1                         

    Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mum, you must come and see the daffodils （水仙花）before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Lake Arrowhead. “I will go next Tuesday,” I promised, a little unwillingly, on her third call.

    The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the cloud and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see!”

    My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this weather all the time, Mum. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

    After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read “Daffodil Garden”.

    We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most beautiful sight! There were five acres of flowers! “But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn. “It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “That’s her home,” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio （庭院）, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.

    The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs （鳞茎）,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

    I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun -- one bulb at a time -- to bring the beauty and joy to the mountain top.

59. What would be the best title for the passage?

    A. An Unforgettable Experience.         B. Beautiful Daffodils. C. One Bulb at a Time.                 D. I Love Daffodils. 

2

   In the mid-1940s, the young ambitious Ruth and Elliot Handler, owned a company that made wooden picture frames. In 1945, Ruth and Elliot joined their close friend Harold Mattson to form a company that would be known for the most famous and successful doll ever created. This company would be named Mattel after Mattson and Elliot.

In the mid-1950s, while visiting Switzerland, Ruth Handler bought a German Lilli doll. Lilli was a shapely, pretty fashion doll first made in 1955. She was originally fashioned after a famous cartoon character in the West German Newsletter.

Lilli was the doll that would inspire Ruth Handler to design the Barbie doll （芭比娃娃）. With the help of her technicians and engineers at Mattel, Barbie was born. Ruth then hired a fashion designer, Charlotte Johnson, to create Barbie’s clothing. In 1958, the patent for Barbie was obtained. This would be a fashion doll unlike any of her time. She would be long-limbed （长肢的）, shapely, beautiful, and only 11.5 inches tall. Ruth and Elliot would name their new fashion doll after their own daughter, Barbie.

In 1959, the Barbie doll made her way to the New York Toy Show and received a cool reception from the toy buyers.

Barbie has experienced a lot of changes over the years and has managed to keep up with current trends in hairstyles, make-up and clothing. She is a reflection of the history of fashion since her introduction to the toy market.

Barbie has a universal appeal and collectors, young and old, enjoy time spent and memories made with their dolls.

62. Which is the best title for this passage?

    A. Barbie Doll -- Symbol of Fashion      B. Barbie Doll -- Toy of New Time

   C. Current Trend of Barbie Doll          D. Birth and Popularity of Barbie Doll

3

Have you ever imagined what the world will be like in the near future? A recent study shows that the world in 2100 will be more crowded, more polluted and less stable ecologically than the world we live in now. Visible ahead is serious stress involving population, resource and environment. Despite greater food output, people in the world will be poorer in many ways than they are today.

For hundreds of millions of the extremely poor, the outlook for food and other necessities of life will be no better, for many it will be worse.

    While the economies of the developing countries are expected to grow at a faster rate than those of the industrialized nation, the total national product per head in most less developed countries remains low. The existing gap between the rich and poor nations will further widen.

World food production is estimated to increase by 90 percent from 2000 to 2100. Most of that increase goes to the countries that already have relative higher per-head food consumption. Mean-while, per-head consumption of food in the developing countries will scarcely improve or will actually fall far below the present inadequate level. What is worse is that prices for food are expected to double.

As a result, many less developed countries will have increasing difficulties meeting energy needs. For the one quarter of mankind that depends primarily on wood for fuel, the outlook is not hopeful.

Regional water shortage will become more severe. In the 1970-2100 period population growth will require twice as much water as it does today in nearly half the world. Still greater increases would be needed to improve standards of living. Development of new water supply will become more costly.

70. The passage is mainly concerned about ________.

A. the future problems in the world       B. water and air pollution

    C. water and food shortages             D. food production and consumption

 4     Attempt a guess at the following question: In the English-speaking world, which country has the least affordable homes? You are wrong if you guessed the US, even with the housing bubble (气泡) and main sadness. Nor is it the UK, where prices have risen because demand is far from supply. According to a recent survey of 227 cities around the globe, you must go south of the equator (赤道) to Australia to find the priciest homes.

The report measured a city’s housing market along the following guidelines. An “affordable” home required three times or less of the average family’s income to purchase. At four times earnings, a home fell into the “unaffordable” category. And a “seriously unaffordable” home needed five times a family’s income. In Australia, homes in the least affordable city cost just about 9.5 times the average income. Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne were only a little under this figure.

Australian officials offered little comment, apart from a general statement on the dismal findings. These prices make the possibility that many Australians will one day own a home largely unbelievable. Land rationing (配给制) and excessive development charges have raised prices, and the problem will only be solved through urgent action by the Rudd government.

Some American cities were also included on the least affordable list, four of which were in California. America is still involved in a mortgage（抵押）crisis, though, affecting the affordability of homes. Yet a number of US cities garnered “affordable” status, namely Dallas and Kansas. Australia had no cities listed in the top fifty places with affordable homes.

The survey suggests that you can find affordable homes in most places, just not if you’re Australian and choose to live down under.

70. What might be the most suitable title for the passage?

A. Affordable Houses  B. A House is a Dream First   C. Housing Bubble    D. Homes Too Expensive

5    2003年全国高考）E

At one time, computers were expected largely to remove the need for paper copies of documents(文件) because they could be stored electronically. But for all the texts that are written, stored and sent electronically, a lot of them are still ending up on paper.

It is difficult to measure the quantity of paper used as a result of use of Internet-connected computers, although just about anyone who works in an office can tell you that when e-mail is introduced, the printers start working overtime. “I feel in my bones this revolution is causing more treesto be cut down .” says Ted Smith of the Earth Village Organisation.

   Perhaps best sign of how computer and Internet use pushes up demand for paper comes from the high—tech industry itself ,which sees printing as one of its most promising new markets .Several Internet companies have been set up to help small businesses print quality documents from a computer .Earlier this week .Hewlett-Packard Co . announced a plan to develop new technologies that will enable people to print even more so they can get a hard copy of a business document , a medical record or just a one-line e-mail ,even if they are nowhere near a computer .As the company sees it , the more use of the Internet the greater demand for printers .

Does all this mean environmental concerns (环境问题) have been forgotten? Some activists suggest people have been led to believe that a lot of dangers to the environment have gone away.

“I guess people believe that the problem is taken care of ,because of recycling（回收利用）,”said Kelly Quirke,director of the Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco. Yet Quirke is hopeful that high—tech may also prove helpful .He says printers that print on both sides are growing in popularity. The action group has also found acceptable paper made from materials other than wood ,such as agricultural waste.

75．What would be the best title for the text ?

A．Computers and Printers                       B．E-mail and the Business World

C．Internet Revolution and Environment     D．Modern Technology and New Markets

6

   When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who possess wings of their own and who will fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate(照亮)me and train me up for love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.

　　When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say: “Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changed into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.

　　When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend.He was in despair(失望)and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.

　　For almost four years I have had a remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think: “ Yes, I must tell….”We have never met.

　　It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist(心理学家)，who will only fill up the healing(愈合的)silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.

　　4. In the darkest moments, the author would prefer to ______.

　　A. seek professional help       B. be left alone

　　C. stay with her best friend       D. break the silence

　　5. What is the best title for the passage?

　　A. Unforgettable Experiences    B. Remarkable Imagination

　　C. Lifelong Friendship      D. Noble Companions

keys: 1，59.C     2，62 D        3，70C      4， 70 D 纵观全文，本文主要介绍澳大利亚房价高的事实。

5， 75 C        6，B   D考查概括的能力。整篇文章表达的是作者在不同时期的朋友伴随自己成长变化的过程，说明了朋友对自己的影响和崇高的友谊。