无声和意群阅读
要做好阅读理解题，就要有一定的阅读速度，而提高阅读速度的关键在于良好的阅读习惯——无声阅读和意群阅读。无声阅读只运用眼和大脑两大器官，要比有声阅读或借助于铅笔或手指指着文章读快得多。意群阅读是指我们在阅读文章时，不要以一个词为单位来阅读，应以意群为单位来阅读。按意群来阅读时，我们的眼睛在意思完整处停顿，不仅可以提高阅读速度，而且有助于理解文章的主题。只要同学们有了无声阅读和意群阅读的好习惯，相信大家的阅读速度会很快得到提高。
阅读理解
Passage A
Did anyone find the names of “Great Britain”， “the ed Kingdom”， “England” and “the British commonwealth” which have the same meaning？ Strictly speaking， these names all refer to something different①. None of them are exactly the same as any of the others.
The British isles refer to the main islands and several thousand small ones as well， which you can see on the map②. Great Britain， or Britain， refers to the larger of the two main islands. But the word “Britain” is often used as a short form for the ed Kingdom or you call it the UK.
Now as for England， it refers simply to the largest of the three countries on the island of Great Britain. The ed Kingdom is the name of the state and the official name of the country， which many people popularly refer to England.
Finally， the Britain commonwealth is the usual name for what is left of the British Empire （帝国）. This change shows the weakening of British Empire and the rising of the national liberation movements throughout the world today.
译注
① Strictly speaking， these names all refer to something different.
严格说来，这些名字的含义是不同的。
② The British isles refer to the main islands and several thousand small ones as well， which you can see on the map.
不列颠群岛指的是能在地图上看到的主要岛屿和几千个小岛屿。
根据文章内容，选择正确答案：
1. According to the passage， we know that .
A. Great Britain has the same meaning as Britain
B. the ed Kingdom has the same meaning as Britain or England
C. all the names in the first paragraph have the same meaning
D. all the names refer to England
2. It is clear that the British isles refer to .
A. Britain， England and the UK
B. the two main islands and thousands of small ones
C. three countries and several islands
D. Great Britain or the ed Kingdom
3. Which of the following shows the right relationship （关系） between the British isles （BI）， Britain （B） and England （E）？
A. B>BI>EB. BI>E>B
C. E>B>BID. BI>B>E
4. If you want to write to someone in Edinburgh that lies in Scotland， you should write the address as .
A. Edinburgh， England
B. Edinburgh， Great Britain
C. Scotland， Edinburgh， England
D. Great Britain， Scotland， Edinburgh
Passage B
Hundreds of years ago， a Roman army came north from England to make war on Scotland. The Scots， a brave people， loved their country. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland. But there were too many of the Romans. It looked as if the Romans would win.
One night， the leader of the Scots marched his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight， my men，” he said， “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle①. We must win， or we will die.”
They were all very tired. So they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty， but they were very tired， too， and one by one， they fell asleep.
The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they went up the hill. Closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more the war would be over. Suddenly， one of them put his foot on a thistle （蓟）. He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a minute they were on their feet and ready for a battle. The fighting was hard， but it did not last long. The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland②.
The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp needles all over it. Few people liked it. But the people of Scotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.
译注
① Tomorrow we will fight one more battle.
明天还要进行一场战斗。
② The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved Scotland.
苏格兰人把罗马人赶出去，拯救了苏格兰。
根据文章内容，选择正确答案：
1. Hundreds of years ago， the Romans .
A. came from the north through England to make war on Scotland
B. came to the north Scotland from England to make war on Scotland
C. came from the north of England to fight the Scots
D. came to the north from the south of Britain to fight the Scots
2. At the shout of a Roman soldier， all the Scots who were asleep at the hill .
A. began to fight the Romans hard
B. stood up without putting on their shoes and began to fight
C. woke and rose immediately， ready to fight
D. put their feet into their shoes at once and were ready to fight
3. The result of the war is that .
A. the Romans killed all the Scots
B. the Scots were defeated
C. the Scots were driven out of Scotland
D. the Scots defeated the Romans
4. The Scots made thistle their national flower because thistle .
A. is lovely， though not beautiful
B. gave them happiness
C. is a kind of useful plant
D. helped the Scots in wiping out the Romans
Passage C
In order to deal （对付） with one of the most pressing problems—congested traffic， the British city of Leeds is advising its citizens to share cars in rush hours①.
As peak hour traffic floods into the city， many cars just contain the driver②. Surveys show that there are more than four thousand empty seats in these cars each morning， which the city council （议会） want filling. So from now on， priority （好处） will be given to those environmentally conscious （有环境意识的） drivers who have taken at least one other person with them to work. One lane will be designated only for those vehicles （车辆） with two or more persons； the other slower lane for the single occupant （占有者）.
译注
① In order to deal with one of the most pressing problems—congested traffic， the British city of Leeds is advising its citizens to share cars in rush hours.
为了解决最具压力的问题之一——交通拥挤，英国的利兹市建议它的市民在交通高峰时间共用汽车。
② As peak hour traffic floods into the city， many cars just contain the driver.
当城市的交通高峰期到来时，许多汽车里只有司机。
根据文章内容，回答下面的问题：
1.According to this report， which is the best way to solve the congested traffic？
2.Whats the Chinese meaning of the underlined word “survey”？
3. If you want to get to the city as soon as possible in the city in the future， what should you do？
完形填空
Passage D
Britain and Ireland
The British isles is made up of two large islands①： One is called Ireland and the other1 . Britain， or Great Britain， is the larger of these two islands， and it is2 into three parts： Scotland ， Wales and England.
