1、高考资源网（） 您身边的高考专家2013高考阅读训练（三）AAmerican society is not nap (午睡)-friendly. In fact, says David Dinges, a sleep specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,“Theres even a prohibition against admitting we need sleep”. Nobody wants to be caught napping or found asleep at work. To quot
2、e a proverb:“Some sleep five hours, nature requires seven, laziness nine and wickedness eleven.”Wrong. The way not to fall asleep at work is to take naps when you need them.“We have to totally change our attitude toward napping,”says Dr. William Dement of Stanford University, the godfather of sleep
3、research.Last year a national commission led by Dement identified an“American sleep debt” which one member said was as important as the national debt. The commission was concerned about the dangers of sleepiness: people causing industrial accidents or falling asleep while driving. This may be why we
4、 have a new sleep policy in the White House. According to recent reports, President Clinton is trying to take a ha1f-hour snooze (瞌睡) every afternoon.About 60 percent of American adults nap when given the opportunity. We seem to have“a mid afternoon quiet phase,” also called “a secondary sleep gate.
5、” Sleeping 15 minutes to two hours in the early afternoon can reduce stress and make us refreshed. Clearly, we were born to nap.We Superstars of Snooze dont nap to replace lost shut-eye or to prepare for a night shift. Rather, we “snack” on sleep, whenever, wherever and at whatever time we feel like
6、 it. I myself have napped in buses, cars, planes and on boats; on floors and beds; and in libraries, offices and museums.4l. It is commonly accepted in American society that too much sleep is .A. unreasonable B. criminal C. harmful D. costly42. The research done by the Dement Commission shows that A
7、mericans _.A. dont like to take naps B. are terribly worried about their national debtC. sleep less than is good for themD. have caused many industrial and traffic accidents43. The purpose of this article is to .A. warn us of the wickedness of nappingB. explain the danger of sleepinessC. discuss the
8、 side effects of nappingD. convince the reader of the necessity of napping44. The underlined phrase “American sleep debt” in Para. 3 is the result of .A. the traditional misconception the Americans have about sleepB. the new sleep policy of the Clinton AdministrationC. the rapid development of Ameri
9、can industryD. the Americans worry about the danger of sleepiness45. The second sentence of the last paragraph tells us that it is .A. preferable to have a sound sleep before a night shiftB. good practice to eat something light before we go to bedC. essential to make up for cost sleepD. natural to t
10、ake a nap whenever we feel the need for itBViolin prodigies (神童), I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and Eastern Europe. I asked Isaac Stern, one of the worlds greates
11、t violinists, the reason for this phenomenon.“It is very clear,” he told me. “They were all Jews (犹太人) and Jews at the time were severely oppressed and ill-treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed into the professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert
12、stage.” As a result, every Jewish parents dream was to have a child in the music school because it was a passport to the West. Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values excellence in a certain field and is able to nurture (培育) talent. Nowadays, the most nurturi
13、ng societies seem to be in the Far East. “In Japan, a most competitive society with stronger discipline than ours,”says Isaac Stern,“children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music. When Western music came to Japan after World War II, that music not only became part
14、 of their daily lives, but it became a discipline as well.” The Koreans and Chinese, as we know, are just as highly motivated as the Japanese.Thats a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work, biological inheritance plays an important role in the making of a prodigy. J. S.
15、 Bach, for example, was the top of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music.46. Jewish parents in Eastern Europe longed for their children to attend music school because .A. it would allow them access to a better life in the WestB. Jewish children are b
16、orn with excellent musical talentC. they wanted their children to enter into the professional fieldsD. it would enable the family to get better treatment in their own country47. Nurturing societies as mentioned in the passage refer to societies that .A. enforce strong discipline on students who want
17、 to achieve excellenceB. treasure talent and provide opportunities for its full developmentC. encourage people to compete with each otherD. promise talented children high positions48. Japan is described in the passage as a country that attaches importance to .A. all-round development B. the learning
18、 of Western musicC. strict training of children D. variety in academic studies49. Which of the following contributes to the emergence of musical prodigies according to the passage?A. A natural gift. B. Extensive knowledge of music-C. Very early training. D. A prejudice-free society.50. Which of the
19、following titles best summarizes the main idea of the passage?A. Jewish Contribution to Music.B. Training of Musicians in the World.C. Music and Society.D. The Making of Prodigies C Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether
20、, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to“think and concentrate.” Spilich put young non-smokers, active smokers and smokers deprived (被剥夺) of cigarettes through a series of tests.In the first test, each subject (试验对象) sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized
21、a target letter among a grouping of 96. In this simple test, smokers, deprived smokers and non-smokers performed equally well.The next test was more complex, requiring all to scan sequences of 20 identical letters and respond the instant one of the letters transformed into a different one. Non-smoke
22、rs were faster, but under the stimulation of nicotine, active smokers were faster than deprived smokers.In the third test of short-term memory, non-smokers made the fewest errors, but deprived smokers committed fewer errors than active smokers.The fourth test required people to read a passage, then
23、answer questions about it. Non-smokers remembered l9 percent more of the most important information than active smokers, and deprived smokers bested those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing- Active smokers tended not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important
24、information from insignificant details.“As our tests became more complex.” sums up Spilich,” non-smokers performed better than smokers by wider and wider margins”. He predicts, smokers might perform adequately at many jobs until they got complicated. A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if n
25、o problems arose, but if something went wrong, smoking might damage his mental capacity.”5l. The purpose of George Spilichs experiments is . A. to test whether smoking has a positive effect on the mental capacity of smokers B. to show how smoking damages peoples mental capacity C. to prove that smok
26、ing affects peoples regular performance D. to find out whether smoking helps peoples short-term memory52. George Spilichs experiment was conducted in such a way as to . A. compel the subjects to separate major information from minor details B. put the subjects through increasingly complex tests C. c
27、heck the effectiveness of nicotine on smokers D. register the prompt responses of the subjects53. The underlined word “bested” in Para. 5 most probably means A. beat B. envied C. caught up with D. made the best of54. Which of the following statements is true? A. Active smokers in general performed b
28、etter than deprived smokers. B. Active smokers responded more quickly than the other subjects. C. Non-smokers were not better than other subjects in performing simple tasks. D. Deprived smokers gave the slowest responses to the various tasks.55. We can infer from the last paragraph that . A. smokers should not expect to become airline pilots B. smoking in emergency cases causes mental illness C. no airline pilots smoke during flights D. smokers may prove unequal to handing emergency cases,Key: 41-45 A C D A D 46-50 A B C A D 51-55 A B A C D高考资源网版权所有，侵权必究！
