The Indo-European family of languages is the world’s largest embracing most of the languages of Europe,America,and much of Asia.It includes the two great classical languages of antiquity,Latin and Greek,the Germanic languages such as English,German,Dutch,and Swedish;the Romance languages such as Italian,French,Spanish,and Portuguese;the Celtic languages such as Welsh and Gaelic;the Slavic languages

 such as Russian,Polish,Czech,and Serbo-Croatian;the Baltic languages,Lithuanian and Latvian;the Iranian languages such as Persian and Pashto;the Indic languages such as Sanskrit and Hindi;and other miscellaneous languages such as Albanian and Armenian.In Europe only Basque,Finnish,Estonian,Hungarian,Turkish,and a few languages of Russia are not of this family,the others have apparently all descended from an original parent tongue.The general consensus is that the original Indo-European civilization developed

somewhere in eastern Europe about 3000 B.C.About 2500 B.C. it broke up;the people left their homeland and migrated in many different directions.Some moved into

Greece,others made their way into Italy,other moved through Central Europe until

 they ultimately reached the British Isles.Another division headed northward into Russia,while still another branch crossed Iran and Afghanistan and eventually

reached India.Wherever they settled,the Indo-Europeans appear to have overcome the local inhabitants and imposed their language upon them.One must conclude that

they were a most remarkable people.

The possiblity of so many languages having descended from a common ancestor was

 first suggested in 1786,though the similarity of Sanskrit and Italian was noted

 as early as the sixteenth century.By 1818 fifty separate languages were established as Indo-European;Albanian was added to the list in 1854 and Armenian in 1875.The total number of Indo-European speakers is about 1,875,000,000 people,approximately half the earth’s total population.

Questions:

1. What is the article mainly concerned?

__________________________________.

2.English is related to Germanic languages in the same way as Persian is related to __________________________________.

3. In Europe all languages have apparently descended from an original parent

 tongue except __________________________________.

4. When and where is the original Indo-European civilization believed to have developed?

__________________________________.

5. How many separate languages were established as Indo-European in 1875?

__________________________________.

答案部分

短文大意

本文主要介绍了印欧语系的相关知识。印欧语系是世界上最大的语系，囊括了欧洲，美洲和亚洲的大部分语种。它包括两大古典语言，即拉丁语和希腊语，以及日尔曼语系，凯尔特语系等等。原始印欧语文化在公元前东欧发展起来。大约在公元前2500年，这种文化瓦解，人们向四处迁移。无论印欧人迁移到哪里，他们都能战胜当地居民，并将自己的语言强加给他们。到1818年，50个独立的语种被确定为印欧语。现在说印欧语的人数已达到18亿7千5百万，几乎是地球人口的一半。

1.答案：It’s about Indo-European languages.

【详细解答】此题提问文章主要讨论的话题，通读全文后，不难得出答案。

2.答案：The Iranian languages.

【详细解答】此题在第一段中便可找到答案。

3.答案：Basque,Finnish,Estonian,Hungarian,Turkish,and a few languages of Russia.

【详细解答】此题在第一段的结尾可找到答案。

4.答案：Somewhere in eastern Europe about 3000 B.C.

【详细解答】此题在第二段开头便可找到答案。

5.答案：Fiftytwo.

【详细解答】此题可根据第三段内容，经过简单的推算便可得出答案。

完型填空部分

Model Test 1

Rumor is the most ___1___  way of spreading stories—by passing them on from mouth ___2___  mouth. But civilized countries in normal times have better ___3___  of news than rumor. They have radio, television, and newspapers. In times of stress and ___4___, ___5___, rumor ___6___  and becomes widespread. At such ___7___  the different kinds of news are in___8___,the press,

 television, and radio versus the grapevine.Especially ___9___  rumors spread when war requires censorship(审查，检查) on many important matters. The customary news sources no longer ___10___  enough information. Since the people cannot learn ___11___  legitimate(合法的，正规的) channels all ___12___  they are anxious to learn, they pick up “news” ___13___  they can and w

hen this ___14___, rumor thrives.

Rumors are often repeated ___15___  by those who do not believe the tales. There is a fascination about them. The reason is ___16___  the cleverly designed rumor gives expression to something deep in the hearts of the victims—the fears, suspicions, forbidden hopes, or daydreams which they hesitate to ___17___  directly. Pessimistic(悲观的) rumors about defeat and disasters show that the people who repeat them are ___18___  and anxious. ___19___  rumors about record production or peace soon coming point to complacency(满足，自得) or confidence—and often to ___20___.

1.  A) primitive   B) important   C) impossible   D) outstanding

2.  A) till  B) to  C) for  D) by

3.  A) means B) ways  C) sources  D) resource

4.  A) confusion  B) peace   C) prosperity  D) worried

5.  A) and  B) however  C) so  D) therefore

6.  A) emerges  B) immerge  C) immerse  D) immense

7.  A) time  B) the times  C) times  D) the time

8.  A) compete  B) competition C) common  D)harmony

9.  A) do  B) did  C) are  D) were

10. A) give up  B) give off  C) give out  D) send off

11. A) through  B) by  C) in  D) across

12. A) what  B) why  C) which  D) that

13. A) wherever  B) where  C) whatever  D) what

14. A) happened  B) would happen C) happens  D) happen

15. A) ever  B) even  C) forever  D) much

16. A) that  B) what  C) why  D) how

17. A) act  B) voice  C) behave  D) do

18. A) happy  B) relieved  C) crazy  D) worried

19. A) Bad  B) Pessimistic

 C) Optimistic  D) Good

20. A) overconfidence  B) overweight

 C) overconsiderate  D) overproduce

答案部分

1.答案A。

【难句译文】  谣传——一个人说给另一个人听——是传播

故事的最原始途径。

【命题宗旨】  文

章内容理解。

【详细解答】  下一句谈到文明社会在正常时期有比谣传更

好的传播途径，也就是说，谣

传是原始的，非文明的。其它选项不合文章主题。

2.答案B。

 【命题宗旨】  固定搭配。

【详细解答】  from…to从……到；from…until / till与时间搭配；其它介词不与from搭配。

3.答案C。

【难句译文】  但是，在正常情况下，文明的国度里有一些

优于谣传的消息来源。

【命题宗旨】  词义理解。

【详细解答】  means,ways与后面的of news搭配不当。resource资源；natural resources of our country我们国家的自然资源；source表“来源”。

4.答案A。

【难句译文】  但是，在紧张动乱的时期，谣言就会产生并且四处流传。

【命题宗旨】句意理解。

【详细解答】  stress“紧张”，名词，and后面常接一个词性相同，意义相

关或相近的词，peace和平；prosperity繁荣；confusion混乱；worried是形容词“焦急的”。

5.答案B。

【命题宗旨】  副词用法掌握。

【详细解答】  however为副词，可放在句中表示该句与前句意义的转折；and为连词，一般放在句首，与前句构成并列关系。so, therefore为副词，放句首，与前句构成因果关系。

6.答案A。

【命题宗旨】  词义理解。

【详细解答】  emerge出现，涌现；为不及物动词；immerge，不及物动词，“浸入”，

“埋头、专心”；immerse为及物动词，表“浸泡”之意；immense巨大的。

7.答案C。

【难句译文】  在这种时候，不同种类的新闻互相竞争，也就是来自报纸、电视和收音机

的新闻与小道消息相竞争。

【命题宗旨】  名词复数理解。

【详细解答】  有一类不可数名词，加上复数后缀s后，意义有所变化，例：water(水),

waters(水域)；snow(雪)；snows(积雪)，此处times是“时代”的意思，而且，上句中“In

 times of stress and confusion”。也提示我们这儿应用times。

8.答案B。

【命题宗旨】 句意理解。

【详细解答】  后半句中的versus“对抗”提示我们此处只能有competition(竞争)。compete，动词，不能接在介词in后面；in common普通，共同；in harmony和谐。

9.答案A。

【难句译文】  当战争在许多重要的方面需要审查时，谣言尤其传播得历害。

【命题宗旨】  倒装句。

【详细解答】  作谓语状语especially放在句首，句子可部

分倒装。部分倒装时，实义动

词用助动词do, did, does提前(疑问句即倒装句中的一种)。本句中spread为实义动词，且从句中用一般现在时，由此可推知主句也用一般现在时，故选项A正确。

10.答案C。

【难句译文】  传统的消息来源不再提供足够的信息。

【命题宗旨】  词组释义。

【详细解答】  give out发出(光、热)，散发(消息)等；give off发出(光热)；give up，放弃；send off出发。

11.答案A。

【难句译文】  因为人们不能从正规渠道获得他们急切想知

道的消息，他们就随意捡来

一些小道消息，一旦事情发生，谣言立即四起。

【命题宗旨】  介词用法。

【详细解答】  through…channel通过……渠道；别的介词

不能与channel搭配。

12.答案D。

【命题宗旨】  句型理解。

【详细解答】  “他们急切想要知道的所有消息”，此处all

为先行词引导定语从句，that

在从句中作宾语，此时不能用which，因为先行词为all。what引导名词性从句，因其前面有all，所以此处不能用what。

13.答案A。

【命题宗旨】  词语用法理解。

【详细解答】  wherever等于no matter where。

14.答案C。

【命题宗旨】  动词时态。

【详细解答】  此处讲的是一种客观事实，通篇都用一般现

在时态。

15.答案B。

【难句译文】  即使那些不相信传说故事的人，也经常传播谣言。

【命题宗旨】  副词

用法。

【详细解答】  ever曾经；even甚至；much，非常；forever永远。此处用even来加强语气。

16.答案A。

【难句译文】  那是因为这些精心编织的谣言反映了受害者

心灵深处的思想——害怕、

怀疑、被禁止的希望，甚至是白日梦，而这些，他们又很犹豫，不便直说。

【命题宗旨】  句型理解。

【详细解答】  由why, how, what引导的句子一般很少接在

此处。The reason is that…

是固定句型。reason和that从句的内容完全相同。

17.答案B。

【命题宗旨】  文章理解。

【详细解答】  谣言的传播是“from mouth to mouth”(见第一自然段)，显然是voice(

表达、述说)，而不是act, behave, do这些行为动作。

18.答案D。

【难句译文】  关于失败和灾难的悲观的谣言显示出传谣者的焦虑。【命题宗旨】  句意理解。

【详细解答】  and前后意义相近，词性统一。relieved(松

了一口气);crazy(疯狂)。

19.答案C。

【难句译文】  关于创纪录或和平的乐观的谣言显示了传谣者的满

足与自信，有时候是过分自信。

【命题宗旨】  文章理解。

【详细解答】  上一句谈到悲观谣言，此处与之相对，自然

是optimistic(乐观的)rumors了。

20.答案A。

【命题宗旨】  文章理解。

【详细解答】  此处用破折号表递进，标志词为“to”，意义就应是confidence的递进了

，即overconfidence(过分自信)。overweight过分肥胖，超重；overconsiderate过份体贴；overproduce生产过剩。