阅读理解(共44分)

六、阅读下列短文，根据短文内容，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。（共26分，每小题2分）

                                                           A

47. The new planet ____.
A. might have 365 days a year
B. has no water
C. might be a future home for human
D. has had weather

48. ____ will make the Eiffel tower become a big tree.
A. 1000 light bulbs
B. 600,000 plants
C. 600 light years
D. 7 million visitors

49. ____ was the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2011.
A. Steven Hall
B. Ronan Parke
C. Kelly Clarkson
D. Jai McDowall

                                                           B
When I was 14,I left school with learning disabilities and decided to surf the biggest waves in the world, first in California and then in Hawaii. One morning ,I met an old man，a bum(流浪汉),on the street corner. He asked me if I was running away from home. I told him," Not exactly, sir."

After talking a while, he told me that he had something to show me and share with me. We walked several blocks until we came upon the downtown Public Library.The bum asked me to sit down and wait for a moment. Later he returned with some books, and then said," I want to teach you two things. Number one is never to judge a book by its cover. for a cover fools you. I'll bet you think I'm a bum, don't you?"

I said," I guess so, sir."

"Well, young man, I've got a little surprise for you. I am one of the wealthiest men in the world. But a year ago, my wife passed away. I realized there were certain things I had not yet experienced in life, one of which was what it would be like to live like a bum on the streets. For the past year I have been going from city to city doing just that.

"Number two is to learn how to read, for there is only one thing that people can't take away from you, and that is your wisdom." At that moment, he gave me the books he'd pulled from the shelves. His parting request was for me to never forget what he taught me. I have remembered until today.

50. The boy ____ when he was 14.
A. liked running                        B. left school
C. did well in study                   D. traveled around the world

51. Which of the following is true?
A. The old man took the boy home.
B. The old man was homeless and poor.
C. The old man was friendly to the boy.
D. The old man and his wife went from city to city.

52. The old man taught the boy how to ____.
A. love people                        B. become wise
C. choose friends                   D. experience the bum's life

                                                      C
The Mayan (玛雅的)Indians lived in Mexico for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. The Mayan achievements were many. They had farms, beautiful palaces, and cities with many buildings. The Mayan people knew a lot about nature and the world around them. This knowledge helped them to live a better life than most people of that time, because they could use it to make their lives more comfortable and rewarding. Knowledge about tools and farming, for example, made their work easier and more productive.

The Maya believed in many gods, including rain gods, sun gods, and corn gods. The people built large temples to honor the Mayan gods. Skillful workers built cities around these temples. It was difficult for them to build these cities, because they had no horses to carry the heavy stone they used to build with. Workers had to carry all of the building materials themselves. Today, many of these ancient Mayan cities and temples are still standing.

Although the cities that the Maya built were beautiful, and the people worked hard to build them, very few of the people lived in them. Usually, only the priests lived in the cities.

The other people lived in small villages in the forests. Their houses were much simpler than the elaborate buildings in the cities. They lived in small huts with no windows. The walls were made of poles covered with dried mud, and the roof was made of grass or leaves. Most Maya lived a simple life close to nature.

The Mayan priests studied the Sun. Moon, stars, and planets. They made a calendar from what they learned. The year was divided into 18 months of 20 days each with five days left over. The Mayan calendar was far more exact than the European calendars of the time.

Around the year 800, the Maya left their villages and beautiful cities, never to return. No one knows why this happened. They may have died from some disease. They may have left because the soil could no longer grow crops. Archaeologists are still trying to find the lost secrets of the Maya. 

53. What does the underlined word"elaborate"mean?
A. easily built
B. carefully made
C. slowly fixed
D. quickly designed

54. From the passage we can infer that ____.
A. most Maya lived in beautiful cities
B. many Mayan cities and temples are still standing
C. the Maya were intelligent and culturally rich people
D. the Mayan calendar was the same as European calendars

55. What can be the best title for this article?
A. Mayan Gods
B. Mayan Buildings
C. Productive Maya
D. Mysterious Maya

                                                        D
Frighting fires has always been a dangerous job. The job has grown even more risky in recent years. That’s because changes in building over the last 30 years have resulted in hotter fires that are more unpredictable. Today’s buildings use many more synthetic materials than those built 30 years ago did. As a result, when they catch fire, they burn at a much higher temperature and give off much more energy than their older counterparts do. Furthermore, most modern buildings are exfremely well insulated(绝缘的). That means that when they catch fire, they hold most of the fire’s hear.

Hotter fires result in especially dangerous situations for firefighters. The fires themselves are dangerous, of course, but even more problematic are the super-hot gases created by the fires. These cause"extreme fire behaviors, "a term firefighters use to describe quick-moving, life-threatening events at the scene of a fire. They include flashovers(跳火).

Temperature increases so greatly that some materials in an area burn up at once. They also include backdrafts(反风流), during which oxygen rushes into an area, causing a fireball. The most dangerous effect of a backdraft is that it can actually take in all the oxygen out of a room where firefighters are working. Finally, there are gas explosions(爆炸). They happen when extreme heat causes gases to spread quickly.

American firefighters have worked hard to fight against the dangers of modern firefighting. Unfortunately, death rates have remained nearly unchanged during the last 30 years. That’s a poor showing compared to Sweden and Great Britain. Both of those countries have cut death rates among firefighters in half over the same period.

Why are the British and the Swedes more successful at protecting their firefighters? Some within the firefighting community believe it’s because both countries use a procedure called"3-D Firefighting. "

For now, most American fire companies will stick with traditional firefighting strategies and believe that 3-D technique(技术)cannot be effective. Supporters of the technique claim that it greatly reduces the likelihood of an extreme fire behavior. In 2002, the fire department of Gresham, Oregon became the first in the United States to accept 3-D firefighting techniques. The company’s battalion chief, Ed Hartin, has become a supporter for the procedure, conducts trainings, and has written a book on the subject. Maybe the use of 3-D firefighting is held back by its cost in the United States.

56. What does the underlined word "counterparts" refer to in the passage?
A. changes
B. buildings
C. jobs
D. fires

57. What can we learn from the passage about backdrafts?
A. backdrafts make all the materials burn up at once.
B. Backdrafts can be stopped by giving off more oxygen.
C. Backdrafts can make the firefighters die of oxygen shortage.
D. Backdrafts are followed by gas explosions and flashovers.

58. Why does the author say that the US makes a "poor showing"?
A. Because there are more and more fires happening these years.
B. Because they didn’t work hard enough to fight against the fires.
C. Because the number of firefighters dying of firefighting gets larger.
D. Because the death rate among US firefighters hasn’t changed much.

59. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. The causes of fires and the ways to put out fires successfully.
B. Some advice on keeping firefighters safe and using 3-D firefighting.
C. The work of firefighters and the ways to protect firefighters in fires.
D. the dangers of firefighting and the possibilities of a new technique.