安徽省蚌埠市高考英语专题总复习-阅读理解强化集(15).doc

安徽省蚌埠市2012届高考英语专题总复习精选阅读理解强化集（15）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.AChildrens Books:Hawkings fact and fictionGeorge FREllis & RubyBOOK REVIEWED-Georges Secret Key to the Universeby Lucy & Stephen HawkingStephen Hawkings book A Brief History of Time was a huge commercial successIts achievements in bringing difficult scientific ideas to a wide audience are not so clearNow the distinguished physicist has teamed up with his daughter Lucy to produce a childrens book designed to communicate contemporary physicsWill it capture the attention of young minds and teach them some real science? Or will it be boring and over the heads of the prospective readers?Georges Secret Key to the Universe is an adventure story complete with villains and hero and is illustrated with enjoyable line-drawingsIt involves a lost pig, a humorously portrayed intelligent computer, school bullies and a trip through the Solar SystemDidactic discussions on aspects of modern physics, such as supernova explosions and black-hole physics are hung on this set-upThere are also fact boxes on physics and astronomy, and some photographs of astronomical phenomena: planets, comets, galaxies and so onOverall, the book is a serious effort to convey facts and ideas in present day astronomy and astrophysics, within a science-fiction adventure storyThe mixture is greatChildren love facts and adventure storiesThe combination will catch their interest and keep them occupied for hoursAfter ten minutes of leafing through the book, my granddaughter Ruby was deeply absorbed and I had to promise to bring it back for her to read after I had completed my reviewLike any educational tool, it will succeed for some and not for othersI suppose there should be more of the former1Where do you think this passage is taken?AFrom a news storyBFrom a textbookCFrom a book reviewDFrom an advertisment2Which of the following books is mainly reviewed in this passage?AGeorges Secret Key to the UniverseBA Brief History of TimeCThe Nature of Space and TimeDHawkings fact and fiction3What is the authors attitude towards the book being reviewed?AIt will be less successfulBIt will be more successfulCIt will be a complete failureDIt all depends on Ruby4The underlined word “leafing” （in the last paragrph） probably means _Aadding leaves to a bookBthrowing away a bookCtearing up a bookDturning pages of a book BExercise, such as walking, can reduce the risk of diabetes （糖尿病） in people whose blood sugar is starting to riseThat outcome was shown in a large studyDespite trying hard, those who dieted and worked out lost very little weightBut they did manage to maintain a regular walking program, and fewer of them went on to develop diabetesExercise also may reduce the risk of heart diseaseThere seems to be some effect: Most of the heart protection appears to be realized by walking regularlyMore intense exercise has been shown to provide only slightly greater benefitsActive people are much less likely to smoke; theyre thinner and they eat differently than people who are less activeThey also tend to be more educated, and education is one of the strongest predictors of good health in general and a longer lifeAs a result, it is impossible to know with confidence whether exercise prevents heart disease or whether people who are less likely to get heart disease are also more likely to be exercisingStill, in rigorous studies in which elderly people were assigned either to exercise or maintain their normal routine, the exercisers were less likely to fall, perhaps because they got stronger or developed better balanceExercise may prevent broken bonesbut only indirectlyAnd what about weight loss? Lifting weights builds muscles but will not make you burn more caloriesJack Wilmore, an exercise physiologist at Texas A & M University, calculated that the average amount of muscle that men gained after a serious 12-week weight-lifting program was 2 kilograms, or 44 poundsThat added muscle would increase the metabolic rate （代谢率） by only 24 calories a dayExercise alone, in the absence of weight loss, has not been shown to reduce blood pressureNor does it make much difference in cholesterol （胆固醇） levelsWeight loss can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but if you want to lose weight, you have to diet as well as exerciseExercise alone has not been shown to bring sustained weight lossJust ask Steven Blair, an exercise researcher at the University of South CarolinaHe runs every day and even runs marathonsBut, he adds, “I was short, fat and bald when I started running, and Im still short, fat and baldWeight control is difficult for meI fight the losing battle”The difficulty, DrBlair says, is that its much easier to eat 1,000 calories than to burn off 1,000 calories with exerciseAs he relates, “An old football coach used to say, I have all my assistants running five miles a day, but they eat 10 miles a day”5In the case of Steven Blair, running does _ to his weight controlAlittleBmuchCgoodDharm6The last paragraph of the text tells us that the problem is that people tend to _?Aburn off 1,000 calories in a dayBuse more energy than they getCget more energy than they useDrun five miles in a football game7Which of the following is true according to the text?AExercise can certainly prevent heart diseaseBExercise alone can not reduce blood pressureCLifting weight can directly prevent broken bonesDWalking can not reduce blood sugar in people8According to the text, the more educated one is, the _Aless exercise one will takeBstronger and thinner one will beCmore cigarettes one will smokeDhealthier one will generally beCFRIDAY, Dec5, 2008College students who think all-night study sessions will help them remember facts might want to get some sleep insteadThats the message from a new study that finds that as you sleep, the mind consolidates the things you learn during the dayStudy participants who learned how to play a video game in the morning or evening did a better job the next day after a nights rest, apparently because their brains were actively absorbing what theyd learned as they sleptThe finding shows that sleep is not just a passive state when no information is coming in, said Howard Nusbaum, a professor of psychology at the University of ChicagoFor the study, the researchers recruited 200 college studentsMost of them werent very familiar with playing video gamesSome of the participants learned how to play the games in the morning, while others learned in the eveningThe researchers then tested the subjects on the video games 12 hours later and 24 hours laterThose who took part in the morning training sessions showed an average eight-percentage-point improvement in their performance immediately after trainingThey performed more poorlyscoring four percentage points better12 hours laterBut they scored 10 percentage points better the next morningIf we train you in the morning and come back at the end of the day, you forget some of what you learned, Nusbaum saidBut if you sleep after that, it restores some of what you learned The students who took part in the evening training sessions performed better the next morning after sleeping, than they did after being trainedThe role that dreams play in the learning processif anyisnt clearBut some dreams could serve as a kind of practice for the brain, Nusbaum saidIf you play a video game a lot, and youre playing in your dreams, maybe that could help you learnJerry Siegel, professor at the Center for Sleep Research at the University of Calfornia, Los Angeles, said going without sleep hurts performance, but hes not convinced that sleep itself actively contributes to learningIf you take a break for a few hours, it can easily be shown that learning did occur, because performance is better at the start of a new learning session than it was at the end of the initial session, he saidNo sleep needs to occur for this to happen Still, Siegel suggested that sleep before learning a skill is crucialFor long-term retention, it is more important to be well rested and therefore attentive when you are doing the learning than afterwards, he saidIt is even better if you dont have to choose and get your natural amounts of sleep every day 9What does the underlined word want （in Paragraph 1） mean? AlackBwish CdesireDneed 10What is mainly talked about in this text? AThe effect of video games on learningBThe relation between sleep and learningCThe role of dreams in the learning processDThe difference between morning and evening trainings11What would be the best title for the text? ASleep strengthens learningBDreams clearly help learningCA break before learning is betterDVideo games improve performance12Which of the following statements is true according to the passage? ATraining in the morning showed better results at onceBLearning wont occur during sleeping without dreamsCSleeping well helps to absorb what one learnedDStudying all night helps to remember more factsDAn analysis of studies in 40 countries around the globe proves a long-standing assumption that the more a person knows about science, the more he or she tends to support scientific effortsIn fact, studies that have tested the link between a persons level of scientific knowledge and attitudes towards the field have generated mixed resultsIts been a very hard question, says sociologist Nick Allum of the University of Surrey in Guildford, UKTo resolve the issue, Allum and his colleagues pulled together the results of nearly 200 surveys carried out between 1998 and 2003 in countries from Australia to BulgariaThese studies assessed, for example, whether participants knew certain scientific facts and whether they supported developments in genetically modified food or nanotechnologyTo some extent, the results prove the belief widely held by science supporters: the more people know about science, the more favourably they tend to view it, in spite of other factors such as age, nationality and level of educationAllum presented his results at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC last weekBut now this question is cleared up, researchers must begin to deal with more pressing questions, Allum saysThe argument should move onHis finding cannot, for example, show whether better science education will increase general support for the fieldThis is because researchers have yet to figure out whether people who learn more about science then tend to like it or, on the contrary, whether people who already like and support science are simply tend to learn further factsAnd a persons level of scientific knowledge actually goes a very tiny way towards explaining their attitudes towards scienceAllum believes that there are probably far more important factors, such as their moral values, religious beliefs and political leaningAnd peoples trust in science may be influenced by how tightly regulated they believe the process to be in their countryThis might explain, in part, why those living in different countries tend to hold different attitudes: Europeans tend to be more doubtful of genetically modified crops than those in the United States, for exampleFinally, science lovers hope to strengthen support for the field, but it looks as if simple science education will not be enoughAs Allum says: Its all horribly complicated13In Allums opinion, _ will have little influence on a persons attitude towards scienceAscientific knowledgeBmoral valuesCreligious beliefsDpolitical leaning14From the passage we can infer that _ Athe surveys were carried out in a few countriesBEuropeans love science more than Americans CAllum kept his research results a secretDNick Allum is not a natural scientist15The underlined word those refers to _Ascience loversBdifferent attitudes Cpeople in generalDgenetically modified crops16What is mainly talked about in this passage? ASpecial beliefs of the sociologist Nick AllumBLink between knowledge and love of scienceCWays in which people love scienceDThe function of science education ESTREAMWOOD, IllFor years, attendance was small at Tefft Middle Schools yearly parent-teacher conferences, but the principal did not blame families for their poor responseInstead, she blamed the poor way the conferences were conducted“Five years ago, the most important personthe studentwas left out of the parent-teacher conference,” Teffts principal, Lavonne Smiley, said“The old conferences were such a negative thing, so we turned it around,” allowing students not only to attend but also to lead the gatherings instead of anxiously awaiting their parents return home with the teachers opinion on their classroom performanceRecently, 525 parents attended parent-teacher-student conferences, MsSmiley said, compared with 75 parents in 2003No appointments were needed, and everyone was welcome at the conferences this year, spread over two days that school officials called a Celebration of Learning“I think were learning that every school has its own DNA, and there is not a prescription for conferences that works for every school,” MsKinney said“There is such an increasingly diverse population at our nations schools, the one-size-fits-all model conference just doesnt work anymore” At some schools, not only are students on hand for conferences, but their siblings are also welcome, as are grandparents, aunts and uncles, even family friendsWhen Mark Heller accepted a job as an assistant principal at the middle school in his hometown of Plano, Ill, he discovered that the community had changed a lot in the eight years he had been a teacher in IowaThe population had nearly doubled to 10,000 residents, and 37 percent of the students at Plano Middle School were now from low-income familiesThe traditional parent-teacher conferences without a student present are always available by appointment, and sometimes necessary, for example, to discuss a private matter concerning a non-custodial （无监护权的） parent, a family crisis the child is unaware of or a special education diagnosisStill, MrHeller is convinced that a true dialogue concerning a students academic progress is impossible without both the child and the parent engaged and present, and with the teacher on hand to share impressions and answer any questions the parents have about homework, standardized test scores, behavior and other issues“At the student-led conferences, our children are learning to be organ