Part III 阅读理解

Passage One

Sometimesarace is not enough. Sometimesarunner just wants to go further. That's what happened to Dennis Martin and Brooke Curran. Martin, 68, a retired detective from New York City, took up running after his first wife died. Curran, 46, a philanthropist(慈善家) from Alexandria, started running to get out of the house and collect her thoughts.

Both she and Martin got good at running but felt the desire to do more. "The more Itrained, the better Igot." Curran said, "but Iwould cross the finish line with no sense of accomplishment." Eventually, they worked up to running marathons (马拉松) (and longer races) in other countries, on other continents.

Now both have achievedanotable—and increasingly less rate — milestone: running the 26.2-mile race on all seven continents. They are part ofaphenomenon that has grown out of the running culture in the past two decades, at the intersection of athleticism and leisure: "runcations," which combine distance running with travel to exotic places.

These trips, as expensive as they are physically challenging, areagrowing and competitive market in the travel industry. "In the beginning, running was enough," said Steen Albrechtsen, a press manager. "The classic marathon was the ultimate goal, then came the super marathons, like London and New York.

But when 90,000 peopleayear can take that challenge, it is no longer exciting and adventurous. Hence, the search for new adventures began." "No one could ever have imagined that running would become the lifestyle activity that it is today," said Thom Gilligan, founder and president of Boston-based Marathon Tours and Travel.

Gilligan, who has been in business since 1979, is partly responsible for the sevencontinent phenomenon. It started withacasual talk to an interviewer about his company offering trips to every continent except Antarctica. And then in 1995, Marathon Tours hosted its first Antarctica Marathon on King George Island.

Off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, 160 runners got to the starting line ofadirt-and ice-trail route via aRussian icebreaker through the Drake Passage.

21. At the beginning, Martin took up running just to .

    A meet requirements of his jobB winarunning raceC join inaphilanthropic activityD get away from his sadness

22. Martin and Curran are mentioned as good examples of .

    A winners in the 26.2-mile race on all seven continentsB people who enjoy long running asalifestyle activityC running racers satisfied with their own performanceD old people who live an active life after retirement

23. A new trend in the travel industry is the development of .

    A challenging runcationsB professional racesC Antarctica travel marketD expensive tours

24. The classic marathon no longer satisfies some people because .

    A it does not provide enough challengeB it may be tough and dangerousC it involves too fierceacompetitionD it has attracted too many people

25. The first Antarctica Marathon on King George Island indicates that .

    A international cooperation isamust to such an eventB runcations are expensive and physically challengingC Marathon Tours isaleader of the travel industryD adventurous running has become increasingly popular

Passage Two

Before the 1970s, college students were treated as children. So many colleges ran in loco parentis system. " In loco parentis" is aLatin term meaning "in the place ofaparent." It describes when someone else accepts responsibility to act in the interests ofachild. This idea developed long ago in British common law to define the responsibility of teachers toward their students.

For years, American courts upheld in loco parentis in cases such as Gott versus Berea College in 1913. Gott ownedarestaurant off campus. Berea threatened to expel students who ate at places not owned by the school. The Kentucky high court decided that in loco parentis justified that rule.

In loco parentis meant that male and female college students usually had to live in separate buildings. Women had to be back at their dorms by ten or eleven on school nights. But in the 1960s, students began to protest rules and restrictions like these. At the same time, courts began to support students who were being punished for political and social dissent.

In 1960, Alabama State College expelled six students who took part inacivil rights demonstration. They sued the school and won. After that, it became harder and harder to defend in loco parentis. At that time, students were not considered adults until 21. Then, in 1971, the 24th amendment to the Constitution set the voting age at eighteen.

So in loco parentis no longer really applied. Slowly, colleges began to treat students not as children, but as adults. Students came to be seen as consumers of educational services. Gary Dickstein, an assistant vice president at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, says in loco parentis is not really gone.

It just looks different. Today's parents, he says, are often heavily involved in students' lives. They are known as "helicopter parents." They always seem to hover over their children. Gary Dickstein says these parents are likely to question decisions, especially about safety issues and grades.

They want to make sure their financial investment is not being wasted.

26. Before the 1970s, many colleges ran in loco parentis system because .

    A they could take the place of the students' parentsB parents asked them to do it for the interests of their childrenC this wasatradition established by British collegesD college students were regarded as too young to be treated as adults

27. Who won the case of Gott versus Berea College in 1913?

    A Berea College.B Gott.C It wasawin-win case.D The students.

28. The word "dissent" (Para.5) probably means " ".

    A extreme behaviorsB violation of lawsC strong disagreementD wrong doings

29. In 1960, the court ruled that Alabama State College .

    A had no right to expel the studentsB was justified to have expelled the studentsC shouldn't interfere with students' daily lifeD should support civil rights demonstrations

30. According to Gary Dickstein, today's " helicopter parents" .

    A don't set their hearts at rest with college administratorsB keepawatchful eye on their children's life and studyC care less about their children's education than beforeD have different opinions on their children's education

Passage Three

We tend to think of plants as the furniture of the natural world. They don't move, they don't make sounds, they don't seem to respond to anything—at least not very quickly. But as is often the case, our human view of the world misses quitealot. Plants talk to each other all the time.

And the language is chemical. Over the years, scientists have reported that different types of plants, from trees to tomatoes, release compounds into the air to help neighboring plants. These chemical warnings all have the same purpose—to spread information about one plant's disease so other plants can defend themselves.

But exactly how plants receive and act on many of these signals is still mysterious. In this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in Japan offer some explanations. They have identified one chemical message and traced it all the way from release to action.

The scientists looked at tomato plants infested (侵害) byacommon pest, the cutworm caterpillar(毛虫). To start out, they grew plants in two plastic compartments connected by a tube. One plant was infested and placed upwind and the others were uninfested and placed downwind. The downwind plants were later exposed to the cutworm caterpillar.

The results showed that plants that had previously been near sick neighbors were able to defend themselves better against the caterpillar. The researchers also studied leaves from exposed and unexposed plants. They found one compound showed up more often in the exposed plants. The substance is called HexVic.

When the scientists fed HexVic to cutworms, it knocked down their survival rate by 17%. The scientists identified the source of HexVic, and sprayed it lightly over healthy plants. Those plants were then able to start producing the caterpillar-killing HexVic. Researchers confirmed that uninfested plants have to build their own weapon to fight off bugs and diseases.

How do they know when to play defense? They are warned first by their friendly plant neighbors. It isacomplex tale, and it may be happening in more plant species than tomatoes. It may also be happening with more chemical signals that are still unknown to us. For now though, we know that plants not only communicate, they look out for one another.

31. What does the author try to emphasize in Paragraph 1?

    A How plants communicate is stillamystery.B Enough attention has been paid to plant talk.C Plants are the furniture of the natural world.D Plants can communicate with each other.

32. According to Paragraph 2, what remains unknown is ______.

    A how plants receive and handle the signals from their neighborsB why plants spread chemical information to their neighborsC how many types of plants release compounds into the airD whether plants send chemical warnings to their neighbors

33. The tomato plants in the experiment were ______.

    A placed separately but connected through airB exposed to different kinds of pestsC exposed to the pest at the same timeD placed together inaclosed compartment

34. The experiment shows that the infested plant helps its neighbors by ______.

    A making more HexVic to attract the pestB releasing HexVic into the air to warn themC letting them know how to produce HexVicD producing enough HexVic to kill the pest

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

    A Survival of PlantsB Plant WorldC Talking PlantsD Plant Bug Killer

Passage Four

Vancouver is the best place to live in the Americas, according toaquality-of-life ranking published earlier this month. The city regularly tops such indexes as its clean air, spacious homes and weekend possibilities of sailing and skiing. But its status asaliveable city is threatened by worsening congestion (拥挤).

Over the next three decades, another1million residents are expected to live in the Greater Vancouver region, adding more cars, bicycles and lorries to roads that are already struggling to serve the existing 2.3 million residents. A proposal by Vancouver' s mayor seeks to prevent the worsening conditions.

Upgrades would be made to 2,300 kilometers of road lanes, as well as bus routes and cycle paths. Four hundred new buses would join the fleet of 1,830. There would be more trains and more "seabus" ferry crossings between Vancouver and its wealthy northern suburbs. To get all that, residents must vote to accept an increase in sales tax, from 7% to 7.5%.

Polls suggest they will vote no. Everyone agrees thatamore efficient transport system is needed. Confined by mountains to the north, the United States to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west, Vancouver has spread in the only direction where there is still land, into the Fraser Valley, which justafew decades ago was mostly farmland.

The road is often overcrowded. Yet commuters' suspicion of local bureaucrats may exceed their dislike of congestion. TransLink, which runs public transport in the region, is unloved by taxpayers. Passengers blame it when Skytrain, the light-rail system, comes toastandstill because of mechanical or electrical faults, as happened twice in one week last summer, leaving commuters stuck in carriages with nothing to do but expressing their anger on Twitter.

That sort of thing has made voters less willing to pay the ＄7.5 billion in capital spending that the ten-year traffic upgrade would involve. Despite the complaints, Vancouver's transport system isadecent, well-integrated one on which to build, reckons Todd Litman, a transport consultant who has worked for TransLink.

"These upgrades are all-important if Vancouver wants to maintain its reputation for being a destination others want to go to." he says.

36. The biggest problem threatening Vancouver asaliveable city is .

    A increasing congestionB climate changeC shortage of landD lack of money

37. The upgrade proposal by Vancouver's mayor may be turned down by residents because .

    A they do not want more people to move inB they are reluctant to move to new placesC upgrades would take away their living spaceD upgrades would add to their financial burdens

38. The only direction for Vancouver to further expand is towards .

    A the eastB the westC the southD the north

39. TransLink is mentioned (Para. 4) as an example of .

    A world famous transport companiesB local residents' complaints about the bureaucratsC local effort to improve public transportD worsening traffic congestion

40. According to Todd Litman, the upgrade proposal .

    A will solve the traffic problemB will benefit local economyC satisfies the transport companyD deserves public support

Blog and Comments

The blog and comments are followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet. Towards the end of the 1990s, more thanadecade andahalf after Diet Coke was first introduced, sale of Coca Cola' s best-selling low caloric drink appeared to slow down.

However, in the decade that followed, diet sodas grew by more than 30 percent. In 2009, sales pushed above $8.5 billion for the first time. But America's thirst for Diet Coke is running dry again—and this time it could be for good. The diet soda slowdown isn't merely an American thing—it's also happening worldwide.

But the future of diet colas is particularly cloudy in the United States. Low calorie sodas are fightingahard battle against not one but two trends among American consumers. The first is that overall soda consumption has been on the decline since before 2000. Diet sodas, though they might come sugar- and calorie-free, are still sodas, something Americans are proving less and less interested in drinking.

The second, and perhaps more significant trend, isagrowing mistrust of artificial sweeteners (甜味剂). "Consumers' attitudes towards sweeteners have really changed." said Howard Telford, an industry analyst. "there's avery negative perception about artificial sweeteners. The industry is still trying to get its head around this."

41. What do we know about diet soda sale?

    A It began to undergoagradual drop starting from 2000.B It was on the decline since the 1990s but is on the rise now.C It reached its peak in the 2000s but began to drop since then.D It has been decreasing since the 1990s.

42. What does the author think of the prospects of diet soda sale?

    A It will continue to drop.B It will get better soon.C It is hard to say for sure.D It may have ups and downs.

43. Which comment givesapersonal reason for quitting diet colas?

    A Comment 5.B Comment 4.C Comment 3.D Comment 1.

44. Which comment supports the author's point of view?

    A Comment 2.B Comment 3.C Comment 4.D Comment 5.

45. Which comments disagree with the author on the cause of soda sale slowdown?

    A Comment3and Comment 5.B Comment2and Comment 4.C Comment1and Comment 4.D Comment2and Comment 3.