第4部分：阅读理解(第31～45题，每题3分，共45分)
下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题。请根据短文内容，为每题确定1个最佳选项。
第一篇
Political Spins
Last week, US White House spokesman Tony Snow sent journalists digging for their dictionaries. He called recent criticism by the former President Bill Clinton chutzpah(大胆放肆). With just one sentence, Snow managed to make headlines, a joke and a defense of President George W. Bush. Interestingly, this is how battles are fought and won in US politics - with carefully-worded one-liners(一行字幕资讯)made for TV which often lack substance and clarity(清晰度).
The amount of information that candidates attempt to communicate to people is actually getting smaller and smaller, said Mark Smith, a political science professor at Cedarville University. This has been accompanied by a changing media environment, Smith said. In l968, the average TV or radio soundbite(演讲中的句子或短语)was 48 seconds, according to Smith. In l996, the average soundbite had shrunk To 8 seconds. Thus, politicians wanting publicity try to make their public communication as quotable as possible.
Campaigning politicians also use 30-second TV ads and clever campaign slogans to boost their messages. Republican presidential candidate John McCain rides to campaign stops in a bus named the Straight. Talk Express. McCain hopes the name will convince voters he plans to tell people the truth - whether its in fashion or not. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has chosen the campaign slogan Let the conversation begin. She hopes it will help her appear open-minded and friendly.
But one-liners, TV ads and campaign slogans all have a single key ingredient：something commonly called political spin. Brooks Jackson, a former journalist and the current director of the non-partisan(无党派的)website FactCheck..org, calls spin just a polite word for deception(欺骗).
I do believe that very often politicians believe their own spin, said Jackson.
Strong partisans suffer from a universal human tendency：They ignore the evidence that would force them into the uncomfortable position of having to change their minds and admit that they were wrong.
31 Which statement is NOT true of one 1iners?
A They are unclear.
B They contain a lot of information.
C They lack substance.
D They are carefully constructed.
32 What changed from l968 to 1996 ?
A Publicity.
B Information.
C Communication.
D The average soundbite.
33 The campaign slogan StraightTalk Express aims at convincing voters that the presidential candidate is
A honest.
B friendly.
C open-Minded.
D warm-hearted.
34 According to Brooks Jackson, all campaign slogans are
A attractive.
B impressive.
C deceptive.
D informative.
35 Which statement best describes strong partisans ?
A They are very funny.
B They are very healthy.
C They are very aggressive.
D They are very stubborn(顽固的).
第二篇
A Tale of Scottish Rural Life
Lewis Grassic Gibbons Sunset Song(1932)was voted the best Scottish novel of all time by Scotlands reading public in 2005. Once considered shocking for its frank description of aspens of the lives of Scotlands poor rural farmers. It has been adapted for stage, film, TV and radio in recent decades.
The novel is set on the fictional estate of Kinraddie, in the farming country of the Scottish northwest in the years up to and beyond World War l. At its heart is the story of Chris, who is both part of the community and a little outside it.
Grassic Gibbon gives US the most detailed and intimate account of the life of his heroine(女主人公). We watch her grow through a childhood dominated by her cruel but hard-working father;experience tragedy(her mothers suicide and murder of her twin children); and learn about her feelings as she grows into a woman. We see her marry, lose her husband, then marry again. Chris has seemed so convincing a figure to some female readers that they cannot believe that she is the creation of a man.
But it would be misleading to suggest that this book is just about Chris. 1t is truly a novel of a place and its people. Its opening section tells of Kinraddies long history, in a language that imitates the places changing patterns of speech and writing.
The story itself is amazingly full of characters and incidents. It is told from Chris point of view but also from that of the gossiping community, a community where everybody knows eye, body elses business and nothing is ever forgotten.
Sunset Song has a social theme too. It is concerned with what Grassic Gibbon perceives as the destruction of traditional Scottish rural life first by modernization and then by World War l. Gibbon tried hard to show how certain characters resist the war. Despite this, the war takes the young men away, a number of them to their deaths. In particular, it takes away Chris husband, Ewan Tavendale. The war finally kills Ewan, but not in the way his widow is told. In fact, the Germans arent responsible for his death, but his own side. He is shot because he is said to have run away from a battle.
If the novel is about the end of one way of life it also looks ahead. It is a Sunset Song but is concerned too with the new Kinraddie, indeed of the new European world. Grassic Gibbon went on to publish two other novels about the place that continue its story.
36 What is Sunset Song mainly about?
A The First World War.
B The beauty of the sunset.
C The new European world.
D The lives of rural Scottish farmers.
37 Which statement is NOT true of Chris?
A She is the heroine of Sunset Song.
B She had a miserable childhood.
C She is the creation of a man.
D She married only once.
38 What is the opening section of the novel mainly concerned with?
A The climate of Kinraddie.
B The history of Kinraddie.
C The geography of Kinraddie.
D The language spoken in Kinraddie.
39 Who killed Chris husband, Ewan?
A His own troops.
B The French army
C The Germans. .
D The Russian soldiers.
40 The word Sunset in the title of this novel most probably means
A the end of the heroines life.
B the end of the story.
C the end of the traditional way of life.
D the end of the day.
第三篇
Centers of the Great European Cities
The centers of the great cities of Europe are meeting places by tradition. People gather there to drink coffee and chat late into the night. A mixture of locals and tourists make for an exciting. metropolitan(大都市的)atmosphere.
Squares, plazas(广场)and arcades(拱廊)form the heart of Europes cities.
Venice in Italy has the Piazza San Marco - a beautiful square surrounded by shops, churches, restaurants and cafes. In Barcelona, Spain, La Bosqueria is a lively market with hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of goods. Londons Covent Garden is filled with fruit and vegetable stalls by day and musicians, acrobats(杂技演员)and artists by night. The government buildings at the center of many cities often are architecturally impressive. In London, they serve as a beautiful backdrop(背景)to the coffee tables that line the streets and the banks of the Thames.
These vibrant(有活力的)hearts are the product of centuries of evolution, social historian Joel Garreau told US News and World Report recently. The reason people think Venice is so great today is you dont see all the mistakes, said Garreau. Those have all been removed. Most European cities were laid out before the invention of the car, so bars, restaurants and cafes were near to peoples homes. Today, the focus of many Europeans life has moved away from the centers. They live in the suburbs and outskirts, driving to supermarkets to get their supplies. But on a continent where people treasure convention there are still those who hold onto traditional ways, living and shopping locally. These people, together with tourists, provide the city centers with their reason for existence.
Coffee culture plays a part in keeping these city centers flourishing. This is particularly true of Paris whose citizens are famous enthusiastic conversationalists. This skill is developed over many hours spent chaffing over espressos(浓咖啡)and cigarettes.
Religion also plays a role in developing sociable atmosphere. People in Roman Catholic countries used to visit the Church on an almost daily basis. Entire communities would gather in the same building and then move out to the markets, cafs and bars in the surrounding streets. An enormous example of this relationship between church and society is the Duomo. The huge marble cathedral in Florence, Italy is surrounded by bakeries and coffee shops, and caters(迎合)not only to the tourist crowds, but also the local community.
41 It can be inferred from the first paragraph that each big city in Europe
A has many large squares.
B has many very magnificent sky-scrapers.
C draws tourists in large numbers every yean
D has a center where tourists meet their spouses.
42 Which statement is NOT true of Covent Garden?
A It is crowded with people.
B It is located in London.
C It is filled with stalls.
D It is surrounded by shops, churches, restaurants and cafes.
43 Why do people think that Venice is so great?
A Because It is a famous tourist attraction.
B Because you can reach anywhere by boat.
C Because it is well-known for its merchants.
D Because all the mistakes have been removed.
44 What are Parisians famous for ?
A Their pursuit of independence.
B Their enthusiasm for conversation.
C Their ability to keep the city flourishing.
D Their devotion to developing a multiple culture.
45 The writer cites the Duomo in the last paragraph as an example to illustrate that
A there is a tight link between church and society.
B all churches are magnificent.
C old churches are very popular.
D highrise churches are impressive.