Part Ⅳ Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth)(25 minutes)

Section A

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.

More than forty women have been killed in the war in Iraq. Hundreds of others have been ___ 47___.The war began in March of 2003.Two___ 48___published books tell two different stories of women who served in Iraq. One is by Janis Karpinski. She was the Army general who ___ 49___military police at prisons in Iraq. These included the Army Reserve soldiers who ___ 50___ the Abu Ghraib Prison near Baghdad. Some have received prison ___51_for mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Miz Karpinski became the highest-level officer to be punished in connection with the ___ 52___.She left the service in July after being reduced from a brigadier general(准将) to a colonel(上校).Her book is called "One Woman's Army: The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story." Miz Karpinski says she was unfairly blamed for conditions beyond her control. She also tells of her difficulties as a rising woman ___ 53___in the Army. Another former member of the Army, Kayla Williams, wrote a book called "Love My Rifle More Than You." The name is taken from a ___ 54___ song. Miz Williams was an Arabic translator in Iraq. She says her book describes what it is like to be young and ___ 55__ in the Army. One famous 56 called it "a frank, hocking and honest look at life in the military."

A) abused                 F) case               K) marching

B) female           G) commanded          L) simply

C) wounded             H) soldier          M) guarded

D) officer          I) reviewer              N) beautiful

E) treatments    J) recently              O) sentences

Section

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.

Iron production was revolutionized in the early eighteenth century when coke was first used instead of charcoal (木炭) for refining iron ore. Previously the poor quality of the iron had restricted its use in architecture to items such as chains and tie bars for supporting arches, vaults (拱顶),and walls. With the improvement in refining ore, it was now possible to make cast-iron beams and columns. During the nineteenth century further advances were made, notably Bessemer's process for converting iron into steel, which made the material more commercially feasible.

Iron was rapidly adopted for the construction of bridges, because its strength was far greater than that of stone or timber, but its use in the architecture of buildings developed more slowly. By 1800 a complete internal iron skeleton for buildings had been developed in industrial architecture replacing traditional timber beams, but it generally remained concealed. Apart from its low cost, the appeal of iron as a building material lay in its strength, its resistance to fire, and its potential to span vast areas. As a result, iron became increasingly popular as a structural material for more traditional styles of architecture during the nineteenth century, but it was invariably concealed.

Significantly, the use of exposed iron occurred mainly in the new building types produced by the Industrial Revolution: in factories, warehouses, commercial offices, exhibition halls, and railroad stations, where its practical advantages far outweighed its lack of status. Designers of the railroad stations of the new age explored the potential of iron, covering huge areas with spans that surpassed the great vaults of medieval churches and cathedrals. Paxton's Crystal Palace, designed to house the Great Exhibition of 1851,covered an area of 1848 feet by 408 feet in assembled units of glass set in iron frames. The Paris Exhibition of 1889 included both the widest span and the greatest height achieved so far with the Halle des Machines, spanning 362 feet, and the Eiffel Tower 1,000 feet high. However, these achievements were mocked by the artists of Paris as expensive and ugly foolishness. Iron, despite its structural advantages, had little aesthetic (审美的) status. The use of an exposed iron structure in the more traditional styles of architecture was slower to develop.

52. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A) Advances in iron processing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

B) The effects of the Industrial Revolution on traditional architectural styles.

C) Advantages of stone and timber over steel as building materials.

D) The evolution of the use of iron in architecture.

53. Iron replaced stone and timber in the building of bridges because iron was considered_________.

A) more beautiful

B) new and modern

C) much stronger

D) easier to transport

54. According to Paragraph 3,the architectural significance of the Halle des Machines was its ________.

A) wide span

B) great height

C) unequaled beauty

D) assembled units of glass

55. How did the artists react to the buildings at the Paris Exhibition?

A) They tried to copy them.

B) They laughed at them.

C) They praised them.

D) They refused to pay to see them.

56. It can be inferred that the delayed use of exposed iron structures in traditional styles of architecture is best explained by________.

A) the impracticality of using iron for small, noncommercial buildings

B) the association of iron architecture with the problems of the Industrial Revolution

C) the general belief that iron offered less resistance to fire and harsh weather than traditional materials

D) the general perception that iron structures were not beautiful in appearance

Passage Two

Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

Four months before Crown Prince Felipe says "si" ( "yes" in Spanish) to television journalist Letizia Ortiz,royal wedding fever is gripping Spain.

Shops are offering the biggest variety of wedding souvenirs (纪念品),from plates and bottle-openers to copies of the couple's engagement ring.

The couple have made only a few carefully staged public appearances to reduce the scrutiny (仔细检查).

Spanish people waited for more than a decade for the 36-year-old son of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia to find a suitable bride. And more important, the May 22 wedding will be a landmark event in other ways.

Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano,31,is the daughter of a nurse and a journalist. So, she will be the first commoner on a throne once occupied by Queen Isabella, who sent Christopher Columbus to the Americas.

The pretty, elegant former news anchor (主持人)will also become Spain's first home-grown queen in more than a century. The lively and professionally accomplished Letizia has been welcomed by Spanish people as a new type of queen for a modern monarchy.

Spanish people were accustomed to seeing her in television news broadcasts and she arouses tremendous curiosity. Journalists are investigating even the most ordinary aspects of her past which resembles that of so many other young Spanish professional women.

Spanish people have also taken note that she tried to interrupt the prince when they talked to the press after getting engaged in November. "Let me talk," she told the heir to the Bourbon throne.

Such behavior is regarded as understandable in a woman who went to Mexico by herself at age 23 and later reported on the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq war for state television TVE.

Her strong character, frankness and critical mind could also be disadvantages for a royal who is rarely expected to speak her mind, reporters have said.

The palace has struggled to protect her from scrutiny and to give her time to adapt to her new role.

57. By saying "royal wedding fever" (Line 2,Para.1), the author means "_________".

A) a lot of royal weddings follow

B) the Spanish people are surprised at the royal wedding

C) the royal wedding makes a stir in the whole country

D) the royal wedding becomes a fashion

58. The most important reason why royal wedding causes such a great interest is that_________ .

A) a commoner is married into a royal family

B) the prince finally finds his bride

C) a famous TV journalist gets married

D) the wedding is expensive

59. Letizia used to be a news anchor who was _________.

A) world-famous

B) frank

C) serious

D) capable

60. Letizia's interruption of the prince when they talked to the press was most probably prompted by her_________ .

A) curiosity

   B) innocence

C) outspokenness

 D) rudeness

61. The difficulty for Letizia to fit in the royal life may lie in _________.

A) how to meet the requirements of the Queen

B) how to change her character to fit in the royal family

C) how to continue her career after marriage

D) how to face her former audience as a princess

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