全国高等教育自学考试《英语（二）》模拟试卷六

My Brother
My brother is off at college ，and at age 14， I miss him terribly. My brother is a rare kind of guy.He' s smart and kind. And my friends say he' s lovely. But it' s how he handles things and how he treats his friends and his family that make me feel more proud.
He applied to 14 colleges. He was accepted by all but one，the one he wanted， Brown University.So he took his second choice， and off he went to a first year. When he came home for summer vacation，he said he' d move to Rhode Island near Brown， find a job， and do whatever he could to become known in the area. He' d work his heart out and do his best at everything. Someone， he was sure， would notice. This was a big deal for my parents as it meant agreeing to a year without college.
But they trusted him and encouraged him to do whatever he thought it would take to realize his dream.
It wasn't long before he was hired as an amateur ( 业余的) play director at Brown. Now was his chance to shine， and shine he did. He put every bit of himself into the job. He met teachers and school officials， talked to everyone about his dream and never hesitated to tell them what he was after.
And， sure enough， at the end of the year， when he reapplied to Brown，he was accepted.
We were all happy， but for me the happiness went very deep. I had learned an important lesson--a lesson no one could have taught me with words. If I work hard for what I want， and if I keep trying after I've been turned down， my dreams can also come true. This is a gift I still bold in my heart.

From time to time， we need an expert. In such situations， the Internet has been like a giftfrom the gods. In the old days， authorities were near at hand for expert advice: the villageseamstress on how to make a buttonhole， the blacksmith on how to take care of a horse's hooves，or the apothecary on what to do about warts. On the Internet， advice and answer sites are poppingup all over the place， with self-proclaimed experts at the ready.
Exp. com claims to have "tens of thousands of experts who can help you"， while the morerestrained Abuzz. corn， owned by The New York Times， limits its pitch to "Ask Anything! RealPeople， Real Answers. " It's said that expert sites or knowledge networks represent the latest stagein the Internet's evolution， a "democratization of expertise". However， if your question is aboutsomething other than "Who invented the light bulb？"， the answers are likely to be a wild potpourriof personal opinions.
Top colleges and universities are rushing into online education， but the big news is theproliferation of a new breed of for-profit online institutions bringing Internet education to themasses. "The Internet will probably be the single most democratizing force in education，" saysColumbia Business School Dean Meyer Feldberg， who envisions educational programs being routedthrough the net to hundreds of millions of people.
The largest online institution is the University of Phoenix， with some 6，000 students todayand hopes of reaching 200，000 students in 10 years. The university offers bachelor's， master's，and doctoral degrees in business management， technology， education， and nursing. The universitynotes that its degree programs cost far less and may take some students far less time to complete.
On the other hand， a Business Week survey of 247 companies found that only a handful wouldconsider hiring applicants who earned their MBA degrees online. Whether that will change as for-profit online universities improve their offerings and graduates prove their value--is anyone's guess.
The rest of the world is moving into cyberspace more slowly than the United States， and， inthe developing world， the Internet has hardly penetrated at all. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annanis determined to change this through the United Nations Information Technology Service， whichwill train large numbers of people to tap into the income enhancing power of the Internet. Annan isalso proposing an Internet health network that will provide state-of-the-art medical knowledge to10，000 clinics and hospitals in poor countries.

①Oil is the substance that lubricates the world's economy. Because so many of our moderntechnologies and services depend on oil， nations， corporations， and institutions that control thetrade in oil exercise extraordinary power.
②The "energy crisis" of 1973--1974 in the United States demonstrated how the price of oilcan affect U.S. government policies and the energy-using habits of the nation.
③By 1973， domestic U.S. sources of oil were peaking， and the nation was importing moreof its oil， depending on a constant flow from abroad to keep cars on the road and machinesrunning. In addition， at that time a greater percentage of homes and electrical plants were run onpetroleum than today.
④Then， in 1973， the predominant Arab nations of the Organization of Petroleum ExportingCountries (OPEC) resolved to stop selling oil to the United States. The move was prompted byOPEC's desire to raise prices by restricting supply and by its opposition to U.S. support of Israelin the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War. The embargo (禁运) created panic in the West and causedoil prices to shoot up. Short-term oil shortages drove American consumers to wait in long lines atgas pumps.
⑤In response to the embargo， the U.S. government enforced a series of policies designed toreduce reliance on foreign oil. These included developing additional domestic sources (such asthose on Alaska's North Slope)， resuming extraction at sites that had been shut down because ofcost inefficiency， capping the price that domestic producers could charge for oil， and beginning toimport oil from a greater diversity of nations. The government also established a stockpile (贮存)of oil as a short-term buffer (缓冲) against future shortages. Stored underground in large saltcaves in Louisiana， this stockpile is called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve， and currently containsover 600 million barrels of oil， roughly equivalent to one month's supply.

Michael Jackson--the Ups and Downs
Michael Jackson， the seventh of nine children， started his musical career with his brothers in1964.26 Michael quickly became the centre of attention.
During the following years the band released hit after hit and became the most successful Motown group. In 1975 the Jackson Five decided to leave Motown for more money at CBS records.
Young Michael began his solo (独唱) career while he was still with the group. His big break-
through came in 1982 with the arrival of his biggest selling album， Thriller. The album had seven hit
singles and became famous for its video clip.
27 In 1984 he set his hair on fire for a commercial in Los Angeles. He was injured and carried out on a stretcher (担架). This and many other strange stories about Jackson brought him thenickname Wacko Jack (怪人杰克). Nevertheless the sales of his records went up.
Black and White was the biggest hit of the 1991 album Dangerous. During the promotion of hisalbum he invited US talk master Oprah Winfrey to Neverland ( 梦幻岛 ). There he gave the world insights into his private life.28 And he also admitted that he had undergone plastic surgery.
In 1993 the King of Pop was accused of harassing (骚扰) children，but a settlement with the13-year old' s parents saved him from prison. 29 But unluckily，the couple separated a year and
a half later.
By the mid 1990s Jackson' s popularity had started to fall. History was a collection of greatesthits plus a few new recordings. The pop star appeared at the Brit Awards to perform his number onesingle Earth Song， together with a group of children.
A second marriage with Nurse Deborah Rowe produced a son Michael and a daughter Paris.
30 It took almost 6 years to finish the album Invincible. But when it was released in 2001， itwas only in the charts (排行榜) for six weeks.
In March 2009 Jackson surprised the pop world by announcing were that he would go on stage one last time. A series of ten concerts， definitely his last ones， were planned for July 2009 in the 02Arena in London. But on June 25，2009，less than a month before he was scheduled to begin a seriesof comeback concerts， paramedics were called to Michael Jackson' s rented home in Holby Hills nearLos Angeles where they found him unconscious and not responding. They were unable to revive the "King of Pop， "and Jackson was pronounced dead at the L. A. Medical Center.
A. They called themselves the Jackson Five.
B. The following year Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley.
C. He said that he was lonely.
D. Michael Jackson was not only a great singer， he also did crazy things.
E. Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson were two peas in one odd pod.
F. Jackson' s downturn continued into the new millennium.

Two People， Two Paths
You must be familiar with the situation: Dad is driving. Mum is telling him where to go. He is 31 that they need to turn left. But she says it is not for another two blocks.
32 has the better sense of direction？ Men or women？ They both do， a new study says， but indifferent ways. Canadian researchers have found men and women have 33 methods of findingtheir way. Men look quickly at landmarks and head off in what they think is the fight direction.Women， however， try to picture the whole route in 34 and then follow the path in their head."Women tend to be more detailed， while men 35 to be a little bit faster and a little bit moreintuitive (直觉感知的) "， said Edward Cornell.
In fact，said Cornell， "sense of 36 "is not one skill but two. The first is the"survey method".This is when you see all area from above， such as a printed map. You can see， for example， where thehospital is，37 the church is and that the supermarket is on its right. The second skill is the"route method"， this is when you use a series of directions. You 38 from the hospital， then turnleft ，turn right， go uphill- and then you see the supermarket. Men are more 39 to use thesurvey method while women are more likely to use one route and follow directions. Both methodswork，and 40 is better.

What Shoes Can Do'？.
Researchers say people can 41 (accurate) judge 90 percent of a stranger's personality bylooking at the person's shoes. "Shoes convey useful information about people，" the authors wrotein the study 42 (publish) in a journal. "Shoes serve as 43 (verbal) cues with symbolicmessages. "Medical Daily notes that the number of 44 (detail) personality traits includessomeone's emotional 45 (stable). Gillath said the 46 (judge) were based on the style，cost， color and condition of shoes. In the study， volunteers were 47 (photograph) in theirmost commonly worn shoes， and then they filled out a questionnaire. Some of the results wereexpected: People with higher incomes commonly wore expensive shoes， and fleshier footwear was 48 (typical) worn by extroverts. However， some of the results are intriguing. For example，practical shoes were generally worn by more " 49 (agree)" people， while ankle boots weremore closely aligned with "aggressive" personalities. The researchers noted that some people willchoose shoe styles to mask their actual personality traits， but researchers noted that volunteerswere likely to be 50 (aware) that their footwear choices were revealing deep insights into theirpersonalities.