四、阅读理解(共15小题;每题2分，共30分。)

　　阅读下列短文，然后根据短文的内容从每小题的四个选择项中选出最佳的一项，并把它前面的大写字母填入左边的括弧里。

　　A

　　First there was learning. This has always been an important part of human life. By imitating their parents， children learned to hunt， to make tools， and to take care of themselves and others.

　　Next came education. This was possible only after people developed language. Then adults could explain how to do things. They could talk about traditions， beliefs， and ceremonies of the group. Still， education was oral. Children could learn only what their teachers could remember.

　　Finally， schools were created. They came into being because writing was invented. The first system for writing appeared about 3，500 B.C. in Sumeria， a land that is now Iraq. The Sumerians also invented a system for calculating with numbers. About 500 years later， the Egyptians discovered writing and calculation， too. And shortly after that， both the Sumerians and the Egyptians started schools. Being able to read and write they allowed people to learn anything that could be recorded. But the early systems were complicated. Children couldn‘t learn them just by watching. That’s why schools became a necessity.

　　Those first students learned reading， writing， and calculation. Having these skills gave people great power over those who did not have them. Some 5，000 years later， this is still true.

　　( )51. The main idea of this article is that schools ________.

　　A. had great power B. became necessary for learning

　　C. taught children to hunt D. developed language

　　( )52. You can decide from the article that schools have ________.

　　A. made education difficult B. held back learning

　　C. imitated parents D. advanced human skills

　　( )53. What happened before Egyptians discovered calculation?

　　A. Egyptians discovered writing. B. Egyptians started schools.

　　C. Sumerians invented writing. D. Sumerians started schools.

　　( )54. Education became possible only with the development of _______.

　　A. learning B. language C. calculation D. clocks

　　B

　　Once a landlord wanted to plant garlic in his fields. He found a group of boys and asked them to do the work for him. At lunch time he did not invite the boys to have lunch with his family. The boys had to sit by the door and have lunch on the ground. The landlord was afraid that other people would see the bad food for the boys. So with a smile on his face he said to them： “Boys， go and eat in the house. This is for your food. If you eat here by the door， the dogs will bite you.” The boys were surprised. But they said nothing and went to eat in the house. The landlord was quite pleased.

　　Supper time came and the boys went into the house again. When they walked past the landlord‘s room， they looked in through the window. What do you think they saw there? They saw a big table with white bread and all kinds of good food on it. The landlord and his family were sitting around the table and eating their dinner. But the food for the boys was bad. The boys were very angry. They wanted to teach the landlord a lesson. So they decided to plant his garlic upside down. And that was what they did the next day.

　　A few days later the garlic was coming out everywhere but not in the landlord‘s fields. The landlord was very surprised and asked the boys why this was so. “The garlic is afraid that the dogs will bite it，” the boys answered.

　　( )55. The landlord asked the boys to come because ________.

　　A. he wanted them to plant garlic for him

　　B. he wanted to invite them to have lunch with his family

　　C. he wanted to tell them to sit by the door

　　D. he wanted them to plant vegetables for him

　　( )56. The landlord asked the boys to eat in the house because _______.

　　A. he was afraid the dog would eat their food

　　B. he was afraid the dog would bite them

　　C. he thought other people would see the bad food for the boys

　　D. he was afraid the boys would play with the dog

　　( )57. The next day the boys planted the landlord‘s garlic upside down because _______.

　　A. they did not know how to plant it

　　B. they wanted to teach the landlord a lesson

　　C. they were afraid the dogs would bite it

　　D. they made a mistake

　　( )58. A few days later the landlord‘s garlic did not come out because ________.

　　A. the garlic was afraid the dogs would bite it

　　B. the boys had planted it upside down

　　C. the boys had not planted it at all

　　D. the boys had not watered it

　　C

　　The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on February 9 it would award its highest honour to Arthur Ashe， the tennis star and human rights fighter who died on February 6 of AIDS. He was 49.

　　The award， called the Olympic Order， is awarded to sportsmen and others for service to the Olympics and its principled.

　　Ashe never participated in the Olympics， but IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said： “I think he was really a thorough Olympian.”

　　Ashe is the first black man to win Wimbledon and the only black to win the Australian US open titles.

　　Last April 8， he announced he had AIDS， which he got from a blood transfusion during a heart operation in 1983.

　　Ashe often worked for racial equality in and out of sports. He said the happiest moment of his life was not winning Wimbledon， but when Nelson Mandela—South Africa‘s antiapartheid (反種族隔離的) leader—was freed from jail in 1990.

　　A quote from Ashe： “I have good days and bad days. My ratio of good days to bad days is about six to one.”

　　( )59. The underlined word “award” in the first paragraph means “________”。

　　A. send a telegraph B. give a prize

　　C. congratulate somebody D. be in memory of somebody

　　( )60. Arthur Ashe ________.

　　A. won Olympic gold medals in tennis

　　B. took part in several Olympic Games

　　C. was a famous sportsman in the Olympic Games which was held in South Africa

　　D. had not been in any Olympic games

　　( )61. ________ made Ashe happier than anything else.

　　A. Nelson Mandela‘s freedom

　　B. Winning the Australian US open titles

　　C. Juan Antonio Samaranch‘ s congratulation

　　D. His good days in his life

　　( )62. Which is correct?

　　A. There were as many good days in his life as bad days.

　　B. His good days were equal to his bad days.

　　C. He had more good days in all his life than bad days.

　　D. He had six good days in all his life.

　　D

　　For some time past， it has been widely accepted that babies—and other creatures—learn to do things because certain acts lead to “rewards”， there is no reason to doubt that this is true. But it used also to be widely believed that effective rewards， at least in the early time， had to be directly connected to such basic physiological “drives” as thirst or hunger. In other words， a baby would learn if he needed food or drink or some sort of physical comfort， not otherwise.

　　It is now clear that this is not so. Babies will learn to behave in ways that produce results in the world with no reward except success in sight.

　　Papousek began his studies by using milk in the normal way to “reward” the babies and so teach them to carry out some movements， such as turning the head to one side or the other. Then he noticed that a baby who had had enough to drink would refuse the milk but would still go on making， the learned response with clear signs of pleasure. So he began to study the children‘s responses in situations where no milk was provided. He quickly found that children as young as four months would learn to turn their heads to right or left if the movement “turned on” some lights—and indeed that they were able to learn some more turns to bring about this result， for example， two left or two right， or even to make as many as three turns to one side.

　　Papousek‘ s light experiment was placed directly in front of the babies and he made the interesting observation that sometimes they would not turn back to watch the light closely although they would “smile and speak” when the light was on. Papousek concluded that it was not the sight of the lights which pleased them. It was the success they were achieving in solving the problem， in mastering the skill， and then there is a basic human nature to make sense of the world and bring it under control.

　　( )63. According to the writer， babies learn to do things which _______.

　　A. will satisfy their surprise B. will meet their physical needs

　　C. are directly connected to pleasure D. will bring them a feeling of success

　　( )64. Papousek noticed in his studies that a baby _________.

　　A. would make learned responses when it saw the milk

　　B. would continue the simple movements without being given milk

　　C. would turn its head to right or left when it had enough to drink

　　D. would carry out learned movements when it had enough to drink

　　( )65. The babies would “smile and speak” at the lights because ________.

　　A. they succeeded in “turning on” the lights

　　B. the sight of lights was interesting

　　C. they need not turn back to watch the lights

　　D. the lights were directly connected to some basic “drives”

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