IV.阅读理解(共17小题;每小题2分，满分34分)

A

Like cats, geckos(壁虎)always land on their feet. If they happen to fall from a wall or leaf they’ve been climbing, a quick move of the tail makes sure that they always land on their feet first, a new study finds.

Geckos are truly built for climbing: their feet have hairy toes that can fix themselves to a wall or other vertical(竖直的)surfaces. However, geckos’ feet can’t always keep hold and they may fall to the ground. When geckos fall or jump off a wall, they always land stomach-side down. Geckos’ long tails become necessary during their falls, the new study shows.

Researchers did an experiment. They placed geckos up-side-down on the underside of a leaf. When they lost their foothold and fell, the geckos pitched (倾斜)their tails for balance. They then rotated(旋转)their tails to make their bodies rotate. As soon as they were right-side up, they stopped rotating. On average, it only took the geckos about a tenth of a second to right themselves so that they would land on their feet.

Cats use a different way to land on their feet after a fall. As their tails don’t have the power like geckos’ tails, cats can’t use them to right themselves. Instead they twist their bodies around mid-air.

Engineers are trying to build a robot that imitates the geckos’ climbing ability. A tail will be fixed to the robot to allow it to keep balance.

54. What do we know about geckos?

A. Their toes make it possible for them to walk on walls.

B. Their tails can fix them to a wall or other vertical surfaces.

C. They often land on their backs when they jump off walls.

D. It takes them a second to right themselves in mid-air.

55. How do cats avoid their injury during a fall?

A. By twisting their bodies.                 B. By fixing their toes to the ground.

C. By using their tails to right themselves.     D. By landing upside-down.

56. Geckos’special abilities have given engineers some new ideas to _________.

A. allow robots to climb vertical surfaces        B. reproduce geckos like robots

C. invent robots that can rotate on the ground

D. invent robots that can balance themselves using their tails

57. What is the text mainly talking about?

A. The interesting living habits of geckos.   B. The differences between cats and geckos.

C. Why geckos always land on their feet.     D. How geckos climb up vertical walls.

B

Susan Sontag (1933 — 2004) was one of the most noticeable figures in the world of literature. For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything — to read every book worth reading, to see every movie worth seeing. When she was still in her early 30s, publishing essays in such important magazines as Partisan Review, she appeared as the symbol of American cultural life, trying hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art. With great effort and serious judgment, Sontag walked at the latest edges of world culture.

Seriousness was one of Sontag’s lifelong watchwords(格言), but at a time when the barriers between the well-educated and the poor-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasures of pop culture. In ‘‘Notes on Camp”, the 1964 essay that first made her name, she explained what was then a little-known set of difficult understandings, through which she could not have been more famous. ‘“Notes on Camp”, she wrote, represents “a victory of ‘form’ over ‘content’ ,‘beauty’ over ‘morals’”.

By conviction(信念)she was a sensualist(感觉论者), but by nature she was a moralist(伦理论者), and in the works she published in the 1970s and 1980s, it was the latter side of her that came forward. In Illness as Metaphor — published in 1978, after she suffered cancer — she argued against the idea that cancer was somehow a special problem of repressed personalities (被压抑的个性), a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact, re-examining old positions was her lifelong habit.

In America, her story of a 19th century Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California, won the National Book Award in 2000. But it was as a tireless, all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame. “Sometimes,” she once said, “I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending ... is the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness.” And in the end, she made us take it seriously too.

58. The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 means Sontag _____ .

A. was a symbol of American cultural life       B. developed world literature, film and art

C. published many essays about world culture

D. kept pace with the newest development of world culture

59. She first won her name through _____ .

A. her story of a Polish actress         B. her book Illness as Metaphor

C. publishing essays in magazines like Partisan Review

D. her explanation of a set of difficult understandings

60. According to the passage, Susan Sontag ______.

A. was a sensualist as well as a moralist        B. looked down, upon the pop culture

C. thought content was more important than form

D. blamed the victim of cancer for being repressed

61. As for Susan Sontag’s lifelong habit, she ______.

A. misunderstood the idea of seriousness        B. re-examined old positions

C. argued for an openness to pop culture       D. preferred morals to beauty

62. Susan Sontag’s lasting fame was made upon _____ .

A. a tireless, all-purpose cultural view     B. her lifelong watchword: seriousness

C. publishing books on morals D. enjoying books worth reading and movies worth seeing

C

The coyote (丛林狼), that clever animal of wide-open spaces, has come to the nation’s capital. In fact, coyotes have spread to every corner of the United States, changing their behaviors to fit new environments and causing researchers to deal with a troublesome new kind of creature: the city coyote.

The coyote originally lived in the middle of the continent. One of its most obvious characters is its smartness, which has made the animal a notorious (臭名昭著的) pest. Hunters trapped, shot and poisoned more than a million coyotes in the 1900s. It’s still one of America’s most hunted animals. Yet the coyote has survived. How has the coyote shown this extraordinary ability? “I guess if you wanted to use one word, it’d be ‘plasticity’,” says Eric Gese, an expert at Utah State University. Coyotes can live alone, in pairs, or in large packs like wolves; hunt at night or during the day; occupy a small region or an area up to 40 square miles; and live on all sorts of food, from lizards (蜥蜴) and shoes, to ants and melons.

Unbelievably people helped coyotes increase when they killed most of the wolves in the United States. The spreading of coyotes into city areas, though, is recent. They travel at night, crossing sidewalks and bridges, running along roads and ducking into culverts (钻入涵洞) and underpasses. No one knows why coyotes are moving into cities, but experts explain that cleverer, more human-tolerant (不怕人的) coyotes are teaching urban survival skills to new generations.

Occasionally, coyotes might attack human beings. There have been about 160 attacks on people in recent years. Therefore, people have been consistently told not to feed coyotes or leave pet food unsecured. That, plus a large trapping program in the neighborhood, has cut down on the coyote population.

63. The underlined word “plasticity” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.

A. the ability to fit the environment   B. notorious smartness

C. hunting ability                      D. being human-tolerant

64. The aim of the passage is to _____.

A. tell people how to fight against coyotes

B. tell us why the coyote is the most hunted animal

C. supply the reason why the coyote is a kind of notorious pest

D. explain how the coyote has spread to and survived in cities

65. According to the passage, coyotes _____.

A. originally lived in the west of the continent

B. sleep during the day but look for food at night

C. are teaching survival skills to their younger generations

D. suffered a population decrease because people killed wolves

66. According to the passage,to cut down the coyote population,people should ____________.

A. leave pet food sesured       B.keep coyotes in small regions

C.force coyotes to live alone    D.avoid using trapping programmes

D

It's only 4 hours flying time from Sydney, but a world away. What better place to rest than a country where the only place people hurry is on the football field and things are done in "Fiji time"?

Viti Lev--Great Fiji--is the largest island. Here you'll find the capital Suva and the international airport at Nadi Vatoa in the farthest part of Fiji. Then there are 331 other islands, many of them with places to stay.

With less than a million people living on islands, you'll never feel crowded . And with a climate that changes only for five degrees between seasons, there’s never a bad time to come.

From cities to villages, from mountains to beaches, from water sports to wooden artworks, Fiji can give you more adventures and special experiences than you could find almost anywhere in the world.

Whenever you come , wherever you go ,you’re sure to see some unforgettable events ,from war dances to religious songs,from market days to religious days. It's not just staged for tourists; it's still a part of everyday life in Fiji.And any one of us can enjoy Fiji's spirit by being part of the traditional sharing of yaqona—a drink made from the root of a Fiji plant.

So why not join us for the experience of a lifetime?

67. Where is the international airport of Fiji?

A. In Suva                      B. In Sydney

C. On the island of Vatoa          D. On the island of Viti Levu

68. What does the text tell us about Fiji people ?

A. They invented “Fiji time” for visitors.    B. They stick to a traditional way of life.

C. They like to travel from place to place.   D. They love taking adventures abroad.

69. One of the things that make Fiji a tourist attraction is

A. its comfortable hotels             B. its good weather all year round

C. its exciting football matches        D. its religious beliefs

70. Where can we most probably read this text?

A. In a personal diary                 B. In a science report

C. In a travel magazine                D. In a geography textbook

第二卷(共45分)

V. 选用正确的词组填空 (共10小题;每小题1分，满分10分;其中有三个多余项)

leave alone;   was aware ;   came across;    as far as he was concerned;    adjust to;

fit in with;    in the meantime;       dying to;        all in all;

had no difficulty;      upside down;

1.He has his faults,but _______________ he is an honest man.

2.You buy the fruit,________________ I'll cook breakfast.

3.Besides,____________________ ,what other people thought was not the most important thing.

4.His ideas didn't __________________ our aims.

5.How difficult do you think it is to ________________ living in another country?

6.I ______________ this book in an old bookstore near the Palace Museum.

7.I know you're ________________ hear all about my life here.

8.You'd better turn the bottle _________________ to empty out the oil.

(请将第V大题的答案写在答卷纸上!)

厦门六中2009-2010学年度下学期高二期中考

英语答卷纸

题号 I II III IV V VI VII 总分

满分 30 13 30 34 8 10 25 150

得分

V. 选用正确的词组填空(共10小题;每小题1分，满分10分)

1___________________   2____________________     3__________________

4___________________   5____________________     6__________________

7___________________   8___________________      9 __________________

10 __________________

VI.短文填词 (共10小题;每小题1分，满分10分)

阅读下面短文，根据以下提示：1)汉语提示，2)首字母提示，3)语境提示，在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词，并将该词完整地写在右边相对应的横线上 所填单词要求意义准确，拼写正确

Dear Ellen,

How is everything going?

It's been a long time _______ we met last time.I'm writing             1.______

to s______ with you my unforgettable experience this weekend.On Saturday  2._____

my family drove to our hometown,________ I spent the first five years of my  3.______

life.Great c_____ have taken place here.It has become a scenic spot attracting   4._____

thousands of tourists worldwide.All the villagers _____ a happy, relaxed life,   5._____

which is so much admired _____ city people like us.                      6.______

H______,life here was hard in the past.When my parents were young,     7._____

most villagers couldn't _______(生产)enough food to feed their children.   8.______

As a result,many children _______(挨饿)to death.Now not only can every  9.______

villager has enough to eat but also they can afford to send their children to

study abroad.What great changes!I'm looking forward _____ meeting you      10._____

soon and telling you more.I believe you'll be interested.

Yours,

Lucy

VII.书面表达(25分)

你所在的城市即将举办国际贸易博览会。有关部门现向全社会招聘志愿者。要求：

(1)具有为国际友人服务的热情;

(2)掌握丰富的文化知识，既是服务人员，也是文化的使者;

(3)具有流利的英语表达能力，能做好沟通工作。

假如你叫李华，请根据以上要求，写一封想作博览会志愿者的申请信

要求：字迹工整，120词左右。

参考词汇：国际贸易博览会 the International Trade Exposition    使者 carrier

Dear Sir ，

________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua