(四)

A

By LOS ANGELES TIMES

Published on 2002-02-10

Posted on 2002-01-18 10∶59∶54

Nervous uncertainty¹ surrounds the fate(命运) of US journalist Daniel Pearl², with no clear communication from his kidnappers³ (绑匪) and no sign of his where abouts after three separate police searches for his body in the troublesome port city Karachi, Pakistan.

Pearl, a 38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter, disappeared two weeks ago on his way to an interview in Karachi. An email allegedly from his kidnappers contained four photos of him and a variety of demands, including one for the release of Pakistani prisoners being held at the US naval⁴ base in Cuba.

The searches were started last Friday night by an email claiming that Pearl had been killed and his body thrown“in the graveyards⁵ of Karachi.”

Pearl has worked for The Wall Street journal for 12 years and is now their South Asia bureau chief. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey⁶ and graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in communications.

He joined The Wall Street Journal in November 1990, first as a reporter in the Atlanta bureau. In 1993 he moved to the Washington office to cover transportation before beginning a series of overseas postings.

The members of a radical⁷(激进的) Islamic group in Pakistan who admit having kidnapped him say Pearl is a member of the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad. But Pearl's employers have angrily denied(否认) that he is the agent (代理) of any government.

Pearl's French wife, Marianne, is six months pregnant⁸ with their first child.

For the past few weeks the couple have been living in Karachi while Pearl tried to arrange an interview with Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani, head of the small miclitant Islamic group Tanzeem ul-Fuqra.

56.?We can see from the text that .

A?Pearl has been murdered    B?Pearl has escaped from his kidnappers

C?Pearl is in danger           D?Pearl's fate still remains⁹ in question

57?According to the text, Pearl most probably disappeared .

A?on January 24,2002     B? on January 26,2002

C?on January 4,2002      D? on January 11,2002

58?Pearl's disappearance¹⁰ has something to do with .

A?Tanzeem ul-Fuqra            B?a radical Islamic group in Pakistan

C?the US naval base in Cuba    D?the Israeli intelligence service

B

Student participation¹¹(参与) in the classroom is not only accepted but also expected of the student in many courses. Some professors base part of the final grade on the student's oral participation. Although there are formal lectures during which the student has a passive role(i.e., listening and taking notes), many courses are organized around classroom discussions, student questions, and informal lectures. In graduate discussions the professor had a “manager” role and the students make presentations and lead discussions. The students do the actual teaching in these discussions.

A professor's teaching method is another factor (因素) that determines the degree and type of student participation. Some professors prefer to control discussion while others prefer to guide the class without controlling it. Many professors encourage students to question their ideas. Students who object to the professor's point of view should be prepared to prove their positions.

In the teaching of science and mathematics, the controlling mode of instruction is generally traditional, with teachers presenting formal lectures and students taking notes. However, new educational trends have turned up in the humanities¹² and social sciences in the past twenty years. Students in edcuation, society, and history classes, for example, are often required to solve problems in groups, design projects, make pressentations, and examine case studies. Since some college or university courses are“practical” rather than theoretical, they pay more attention to “doing”for themselves.

59?“Participation in the classroom is not only accepted but also expected of the student” in many courses except in .

A?science and mathematics     B?the humanities and social sciences

C?informal lecture courses      D?discussion courses

60?From the passage we know that education in the humanities and society      .

A?has not changed much 

B?pay attention to students' studying instead of teachers' teaching

C?is much more important than that of science and mathematics

D?has become more practical than theoretical

61?The reason why some professors ask students to make presentations and lead discussions is that .

A?these professors are often not well prepared before class

B?these professors want to strees“doing”

C?these professors want to test the students' abilities

D?these professors are not willing to teach theory

62?Which of the following sentences is true according to the passage?

A?Student participation is not common in the classroom in many courses like society.

B?Some professors want to control the classroom discussion.

C?Some professors usually want the students to take part in the teaching of science and mathematics.

D?New educational trends have turned up in teaching of natural sciences such as chemistry.

C

Scientists have tried to come up with biological explanations for the difference between boys and girls.

However, none were believable enough to explain the general picture. As one scientist points out,“There are slight genetic(遗传的) differences between the sexes at birth which may affect the subjects boys and girls choose. But the difficulty is that by the time children reach school age, there are so many other effects that it is almost impossible to tell whether girls are worse at science and maths, or whether they've been brought up to think of these subjects as boys'‘ territory’”.

Statistics(统计数据) show that in mathematics, at least, girls are equal to boys. A recent report suggests that girls only stop studying mathematics becuase of social attitudes. One of the reports' authors says,“While it is socially unacceptable for people not to be able to read and write, it is still acceptable¹³ for women to say that they are ‘hope-less’at maths. Our research shows that, although girls get marks which are as good as the boys', they have not been encouraged to do so.”

The explanation for the difference, which is very clear during the teenage years, goes as far back as early childhood experiences. From their first days in nursery school, girls are not encouraged to work on their own or to complete tasks, although boys are. For example, boys and not girls, are often asked to ‘help’ with repair work. This encouragement leads to a way of learning how to solve problems later on in life. Evidence(证据) shows that exceptional¹⁴ mathematicians¹⁵ and scientists did not have teachers who supplied answers; they had to find out for themselves.

A further report on maths teaching shows that teachers seem to give more attention to boys than to girls.

Most teachers who took part in the study admitted that they expect their male students to do better at mathematics and science subjects than their female students. All of this tends to encourage boys to work harder in these subjects, gives them confidence(信心) and makes them believe that they can succeed.

Interestingly, both boys and girls tend to regard such ‘male’subjects like mathematics and science as difficult. Yet it has been suggested that girls avoid mathematics courses, not because they are difficult, but for social reasons.

Mathematics and science are mainly male subjects, and therefore, as girls become teenagers, they are less likely to take them up. Girls do not seem to want to be in open competition with boys. Neither do they want to do better than boys because they are afraid to appear less female and so, less attractive.

63?The underlined word“territory” in the second paragraph most probably means “   ”.

A?interest   B?area of land  C?special field  D?district

64?According to scientific studies, .

A?maths is not fit for girls to learn  B?boys have a special sense of maths

C?girls are poorer at maths because they are the weaker sex

D?girls can learn maths as well as boys if given enough encouragement

65?Those who made extraordinary contribution in mathematics and science     .

A?usually had good teachers to help them

B?had the abilities to solve problems by themselves

C?usually worked harder than others

D?were encouraged to repair things when young

66?Which of the following is not true according to the text?

A?It seems socially acceptable for a girl not to be able to read and write.

B?It is a social problem rather than a problem of brains that girls are poor at maths

C?Mathematics and science are no easy subjects to either girls or boys.

D?There is no connection between a girl's ability in maths and her appearance.

67?What would be the best title for the text?

A?Who's Afraind of Maths Anyway?

B?Are Boys Cleverer than Girls?

C?Boys Are Better at Maths than Girls by Birth

D?Maths-A Difficult Subject

D

The next time you try for a high-ranking post, you could let your possible boss listen to a recommending(推荐) phone call“made ”by US President George W. Bush or British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Of course, neither of them could really do that for you-you would just“borrow” their voices.

AT&T labs will start selling speech software that it says is so good at reproducing¹⁶ the sounds of a human voice that it can recreate voices and even bring the voices of long-dead famous people back to life.

The software, which turns printed text into speech, makes it possible for a company to use recordings¹⁸ of a person's voice to say things that the person never actually said.

Possible customers for the software, which is priced in the thousands of dollars, include telephone call centres, companies that make software that reads digital(数学的) files aloud, and makers¹⁹ of automated²⁰ voice devices(装置). The advances raise several problems. Who, for example, owns the rights to a famous person's voice?( Some experts even believe that new contracts(合同) will be drawn²¹ that include voice-licensing clauses²².)

And although scientists say the technology is not yet good enough to commit fraud(假冒), would the synthesized(合成的) voices at last be able to trick people into thinking that they were getting phone calls or digital audio recordings from people they know?

Even Mr Fruchterman, one of AT&T lab's possible first customers, said he wondered what the new technology might bring.“Just like you can't trust a photograph any more.”he said,“you won't be able to trust a voice either.”

68?With the help of the speech software, it is most possible .

A?to improve a famous person's speech 

B?to say what you want in another's voice

C?to make a speech much more easily

D?to help you to find a better job

69?If the speech software were widely used, .

A?people would no longer believe each other

B?it would not be necessary to go for a speech by a famous person

C?no radio or TV broadcasters would be needed

D?recording¹⁷ of a voice alone would not be taken as a proof in the court

70?According to the passage, you can infer that .

A?the software will turn out to be an immediate²³ success in the market.

B?the government will forbid the sale of the software in the market.

C?it's hard to decide whether the software will enjoy popularity²⁴.

D?the software will soon prove to be nothing but rubbish.

71?The passage mainly wants to .

A?introduce a new software

B?explain the disadvantage of a new invention

C?advertise a new kind of product

D?describe the future market of a new product

E

Although they may not die from lack of love, adults also need a great amount of affection(友情) and companionship. In the past, many people spent their entire lives in the communities in which they were born and raised. Many more people continued to live with their parents, brothers and sisters after they were married and had children of their own. By remaining in familiar communities with relatives nearby, families had enough opportunities for friendly contact and for support in time of trouble.

Recent studies suggest that family arrangements in Western societies have not changed as much in the last few centuries as is generally believed. Yet most sociologists agree that in modern societies, there are fewer opportunities for friendship and support from relatives outside the immediate family. Parents and children often live apart from other relatives, and seldom visit them. Also, the family moves when a parent accepts a job in another place or when it decides to live in a better neighborhood. Together, loneliness and mobility(迁移) force immediate family members to depend heavily on one another for affection and companionship.

Because the family is one of the few ongoing²⁵ sources of affection and companionship in modern societies, a high percentage of people continue to marry, even though it is possible for a single man and woman to live together without marrying. On the other hand, because affection and companionship have become so important, families are more likely to break up if the husband's or wife's emotional(情感的) needs are not met within the family circle-even if all other family functions (功能) are being satisfactorily performed, and in this sense, affection and companionship have become the touchstone of the modern family.

72?It is generally believed that .

A?many people spend their lives in familiar communities

B?a person can easily get in touch with relatives in times of difficulty

C?the organization of the family has changed a great deal

D?western societies have not changed much in the past few years

73?Sociological²⁶ studies show that .

A?the more the family moves, the less support it gets from its distant relatives

B?parents and children live together to make up for the lack of relatives outside the family

C?family arrangements have changed and so there is little need for companion of relatives

D?family members are separated from each other because of lack of support from relatives

74?The word“touchstone”in the last paragraph may be replaced by .

A?result B?trouble C?function D?standard

75?In the last paragraph, the writer mainly wants to say .

A?affection and companionship are important for the family and they can be gained from nowhere but the family

B?affection and companionship can come from the family and at the same time safeguard²⁷ the family

C?there are few ways to gain affection and companionship but the best way to get them is from the family

D?in modern societies a lot of families break up and it's just for a lack of affection and companionship

56. D 57. C 58. B 59. C 60. D 61. C 62. B 63. B 64. D 65. A 66. A 67. B 68. B 69. B 70. A 71. D 72. C 73. B 74. C 75. C

上一篇：高一年英语阅读理解练习（三） 下一篇：高一年英语阅读理解练习（五）