Passage Two Nick was tired of life. Every day was exactly the same. "What I need is a little adventure!" Nick thought as he waited at the bus stop one morning. Nick’s little adventure happened sooner than he had expected! While he was on the bus, reading his newspaper, the man sitting next to him suddenly pushed a large brown envelope in his hands. "Here, take this!" he murmured. Then he stood up and got off the bus before Nick could say a word. Nick sat There holding the envelope. It felt heavy. There were papers inside, or money perhaps. "I’d better hand it over to the police." He thought. There was a police station close to his office. But as he got off the bus, a man came up to him. He was obviously waiting for something. "He wants the envelope." Nick thought. Nick began to walk quickly and the man hurried after him. Nick started to run and the man began to run, too. But then, just before he go to the police station, Nick managed to lose the man in the crowds when he entered the police station, the man was no longer in sight. Inside the police station, the envelope was full of money—false money. "Obviously the man made a mistake." the inspector said, "He thought you was one of the gang! Well congratulations!" Nick felt like a hero. He could already see his name in all the paper. He could imagine an interview on television ! "However," the inspector went on, interrupting Nick’s daydreams. "I’m afraid I must ask you to keep quiet about this. We’re trying to catch some very clever thieves, and we don’t want them to know that we have some of the money. So you mustn’t say a word to anyone—even your boss! Sorry!" "So that’s that!" Nick said to himself on his way to the office. He was over an hour late. "I’ve had my little adventure, but I can’t tell anyone about it. So what’s the point I’ve even to make up an excuse to the boss!" Nick decided to take the envelope to the police because he thought it was ().
A. dangerous
B. heavy
C. important
D. funny
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Robots at WorkThe newspaper production process has come a long way from the old days when the paper was written, edited, typeset and ultimately printed in one building with the journalists working on the upper floors and the printing (19) going on the ground floor. These days the editors, sub-editors and journalists who put the paper together are (20) to find themselves in a totally different building or maybe even in a different city. This is the (21) which now prevails in Sydney. The daily paper is complied at the editorial headquarters, known as the pre-press centre, in the heart of the city but printed far away in the suburbs at the printing centre. Her human beings are in the (22) as much of the work is done by automated machines controlled by computers. (23) the finished newspaper has been created for the next morning’s edition, all the pages are (24) electronically from pre-press centre to the printing centre. The system of transmission is an update on the sophisticated page facsimile system already in use on many (25) newspapers. An image-setter at the printing centre delivers the pages as films. Each page (26) less than one minute to produce, although for color pages four versions are used, one each for black, cyan, magenta and yellow. The pages are then processed into photographic negatives and the film is used to produce aluminum printing plates (27) for the presses.A procession of automated vehicles is busy at the new printing centre where the Sydney Morning Herald is printed each day. With (28) flashing and warning horns honking, the robots look for all the world like enthusiastic machines from a science-fiction movie, as they follow their random paths around the (29) busily getting on with their jobs. Automation of this kind is now (30) in all modern newspaper plants. The robots can (31) unauthorized personnel and alert (32) staff immediately if they find an intruder and not surprisingly, tall tales are already being told about the machines starting to take on (33) of their own. 26()
A. asks
B. puts
C. manages
D. takes
Directions: There are five reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by four questions. For each question there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose one best answer and write down the corresponding letter.Passage One Nearly all "speed reading" courses have a "pacing" element—some timing device which lets the student know how many words a minute he is reading. You can do this simply by looking at your watch every 5 or 10 minutes and noting clown the page number you have reached. Check the average number of words per page for the particular book you are reading. How do you know when 5 minutes has passed on your watch if you are busy reading the book Well, this is difficult at first. A friend can help by timing you over a set period, or you can read within hearing distance of a public clock which strikes the quarter hours. Pace yourself every three or four days, always with the same kind of easy, general interest books. You should soon notice your accustomed w. p. m. rate creeping up. Obviously there is little point in increasing your w. p. m. rate if you do not understand what you are reading. When you are consciously trying to increase your reading speed, stop after every chapter (if you are reading a novel) or every section or group of ten or twelve pages (if it is a text-book) and ask yourself a few questions about what you have been reading. If you find you have lost the thread of the story, or you cannot remember dearly the details of what was said, reread the section or chapter. You can also try "lightning speed" exercise from time to time. Take four or five pages of the general interest book you happen to be reading and read them as fast as you possibly can. Do not bother about whether you understand or not. Now go back and read them at what you feel to be your "normal" w. p. m. rate, the rate at which you can comfortably understand. After a "lightning speed" reading through (probably 600 w. p. m.) you will usually find that your "normal" speed has increased—perhaps by as much as 50- 100 w. p. m. This is the technique sportsmen use when they usually run further in training than they will have to on the day of the big race. The purpose of the "lightning speed" exercise is to ().
A. increase your speed by scanning the text first
B. test your maximum reading speed
C. help you understand more of the content of the book
D. enable you to win reading races against your friends
32()
A. where
B. that
C. which
D. wherever
Jeanne Calment, a French woman, became a record breaker on 17 October of 1995, when at the age of 120 years and 238 days , she became the longest-lived human being on record. A Japanese man died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days.Jeanne Calment lives in a small old people’s home in the south of France; her husband, her only child and her grandson have all died. She is nearly blind and deaf and she is always in a wheelchair, but her doctor describes her as being more like a 90-year-old in good health than someone of 120. She still has a lively sense of humor. When asked on her 120th birthday what she expected of the future, she replied: A very short one. She also remarked that she thought the good Lord had forgotten all about her.So what is the key to a long life According to some doctors, diet, exercise and no smoking are the three important factors. Jeanne Calment has followed two of the tips. She has always eaten a healthy diet, and she used to do exercises every day until she broke her leg at the age of 115. However, until recently she drank two glassed of strong red wine a day, and she does smoke (now only a little). Besides, Jeanne Calment might have got very good genes from her parents. Her father lived to the age of 94 and her mother to 86.A local lawyer bought her house when she was 80 under an agreement that he would pay her some money every year until her death. It must have seemed a good move at the time, but so far the lawyer has paid her at least three times the value of the house. Every year on her birthday Jeanne Calment sends him a card saying: Sorry, I’m still alive ! Why does Jeanne Calment say "Sorry, I’m still alive" to the local lawyer every year on her birthday()
A. Because she had an agreement at 80 with the lawyer which was to her advantage.
Because she has asked the lawyer to pay her more rent than they first agreed.
C. Because the lawyer has paid her much more money than the value of the house.
D. Because the house she sold to the lawyer isn’t worth the money he has already paid.