第一部分：词汇选项（第1—15题，每题1分，共15分）
 下面共有15个句子，每个句子中均有1个词或短语画有底横线，请从每个句子后面所给的4个选项中选择1个与画线部分意义最相近的词或短语。答案一律涂在答题卡相应的位置上。
1. I am not certain whether he will come.
A determined    B sure
C sorry     D glad
2. She seemed to have detected some anger in his voice.
A noticed     B heard
C realized     D got
3. Please do not hesitate to call me if I can be of further assistance.
A contact     B see
C help      D touch
4. In short, I am going to live there myself.
A In other words    B That is to say
C In a word     D To be frank
5. He has trouble understanding that other people judge him by his social skills and conduct.
A style      B behavior
C mode     D attitude
6. I had some difficulty in carrying out the plan.
A making     B keeping
C changing     D implementing
7. Mr. Johnson evidently regarded this as a great joke.
A readily     B casually
C obviously     D simply
8. We all think that Mary’s husband is a very boring person.
A shy      B stupid
C dull      D selfish
9. The workers in that factory manufacture furniture.
A promote     B paint
C produce     D polish
10. They only have a limited amount of time to get their points across.
A large      B total
C small     D similar
11. The high-speed trains can have a major impact on travel preferences.
A force     B influence
C surprise     D power
12. Can you follow the plot?
A change     B investigate
C write     D understand
13. Even in a highly modernized country, manual work is still needed.
A physical     B mental
C natural     D hard
14. In the latter case the outcome can be serious indeed.
A result     B judgment
C decision     D event
15. Norman Blamey is an artist of deep convictions.
A statements    B beliefs
C suggestions    D claims
第2部分：阅读判断（第16—22题，每题1分，共7分）
 阅读下面这篇短文，短文后列出了7个句子，请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断。如果该句提供的是正确信息，请在答题卡上把A涂黑；如果该句提供的是错误信息，请在答题卡上把B涂黑；如果该句的信息文章中没有提及，请在答题卡上把C涂黑。
The Threat to Kiribati
 Thepeople of Kiribati are afraid that one day in the not-too-distantfuture, their country will disappear from the face of the earth-literally. Several times this year, the Pacific island nation has beenflooded by a sudden high tide. These tides, which swept across theisland and destroyed houses, came when there was neither wind nor rain.“This never happened before,” say the older citizens of Kiribati.
 Whatis causing these mysterious high tides? The answer may well be globalwarming. When fuels like oil and coal are being burned, pollutants(污染物)are released; these pollutants trap heat in the earth’satmosphere. Warmer temperatures cause water to expand and also createmore water by melting glaciers (冰川 )and polar (极地的) ice caps.
 Ifthe trend continues, scientists say, many countries will suffer,Bangladesh, for example, might lose one-fifth of its land. The coral(珊瑚) island nations of the Pacific, like Kiribati and the MarshallIslands, however, would face an even worse fate – they would beswallowed by the sea. The loss of these coral islands would beeveryone’s loss. Coral formations are home to more species than anyother place on earth.
 The people of these nations feel frustrated.The sea, on which their economies have always been based, is suddenlythreatening their existence. They don’t have the money for expensivetechnological solutions like seawalls. And they have no control overthe pollutants, which are being released mainly by activities in largeindustrialized countries. All they can do is to hope thatindustrialized countries will take steps to reduce pollution.
16. The people of Kiribati worry that one day their country will be taken away by a sudden high tide.
A Right  B Wrong  C Not mentioned
17. High tides used to attack Kiribati when there was strong wind or heavy rain.
A Right  B Wrong  C Not mentioned
18. The heat released by burning oil and coal is the direct cause of global warming.
A Right  B Wrong  C Not mentioned
19. Scientists are not sure how serious the effects of global warming will be.
A Right  B Wrong  C Not mentioned
20. The coral island nations of the Pacific have a long history of civilization.
A Right  B Wrong  C Not mentioned
21. The people of the coral island nations are unable to do anything substantial about the problem of global warming.
A Right  B Wrong  C Not mentioned
22. Some industrialized countries are unwilling to spend money in reducing pollution.
A Right  B Wrong  C Not mentioned
第3部分：概括大意与完成句子 （第23—30题，每题1分，共8分）
 阅读下面这篇短文，短文后有2项测试任务：（1）第23—26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第2、3、5和6段每段选择1个正确的小标题；（2）第27—30题要求从所给的6个选项中选择4个正确选项，分别完成每个句子。请将答案涂在答题卡相应的位置上。
Robots
1The most sophisticated(先进的)Japanese robots, which have vision systemsand work at very high speeds, are still based on American designs.Studies of robots, particularly computer control software, areconsidered to be generally less advanced in Japan than in America orEurope.
2 Although industrial robots were originally developed asdevices for simply handling objects, today their commonest uses are formore skilled work like welding (焊接), spray-painting and assemblingcomponents.
3 In Britain, robot sales appropriately peaked in 1984,but have been declining ever since. This is partly because British wagerates are too low to make robots financially attractive and partlybecause engineers now have more experience with robots and are moreaware of the difficulties of introducing them effectively.
4 It has been calculated that a robot uses on average about 100 times more energy than a human to do an equivalent job.
5It is estimated that 20% of all comic book heroes in Japan are robots.This is an enormous number because comics are so popular that they makeup a third of all material published in Japan.
6 The reliability ofrobots is measured in their M.T.B.F. or mean time between failures.This has risen from about 250 hours in the mid-1970s to about 10,000hours today (equivalent to working 18 hours a day for two years.) Oneway robot manufacturers have increased reliability is to test everysingle component they buy, instead of the normal procedure of justtesting a small sample.
7 The biggest single benefit of introducingrobots claimed by Japanese companies is that they increase qualitycontrol. Once programmed, the robots can work more accurately andconsistently than humans, who can get tired and bored.
23. Paragraph 2 _____________
24. Paragraph 3 _____________
25. Paragraph 5 _____________
26. Paragraph 6 _____________

27. Even the most sophisticated Japanese robots are __________.
28. Robots are less popular in Britain today partly because ________.
29. One disadvantage of using robots is that they consume ___________.
30. The use of robots increases ___________.
A  too much energyB  based on American designsC  they are too costlyD  they are not reliableE  quality controlF  free of charge
 
第4部分：阅读理解（第31—45题，每题3分，共45分）
 下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每道题后面有4个选项。请根据文章的内容，从每题所给的4个选项中选择1个最佳答案，涂在答题卡相应的位置上。
第一篇 Eta Carinae
Aspossibly the galaxy’s (银河) most massive star, Eta Carinae is nowengaging in some very unusual behaviour. Australian astronomers, beingin the Southern Hemisphere (半球), are able to observe it clearly.
 Inthe 19th century, Eta Carinae was for a time the third brightest starin the sky. It has now become less bright so that binoculars (双筒望远镜)are needed to see it. “It seems to be brightening and becoming lessbright over a period of many years”, said Dr Bob Duncan from theAustralia Telescope National Facility.
 While it is not unusual forstars to vary in brightness, the period is usually much shorter. “Since1992 it has become four times brighter, and then last year it began todrop dramatically,” he said.
 The problem in observing Eta Carinaeis that it has been surrounded by a cloud of gas and dust, making ithard to see the star directly. However, radio waves and infrared light(红外线)can pass through this cloud, so telescopes that receive thesewavelengths can observe what is occurring.
 Eta Carinae is ofparticular interest to astronomers because it seems to be in its deaththroes（剧痛）. Being so large it will end up as a supernova (超新星). Therehas not been a supernova in our galaxy since the invention of thetelescope. While a 1987 explosion in a nearby galaxy gave astronomersplenty of valuable data, they are hungry for an even closer look.
 EtaCarinae has other unique features, and is the only star known toproduce an ultraviolet(紫外线)laser that is brighter than that produced bythe Sun. Lasers have been observed in other frequencies from a fewstars.
31. Eta Carinae is now engaging in
A. some very common behaviour
B. some very dull behaviour
C. some very frightening behaviour.
D. some very strange behaviour
32. The word “period” in Paragraph 3 means the length of time
A. over which star vary in brightness
B. for which Eta carinae’s brightening lasts.
C. Eta carinae takes to become a supernova.
D. it takes the laser from Eta carinae to travel to the earth.
33. Eta Carinae is hard to observe because
A. it is too far away.
B. there is too much dust and gas around it.
C. the binoculars are not powerful enough.
D. it does not send out infrared light.
34. Astronomers are particularly interested in Eta Carinae because
A. it is in its final stage.
B. it is a supernova.
C. it exploded in 1987.
D. it is brighter than the sun.
35. Which of the following statements about Eta Carinae is NOT true?
A. It will end up as a supernova.
B. It can be seen only through binoculars.
C. It is the only star that sends out an ultraviolet laser.
D. Its ultraviolet laser is brighter than that of the Sun.
 
第二篇 New Foods and the New World
Inthe last 500 years, nothing about people – not their clothes, ideas, orlanguages – has changed as much as what they eat. The originalchocolate drink was made from the seeds of the coca tree (可可树)by SouthAmerican Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the worldduring the 1500’s. And although it was very expensive, it quicklybecame fashionable. In London, shops where chocolate drinks were servedbecame important meeting places. Some still exist today.
The potatois also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it fromPeru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. Ireland became sodependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the cropfailed during the “Potato Famine(饥荒)” of 1845-1846, and thousands morewere forced to leave their homeland and move to America.
There aremany other foods that have traveled from South America to the OldWorld. But some others went in the opposite direction. Brazil is nowthe world’s largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important cropin Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native toEthiopia, a country in Africa. It was first made into a drink by Arabduring the 1400’s.
According to an Arabic legend, coffee wasdiscovered when a person name Kaldi noticed that his goats wereattracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one andexperienced the “wide-awake” feeling that one-third of the world’spopulation now starts the day with.
36. According to the passage, which of the following has changed the most in the last 500 years?
A. Food
B. Clothing
C. Ideology.
D. Language.
37. “Some” in the last sentence of the first paragraph refers to
A. some cocoa trees.
B. some chocolate drinks.
C. some shops.
D. some south american indians.
38. Thousands of Irish people starved during the “Potato Famine” because
A. they were so dependent on potatoes that they refused to eat anything else.
B. they were forced to leave their homeland and move to america.
C. the weather conditions in ireland were not suitable for growing potatoes.
D. the potato harvest was bad.
39. Which country is the largest coffee producer?
A. Brazil.
B. Colombia.
C. Ethiopia.
D. Egypt.
40. Which of the following statements is NOT true, according to the passage?
A. One third of the world’s population drinks coffee.
B. Coffee is native to Colombia.
C. Coffee can keep one awake.
D. Coffee drinks were first made by Arabs.
 

第三篇 London’s First Light Rail System
TheDocklands Light Railway (DLR) took just three years to build at a costof £77 million. It is London’s first Light Rail System, but its routefollows that of a number of older lines, which carried the nineteenthcentury railways through the crowed districts of the East End.
Thesection of the line from the Tower Gateway Station to Poplar followsthe line of one of London’s earliest railways, the London &Blackwell (1840), a cable-drawn railway (later converted to steam)which carried passengers to steam ships at Blackwell Pier, and providedtransport for the messengers and clerks who went backwards and forwardsbetween the docks (码头) and the city every day.
From Poplar to IslandGardens, a new line crosses high above the dock waters, and then joinsthe old track of the Millwall Extension Railway, built to service theMillwall Docks (1868) and to provide transport for workers in the localfactories. This line was horse-drawn for part of its route, until the1880s.
The Polar to Stratford section of the DLR route was firstdeveloped by the North London Railway, built in the 1850s to link theWest and East India Docks with the manufacturing districts of theMidlands and North of England. There were major railway works andsidings (岔线)at Bow until recently.
 The trains are automaticallycontrolled from a central computer, which deals with all signaling andother safety factors, as well as adjusting speeds to keep within thetimetable; on board each vehicle, Train Captains, who are also fullyqualified drivers, are equipped with two-way radios to maintain contactwith central control. There are passenger lifts, and self-serviceticket machines, at every station.
41. The passage tells us that London’s first Light Rail System.
A. was constructed in the nineteenth century.
B. will be finished in three years’ time.
C. follows some of the original lines.
D. took three years longer than expected to complete.
42. We learn from the passage that the London & Blackwell railway
A. now carries passengers to and from the docks.
B. was a busy line a few years ago.
C. used to employ many messengers and clerks.
D. was not originally a steam railway.
43. “This line” in Paragraph 3 refers to
A. the line from the Tower Gateway Station to Poplar.
B. the line from Poplar to Island Gardens.
C. the Millwall Extension Railway.
D. the line from Poplar to Stratford.
44. It appears that the Poplar to Stratford section of the DLR route was originally developed to
A. promote travel in the Midlands.
B. encourage trade with the North of England.
C. create employment.
D. make the transport of goods easier.
45. The trains on the DLR are controlled by
A. an on-board central computer.
B. a computer engineer on board.
C. two-way radios operated by the drivers.
D. a computer center based somewhere along the line.
第5部分：补全短文（第46—50题，每题2分，共10分）
 阅读下面的短文，文章中有5处空白，文章后面有6组文字，请根据文章的内容选择5组文字，将其分别放回文章原有位置，以恢复文章原貌。请将答案涂在答题卡相应的位置上。
Success Stories
 Oneof the most successful fashion companies in the world is Benetton. TheBenetton family opened their first shop in Italy in 1968. _________(46) Benetton followed four marketing principles in order to achievetheir success.
 The first principle in Consumer Concept. To build asuccessful business, you have to develop products around things peoplevalue, especially quality. ___________ (47) He created clothes to matchpeople’s wants: the style is casual; the colors and patterns are bold;and the quality is excellent.
 The System Link in another feature ofgood marketing. For Benetton, this means waiting to get informationabout what customers like and what they dislike before making theclothes. _________ (48).
 The Information Link means making sure thecompany responds quickly to people’s demands. _____________ (49) Thisinformation is then sent to the main office in Italy. Benetton can usethis information to identify popular products and to continue makingthem; it can also identify less popular products and stop making them.
 Afinal important marketing principle is the Retail Link. There areBenetton stores in countries around the world. All the stores have thesame clothing, the same window display, and the same approach to sales.______________ (50)
 The things people like about Benetton storesare that the quality is always high and the prices are generally low.And that spells success.
A The founder of Benetton began by asking people what they wanted.
B There used to be a good reason for this.
C When something is sold at a Benetton store, the store records information about the type, size, and color of the item.
D Today, there are Benetton shops in major cities all over the world.
E This means that customers can go into any Benetton store in the world and be sure of what they are buying.
F In other words, Benetton’s clothes are made to order.
第6部分：完形填空  （第51—65题，每题1分，共15分）
 阅读下面的短文，文中有15处空白，每处空白给出了4个选项，请根据短文的内容从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案，涂在答题卡相应的位置上。
Singing Alarms Could Save the Blind
 Ifyou cannot see, you may not be able to find your way out of a burningbuilding – and that could be fatal. A company in Leeds could____________ (51) all that with directional (定向的) sound alarms capableof guiding you to the exit.
 Sound Alert, a company run __________(52) the University of Leeds, is installing the alarms in a residentialhome for ______________ (53) people in Sommerset and a resource centerfor the blind in Cambria. The alarms produce a _____ (54) range offrequencies that enable the brain to ________ (55) where the sound iscoming from.
Deborah Withington of Sound Alert says that the alarmsuse most of the frequencies that can be __________ (56) by humans. “Itis a burst of white noise that people say sounds like static (静电噪音) onthe radio,” she says. “Its life-saving potential is ______ (57).”
Sheconducted an experiment in which people were filmed by thermal-imaging(热效应成像)cameras trying to find their _________ (58) out of a largesmoke-filled room. It ________ (59) them nearly four minutes to findthe door without a sound alarm, ________ (60) only 15 seconds with one.
Withingtonstudies how the brain ______ (61) sounds at the university. She saysthat the  _________ (62) of a wide band of frequencies can bepinpointed (精确地确定) more easily than the source of a narrow band. Alarms___________ (63) on the same concept have already been installed onemergency vehicles.
 The alarms will also include rising or fallingfrequencies to _________ (64) whether people should go up or downstairs. They were ______________ (65) with the aid of a large grantfrom British Nuclear Fuels.
51 A change  B cure   C demand  D set
52 A to   B along  C by   D with
53 A slow   B deaf   C blind  D lame
54 A close  B wide   C small  D high
55 A form   B affect  C create  D determine
56 A watched  B made  C learnt  D heard
57 A unlikely  B uncertain  C great   D little
58 A life   B way   C method  D skill
59 A took   B spent  C used   D had
60 A but   B even   C so   D if
61 A processes  B produces  C takes  D refuses
62 A feature  B quality  C diagram  D source
63 A accepted  B based  C kept   D focused
64 A describe  B demand  C consider  D indicate
65 A developed B bought  C discovered D sent