number of seconds. It is important to keep a log noting the number of memorized items and the times so that the progress can be recorded.
As long as you have a strong memory and stronger reading skills, you will be an expert speed reader.
11. What can be learned from the first paragraph?
A. Excellent short-term memory plays a fundamental part in speed reading.
B. Students have too many speed reading exercises to do.
C. The books, websites, programmes and courses on speed reading are useless.
D. With just a good short-term memory, one will be able to do speed reading very well.
12. What is true about slow readers according to the second
paragraph?
A. They cannot remember images of words at all.
B. They find it hard to concentrate on what they're reading.
C. The words are not stored strongly enough in their brain.
D. They have a very limited vocabulary.
13. When does the brain of a reader process the words that have
been read?
A. After finishing reading the whole passage.
B. When the reading passage is very simple.
C. When he/she pauses in reading.
D. While he/she is reading new blocks of words.
14. If one intends to improve his reading speed, he should be
trained to ________________. A. enlarge his vocabulary
B. lengthen the time he could concentrate
C. strengthen his long-term memory
D. acquire all kinds of mnemonic techniques
15. What kind of reading material can be used in the training to
improve short-term memory?
A. The material whose topic is familiar to the trainee.
B. The material that has few new words.
C. The material that is more difficult than those one usually reads.
D. The material that the trainee has read before.
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the same passage. One of the most successful, influential and beloved women in American history, Eleanor Roosevelt, once said that she had one regret: she wished she had been prettier. Who hasn't felt the same way? We are all too aware of our physical imperfections. To overcome them, we spend billions upon billions of dollars every year on cosmetics (化妆品), diet products, fashion, and plastic surgery (整容手术).
Why do we care so much about how we look? Because it matters. Because beauty is powerful. Because even when we learn to value people mostly for being kind and wise and funny, we are still moved by beauty. No matter how much we argue against it or pretend to be immune, beauty exerts its power over us. There is simply no escape.
Aristotle said, \of introduction.\people better than we do others. Attach a photograph of a beautiful author to an essay, and people will think it is more creatively and more intelligently written than exactly the same essay accompanied
by the photo of a homely author.
As children, beautiful ones are more likely to become favourites with parents and teachers. Later, they're more likely to get good jobs and promotion. Beautiful lawyers get paid more than their less attractive colleagues. Good-looking criminals are more likely to win the sympathy of judges and juries. Attractive people in needs are more likely to receive help from strangers.
Our sensitivity to physical beauty is not something we can control at will. We are born with it. Experiments conducted by psychologist Judith H Langlois showed that even small infants prefer to look at attractive faces. Before they have met a single supermodel, before they have watched a single TV show, before they have opened up a single fashion magazine, they are drawn to the same faces which adults have judged to be attractive.
There are more important things in life than beauty. But as Etcoff says, \enslaved by it.\mean that you can't also try your best to look beautiful. There's no reason to feel guilty about being moved by beauty's power. It moves us all.
16. According to the passage, Eleanor Roosevelt
________________.
A. was one of the most beautiful women in American history
B. was popular with American people in spite of her ugly appearance
C. spent millions of dollars on plastic surgery
D. was interested in pursuing beauty just like others
17. It's not fair but it's true that ________________.
A. we value people for being kind and wise
B. we try every effort to make ourselves more attractive
C. we treat beautiful people better than others
D. we hold prejudice against beautiful authors
18. Which of the following best summarizes the fourth paragraph?
A. Beauty is misleading.
B. Beauty is powerful.
C. Beauty is everything.
D. Beauty is key to career success.
19. According to the passage, small babies ________________.
A. are immune to the influence of beauty
B. are sensitive to physical beauty
C. prefer attractive women to men
D. are keen on watching supermodels
20. What's the writer's probable purpose in writing the passage?
A. To criticize people's focus on appearance.
B. To promote the industry of cosmetics.
C. To warn people against the trap of beauty.
D. To present some facts about the power of beauty.
Part 4 Banked Cloze
(每小题：2 分)
Directions: Fill in the blanks in the following passage by selecting suitable words from the Word Bank. You may not use any of the words more than once.
Questions 1 to 10 are based on the following passage.
A. opposed D. written G. compared J. expectations M. aware
B. converse E. developed H. awake K. deal N. better
C. equally F. strategies I. higher L. absolutely O. further
Reading is thought to be a kind of conversation between the reader and the text. The reader puts questions, as it were, to the text and gets answers. In the light of these, he puts 1.
furtherquestions, and so on. For most of the time, this \level of consciousness. At times, however, we become 2.
awareof it. This is usually when we are running into difficulties, when mismatch is occurring between 3.
expectationsand meaning. When successful matching is being experienced, our question of the text continues at the unconscious level.
converseDifferent people 4. with the text differently. Some stay very close to the words on the page; others take off imaginatively from the words, interpreting, criticizing, analyzing and examining. The former represents a kind of comprehension which is 5. text. The latter represents 6.
writtenin the levels of highercomprehension. The balance between these is important, especially for advanced readers.
There is another conversation which from our point of view is 7. equallyimportant, and that is to do not with what is read but with how it is read. We call this a \conversation as 8.
opposedto a \conversation. It is concerned not with meaning but with the 9.
strategieswe employ in reading. If we are an advanced reader, our ability to hold a process conversation with a text is usually pretty well 10.
developed. Not so our ability to hold a content conversation.
