Reading Comprehension (55 minutes, 40 points)
 Directions: There are 5 passages in this part. 4 of the passages are followed by 4 questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET. For the 5th passage, there are 4 questions. You should answer those questions in your own words and put your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
 
Passage One 
Many of the most damaging and life-threatening types of weather, such as torrential rains and severe thunderstorms, begin quickly, strike suddenly, and disappear rapidly, destroying small regions while leaving neighboring areas untouched. Conventional (常规的) computer models of the atmosphere have limited value in predicting short-lived local storms because the available weather data are generally not detailed enough to allow computers to see clearly the small atmospheric changes that come before these storms. In most nations, for example, weather-balloon observations are taken just once every twelve hours at locations typically separated by hundreds of miles. With such limited data, conventional forecasting models do a much better job predicting general weather conditions over large regions than they do forecasting specific local events.
   Until recently, the observation-intensive approach needed for accurate, very short-range forecasts, or "Nowcasts," was impracticable. The cost of equipping and operating many thousands of conventional weather stations was extremely high, and the difficulties involved in rapidly collecting and processing the raw weather data from such a network were beyond overcoming. Fortunately, scientific and technological advances have overcome most of these problems. Radar systems, automated weather instruments, and satellites are all capable of making detailed, nearly continuous observations over large regions at a relatively low cost. Communication satellites can transmit data around the world cheaply and immediately, and modem computers can quickly compile and analyze this large volume of weather information. Meteorologists (气象学家) and computer scientists now work together to design computer programs and video equipment capable of transforming raw weather data into words, symbols, and vivid graphic displays that forecasters can interpret easily and quickly. As meteorologists have begun using these new technologies in weather forecasting offices, nowcasting is becoming a reality. (291w)

31. What is the best title of the passage?
    A. Severe Thunderstorm’s and Damages
    B. Weather Forecasting and Life-threatening Damages
    C. Science Advances and Nowcasts
    D.Available Data and Nowcasts

32. Nowcasts are _______. 
    A. local forecasts
    B. short-range forecasts
    C. medium-range forecasts
    D. long-range forecasts

33. Nowcasts used to be impracticable because _______.
    A. there were no conventional computers
    B. the cost of the equipping and operating was sky high
    C. there were no difficulties in data processing
    D. there were not enough meteorologists

34. Things have been changed by the following EXCEPT _______.
   A. the use of radar systems and automated instruments
   B. the use of communication satellites and modem computers
   C. the joint work of meteorologists and computer scientists
   D. weather information volume is large enough to compile and analyze

35. The dream of nowcasts will come true when_______.
   A. the cost is lowered
   B. people need it to reduce damages
   C. meteorologists can make full use of the new technologies
   D. conventional weather forecasts are got rid of
Passage Two.
    Back in the 1870s, Charles Darwin's cousin Francis Galton wanted to define the face of a criminal. He assembled a set of samples by lining them up on a single photographic plate. The surprise: everybody liked the villain (流氓), including Galton himself.
    He reasoned that the villainous irregularities he supposed belonged to criminal faces had  disappeared in the averaging process. In the next century, scientists began to show reliably that faces combine digitally on computers were likable--more so than the individual faces from which they were composed. Although people clearly admire the long legs of Brazilian model Ana Hickmann or Dolly Parton's breasts, in general humans like averages.
   Last week researchers confirmed

37. The word which is similar in meaning to "norm" in Paragraph 2 is _______.
    A. average                       B. gender
    C. transition                      D. scale

38. Which of the following can be an essential factor for people to choose a face he or she likes?
    A. The whole spectrum of faces
    B. The shifting of faces
    C. Their differences or similarities from a norm
    D. The flashing of the super-masculine face

39. The sentence in Paragraph 2 "From then on, other faces had to be more masculine in      order to rate as belonging to the gender." can best mean _______.
    A. from that face on, more masculine faces have to be shown
    B. from that masculine faces on, other faces are to be shown with more and more striking
       masculine features
    C. from the time of setting the standard, other faces had to be more and more masculine
    D. from the shining of the super-masculine face, other faces should be masculine in gender   
    
 40. In the last paragraph, the writer of the passage implies that _______.      

　A. there is no standard in defining a face at all
    B. people's judgment of faces is actually subconscious
    C. people's judgment of a face may be different with the trend change
    D. different people may like different faces in different societies

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