孙启文

Passage 1

Many comic books have characters that challenge everything we know about physics and biology. A man who heals from bullet wounds in seconds. A hero brought to his knees in the presence of a mysterious element. A heroine who carries a rope that forces someone to tell the truth. While it can be fun to imagine how such abilities could exist ， most comic book heroes resist science； they dont teach it. The American Physical Society is trying to change that with Spectra.

Lucy is an ordinary middle school student at Nikola Tesla Middle School. She likes to spend science class with friends. Then one day ， she discovers a very personal connection with physics. Shes a human laser！When the girls friends go missing ， Lucy becomes the superhero Spectra. To save her friends ， she uses her laser powers to fly ， cut through walls and appear in many places at once.

Spectras adventures also show important physics lessons. Each comic book provides science projects that go along with the story. Melting Hershey Kisses suggests how different metals conduct heat. Stirring ketchup into water shows what different viscosities-or the“thick-nesses" of' fluids-look like. Numbers and other data from each experiment provide the information that Spec-tra and her friends can use to save the world from the vil-lain of the week.

The concepts might be confusing，however，without the aid of a lesson plan. Spectra saves the world with her laser powers. But the comic book never fully explains what a laser is ， how diffraction works or why different wavelengths of' light appear as different colors. The comic also refers to products that use lasers. Yet it never actual-ly shows how these products （ such as iPocls ） make use of that technology. Having a teacher around to provide defi-nitions and details will help readers glean the most from Spectra ' s tales ancl the recommended experiments.

The American Physical Society developed the se-ries ， and produced the first issue in 2009. There are now five issues to choose from. Spectra ' s tales are free on its website. Teachers can also download a special （and free ） edition.

1. The first paragraph implies that heroes in comic books_____.

A. find magic power on science

B. make full use of physics or biology

C. challenge the power of science

D. don't show respect for science

2. According to the text ，Spectra focuses on______.

A. spreading science in Spectra's adventures

B. providing the victory of the beauty over the ugly

C. telling the wide use of laser in ourlife

D. encouraging kids to learn from heroes

3.The fourth paragraph is mainly about______.

A. whether the teachers can use Spectrain class

B. what shortcomings Spectra has

C. why the concepts are confusing in Sp ectra

D. how laseris defined in Spectra

4. We can infer that the text is______.

A. an ad for products using lasers

B. a description of a girl hero

C. an introduction to a new book

D. an explanation of the science of law

Passage 2

The English proficiency of Chinese women is much better than that of men，according to a study released in Shanghai yesterday. Chinese women scored three points higher than men in the English Proficiency Index re-leased by EF Education ， a language training company， mainly English. Worldwide，women scored one point higher than men on average.

“This shows that Chinese women are more used to the Chinese education mode ， ”the report said. “Chinese women use their gift of language to gain success.”

However，Chinese mainlandersEnglish proficien-cy ranked second to last in Asia ， despite the great time and effort that many people invest in learning the lan-guage ，the report said. China 's mainland is ranked the 36th in the index of 54 countries and regions where Eng-lish is not the native language. That's down by seven places comparing with that last year.

The Chinese mainland belongs to the low-proficien-cy tier and is ranked just above Thailand in Asia. This years index has increased the weight of listening tests， while decreasing the importance of grammar and vocabu-lary exams，which partly caused the ranking change，re-searchers said.

The study compared test scores of more than l.7 million adults in the 54 countries and regions. Sweden， Denmark and the Netherlands have the best command of English，while Libya has the lowest English proficiency level. European countries generally performed well. But Italy，Spain and Portugal，are being dragged down by poor English . according to the report. Singapore is 12th ， the best in Asia.followed by Malaysia and India，South Korea，at 2lst，and Japan，at 22nd，performed disap-pointingly low despite their focus on education，the report said.

5. Whatis EF Education？

A. It is a language test organization.

B. It is an English teaching school.

C. It is a language training company.

D. It is an organization studying human.

6. By what do Chinese women gain success in Eng-lish learning？

A. Cheating.

B. Gift.

C. Leaming by heart.

D. Asking for help.

7. What can we learn from this passage？

A. Chinese mainlanders'English proficiency ra-nked second in the index of 54 countries and regions.

B. Chinese mainlanders ' English proficiency ra-nked 29th last year.

C. The Chinese mainland belongs to the mid-pro-ficiency tier.

D. This year's index has increased the weight of grammar and vocabulary exams.

答案与解析

1.选D。推理判断题。根据第一段的倒數第二句可知，这些漫画书中的人物违背科学，而不传授科学知识。

2.选A。细节理解题。根据第二段和第三段的前两句话可知，这本书通过Spectra的冒险历程来传授科学方面的知识。

3.选B。段落大意题。根据第四段可知，这本书没有解释什么是激光，以及一些产品如何利用这些技术等，所以选B。

4.选C。推理判断题。根据最后一段可知，这是一篇介绍新书的文章。

5.选C。细节理解题。根据第一段的第二句可知，答案为C。

6.选B。细节理解题。根据第二段的第二句可知，答案为B。

7.选B。推理判断题。根据第三段可知，中国去年的排名是第29位。故选B。