第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40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。

A

A desert is a land of silence and space.The sun shines，she wind blows，and time and space seem endless.Nothing is soft，the sand and rocks are hard，and many of the plants even have hard needles rather than leaves.

The size and location of the world’s deserts are always changing.Over millions of years，as climates change and mountains rise，new dry and wet areas appear.But within the last hundred years，deserts have been increasing at a frightening speed.This is partly because of natural changes，but those most responsible for creating deserts are human beings.

In the 19th century some people living in the English colonies (殖民地) in Australia introduced rabbits into that continent from England.Today there are millions of rabbits that eat every plant in sight.The great desert that lies in the center of Australia is growing，Partly due to the rabbits.

Human beings can make deserts，but they also can prevent them from getting bigger.In China，wind – breaks are being built in the northwest to keep the desert from growing.Deserts still threaten the world.It is believed that land that is on the way to becoming desert equals the size of Australia.Russia，and the United States put together.Can we stop the spread of the world’s deserts and save the land that is so important to mankind? Yes，we can.And we must.

56.Which statement is TRUE according to the text?

A.Not every thing is hard in deserts.

B.In deserts time and space are endless.

C.Trees in deserts do not have big leaves.

D.You can only feel winds blow across deserts.

57.From the text we can tell the reason for the increasing of desert in Australia is partly that _______.

A.there are too many cattle

B.there are too many people

C.there are too many sheep and goats

D.there are too many rabbits.

58.The writer believes that ______.

A.desert is a big problem to human beings and there will be no way out

B.man will find a way to control the desert

C.man will kill a number of rabbits to reduce desert areas

D.birth-control will help to control the increasing of desert

B

Living and dealing with kids can be a tough job these days，but living and dealing with parents can be even tougher.

If I have learned anything in my 16 years，it is that communication is very important，both when you disagree and when you get along.With any relationship，you need to let other person know how you are feeling.If you are not able to communicate，you drift (漂浮) apart.When you are angry with your parents，or anyone else，not talking to them doesn’t solve (解决) anything.

Communication begins with the concerns of another.It means that you can’t just come home from school，go up to your room and take no notice of anyone.Even if you just say “hi”，and see how their day is for five minutes，it is better than nothing.

To have a good relationship，you must keep communication strong.Let people know how you feel，even if it’s just writing a note.

When dealing with parents，you always have to make them feel good about how they are doing as a parent.If you are trying to make them see something as you see it，tell them that you’ll listen to what they have to say，and ask them politely to listen to you.Shouting or walking away only makes the situation worse.

This is an example: One night，Sophie went to a street party with her friends.She knew she had to be home by midnight after the fireworks，but she didn’t feel she could just ask to go home.That would be rude.After all，they had been nice enough to take her along with them.Needless to say，she was late getting home.Her parents were unhappy at first，but when Sophie explained why she was late，they let the incident go.Communication was the key factor here.If Sophie’s parents had not been willing to listen，Sophie would have been in a lot of trouble.

Communication isn't a one-way deal: it goes both ways. Just remember: if you get into a situation like Sophie's, tell the other person how you feel — listening is key factors to communication.

59.In the writer’s view，dealing with parents is ______ than with children.

A.more difficult B.easier

C.more uninteresting D.more interesting

60.The main idea of the second paragraph is _______.

A.the importance of friendship

B.to make your feeling known to others

C.the importance of communication

D.the disagreement between generations

61.When parents and children are in communication，the key to a happy relationship is that ________.

A.children should always obey their parents

B.parents play the leading part

C.they should be equal

D.parents make the children know their feelings

62.The example in this passage proves that _______.

A.Sophie’s parents are willing to listen to her

B.Sophie is very polite to her parents

C.Sophie did well in explaining her being late

D.communication is the way out of misunderstanding

C

Without proper planning，tourism can cause problems.For example，too many tourists can crowd public places that are also enjoyed by the inhabitants of the country.If tourists create too much traffic，the inhabitants become annoyed and unhappy.They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely.They forget how much tourism can help the country’s economy.It is important to think about the people of a destination (旅行目的地) country and how tourism affects them.Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists.Tourism should also advance the wealth and happiness of local inhabitants.

Too much tourism can be a problem.If tourism grows too quickly，people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry.This means that other parts of the country’s economy can suffer.

On the other hand，if there is not enough tourism，people can lose jobs.Businesses can also lose money.It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels.Airports，first-class roads，and other support facilities (配套设施) needed by tourist attractions.For example，a major international class tourism hotel can cost as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build.If this room is not used most of the time，the owners of the hotel will lose money.

Building a hotel is just a beginning.There must be many other support facilities as well，including roads to get to the hotel，electricity，sewers (下水道) to handle waste，and water.All of these support facilities cost money.If they are not used because there are not enough tourists，jobs and money are lost.

63.Which of the following do you think has been discussed in the part before this selection?

A.It is extremely important to develop tourism.

B.Building roads and hotels is important.

C.Support facilities are highly necessary.

D.Planning is of great importance to tourism.

64.The underlined word “inhabitants” (in Paragraph 1) probably means ______.

A.citizens B.passengers

C.population D.tourists

65.Too much tourism can cause all these problems EXCEPT _______.

A.a bad effect on other industries

B.a change of tourists’ customs

C.over-crowdedness of places of interest

D.pressure on traffic

66.It can be inferred from the text that _______.

A.the author doesn’t like tourism developing so fast

B.local people will benefit from tourist attraction

C.other parts of a country’s economy won’t benefit from tourism much

D.we can’t build too many support facilities

67.The author thinks it is good for local people to know that tourism will _____.

A.waste a lot of money

B.weaken their economy

C.help establish (确立) their customs

D.help improve their life