第四部分：阅读理解（每题3分，共45分，　建议４０分钟以内完成）
下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每道题后面有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。
Mother knows the best?
       Once while being prepped for a television interview, I was chatting with the host about stay-at-home fathers．I made the point that one reason we’re seeing more stay-at-home dads may be that it’s no longer a given that a man makes more money than his wife．Many families now take earning power into account when deciding which parent will stay home．
    At that point，one of the male crew members commented, almost to himself but loud
enough for my benefit，“It should be the better parent who stays home．”A lot of guys say things like that．Usually it’s code for， “My wife(read：any woman)is the better parent．”
    I was a stay-at-home father for eight years, so his declaration made me bristle．It implied that our family’s choice could only have been correct if 1 was a “better” parent than my wife．
    I think men shoot themselves in the foot with this kind of thinking．I suppose an argument could have been made that when I began staying home my wife was the “better” parent：She had spent more time with Ry,could read him better and calm him more quickly．And given a choice．he’d have picked her over me．But as she was the more employable one．my wife went out to work and I looked after our son．
    Know what? I caught up．Because of the increased time I spent with him．I soon knew Ry well，understood what he needed and could look after him more or 1ess as well as my wife could．Actually, the experience helped me unlock one of the world’s great secrets：Women are good at looking after children because they do it．It’s not because of any innate female aptitude or a mother’s instinct--which I think is mostly learned anyway．It’s because they put in the time and attention required to become good at the job． 
    Women obviously get a biological head start from giving birth and nursing．but over the long term experience is more important．When I got the experience myself, I was good．too．As good? I don’t know．Who cares? Children are not made of glass．other people ale capable of looking after them besides Mom．
练习：
1.Which of the following does the first paragraph imply?
A)Men are no longer given the opportunity to stay at home．
B)In more and more families the wife is earning more than the husband．
C)The author works at a TV station．
D)More and more men choose to stay at home to look after their children．
 
2.the author decided to stay at home to look after their son eight years ago because
A)he though the was the better parent．
B)it was easier for his wife to find a job．
C)their son Ry liked him better．
D)he was earning less than his wife．
 
3.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a thing that a good parent should do with his or her child? 
A)Spending more time with him．
B、taking him t0 school．
C)Reading stories to him．
D)Being able to calm him down．
 
4. Women generally are better than men at taking care of children because
A)they were born with the ability．
B)they just enjoy doing it．
C)they spend more time with them．
D)they have learned to do it at school．
 
5.which of the following is the conclusion the author draws at the end of the article?
A)He is better than his wife at taking care of children．
B)He is as good as his wife at taking care of children．
C)Anyone Can take good care of children as far as he has the experience．
D)Children prefer to be taken care of by their mother than by anyone else．

Some things we know about language 
    Many things about language are a mystery, and many will always remain so．But some
things we do know．
First，we know that all human beings have a language of some sort．There is no race of men anywhere on earth so backward that it has no language，no set of speech sounds by which the people communicate with one mother．Furthermore，in historical times，there has never been a race of men without a language．
    Second，there is no such thing as a primitive language．There are many people whose
cultures are undeveloped，who are，as we say，uncivilized。but the languages they speak are not primitive．In all known 1anguages we can see complexities that must have been tens of thousands of years in developing．
   This has not always been well understood；indeed, the direct contrary has often been stated． Popular ideas of the 1anguage of the American Indians will illustrate．Many people have supposed that the Indians communicated in a very primitive system of noises．Study has proved this to be nonsense．There are，or were，hundreds of American Indian languages，and a11 of them rum out to be very complicated and very old. They are certainly different from the languages that most of us are familiar with，but they are no more primitive than English and Greek．
    A third thing we know about language is that all languages are perfectly adequate．That is．each one is a perfect means of expressing the culture of the people who speak the language．
Finally, we know that language changes．It is natural and normal for language to change； the only languages which do not change are the dead ones．This is easy to understand if we look backward in time．Change goes on in all aspects of language．Grammatical features change as do speech sounds，and changes in vocabulary are sometimes very extensive and may occur very rapidly．Vocabulary is the least stable part of any language.

练习：
1.In the second paragraph the author thinks that
  A)some backward race doesn’t have a language of its own．
  B)some race in history didn’t possess a language of its own．
  C)any human race，whether backward or not，has a language．
  D)some races on earth call communicate without language．

2.According to the author, people of undeveloped cultures can have           languages．
  A)complicated
  B)uncivilized
  C)primitive
  D)well-known

3.The author has used American Indian languages as all example to show that they are
  A)just as old as some well-known languages．
  B)just as sophisticated as some well-known languages．
  C)more developed than some well-known languages．
  D)more complex than some well-known languages．

4.Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
  A)A language is a means of expressing a particular culture．
  B)AU languages Can well express their respective cultures．
  C)American Indian languages are as sophisticated as English．
  D)Some languages are better than other languages．

5.According to the author, language changes are most likely to occur in
  A)grammar．
  B)pronunciation．
  C)vocabulary．
  D)intonation．

Florida Hit by Cold Air mass　
In January, 2003，the eastern two．thirds of the United States was at the mercy of a bitterly cold air mass that has endangered  Florida’s citrus trees，choked northern harbors with ice and left bewildered residents of North Carolina’s Outer Banks digging out of up to a foot of snow．
    The ice chill deepened as temperatures fell to the single digits。in most of me。South,with all unfamiliar dip below the freezing mark as far south as parts of interior So