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B
Electric cars are dirty. In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be more dirty than their gasoline-powered cousins.
People in California love to talk about “zero-emissions vehicles,” but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Power plants most all use fire to make it. Aside from the few folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators. Generators are fueled by something — usually coal, oil, but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants. There are a few wind farms and geothermal plants as well, but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.
In other words, those “zero-emissions” cars are likely coal-burning cars. It’s just the coal is burned somewhere else so it looks clean. It is not. It’s as if the California Greens are covering their eyes — “If I can’t see it, it’s not happening.” Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle; a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it. But when you take that gas (or another fuel) and first use it to make electricity, you waste a nice part of that energy, mostly in the form of wasted heat — at the generator, through the transmission lines, etc.
A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won’t get you nearly as far — so electric cars burn more fuel than gas-powered ones. If our electricity came mostly from nukes (核发电站), or geothermal(地热), or hydro, or solar, or wind, then an electric car truly would be clean. But for political, technical, and economic reasons, we don’t use much of those energy sources.
In addition, electric cars’ batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill (垃圾堆). And finally, when cars are the polluters, the pollution is spread across all the roads. When it’s a power plant, though, all the junk is in one place. Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot.
24. Compared with cars using gas, electric cars __________.
A. do not burn fuel and more environmental
B. are more poisonous because their batteries are buried in one spot
C. are very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated
D. are poisonous for a long time and will eventually end up in a landfill
25. It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
A. Being green is good and should be encouraged in communications
B. Electric cars are not clean in that we get electricity mainly by burning something.
C. Zero-emissions vehicles should be chosen to protect our environment.
D. Electric cars are now the dominant vehicle compared with gasoline-powered cousins.
26. The author wrote the passage to ___________.
A. encourage us to buy electric cars
B. advocate buying gasoline-powered cars
C. advertise a new type of cars
D. expose the truth of “zero-emissions vehicles”
C
What’s your idea of a good time? What about dancing in a rainy field with one hundred and fifty thousand other people while a famous rock band plays on a stage so far away that the performers look like ants?
It may sound strange but that is what many hundreds of thousands of young people in the UK do every summer. Why? Because summer is the time for outdoor music festivals.
Held on a farm, the Glastonbury Festival is the most well-known and popular festival in the UK. It began in 1970 and the first festival was attended by one thousand five hundred people each paying an admission price of ￡1 — the ticket included free milk from the farm.
Since then the Glastonbury Festival has gone from strength to strength — in 2004 one hundred and fifty thousand fans attended, paying ￡112 each for a ticket to the three-day event. Tickets for the event sold out within three hours. Performers included superstars, such as Paul McCartney and James Brown, as well as new talent, like Franz Ferdinand and Joss Stone.
Although many summer festivals are run on a profit-making basis, Glastonbury is a charity event, donating millions of pounds to local and international charities.
Glastonbury is not unique in using live music to raise money to fight global poverty. In July of this year, the Live 8 concerts were held simultaneously （同时） in London, Paris, Rome and Berlin. Superstars such as Madonna, Sir Elton John and Stevie Wonder performed in order to highlight international poverty and debt.
27. What does the author mean by saying “the Glastonbury Festival has gone from strength to strength”?
A. The festival has achieved growing success.
B. Great efforts have been made to hold the festival.
C. The festival has brought in a large amount of money.
D. There have been thousands of fans attending the festival.
28. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The Glastonbury Festival is run on a profit-making basis.
B. Tickets for the 2004 Glastonbury Festival were in great demand despite the high price.
C. Both James Brown and Joss Stone were born in poor families.
D. In the 1970 Glastonbury Festival, one could have lunch on the farm for free.
29. We can learn from the last paragraph that _____.
A. the Glastonbury Festival is not so popular as the Live 8 concerts
B. the Live 8 concerts are held every year in London
C. London, Paris, Rome and Berlin are famous for outdoor music festivals
D. some superstars are concerned about global poverty
30. What is the best title for the passage?
A. How to have a good time   
B. Charity events around the world
C. The Glastonbury Festival   
D. Superstars’ performances in charity events
 
第二节（共5个小题；每小题2分，满分10分）
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance more often, and never give up a thing because it was hard or inconvenient.      31     “There are only two creatures,” says a proverb, “who can surmount(越过) the pyramids — the eagle and the snail.”
If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention. I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand.      32       The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough.
I often hear grown-up people say, “I could not fix my attention on the lecture or book, although I wished to do so,” and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.
If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage. “Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice (怯懦),” says a wise author.      33      The fear of ill exceeds(超过) the ill we fear. Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them.     34          
If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, it smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return. Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it.
      35      I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand straight and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy.
Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, try still harder to make others happy.
A. If we want light, we must conquer darkness.
B. If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say “No” oftener.
C. We too often borrow trouble, and expect that may never appear.
D. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once.
E. If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends and indeed towards strangers as well.
F. Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results.
G. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be feared.
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