綜合閱讀（一）

A

The famous director of a big and expensive movie planned to film a beautiful sunset over the ocean， so that the audiences could see his hero and heroine in front of it at the end of the film as they said goodbye to each other forever. He sent his camera crew （全體工作人員） out one evening to film the sunset for him.

The next morning he said to the men， “Have you provided me with that sunset？”

“No， sir，” the men answered.

The director was angry. “Why not？” he asked.

“Well， sir，” one of the men answered， “we’re on the east coast here， and the sunset’s in the west. We can get you a sunrise over the sea， if necessary， but not a sunset.”

“But I want a sunset！” the director shouted. “Go to the airport， take the next flight to the west coast， and get one.”

But then a young secretary had an idea. “Why don’t you photograph a sunrise，” she suggested， “and then play it backwards？ Then it’ll look like a sunset.”

“That’s a very good idea！” the director said. Then he turned to the camera crew and said， “Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.”

The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over the beach in the middle of a beautiful bay. Then at nine o’clock they took it to the director. “Here it is， sir，” they said， and gave it to him. He was very pleased.

They all went into the studio. “All right，” the director explained， “now our hero and heroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the ‘sunset’ behind them.”

The “sunset” began， but after a quarter of a minute， the director suddenly put his face in his hands and shouted to the camera crew to stop.

The birds in the film were flying backwards， and the waves on the sea were going away from the beach.

1. One evening， the director sent his camera crew out ___ .

A. to film a scene on the seaB. to find an actor and an actress

C. to watch a beautiful sunsetD. to meet the audience

2. Why did the director want to send his crew to the west coast？

A. Because he changed his mind about getting a sunset.B. Because he was angry with his crew.

C. Because he wanted to get a scene of sunset.D. Because it was his secretary’s suggestion.

3. The director wanted to film a sunset over the ocean because ___ .

A. it went well with the separation of the hero and heroine

B. when they arrived at the beach it was already in the evening

C. it was more moving than a sunrise

D. the ocean looked more beautiful at sunset

4. Which of the following is TRUE？

A. The crew had to follow the heroine’s advice.

B. If you want to see a sunrise， the west coat is the place to go.

C. The camera crew wasn’t able to film the scene the first day.

D. The director ordered his crew to get the “sunset” in the end.

B

Europe is now the biggest market for organic food in the world， having grown by 25 percent a year over the past 10 years. Denmark’s agriculture minister herself is an organic farmer. The UK market for organic food grew by 55 percent in 2006， while the food market as a whole grew by only one percent. Yet only seven percent of British shoppers account for nearly 60 percent of organic sales. However popular the idea of organic farming may be， it is still an interest for only a few people.

So what makes the idea of organic farming popular？ Organic farming means farming with natural materials， rather than with man-made fertilizers or pesticides （農(nóng)藥）. Organic farmers rely on many methods — such as crop rotation （農(nóng)作物的輪作） and the use of resistant varieties， because they are necessary for organic farmers to compensate for the shortage of man-made chemicals.

Organic farming is often supposed to be safer than traditional farming for the environment. Yet after a long research on organic farming worldwide for a number of years， science continues to be against this opinion. The House of Commons committee on agriculture publicized that， even with complete research work， it would fail to find any scientific evidence to prove “that any of claims made for organic farming is always true”.

However， the talk about the benefits of organic farming is going on. This is partly because many people depend on their individual farm， the soil， the weather， and so on.

5. The first paragraph mainly tells us ___ .

A. organic farming has been performed only in Europe over the past 10 years

B. governments of European countries have cared less about organic farming

C. organic farming is far from being as popular as expected

D. European countries need organic food more than the other countries in the world

6. The underlined words “compensate for” in Paragraph 2 probably mean “___”.

A. argue forB. care forC. struggle forD. pay for

7. What can we know about organic farming？

A. It refers to farming with natural materials， instead of chemical fertilizers.

B. It refers to farming with chemical fertilizers rather than natural fertilizers.

C. It refers to farming with soil rather than any other thing.

D. It refers to growing crops with man-made fertilizers and pesticides.

8. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage？

A. The UK’s agriculture minister is an organic farmer.

B. Organic farming is popular with young people.

C. Farmers make use of many different kinds of methods to improve the organic sales system.

D. Ninety-three percent of British shoppers don’t buy organic products.

C

In 2004， NASA’s Opportunity rover （探測器） found evidence in Martian soils that water had once flowed across the surface there， excitedly hopes that the red planet may once have supported original life.

But a new study throws some cold water and a big handful of salt on those hopes.

“Liquid water is required by all species on Earth and we’ve assumed that water is the very least that would be necessary for life on Mars，” said study team member Nicholas J. Tosca， a Harvard University researcher. “However， to really assess Mars we need to consider the properties of its water. Not all of Earth’s waters are able to support life， and the limits of earth life are sharply defined by water’s temperature， acidity and salinity （咸度）.”

Tosca and his team analyzed salt deposits （熔巖） in the 4-billion-year-old Martian rock investigated by Opportunity. The new analysis shows that the water that would have flowed across these ancient Martian rocks may have had a lot of salt.

“Our sense has been that while Mars is a bad environment for supporting life today， long ago it might closely resemble Earth，” said Andrew H. Knoll， also of Harvard and on the study team. “But this result suggests quite strongly that even as long as four billion years ago， the surface of Mars would have been challenging for life. No matter how far back we look into the history of Mars， we may never see a point at which the planet really looked like Earth.”

The research was presented in February at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston.

Halophiles， or organisms that can tolerate high-salinity waters， are known to exist in places on Earth. But they likely changed from organisms that lived in purer waters， scientists think， making it unlikely that life would actually arise first in extremely salty waters.

“The high salinity， however， doesn’t rule out （排除） life forms of a type we’ve never know，” Knoll added， “but life that could originate and stay in such a salty setting would require biochemistry different from any known among even the most strong lives on Earth.”

Knoll and Tosca also say the finding doesn’t rule out the possibility that less salty waters once flowed on the planet. We just tell the world the real information that we have known. Please refer to and analyze it. We hope we can learn more about it in the future.

9. What differs from before is that now we know ___ .

A. there may be no life on MarsB. there may be lives on Mars

C. there may be liquid water on MarsD. there may be no liquid water on Mars

10. According to the passage， what decide the limits of earth life？

A. Only the salinity of the water.B. Only the temperature of the water.

C. Both A and B.D. Water’s temperature， acidity and salinity.

11. According to the latest study， ___ .

A. the life may arise in extremely salty waters

B. if we go back far enough， we know how the Mars looks like the earth

C. the Martian rock investigated by Opportunity may exist about four billion years

D. the result of the latest study will be presented in next year

12. What can be inferred from the passage？

A. There couldn’t be any life on Mars. B. There must have been some lives on Mars.

C. We ever saw some lives living in very salty water. D. There can’t be any lives living in pure water.

D

Not the sexism， but a question： Why are girls so girly？

For the past half-century， feminists （女權(quán)主義者）， their opponents and armies of knowledge have debated the differences between men and women. Only in the past few years have scientists been able to use imaging technology to look inside men’s and women’s heads to survey whether those sexuality differences have roots in the brain. No exact results have appeared from these studies yet， but now a new functional magnetic resonance （核磁共振） imaging （FMRI） study of children offers at least one explanation for some common social behaviors： Girls tend to care about one-on-one relationships with their BFFs （best friends forever）， while the brains of boys tend to have group activities and competitions with other boys.

So what’s actually going on inside these young brains？ Scientists asked 34 healthy kids， aged 8 to 17， to look at pictures of 40 other boys and girls and judge how much they would like to interact with them online. The kids were asked to rate those in the photos on a level from 0 （“not interested at all”） to 100 （“very interested”）. The NIMH scientists told the kids that their ratings would be showed to the boys and girls in the pictures， and the scientists said they would arrange online chats between the kids and those they liked. The chats were supposed to start two weeks later.

On the appointed day， the study volunteers were once again brought into the NIMH lab. This time， researchers monitored the kids’ brain activities by using FMRI while showing them the same pictures. The participants were asked to guess which of the kids in the pictures （the same kids they had rated — and who， they believed， knew those ratings） would like to interact with them.

The results suggest that as girls progress from the early puberty （青春期） to the late stage， certain regions of their brains become more active when they face a potential social interaction. By contrast， boys in the same situation show no such increase in activities in these areas. In fact， the activities in their brains actually decline.

The evidence shows that boys aren’t as interested in one-on-one interactions as girls are. Previous research has shown that male teenagers instead become more focused on competitions within larger groups （like between sports teams）.

The authors of the study are not willing to draw such conclusions about the sexuality differences.

13. We can know from the passage that ___ .

A. there are many exact results in the past years’ study about sexuality differences

B. a new FMRI study of children offers at least one explanation for some common social behavior

C. the new FMRI study shows some differences between old women and men

D. the new FMRI study was carried out by children

14. According to Paragraph 3， the underlined word “rate” may mean “___”.

A. watchB. thinkC. evaluateD. take

15. According to the passage， what people were arranged for the children to chat on line？

A. The people they didn’t like.B. The people they liked.

C. The people they once studied with.D. The researchers.

16. What can we know from the passage？

A. The authors didn’t like the conclusions of the study.B. Nobody liked the conclusions of the study.

C. All people liked the conclusions of the study.D. The authors didn’t draw a conclusion from the study.

E

Living happily for ever needn’t only be for fairy tales. Australian researchers have identified what it takes to keep a couple together， and it’s a lot more than just being in love.

A couple’s ages， previous relationships and even whether they smoke or not are factors that influence whether their marriage is going to last， according to a study by researchers from the Australian National University.

The study， entitled “What’s Love Got to Do with It”， tracked nearly 2，500 couples — married or living together — from 2004 to 2011 to identify factors associated with those who remained together compared with those who divorced （離婚） or separated.

It found that a husband who is nine or more years older than his wife is twice as likely to get divorced as husbands who get married before they turn 25.

Children also influence the longevity （親密度） of a marriage or relationship， with one-fifth of couples who have kids before marriage — either from a previous relationship or in the same relationship — having separated compared to just 9 percent of couples without children born before marriage.

Women who want children much more than their partners are also more likely to get a divorce.

A couple’s parents also have a role to play in their own relationship， with the study showing 16 percent of men and women whose parents ever separated or divorced experienced separation themselves compared to 10 percent for those whose parents did not separate.

Also， partners who are on their second or third marriage are 90 percent more likely to separate than married couples who are both in their first marriage.

Not surprisingly， money also plays a role， with up to 16 percent of respondents who showed they were poor or where the husband — not the wife — was unemployed saying they had separated， compared with only 9 percent of couples with healthy finances.

And couples where one partner， and not the other， smokes are also more likely to have a relationship that ends in failure.

Factors which were found not to significantly affect separation risk included the number and age of children born to a married couple， the wife’s employment rate and the number of years the couple had been employed.

The study was together written by Dr Rebecca Kippen and Professor Bruce Chapman from the Australian National University， and Dr Peng Yu from the Department of Families， Housing， Community Services and Local Affairs.

17. According to the passage， the study “What’s Love Got to Do with It” was written by ___ .

A. Dr Rebecca Kippen

B. The Australian National University

C. Dr Rebecca Kippen and Professor Bruce Chapman

D. Dr Rebecca Kippen， Professor Bruce Chapman and Dr Peng Yu

18. From the passage， how many people did they probably survey？

A. About 2001 couples.B. About 2007 couples.

C. About 2480 couples.D. About 90% of the world couples.

19. According to a study of the Australian National University， the things that influence people’s marriage are ___ .

A. a couple’s parents

B. a couple’s ages and hobbies

C. a couple’s hobbies and relationships

D. a couple’s ages， previous relationships and even whether they smoke or not

20. Which one of the following statements is TRUE？

A. A husband nine or more years older than his wife divorces more easily than one that gets married before 25.

B. The age and number of children and the wife’s employment rate greatly influence a couple.

C. Children can’t influence the longevity of a couple or their relationship.

D. That money also plays a role in a couple’s relationship surprises people.