第4部分：阅读理解(第31～45题，每题3分，共45分)
下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每题后面有4个选项。请仔细阅读短文并根据短文回答其后面的问题，从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案涂在答题卡相应的位置上。
第一篇 It's a Brand-new Century
The U. S. Treasury Department has redesigned the$100 bill, and has begun releasing the new currency recently. Treasury spent nearly 10 years on the redesign and has added a number of state-of-the-art features:microprinting(微型印刷技术), color shifting ink, a polymer(聚合物)security thread. The most striking change, however, is the enlargement of Benjamin Franklin's portrait:he now dominates the bill like a movie star in a newspaper advertisement.
The money we carry around is so familiar that whenever a new bill or coin is introduced, it creates a ripple in our ordinary lives. But not much more than a ripple, and once few people use$100 bills regularly, most Americans greet the arrival of the new note with no stronger emotion than curiosity.
Some foreigners, by contrast, have become clearly worried by the news of its arrival. Around the world，U. S. currency and the$100 bill in particular is often treated as the ulitmate repository(贮藏所)of value. The Federal Reserve estimates that two-thirds of all U. S. cash circulates outside the United States. In nations where inflation is high and where there are few credible banking institutions from Latin America to Africa people save and conduct business in$100 bills. And with the U. S. issuing new$100 bills, many abroad are worrying that the ones they already have are about to become worthless.
The fear is most widespread in Russia. The Russian Central Bank estimates that somewhere between $15 billion and $20 billion of U. S. currency is in Russia, about 80% of it is the form of $100 bills. Everyone from small savers to businessmen and members of Mafia(黑手党)relies on hundreds, so the changes in the bill are causing high anxiety. Many Russians have already changed their meager(微不足道)supply of $100 bills into smaller U. S. notes. But over the next few years the Treasury plans to redesign every note except the $1 bill.
31 Which of the following statements is true concerning the releasing of the new$100 bill?
A It has caused great disturbance among Americans.
B Most Americans show a great interest in its new design.
C All Americans feel only curious about it.
D Most Americans exhibit no stronger emotion than curiosity.
32 The fear of the new$100 bill is most widespread in those countries where
A the economic situation is unstable.
B two-thirds of all U. S. cash circulator.
C the old$100 bills will become more valuable.
D there are too many old$100 bills circulating.
33 Which of the following is true concerning U. S. currency in Russia?
A The Russian Central Bank has$15 billion to$20 billion of U. S. currency.
B 80%of the$100 bills circulating outside the U. S. currency will be devalued.
C There is a widespread fear in Russia that U. S. currency will be devalued.
D About 80% of U. S. currency in Russia is in the form of $100 bills.
34 Why have many Russians changed their$100 bills into smaller notes?
A The U. S. Treasure Department plans to redesign all notes except the $1 bill.
B They are afraid that their$100 bills will lose their value.
C Small savers, businessmen and members of the Mafia prefer smaller notes to$100 bills.
D They have only a small supply of $100 bills.
35 The redesign of the$100 bill has added all the following state-of-art features EXCEPT
A the enlargement of Benjamin Frank portrait.
B a polymer security thread.
C the portrait of a famous movie star.
D colour-shifting ink.
第二篇 Older Volcanic Eruptions
Volcanoes were more destructive in ancient history, not because they were bigger, but because the carbon dioxide they released wiped out life with greater ease.
Paul Wignall from the University of Leeds was investigating the link between volcanic eruptions and mass extinctions. Not all volcanic eruptions killed off large numbers of animals, but all the mass extinctions over the past 300 million years coincided with huge formations of volcanic rock. To his surprise, the older the massive volcanic eruptions were, the more damage they seemed to do. He calculated the "killing efficiency" for these volcanoes by comparing the proportion of life they killed off with the volume of lava that they produced. He found that size for size, older eruptions were at least 10 times as effective at wiping out life as their more recent rivals.
The Permian extinction, for example, which happened 250 million years ago, is marked by floods of volcanic rock in Siberia that cover an area roughly the size of western Europe. Those volcanoes are thought to have pumped out about 10 gigatonnes of carbon as carbon dioxide. The global warming that followed wiped out 80 per cent of all marine genera at the time, and it took 5 million years for the planet to recover. Yet 60 million years ago, there was another huge amount of volcanic activity and global warming but no mass extinction. Some animals did disappear but things returned to normal within ten thousands of years. "The most recent ones hardly have an effect at all," Wignall says. He ignored the extinction which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, because many scientists believe it was primarily caused by the impact of an asteroid. He thinks that older volcanoes had more killing power because more recent life forms were better adapted to dealing with increased levels of CO2.
Vincent Courtillot, director of the Paris Geophysical Institute in France, says that Wignall's idea is provocative. But he says it is incredibly hard to do these sorts of calculations. He points out that the killing power of volcanic eruptions depends on how long they lasted. And it is impossible to tell whether the huge blasts lasted for thousands or millions of years. He also adds that it is difficult to estimate how much lava prehistoric volcanoes produced, and that lava volume may not necessarily correspond to carbon dioxide emissions.
36. Why did older volcanic eruptions do more damage than more recent ones?
A) Because they killed off life more easily.
B) Because they were brighter.
C) Because they were larger.
D) Because they were hotter.
37. How did Wignall calculate the killing power of those older volcanic eruptions?
A) By estimating how long they lasted.
B) By counting the dinosaurs they killed.
C) By studying the chemical composition of lava.
D) By comparing the proportion of life wiped out with the volume of lava produced.
38. When did dinosaurs become extinct?
A) 300 million years ago.
B) 250 million years ago.
C) 60 million years ago.
D) 65 million years ago.
39. What can be inferred from paragraph 3 concerning dinosaurs?
A) They were killed off by an asteroid.
B) They died of drastic climate change.
C) They were wiped off by a volcanic eruption.
D) The cause of their extinction has remained a controversial issue.
40. What is the main thesis of the article?
A) Volcanic eruptions are not always deadly.
B) Older volcanic eruptions were more destructive.
C) Carbon dioxide emissions often give rise to global warming.
D) It is not easy to calculate the killing power of a volcanic eruption.
