四级阅读讲义

Reading For Band 4

Unit 2

Reading Comprehension

Directions: There are 3 passages in this unit. 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 and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.

Passage One

Questions 1 to 4 are base on the following.

Aristotle, the Greek Philosopher, summed up the four chief qualities of money some 2000 years ago. It must be lasting and easy to recognize, to divide, and to carry about. In other words it must be, ‘durable, distinct, divisible and portable’. When we think of money today, we picture it either as round, flat pieces, of metal which we call coins, or as printed paper notes. But there are still parts of the world today where coins and notes are of no use. They will buy nothing, and a traveler might starve if he had none of the particular local 'money' to exchange for food.

Among isolated peoples, who are not often reached by traders from outside, commerce usually means barter. There is a direct exchange of goods. Perhaps it is fish for vegetables, meat for grain, or various kinds of food in exchange for pots, baskets, or other manufactured goods. For this kind of simple trading, money is not needed, but there is often something that everyone wants and everybody can use, such as salt to flavor food, shells for ornaments, or iron and copper to make into tools and vessels. There things-salt, shells or metals-are still used as money in out-of-the-way parts of the world today.

Salt may seem rather a strange substance to use as money, but in countries where the food of the people is mainly vegetable, it is often an absolute necessity. Cakes of salt, stamped to show their value, were used as money in Tibet until recent times, and cakes of salt will still buy goods in Borneo and parts of Africa.

Cowrie sea shells have been used as money at some time or another over the greater part of the Old World.

Metal, valued by weight, preceded coins in many parts of the world.

Nowadays, coins and notes have supplanted nearly all the more picturesque forms of money.

1. Where does a barter take place?

A) Where there is only salt.

B) Where the people's trading needs are fairly simple.

C) Where metal tools are used.

D) Where money is unknown.

2. What does the underlined word “stamped” in paragraph 3 mean?

A) Pressed down. B) Cut. C) Trodden upon. D) Imprinted.

3. In some places of the world a traveler might starve _____________.

A) even if his money was of the local kind

B) even if he had no coins or notes

C) if he did not know the local rate of exchange

D) even if he had plenty of coins or notes

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) Cowrie shells used to be valued because they are easy to carry.

B) Salt is still used as money in Tibet.

C) Metal is still in use after coins were put into practice.

D) Coins and notes have taken the place of nearly all the forms of money.

Passage Two

Questions 1 to 4 are based on the following passage.

Nothing lived on the naked soil. Not as yet. But slowly, through the years, the island became cover with green plants. And slowly, animals began to move over its beaches and hills. How did they get there?

This story will be about a tropical island surrounded by warm Seas. But the way the plants and animals come to this little bit of earth in the sea is the story of how plants and animals have spread from one island to another all over the world.

Around the island the wind roared, the ocean crashed, and the birds flapped their wings. The wind, the sea and the birds were at work bringing life to the new island.

From the land nearest the new island, the wind picked up seeds light as dust, seeds with delicate airy parachutes or silky hairs that kept them driftly through the air. And from land near and far the wind brought little spiders and other insects so light they could sail on the air currents. But the wind was also loaded with invisible clouds of living things too tiny to see. Millions of the world's smallest plants--the bacteria--floated in the air. Some of these fell on the island and multiplied. Countless dust like cells called spores was carried by the wind. These too fell on the island and sprouted, like seeds. Some grew into algae-the simplest plants made up of single cells or thin sheets of cells, others grew into molds. Some were the spores of ferns.

1. In what order do the following things form or come to the island?

A) Soil, plants, animals. B) Animals, soil, plants.

C) Plants, animals, soil. D) Soil, animals, plants.

2. Why do you think that plants are the first thing that can live and grow on a new island?

A) Only they can live off the soil, water, and air.

B) They are the first to get there and know how to survive.

C) They keep all the food to themselves.

D) They take soil as their food.

3. Which sentence best describes the growth of life on a new island?

A) Anything can come to a new island and find food right away.

B) Everything that is going to live on the island is there when the island is formed.

C) Life forms on a new island in stages.

D) There is life on a new island from the birth of the island.

4. From what you know of the story, what is the author trying to show you?

A) How volcanoes form islands. B) How soil is formed

C) How life grows and spreads throughout the world. D) How plants grow.

Passage Three

Questions 1 to 4 are based on the following passage:

Shrove Tuesday is the day before the beginning of Lent, the 40-day period before Easter (复活节) in the Christian year. It is celebrated in many different ways all over the world, but in England is traditionally associated with the cooking and eating of pancakes so much so that it is often called Pancake Day.

At Olney, a small town in England, Shrove Tuesday is Pancake Race Day. The race is said to have first been run there in 1445 and has continued more or less ever since with occasional interruptions as, for example, during the Second World War.

It is a race for women only. They must be housewives and live in the area. They have to cook a pancake and run about 400 meters from the village square to the parish church, tossing their pancake three times as they run. They have to wear aprons and cover their heads with a hat or scarf. A bell rings twice for the women to start making their pancakes and then again for them to assemble in the square, carrying their cooked pancakes in a frying pen. There they wait for the bell to ring again and the race starts. Sometime one of the pancake on the ground, but the runner is allowed to pick it up and toss it again. The winner and the runner-up (亚军) both get a prize from the vicar who is waiting at the church door. The verger, who helps to look after the church, gets a kiss from the winner and often her pancake as well. Then all the runners take their frying pans with the pancake into the church and a short service is held.

The pancake race, with the women frying along, tossing and trying to catch their pancakes, provides a great deal of entertainment and is frequently shown on television. In 1950, a similar pancake race was organized in Kansas, USA, and has continued ever since. It takes place on the same day, at exactly the same time. Times are clocked on both sides of the Atlantic and there is keen competition to see whether the British or American housewives run faster.

1. It is believed that the pancake race _________.

A) has been held every year since 1445 B) dates back to the 15th century

C) originated in the 14th century D) started after the Second World War 32. 2. The race is only open to women who_________.

A) are staying in the area B) got married in Olney

C) maintain a home in the district D) were born in Olney

3. During the race, the competitors have to ___________.

A) jump three times and catch a pancake B) toss the pancakes to each other

C) throw some pancakes into a frying pan D) throw and catch their pancakes

4. When the race is over, all the runners__________.

A) are presented with prayer books B) serve pancakes in the church

C) conduct a service D) take part in a ceremony

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