第三部分：阅读理解（共两节，40分）

第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，共30分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

 A

Summer Rain

       The worst days of any summer are the rainy ones. We spend all year looking forward to nice weather and long, hot days. All of winter, with its cloudy days and bitter cold, we dream of those endless days at the beach, lying on the sand and enjoying the bright and burning sun. And then, summer comes, and it rains.

       As a child, I would wake up to rainy summer days and come close to crying. It wasn’t fair. We suffered through months of school and experienced bad weather for those short ten weeks of freedom and pleasant weather.

       On those rainy summer days, I had nothing fun to do and could only sit inside, staring out at the rain like a bird in a cage. I was an only child, so there was no one else to play with. My father worked from home, so I was not truly alone, but he could not actively play with me since he was at work. It was those days that I would watch whatever was on television or read any books that I could find lying around. I’d drag through the day and pray each night that the rain would not be there the next day.

       As an adult, though, my opinion of summer rain has changed. When you have to work every day, summer is not as exciting. Everything seems dull. Such a mindset makes you cheer for anything new or different. I spend the winter dreaming of summer and the summer dreaming of winter. When summer comes, I hate how hot it is. And then I look forward to the rain, because the rain brings with it a cold front, which makes me comfortable. Rainy days are still the worst days of the summer, but summer rain today means positively beautiful—and considerably cooler—weather tomorrow.

56. When the author was a child, he ______.

A. hated rainy days                                             B. liked staying indoors

C. preferred cooler weather                             D. dreamed on summer days

57. We can learn from the passage that the author ______.

A. had no brothers or sisters                                  B. was often left alone at home

C. could enjoy the brilliant sun in winter                D. preferred reading to playing outside

58. As an adult, the author views summer rain differently because ______.

A. he knows it won’t last long

B. rain makes the weather cooler

C. his summer holiday is very short

D. he can better deal with his downtime

B

The Truth Can Set You Free

       I recently got pulled over for speeding not far from my new home in Virginia. I hadn’t been paying attention, and I had driven a few miles an hour over the speed limit.

       “Can I see your license and registration?” the police officer asked me. I pulled both out for him, and he saw my Pittsburgh address on my Pennsylvania driver’s license.

       “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Are you with the army?”

       “No, I’m not.” I answered. I explained that I had just moved to Virginia, and I hadn’t had time to re-register yet.

       “So what brings you here?”

       He had asked a direct question. Without thinking very hard, I gave him a direct answer. “Well, officer,” I said, “since you’ve asked, I have cancer. I have just months to live. We’ve moved down here to be close to my wife’s family.”

       “So you’ve got cancer,” he said flatly. He was trying to figure me out. Was I really dying? Was I lying? He took a long look at me. “You know, for a guy who has only a few months to live, you sure look good.”

       He was obviously thinking: “Either this guy is pulling one big fat line on me, or he’s telling the truth.” He was trying to question my honesty without directly calling me a liar. And so he had forced me to prove that I was being honest.

       “Well, officer, I know that I look pretty healthy. I look great on the outside, but the tumors（肿瘤）are on the inside.” And then, I don’t know what possessed me, but I just did it. I pulled up my shirt, showing the operational scars.

       He looked at my scars. He looked in my eyes. He now knew he was talking to a dying man. Well, he wasn’t taking this any further. He handed me back my license. “Do me a favor.” he said, “Slow down from now on.”

       The awful truth had set me free. As he went back to his police car, I had a realization. I had been one of those gorgeous blondes (金发美女) who could bat her eyelashes and get out of tickets. I drove home under the speed limit, and I was smiling like a beauty queen.

59. The author was stopped by the police officer because ______.

   A. he didn’t have a license                                   B. he forgot to re-register

   C. he was seriously ill                                          D. he drove too fast

60. The author moved to Virginia probably because ______.

   A. he was homesick                                             B. he served in the army there

   C. Virginia had better hospitals                              D. his family could be better cared for

61. On hearing about the author’s cancer, the police officer ______.

   A. said it was an excuse                                       B. doubted his honesty

C. showed sympathy for him                                 D. asked him to show his scars

62. It can be inferred from the passage that the author was ______.

A. optimistic                   B. adventurous        C. dishonest                  D. romantic

C

A bargain is something offered at a low and advantageous price. A more recent definition is: a bargain is a dirty trick to force money out of the pockets of silly and innocent people.

       The cost of producing a new - for example - toothpaste would make 80p the proper price for it, so we will market it at ￡1.20. It is not a bad toothpaste, and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with; but the attraction of novelty soon fades, so sales will fall. When that happens we will reduce the price to ￡1.15. And we will turn it into a bargain by printing 5p OFF all over it.

       Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but 1p OFF. What breathtaking rudeness to advertise 1p OFF your soap or washing powder or whatever! Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as an insult(侮辱), but he doesn’t. A bargain must not be missed. People say one has to have washing powder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper.

The real danger starts when unnecessary things become ‘bargains’. Many people just cannot resist bargains. Provided they think they are getting a bargain they will buy clothes they will never wear or furniture they have no space for. Once I heard of a man who bought an electric saw as a bargain and cut off two of his fingers the next day. But he had no regrets: the saw had been truly cheap.

       Quite a few people actually believe that they make money on such bargains. A lady once told me: “I’ve had a lucky day today. I bought a dress for ￡120, reduced from ￡400; and I bought a beautiful Persian carpet for ￡600, reduced from ￡900.” It will never occur to her that she has actually wasted ￡720. She feels as though she had made ￡580. She also feels, I am sure, that if she had more time for shopping, she could make a living out of it.

       Some people buy in large quantities because it is cheaper. Once a couple bought enough sugar for their lifetime and the lifetime of their children and grandchildren. They thought it a bargain not to be missed. When the sugar arrived they didn’t know where to store it – until they realized that their toilet was a very spacious one. So that was where they piled up their sugar. Not only did their guests feel rather strange whenever they were offered sugar to put into their coffee, but the toilet became extremely sticky.

       To offer bargains is a commercial trick to make the poor poorer. When greedy fools fall for this trick, it serves them right.

63. Which word best describes the language style of the passage?

   A. Polite.                      B. Foolish.                   C. Humorous.               D. Serious.

64. What does the underlined word “novelty” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

   A. Good quality.              B. Low price.                C. Newness.                  D. Curiosity.

65. How does the author feel about 1p OFF a product?

   A. It’s a gift for poor people.                                

B. It’s an offense to shoppers.

   C. It’s a bargain worth trying.                              

D. It’s a real reduction in price.

66. Which statement will the author probably agree with?

   A. Bargains are things people don’t really need.

   B. Bargains are often real cheap products.

   C. Bargains help people make a living.

   D. Bargains play tricks on people.