Passage

　　Former US Vice President Al Gore,who came close to winning the presidency two years ago,said he will not run in 2004,and probably will not have another opportunity to seek the White House.

　　Though Gore would have been a frightening Democratic(民主黨的) main runner,his decision to give up the 2004 race probably helped his party's chances in the general election against President George W.Bush,Democrats said.

　　Many did not want to see BushGore Ⅱ.

　　“The last campaign was an extremely difficult one,” Gore told CBS TV show “60 Minutes”on Sunday.

　　While saying he still had the energy and drive to run again,Gore recognied,“There are a lot of people within the Democratic Party who felt exhausted(by the 2000 race)…who felt like,OK,‘I don't want to go through that again.’And I'm frankly sensitive to that feeling.”

　　In nearly two doen interviews after Gore announced his plans,Democrats dutifully claimed their party had lost a top candidate,but one after another,they praised Gore for taking an early exit from a primary race he could have won,sparing them a repeat.

　　Gore,54,said he was making his decision“in the full understanding that it probably means that I will never have another opportunity to run for president.”

　　Party activists(激進(jìn)主義分子)blamed Gore for losing despite a booming economy and eight years of a Democratic administration.Gore even lost his home state of Tennessee,a victory there would have given him the White House.

　　1.Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?

　　A.Gore Was Criticied B.Gore Decides Not to Fight Bush in 2004

　　C.Former US Vice President Al Gore D.Al Gore and Gorge Bush

　　2. Why do you think Gore has decides not to run in 2004 according to this passage?

　　A.Because he is quite old.

　　B.Because many people are against him.

　　C.Because he quite understands the feelings of a lot of Democratic members.

　　D.Because he doesn't want to be President of US.

　　3.What was Gore's feeling when he made his decision?

　　A.Delight. B.Sad. C.Regretful. D.Calm.

　　Passage

　　Priscilla—Ouchida's “energy�瞖fficient”house turned out to be a horrible dream.When she and her engineer husband married a few years ago,they built a $ 100,000,three-bedroom home in California.Tightly sealed to prevent air leaks,the house was equipped with small doublepaned(雙層玻璃) windows and several other energysaving features.Problems began as soon as the couple moved in,however.Priscilla's eyes burned.Her throat was constantly dry.She suffered from headaches and could hardly sleep.It was as though she had suddenly developed a strange illness.

　　Experts finally traced the cause of her illness.The level of formaldehyde(甲醛) gas in her kitchen was twice the maximum allowed by federal standards for chemical workers.The source of the gas? Her new kitchen cabinets and walltowall carpeting.

　　The Ouchidas are victims of indoor air pollution,which is not given sufficient attention partly because of the nation's drive to save energy.The problem itself isn't new.“The indoor environment was dirty long before energy conservation came along，”says Moschandreas,a pollution scientist at Geomet Technologies inMaryland.“Energy conservation has tended to accentuate the situation in somecases.”��

　　The problem appears to be more troublesome in newly constructed homes ratherthan old ones.Back in the days when energy was cheap,home builders didn't worry much about unsealed cracks.Because of such leaks,the air in an average home was repaced by fresh outdoor air about once an hour.As a result,the pollutants generated in most households seldom built up to dangerous levels.

　　1. It can be learned from the passage that the Ouchidas' house——

　　A.is well worth the money spent on its construction

　　B.is almost faultless form the point of energy conservation

　　C.failed to meet energy conservation standards

　　D.was designed and constructed in a scientific way

　　2. What make the Ouchidas' new house a horrible dream?

　　A.Lack of fresh air.B.Poor quality of building materials.

　　C.Gas leakage in the kitchen. D.The newly painted walls.

　　3. The word“accentuate”(Para.3) most probably means“.————“

　　A.relieve B.accelerate C.worsen D.improve

　　4.Why were cracks in old houses not a big concern?

　　A.Because indoor cleanliness was not emphasied.

　　B.Because energy used to be inexpensive.

　　C.Because environmental protection was given top priority.

　　D.Because they were technically unavoidable.

　　5.Thispassageismostprobably taken from an article entitled ————

　　A.Energy conservation B.House Building Crisis

　　C.Air Pollution Indoors D.Traps in Building Construction

　　參考答案：

　　Passage

　　1.該則新聞報(bào)道的所有內(nèi)容都是圍繞戈?duì)柗艞?004年總統(tǒng)競(jìng)選決定這一中心來寫的。答案為B。��

　　2.作為現(xiàn)年54歲的戈?duì)柲挲g并不大，A是不對(duì)的;從“…their party had lost a top candidate”也可以判斷出B是不正確的;從戈?duì)柕脑挕啊璱t probably means that I will never have another opportunity to run for president.”來分析，他還是很想當(dāng)美國(guó)總統(tǒng)的。再說，又有誰(shuí)不想當(dāng)總統(tǒng)呢?從“There are a lot of people within the Democratic Party who felt exhausted( by the 2000 race)…who fell like,OK，‘I don't want to go through that again.’And I'm frankly sensitive to that feeling.”可以很清楚地推斷出正確答案為C。��

　　3.從好多人對(duì)戈?duì)柕馁潛P(yáng)以及戈?duì)柕脑挕啊璱n the full understanding that…”可以看出戈?duì)栕龀龅臎Q定是通過深思熟慮的，因此，他也是很冷靜的(calm)。答案為D。��

　　Passage

　　1.推斷題。本文第一段的首句是本文的主題句�！癙ricilla這幢‘有效節(jié)能’的房子，結(jié)果卻是一場(chǎng)噩夢(mèng)�！睆耐ㄆ�的闡述分析，這棟房子確實(shí)無可指責(zé)，而問題在于良好的節(jié)能性使早已存在的室內(nèi)環(huán)境污染得以顯現(xiàn)，致使Ouchida身受其害。所以選項(xiàng)B“從節(jié)約能源方面看是完美無瑕的”正確。選項(xiàng)C“不能達(dá)到節(jié)約能量的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)”與此剛好相悖。文章沒有涉及到建房所需費(fèi)用值不值的問題。因此，選項(xiàng)A花在其建設(shè)上的錢比較值得”，不對(duì)。文章沒有提到選項(xiàng)D“按科學(xué)的方法設(shè)計(jì)建造的”，故此項(xiàng)也不對(duì)。答案為B。��

　　2.細(xì)節(jié)題。第三段的第二、三句：“廚房?jī)?nèi)甲醛氣體的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)比聯(lián)邦當(dāng)局要求從事化學(xué)生產(chǎn)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的兩倍還要高。氣體來自哪里?廚房?jī)?nèi)的新柜子和鋪滿地板的地毯。”另外從最后一段的分析可看出，此類問題是由于新建房屋的密封性好所致。所以，選項(xiàng)A“缺乏新鮮空氣”為正確答案。而選項(xiàng)B、C、D均與文章內(nèi)容不符。答案為A。��

　　3.詞語(yǔ)題。這一段指出：The Ouchidas是室內(nèi)空氣污染的受害者，國(guó)家開展的節(jié)能運(yùn)動(dòng)使人們忽視室內(nèi)空氣污染問題，這是造成這種情況的部分原因。然后指出：室內(nèi)空氣污染問題早在節(jié)能運(yùn)動(dòng)前就存在，只是節(jié)能使這種問題在有些情況下變得更嚴(yán)重。據(jù)此，答案為C。��

　　4.細(xì)節(jié)題。最后一段第二句明確指出：“因?yàn)樵谝郧澳茉幢阋藭r(shí)，房屋的建造者不必?fù)?dān)心未封閉的裂縫�！睉�(yīng)選擇選項(xiàng)B。其他三項(xiàng)都不符合題意。答案為B。��

　　5.主旨題。綜觀全文，尤其是作者在最后兩段的分析，可以看出本文只是以節(jié)能所造成的問題為例，旨在闡述早已存在的室內(nèi)空氣污染問題。所以選項(xiàng)C為正確答案。實(shí)際上該題就是“Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?”的另一種表達(dá)形式。答案為C。