Reading Comprehension (30 points, 2 points for each)

从下列每篇短文的问题后所给的四个选择项中选出一个最佳答案，并在答题卡上将相应的字母涂黑。

Passage One

Question 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

Like fingerprints, no two faces are exactly the same. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people? Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the characters that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child---even an animal, such as a bird ------ can learn to recognize faces. We all take this ability for granted.

We also tell two people apart by how they behave. A person’s personality means the ways in which he acts, speaks, thinks and feels that make him different from others.

Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing a person’s personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face, if you were asked to describe what a “nice face” looks like, you would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a “nice person”, you might begin to think about someone who is kind, thoughtful, warm, and so on.

There are many words that can be used to describe how a person thinks, feels, and acts. Gordon Allport, a U.S. scientist who studies the human mind, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in human behavior. And many of us use these words to describe different types of people ---- bookworms (书呆子), fools, workaholics(工作狂).

Passage Two

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

Although April did not bring the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the atmospheric (大气的) sound and lightning that can accompany those rains, it is still important for parents to be able to answer the youthful questions about thunder and lightning.

The reason that these that these two wonders of nature are so difficult for many adults to explain to children is that they are not very well understood by adults themselves. For example, did you know that the lighting we see flashing(闪烁) down to the earth from a cloud is actually flashing up to a cloud from the earth? Our eyes cheat us into thinking we see a downward motion when it’s actually the other way round. But then, if we believe only what we think we see, we’d still insist that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night.

Most lightning flashes take place inside a cloud, and only a relative few can be seen jumping between two clouds or between the earth and a cloud. But, with about 2,000 thunderstorms taking place above the earth every minute of the day and night, there’s enough activity to produce about 100 lightning strikes on the earth every second.

Parents can use thunder and lightning to help their children learn more about the world around them. When children understand that the light of the lightning flashes reaches their eyes almost at the same moment, but the sound of the thunder takes about 5 seconds to travel just one mile, they can begin to time the interval between the flash and the crash to learn how close they are to the actual spark.

Passage Three

Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

The year at an American college is divided into 2 semesters or 3 quarters. Semesters are 15 weeks; quarters are 10 weeks. American college students usually attend school from September to May. They can also study during the summer.

Students choose their classes a few weeks before the start of each term. Universities offer a great many classes in the students’ main area of study and in other areas as well. Students must take both. These include science, mathematics, computer, history and English. Other classes may be just for fun, like dance, theater or sports. Tests usually are given in the middle of the term and at the end. The final examinations are extremely important. In some classes, the professor asks the students to write a research paper or complete a certain task instead of taking a test.

Classes usually are organized through lectures. For example, a student may attend 2 or 3 lectures a week by the professor. As many as several hundred students sit at each lecture. Sometimes they also attend a smaller class to ask questions and discuss what the professor says. These small classes are taught by professor’s assistants. In science classes, students also have a long laboratory class each week.