A

A higher reading rate, with no loss of comprehension, will help you in other subjects as well as in English, and the general principles apply to any language. Naturally, you will not read every book at the same speed. You would expect to read a newspaper, for example, much more rapidly than a physics or economics textbook-but you can raise your average reading speed over the whole range of materials you wish to cover so that the percentage gained will be the same whatever kind of reading you are concerned with.

The reading passages which follow are all of an average level of difficulty for your stage of instruction. They are all about five hundred words long. They are about topics of general interest which do not require a great deal of specialized knowledge. Thus they fall between the kind of reading you might find in your textbooks and the much less demanding kind you will find in a newspaper or light novel. If you read this kind of English, with understanding at four hundred words per minute, you might skim (瀏覽) through a newspaper at perhaps 650-700, while with a difficult textbook you might drop to two hundred or two hundred and fifty.

Perhaps you would like to know what reading speeds are common among native English-speaking university students and how those speeds can be improved. Tests in Minnesota, USA, for example, have shown that students without special training can read English of average difficulty, for example, Tolstoy's War and Peace in translation, at speeds of between 240 and 250 words per minute with about seventy percent comprehension. Students in Minnesota claim that after twelve half-hour lessons, once a week, the reading speed can be increased, with no loss of comprehension, to around five hundred words per minute.

According to the passage, the purpose of effective reading with higher speed is most likely to help you ________.

A. only in your reading of a physics textbook

B. improve your understanding of an economics textbook

C. not only in your language study but also in other subjects

D. choose the suitable materials to read

Which of the following does not describe the types of reading materials mentioned in the second paragraph?

A. Those beyond one's reading comprehension.

B. Those concerned with common knowledge.

C. Those without much demand for specialized knowledge.

D. Those with the length of about five hundred words.

The average speed of untrained native speakers in the University of Minnesota is ________.

A. about 300 words per minute

B. about 245 words per minute

C. about 650-700 words per minute

D. about 500 words per minute

According to the passage, how fast can you expect to read after you have attended twelve half-hour lessons in the University of Minnesota?

A. You can increase your reading speed by three times.

B. No real increase in reading speed can be achieved.

C. Yon can increase your reading speed by four times.

D. You can double your reading speed.

A

What comes into your mind when you think about robots(機(jī)器人)? Do you imagine armies of evil metal monsters(怪物)planning to take over the world? Or, perhaps of mechanical men who have been created as guards or soldiers by a mad genius? Or maybe you think of man-like robots who act, think, and look like human beings. In fact, robots like these have more to do with science fiction films(科幻電影)than with real life. In the real world robots are machines that do jobs which otherwise have to be done by people. Robots either operate by themselves or under the control of a person.

In a car factory, for example, robot machinery can put together and paint car bodies. On the sea bed, remote-controlled(遙控)underwater machines with mechanical arms can perform tasks too difficult for divers. Robot spacecraft can explore the solar system and send back information about planets and stars.

Many robots have computer brains. Some robots are fitted with cameras, sensors, and microphones which enable them to "see", to "feel", and to "hear". And some robots can even produce electronic speech.

All this does not mean that a robot can think and behave like a human being. Present day robots have to be programmed with a good deal of information before they can carry out even simple tasks.

The robots in science fiction films and those in real life differ mainly in ________ .

A. mentality B. appearance C. material D. size

What can robots do in the real world?

A. They have the ability to control the world.

B. They can behave like human beings.

C. They can help us do a lot of work.

D. They can think by themselves.

Which of the following statements is NOT true about robots?

A. They are as creative as human beings.

B. They can help manufacture cars.

C. They can explore outer space.

D. They can "see" and "hear".

He must have been completely lost in something he was reading because I had to tap on the windshield to get his attention.

“Is your taxi  1  ?” I asked when he finally looked  2  at me. He nodded, then said  3  as I settled into the back seat, “I'm sorry, but I was reading a  4  .” He  5  as if he had a cold .

“I am not in a hurry,” I told him. “Go ahead and finish your letter.” He  6  his head. “I've read it several times already. I guess I  7  know it by heart.”

“Letters from home always mean a lot,” I said. “From a child?”

“This isn't  8  ,” he replied. “Although it  9  just as well have been family. Old Ed was my oldest friend. In fact, we used to call each other 'Old Friend' when we'd meet. I'm not much good at  10 .”

“I don't think any of us keep  11  our correspondence (通信) too well,” I said. “I know I don't. But I take it he's someone you've  12  quite a while?”

“All my life. We were kids together, went to school together and all the  13  through high school.”

“There are not too many people who've had such a long friendship,” I said.

“ 14 ,” the driver went on, “I hadn't seen him more than once or twice a year over the past 25 or 30 years because I  15  away from the old neighbourhood and you kind of lose touch  16  you never forget.”

“You said 'was'. Does that mean—?” He nodded. “ 17  a couple of weeks ago.”

“I'm sorry,” I said. “It's no fun to lose any friend—and losing a real old one is  18  tougher.”

He didn't  19  to that, and we rode on in silence for a few minutes. But I realized that Old Ed was still on his mind when he spoke again, almost more to himself than to me: “I should have kept in touch.”

“Well,” I agreed, “we should all keep in touch with old friends more than we do. But things  20  and we just don't seem to find the time.”

When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack right away. First I had to write a letter and mail it.

1. available    B. acceptable          C. beneficial       D. occupied

2. A.       down      B.    up    C.    to    D. off

3. A.       unexpectedly      B. curiously        C. apologetically D.  definitely

4. A.       booklet       B. novel              C.       book          D. letter

5. A.       sounded   B. spoke  C.    seemed    D. continued

6. A.       hung      B.       nodded       C. shook       D. kept

7. A.       anyhow   B.    hardly     C.    almost     D. really

8. A.       friendship       B.    family     C.    leadership       D. colleague

9. A.       could      B. might  C.    maybe     D. would

10. A.     writing    B.    reading    C.    talking    D. earning

11. A.      up    B.    with C.    on    D. in

12. A.     found      B.    written    C.    known     D. seen

13. A.     curriculum      B.    coincidence     C.    life  D. way

14. A. Eventually   B.    Actually  C.    Additionally   D. Besides

15. A. removed      B.    left  C.    headed    D. moved

16. A.     even though    B.    as though C.    when       D. whereas

17. A.     Died       B. Suffered     C. Choked      D. Survived

18. A.     ever B.    even C.    fairly      D. quite

19. A.     appeal          B. reply    C.    adapt       D. talk

20.   A.    take up         B. pick up          C. come up             D. break up

河道在這里變窄了。(narrow)

  ______________________________________________________________________

I have never seen such a kind of man as you _____.

A. said        B. told   C. talked      D. described

When you come here for your holiday next time，don’t go to_________

hotel;I can find you _________bed in my flat.

A.the;a                  B.the;/                  C.a;the                  D.a；/

He isn’t such a man __________he used to be.?

A.who                   B.whom                C.that                    D.as?

__________everything to go wrong in advance，and you won’t feel quite so bad when it does.

A.Having expected                             B.Expect?

C.To expect                                       D.Expecting?

There are lots of places of interest__________in our city.?

A.needs repairing                               B.needing repaired?

C.needed repairing                             D.needing to be repaired?

—Was the trip pleasant when you vacationed in the mountain village last summer??

—No，it__________for four days when we arrived，so the roads were very muddy.?

A.was raining

B.would be raining?

C.had been raining

D.have rained