1、湖北省2012高考英语二轮复习专题训练：阅读理解（79）阅读下列短文，从每篇短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。AThe wedding between Prince Wiliam and Kate Middleton on April 29 has focused the worlds camera lenses (镜头) on the UK.In Britain, there is a constant debate about the relevance (相关性) of the royal family to modern British society. Ho
2、wever, Windsor (the family name of the British Royal Family) and Middleton have been seen to represent a more modern, forward-looking nation.Nigel Baker, the British ambassador to Bolivia, believes that the royal wedding is “about modern Britain”. “The estimated 2 billion spectators across the world
3、 will see that Britain is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse nations in the world, home to 270 nationalities speaking 300 different languages, founded on tolerance and respect for difference,” wrote Baker on his blog.According to Baker, the wedding could help viewers to see “why Brita
4、in is one of the most dynamic and creative countries in the world”: The television on which most people watched the event was invented by John Logie Baird, a Briton, and the World Wide Web that broadcast the event to millions more was invented by another Briton, Tim Berners-Lee.The guests who attend
5、ed the wedding ceremony gave more than a few clues as to the nature of modern Britain. David and Victoria Beckham represent Britains obsession (着迷)with football and celebrity.Leaders from different religious backgrounds supported Bakers comments on the multicultural nature of modern British society.
6、Before the wedding, David Elliott, arts director of the British Council China, agreed that the wedding would be a showcase for modern Britain: “I think, and hope, that it (modern British influence) would be values like openness, multiculturalism, creativity, sense of humor and the traditional Britis
7、h sense of fair play,” he said.Furthermore, events such as the Olympics in London in 2012 may also increase peoples sense of Britishness.According to a poll published in Daily Telegraph, more than a third of people in the UK admitted they felt “very British” when watching the Olympics.1. What is the
8、 point of the article?A. To introduce Prince Williams wedding arrangements in detail.B. To comment on the significance of the royal wedding.C. To question the relevance of the royal family in modern British society.D. To explain why the royal wedding is linked with the 2012 Olympics.2. What can be c
9、oncluded from the article?A. Some say that the royal wedding is a reflection on modern Britain.B Some think the royal wedding shows Britains multiculturalism and sense of fair play.C.About 2 billion people across the world will see the wedding ceremony online.D. Britons are obsessed with football du
10、e to the influence of David Beckham.3. Why is the inventor of the World Wide Web mentioned?A. To inform readers about some well-known British inventors.B. To point to the importance of the World Wide Web for the wedding.C. In support of the idea that Britain is a nation of creative and original peop
11、le.D. To encourage people to watch the wedding on the Internet.4. According to the article, both the 2012 Olympics and the royal wedding .A. have increased the British sense of national identityB. have promoted traditional British valuesC. represent a more modern BritainD. have encouraged the intere
12、st of Britons in FootballBWith large and small keyboards everywhere, neither children nor adults need to write much of anything by hand. Thats a big problem. Study after study suggests that handwriting is important for brain development helping kids get fine motor skills and learn to express and cre
13、ate ideas. Yet the time devoted to teaching penmanship in most schools has shrunk to just one hour a week. Is it time to give up handwriting? Have a look at the link between the brain and penmanship, and you may get the answer. A test among students in grades 2, 4 and 6 found that they not only wrot
14、e faster by hand than by keyboard, but also created more ideas when composing essays with handwriting. And other research shows that the finger movements required to write by hand activate brain areas involved with thought, language, and short-term memory. A recent Indiana University study had one g
15、roup of children practice writing letters by hand while a second group just looked at those letters. Then, both groups of kids entered a functional MRI (核磁共振)that scanned their brains as the researchers showed them the same letters. Researchers found that the brain activity in the first group was fa
16、r more advanced and “adult-like”. Handwriting also affects other peoples way they think of adults and children. Several studies have shown that the same average essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting. These studies have also fou
17、nd that people judge the quality of a persons ideas based on his or her handwriting. And the consequences are real: On standardized tests with handwritten sections, like the SAT, all essay that is considered hard to recognize gets a big zero. Studies show that this isnt only an English-language phen
18、omenon. Chinese and Japanese youths are suffering from “character amnesia”. They cant remember how to write characters, thanks to computers and text messaging. Some experts fear that Chinese writing and reading are so closely linked in the brain that Chinas reading ability as a nation could suffer.5
19、. What does the Indiana University study imply?A. Children should practice writing letters B. Handwriting can increase brain activityC. Its good for children to enter a functional MRI. D. Letters should often be shown to children6. What does the 4th paragraph mainly talk about?A. Handwriting affects
20、 both adults and children. B. Handwriting helps a person write better essays.C.SAT should be done with good handwriting. D. Good handwriting makes a person seem smarter.7. Which of the following statements is TRUE? A. Essays written with keyboards will get lower scores.B. The quality of your ideas d
21、epends on your handwriting.C. Chinese and Japanese youths dont know how to write.D. Less handwriting may affect Chinas reading ability.8. The passage tries to tell us that _.A. keyboards are more popular than handwriting B. we shouldnt judge people by their handwritingC. handwriting is of great impo
22、rtance D. its time to give up using keyboards C There were red faces at one of Britains biggest banks recently. They had accepted a telephone order to buy 100,000 worth of shares from a 15-year-old schoolboy (they thought he was 21). The shares fell in value and the schoolboy was unable to pay up. T
23、he bank lost 20,000 on the deal which it cannot get back, because, for one thing, the young boy does not have the money, for another, being under 18, he is not legally liable for his debts. If the shares had risen in value by the same amount that they fell, he would have pocketed 20,000 profit. It c
24、ertainly is better than delivering the morning newspaper. In another case, a boy of 14 found, in his grandmothers house, a suitcase full of foreign banknotes. But they were now not used in their country of origin or anywhere else. This young boy headed straight to the nearest bank with his pockets f
25、illed with notes. The cashiers did not realize the country in question had reduced the value of its currency by 90%. They exchanged the notes at their face value at the current exchange rate. In three days, before he was found out, he took 200,000 from nine different banks. Amazingly, he had already
26、 spent more than half of this before the police caught up with him. Because he is also under 18 the banks have kissed goodbye to a lot of money, and several cashiers have lost their jobs.Should we admire these youngsters for being enterprising and showing initiative or condemn them for their dishone
27、sty? Maybe they had managed for years with tiny amounts of pocket money that they got from tight-fisted parents. Maybe they had done Saturday jobs for peanuts. It is hardly surprising, given the expensive things that young people want to buy, such as fashionable running shoes and computer games, if
28、they sometimes think up more imaginative ways of making money than delivering newspapers. These youngsters saw the chance to make a lot of money and took it. Another recent story which should give us food for thought is the case of the man who paid his six-year-old daughter300 a week pocket money. H
29、e then charged her for the food she ate a few coins for her piggy bank（存钱灌）“She will soon learn the value of money, ” he said. “Theres no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has to be paid for and the sooner she learns that the better.” At the other extreme there are fond parents who provide free
30、 bed and board for their grown-up children, While even the most hard-hearted parents might hesitate to throw their children out on the streets, we all know of people in their twenties who still shamelessly live off their parents. Surely there comes a time when everyone has to leave the parental nest
31、, look after themselves and pay their own way in life. But when is it?9. Recently one of Britains biggest banks _. A. bought a lot of shares for a customer and brought him a great loss B. lost money as its young customer had no money to pay his debts C. lost much money because the shares they bought
32、 fell in value D. received a telephone order to buy shares for a 21-year-old boy10. The authors attitude to the example of the two boys who cheated the banks is _. A. objectiveB. subjectiveC. questioningD. negative11. The man paid his daughter 300 a week pocket money and then required her to pay for
33、 her living expenses because _. A. he wanted her to know making money was not easy B. he wanted to save money for her future education C. he thought it useful for family members to bear life hardships together D. he wanted her to learn the value of money 12. It can be concluded from the passage that
34、 the author believes that _. A. children should leave the parental nest as soon as possible B. grown-up children should live on their own C. children should be taught not to cheat others D. parents should give more pocket money to their childrenDA few years ago I was on a bicycle trip when I got off
35、 my bike for a rest. I sat down on the grass. A few seconds later, I was covered in ants. They were swarming all over me so I got up and brushed them off. It was a strange experience but I soon forgot about it.A couple of years later, I was living in Jordan. I had just moved into a modern flat and w
36、as unpacking plates when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at the kitchen drawer and there was a cockroach (蟑螂) crawling out of it. I screamed. Then I grabbed a can of insecticide and sprayed it on the cockroach. He ran under the nearby bathroom door. It took me three d
37、ays before I found the courage to open the bathroom door to see if he was still alive. He wasnt.Why did I react so violently to one lone insect when a closer encounter with hundreds of ants hardly affected me? The answer is easy: because cockroaches are creepy (令人毛骨悚然的) crawlies and ants arent. Cree
38、py crawlies are those little bugs which cause feelings such as anxiety - they make your skin crawl.Did you know that some people feel such a fear of bugs that it becomes a phobia (恐惧症)? Psychologists have offered many explanations. Some say we associate them with dirt and disease. Or that these are
39、life forms that are so alien to us, that we find them disgusting for their dissimilarity.Insects, however, dont follow our rules - they just do what they want and invade our space. Unfortunately, although insects and bugs have been a successful animal species up to now, many of them, like many other
40、 species nowadays, are under threat of dying out. Entomologists warn that this could upset entire ecosystems and lead to all kinds of disastrous consequences.So my advice to you is: the next time you feel the urge to stamp on, splatter or spray a creepy crawly, give a thought to the planet and stop.
41、13. Why did the author mention the ants in the beginning?A. Because the experience with the ants presents a sharp contrast to that with the cockroach later.B. Because the author wants to show her preference to the ants and her dislike for the cockroaches.C. Because both ants and cockroaches are cree
42、py crawlies that the author dislikes.D. Because meeting the ants is an unusual experience that the author can hardly forget.14. The underlined word “insecticide” in Paragraph 2 probably means .A. a kind of fruit juice B. a kitchen knife C. liquid for killing insectsD. cleanser (洗涤剂)for the bathroom1
43、5. How does the author feel about bugs like cockroaches?A. The author doesnt mind the contact with those harmless small creatures.B. The author prefers cockroaches to ants and feels guilty for killing one.C. They invade our space and become a threat to humans.D. They still deserve a place for keepin
44、g the balance of the nature.16. Which of the following statements about bugs is NOT true according to the passage?A. Some people may be frightened so much by bugs that it leads to a psychological barrier to some degree.B. The earth will have a better and cleaner environment if more creepy crawlies a
45、re killed.C. Many bugs are in danger of dying out so we should not kill them due to fear or disgust.D. Some bugs are extremely unpleasant that some people have a strong wish to destroy them. EDreaming is believing, claim researchers of a new study, who found that dreams have an effect on peoples beh
46、avior, judgment and they might contain important hidden truths as well.“Psychologists explanations of the meaning of dreams vary widely. But our findings show that people believe their dreams provide meaningful insight into themselves and their world,” said a lead author of the study Carey Morewedge
47、, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University.In six different studies, researchers surveyed nearly 1,100 people about their dreams. One of the studies focused on general beliefs about dreams and involved 149 university students. All students were asked to rate different theories about drea
48、ms. The experts found that a surprising majority of the participants supported the theory about dreams revealing (揭示) the hidden truths about themselves and the rest of the world.In a second experiment, they surveyed 182 people at a Boston train station, and asked them to imagine one out of four pos
49、sible situation that could have occurred the night before a scheduled airline trip. Most of the participants said that dreaming of a plane crash would be more likely to affect their travel plans than would just thinking about a crash, or being warned by the government of a terrorism risk. They said
50、a dreamed crash would influence their travel plans just as much as learning about a real crash on their planned route would.Another experiment involved 270 men and women from across the United States. In a short online survey, they were asked to recall one of the dreams they had seen about any perso
51、n they knew.The findings showed that people were more likely to remember and describe pleasant dreams about a person they liked, rather than a person they disliked. Meanwhile, in most cases they tended to consider an unpleasant dream as more meaningful if it was about a person they disliked.“In othe
52、r words,” said Morewedge, “people attribute meaning to dreams when it corresponds (与一致) with their pre-existing beliefs and desires.”The researchers say that more investigation is needed to fully understand how people interpret their dreams. According to Morewedge, most people realize that dreams ar
53、e not predicting their future, but they still try to find some meaning in there.17. The purpose of the studies is to .A. determine when people tend to remember their dreamsB. research whether dreams have anything to do with real lifeC. find out how people explain their dreams and what impact that ha
54、sD. understand what causes people to dream and how to interpret dreams18. According to the second experiment, what might influence peoples travel plans most?A. Thinking about a past plane crash.B. Dreaming about a plane crash.C. Hearing a governments warning of a terrorism risk.D. Imagining a plane
55、crashing on their planned route.19. What can be concluded from the study?A. Dreams can be a useful tool for learning and problem solving.B. Most people disagree that dreams help them better know themselves and the world.C. A majority of people believes that dreams can predict their future and try to
56、 find their meaning.D. When a dream conflicts with peoples existing beliefs and desires, they tend to attribute less meaning to it.20. Which kind of dream is seen as more meaningful than the rest? A. A pleasant dream about a person the dreamer likes. B. A pleasant dream about a person the dreamer dislikes C. An unpleasant dream about a person the dreamer likes.D. An unpleasant dream about a person the dreamer dislikes.15 BACA B 610 DDC BA 1115 DBACD 1620 BCBDD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
