B. Because people were hurt by them. C. Because people saw a really cute one. D. Because they protected people’s houses.
26. What can we infer about the living conditions of the author’s coworkers? A. They were unknown to the author. C. They were no better than the author’s.
B. They were acceptable to the author. D. They were much better than the author’s.
27. After visiting the Beaver Meadows Vistor Center again, the author . A. could appreciate it better
B. finished a children’s book D. knew it was designed by Wright C
Increasing numbers of airports, especially in Europe, are promoting a “silent airport” idea. It is to reduce noise pollution, such as airport-wide announcements, without sacrificing timely and helpful updates of information.
International airports were once characterized by their high voices, competing gate announcements and so on. This is all changing.
Angela Gittens, director general of Airports Council International (ACI), says there is a growing desire among airports and airlines they serve to “create a calm, relaxed atmosphere” without being disturbed by announcements.
“Passengers can relax while they wait for their flight to board in the common airside lounges (休闲区), and food and drink areas,” she says.
In June, Helsinki Airport in Finland — a country where the tourism slogan is “Silence, Please” — became the most recent airport to adopt the silent concept.
As part of its commitment to quieting things down, announcements for flights are made only in boarding gate areas.
Lost track of time in the shop? Too bad.
Nobody’s going to call you to your flight, as announcements in all terminals will be made only in exceptional emergency circumstances.
Heikki Koski, vice president of Helsinki Airport, says that improved flight information display systems and interactive kiosks (交互式自助服务机), together with advances in mobile technology, are changing the way airports communicate with passengers.
At Munich Airport, InfoGate kiosks allow for video-based, face-to-face conversation with a live customer
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C. did research on national parks
service representative in the traveler’s language of choice. Interactive signs, on the other hand, give directions at the touch of finger. Passengers can tap a “you are here” display to get directions and approximate walking times to their destinations.
Of course, an airport will never be as silent as a temple.
There will continue to be a need for airport-wide emergency announcements, along with boarding calls. But at silent airports, the latter can be restricted to specific gates, as has been adopted in Helsinki. 28. What is Angela Gittens, opinion on the silent airport concept? A. It makes airport noise-free. B. It is intended for passengers’ benefit.
C. It has changed international airports’ reputation. D. It has encouraged the catering industry in airports.
29. What should passengers pay close attention to at Helsinki Airport? A. Their boarding time.
B. Finland’s tourism slogan. D. The “you are here” display.
C. The shops’ opening hours.
30. Why is Munich Airport mentioned in the next? A. To show its popularity.
B. To introduce InfoGate kiosks. D. To be compared with Helsinki Airport.
C. To prove Heikki Koski’s words. 31. What is the best title for the text? A. Silence, please. This is an airport! B. Can airports be as quiet as temples? C. Silent airports all around the world
D. Technology helps airports become interactive
D
Is any economist so dull as to criticize Christmas? At first glance, the holiday season in western economies seems a treat for those concerned with such vagaries (奇想) as GDP growth. After all, everyone is spending; in America, retailers make 25% of their yearly sales and 60% of their profits between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even so, economists find something to worry about in the nature of the purchases being made.
Much of the holiday spending is on gifts for others. At the simplest level, giving gifts involves the giver thinking of something that the recipient would like — he tries to guess her preferences, as economists say — and then buying the gift and delivering it. Yet this guessing of preferences is not easy; indeed, it is often done badly.
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Every year, ties go unworn and books unread. And even if a gift is enjoyed, it may not be what the recipient would have bought if they had spent the money themselves.
Interested in this mismatch between wants and gifts, in 1993 Joel Waldfogel, then an economist at Yale University, sought to estimate the difference in dollar terms. In a research, he asked students two questions at the end of a holiday season: first, estimate the total amount paid (by the givers) for all the holiday gifts you received; second, apart from the sentimental value of the items, if you did not have them, how much would you be willing to pay to get them? His results were gloomy: on average, a gift was valued by the recipient well below the price paid by the giver.
In addition, recipients may not know their own preferences very well. Some of the best gifts, after all, are unexpected items that you would never have thought of buying, but which turn out to be especially well picked. And preference can change. So by giving a jazz CD, for example, the giver may be encouraging the recipient to enjoy something that was ignored before. This, a desire to build skills, is possibly the hope held by many parents who ignore their children’s desires for video games and buy them books instead.
Finally, there are items that a recipient would like to receive but not purchase. If someone else buys them, however, they can be enjoyed guilt-free. This might explain the high volume of chocolate that changes over the holidays. Thus, the lesson for gift-givers is that you should try hard to guess the preference of each person on your list and then choose a gift that will have a high sentimental value. 32. The word “sentimental” in Paragraph 3 is close to “ .” A. intelligent
B. emotional
C. social
D. practical
33. According to the text, which of the following statements is TRUE? A. Price is nothing but the factor when you give gifts.
B. Chocolates will be blamed when people receive them as gifts. C. The receivers often overestimate the values of gifts. D. Wants do not always correspond to needs in gift-giving. 34. Which of the following statements can be inferred from the text? A. The gift-giver tries to neglect the actual needs of the receiver. B. The best gifts are well picked by the givers.
C. In gift-giving, guessing preference is often a failure, so it’s the thought that counts. D. You have to take money into consideration when giving a gift. 35. The text is most likely taken from a .
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A. users’ handbook C. travel magazine
B. medical journal D. consumer-related report
第二节（共5小题;每小题2分，满分10分）
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。 Organic produce has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, “organic” does not mean “pesticide-free” (无农药的) or “chemical-free”. In fact, organic farmers are allowed to use a wide variety of chemical sprays and powders on their crops.
36 It means that these pesticides, if used, must be got from natural sources, not synthetically (人工合成地) manufactured. Also, these pesticides must be applied using equipment that has not been used to apply any synthetic materials for the past three years. 37 What’s more, most organic farmers, and even some conventional farmers, employ mechanical and cultural tools to help control pests.
Many people believe organic produce is healthier and safer. Nobody bothered to look at whether natural chemicals are harmful. 38 But when the studies were done, you found that about half of the natural chemicals studied could cause cancer. 39 We assume that “natural” chemicals were better and safer than synthetic materials, but we were wrong. 40 A. And the land being planted cannot have been treated with synthetic materials for that period either. B. Thus, we should be more cautious in our acceptance of “natural” as being harmless. C. There are many choices and decisions that we, as consumers, are asked to make. D. It should be noted that we don’t know which system is more harmful. E. This is a case where everyone made the same dangerous mistake. F. That was because it was assumed that they posed little risk. G. So what does organic mean?
第三部分 英语知识运用（共两节，满分40分）
第一节 完形填空（共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。 That was my first ballet performance and I was the lead role. A huge black curtain 41 me from the crowd. My heart raced so rapidly that it would 42 out of my chest. A rush of 43 shot through my body when the music began and I took my 44 at the center of the stage. I pushed off the floor as hard as I could and 45 into the air. Then I started to come 46 for my landing, preparing to jump again, and yet my foot 47 . I fell, face-first. For a moment I couldn’t 48 , wondering if I should go on. 49 , trained for thousands of hours for
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