第二部分：阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）

第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

Several dollars equal nothing for some people, but make a difference for others. Steve has just lost his wife to cancer and everything they had is gone due to the treatment. He now lives in the shelter for the homeless. So we know each other.

Just like other homeless people, he didn’t think he needed anything. But once he mentioned to me he needed eye glasses. His voice hesitated a bit, he looked down, and it appeared like he thought such a request was just a dream. Too much to hope for? It was as if his wish were known by me only.

I submitted an application for him to a program that is supposed to provide a free eye examination and glasses. Three months later, I phoned to ask what was up with the appointment but they told me there was a cash flow problem until late summer.

Steve showed disappointment, thanked me and started to walk away. I said, “Hold on, I will figure out a way to get you an eye examination and glasses.” His face lit up a tiny bit. He had seen some of the things I have done for other people in our shelter and to me it looked like he might have a line of hope.

I took a picture of him and posted his picture and his story in the Twitter. In about 4 days, eight people from around the world donated $25 each and one person donated $40 and I made up the rest to get him an eye exam and glasses.

Steve picked up his glasses on Wednesday: May 11th, 2011. Today Steve has returned to a previous job he had in a nearby car wash. Because he now has glasses he will be able to see what he is doing while cleaning the vehicles. He is starting a second job at a pet center next week!

21．We can learn from the first two paragraphs that ______.

A. it took a long time to treat Steve’s wife

B. homeless people never ask for anything

C. Steve was too embarrassed to ask for help

D. the author and Steve have been friends for years

22．The program failed to satisfy Steve because ______.

A. it was already out of business

B. it had some trouble in finance

C. Steve didn’t submit the application himself

D. it’s not designed for people like Steve

23．What can be inferred from the passage?

A. The program was closed three months ago.

B. Steve used to work as a salesman in a car factory.

C. Steve got $240 in total from kind-hearted people.

D. The author might be a volunteer in the shelter.

24．The best title for the passage is probably ______.

A. Money can sometimes talk B. Small help can really count

C. Two heads are better than one D. God helps those who help themselves

B

Google has been collecting tons of data about smartphone usage around the world. Here are some of the most surprising and interesting facts：

Android is most popular in Japan, with 55% of respondents(调查对象) using it, compared with 39% for iOS. Android is also number one in a few other countries, including New Zealand (41%), the US(40%), and China (38%)．

iOS is farthest ahead in Switzerland, with 52% usage vs 23% for Android.Other countries where iOS is far ahead include Australia (49% vs 25% Android), Canada (45% vs 23% Android and 23% Blackberry), and France (43% vs 25% Android)．

In Egypt, Windows Mobile is far more popular than iOS.13% of survey respondents use the Microsoft smartphone platform, behind Symbian (19%) and Android (14%). iOS is very far down at 4%.

Mobile social networking is biggest in Mexico and Argentina, where 74% and 73% of users visit a social network daily. But mobile social is weak in Japan where 34% of users never visit a social network on their phone, and this figure rises to 41% in Brazil.

Watching video is most popular in Saudi Arabia, with 59% of respondents doing it daily. Number two is Egypt, with 41%.

Chinese users shop from their phones.59% of Chinese users do this, compared with only 41% in second place Egypt. Chinese users also love to write reviews.41% of them write a review of a local business after looking it up on their smartphone. Number two, Japan, is far behind, with only 24% of respondents doing this.

25．Which of the following best describes the usage of the smartphone operating systems in Egypt?

A．Windows Mobile＞iOS＞Symbian＞Android

B．Android＞Windows Mobile＞iOS＞Symbian

C．iOS＞Android＞Symbian＞Windows Mobile

D．Symbian＞Android＞Windows Mobile＞iOS

26．In which of the following countries is mobile social networking least popular?

A．Brazil.　　　B．Japan. C．Mexico. D．Argentina.

27．In which section of a newspaper can we most probably read the passage?

A. Health. B. Environment. C. Technology. D. Entertainment.

C

As the new semester begins，millions of college students across the country are trying hard to remember how best to write a paper-or，more likely，how best to delay that paper．

Procrastination is the thief of time and a lot of students suffer from it．They can spend whole days in the library doing nothing but staring into space，eating snacks，surfing the Internet，watching videos and looking at their pretty peers sitting around them，who，most likely，are doing nothing either．

Paralyzed by their habit to procrastinate，they write micro blogs about their fears，asking their online friends if they sometimes have the same issue．But this does nothing to solve their problems．

According to a recent report by the BBC，95 percent of us procrastinate at some point and 20 percent of the world’s population are procrastinators，complicating their lives with their continual delaying of tasks．

Procrastinators like to find excuses to justify their behavior，but BBC columnist Rowan Pelling says they are all wrong．Many procrastinators tell themselves they are perfectionists who work best under pressure．Pelling says this is nonsense，as work done at the last minute is more likely to have mistakes than work done on time．

She says the behavior of procrastinators often makes them feel flustered and ashamed，inconveniences others，and annoys loved ones．

Fortunately，social scientists have made tireless efforts to understand this behavioral shortcoming and offer strategies to control it．Piers Steel，a Canadian social scientist and author of The Procrastination Equation，believes humankind is“designed”to procrastinate．Nevertheless，he suggests a couple of good ways to get through the task at hand．

The first one is obvious：Break the task down into small pieces and work your way through them methodically．

The second is clever：Give a trusted friend a sum of money and tell them that if you don’t complete the task you have undertaken by a specific time，they can keep it or donate it to a cause you hate.

28．What does the underlined word“Procrastination” in the second paragraph refer to?

A．A bad habit of putting work or tasks off．

B．A thief who steals time and money in college.

C．A college student who learns nothing．

D．A study way of doing nothing in the library.

29．According to Rowan Pelling，we can learn that procrastinators .

A．can find reasonable excuses for their behavior

B．are able to work best under pressure

C．are more likely to avoid mistakes at work[]

D．may upset themselves and their loved ones more frequently

30．Which of the following may Piers Steel support?

A．Human beings are not born to be procrastinators．

B．Complete your tasks or work step by step．

C．Give your trusted friend money and ask him to help you finish your tasks．

D．You can’t control procrastination but you can avoid it．

31．What’she best title of the text?

A．Who steals my time? B．The solutions to procrastination

C．I’ll do it tomorrow，I swear! D．Don’t do nothing!

D

About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked, “So, how have you been?” And the boy who could not have been more than seven or eight years old replied, “Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”

This incident stuck in my mind because it strengthened my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed” until we were in high school.

The evidence of a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike any more. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.

Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?

Human development is based not only on born biological states, but also on patterns of access to social knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new situation. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.

In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation machine has been fixed in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information, indiscriminately, to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more vivid moving pictures.

Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access. Reading and writing involve a complex code of symbols that must be memorized and practised. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.

32．Traditionally, a child is supposed to learn about the adult world _________ .

A. through touch with society B. gradually and under guidance

C. naturally and by biological instinct D. through exposure to social information

33．In the author’s opinion, the phenomenon that today’s children seem adultlike is caused by _____.

A. the widespread influence of television

B. the poor arrangement of teaching content

C. the fast step of human intellectual developm