第二部分：阅读理解(共两节, 满分40分)

A

If you plan on visiting to Fiji, you are probably looking for some fun things to do. Below are four unusual places.

The Poseidon Resort

The Poseidon resort is an underwater resort that gives visitors a beautiful view of sea life. This resort covers 255 acres. It’s covered and surrounded by a lagoon (咸水湖) that covers 5,000 acres and is about 90 feet under water, giving you a beautiful view of sea life right before your eyes. This resort even has a hotel for those who would prefer to have the unusual experience of sleeping and waking up to the beautiful scenery all around them.

The Sabeto Mud Pool

If you’re looking for something unusual to do, you can’t pass up the mud pool at Sabeto. It is located in a mountain range with a huge group of geothermal (地热的) pools full of nice, warm mud. Getting down and into the mud in the pool is believed to have benefits for healthy skin. This is unusual, but adults and especially kids will love it.

Fire Walking

Fire walking in Fiji is believed to have originated on the island of Beau. Fire walking is when you walk on white-hot stones barefoot. To do this, you have to be mentally prepared for it. Trust me; there is a lot of preparation and strict rules that travelers follow in order to do this safely.

The Fiji Museum

The Fiji museum is unusual due to all the amazing artifacts you’ll see dating back 3,000-4,000 years. This museum has a certain attraction that makes it funny—a shoe. It’s been said that a man named Thomas Baker was eaten by the locals several centuries ago and the only thing left was his shoe. This unusual museum is a great idea if you bring the whole family to Fiji.

21. Visitors who have the unusual experience of sleeping at the Poseidon resort can _________.

A. enjoy the excellent service in the hotel      B. open windows to see sea life swimming

C. see sea life around them in the room   D. only watch videos about sea life

22. Why do adults like to get down into the mud pool?

A. To float on the warm mud     B. To make them strong

C. To play with the warm mud     D. To keep their skin healthy

23. Which of the following things needs more courage and stricter rules?

A. Trying fire walking      B. Visiting the Poseidon resort

C. Getting into the Sabeto Mud Pool   D. Visiting the Fiji museum

24. The underlined word “artifacts” in Paragraph 5 means___ ____.

A. historic things made by man    B. things invented not long ago

C. things that look very strange     D. useful things in people’s daily life

B

CARDIFF, Wales — Poets, singers and musicians from across the globe gathered in Wales to celebrate the tradition of storytelling.

“It might seem strange that people still want to listen in age of watching television, but this is an unusual art form whose time has come again,” said David Ambrose, director of Beyond the Border, an international storytelling festival in Wales.

“Some of the tales, like those the Inuit from Canada, are thousands of years old. So our storytellers have come from distant lands to connect us with the distance of time,” he said early this month.

Two Inuit women, both in their mid 60s, are among the few remaining who can do Kntadjait, or throat singing, which has few words and much sound. Their art is governed by the cold of their surroundings, forcing them to say little but listen attentively.

Ambrose started the festival in 1993, after several years of working with those reviving storytelling in Wales.

“It came out of a group of people who wanted to reconnect with traditions. and as all the Welsh are storytellers, it was in good hands here.” Ambrose said.

25. Ambrose believes that the art of storytelling _______.[来源:学*科*网]

A. will be more popular than TV                   B. will be popular again

C. started in Wales                              D. are in the hands of some old people

26. From the tales told by the Inuit, people can learn _______.

A. about their life as early as thousands of years ago

B. why they tell the stories in a throat-singing way

C. how cold it has been where the Inuit live

D. how difficult it is to understand the Inuit

27. The underlined phrase “in good hands” means _______.

A. controlled by rich people      B. grasped by good storytellers

C. taken good care of       D. protected by kind people

C

The way we cook is important. In many countries, the two sources of heat used for cooking are natural gas and electric stoves. The World Health Organization(WHO) warns that millions of people are dying every year from indoor air pollution. The WHO finds that poor cooking, heating and lighting technologies are killing millions of people each year.

Indoor air pollution results from the use of dangerous fuels and cook stoves in the home. WHO officials say nearly three billion people are unable to use clean fuels and technologies for cooking, heating and lighting. And they say more than seven million people die from exposure to indoor or outdoor air pollution each year. Of that number, the WHO says about 4.3 million people die from household air pollution given off by simple biomass(生物燃料)and coal stoves.

These findings show that the home use of poisonous fuels is to blame for many of these deaths. These [来源:学.科.网Z.X.X.K]fuels include wood, coal, animal waste and so on. Carlos Dora is Coordinator in the WHO’ s Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. He says people should not use unprocessed coal and kerosene(煤油)fuel indoors. He says opening a window or door to let out the harmful air will not correct the situation. It will only pollute the outdoors. “New technologies and clean fuels can rid people of this problem.”

The United Nations found that more than 95 percent of families in sub-Saharan Africa depend on solid fuels for cooking. It says huge populations in India, China and Latin American countries, such as Guatemala and Peru, are also at risk.

Nigel Bruce is a professor of Public Health at the University of Liverpool. He says researchers are developing good stoves and other equipment to burn fuels in a more efficient way. “There are already many technologies for clean fuels available now. An effective and reasonably low-cost ethanol(酒精)stove that is made by Dometic is now being tested out. Another interesting development is electric induction stoves.” In India, you can buy an induction stove for about $8. And in Africa you can buy a solar lamp for less than $1.

28.  How is Paragraph 2 mainly developed?

A. By making classifications.         B. By listing numbers.

C. By following time order.          D. By describing a process.

29.  According to Carlos Dora, what is the best solution to indoor air pollution?

A. People should use an effective air cleaner.

B. People should use new technologies and clean fuels.

C. People should open a window or door to let out the harmful air.

D. People should prevent themselves from being exposed to harmful air..

30.  What can we learn from the passage?

A. Most of the deaths from indoor pollution are in developing countries.

B. Burning solid fuels can help limit indoor air pollution .

C. People now can buy ethanol stoves made by Dometic in India.

D. There are already two technologies for clean fuels available for use.

31.  Which would be the best title for the passage?

A. The way we cook is changing.             B. Types of indoor air pollution.

C. The development of electric stoves.         D. Indoor air pollution kills millions each year.

D

Thinking is something you choose to do as a fish chooses to live in water. To be human is to think. But thinking may come naturally without your knowing how you do it. Thinking about thinking is the key to critical thinking. When you think critically, you take control of your thinking processes. Otherwise, you might be controlled by the ideas of others. Indeed, critical thinking is the heart of education.

The word “critical” here has a special meaning. It does not mean taking one against another view, as when someone criticizes another person for doing something wrong. The nature of critical thinking is thinking beyond the easily seen-beyond the pictures on TV, the untrue reports in the newspapers, and the faulty reasoning.

Critical thinking is an attitude as much as an activity. If you are curious about life and desire to dig deeper into it, you are a critical thinker. If you find pleasure in deep thinking about different ideas, characters, and facts, you are a critical thinker.

Activities of the mind and higher-order reasoning are processes of deep and careful consideration. They take time, and do not go hand in hand with the fast speed in today’s world: fast foods, instant coffee, and self-developed film. If you are among the people who believe that speed is a measure of intelligence, you may learn something new from a story about Albert Einstein. The first time Banesh Hoffman, a scientist, was to discuss his work with Albert Einstein, Hoffman was too nervous to speak. But Einstein immediately put Hoffman at ease by saying, “ Please go slowly. I don’t understand things quickly.”

32.  Critical thinking is important to us because if we do not think critically, _______.

A. it will be hard for us to think naturally and fast

B. we might be controlled by other people’s ideas

C. we will follow the ideas of others naturally

D. we might be fooled by other people’s ideas

33.  If you are a critical thinker, you will ______.

A. think deeply about different ideas             B. trust the reports in the newspapers

C. take one view against another view            D. criticize other people for their mistakes

34.  In the last paragraph, “something new” suggests that ______.

A. the smarter you are, the faster you do things

B. the faster you do things, the smarter you become

C. speed can improve intelligence

D. intelligence is not decided by speed

35.  What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Thinking and Critical Thinking            B. Understanding Critical Thinking

C. Thinking Is Natural and Human           D. Thinking Fast Means Intelligence