下面每個(gè)句子中均有1個(gè)詞或者短語有括號(hào)，請為每處括號(hào)部分確定1個(gè)意義最為接近的選項(xiàng)。
1. The rules are too (rigid) to allow for human error.
A. inflexible
B. general
C. complex
D. direct
2. This species has nearly (died out) because its habitat is being destroyed.
A. turned dead
B. passed by
C. carried away
D. become extinct
3. The contract between the two companies will (expire) soon.
A. shorten
B. end
C. start
D. resume
4. Three world-class tennis players came to (content) for this title.
A. argue
B. claim
C. wish
D. compete
5. The methods of communication used during the war were (primitive).
A. simple
B. reliable
C. effective
D. alternative
6. Respect for life is a (cardinal) principle of the law.
A. moral
B. regular
C. fundamental
D. hard
7. The drinking water has became (contaminated) with lead.
A. polluted
B. treated
C. tested
D. corrupted
8. Come out, or I’ll (bust) the door down.
A. shut
B. set
C. break
D. beat
9. She (shed) a few tears at her daughter’s wedding.
A. wiped
B. injected
C. produced
D. removed
10. They didn’t seem to appreciate the (magnitude) of the problem.
A. existence
B. importance
C. cause
D. situation
11. The tower remains (intact) ever after two hundred years.
A. unknown
B. unusual
C. undamaged
D. unstable
12. Many experts remain (skeptical) about his claims.
A. doubtful
B. untouched
C. certain
D. silent
13. The proposal was (endorsed) the majority of members.
A. rejected
B. submitted
C. considered
D. approved
14. Rumors began to (circulate) about his financial problems.
A. send
B. spread
C. hear
D. confirm
15. The police will need to keep a (wary) eye on this area of town.
A. naked
B. cautious
C. blind
D. private
答案：1-5：A D B D A;6-10：C A C C B ; 11-15：C A D B B
第2部分：閱讀判斷(第16~22題，每題1分，共7分)
下面的短文后列出了7個(gè)句子，請根據(jù)短文的內(nèi)容對每個(gè)句子做出判斷;如果該句提供的是正確信息，請選擇A;如果該句提供的是錯(cuò)誤信息，請選擇B;如果該句的信息文中沒有提及，請選擇C。
New Understanding of Natural Silk’s Mysteries
Natural silk, as we all know, has a strength that manmade materials have long struggled to match. In a discovery that sounds more like an ancient Chinese proverb than a materials science breakthrough, MIT researchers have discovered that silk gets its strength from its weakness. Or, more specifically, its many weaknesses. Silk gets its extraordinary durability and ductility from an unusual arrangement of hydrogen bonds that are inherently very weak but that work together to create a strong, flexible structure.
Most materials -- especially the ones we engineer for strength -- get their toughness from brittleness. As such, natural silks like those produced by spiders have long fascinated both biologists and engineers because of their light weight, ductility and high strength (pound for pound, silk is stronger than steel and far less brittle). But on its face, it doesn't seem that silks should be as strong as they are; molecularly, they are held together by hydrogen bonds, which are far weaker than the covalent bonds found in other molecules.
To get a better understanding of how silk manages to produce such strength through such weak bonds, the MIT team created a set of computer models that allowed them to observe the way silk behaves at the atomic level. They found that the arrangement of the tiny silk nanocrystals is such that the hydrogen bonds are able to work cooperatively, reinforcing one another against external forces and failing slowly when they do fail, so as not so allow a sudden fracture to spread across a silk structure.
The result is natural silks that can stretch and bend while retaining a high degree of strength. But while that's all well and good for spiders, bees and the like, this understanding of silk geometry could lead to new materials that are stronger and more ductile than those we can currently manufacture. Our best and strongest materials are generally expensive and difficult to produce (requiring high temperature treatments or energy-intensive processes).
By looking to silk as a model, researchers could potentially devise new manufacturing methods that rely on inexpensive materials and weak bonds to create less rigid, more forgiving materials that are nonetheless stronger than anything currently on offer. And if you thought you were going to get out of this materials science story without hearing about carbon nanotubes, think again. The MIT team is already in the lab looking into ways of synthesizing silk-like structures out of materials that are stronger than natural silk -- like carbon nanotubes. Super-silks are on the horizon.
參考譯文：
我們都知道，蠶絲具有的韌性是人造織物長期奮力追求的目標(biāo)。在一項(xiàng)研究中(該項(xiàng)研究成果聽起來更像一則古代中國諺語，而不是材料科學(xué)的突破)，麻省理工學(xué)院的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，蠶絲的力量源于其脆弱，或者，更具體地說，是它的多方面的脆弱。蠶絲的異常耐久性和延展性來自一種特別的氫鍵結(jié)構(gòu)，這些氫鍵本質(zhì)上非常脆弱，但它們共同創(chuàng)造了一種強(qiáng)壯而富有彈性的結(jié)構(gòu)。
大多數(shù)材料(特別是那些要求硬度很高的材料)的韌性來自脆性。因此，和蜘蛛制造的蛛絲類似的蠶絲，因其重量輕，延展性強(qiáng)和韌性高，長期以來引起了生物學(xué)家和工程師的興趣(同樣重量，蠶絲比鋼要壯，也不那么脆)。但表面上，蠶絲看起來卻不那么強(qiáng)壯;從分子結(jié)構(gòu)上看，它們是由氫鍵組成的，氫鍵比其他分子中發(fā)現(xiàn)的共價(jià)鍵要脆弱得多。
為了更好地了解蠶絲如何以如此脆弱的化學(xué)鍵產(chǎn)生這么強(qiáng)壯的力，麻省理工學(xué)院的研究小組創(chuàng)造了一套計(jì)算機(jī)模型，這種模型能夠讓他們在原子層次上觀察蠶絲的活動(dòng)方式。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，微小蠶絲納米晶體的結(jié)構(gòu)使氫鍵能夠齊心協(xié)力地合作，相互增援，對抗外力，同時(shí)，當(dāng)外力減弱時(shí)也隨之慢慢減弱，這樣就不至于在蠶絲的整體結(jié)構(gòu)上出現(xiàn)突然的斷裂。
這樣，天然絲能夠既伸縮和彎曲，又能夠保持極高的韌力。對于蜘蛛和蜜蜂之類的昆蟲來說這也沒什么，但對于蠶絲幾何形狀的這種了解，可能幫助人們制造出比我們面前能夠制造的材料更結(jié)實(shí)而又更柔軟的新材料。和最結(jié)實(shí)的材料通常是很昂貴而又難以制造的(需要高溫處理，或者高能耗處理)。
通過研究蠶絲作為一個(gè)例子，研究人員有可能設(shè)計(jì)出制造材料的一種新方法，即用廉價(jià)材料和弱鍵，制造不那么堅(jiān)硬而又柔軟，但比目前所用的任何材料都結(jié)實(shí)的材料。如果你認(rèn)為不研究碳納米管的理論，就能從這一則材料學(xué)信息中獲取制造方法，那請三思。麻省理工學(xué)院研究小組已經(jīng)在實(shí)驗(yàn)室利用比蠶絲還結(jié)實(shí)的材料(比如碳納米管)研究合成類似蠶絲一樣的結(jié)構(gòu)。超級蠶絲即將出現(xiàn)。
16. MIT researchers carry out the study to illustrate an ancient Chinese proverb.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
17. Silk’s strength comes from its weak hydrogen bonds working together.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
18. Biologist and engineer are interested in understanding natural silks because they are very light and brittle.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
19. If the hydrogen bonds break due to external forces, they break fast.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
20. The MIT team had tried different materials before they studied natural silk in their research.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
21. Carbon nanotubes are currently the most popular topic in material science.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
22. It is indicated that materials stronger than natural silk can be expected in the future.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
第3部分：概括大意與完成句子(第23~30題，每題1分，共8分)
下面的短文后有2項(xiàng)測試任務(wù)：(1)第23~26題要求從所給的6個(gè)選項(xiàng)中為指定段落每段選擇1個(gè)小標(biāo)題;(2)第27~30題要求從所給的6個(gè)選項(xiàng)中為每個(gè)句子確定一個(gè)選項(xiàng)。
Black Holes
23-26: D A F B
A. What are black holes made of?
B. Is there proof that black holes really exist?
C. How were black holes named?
D. How are black holes formed?
E. What are different types of black holes?
F. What happens to the objects around a black hole?
27-30: E D C F
27. Black holes are formed after_.
28. When a large star explodes, the gravity compacts ever piece into_.
29. A newly formed black hole and the star it comes from are of_.
30. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity helps to prove_.
A. a fraction of an inch
B. the creation of new entities
C. the same amount of mass
D. the tiniest particle
E. an explosion of huge stars
F. the existence of black holes
第4部分：閱讀理解(第31~45題，每題3分，共45分)
下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道題。請根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，為每題確定1個(gè)選項(xiàng)。
第一篇
On the Trial of the Honey Badger
31. Why did the wild life experts visit the Kalahari Desert?
A. To find where honey badgers live.
B. To catch some honey badgers for food.
C. To observe how honey badgers behave.
D. To find out why honey badgers have a bad reputation.
32. What does Kitso Khama say about honey badgers?
A. They are always looking for food.
B. They do not enjoy human company.
C. They show interest in things they are not familiar with.
D. It is common for them to attack people.
33. What did the team find out about honey badgers?
A. There were some creatures they did not eat.
B. They were afraid of poisonous creatures.
C. Female badgers did not mix with male badgers.
D. They may get some of the water they needed from fruit.
34. Which of the following is a typical feature of male badgers?
A. They don’t run very quickly.
B. They defend their territory from other badgers.
C. They hunt over a very large area.
D. They are more aggressive than females.
35. What happened when honey badgers got used to humans around them?
A. They became less aggressive towards other creatures.
B. They lost interest in people.
C. They started eating more.
D. Other animals started working with them.
第二篇
Forecasting Methods
There are several different methods that can be used to create a forecast. The method forecaster chooses depends upon the experience of the forecaster, the amount of information available to the forecaster, the level of difficulty that the forecast situation presents, and the degree of accuracy or confidence needed in the forecast.
The first of these methods is the persistence method; the simplest way of producing a forecast. The persistence method assumes that the conditions at the time of the forecast will not change. For example, if it is sunny and 87 degree today, the persistence method predicts that it will be sunny and 87 degree tomorrow. If two inches of rain fell today, the persistence method would predict two inches of rain for tomorrow. However, if weather conditions change significantly from day to day, the persistence method usually breaks down and is not the best forecasting method to use.
The trends method involves determining the speed and direction of movement for fronts, high and low pressure centers, and areas of clouds and precipitation. Using this information, the forecaster can predict where he or she expects those features to be at some future time. For example, if a storm system is 1,000 miles west of your location and moving to the east at 250 miles per day, suing the trends method you would predict it to arrive in your area in 4 days. The trends method works well when systems continue to move at the same speed in the same direction for a long period of time. if they slow down, speed up, change intensity, or change direction, the trends forecast will probably not work as well.
The climatology method is another simple way of producing a forecast. This method involves averaging weather statistics accumulated over many years to make the forecast. For example, if you were using the climatology method to predict the weather for New York City on July 4th, you would go through all the weather data that has been recorded for every July 4th and take an average. The climatology method only works well when the weather pattern is similar to that expected for the chosen time of year. if the pattern is quite unusual for the given time of year, the climatology method will often fail.
The analog method is a slightly more complicated method of producing a forecast. It involves examining today's forecast scenario and remembering a day in the past when the weather scenario looked very similar (an analog). The forecaster would predict that the weather in this forecast will behave the same as it did in the past. The analog method is difficult to use because it is virtually impossible to find a predict analog. Various weather features rarely align themselves in the same locations they were in the previous time. Even small differences between the current time and the analog can lead to very different results.
36. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in choosing a forecasting method?
A. Necessary amount of information.
B. Degree of difficulty involved in forecasting.
C. Practical knowledge of the forecaster.
D. Creativity of the forecaster.
37. The persistence method fails to work well when
A. it is rainy.
B. it is sunny.
C. weather conditions change greatly.
D. weather conditions stay stable.
38. The trends method works well when
A. weather features are defined well enough.
B. predictions on precipitation are accurate.
C. weather features are constant for a long period of time.
D. the speed and direction of movement are predictable.
39. The analog method should not be used in making a weather forecast when
A. the current weather scenario is different from the analog.
B. the analog looks complicated.
C. the analog is more than 10 years old.
D. the current weather scenario is exactly the same as the analog.
40. Historical weather data are necessary in
A. the climatology method and the analog method
B. the persistence method and the trends method
C. the trends method and the climatology method
D. the persistence method and the analog method
第三篇
Students Learn Better with Touchscreen Desks
Observe the criticisms of nearly any major public education system in the world, and a few of the many complaints are more or less universal. Technology moves faster than the education system. Teachers must teach at the pace of the slowest student rather than the fastest. And--particularly in the United States—grade school children as a group don’t care much for, or excel at, mathematics. So it’s heartening to learn that a new kind of “classroom of the future” shows promise at mitigating some of these problems, starting with that fundamental piece of classroom furniture: the desk.
AUK study involving roughly 400 students, mostly aged 8-10 years, and a new generation of multi-touch, multi-user, computerized desktop surfaces is showing that over the last three years the technology has appreciably boosted students’ math skills compared to peers learning the same material via the conventional paper-and-pencil method. How? Through collaboration, mostly, as well as by giving teachers better tools by which to micromanage individual students who need some extra instruction while allowing the rest of the class to continue moving forward.
Science, Clay Dillow, classroom of the future, education, engineering, math, mathematics, Synergy Net Traditional instruction still shows respectable efficacy at increasing students fluency in mathematics, essentially through memorization and practice--dull, repetitive practice. But the researchers have concluded that these new touch screen desks boost both fluency and flexibility--the critical thinking skills that allow students to solve complex problems not simply through knowing formulas and devices, but by being able to figure out what there all problem is and the most effective means of stripping it down and solving it.
One reason for this, the researchers say, is the multi-touch aspect of the technology. Students working in the next-gen classroom can work together at the same tabletop, each of them contributing and engaging with the problem as part of a group. Known as Synergy Net, the software uses computer vision systems that see in the infrared spectrum to distinguish between different touches on different parts of the surface, allowing students to access and use tools on the screen, move objects and visual aids around on their desktops, and otherwise physically interact with the numbers and information on their screens. By using these screens collaboratively, the researchers say, the students are to some extent teaching themselves as those with a stronger grasp on difficult concepts pull other students forward along with them.
41. Which of the following statements is NOT true of the public education system?
A. It does not catch up with the development of technology.
B. Some similar complaints about it are heard in different countries.
C. Many students are not good at learning mathematics.
D. Teachers pay more attention to fast learners than slow learners.
42. What has been found after the new tech is employed?
A. Students become less active in learning mathematics.
B. Students show preference to the conventional paper-and pencil method.
C. Teachers are able to give individualized attention to students in no difference.
D. The gap between slow learners and fast learners gets more noticeable.
43. What is the benefit student get from the new tech?
A. It makes them more fluent in public speech.
B. It enables them to develop critical thinking ability.
C. It offers them more flexibility in choosing courses.
D. It is effective in helping them solve physical problems.
44. What happens when students are using the desktop of the new tech?
A. Every student has an individual tabletop.
B. The multi-touch function stimulates students.
C. The software installed automatically identifies different users.
D. Students use different tools to interact with each other.
45. How does the new tech work to improve student’s mathematical learning?
A. It helps fast learners to learn faster.
B. It enables them to work together.
C. It makes teacher’s instruction unnecessary.
D. It allows the whole class to learn at the same pace.
第5部分：補(bǔ)全短文(第46~50題，每題2分，共10分)
下面的短文有5處空白，短文后有6個(gè)句子，其中5個(gè)取自短文，請根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容講其分別放回原有位置，以恢復(fù)文章面貌。
Toads are Arthritis and in Pain
46-50：E B C A F
A. Toads are not built to be road runners—— they are built to sit around ponds and wet areas.
B. The task now facing the country is how to remove the toads.
C. Furthermore, they soon take over the natural habitats of Australia’s native species.
D. Toads with longer legs move faster and travel longer distances while the others are being left behind.
E. But this advantage also has a big drawback—— up to 10% of the biggest toads suffer from arthritis.
F. But arthritis didn’t slow down toads outside the laboratory the research found.
第6部分：完形填空(第52~65題，每題1分，共15分)
下面的短文有15處空白，請根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容為每處空白確定1個(gè)選項(xiàng)。
Better Solar Energy Systems: More Heat, More Light
Solar photovoltaic thermal energy systems, or PVTs, generate both heat and electricity, but until now they haven’t been very good at the heat-generating part compared to a stand-alone solar thermal collector. That’s because they operate at low temperatures to cool crystalline silicon solar cells, which lets the silicon generate more electricity but isn’t a very efficient way to gather heat.
That’s a problem of economics. Good solar hot-water systems can harvest much more energy than a solar-electric system at a substantially lower cost. And it’s also a space problem: photovoltaic cells can take up all the space on the roof, leaving little room for thermal applications.
In a pair of studies, Joshua Pearce, an associate professor of materials science and engineering, has devised a solution in the form of a better PVT made with a different kind of silicon. His research collaborators are Kunal Girotra from Thin Silicon in California and Michael Pathak and Stephen Harrison from Queen’s University, Canada.
Most solar panels are made with crystalline silicon, but you can also make solar cells out of amorphous silicon, commonly known as thin-film silicon. They don’t create as much electricity, but they are lighter, flexible, and cheaper. And, because they require much less silicon, they have a greener footprint. Unfortunately, thin-film silicon solar cells are vulnerable to some bad-news physics in the form of the Staebler-Wronski effect.
“That means that their efficiency drops when you expose them to light—pretty much the worst possible effect for a solar cell,” Pearce explains, which is one of the reasons thin-film solar panels make up only a small fraction of the market.
However, Pearce and his team found a way to engineer around the Staebler-Wronski effect by incorporating thin-film silicon in a new tyep of PVT. You don’t have to cool down thin-film silicon to make it work. In fact, Pearce’s group discovered that by heating it to solar-thermal operating temperatures, near the boiling point of water, they could make thicker cells that largely overcame the Staebler-Wronski effect. When they applied the thin-film silicon directly to a solar thermal energy collector, they also found that by baking the cell once a day, they boosted the solar cell’s electrical efficiency by over 10 percent.
51. A. unless B. until C. when D. if
52. A. which B. what C. that D. who
53. A. reward B. bill C. cost D. pay
54. A. take B. move C. set D. live
55. A. decision B. suggestion C. qualification D. solution
56. A. for B. as C. by D. with
57. A. retrieve B. require C. merge D. exchange
58. A. certainly B. luckily C. unfortunately D. immediately
59. A. cover B. expose C. relate D. face
60. A. restrictions B. advances C. strengths D. reasons
61. A. way B. part C. result D. subject
62. A. size B. type C. shape D. brand
63. A. area B. place C. point D. extent
64. A. promoted B. overcame C. improved D. assessed
65. A. defined B. wasted C. lowered D. boosted
