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四、英语阅读理解题：每题0.5分，共20题，计10分。阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和 D）中，选出最佳选项。
Reading Comprehension
Directions：There are two passages in this part． Each passage is followed by several questions． For each of them there are four choices marked A， B， C and D． You should decide on the BEST CHOICE．
（一）
Imagine waking up and finding the value of your assets has been halved. No， you’re not an investor in one of those hedge funds that failed completely. With the dollar slumping to a 26－year low against the pound， already－expensive London has become quite unaffordable. A coffee at Starbucks， just as unavoidable in England as it is in the United States， runs about ￥8.
The once all－powerful dollar isn’t doing a Titanic against just the pound. It is sitting at a record low against the euro and at a 30－year low against the Canadian dollar. Even the Argentine peso and Braｚilian real are thriving against the dollar.
The weak dollar is a source of humiliation， for a nation’s self－esteem rests in part on the strength of its currency. It’s also a potential economic problem， since a declining dollar makes imported food more expensive and exerts upward pressure on interest rates. And yet there are substantial sectors of the vast U.S. economy from giant companies like Coca－Cola to mom－and－pop restaurant operators in Miami for which the weak dollar is most excellent news.
Many Europeans may view the U.S. as an arrogant superpower that has become hostile to foreigners. But nothing makes people think more warmly of the U.S. than a weak dollar. Through April， the total number of visitors from abroad was up 6.8 percent from last year. Should the trend continue， the number of tourists this year will finally top the 2000 peak? Many Europeans now apparently view the U.S. the way many Americans view Mexico as a cheap place to vacation， shop
and party， all while ignoring the fact that the poorer locals can’t afford to join the merrymaking.
The money tourists spend helps decrease our chronic trade deficit. So do exports， which thanks in part to the weak dollar， soared 11 percent between May 2006 and May 2007. For first five months of 2007， the trade deficit actually fell 7 percent from 2006.
If you own shares in large American corporations， you’re a winner in the weak－dollar gamble. Last week Coca－Cola’s stick bubbled to a five－year high after it reported a fantastic quarter. Foreign sales accounted for 65 percent of Coke’s beverage business. Other American companies profiting from this trend include McDonald’s and IBM.
American tourists， however， shouldn’t expect any relief soon. The dollar lost strength the way many marriages break up slowly， and then all at once. And currencies don’t turn on a dime. So if you want to avoid the pain inflicted by the increasingly pathetic dollar， cancel that summer vacation to England and look to New England. There， the dollar is still treated with a little respect.
101. Why do Americans feel humiliated? A. Their economy is plunging.
B. They can’t afford trips to Europe. C. Their currency has slumped.
D. They have lost half of their assets.
102.How does the weak dollar affect the life of ordinary Americans? A. They have to cancel their vacations in New England.
B. They find it unaffordable to dine in mom－and－pop restaurants. C. They have to spend more money when buying imported goods. D. They might lose their jobs due to potential economic problems.
103. How do many Europeans feel about the U.S with the devalued dollar? A. They think of it as a good tourist destination.
B. They feel contemptuous of it.
C. They regard it as a superpower on the decline. D. They are sympathetic with it.
104. According to the last paragraph， what is the author’s advice to Americans? A. They treat the dollar with a little respect.
B. They try to win in the weak－dollar gamble. C. They treasure their marriages all the more.
D. They take vacations at home rather than abroad.
105. In the author’s opinion， the weak dollar leads to the following consequences EXCEPT that ________.
A. the dallar has little respect in New England.
B. europeans begin to think more warmly of the U.S.. C. imported food is more expensive to the Americans.
D. some large American corporations make more profits.
（二）
Desertification， drought， and despair －that’s what global warming has in store for much of Africa. Or so we hear.
Emerging evidence is painting a very different scenario， one in which rising temperatures could benefit millions of Africans in the driest parts of the continent. Scientists are now seeing signals that the Sahara desert and surrounding regions are greening due to increasing rainfall. If sustained， these rains could revitaliｚe drought－ravaged regions， reclaiming them for farming communities. This desert－shrinking trend is supported by climate models， which predict a return to conditions that turned the Sahara into a lush savanna some 12，000 years ago.
The green shoots of recovery are showing up on satellite images of regions including the Sahel， a semi－desert ｚone bordering the Sahara to the south that stretches some 2，４00 miles.
Images taken between 1982 and 2002 revealed extensive regreening throughout the Sahel， according to a new study in the journal Biogeosciences. The study suggests huge increases in vegetation in areas including central Chad and western Sudan. The transition may be occurring because hotter air has more capacity to hold moisture， which in turn creates more rain， said Martin Claussen of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg， Germany， who was not involved in the new study. “The water－holding capacity of the air is the main driving force，” Claussen said.
While satellite images can’t distinguish temporary plants like grasses that come and go with the rains， ground surveys suggest recent vegetation change is firmly rooted. In the eastern Sahara area of southwestern Egypt and northern Sudan， new trees—such as acacias—are flourishing， according to Stefan Krpelin， a climate scientist at the University of Cologne’s Africa Ｒesearch Unit in Germany.
“Before， there was not a single scorpion， not a single blade of grass，”saidKrpelin， who has studied the region for two decades.“Now you have people graｚing their camels in areas which may not have been used for hundreds or even thousands of years. Ｙou see birds， ostriches， gaｚelles coming back， even sorts of amphibians coming back，” he said.“The trend has continued for more than 20 years. It is indisputable.”
An explosion in plant growth has been predicted by some climate models.For instance， in 2005 a team led by Ｒeindert Haarsma of the Ｒoyal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in De Bilt， the Netherlands， forecast significantly more future rainfall in the Sahel.The study in Geophysical Ｒesearch Letters predicted that rainfall in the Ｊuly to September wet season would rise by up to two millimeters a day by 2080.
Satellite data shows “that indeed during the last decade， the Sahel is becoming more green，” Haarsma said. Even so， climate scientists don’t agree on how future climate change will affect the Sahel： Some studies simulate a decrease in rainfall.“This issue is still rather uncertain，” Haarsma said.
Max Planck’s Claussen said North Africa is the area of greatest disagreement among climate
change modelers. Forecasting how global warming will affect the region is complicated by its vast siｚe and the unpredictable influence of high－altitude winds that disperse monsoon rains， Claussen added.“Half the models follow a wetter trend， and half a drier trend.”
106. According to the first paragraph， global warming is supposed to have the following im pacts on Africa EXCEPT ________.
A. water deficiency B. distress
C. desertifications
D. more grasses and lakes
107. According to Martin Claussen， what is the main cause of the increased vegetation in deserted areas?
A. The climate models are more changeable.
B. Hot air would be more capable to hold humidity. C. Many trees have been planted recently.
D. The grasses are temporarily appeared with the rains.
108. What is the role of the sixth paragraph in the development of the topic? A. To make a transition to a new topic.
B. To work as a book to the following paragraphs.
C. To provide a contrast to the preceding paragraphs.
D. To offer supporting evidence to the preceding paragraphs.
109. The underlined sentence “... North Africa is the area of greatest disagreement among climate change modelers” in the last paragraph suggests that ________.
A. half of the area will follow a wetter trend， while half a drier trend
B. the scientists in North Afrca hold different opinions in climate models C. it is not easy to predict how the climate change influences the district D. there are different climate models to be built in North Africa
110. What are the climate scientists’ attitudes towards the influence of climate change on the deserted areas?
A. Definite. B. Dubious.
C. Serious. D. Negative.
（三）
One of the world’s first videogames, Tetris （俄罗斯方块）, has turned thirty years old, and its brand is anything but old school.
But what’s kept people swiping and clicking to ensure each row of blocks stays aligned and disappears into the virtual world since its development in 1984 Soviet Russia? A combination of new platforms and an attracting psychological appeal.
Maya Rogers, the CEO of Blue Planet Software, the sole agent of the Tetris brand, said the
protection of the game’s core over the last three decades has aided its longevity. As mobile and so鄄 cial become two of the largest sources for gaming these days, Tetris isn’t showing any signs of los鄄 ing its appeal. Currently appearing on over 50 different gaming platforms, from the 1983 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES） to smartphones, Tetris is sold on over 425 million mobile devices. More than 20 billion games of Tetris Battle have been played on Facebook, too.
There’s something psychologically entrancing about the game, that’s kept people hooked through the years. “Play a game of Tetris,” said Rogers, “and satisfy your craving to create order out of chaos.” Plus, there’s the added quality of playing Tetris and never feeling wholly fulfilled. “There’s no correct move that you can make,” said Neubauer, a loyal player of the game who work as a senior analyst at Saibus Research, an independent research and advisory firm, “The quest for the perfect move never ends.”
Tom Stafford, a professor of cognitive development and psychology at Sheffield University in the U.K., says that Tetris has been around so long because it transports gamers into a different realm when they play. “It’s a world of perpetually generating uncompleted tasks,” he said. As he’s said in the past, too, “Tetris is the granddaddy of puzzle games like Candy Crush saga—the things that keep us puzzling away for hours, days and weeks.” “Tetris is pure game: there is no benefit to it, nothing to learn, no social or physical consequence,” he added. “It is almost completely point鄄 less, but keeps us coming back for more.”
111. Since it was developed, Tetris has been ________.
A. applied for almost 20 years
B. no longer attracting and popular
C. built a solid footing in the mini-game market
D. updated into more intricate model
112. Which of the following does NOT belong to Tetris platforms?
A. Mobile or personal computer.
B. Nintendo Entertainment System.
C. Social network site.
D. Board game bar.
113. Tetris is a roaring success, owing to the following EXCEPT ________.
A. the game can satisfy players’ creating desire
B. the game has endless playing strategies
C. the game supports multiple platforms
D. players can win the game easily
114. The purpose of Tom Stafford ’ s saying “ Tetris is the granddaddy of puzzle game ” is ________.
A. to imply that Teris is out of date and lost popularity
B. to represent a specific group of attracting puzzle games
C. to suggest that Teris is the inspiration of new games
D. to declare that there are different types of Tetris
115. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?
A. What Changes did Tetris Make?
B. Why Tetris is so Addictive?
C. How to Play Tetris Correctly?
D. Who Loves Tetris most?
（四）
What are the roads not taken because students must take out loans for college? For one thing, it appears that people with student loans are less likely to start businesses of their own. A new study has found that areas with higher relative growth in student debt show lower growth in the formation of small businesses.
The correlation makes sense. People normally have only a certain amount of “debt capacity”. When students use up their “debt capacity” on student loans, they can’t commit it elsewhere. Given the importance of an entrepreneur’s personal debt capacity in financing a start -up business, student loan debt, which cannot be discharged via bankruptcy, can have lasting effects later in life and may impact the ability of future small-business owners to raise capital. Considering that 60 percent of jobs are created by small business, “if you shut down the ability to create new businesses, you’re going to harm the economy,” said Brent Ambrose, a professor of risk management at Pennsylvania State University.
Student loan debt also appears to be affecting homeownership trends. According to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, fewer 30 -year-olds in general have bought homes since the recession, but the decline has been steeper for people with a history of student loan debt and has continued even as the housing market has recovered.
Student loan debt may also affect career choices. Having a college loan appears to reduce the likelihood that people will choose a low-paying public-interest job, according to a 2011 study by Jesse Rothstein of the University of California, Berkeley, and Cecilia Elena Rouse of Princeton.
They arrived at their conclusion by studying a well-off university that began meeting students’ financial needs through a combination of work-study money and grants, and dispensing with loans altogether. Before the new policy started in the early 2000s, students were more likely to choose well -paid professions like investment banking and consulting. After the policy took effect, more students chose jobs in areas like teaching and the nonprofit sector.
In many cases, the choices that student borrowers make are just common sense, based on the financial realities they face. If society wants to change the skewing effect of student loans, some tough decisions about allocating educational resources may well lie ahead.
116. Which of the following is NOT true about “debt capacity”?
A. People with student loans, generally speaking, have almost used up their “debt capacity”.
B. All the people have a certain amount of “debt capacity” no matter they have loans or not.
C. For those people who took student loans, their “debt capacity” are weaker than others.
D. Entrepreneur’s “debt capacity” should be stronger since it is crucial in financing situation.
117. The quotation in Para. 2 implies that ________.
A. job opportunities are disappearing in high speed
B. economic development can be held back by student loans
C. small business survival is insignificant and meaningless
D. more and more commercial opportunities have been created
118. We can infer from Rothstein and Elena’s research that ________.
A. with lots of student loans, people will repress their desires of homeownership
B. without student loans, college graduates prefer to choose high-reward jobs
C. without the burden of paying back loans, people will get more freedom of job choice
D. although many colleges have financial capacity to support students, they refuse to do so
119. Be a person with student loans, one would like to ________.
A. run his / her own business
B. invest in real estate
C. dedicate to public welfare
D. become a high-paid employee
120. What’s the focus of the passage?
A. A recent research about student debt.
B. The ripple effects of student debt.
C. Rules of applying loans in colleges.
D. Career choice of contemporary youth.
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发表于 2017-7-4 11:24:22
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