2015赣州一模英语试题及答案(2)

                                                        B
    Taiwan's annual university admissions tests are taking place this week. Tens of thousands of students。trying to give the right answers to math and language questions. High scores permit students to enter the top schools. However, these tests will not be in place for much longer. The current examinations require that students memorize facts in high school classes.
They do not test critical thinking or creative problem solving abilities.
    Officials in Taiwan plan to change the admissions test to also measure imagination and the ability to innovate(创新）Taiwanese officials see the progress China and South Korea are making in the information technology field. By comparision，Taiwan is losing technology business. There is concern that younger people are afraid of the risk of starting a company or inventing something.
    The Ministry of Education wants to encourage young Taiwanese to innovate. So, it will begin a new selection process for university students. They hope the best schools will start to accept people with new business ideas. The new admissions policy will take effect in 2018. It will include personal interviews with interested students. The Ministry wants high school graduates to show they excelled outside of class
    Ma Hsiang-ping is the ministry's deputy director for higher education. She said the new exam system will look for people interested in invention or starting businesses. Taiwan will lose competitiveness if all the inventing is done in other countries. The Ministry hopes new admissions policies will reshape the 12-year public education system.
    Taiwan is dependent largely on high-tech exports. The Swiss business school，International Institute for Management Development (IMD）made a list of the most competitive countries in 2014. Taiwan was at number 13. but Singapore was number 3 and Hong Kong was number 4 These numbers worry Taiwanese officials.
24. Why will the admissions test be changed?
    A. It expects too much of students. B. It won't be practiced for longer.
    C. It encourages memorization of facts. D. It doesn't focus on creative abilities
25. The underlined word "excel" in Paragraph 2 probably means    
    A. learn to do business B. do extremely well
    C. relax and enjoy themselves D. get plenty of exercise
26. In what way will the new test be different from the current one?
    A. It will include personal interviews. B. It will not focus on high scores
    C. It will make a lead in the world. D. It will build a new education system
27. Where can we most probably read the text?
    A. In a technology magazine. B. In a business magazine
    C. In a literary magazine. D. In an education magazine
  C
                                        Pangaea
    Scientists in the early 1900s put forward the continental drift theory（大陆漂移说）They said that a great number of years ago, the seven continents we know today were a single, giant continent. A scientist named Alfred Wegener named it Pangaea. The name Pangaea comes from the Greek phrase for "all Earth".
    The theory's timeline went against popular belief that Earth was only a few thousand years old. People wanted to believe that God had created Earth rather than the forces of nature Wegener argued in favor of the continental drift theory in 1920.
    Pangaea was a C-shaped landform that was spread across the equator(赤道）The large body of water within the crescent(月牙形）was called the Tethys Sea. The vast ocean that flowed around the continent was called Pantha1-a.
    The area of Pangaea would have been very vast. Inland regions would have been extremely dry from a lack of water. Animals could migrate freely from the North to the South Poles.
    It is believed that the breakup of Pangaea begun about 180 million years ago. This happened in the Jurassic Period. Over many millions of years, it broke into the seven continents as we know them today. The first stage of the breakup began about 180 million years ago. This change started when a large fault line（断层线）split Activity would have started through earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A gap was created through Pangaea that stretched from the Tethys Ocean to the east. This took place between what is now North America and Africa. The first split created two smaller continents. The southern one is known as Gondwana and the northern one Laurasia. Then another breakup began about 150 to 140 million years ago. At this time, the minor continent of Gondwana broke into four continents. These became Africa, South
America, India, and Australia. The final stage of the breakup was about 60 to 55 million year ago. North America broke free from Eurasia. This opened up the Norwegian Sea.
      But the supporters of this theory also say that Pangaea was not the first giant continent. The earliest possible giant continent is Columbia supercontinent Scientists think it existed between 1.8 and 1.5 billion years ago.
28. What did Pangaea look like?
    A. It was shaped like a C.   B. It was shaped like a ball