四、閱讀理解

Sports Star Yao Ming

If Yao Ming is not the biggest sports star in the world, he is almost certainly the tallest. At 2.26m, he is the tallest player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and holds the record as the most towering Olympian ever to compete in the Games.

But what really stands out about the giant center is his celebrity(名氣). Few, if any, Chinese athletes are as well-known as Yao around the world. People across the globe are fascinated with Yao, not only for his basketball prowess(杰出的才能)also for being a symbol of international commerce.

When Yao joined the Houston Rockets as the No.1 pick in the 2002 NBA draft(選抜)， he was the first international player ever to be selected first. His assets on the court are clear enough—no NBA player of his size has ever possessed his mobility, so he is a handful(難對付的人)for opponents on either end of the court. But what makes Yao invaluable to the Rockets organization is his role as a global citizen and as a bridge to millions of potential basketball fans in China.

When it was announced in February that Yao would miss the rest of the NBA season and possibly the Olympics with a stress fracture(骨折)in his left foot, a collective shudder(震動)spread across China. After considerable debate and discussion, Yao opted to get his foot surgically treated in an operation that placed several tiny screws across the bone, to offer his overburdened foot more support. The surgery was a success, and though the estimated four-month recovery period will leave him little time to prepare with Team China, Yao has vowed to be ready for the Beijing Olympics.

Yao wrapped up a 10-day trip to China, where he underwent a series of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments, hoping to accelerate his recovery process Western experts are generally skeptical of TCM's benefits although new research from the University of Rochester suggests that a certain compound derived from shellfish may indeed stimulate bone repair.

"There is no reason to dismiss TCM," Yao told a press conference in Beijing." It's been used in our country for thousands of years. I don't think that it's short on science."

31.【題干】The word "towering" in Paragraph 1 means_____

【選項】

A.large.

B.fat.

C.tall.

D.great.

【答案】C

【解析】

32.【題干】Opponents find it very difficult to control Yao Ming because of his_____

【選項】

A.mobility.

B.assault.

C.defense.

D.celebrity.

【答案】A

【解析】

33.【題干】Yao Ming had to undergo a series of TCM treatments because_____

【選項】

A.his right foot had been hurting.

B.he wanted to make a more rapid recovery.

C.the surgical operation had been a failure.

D.he couldn't afford all the medical expenses.

【答案】B

【解析】

34.【題干】Which statement about Yao Ming is NOT true?

【選項】

A.He missed the Athens Olympics.

B.He is an NBA player.

C.He fractured his left foot.

D.He is an international figure.

【答案】A

【解析】

35.【題干】In general, the Western experts' attitude towards TCM is_____.

【選項】

A.indifferent.

B.positive.

C.negative.

D.doubtful.

【答案】D

【解析】

Medicine Award Kicks off Nobel Prize Announcements

Two scientists who have won praise for research into the growth of cancer cells could be candidates for the Nobel Prize in medicine when the 2008 winners are presented on Monday, kicking off six days of Nobel announcements.

Australian-born U.S. citizen Elizabeth Blackburn and American Carol Greider have already won a series of medical honors for their enzyme research and experts say they could be among the front-runners for a Nobel.

Only seven women have won the medicine prize since the first Nobel Prizes were handed out in 1901. The last female winner was U.S. researcher Linda Buck in 2004, who shared the prize with Richard Axel.

Among the pair's possible rivals are Frenchman Pierre Chambon and Americans Ronald Evans and El wood Jensen, who opened up the field of studying proteins called nuclear hormone receptors. As usual, the award committee is giving no hints about who is in the running before presenting its decision in a news conference at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute.

Alfred Nobel, the Swede who invented dynamite, established the prizes in his will in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economies prize is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden's central bank.

Nobel left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.

Hans Jornvall, secretary of the medicine prize committee, said the 10 million kronor (US $1.3 million) prize encourages groundbreaking research but he did not think winning it was the primary goal for scientists.

"Individual researchers probably don't look at themselves as potential Nobel Prize winners when they're at work," Jornvall told The Associated Press. "They get their kicks from their research and their interest in how life functions."

In 2006, Blackburn, of the University of California, San Francisco, and Greider, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, shared the Lasker prize for basic medical research with Jack Szostak of Harvard Medical School. Their work set the stage for research suggesting that cancer cells use telomerase to sustain their uncontrolled growth.

36.【題干】Who is most unlikely to win this year's Nobel Prize in medicine?

【選項】

A.Elizabeth Blackburn.

B.Carol Greider.

C.Linda Buck.

D.Pierre Chambon.

【答案】C

【解析】

37.【題干】Which is NOT true of Alfred Nobel?

【選項】

A.He was from Sweden.

B.He was the inventor of dynamite.

C.He established the prizes in his will.

D.He gave clear instructions on how to select winners.

【答案】D

【解析】

38.【題干】Originally the Nobel Prizes did not include?

【選項】

A.The medicine prize.

B.The literature prize.

C.The peace prize.

D.The economics prize.

【答案】D

【解析】

39.【題干】The word "kicks" in line 6 from the bottom probably means_____

【選項】

A.excitement.

B.income.

C.motivation.

D.knowledge.

【答案】A

【解析】

40.【題干】Telomerase may play a key role in_____

【選項】

A.the unchecked growth of cancer cells.

B.the killing of cancer cells.

C.the division of cancer cells.

D.the transmission of viruses.

【答案】A

【解析】

Ethnic Tensions in Belgium

Belgium has given the world Audrey Hepburn Rene Magritte (surrealist artist), the saxophone(薩克斯管)and deep-fried potato chips that are somehow called French.

But the story behind this flat, twice-Beijing-size country is of a bad marriage between two nationalities living together that cannot stand each other. With no new government, more than a hundred days after a general election, rumors run wild that the country is about to disappear.

"We are two different nations, an artificial state. With nothing in common except a king, chocolate and beer." Said Filp Dewinter, the leader of the Flemish Bloc, the extreme-right Flemish party.

Radical Flemish separatists like Mr Dewinter want to divide the country horizontally along ethnic and economic lines: to the north. Flanders—where Dutch (known locally as Flemish) is spoken and money is increasingly made; to the south. French-speaking Wallonla, where today old factories dominate the landscape.

The area of present-day Belgium passed to the French in the 18th century. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Belgium was given to the kingdom of the Netherlands, from which it gained independence as a separate kingdom in 1830.

Since then, it has struggled for cohesion(結合).Anyone who has spoken French in a Flemish city quickly gets a sense of the mutual hostility that is part of daily life there.

But there are reasons Belgium is likely to stay together, at least in the short term.

The economies of the two regions are tightly linked, and separation would be a financial nightmare.

But there is also deep resentment in Flanders that its much healthier economy must subsidize(補貼)the south, where unemployment is double that of the north. French speakers in the south, meanwhile, favor the status quo(現狀).

Belgium has made it through previous threats of division. Although some political analysts believe this one is different, there is no panic just now.

"We must not worry too much." said Baudouln Bruggeman, a 55-year-old school-teacher." Belgium has survived on compromise since 1930. You have to remember that this is Magritte's country, the country of surrealism. Anything can happen."

41【題干】Who was Magritte?

【選項】

A.A French novelist

B.A saxophonist

C.A separatist

D.A surrealist artist

【答案】D

【解析】Belgium has given the world Audrey Hepburn Rene Magritte (surrealist artist), the saxophone(薩克斯管)and deep-fried potato chips that are somehow called French.

42.【題干】when did Belgium become an independent kingdom?

【選項】

A.in 1800

B.in 1830

C.in 1815

D.in 1930

【答案】B

【解析】Belgium was given to the kingdom of the Netherlands, from which it gained independence as a separate kingdom in 1830.

43【題干】Which statement about Belgium is NOT true?

【選項】

A.it is twice as big as Beijing.

B.it has two major ethnic groups.

C.it has gone through quite a few threats of division.

D.it has no government.

【答案】D

【解析】the story behind this flat, twice-Beijing-size country(A) is of a bad marriage between two nationalities living together(B) that cannot stand each other.(C) With no new government,(D) more than a hundred days after a general election, rumors run wild that the country is about to disappear.

44.【題干】what does the passage mainly talk about?

【選項】

A.Surrealist artists.

B.Belgium's economy.

C.Cultural clashes in Belgium.

D.Music in Belgium.

【答案】C

【解析】

45.【題干】The word "stand" in Paragraph 2 means_____.

【選項】

A.handle

B.meet

C.combine

D.bear

【答案】D

【解析】”But the story behind this flat, twice-Beijing-size country is of a bad marriage between two nationalities living together that cannot stand(忍受) each other. With no new government, more than a hundred days after a general election, rumors run wild that the country is about to disappear.

（責任編輯：中大編輯）