2015年怀化一模英语试题及答案(3)

Part Ⅲ  Reading Comprehension (30 marks)
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.
                                          A
Sina Weibo, one of the country’s most popular micro-blogging sites, has launched a paid service. For a 10 yuan ($ l.57) monthly fee, users get a membership on their Sina  Weibo accounts.
   According to Xu Yuanyuan, a member of the marketing team at Sina, the move is to guarantee a more convenient and safer environment for users. But despite the company’s efforts to increase income, it seems that most of its 300 million users still prefer the free version.
   The premium membership (高级会员) plans ,announced by the company on Monday, brought about negative comments from its users .
   “The current service is good enough for me”, said a Beijing-based micro-blogger. “I don’t really need those value-added services and it might be a waste of money. I might consider paying for it if some more features are added.”
Dong Xu, an analyst with consulting firm Analysys International, said that Sina shouldn’t expect a great increase in income brought by the new services. The free services are enough for most users, Dong said. “The company has been making attempts at different profit models since last year. A potential source of income could be gaming. Games and advertisements are so far the two biggest sources of income.” she said.
Other micro-blogging service providers have not yet followed suit. Fang Gang, vice-president of rival Sohu, said via e-mail on Tuesday that Sohu’s micro-blogging service will never charge users. “It’s good news for us. Users can come to our website if they have to pay for services (at Sina).” Fang said.
56. Most of Sina Weibo’s users       .
   A. aren’t satisfied with its free version        B. show no interest in its paid services 
   C. are looking forward to new services   D. think highly of its new paid version
57. What’s Dong Xu’s attitude towards Sina Weibo’s new services increasing income?
   A. Negative.          B. Confident .        C. Indifferent.             D. Positive .
58. Why did Fang Gang consider Sina Weibo’s charging its users good news?
   A. Because Sina will make more money.    
B. Because Sina will lose the whole Weibo market.    
   C. Because Sohu will attract more users.      
D. Because Sohu will offer free services.
59. What can be inferred from the text?
   A. Most of Weibo websites will charge their users.    
   B. Sina Weibo’s new move will be a great success.  
   C. Sina Weibo’s users will enjoy more services. 
   D. A large number of Weibo users like playing games.
60. What can be the best title for the text?
   A. Sina Weibo Faces Great Challenges        B. Sina Weibo Launches Paid Services
   C. Sina Weibo Expects Income Increase       D. Sina Weibo Becomes More Convenient
B
In my first week as a graduate student at Cambridge University in 1964 I met with a fellow student, two years ahead of me in his studies; he was unsteady on his feet and spoke with great difficulty. This was Stephen Hawking. I learned that he had a bad disease and might not live long enough even to finish his PhD degree.
But, amazingly, he has reached the age of 73. Even mere survival would have been a medical miracle, but of course, he didn’t merely survive. He has become arguably the most famous scientist in the world for his brilliant research, for his bestselling books, and, above all, for his astonishing victory over hardship.
Stephen received his “death sentence” in 1964, when I thought it was hard for him to go on with his study. Stephen went from Albans School to Oxford University. He was said to be a “lazy” undergraduate, but his brilliance earned him a first-class degree, an “entry ticket” to a research career in Cambridge and a uniquely inspiring achievement.Within a few years of the burst of his disease he was wheelchair-bound, and his speech was so unclear that it could only be understood by those who knew him well. But his scientific career went from strength to strength: he quickly came up with a series of insights into the nature of black holes (then a very new idea) and how the universe began. In 1974 he was elected to the Royal Society at the exceptionally early age of 32.
The great advances in science generally involve discovering a link between phenomena that were previously conceptually unconnected — for instance, Isaac Newton realized that the force making an apple fall to earth was the same as the force that holds the moon and planets in their orbits. Stephen’s revolutionary idea about a link between gravity and quantum(量子) theory has still not been tested. However, it has been hugely influential; indeed, one of the main achievements of string theory(弦理论)has been to confirm and build on his idea. He has undoubtedly done more than anyone else since Einstein to improve our knowledge of gravity and he is one of the top-ten living theoretical physicists.
61. What impressed the author most about Stephen Hawking?