2   It took about eighty years to build the pyramids. According to archeologists, about 20,000-30,000 people were involved in completing the task. The workers had different roles. Some dug up the rock, some moved it, and some shaped it into blocks. People also worked on different teams, each with its own name. On a wall in Khufu's Great Pyramid, for example, a group of workers wrote "Friends of Khufu." Teams often competed to do a job faster.

3    Life for these workers was hard. "We can see that in their skeletons（骨架）,” says Azza Mohamed Sarry El-Din, a scientist studying bodies found in the cemetery. The bones show signs of arthritis(关节炎), which developed from carrying heavy things for a long time. Archeologists have also found many female skeletons in the village and cemetery. The damage to their bones is similar to the men's. Their lives may have been even tougher: male workers lived to age 40-45, but women to only 30-35. However, workers usually had enough food, and they also had medical care if they got sick or hurt.

4    The work was challenging, but laborers were proud of their work. "lt's because they were not just building the tomb of their king," says Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass. “They were building Egypt. It was a national project, and everyone was a participant.”

23. Paragraph 1___A___

24. Paragraph 2___C___

25. Paragraph 3___D___

26. Paragraph 4___E___

A. Builders of the pyramids

B. Egyptian slaves

C. Pyramid builders' jobs

D. Pyramid builders' tough lives

E. An important national project

F. Female pyramid builders: the challenges

27. The pyramids of Giza were built ___F___

28. To build the pyramids, the workers had different roles and worked ___C___

29. Both men and women workers suffered from arthritis which developed ___B___

30. The pyramid builders were proud ___E___

A. of their king

B. from taking heavy things

C. on different teams

D. by foreigners

E. of their work

F. by ordinary Egyptians

第四部分：阅读理解（第31~45题，每题3分，共45分）
下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题。请根据短文内容，为每题确定1个最佳选项。

第一篇

From Ponzi to Madoff

    The year was 1920. The country was the United States of America. The man's name was Charles Ponzi. Ponzi told people to stop depositing money in a savings account. Instead, they should give it to him to save for them. Ponzi promised to pay them more than the bank. For example, a savings account might pay you $5 a year for every $100 you deposit. Ponzi, however, would pay you $40 a year for every $100 you gave him to hold. Many people thought this was a good plan. They began to give their money to Ponzi.

     How could Ponzi make so much money for people? This is what he did with the money people gave him: He used some of that money to pay other people who gave him money. However, he also kept a lot of the money for himself. Soon he had $250 million. This was a kind of theft, and it was against the law. The people who gave him their money didn't think anything was wrong. Ponzi paid them every month, just like a bank. Ponzi continued this way of working for two years. Then one day, he didn't have enough money to pay all the people. They discovered his crime, and he went to prison for fraud.

    Ninety years later, people began to hear about a businessman in New York named Bernard Madoff. People said he gave good advice about money. They said when they gave him their money, he paid them a lot more than the bank. Madoff helped hospitals, schools, and individuals earn money. Over a period of 40 years, people gave him $170 billion. However, no one investigated what he did with the money. The people who gave Madoff their money also didn't think anything was wrong because he paid them every month.

    One day, Madoff didn't have enough money to pay all the people he needed to pay. That's when people discovered how Madoff worked: He was taking money from some people to pay other people, just the way Charles Ponzi did. However, this time, instead of losing millions of dollars, people lost billions.

    Madoff was accused of fraud, and United States government officials arrested him. He didn't have to go on trial because he said he was guilty. In 2009, a judge sentenced him t0 150 years in prison. Bernard Madoff's crime was even bigger than Ponzi's. It was the biggest fraud in history. The lesson of this story is clear: When something seems too good to be true, it probably is!

31. For every $100, Ponzi promised to pay people

A. $5 a year.

B. $20 a year.

C. $40 a year.

D. $100 a year.

【答案】：C

32. What did Ponzi do with the money people gave him?

A. He spent it all on things for himself.

B. He used some of it to pay other people.

C. He deposited it all in a bank.

D. He kept it all to save for a good plan.

【答案】：B

33. What was Ponzi's crime?

A. He robbed the banks of millions of dollars.

B. He gave people more than the bank did.

C. He kept a lot of other people's money for himself.

D. He did not pay people their interests.

【答案】：D

34. How long did Madoffs tricks last?

A. Forty years.

B. Four year.

C. Nine years.

D. Ninety years.

【答案】：A

35. Why didn't Madoff have to go on trial?

A. The officiais couldn't find any evidence against him.

B. He had friends in the government who helped him.

C. He admitted he was guilty.

D. He returned all the illegal money.

【答案】：C

第二篇

Puerto Rican Cuisine（菜肴）

     Puerto Rico, a Caribbean (加勒比海区) island rich in history and remarkable natural beauty, has a cuisine all its own. Immigration（移民） to the island has helped to shape its cuisine, with people from all over the world making various contributions to it. However, before the arrival of these immigrants, the Taino people lived on the island of Puerto Ri