1、湖北省2012高考英语二轮复习专题训练：阅读理解（32）ASteve Wayne, 16, who worked this summer as a lifeguard and swim teacher in Idaho Falls, was thrilled to see an extra $ 20 in his paycheck when the federal minimum wage increased in July.“When youre getting paid minimum wage, anything helps,” Wayne said.Wayne is one of se
2、veral hundred thousand American teenagers who earn the minimum wage. The last of three recent increases took the minimum from $5.15 an hour in 2007 to $7.25.US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis says the minimum-wage increase will pump an extra $ 5.5 billion into the economy over the next year, which is
3、 helpful at a time when the economy is hurting.“Youre giving people who spend money a raise,” said Kai Filion of the Economic Policy Institute. “Those people will go out and spend that money, and it will circulate through the economy.”But other economists say raising the wage actually hurts the very
4、 people its designed to help. A higher hourly minimum, they say, could force businesses to cut workers hours, or even lay people off.“What matters for people earning minimum wage is how much money they take home in total,” explained Rajeev of Georgia State Universitys Economic Forecasting Center. “T
5、heir hourly rate may go up, but their number of hours may come down, so its not an overall increase.”Business owners also say that raising the minimum wage exerts (施加) upward pressure on other wages. “If the minimum wage is $ 7 and I have to pay $ 8 or $ 9 to hire a dishwasher, then the cooks are go
6、ing to say they want more,” said Cleveland restaurant owner Rick. “How much can I charge for that hamburger?”Another argument is that it makes it more expensive for businesses to hire new workers. For many businesses already struggling to make ends meet in these tough times, it will be simply too ex
7、pensive to keep them or to hire new people.1. Steve Wayne was excited that _.A. his hard work had paid offB. he had received a big wage increaseC. he has more money due to an increase in minimum wageD. the wages of American teenage workers have been increased2. According to the text, the US federal
8、government has increased minimum wage with the aim of _.A. decreasing unemploymentB. promoting economic recoveryC. increasing American teenagers wageD. narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor3. What matters most to people in need of help is _.A. a higher hourly minimum B. more working hoursC
9、. a minimum-wage increase D. an increase in total income4. Some are against the increase in minimum wage because they say _.A. only very few workers will be helpedB. they have to cut down wog hoursC. many business owners cant afford to employ new workersD. minimum wage workers will expect more pay r
10、ises in the futureBWarning: reading too much Cinderella to your daughter may damage her emotional health in later life. A paper to be developed at the international congress of cognitive psychotherapy in Gothenburg suggests a link between the attitudes of women abused by their parents and early expo
11、sure to the wrong sort of fairy tales. It says girls who identified with Cinderella, Rapunzel and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast were more likely to stay in destructive relationships as adults.The theory was developed by Susan Darker Smith, a psychotherapist at the University of Derby. She interview
12、ed 67 female abuse survivors and found that 61 put up with severe abuse because they believed they could change their partners with patience, composition and love. The same view was taken by male survivors who had been abused as children. Hardly any of the women in a control group, who had not exper
13、ienced abuse, thought they could change their partners in this way. These women and men said they would leave a relationship rather than put up with abuse from a partner. Ms Darker Smith found the abused women were much more likely to identify with Cinderella and other submissive female characters i
14、n fairytales, who were later rescued by a stranger prince or hero. Although most girls heard the stories, damage appeared to be done to those who adopted the characters as role models. “They believe if their love is strong enough they can change their parents behaviors,” she said. “Overexposure in c
15、hildren to stories that emphasize the transformational qualities of love may make women believe they can change their partners.” For example, they might never have understood the obvious flaw in the story of Rapunzel, who remained locked in a high tower until rescued by a knight on a white horse, wh
16、o broke the door down. “The question,” said Ms Darker Smith, “is why she did not break the door down herself.”5. The passage is especially intended for _.A. parents with young daughtersB. girls who like reading fairy storiesC. girls who think they can change their partnersD. parents with grown-up da
17、ughters6. Cinderella, Rapunzel and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast are similar in that _.A. they all married some princesB. they all changed their partners with loveC. they were all abused by their partnersD. they all put up with abuse7. Which of the following statements is true of the women in a con
18、trol group?A. They dont believe in fairy tales.B. They dont believe in the transformational qualities of love.C. They have also experienced abuse.D. They survived abuse.8. What does the underlined word “submissive” in the 3rd paragraph probably mean?A. kind-hearted B. passive C. gentle D. easy-going
19、CThe days of the hunter are almost over in India. This is partly because there is practically nothing left to kill, and partly because some steps have been taken mainly by banning tiger-shooting to protect those animals which still survive.Some people say that Man is naturally a hunter. I disagree w
20、ith this view. Surely our earliest forefathers, who at first possessed no weapons, spent their time digging for roots, and were no doubt themselves often hunted by meat-eating animals.I believe the main reason why the modern hunter kills is that he thinks people will admire his courage in overpoweri
21、ng dangerous animals. Of course, there are some who truly believe that the killing is not really the important thing, and that the chief pleasure lies in the joy of the hunt and the beauty of the wild countryside. There are also those for whom hunting in fact offers a chance to prove themselves and
22、risk death by design; these men go out after dangerous animals like tigers, even if they say they only do it to rid the countryside of a threat. I can respect reasons like these, but they are clearly different from the need to strengthen your high opinion of yourself.The greatest big-game hunters ex
23、pressed in their writings something of these finer motives. One of them wrote:“You must properly respect what you are after and shoot it clearly and on the animals own territory. You must fix forever in your mind all the wonders of that particular day. This is better than letting him grow a few year
24、s older to be attacked and wounded by his own son and eventually eaten, half alive, by other animals. Hunting is not a cruel and senseless killingnot if you respect the thing you kill, not if you kill to enrich your memories, not if you kill to feed your people.”I can understand such beliefs, and ca
25、n compare these hunters with those who hunted lions with spears and bravely caught them by the tail. But this is very different from many tiger-shoots I have seen, in which modern weapons were used. The so-called hunters fired from tall trees or from the backs of trained elephants. Such methods made
26、 tigers seem no more dangerous than rabbits.9. There is no more hunting in India now partly because _.A. it is dangerous to hunt thereB. hunting is already out of dateC. hunters want to protect animals D. there are few animals left to hunt10. The author thinks modern hunters kill mainly _.A. to make
27、 the countryside safe B. to earn people s admirationC. to gain power and influence D. to improve their health11. What do we learn about the big-game hunters?A. They hunt old animals. B. They mistreat animals.C. They hunt for food. D. They hunt for money.12. What is the authors view on the tiger-shoo
28、ts he has seen?A. Modern hunters lack the courage to hunt face-to-face.B. Modern hunters should use more advanced weapons.C. Modern hunters like to hunt rabbits instead of tigers.D. Modern hunters should put their safety first.DThe global financial crisis is likely to cause increasing mental health
29、problems and even suicides as people struggle to deal with poverty and unemployment, the World Health Organization warned Thursday.Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are already affected by mental problems such as depression and bipolar disorders and the current market meltdown (崩溃) could wors
30、en feelings of despair among people who cant stand such illnesses.The United Nations agency said the impact could be especially marked for those living in low and middle income countries where access to treatment is often limited.“We should not be surprised at the turbulence (动荡) and likely conseque
31、nces of the current financial crisis. Now we are seeing a huge gap in taking care of people in great need, “WHO director general Margaret Chan told at a meeting of mental health experts.“It should not come as a surprise that we continue to see more stresses, suicides and mental disorders,” Chan warn
32、ed.Ben Saraceno, director of WHOs mental health, said mental health disorders affected one in four people at some point in their lives.Mental and neurological disorders are often chronic (慢性的) and disabling, he said. Nearly 1 million people commit suicide worldwide every year, a large proportion of
33、them are young adults.Asked about the financial crisis, Saraceno said, “Poverty can be the consequence of such events, the debts, despair and sense of loss that may reach middle and lower classes. Even the poor can be affected by this crisis.”“There is a clear evidence that suicide is linked to fina
34、ncial disasters. I am not talking about the millionaires jumping out of the window but about poor people,” he said. The global crisis could be expected to affect the “stability of communities and families”, according to Saraceno.13. According to the passage, the chief result of the worldwide financi
35、al crisis is that _.A. more people will be poorerB. more people will be out of jobsC. more people will suffer from mental problemsD. more people will commit suicide14. The United Nations agency worried that _.A. more rich people would commit suicideB. the financial crisis might especially influence
36、developing or underdeveloped countriesC. the current market meltdown could worsen feelings of despairD. hundreds of millions of people in the world were already affected by mental problems15. From the passage we can learn that _.A. far more work should be done to help those who are mentally illB. it
37、 will be surprising to see more people commit suicideC. a mental disorder is a chronic diseaseD. many more young adults commit suicide worldwide than people of other ages16. The best title for the passage is _.A. Consequences of Global Financial CrisisB. Mental Disorders Resulting From Global Financ
38、ial CrisisC. Suicides as a Result of Market MeltdownD. Chronic Mental DisordersEWhen families gather for Christmas dinner, some will stick to formal traditions dating back to grandmas generation. Their tables will be set with the good dishes and silver, and the dress code will be Sunday best.But in
39、many other homes, this china-and-silver elegance has given way to a stoneware (粗陶)-and-stainless informality, with dresses assuming an equally casual-Friday look. For hosts and guests, the change means greater simplicity and comfort. For makers of fine china in Britain, it spells economic hard times
40、.Last week Royal Doulton, the largest employer in Stoke-on-Trent, announced that it is eliminating 1,000 jobsone-fifth of its total workforce. That brings to more than 4,000 the number of positions lost in 18 months in the pottery (陶瓷) region. Wedgwood and other pottery factories made cuts earlier.A
41、lthough a strong pound and weak markets in Asia play a role in the downsizing, the layoffs in Stoke have their roots in earthshaking social shifts. A spokesman for Royal Doulton admitted that the company “has been somewhat slow in catching up with the trend” toward casual dining. Families eat togeth
42、er less often, he explained, and more people eat alone, either because they are single or they eat in front of television.Even dinner parties, if they happen at all, have gone casual. In a time of long work hours and demanding family schedules, busy hosts insist, rightly, that its better to share a
43、takeout pizza on paper plates in the family room than to wait for the perfect moment or a “real” dinner party. Too often, the perfect moment never comes. Iron a fine-patterned tablecloth? Forget it. Polish the silver? Who has time?Yet the loss of formality has its down side. The fine points of etiqu
44、ette (礼节) that children might once have learned at the table by observation or instruction from parents and grandparents (“Chew with your mouth closed.” “Keep your elbows off the table.”) must be picked up elsewhere. Some companies now offer etiquette seminars for employees who may be able professio
45、nally but inexperienced socially.17. Why do people tend to follow the trend to casual dining?A. Family members need more time to relax.B. Busy schedules leave people no time for formality.C. People prefer to live a comfortable life.D. Young people wont follow the etiquette of the older generation.18
46、. It can be learned from the passage that Royal Doulton is _.A. a seller of stainless steel tablewareB. a dealer in stonewareC. a pottery chain storeD. a producer of fine china19. The main cause of the layoffs in the pottery industry is _.A. the increased value of the poundB. the worsening economy i
47、n AsiaC. the change in peoples way of lifeD. the fierce competition at home and abroad20. Formal table manners, though less popular than before in current social life, _.A. are still a must on certain occasionsB. are certain to return sooner or laterC. are still being taught by parents at home D. can help improve personal relationshipsABCD DCBA BDAC CADBACBD高考资源网独家精品资源，欢迎下载！高考资源网Ks5uK&S%5#UKs5uKs%U高考资源网高考资源网高考资源网
