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，从每篇短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Before I had my son, I spent two years working with children with disabilities. I learned that shouting and threats of punishment would result in a disaster. Coming up against their behaviour could only make the job harder and their behaviour more extreme. I found something that worked, though.
There was a very naughty boy in the nursery and a teacher who was generally very confident with the children was asked to take charge of him. One day the boy joined a session in the room next to mine. His appearance created an atmosphere of tension. He spent the entire session running around, hitting and kicking, and destroying property.
I was in the craft room working with some other children when my co-worker told me that this boy’s teacher was in tears, and could not get control of the situation. As we were talking, the boy ran in. I told my co-worker that I would take care of him.
I closed the door. He was full of energy, throwing things around and making a huge mess. But I could see that he was doing all these to annoy me. He needed connection, and this was the only way he knew how to ask for it. So I sat back down and kept quiet. Then he slowed down and began making a rocket. I talked to him about it. We continued like this for a few minutes before I slipped into the conversation:
“So what happened today?”
It was purely a question, no blame or anger in my tone. I believe that if I had criticized him, the gate that was slowly opening would have shut firmly closed. He told me that the teacher didn’t let him do what he knew well due to safety but asked him to do what he disliked. He also admitted that he had enjoyed making her run around and saw it as a game. I explained that his teacher had not seen it as a game and was very upset. This again was stated simply as a fact. I suggested that next time he had a session, he talk about what he hoped to do at the start, which might be easier for everyone. He agreed and was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at me with tears in his eyes before quietly asking if he could go to find his teacher to apologize.
51. The boy made trouble for his teacher because he ______.
A. was accused of destroying property
B. was told not to yell at other children
C. was made to do things against his will
D. was blamed for creating an air of tension
52. Why didn’t the author do anything about the boy’s bad behavior at first?
A. She didn’t want to make it worse.
B. She didn’t mind the huge mess at all.
C. She was tired of shouting and threats.
D. She hadn’t thought of a coping strategy.
53. The author managed to get the boy to talk to her by ______.
A. playing games with him
B. giving him a good suggestion
C. describing his teacher’s feelings
D. avoiding making critical remarks
54. Why did the boy have tears in his eyes in the end?
A. He was sorry about his reputation.
B. He was regretful about his behavior.
C. He was fearful of the author’s warning.
D. He was sad for the author’s misunderstanding.
B
London’s newest skyscraper (摩天大楼) is called the Shard and it cost about 430 million pounds to build. At a height of almost 310 metres, it is the tallest building in Europe. The Shard has completely changed the appearance of London. However, not everyone thinks that it is a change for the better.
The Shard was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano. When he began designing the Shard for London, Piano wanted a very tall building that looked like a spire (尖顶). He wanted the glass surfaces to reflect the sky and the city. The sides of the building aren’t regular. So the building has an unusual shape. It looks like a very thin, sharp piece of broken glass. And that is how the building got the name: the Shard. Piano says that the spire shape of the Shard is part of a great London tradition. The shape reminds him of the spires of the churches of London or the tall masts (桅杆) of the ships that were once on the river Thames.
The Shard has 87 floors. At the top, there is an observatory. At the moment the building is empty, but eventually there will be a five-star hotel. There will also be top quality restaurants, apartments and offices.
Before building work began, a lot of people didn’t want the Shard though the plans were approved. Now they are still unhappy about the Shard. Some critics say that such a tall skyscraper might be good in a city like New York, but not in London. They say that the best thing about the Shard is its spire shape. But that is the only thing. There is no decoration, only flat surfaces. The Egyptians did that 4,500 years ago. They also think the Shard is too big for London. It destroys the beauty of the city.
Other critics don’t like what the Shard seems to represent. They say that the Shard shows how London is becoming more unequal. Only very rich people can afford to buy the expensive private apartments and stay in the hotel. But the people who live near the Shard are among the poorest in London. So the Shard seems a symbol of the division in society between the very rich and the poor.
The Shard now dominates the London skyline. It is not certain, however, that ordinary London citizens will ever accept it as a valuable addition to the city.
55. London’s newest skyscraper is called the Shard because of ______.
A. its cost
B. its size
C. its shape
D. its height
56. When he designed the Shard, Piano wanted it to ______.
A. change London’s skyline
B. inherit London’s tradition
C. imitate the Egyptian style
D. attract potential visitors
57. The critics who refer to social division think the Shard ______.
A. is only preferred by the rich
B. is intended for wealthy people
C. is far away from the poor area
D. is popular only with Londoners
58. Which would be the best title for the passage?
A. The Shard: Cheers and Claps
B. The Shard: Work of a Great Architect
C. The Shard: New Symbol of London?
D. The Shard: A Change for the Better?
C
Working with a group of baboons (狒狒) in the Namibian desert, Dr. Alecia Carter of the Department of Zoology, Cambridge University set baboons learning tasks involving a novel food and a familiar food hidden in a box. Some baboons were given the chance to watch another baboon who already knew how to solve the task, while others had to learn for themselves. To work out how brave or anxious the baboons were, Dr. Carter presented them either with a novel food or a threat in the form of a model of a poisonous snake.
She found that personality had a major impact on learning. The braver baboons learnt, but the shy ones did not learn the task although they watched the baboon perform the task of finding the novel food just as long as the brave ones did. In effect, despite being made aware of what to do, they were still too shy to do what the experienced baboon did.
The same held true for anxious baboons compared with calm ones. The anxious individuals learnt the task by observing others while those who were relaxed did not, even though they spent more time watching.
This mismatch between collecting social information and using it shows that personality plays a key role in social learning in animals, something that has previously been ignored in studies on how animals learn to do things. The findings are significant because they suggest that animals may perform poorly in cognitive (认知的) tasks not because they aren’t clever enough to solve them, but because they are too shy or nervous to use the social information.
The findings may impact how we understand the formation of culture in societies through social learning. If some individuals are unable to get information from others because they don’t associate with the knowledgeable individuals, or they are too shy to use the information once they have it, information may not travel between all group members, preventing the formation of a culture based on social learning.
59. What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A. The design of Dr. Carter’s research.
B. The results of Dr. Carter’s research.
C. The purpose of Dr. Carter’s research.
D. The significance of Dr. Carter’s research.
60. According to the research, which baboons are more likely to complete a new learning task?
A. Those that have more experience.
B. Those that can avoid potential risks.
C. Those that like to work independently.
D. Those that feel anxious about learning.
61. Which best illustrates the “mismatch” mentioned in Paragraph 4?
A. Some baboons are intelligent but slow in learning.
B. Some baboons are shy but active in social activities.
C. Some baboons observe others but don’t follow them.
D. Some baboons perform new tasks but don’t concentrate.
62. Dr. Carter’s findings indicate that our culture might be formed through ______.
A. storing information
B. learning from each other
C. understanding different people
D. travelling between social groups
D
You’ve flown halfway around the world; you’ve sniffed out this place that nobody in Falongland or Thailand seems to have ever heard of; so what on earth is there to do here? You consider this question as you sink into an old wooden beach chair that holds you above the sand.
It was a long journey from Bangkok to Huaplee. By the time you found the bus station and got yourself sorted out, it took almost as long as the flight from Falongland.
Huaplee is located just south of Hua Hin, about two hundred kilometres from Bangkok, down the west side of the Gulf of Thailand. Not many tourists find this place, and the ones that do wonder if finding it has been their purpose all along.
There’s an apparent laziness that surrounds you here. It’s what this place offers, and it’s free of charge. The small waves that tap the shoreline seem to slow everything down. You settle into your beach chair in preparation for a long rest. You sit there and watch the sea.
It’s early afternoon, so the cook comes out and asks what you’d like to eat this evening. Before long he’s rushed off to the market to buy the ingredients for whatever it was that you ordered—every meal fresh and to order. No menu here.
There is no poolside noise here but just that wonderfully warm, clear blue sea. There’s no street noise. The only sounds are the murmurs of nature.
For now you just count your blessings (福祉), listing them in the sand with your toe (脚趾). You don’t have to worry about being late for work. You don’t have to do anything.
The beach to your right stretches off to the horizon (地平线), slowly narrowing to nothingness only to re-emerge again on your left, now steadily widening until it covers the chair beneath you. Sand to your left and sand to your right; it’s unbroken, endless. No start, no end, just sand, sun, and peace. Step off it, and you re-enter the world of traffic, stress, work, and hurry.
Normally you’re the type who can’t sit still for more than ten minutes, but you’re on Huaplee Lazy Beach now and, in the right frame of mind, it stretches all the way around the world.
“How could it take me so long to find it?” you wonder.
