听力原文:M: Hello, Mary, you're just the person I'm looking for.
W: Oh good! What can I do for you?
M: Have you got a minute?
W: Yeah, of course.
M: Well, it's about Jane Smith, you know. She is coming here soon. You know her, don't you?
W: Mm, actually I do. She and I worked together for quite some time (25) . Why do you ask?
M: Well, she is coming today and we've got to go 1o the airport to meet her. But, you know, she is just a stranger to me. So I wonder if you could…
W: Oh I see!You hope I can tell you what she looks like (23) ?
M: Yes!
W: Well, she is in her 40s but she doesn't really look middle-aged (24) . And she's usually smartly dressed with brown short hair. Actually, she is good-looking.
M: Uh huh. Eh, how tall is she?
W: Mm, a hit taller than me but.., average height, I'd say. By the way, she wears glasses.
M: Oh, I see. I'm sure I could find her at the airport, because 1 have a much clearer idea about her now. Thank you for your help,,
W:Don't mention it.
(20)
A. To go to the airport.
B. To work with Jane Smith.
C. To offer some information.
D. To meet Jane Smith.
What places does the woman especially want to visit?
A. The Summer Palace and the Great Wall.
B. The Water Cube and the National Stadium.
C. The Temple of Heaven and the Former Imperial Palace.
D. The Great Wall and the Temple of Heaven.
Part A
Directions: Read the following three texts. Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Kite flying is the sport of sending up into the air, by means of the wind, a light frame. covered with paper, plastic or cloth. The frame. can be one of many different shapes and is attached to a long string held in the hand or wound on a drum. Kites have a long history of practical application and many different types of kite have been developed to serve various purposes.
The ancient Chinese used bird-kites to carry ropes across rivers and valleys. The current folding kite which will dive excitingly is an improved type of such a kite. With its long flat body and single pair of birdlike wings, it looks just like a large bird in the air. The modem version is usually made of tissue-paper rather than the traditional silk.
Man-lifting kites were developed in ancient times, again by the Chinese, for getting information from walled cities and army camps In fact, as recently as World War Ⅱ, German U-boats flew kites from their towers to lift people into the air to watch the land. These kites, which are no longer in existence, were made of light-weight cloth. They were much larger and stronger than the Chinese ones. Their design, however, was simply that of the cutter kite. Smaller in size, this type of kite is still very popular as a toy for children, being easy to make with a diamond-shaped frame, no wings and brown-Raper covering.
Box-kites are another type of kite found in toy shops today. The first box-kite, named for its box-like body, was developed in the nineteenth century to test theories of flight and this type of cotton-covered kite greatly assisted the success of early aeroplanes.
These kites are the ancestors of a heavier version of the box-kite, called the double box-kite, which consists of two main sections, placed side by side. Developed for the peacetime purpose of fishing in strong sea wind, it is the only modern kite described which has practical value. A long-lasting plastic material has to be used for this kite, which carries fishing lines.
The ancient Chinese bird-kites were usually made of light frames covered with ______.
A. silk
B. paper
C. cloth
D. plastic
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
BRITAIN'S universities are in an awful spin. Top universities were overwhelmed by the 24% of A-level applicants with indistinguishable straight As newer ones are beating the byways for bodies.
Curiously, both images of education—the weeping willows of Cambridge and the futuristic architecture of UEL—are cherished by the government. Ministers want to see half of all young people in universities by 2010 (numbers have stalled at 42%), without letting go of the world-class quality of its top institutions.
Many argue that the two goals are incompatible without spending a lot more money. Re searchers scrabble for funds, and students complain of large classes and reduced teaching time. To help solve the problem, the government agreed in 2004 to let universities increase tuition fees.
Though low, the fees have introduced a market into higher education. Universities can offer cut-price tuition, although most have stuck close to the £3,000. Other incentives are more popular. Newcomers to St. Mark & St. John, a higher-education college linked to Exeter University, will receive free laptops.
As universities enter the third week of "clearing", the marketing has become weirder. Brad ford University is luring students with the chance of winning an MP3 player in a prize draw. Plymouth University students visited Cornish seaside resorts, tempting young holiday-makers with surfboards and cinema vouchers. These offers suggest that supply has surpassed demand.
Not so the top universities that make up the "Russell group", however. Their ranks include the likes of Imperial College London and Bristol University along with Oxford and Cambridge. Swamped with applicants, only half offer any places through clearing. They have a different problem: they need money to compete for high quality students and academics, both British and foreign, who could be tempted overseas by better heeled American universities or fast improving institutions in developing countries such as India.
Higher fees and excess supply are causing students to look more critically at just what different universities have to offer. And the critical situation could become more acute. The number of 18-year-olds in Britain will drop around 2010 and decline over the following ten years, ac cording to government projections.
Bahram Bekhradnia, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, a think tank, says the government hasn't a hope of getting 50% of young Britons into higher education by 2010. And the decline of home-grown student numbers will have a "differential effect" on universities, he reckons. Those at the bottom end will have to become increasingly "innovative" about whom they admit and some may not survive.
The Cambridge shades evoked by Rupert Brooke were gentle, nostalgic ones. Many vice chancellors today are pursued by far more revengeful monsters of empty campuses, deserted laboratories, failed institutions. Markets, after all, create winners—and losers.
What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
A. Many top universities struggled to enroll straight-A students.
Britain's universities are required to become the world-class universities.
C. Britain's universities are facing an unbalanced enrollment.
D. Most Britain's universities are found by the government.