Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)

　　Section A

　　Directions: In this section, there is a passage withten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in aword bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making yourchoices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letteron Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words inthe bank more than once.

　　Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.

　　His future subjects have not always treated the Prince of Wales with the respect one mightexpect. They laughed in 1986 when the heir to the British __36__ told a TV reporter that hetalked to his plants at his country house, Highgrove, to stimulate their growth. The Prince wasbeing humorous — "My sense of humor will get me into trouble one day," he has confided toaides (随从) — but listening to Charles Windsor can indeed prove stimulating. The royal__37__ has been promoting radical ideas for most of his adult life. Some of his __38__. whichonce sounded a bit weird, were simply ahead of their time. Now, finally, the world seems to becatching up with him.

　　Take his views on farming. Prince Charles' Duchy Home Farm went __39__ back in 1986, whenmost shoppers cared only about the low price tag on suspiciously blemish-free (无瑕疵的)vegetables and __40__ large chickens piled high in supermarkets.

　　His warnings on climate change proved farsighted, too. Charles began __41__ action on globalwarming in 1990 and says he's been worried about the __42__ of man on the environmentsince he was a teenager.

　　Although he has gradually gained international __43__ as one of the world's leadingconservationists, many British people still think of him as a __44__ person who talks to plants.This year, as it happens, South Korean scientists proved that plants really do __45__ to sound.So Charles was ahead of the game there, too.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。

　　A) conform

　　B) eccentric

　　C) environmentalist

　　D) expeditions

　　E) impact

　　K) notions

　　G) organic

　　H) originally

　　I) recognition

　　J) respond

　　K) subordinate

　　L) suppressing

　　M) throne

　　N) unnaturally

　　O) urging

　　Section B

　　Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs Identify the paragraphfrom which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Eachparagraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter onAnswer Sheet 2.

　　High School Sports Aren't Killing Academics

　　A) In this month's Atlantic cover article, "The Case Against High-School Sports," Amanda Ripleyargues that school-sponsored sports programs should be seriously cut. She writes that, unlikemost countries that outperform the United States on international assessments, Americanschools put too much of an emphasis on athletics. "Sports are embedded in Americanschools in a way they are not almost anywhere else," she writes. "Yet this difference hardly evercomes up in domestic debates about America's international mediocrity (平庸) in education."

　　B) American student-athletes reap many benefits from participating in sports, but the costs tothe schools could outweigh their benefits, she argues. In particular, Ripley contends thatsports crowd out the academic missions of schools: America should learn from South Koreaand Finland and every other country at the top level of international test scores, all of whomemphasize athletics far less in school. "Even in eighth grade, American kids spend more thantwice the time Korean kids spend playing sports," she writes, citing a 2010 study published inthe Journal of Advanced Academics.

　　C) It might well be true that sports are far more rooted in American high schools than in othercountries. But our reading of international test scores finds no support for the argumentagainst school athletics. Indeed, our own research and that of others lead us to make theopposite case. School-sponsored sports appear to provide benefits that seem to increase, notdetract (减少) from, academic success.

　　D) Ripley indulges a popular obsession (痴迷) with international test score comparisons, whichshow wide and frightening gaps between the United States and other countries. She ignores,however, the fact that states vary at least as much in test scores as do developed countries. A2011 report from Harvard University shows that Massachusetts produces math scorescomparable to South Korea and Finland, while Mississippi scores are closer to Trinidad andTobago. Ripley's thesis about sports falls apart in light of this fact. Schools in Massachusettsprovide sports programs while schools in Finland do not. Schools in Mississippi may love footballwhile in Tobago interscholastic sports are nowhere near as prominent. Sports cannot explainthese similarities in performance. They can't explain international differences either.

　　E) If it is true that sports undermine the academic mission of American schools, we wouldexpect to see a negative relationship between the commitment to athletics and academicachievement. However, the University of Arkansas's Daniel Bowen and Jay Greene actually findthe opposite. They examine this relationship by analyzing schools' sports winning percentagesas well as student-athletic participation rates compared to graduation rates and standardizedtest score achievement over a five-year period for all public high schools in Ohio. Controllingfor student poverty levels, demographics (人口统计状况), and district financial resources, bothmeasures of a school's commitment to athletics are significantly, positively related to lowerdropout rates as well as higher test scores.

　　F) On-the-ficld success and high participation in sports is not random—it requires focus anddedication to athletics. One might think this would lead schools obsessed with winning todeemphasize academics. Bowen and Greene's results contradict that argument. A likelyexplanation for this seemingly counterintuitive (与直觉相反的) result is that success in sportsprograms actually facilitates or reflects greater social capital within a school's community.

　　G) Ripley cites the writings of renowned sociologist James Coleman, whose research ineducation was groundbreaking. Coleman in his early work held athletics in contempt, arguingthat they crowded out schools' academic missions. Ripley quotes his 1961 study, TheAdolescent Society, where Coleman writes, "Altogether, the trophy (奖品) case would suggestto the innocent visitor that he was entering an athletic club, not an educational institution."

　　H) However, in later research he would show how the success of schools is highly dependenton what he termed social capital, "the norms, the social networks, and the relationshipsbetween adults and children that are of value for the child's growing up."

　　I) According to a 2013 evaluation conducted by the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago, aprogram called Becoming a Man—Sports Edition creates lasting improvements in the boys'study habits and grade point averages. During the first year of the program, students werefound to be less likely to transfer schools or be engaged in violent crime. A year after theprogram, participants were less likely to have had an encounter with the juvenile justicesystem.

　　J) If school-sponsored sports were completely eliminated tomorrow, many American studentswould still have opportunities to participate in organized athletics elsewhere, much like theydo in countries such as Finland, Germany, and South Korea. The same is not certain when itcomes to students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. In an overview of the research onnon-school based after-school programs, researchers find that disadvantaged childrenparticipate in these programs at significantly lower rates. They find that low-income studentshave less access due to challenges with regard to transportation, non- nominal fees, and off-campus safety. Therefore, reducing or eliminating these opportunities would most likely deprivedisadvantaged students of the benefits from athletic participation, not least of which is theopportunity to interact with positive role models outside of regular school hours.

　　K) Another unfounded criticism that Ripley makes is bringing up the stereotype that athleticcoaches are typically lousy (蹩脚的) classroom teachers. "American principals, unlike the vastmajority of principals around the world, make many hiring decisions with their sports teams inmind, which does not always end well for students," she writes. Educators who seekemployment at schools primarily for the purpose of coaching are likely to shirk (推卸) teachingresponsibilities, the argument goes. Moreover, even in the cases where the employee is ateacher first and athletic coach second, the additional responsibilities that come with coachinglikely come at the expense of time otherwise spent on planning, grading, and communicatingwith parents and guardians.

　　L) The data, however, do not seem to confirm this stereotype. In the most rigorous study onthe classroom results of high school coaches, the University of Arkansas's Anna Egalite findsthat athletic coaches in Florida mostly tend to perform just as well as their non-coachingcounterparts, with respect to raising student test scores. We do not doubt that teachers whoalso coach face serious tradeoffs that likely come at the expense of time they could dedicateto their academic obligations. However, as with sporting events, athletic coaches gainadditional opportunities for communicating and serving as mentors (导师) that potentially helpstudents succeed and make up for the costs of coaching commitments.

　　M) If schools allow student-athletes to regularly miss out on instructional time for the sake oftraveling to athletic competitions, that's bad. However, such issues would be better addressedby changing school and state policies with regard to the scheduling of sporting events asopposed to total elimination. If the empirical evidence points to anything, it points towardsschool-sponsored sports providing assets that are well worth the costs.

　　N) Despite negative stereotypes about sports culture and Ripley's presumption thatacademics and athletics are at odds with one another, we believe that the greater body ofevidence shows that school-sponsored sports programs appear to benefit students.Successes on the playing field can carry over to the classroom and vice versa (反之亦然). Moreimportantly, finding ways to increase school communities' social capital is imperative to thesuccess of the school as a whole, not just the athletes.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。

　　46. Students from low-income families have less access to off-campus sports programs.

　　47. Amanda Ripley argues that America should learn from other countries that rank high ininternational tests and lay less emphasis on athletics.

　　48. According to the author, Amanda Ripley fails to note that students' performance in examsvaries from state to state.

　　49. Amanda Ripley thinks that athletic coaches are poor at classroom instruction.

　　50 James Coleman's later research makes an argument for a school's social capital.

　　51. Researchers find that there is a positive relationship between a school's commitment toathletics and academic achievements.

　　52. A rigorous study finds that athletic coaches also do well in raising students' test scores.

　　53. According to an evaluation, sports programs contribute to students' academicperformance and character building.

　　54. Amanda Ripley believes the emphasis on school sports should be brought up when tryingto understand why American students are mediocre.

　　55. James Coleman suggests in his earlier writings that school athletics would undermine aschool's image.

　　Section C

　　Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questionsor unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D).You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2with a single line through the centre.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

　　It is easy to miss amid the day-to-day headlines of global economic recession, but there is aless conspicuous kind of social upheaval (剧变) underway that is fast altering both the face ofthe planet and the way human beings live. That change is the rapid acceleration ofurbanization. In 2008, for the first time in human history, more than half the world'spopulation was living in towns and cities. And as a recently published paper shows, theprocess of urbanization will only accelerate in the decades to come — with an enormousimpact on biodiversity and potentially on climate change.

　　As Karen Seto, the lead author of the paper, points out, that the wave of urbanization isn't justabout the migration of people into urban environments, but about the environmentsthemselves becoming bigger to accommodate all those people. The rapid expansion of urbanareas will have a huge impact on biodiversity hotspots and on carbon emissions in those urbanareas.

　　Humans are the ultimate invasive species — when they move into new territory, they oftendisplace the wildlife that was already living there. And as land is cleared for those new cities —especially in the dense tropical forests — carbon will be released into the atmosphere as well.It's true that as people in developing nations move from the countryside to the city, the shiftmay reduce the pressure on land, which could in turn be good for the environment. This isespecially so in desperately poor countries, where residents in the countryside slash and bumforests each growing season to clear space for farming. But the real difference is that indeveloping nations, the move from rural areas to cities often leads to an accompanyingincrease in income — and that increase leads to an increase in the consumption of food andenergy, which in turns causes a rise in carbon emissions. Getting enough to eat and enjoyingthe safety and comfort of living fully on the grid is certainly a good thing — but it does carry anenvironmental price.

　　The urbanization wave can't be stopped — and it shouldn't be. But Seto's paper doesunderscore the importance of managing that transition. If we do it the right way, we canreduce urbanization's impact on the environment. "There's an enormous opportunity here,and a lot of pressure and responsibility to think about how we urbanize," says Seto. "Onething that's clear is that we can't build cities the way we have over the last couple of hundredyears. The scale of this transition won't allow that." We're headed towards an urban planetno matter what, but whether it becomes heaven or hell is up to us.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。

　　56. What issue does the author try to draw people's attention to?

　　A) The shrinking biodiversity worldwide.

　　B) The rapid increase of world population.

　　C) The ongoing global economic recession.

　　D) The impact of accelerating urbanization.

　　57. In what sense are humans the ultimate invasive species?

　　A) They are much greedier than other species.

　　B) They are a unique species born to conquer.

　　C) They force other species out of their territories.

　　D) They have an urge to expand their living space.

　　58. In what way is urbanization in poor countries good for the environment?

　　A) More land will be preserved for wildlife.

　　B) The pressure on farmland will be lessened.

　　C) Carbon emissions will be considerably reduced.

　　D) Natural resources will be used more effectively.

　　59. What does the author say about living comfortably in the city?

　　A) It incurs a high environmental price.

　　B) It brings poverty and insecurity to an end.

　　C) It causes a big change in people's lifestyle.

　　D) It narrows the gap between city and country.

　　60. What can be done to minimize the negative impact of urbanization according to Seto?

　　A) Slowing down the speed of transition.

　　B) Innovative use of advanced technology.

　　C) Appropriate management of the process.

　　D) Enhancing people's sense of responsibility.

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

　　When Harvard student Mark Zuckerherg launched the facebook.com in Feb. 2004, even he couldnot imagine the forces it would let loose. His intent was to connect college students. Facebook,which is what this Web site rapidly evolved into, ended up connecting the world.

　　To the children of this connected era, the world is one giant social network. They are notbound - as were previous generations of humans - by what they were taught. They are onlylimited by their curiosity and ambition. During my childhood, all knowledge was local. Youlearned everything you knew from your parents, teachers, preachers, and friends.

　　With the high-quality and timely information at their fingertips, today's children are risingabove the fears and biases of their parents. Adults are also participating in this revolution.India's normally tame middle class is speaking up against social ills. Silicon Valley executives arebeing shamed into adding women to their boards. Political leaders are marshalling the energy ofmillions for elections and political causes. All of this is being done with social media technologiesthat Facebook and its competitors set free.

　　As does every advancing technology, social media has created many new problems. It iscommonly? addictive and creates risks for younger users. Social media is used by extremists inthe Middle East and elsewhere to seek and brainwash recruits. And it exposes us and ourfriends to disagreeable spying. We may leave our lights on in the house when we are onvacation, but through social media we tell criminals exactly where we are, when we plan toreturn home, and how to blackmail (敲诈) us.

　　Governments don't need informers any more. Social media allows government agencies to spyon their own citizens. We record our thoughts, emotions, likes and dislikes on Facebook; weshare our political views, social preferences, and plans. We post intimate photographs ofourselves. No spy agency or criminal organization could actively gather the type of data thatwe voluntarily post for them.

　　The marketers are also seeing big opportunities. Amazon is trying to predict what we will order.Google is trying to judge our needs and wants based on our social-media profiles. We need tobe aware of the risks and keep working to alleviate the dangers.

　　Regardless of what social media people use, one thing is certain: we are in a period ofaccelerating change. The next decade will be even more amazing and unpredictable than thelast. Just as no one could predict what would happen with social media in the last decade, noone can accurately predict where this technology will take us. I am optimistic, however, that aconnected humanity will find a way to uplift itself.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2 上作答。

　　61. What was the purpose of Facebook when it was first created?

　　A) To help students connect with the outside world.

　　B) To bring university students into closer contact.

　　C) To help students learn to live in a connected era.

　　D) To combine the world into an integral whole.

　　62. What difference does social media make to learning?

　　A) Local knowledge and global knowledge will merge.

　　B) Students will become more curious and ambitious.

　　C) People are able to learn wherever they travel.

　　D) Sources of information are greatly expanded.

　　63. What is the author's greatest concern with social media technology?

　　A) Individual and organizations may use it for evil purposes.

　　B) Government will find it hard to protect classified information.

　　C) People may disclose their friends' information unintentionally.

　　D) People's attention will be easily distracted from their work in hand.

　　64. What do businesses use social media for?

　　A) Creating a good corporate image.

　　B) Conducting large-scale market surveys.

　　C) Anticipating the needs of customs.

　　D) Minimizing possible risks and dangers.

　　65. What does the author think of social media as a whole?

　　A) It will enable human society to advance at a faster pace.

　　B) It will pose a grave threat to our traditional ways of life.

　　C) It is bound to bring about another information revolution.

　　D) It breaks down the final barriers in human communication.

责任编辑：lzx