II 阅读（共两节， 满分50分)
第一节 阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
A
I once met a well-known botanist at a dinner party. I had never talked with a botanist before, and I found him very interesting. I sat there absorbed and listened while he spoke of unusual plants and his experiments(he even told me astonishing facts about the simple potato). I had a small indoor garden of my own--and he was good enough to tell me how to solve some of my problems.
As I said, we were at a dinner party. There must have been a dozen other guests, but I broke an important rule of politeness. I ignored everyone else and talked for hours to the botanist.
Midnight came. I said good night to everyone and departed. The botanist then turned to our host and said many nice things about me, including that I was a "most interesting conversationalist".
An interesting conversationalist? I had said hardly anything at all. I couldn't have said anything if I had wanted to without changing the subject, for I didn't know any more about plants than I knew about sharks. But I had done this one thing: I had listened carefully. I listened because I was really interested. And he left it. Naturally that pleased him. That kind of listening is one of the best ways to show respect to others, and it makes them feel great too. "Few human beings," wrote Jack Woodford in Strangers in Love, "can resist the sweet effect of rapt attention." I went even further than that. I was "sincere in my admiration and generous in my praise".
I told him that I had been hugely entertained and instructed. I told him I wished I had his knowledge. I told him that I should love to wander the fields with him.What's more, it was all true.
And so I had him thinking of me as a good conversationalist, in reality, I had only been a good listener and had encouraged him to talk.
26. From Paragraph 1, we can learn that the writer________.
A.was deeply moved by the botanist's talk.
B.was amazed by what he was hearing
C.was not in a comfortable situation
D.behaved politely and properly
27.Which of the following does the writer describe as a rule of politeness at dinner parties?
A.Avoiding discussions about politics and religion
B.Listening carefully to what another guest says
C.Arriving and leaving at the appropriate time.
D.Giving attention to all those in attendance.
28.The underline expression "rapt attention" in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _______.
A.full understanding B.strong interest
C.great uncertainty D.little curiosity
29.According to the writer, which of the following is an important characteristic of a good conversationalist?
A.Listening attentively and encouraging the other side to continue
B.Encouraging the other side by sharing his/her own opinions
C.Promising a future meeting for more communication
D.Expression respect by nodding his/her head.
30.What is the purpose of the passage?
A.To prove the writer is an interesting conversationalist
B.To share an interesting experience at a dinner party.
C.To explain what makes a good conversationalist
D.To show that botanist can be really talkative.

B
A British dog-lover has invented a high-tech way of feeding his pet by Twitter. Computer expert Nat Morris, 30, has designed a system to give his pet a "tweet treat" by sending him a Twitter message.
His dog Toby gets more delicious god biscuits from a computer-controlled food machine whenever Nat sends a message to "@feedtoby".
Nat often works away from home and isn't always able to feed Toby by hand. But his new invention allows Nat to feed his dog from anywhere in the world.
Nat said, "Toby absolutely loves it. At first he didn't know what was going on. Now he sits underneath the machine, wagging his tail and waiting for the food to drop."
Nat fills the food machine with small pieces of dog biscuits, but not too many in case four-year-old Toby gets too many messages. And Nat has even equipped his house with an online camera so he can see Toby enjoying the food at his home.
But one problem is that friends and family have been amazed with the "tweet treat" machine that they have started sending tweets to Toby too. So Nat has had to restrict feeding time to make sure Toby doesn't turn into Tubby.
"People have been sending him tweets at all hours of the day, so I had to limit it to between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m . I'm thinking of doing an updated one which can measure his weight before he is fed, just to make sure he's not putting on too much puppy fat," explained Nat.
How Nat's Twitter Feeder works:
When a message is sent to @feedtoby, it is received by a mini-computer that is linked to the food machine.
When the mini-computer receives the message, a bell rings and Toby comes running over and sits in front of the feeding machine. Nest, the machine's motor pulls open a trap door which releases a serving of food.
The doggy biscuits then drop into Toby's food bowl. Finally a digital camera takes a photo of him and sends it back to Nat on Twitter-so he knows Toby has been fed.
31. Nat has invented a high-tech way to feed his dog because he __________.
A.wants his friends to feed Toby
B.has very strong computing skills
C.is often too busy to feed his dog
D.doesn't like to feed Toby by hand
32.Why has Nat decided to limit the feeding machine's operating time?
A.He doesn't want Toby to get too fat.
B.He fears the machine will run out of food.
C.He wants his friends to stop feeding Toby.
D.He doesn't want Toby to be woken up at night.
33.It can be learned from the passage that Toby________.
A.sits beneath his feeder all day long.
B.is now used to bing fed by machine.
C.doesn't know what happens to the feeder
D.no longer receives tweets from Nat's friends
34.Which of the following shows the correct order of how the Twitter Feeder works?
a.The bell goes off.
b.A message is sent to @feedtoby
c.The mini-computer gets the message
d.The digital camera takes a photo of Toby and sends it to Nat.
e.The motor starts to work and opens the door to release dog food.
A.a,b,c,e,d. B.b,c,e,a,d C.b, c,a,e,d D.c,b,a,d, e
35. In which section of the newspaper would you most probably find this passage?
A.Technology B.Health C.Environment D.Style
来源:可可英语 http://www.kekenet.com/gaokao/201504/370948.shtml