III. Reading Comprehension
Section A
Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
Travel, a home coming tour
In the UK travel is an enriching life experience that will make your resume stand out amongst other applicants. Travel is not simply a pursuit of___41___ but also “character-building”，“defining” and potentially “career-boosting”.
Most of the people I know here at university ___42__ the desire to travel and escape the stress surrounding us. But I don’t think, as UK students, we can blame our addiction to international travel simply on a stressful life. Yes, I have a lot to handle and it’s a fine___43___ act managing my part-time job, my degree and my social life to a perfect level. In a truly open world, we can get anywhere, see anything and experience every culture under the sun, at the click of a button, the purchase of a ___44____
Many people I met while working in China were surprised at the number of countries I’d travelled to. Compared to friends and family I consider myself vastly ___45___. I’ve never set foot across the pond in the U.S.A and Canada, let alone South America and even within Europe my checklist of destinations is far from____46___. I was also met by___47___at how little travelling I had done within my own borders. This was something I had not really considered before. How much of my own country had I really seen and experienced? To those from a place as vast and varied as China, Britain was really so ___48___in comparison and so to have spent 20 years there and not seen every part of it was quite surprising.
I had a conversation with a Chinese colleague over the reasoning behind our use of golden Cotswold stone, which sounds dull for most people. As a student of history, I found anything___49____fascinating. However it was not the stone within British cities I found interesting. What was curious was that it was something I had never even considered, and yet here was someone___50____on something I had simply taken for granted.
We continued our discussion, yet I was left___51___that I could not answer her question. In China, as well as a wealth of new culture that fascinated me, I discovered that there were parts of the UK’s culture, history, the very structure of my identity that were so different, so unique from China that I also___52____a newly found interest in my own heritage.
In this respect, travelling enables you with two things. Firstly you develop a(n) ___53___with new cultures, understanding customs, experiencing cuisines and absorbing the sights and smells of every new city. For many employers this___54___to new locations is seen as tremendous in your personal resume. But alongside increased employability, through international, cross-cultural conversations, you develop an interest in your own history, culture, and customs. You return to your home___55___ an understanding of other people’s fascination with it and your own sense of love for its peculiarities.
41. A. leisure B. wealth C. company D. personality
42. A. question B. refuse C. detect D. experience
43. A. balancing B. forcing C. judging D. disturbing
44. A. course B. stamp C. diploma D. ticket
45. A. under-stuffed B. under-travelled
C. under-used D. under-expanded
46. A. official B. vacant C. complete D. accurate
47. A. excitement B. hatred C. astonishment D. disgust
48. A .young B. beautiful C. remote D. small
49. A. historical B. dramatic C. religious D. perfect
50. A. piled B. hooked C. relied D. carried
51. A. exhausted B. embarrassed C. puzzled D. convinced
52. A. exchanged B. lost C. gained D. traded
53. A. observation B. resolution C. fascination D. illustration
54. A. relation B. preference C. agreement D. adaptability
55. A. objecting to B. filled with C. bothered by D. searching for
Section B
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have read.
(A)
The Christmas of 1988, my husband and I had four children. Peter was eleven, Leigh-Ann nine, Laura six and Matthew only two. When Santa arrived, Matthew parked himself on Santa’s lap and remained impressed greatly by him for the rest of the evening. Anyone who had their picture taken with Santa that Christmas also had their picture taken with little Matthew.
Little did any of us know how precious those photos with Santa and Matthew would become. Five days after Christmas, our sweet little Matthew died in an accident. When our first Christmas without Matthew approached, it was hard for us to get into the holiday spirit.
Then, on December 13, we were just finishing dinner when we heard a knock on the front door. When we went to answer it, no one was there. On the front porch was a card and gift. The gift-giver just wanted to help us get through a rough time by cheering us up with his or her name unknown, like a fairy.
In the gift bag was a cassette of favorite Christmas music, which was in a little cardboard Christmas tree. We put the cassette in our player and, song by song, the spirit of Christmas began to warm our hearts, and the thoughtfulness of our “fairy，touched our hearts.
That was the beginning of a series of gifts from the clever giver, one for each day until Christmas. Each gift followed the theme of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” in a creative way. The kids especially liked “seven swans a-swimming,” which was a basket of swan-shaped soaps plus passes to the local swimming pool. “Eight maids a-milking” included eight bottles of chocolate milk in glass bottles with paper faces. Every day was something very special.
The ingenuity and thoughtfulness shocked us as we enjoyed each surprise. We were so caught up in the excitement and curiosity of what would possibly come next, that our grief didn’t have much of a chance to rob us of the spirit of Christmas. What our fairy did was absolutely miraculous.
We give thanks for our fairy who was, we finally realized, our very own Christmas angel. We never did find out who it was, although we have our guess. We actually prefer to keep it that way.
56. The photos taken with little Mathew became valued because
A. Mathew is the youngest child of our family
B. they are the photos taken on Christmas Eve
C. Mathew seated himself on Santa’s legs
D. we lost Mathew five days after the Christmas of 1988
57. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. “Seven Swans a-swimming” was a soap with swans coined.
B. We received 12 gifts before the very first Christmas without Mathew.
C. We were still in no mood for preparing for Christmas with a cassette.
D. It was Santa who secretly sent us the unexpected gifts.
58. The phrase “ingenuity” (paragraph 6) can be best replaced by “ ”
A. delicacy B. responsibility C. originality D. attraction
59. Which of the following serves as the best title for the passage?
A. Mathew’s Present. B. An Angel among Us.
C. Christmas Day. D. Five Golden Rings.
