阅读理解(Reading comprehension)
A)阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项。
(A)
Manya's school was an odd(奇特的) place and she learned odd things:how,for instance,to do what you are forbidden to do;how to hide your disobedience(不服从) quickly;how to seem to be doing what you are not;how to fool government inspectors.
One day her class of twenty-five were having a delicious history lesson—a much more delicious history lesson than other children have ever had because it was a forbidden lesson.All the twenty-five and their teacher knew it was forbidden.
There they sat,the twelve year-olds.Their ears were all stretched(伸长),left ear listening hard for every word of history,right ear quick to catch the first tinkle(叮口当声) of a certain doorbell. Teacher and pupils were waiting,working,waiting to be caught!
Manya was in the middle of answering a question.On this occasion she was telling what she had learned of the Polish king,Stanislas Auguste.
“He was a clever and highly educated king,a friend of poets and artists.He understood the causes of Poland's weakness and tried to make her strong,but alas,he had no courage...”Even Manya knew that a king should have courage and her voice was full of fierce reGREt,the fierce regret of a twelve year-old who understood quite a lot. Tang—,tang—,ting,ting.Everybody shivered(颤抖) once.Everybody moved quickly.Their teacher piled up her Polish books,every child piled up her exercise books and her Polish history books.The five whose duty it was,gathered all the books into their aprons(工作裙) and carried them quickly to the boarders'(寄宿学校的学生) bedrooms.The rest got their needlework(缝纫活) and were making exquisite(精致的) buttonholes(钮扣) in cotton squares as if they had never done anything else.
The Russian inspector came in followed by the unhappy headteacher,who had not been able to prevent his walking fast,and was in a panic(恐慌) for fear that the warning bell,with its two long rings and two short,had not given the children time to hide their disobedience.But there was no sign of anything but needlework.
The inspector sat down heavily.In silence,he looked at the children through his glasses and glanced swiftly(快速地) at the book the teacher had laid open on the desk with a bored air.
“You were reading aloud while they worked?”he asked.“What's the book?”
“Krylov's Fairy Tales.We have just begun it today.”
The inspector knew that Russian book well and sincerely approved of it.
He was very well satisfied with what he saw and felt that he was making a real success of his department.
21.What was odd about Manya's school?
A.The pupils were encouraged to deceive the school inspector.
B.The pupils had to disobey the teacher.
C.The pupils did nothing else but needlework.
D.The pupils had to pretend they were interested in history.
22.Why were the pupils listening for the bell?
A.They were waiting anxiously for the end of the lesson.
B.They wanted the teacher to be caught.
C.They thought the inspector might be coming.
D.They wanted to finish their needlework to show the inspector.
23.How did Manya feel while answering the question?
A.Frustrated because she didn't know enough about the history she was studying.
B.Upset because King Auguste had not had enough courage.
C.Sad and angry because she couldn't finish answering the question.
D.Annoyed that the king had not made her strong.
24.What happened when the bell rang?
A.Some children went to their bedroom while others piled up books.
B.Children moved about in a disorganised way.
C.All the children collected up books,moving quickly because of the cold.
D.All the children put the forbidden books away,according to a precise routine(日常事务).
25.Why was the inspector satisfied?
A.He thought he had had an influence on the teaching.
B.He liked listening to fairy tales.
C.He couldn't see any needlework.
D.He had given the class plenty of warning of his arrival.
(B)
In almost every part of the world and in every age men have tried to limit the possibilities open to females by hindering(阻止) their movement.The foot-binding of upper class Chinese girls and the Nigerian custom of weighing women's legs down with kilos of heavy wire are extreme(极端的) examples,but all over the world similar methods have been used to make sure that once you have caught a woman she cannot run away,and even if she stays around she cannot keep up with you.
What seems odd is that all these apparatus(装置) have been seen as beautiful,not only by men but by women as well.Tiny feet,which seem to us a deformity(畸形),were passionately(热烈地) admired in China for centuries,and today most people in Western society see nothing ugly in the severely squeezed toes produced by modern footwear ( 鞋 类). The high-heeled,narrow-toed shoes that for most of this century have been an essential part of women's costume(服装) are considered attractive,partly because they make the legs look longer.They also make standing for any length of time painful,walking exhausting and running impossible.The way of walking produced by them is thought to be attractive perhaps because it guarantees(保证) that no woman wearing them can outrun a man who is chasing her.Worst of all,if they are worn continually from the teenage years on,they deform the muscles of the feet and legs so that it becomes even more painful and difficult to walk in flat shoes.
Modern women's shoes are what keeps Samantha from running as fast as Sammy,literally(不加夸张地) as well as figuratively(比 喻 地). As anyone who has worn them will aGREe,it is hard to concentrate on your job when your feet are killing you—especially if you are faint(虚弱的) with hunger because you had only half a grapefruit and coffee for breakfast so as to stay a beautiful five kilos below your natural healthy weight.For a while in the sixties and seventies it was not necessary to be handicapped in this way unless you chose to be.During the last few years,however,women have begun wearing tight,high-heeled shoes again;and the most fashionable styles are those that give least support to the feet and make walking more difficult.
26.Men have tried to limit possibilities for women by__________ .
A.making it difficult for women to move
B.using heavy wire apparatus to catch women
C.allowing only women from higher classes to move around freely
D.insisting that women are inferior to them
27.What is odd about the customs concerning women's feet?
A.Tiny feet are considered beautiful by most people in Western society.
B.People accept that modern shoes are ugly.
C.Apparatus which deforms women's feet are not admired by men.
D.Unnaturally shaped feet have been—and are—appreciated.
28.Why,according to the author,are highheeled,narrow-toed shoes thought to be attractive?
A.They change the appearance of the legs.
B.Women have been wearing them for the last 100 years.
C.They are an essential part of women's clothing.
D.They encourage men to chase women.
29.What was the situation in the sixties and seventies?
A.People went on diets to lose weight more than they do now.
B.Women began to wear shoes which squeezed their toes.
C.People had almost no choice regarding shoes.
D.Fashion allowed the wearing of comfortable shoes.
30.What is the opinion of the author,concerning modern women's shoes,in the text as a whole?
A.They are not very comfortable but are nevertheless attractive.
B.They lead to difficulties only after many years of wearing them.
C.They are not necessarily beautiful and cause many difficulties.
D.Their design has been influenced by Chinese and Nigerian customs.
B)阅读下列短文,然后回答问题或完成句子。
(C)
Many of the products you use to clean your house are probably toxic(有毒的). They can be made of powerful chemicals that can hurt you when you breathe them or touch them.Whether you're scrubbing a fiberglass bathtub or polishing wood furniture,most cleaners you buy at the store are stronger than they need to be.They can do more harm than good.
What steps can you take to avoid such indoor pollution?First,if you must use strong cleaners,wear rubber gloves.Then you won't absorb the chemicals through your skin. Second,make your own milder cleaning supplies.Third,read labels to identify which cleaners are dangerous.And fourth,look at some books that give earth-friendly housecleaning tips.
One good book on the subject is Clean &&GREen by Annie BertholdBond.It includes a recipe(秘诀) for a mild yet effective all-purpose cleaner.You can make it with everyday ingredients you buy at your local supermarket. Take a spray(喷雾) bottle and put in it 1 teaspoon of boric acid.1/ 2 teaspoon of washing or sal soda,2 tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice,and 1/ 4 teaspoon of liquid soap. Combine these ingredients,then add 2 cups of very hot water.Shake the bottle gently until all the minerals dissolve(溶解).This solution will clean everything from vinyl floors to metal fixtures safely and thoroughly.
After you clean your house,make sure it is well ventilated,too.Vent your clothes dryer to the outdoors.Turn on a fan or open a window after showering to reduce indoor humidity.Use an exhaust fan when you cook. By taking all these steps,you will make your house nontoxic.
31.What is the article about?
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32.What is the third paragraph about?
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33.What can you do to avoid contact with toxic agents?
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34.How might dangerous chemicals get to you while you clean?
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35.What are some things you can clean with the mixture in the spray bottle?
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a.Wear rubber gloves,read labels,and read about earth-friendly cleaning.
b.Keeping a nontoxic house.
c.Vinyl floors and metal fixtures.
d.A recipe for a safer cleaner.
e.They might be breathed in or absorbed through your skin.
36.Why are many of the products you use to clean your house probably toxic?
_______________________________________________
37.Why should you open the windows after you clean your house?
_______________________________________________
(D)
Plants need GREen leaves to make food. A plant needs sunlight and carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) from the air for making food and it also needs water and salts (盐) from the soil to make food too. There are certain cells (细胞) in the leaves which change carbon dioxide and water into sugar. To do this the cells need energy (能量),which they get from the sunlight.
GREen leaves make food for the whole plant. A red leaf can make food too because under the red coloring of the leaf there are food-making cells. There are no leaves which are completely yellow,for they can't make food.
The plant makes sugar for its food. In sunlight GREen leaves make a lot of sugar. The veins (叶脉) can't carry all this sugar away,so the leaves change the sugar into starch(淀粉),which is kept and stored in the leaves. At night,the starch changes back to sugar. It is then carried away from the leaves. Some of the sugar is used as food by the plant while the rest is stored as starch. In some plants,food is stored in the roots(根); in others it is stored in the stems and in leaves,fruits and seeds.
38.What's the main idea of the passage?
_______________________________________________
39.What plants need in order to make food?
_______________________________________________
40.What do the cells need to change carbon dioxide and water into sugar?
_______________________________________________
41.Sugar is made for its food by__________ .
42.Food is stored in roots or stems in the form of__________ .
43.Do fruits and seeds contain starch?
_______________________________________________
(E)
In the last 500 years nothing about people —not their clothes,ideas or languages has changed as much as what they eat.Chocolate drink was first made from the seeds of the cocoa tree by South American Indians.The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500s and although it was very expensive,it quickly became popular.In London,shops where chocolate drinks were served became important places.Some still exist today.The potato is also from the New World.Around 1600,the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe,where it soon was widely grown. Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the years of 1845—1846,and thousands more were forced to go to live in America.
There are many other foods that have travelled from South America to the Old World.But some others went in the opposite direction.Brazil is now the world's largest grower of coffee,and coffee is an important crop in other South American countries.But it is native to Ethiopia.It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400s. According to an Arabic story,coffee was discovered when a goat keeper named Lakdi noticed that his goats were eating red fruits on a coffee tree.He tried one and experienced the “wide-awake” feeling that one third of the world's population now starts the day with.
44.What changed most?
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45.Where was chocolate drink first made?
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46.Was chocolate drink expensive when it was first made?
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47.Where was the potato first discovered?
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48.Why were thousands of Irish people forced to live in America in 1845—1846?
_______________________________________________
49.Is Ethiopia an “Old World” country?
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50.What effect does drinking coffee have on people?
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参考答案：
A)21—25 ACBDA 26—30 ADADC
B)31.b 32.d 33.a 34.e 35.c
36.Because they can be made of powerful chemicals.
37.To make sure it is well ventilated and reduce indoor humidity.
38.How GREen plants make food.
39.Sunlight,carbon dioxide,water and salts.
40.Energy from the sunlight.
41.plants/leaves 42.starch 43.Yes,they do.
44.What people eat/Foods. 45.In South America.
46.Yes,it was. 47.In the New World.
48.Because the production of potatoes reduced and they starved.
49.Yes,it is. 50.It makes people stay awake.
