold. But I’m just going to say it: I am tired of winter. Around this time of year, I always look forward to spring.

    I blame my grandmother. Growing up, I spent most spring breaks with her on her farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Once, when I was 8 or so, I said: “Why do they call it spring break? It still feels like winter.”    

　　She studied me for a minute, and then said: “Spring is where you find it. Let’s go take a look.” Then we each took a walking stick and with that we were off.   

　　You could not outwalk my grandmother. The woman was never tired. We followed a dusty trail, zigzagging (曲折前进) up the mountain from the farm to the top of a hill. Finally, she stopped. “There,” she said. “There’s your spring.” She pointed to a tree covered in pink blooms that looked like little puffs (蓬松的一团) of cotton candy on sticks.

　　I wish you could’ve seen it.

　　“It’s a dogwood (山茱萸),” she said. “It blooms every year whether we’re around to see it or not. It’s a promise. You can count on it.”

　　That tree became a ritual (例行习惯), a promise I counted on. Every spring we went looking for it and every time we found it in all its glory. When I grew up and moved away, I carried the memory of that tree and its promise with me from the mountains of North Carolina, to the coast of California, to a hill overlooking Las Vegas.

　　My grandmother has been gone for years. Her farm was sold and the hill above it became a subdivision (供出卖的小块土地). I don’t know if the dogwood survived. But it still blooms, without fail, in my memory.

　　Sometimes, in the dead of winter, it helps to remember the promise I learned as a child.

　　Life persists in spite of us. The Earth is reborn every spring, every day, and every moment. When we least expect it, trees bloom on mountains in our memories. It’s a promise.

56. Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?

A. The author’s grandmother got tired quickly.

B. The author’s grandmother and the dogwood both died years ago.

C. The place the author lives in is colder than other places in the country.

D. The dogwood is a sign of spring and it lived on in the author’s memory for years.

57. When the author complained that it was still too cold during spring break, her grandmother ______.

A. suggested that she enjoy the beauty of winter     

B. took her to climb the hill to get warmer

C. showed her that spring actually had come already  

D. convinced her that spring would come soon

58. The main purpose of the article is to ________.

A. show the importance of promises

B. explain why dogwoods have a special meaning for the author

C. share the author’s memories of her happy childhood with her grandmother

D. argue that life keeps on going, and thus we should be patient when things seem dark or sad

B

　　Our magazine is presenting to you the top five i-phone(the best seller of Apple Company) applications for more fun on hiking or camping trips recommended by our A-list field hikers and travelers.

1. GPS Kit by Garafa – Get un-lost (for $10)

　　What it does: Download before you leave or use your phone’s data connection to view maps from Google (satellite, landscape, cycling, and street), or Bing (shaded relief, street, or image). Record your movements, drop notes or photo makers on previously–downloaded Google Earth.

2. Photosynth by Microsoft – Perfect the view (for free!)

　　What it does: Make interactive 360˚x 360˚ panoramas（全景）to your own taste. It saves the panorama as a single image to your camera roll after combining images. Once you get to know how to hold the iPhone and move to take the photos, you can have pretty simple, fast panoramas!

3. Soundcloud by Soundcloud – Share the sounds (for free!)

　　What it does: Basic sound recorder with on-board editing (cutting) capabilities. Upload your recordings to the Internet, share on social networks and listen to and follow others! It allows for super-simple recording and uploading to the internet. You can upload all the sounds as ‘non-shared’ files, so you can download them to your computer for continued storage and editing. In addition, with this function, you will never fear your dirty laundries are to put you to shame. There is a growing community of users, including Paul Salopek who is walking around the world.

4. Postagram by Sincerely – Send moments (App is free!/$1 per card)

　　What it does: The app allows personalized production of e-postcards right from your iPhone.  Even photos pop out from the card for sweet fridge posting! There aren’t many post offices out in the mountains, so this can be critical to send a gift home. And even if there are post offices where you are traveling, sometimes it’s easier, cheaper, and more fun to send your own DIY messages home.

5. Planets by Q Continuum – Love the night sky (for free!)

　　What it does: With automatic location detection, this basic App offers 2D maps and 3D maps of the sky for identifying planets and stars, gives you the rise/set visibility information for the sun and planets, and even has a few facts and visualizations of the moon and planets. Don’t forget to download it into your i-phone.

59. Through which application can you receive greetings from a faraway place instantly?

　　A. GPS Kit B. Photosynth C. Postagram D. Planets

60. Soundcloud protects your privacy by ________.

　　A. uploading your recordings to the internet through password

　　B. allowing you for continuous editing and storage as you like

　　C. providing option to upload sounds accessible to only yourself

　　D. defending you through dirty laundries shared online

61. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

　　A. You don’t have to upload data online to make use of GPS Kit.

　　B. E-postcards are free of charge once you have downloaded Postagram.

　　C. Paul Salopek is the person who first put forward the idea of soundcloud.

　　D. All five applications are already available in the i-phone when you buy the phone.

62. Which of the websites does this passage most probably appear?

　　A. National Geographic. B. Homemade Groceries.

　　C. World Weatherlink. D. Space Exploration.
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