第三部分：阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2分，满分30分)

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

A

REUTERS

A year ago I saw my old friend from college, Therese Gibson. When I told her I was writing a book called Happy for No Reason, which focuses on the 21 characteristics of happy people, she told me about something she does with her 95-year-old father, Charlie, which keeps him smiling and feeling good.

Therese moved in with Charlie during a bad time in both their lives. Charlie’s wife had just died, Therese was at the end of a painful divorce, and money was tight. They were as miserable as any two people could be. But they decided to sit together for a few minutes each morning before Therese headed off to work and tell each other three things they were grateful for in their lives.

“It was slow going at the beginning,” Therese told me. “The first time we did it, I had a hard time thinking of even one thing I was grateful for.” Finally, she looked around the room and saw a vase she liked. She told Charlie: “I’m grateful for how pretty that vase is.” It sounded silly, but it was the best she could do. And soon, she and Charlie noticed that even a thank-you for something small had a good effect.

Soon, Therese and Charlie started to notice that more and more things were going their way. Even their money situation improved. Three thank-yous became five, then ten, and soon they had to stop listing the good things in their lives, otherwise Therese would have been late for work.

One day, they were feeling so happy after finishing their lists that Charlie started singing the song “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.” Therese joined in. Now “saying their thank-yous” and singing together has become one of the highlights of their day.

Once, after going through a heartbreak, a friend told me to write down five things I was grateful for each night before I went to bed. At first I struggled to come up with anything, but I continued doing it every night and over time the pain in my heart eased.

Try doing the gratitude exercise yourself. Every night before you go to sleep, list five things that you’re grateful for that day, and notice how you feel when you wake up the next morning. A grateful heart can send your happiness level soaring.

56. Therese and her father met with many problems EXCEPT that ____.

A. Therese had been through a divorce B. Therese’s father had lost his wife

C. they didn’t have enough money D. Therese’s father was seriously ill

57. What can we conclude from Paragraphs 3-4?

A. Therese gradually found it was waste of her time to list the good things in her life.

B. Therese found there were more and more things worthy of gratefulness.

C. A thank-you for something small brought them good fortune.

D. Therese and Charlie found more people who were willing to help them.

58. The author found that doing the gratitude exercise ____.

A. helped her pull through difficult times B. made no difference to her life

C. exhausted her for the effort she put into it D. cured her of her heart disease

59. With the story of Therese and her father, the author intends to tell us that ____.

A. misfortunes never come one at a time

B. happiness does not come easily

C. having a grateful heart leads to happiness

D. you have to believe that time will ease your pain

B

In the old days children were familiar with birth and death as part of life. This is perhaps the first generation of American youngsters who have never been close by during the birth of a baby and have never experienced the death of a family member.

Nowadays when people grow old, we often send them to nursing homes. When they get sick, we transfer them to a hospital, where children are forbidden to visit terminally ill patients-even when those patients are their parents. This deprives(剥夺) patient of significant family members during the last few days of his life and it deprives the children of an experience of death, which is an important learning experience.

Some of my colleagues and I once interviewed and followed approximately 500 terminally ill patients in order to find out what they could teach us and how we could be of more benefit, not just to them but to the members of their families as well. We were most impressed y the fact that even those patients who were not told of their serious illness were quite aware of its potential outcome.

It is important for family members, and doctors and nurses to understand these patients’ communications in order to truly understand their needs, fears, and fantasies(幻想). Most of our patients welcomed another human being with whom they could talk openly, honestly, and frankly about their trouble. Many of them shared with us their tremendous need to be informed, to be kept up-to-date on their medical condition and to be told when the end was near. We found out that patients who had been dealt with openly and frankly were better able to cope with the approach of death and finally to reach a true stage of acceptance prior to death.

60.The elders of contemporary Americans _____________.

A.were often absent when a family member was born or dying

B.were quite unfamiliar with birth and death

C.usually witnessed the birth or death of a family member

D.had often experienced the fear of death as part of life

61.Children in America today are denied the chance ______________.

A.to learn how to face death B.to visit dying patients

C.to attend to patients D.to have access to a hospital

62.The need of a dying patient for company shows __________.

A.his desire for communication with other people

B.his fear of approaching death

C.his pessimistic attitude towards his condition

D.his reluctance to part with his family

63.It may be concluded from the passage that ______________.

A.dying patients are afraid of being told of the approach of death

B.most doctors and nurses understand what dying patients need

C.dying patients should be truthfully informed of their condition

D.most patients are unable to accept death until it is obviously inevitable

C

ALBERT Einstein had the idea. It stayed true for over a century. It is one of the cornerstones of physics. Nothing travels faster than light.

However, Einstein’s special relativity theory has almost been proven wrong. In September, scientists discovered that a kind of neutrino (中微子) could travel faster than light. The result was greeted with some doubt when it was released because anyone who has ever doubted special relativity theory before has been proven wrong. The debate has been going on for the past two months. But so far, the result still holds.

In the original experiment, physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) sent a beam of tiny subatomic particles called neutrinos from their lab near Geneva to a detector 730 kilometers away in Italy. The neutrinos got there 60 nanoseconds (纳秒，十亿分之一秒) sooner than the light.

That tiny amount of time may completely change our understanding of the laws of nature because modern physics has been based on Einstein’s special relativity theory since he first came up with it in 1905. The theory states that time slows down for an object traveling at the speed of light, and that space shrinks. If proven to be true, the new finding may lead to a revolutionary change, not only in the basic principles of physics but also in our concept of space and time. Theoretically people would be able to travel back in time.

Doubtful physicists questioned the carefulness of CERN’s time measuring and analysis. CERN therefore did the experiment again with more accurate measurements in October. The new result was released on November 17 and once again, the neutrinos beat a light beam sent to the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy by 60 nanoseconds.

Christos Touramanis, who heads a neutrino research team at Britain’s Liverpool University, agreed that the new test had ruled out some possible sources of errors, but said that “a number of other possible effects” still needed to be checked. “Ultimately, full independent confirmation will be required before accepting this result as accurate,” he told Reuters.

64. The scientists at CERN drew the conclusion that ______.

A. Einstein’s special relativity theory was completely wrong

B. our understanding of the laws of nature should be changed

C. their experiments backed up the theories of modern physics

D. there may be a kind of particle which can travel faster than the speed of light

65. What is the impact of the new finding according to the article?

A. It might prove that Einstein’s special relativity theory is wrong.

B. It will be helpful for space research.

C. It will help scientists to find a new detector.

D. It will completely change people’s understanding of the universe.

66. Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?

A. It will be easy for people to travel in time.

B. No one has ever doubted special relativity theory before.

C. No matter can travel faster than the speed of light.

D. Some scientists doubted that the speed of the neutrinos was accurate.

D

The Board Meeting had come to an end. Bob started to stand up and knocked into the table, spilling his coffee over his notes. “How embarrassing! I am getting so clumsy in my old age.”

Everyone had a good laugh, and soon we were all telling stories of our most embarrassing moments. It came around to Frank who sat quietly listening to the others. Someone said, “Come on, Frank. Tell us your most embarrassing moment.”

Frank laughed and began to tell us of his childhood. “I grew up in San Pedro. My Dad was a fisherman, and he loved the sea. He had his own boat, but it was hard making a living on the sea. He worked hard and would stay out until he caught enough to feed the family. Not just enough for our family, but also for his Mom and Dad and the other kids that were still at home.”

He looked at us and said, “I wish you could have met my Dad. He was a big man, and he was strong from pulling the nets and fighting the seas for his catch. When you got close to him, he smelled like the ocean. He would wear his old canvas, foul-weather coat and his bibbed overalls. His rain hat would be pulled down over his brow. No matter how much my mother washed them, they would still smell of the sea and of fish.”

Frank’s voice dropped a bit. “When the weather was bad he would drive me to school. He had this old truck that he used in his fishing business. That truck was older than he was. It would wheeze and rattle down the road. You could hear it coming for blocks. As he would drive toward the school, I would shrink (畏缩) down into the seat hoping to disappear. Half the time, he would slam to a stop and the old truck would belch (喷出) a cloud of smoke. He would pull right up in front, and it seemed like everybody would be standing around and watching. Then he would lean over and give me a big kiss on the cheek and tell me to be a good boy. It was so embarrassing for me. Here, I was twelve years old, and my Dad would lean over and kiss me goodbye!”

He paused and then went on, “I remember the day I decided I was too old for a goodbye kiss. When we got to the school and came to a stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean toward me, but I put my hand up and said, “No, Dad.” It was the first time I had ever talked to him that way, and he had this surprised look on his face. I said, “Dad, I’m too old for a goodbye kiss. I’m too old for any kind of kiss.” My Dad looked at me for the longest time, and his eyes started to tear up. Then he turned and looked out the windshield. “ You’re right,” he said. “ You are a big boy....a man. I won’t kiss you anymore.”

Frank got a funny look on his face, and the tears began to well up in his eyes, as he spoke. “It wasn’t long after that when my Dad went to sea and never came back. It was a day when most of the fleet (船队) stayed in, but not Dad. He had a big family to feed. They found his boat adrift with its nets half in and half out. He must have gotten into a strong wind and was trying to save the nets and the floats.”

I looked at Frank and saw that tears were running down his cheeks. Frank spoke again. “Guys, you don’t know what I would give to have my Dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek…to feel his rough old face… to smell the ocean on him… to feel his arm around my neck. I wish I had been a man then. If I had been a man, I would never have told my Dad I was too old for a goodbye kiss.”

67. In Frank’s eyes, when his father said “You are a big boy… a man.”, he probably felt ________.

A. disappointed B. hurt C. excited D. proud

68. According to the story we can conclude that Frank’s father ________.

A. was quite confident in his skills in fishing

B. loved his children but hardly expressed it

C. seldom gave up faced with challenges

D. was full of devotion to his family

69. By saying the sentence “I wish I had been a man then…”, Frank meant ________.

A. he was fed up with his father kissing him goodbye

B. he deeply regretted what he had done to his father

C. he was then too young to refuse a goodbye kiss

D. he hoped that his father would forgive him

70. Which of the following may be the best title for this passage?

A. The Smell of the Ocean B. We All Need Love

C. A Goodbye Kiss D. Father’s Embarrassment