高考英语阅读理解科普类说明文4篇--较难(有答案).doc

高考英语说明文4篇
1
Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make
us tire. It sounds absurd/əb'sɜːd/ 荒谬的. But a years ago, scientists tried to find out
how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage  阶段
of fatigue /fə'tiːg/ (疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took
a drop of blood from a day laborer 劳动者, we would find it full of fatigue toxins /'tɒksɪn/ (毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly很快地
at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is
totally tireless. So what makes us tired?
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental
and emotional(情绪的) attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding
scientists, J.A. Hadfield, says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we
suffer is of mental origin /'ɒrɪdʒɪn/起源. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is
rare.”Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One
hundred percent of the fatigue of sitting worker in good health is due to
emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction?
No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety /æŋ'zaɪətɪ/焦虑, tenseness紧张
, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated---those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.
1. What surprised the scientists a few years ago?
A. Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer’s blood.
B. Albert Einstein didn’t feel worn after a day’s work.
C. The brain could work for many hours without fatigue.
D. A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins.
2. According to the author, which of the following can make sitting workers
tired?
A. Challenging mental work. B. Unpleasant emotions.
C. Endless tasks. D. Physical labo
3. What’s the author’s attitude towards the scientists’ idea?
A. He agrees with them. B. He doubts them.
C. He argues against them. D. He hesitates to accept them.
4. We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic, sitting
workers need to ________.
A. have some good food. B. enjoy their work
C. exercise regularly D. discover fatigue toxins
2
They baby is just one day old and has not yet left hospital. She is quiet
but alert  /ə'lɜːt/ （警觉）. Twenty centimeters 厘 from her face researchers
have placed a white card with two black spots on it. She stares at it carefully.
A researcher removes the card and replaces it by another, this time with the
spots differently spaced. As the cards change from one to the other, her
gaze（凝视） starts to lose its focus — until a third, with three black spots,
is presented. Her gaze returns: she looks at it for twice as long as she did at
the previous card. Can she tell that the number two is different from three,
just 24 hours after coming into the world?
Or do newborns simply prefer more to fewer? The same experiment, but
with three spots shown before two, shows the same return of interest when
the number of spots changes. Perhaps it is just the newness 名，新奇? When
slightly older babies were shown cards with pictures of objects (a comb, a key,
an orange and so on), changing the number of objects had an effect separate
from changing the objects themselves. Could it be the pattern that two things
make, as opposed to three? No again. Babies paid more attention to squares
moving randomly on a screen when their number changed from two to three,
or three to two. The effect even crosses between senses. Babies who were
repeatedly shown two spots became more excited when they then heard three
drumbeats than when they heard just two; likewise （同样地） when the
researchers started with drumbeats and moved to spots.
5. The experiment described in Paragraph 1 is related to the baby’s__.
A. sense of hearing B. sense of sight C. sense of touch D sense of smell
6. Babies are sensitive to the change in______.
A. the size of cards B. the colour of pictures
C. the shape of patterns D. the number of objects
7. Why did the researchers test the babies with drumbeats?
A. To reduce the difficulty of the experiment.
B. To see howbabies recognize sounds.
C. To carry their experiment further.
D. To keep the babies’interest.
8. Where does this text probably come from?
A. Science fiction. B. Children’s literature.
C. An advertisement. D.A science report
3
Last night’s meteor(流星) 英 /'miːtɪə/ shower left many people in the
community dissatisfied and demanding 苛求的；要求高的；吃力的 answers. According to Gabe Rothsclild, Emerald Valley’s mayor市长, people gathered in the suburbs /'sʌbɜːb/
of the city, carrying heavy telescopes, expecting to watch the brightly burning meteors passing through the sky. What they found instead was a sky so brightene
by the city’s lights that it darkened the light of the meteors passing overhead.
“My family was so frustrated,” admitted town resident Duane Cosby, “We
wanted to make this an unforgettable family outing, but it turned out to be a
huge disappointments.”
Astronomers- /ə'strɒnəmə/n. 天文学家--scientists who study stars and planets----
have beencomplaining about this problem for decades. They say that light
pollution prevents them from seeing objects in the sky that they could see quite
easily in the past. They call on people and the government to take measures to fight
against it.
There is yet a population besides professional and amateur  /ˈæmətə(r)/
 美 /'æmə.tʃʊr/n. 爱好者 star observers that suffers even more from light pollution. This population consists of birds, bats frogs, snakes, etc. For example, outdoor
lighting severely affects migrating(迁徙的)birds. According to the International Dark-Sky Association. “100 million birds a year throughout
North America die in crashes 撞碎 with lighted buildings and towers.”
Countless more animals casualties(伤亡）result from the use of artificial
lighting. Clearly, people enjoy the benefits of lighting their evenings, but
some scientists think it can be harmful for humans, too. They worry that
exposure to light while sleeping can increase person’s chances of getting
cancer. Emerald Valley is only one community that is becoming aware of the
negative effects of light pollution. For years, Flagstaff, Arizona/,æri'zəunə/
美 /,æri'zəunə/n. 美国亚利桑那州, has enforced lighting regulations in its city in order to assist astronomers at the Lowell Observatory.英 /əb'zɜːvət(ə)rɪ/美 /əb'zɝvətɔri/
n. 天文台；气象台；瞭望台Similar efforts have been made worldwide, and a movement is
underway 进行中的 to remind us to turn off lights when we are not using them, so that
other creatures can share the night.
9.It happened last night that
A. the city’s lights affected the meteor watching
B. the meteors flew past before being noticed
C. the city light show attracted many people
D. the meteor watching ended up a social outing
10. What do the astronomers complain about?
A. Meteor showers occur less often than before
B. Their observation equipment is in poor repair
C. Light pollution has remained unsolved for years
D. Their eyesight is failing due to artificial lighting
11. What the author concerned about according to Paragraph 4?
A. Birds may take other migration paths
B. Animals living habits may change suddenly
C. Varieties of animals will become sharply reduced
D. Animals’ survival is threatened by outdoor lighting
12. Lighting regulations in Flagstaff, Arizona are put into effect to
A. Lessen the chance of getting cancer
B. create an ideal observation condition
C. ensure citizens a good sleep at night
D. enable all creatures to live in harmony
13.What message does the author most want to give us?
A. Saving wildlife is saving ourselves
B. Great efforts should be made to save energy
C. Human activities should be environmentally friendly
D. New equipment should be introduced for space study
4
Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one
knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was
used for. We do know，however，that they existed over
5,500years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5，100 years old. Evidence suggests that
wheels for transport didn't become popular for .while, though . This
could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying
farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While
wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces
weren't going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand
for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this
difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had
been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the
arrival of modern road design.
In the mid-1700s,a Frenchman came up with a new design of
road--a base layer (层)of large stones covered with a thin layer of
smaller stones. A Scotsman苏格兰人 improved on this design in the 1820s
and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the
same time, metal hubs英 /hʌb/美 /hʌb/n. 中心；毂；木片(the central part of a wheel)、 came into being, followed by the Wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads(泊油路). As wheel design took off,
vehicles got faster and faster.
14. What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become
popular for some time?
A. Few knew how to use transport wheels.
B. Humans carried farming tools just as well. C. Animals were a good means of transport.
D. The existence of transport wheels was not known.
15. What do we know about road design from the passage?
A. It was easier than wheel design.
B. It improved after big changes in vehicle design.
C. It was promoted by fast-moving vehicles.
D. It provided conditions for wheel design to develop.
16. How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
A. By giving examples.
B. By making comparisons.
C.By following time order.
D.By making classifications.

17.What is the passage mainly about ?
A.The beginning of road deaign.
B.The development of transport wheel.
C.The history of public transport.
D.The invention of fast-moving vehicles.