閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從16－35各題所給的A. B. C. D四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)。

Roberta appeared on the stage. She took a deep breath and began to ___16___. Now she was Portia, a strong–willed ___17___ in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The theater was filled with people. She was speaking with a power she had never before experienced, the words flowing ___18___ form her.

___19___, Roberta had never acted in her life before the audition (選拔試演). She ___20___ being in front of other people. She was very ___21___ at school. She had never thought she was good enough at anything to ___22___ much attention. She stayed mostly to herself, making ___23___ friends. She had excellent grades, ___24___ she always thought that something was missing.

Two weeks before the audition, Robertsa’s mother had heard about it and ___25___ her to join in.

“I can’t think of anyone else better suited to ___26___ the part. Remember all the plays you used to act our for us?”

Her mother wouldn’t let the ___27___ drop. “You’re just a little scared (害怕). Everyone gets scared. You know you ___28___ do it. The trick is to look past the ___29___ to find the love of what you’re doing.”

So Roberta had made an appointment (預(yù)約) with the head of the Drama Club. She had read the play and found herself excited by the ___30___ of speaking such rich words. In secret she practiced Portia’s part, ___31___ the lines by repeating them over and over. It wasn’t hard; she ___32___ every minute of it. Every time she spoke the words, she had a new ___33___ of the lines, as if Shakespeare had written Portia on many levels.

On the day of the audition, she ___34___ two of Portia’s famous speeches for the auditors. When she had finished, the head of the Drama Club announced the ___35___ was hers.

A. sing            B. dance               C. speak                D. report

A. member      B. actress              C. player               D. character

A. weakly        B. rapidly             C. smoothly           D. slowly

A. At first        B. In fact              C. After all            D. In all

A. hated           B. enjoyed            C. appreciated        D. regretted

A. honest         B. shy                   C. polite                D. patient

A. avoid           B. focus                C. pay                   D. attract

A. few              B. a few               C. several              D. many

A. or                B. so                     C. for                   D. but

A. forced         B. requested         C. encouraged      D. reminded

A. accept         B. play                 C. offer                 D. learn

A. role             B. matter              C. interest             D. grade

A. can             B. must                 C. may                  D. should

A. anger          B. pain                  C. sadness             D. fear

A. purpose       B. way                  C. idea                  D. importance

A. memorizing B. organizing         C. checking           D. improving

A. disliked        B. loved                C. expected           D. bore

A. consideration B. description       C. selection           D. understanding

A. practiced     B. planned             C. performed         D. delivered

A. part             B. play                   C. speech              D. position

If you look for a book as a present for a child, you will be spoiled for choice even in a year when there is no new Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling’s wizard is not alone: the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books, which has set off a large quantity of films and in turn led to increased sales of classics such as The Lord of the Rings.

Yet despite that, reading is increasingly unpopular among children. According to statistics, in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading at all. In 2003, 35% did. And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.

Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability of computer games. Maybe the books boom has affected only the top of the educational pile. Either way, Chancellor Gordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class. In his pre-budget report, he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.

Reading Recovery is aimed at six-year-olds, who receive four months of individual daily half- hour classes with a specially trained teacher. An evaluation earlier this year reported that children on the scheme made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress, and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.

International research tends to find that when British children leave primary school they read well, but read less – often for fun than those elsewhere. Reading for fun matters because children who are keen on reading can expect lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator of future educational success. According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage.

Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?

A. Many children’s books have been adapted from films.

B. Many high-quality children’s books have been published.

C. The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films.

D. The sales of presents for children have increased.

Statistics suggested that ___.

A. the number of top students increased with the use of computers.

B. a decreasing number of children showed interest in reading.

C. a minority of primary school children read properly.

D. a large percentage of children read regularly.

What do we know about Reading Recovery?

A. An education of it will be made sometime this year.

B. Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking.

C. It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading.

D. Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading.

Reading for fun is important because book-loving children ____.

A. takes greater advantage of the project.

B. shows the potential to enjoy a long life.

C. is likely to succeed in their education.

D. would make excellent future researchers.

The aim of this text would probably be ____.

A. to overcome primary school pupils’ reading difficulty.

B. to encourage the publication of more children’s books.

C. to remind children of the importance of reading for fun.

D. to introduce a way to improve early childhood reading.

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，從短文后的選項(xiàng)中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)。選項(xiàng)中有兩項(xiàng)為多余選項(xiàng)。

_ One of the best things you can possibly do is to start you own club. It’s great fun especially if you are the sort of person who feels there’s never anything to do during the school holidays.

  The first thing you need to come up with is an idea for your club. Pets, clothes, pop music or dancing groups, sports, making things? The list is endless.

  Next you need some friends to be in your club with you. __ All you need is three or four other people who are interested in the same thing as you.

  You should all sit down somewhere together with lots of pieces of paper and write down every name you can think up. That’ll keep you busy for ages.

  At your first meeting you should make up a rule book. And the first rule should be no grown-ups or little/big brothers or sisters! The best clubs are always secret!

  Now you have just about everything you need, except membership cards. These are very important and again you can speed a lot of time making them. Why not leave some space for a photo of yourself? That will make the membership card really look like it.

  So there you are, get clubbing! Once you get started you’ll think of loads of more interesting things to do!

That’s easy.

Enjoy your own club!

Invite a designer to join you.

What are you interest in?

Some vacation is just around the corner.

Then you need to pick a name for your club.

Use a bright thick pen to make a special design.

---Have you heard the latest news?  ---No, What ________?

   A. is it          B. is there            C. are they        D. are those

___????__ herself to science, the great scientist took little notice _____ the honors given to her．

       A．Devoted, of             B．Devoting, of      

       C．Devoted, about           D．Devoting, about

A student will be immediately punished if he is found      in the exam.

A. cheat             B. to cheat            C. cheated          D. cheating

語(yǔ)音題（每小題1分，共5分）

sunlight  A. truly   B. subjective  C .unique   D. jungle

creature  A. bread  B. great      C. sneaker   D. leather

hunger   A. singer   B. outstanding  C. swing    D .finger

approach  A. church B .machine   C .moustache  D  stomach

false     A all     B. bald      C. facial    D. central

What they need most _____ money while what we need most _____ textbooks.

A. were; is      B. are; is     C. was; are       D. is; are

—What are you going to do this afternoon?   —I am going to the cinema with some friends. The film ____ quite early, so we ____ to the book-store after that.                                               

A. finished; are going  B. finished; go       C. finishes; are going   D. finishes; go

The brain of an insect isn’t very big. But insects are somehow still able to make lots of important decisions. Bees, ants and roaches(蟑螂) build hives with thousands of workers doing specialized work. The jobs are done without a head or even a plan. How do insects manage this?

To solve the mystery, scientists in Belgium spent months building robotic roaches and then putting them among real roaches. The final goal of the research is to find out how the simple behavior of individuals gives rise to a collective(集體的) decision. The roach is a good starting point for trying to answer the big question because its social system is simple enough for scientists to study.

The first step was to build robots that real roaches would accept as their own. Although the robotic roaches don’t look much like the real thing, they have similarities with them in three key ways: they naturally head toward dark areas, they are influenced by the behavior of other roaches, and even more importantly, they smell like roaches.

The next step was getting the robotic and real roaches to work together on common tasks. In experiments, the robots would collectively head towards a dark place, copying the behavior of natural roaches. That got the researchers wondering: if you program the robotic roaches to go toward the lighted place, will the real roaches follow, going against their natural instincts.(本能) ?

They will – it turned out. Many of the real roaches followed the robots to a lighter shelter. But influence turned out to be a two- way street. On occasion, the real roaches were able to override the programming of the robot roaches and get them to turn into dark hiding places. Being social creatures, both the robotic and natural roaches were paying attention to and following the example set by others.

In theory, it would be possible to create a robot that could influence collective decision-making in humans. To do this, researchers would have to invent a robot that people would accept. Fortunately, the technology isn’t there yet.

69. Why do scientists choose the roaches to study?

 A. Their social system is simple               

B. They are social creatures.

C. They are able to build their hives quite well.   

D. It is easy to create robotic ones.

70. The robotic roaches are accepted by real ones because of all the following EXCEPT that ______ .

A. they smell like real ones          B. they look exactly like real ones

C. what they do are somewhat influenced by other roaches

D. they naturally head toward dark areas

71. What’s the author’s attitude to creating a robot that would influence collective decision-making in humans?

 A. Uninterested           B. Positive       

C. Negative              D. Doubtful

72. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage ?

A. Scientists’ Research                   B. Robotic Roaches

C. Amazing Insects                      D. Insects’ Social System