高中选修11unit4同步阅读及答案.doc

Unit 4 Greek Legends
演练平台
A
Narcissus was a beautiful looking boy. He had long, flowing, blond hair, beautiful, bright, blue eyes and even, white teeth. Many young ladies fell in love with him including the nymph（女神）: Echo.
Nymphs were lively spirits who lived near streams and lakes and protected trees in the forest. Echo had upset the Queen of the Gods; Hera. As a punishment Hera made Echo unable to speak except to repeat the last three words of the person she was talking to.
Poor Echo fell in love with Narcissus but could never tell him how she felt. Narcissus teased her and she ran away with tears pouring down her face. Aphrodite, the goddess of love saw what happened and decided to punish Narcissus. As he came to a pool of water Narcissus saw his reflection (影子)and fell in love with the vision he saw. It was of course his own reflection.
Poor Narcissus watched his own reflection, every time he tried to touch the face of the vision he loved it broke up on the shimmering surface of the water. Narcissus stopped eating, lost his beautiful looks and desired to get his love. In the end he anguished gradually and died.
Aphrodite took pity on him and made a flower grow in his place on the bank of the lake. Narcissus flowers (水仙花) can be found to this day growing wherever you can find water and trees.
1. Echo fell in love with Narcissus because_________.
A. Narcissus was good-looking.
B. Echo was a lively spirit
C. Narcissus loved her, too.
D. Echo took pity on Narcissus
2. Why did Aphrodite, the goddess of love punish Narcissus?
A. Aphrodite envied Echo because she loved Narcissus
B. She thought Narcissus didn’t respect and made Echo sad.
C. Narcissus fell in love with the vision, not Echo.
D. Echo was trapped in love and didn’t protect trees in the forest any longer.
3. What does the underlined word “anguished” in the four paragraph mean?
A. become increasingly thin and weak
B. become very hungry
C. become very fat
D. become out of mind
4. What is the main purpose of writing the passage?
A. To tell people a sad love story
B. To tell people how Narcissus flowers came
C. To tell the true meaning of beauty and ugliness
D. To tell people not affect others’ love

B
Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.
“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality（永生）,” said Michaed Zey, a Montciair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative（保守的）estimate.”
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology（纳米技术）make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. “There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years” he said, “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”
However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 tears. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”
5. By saying “we are knocking at the door of immortality”, Michael Zey means_______
A. they believe that there is no limit of living
B. they are sure to find the truth about long living
C. they have got some ideas about living forever
D. they are able to make people live past the present life span
6. Donald Louria’s attitude toward long living is that______
A. people can live from 120 to 180
B. it is still doubtful how long humans can live
C. the human body is designed to last past about 120 years
D. it is possible for humans to live longer in the future
7. The underlined word “it” (paragraph 4) refers to_______
A. a great push
B. the idea of living beyond the present life span
C. the idea of living from200 to 300 years
D. the conservative estimate
8. What would be the best title for this text?
A. Living Longer or Not
B. Science, Technology and Long Living
C. No Limit for Human Life
D. Healthy Lifestyle Long Living
C
The Trojan Horse(特洛伊木马)
There was a huge battle between the warriors(武士)of Greece and the people of Troy. Prince Paris from Troy had stolen away the Greek queen; Helen. The Greek warriors set sail for Troy to fight for their queen.
The battle outside Troy lasted for ten years. The men were fed up and wanted to return to their homes. Athene, goddess of war gave Ulysses the idea for a plan to end the war. They built a big wooden horse which they put in the middle of their encampment（营地）. Next they pretended to abandon their camp. In reality many soldiers hid inside the wooden horse.
Once they thought the camp had been abandoned the Trojans went out to check. They needed to know if the war was really over. They walked through the abandoned encampment and eventually found the wooden horse. They could not decide what it was. Some wanted to take it into the city, others thought that it was a gift to Zeus and feared touching or moving it in case they upset Zeus.
Some Trojans decided to take it back into the city. They called a large group of troops, attached ropes and pulled it into the city.
A huge celebration started. The city was free from war for the first time in nine years. Everybody feasted, drank and danced until eventually the merriment（欢闹）was over and they all went to sleep.
This was the moment that the wooden horse opened a big flap（盖口）hidden underneath. Out crept Ulysses and all of his men. They killed the sleeping troops, rescued Queen Helen, met up with the rest of their army and set sail for home.
The story of the return journey is told in The Odyssey, a collection of poems piecing together the bits of the story from the many different places where the story took place.
9. Greece and the people of Troy was at war because________________.
A. they have different views and beliefs
B. Prince Paris from Troy wanted to control Greek
C. they were war-like countries
D. the Greek warriors fought against Troy for their queen stolen away by Troy
10. What does the underlined phrase “(be)fed up” probably mean?
A. very tired
B. very happy
C. very sad
D. very interested
11. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
A. The battle outside Troy lasted for ten years.
B. It was Ulysses that thought up the idea for a plan to end the war
C. The Trojans fell into a trap set by Ulysses and all of his men
D. The Greek warriors saved Queen Helen and head home successfully
12. What can we learn from the story “The Trojan Horse”?
A. Keep a clear brain or you’ll be cheated by something pretending
B. Failure is a common thing in the war
C. strategy(策略) is not an important factor in the war.
D. Victory cannot be gained by cheat and pretence.

D
The concept of peace is a very important one in cultures all over the world. Think about how we greet. In some languages, the phrases for greetings contain the word for peace. In some cultures we greet people by shaking hands or with another gesture to show that we are not carrying weapons--- that we come in peace. And there are certain symbols which people in very different cultures recognize as representing peace. Let’s look at the origins of a few of them.
The Rainbow
The rainbow is another ancient and universal symbol, often representing the connection between human beings and their gods. In Greek mythology it was associated with Iris, the goddess who brought messages from the gods on Mount Olympus. In Scandinavian mythology(神话) the rainbow was a bridge between the gods and the earth. In the Bible a rainbow showed Noah that the Biblical flood was finally over, and that God had forgiven his people. In the Chinese tradition, the rainbow is a common symbol for marriage because the colours represent the union of YIN and YANG. Nowadays the rainbow is used by many popular movements for peace and the environment, representing the possibility of a better world in the future and promising sunshine after the rain.
The Olive Branch （橄榄枝）
The olive tree has always been a valuable source of food and oil. In Greek mythology, the goddess Athene gave the olive tree to the people of Athens, who showed their thanks by the naming the city after her. But no one knows for sure when and why it began to symbolize peace. There is probably a connection with ancient Greece. Wars between states were stopped during the Olympic Games, and the winners were given crowns(皇冠) of olive branches. The symbolism may come from the fact that the olive tree takes a long time to produce fruit, so olives could be cultivated(培育) successfully in long periods of peace. Whatever the history, the olive branch is a part of many modern flags symbolizing peace and unity. One well-known example is the United Nations symbol.
13. How many examples does the writer give to show the rainbow as a universal symbol of peace?
A. 2. B. 3. C. 4. D. 5.
14. What does the rainbow usually symbolize in China?
A. a bridge B. marriage C. crowns D. Iris, the goddess
15. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The olive branch was regarded as a symbol of peace because it was given as a gift by the goddess Athene.
B. The name of the capital of Greece comes from the name of the goddess Athene.
C. Olive trees do not produce fruits when there are wars in the world.
D. The winners in the Olympic Games were given crowns of olive branches because they symbolized peace.
16. From the passage we can conclude that___________.
A. all the symbols mentioned above are based on traditional beliefs
B. all modern ideas come from Greek mythology
C. all the symbols mentioned above are used on flags
D. all UN has officially accepted the three symbols as symbols of peace

E
In the summer of 1978 an English man named Steven was driving his tractor through a field of wheat when he discovered something strange. Some of his wheat was lying on the ground. The flattened wheat formed a circle about six metres across. Around this circle were four smaller circles of flattened wheat.
Three years later a farmer who lived nearby discovered almost the same circles in one of his fields. These circles were larger –nearly 15 metres across. That same year, another English farmer discovered three circles of flattened wheat on his land –one large circle between two small circles. During the following years, farmers in England found circles in their fields more and more often.
The circles are called “crop circles” because they usually appear in fields of wheat or corn. The wheat in the circles lies on the ground but is never broken; it keeps on growing, and the farmers can later harvest it. Farmers always discover the crop circles in the morning, so the circles probably form at night. They appear only in the months from May to September. What causes the crop circles?
At first, people thought that some kids were making them as a joke, or that farmers were making them to attract tourists. People tried to copy them; they tried to make circles exactly like the ones the farmers had found. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t enter a field of wheat without leaving tracks, and they couldn’t flatten the wheat without breaking it.
Several times people reported seeing strange objects near the fields where crop circles later appeared. Many people believe that these crop circles are the messages sent by living things from outer space or the marks left by their spaceships.
Scientists who have studied the crop circles try to find out what causes them. In the summer of 1990 some scientists spent three weeks in the part of England where many circles had appeared. They had all the latest high –tech equipment. But it got nothing. But one night, as the scientists were watching a field, crop circles formed in the field behind them, which were quite different from the others. The scientists had neither seen nor heard anything.
When Steven discovered the crop circles on his land in 1978, he said, “It was just like something that had landed in the field from the air and gone back up again. I didn’t know what to understand these things.”
Crop circles have appeared in England, Japan, the United States and Russia. Experts from all over the world think there will be a long way to disclose the truth.
17. “Flattened wheat” means _________.
A. broken wheat B. lying wheat
C. harvested wheat D. growing wheat
18. Which of the following describes the one that formed in the field behind scientist?
A. three circles –one large circle between two small circles.
B. five small circles
C. four smaller circles were around a big circle .
D. quite different from the ones that had been seen.
19. The passage is mainly about something _________.
A. that is done by living things from outer space
B. that cannot be solved but found all around the world
C. that cannot be made clear or understood
D. that is discovered and copied by the farmers
20. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
A. In 1981 or so, another English farmer discovered one large circle between two small circles.
B. The circles are called “crop circles” because they usually appear in fields of wheat or corn.
C. At first, people thought these crop circles are made by living things from outer space.
D. The crop circles are still a puzzle and remain to be studied.
阅读表达
A
Some myths（神话）are stories told since ancient times to explain the causes for natural happenings. The Greek myth that explains why there are changes of seasons is about Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. She had a daughter, Persephone, whom she loved very much. Hades, god of the underworld, fell in love with Persephone, and he asked Zeus, the ruler of the gods, to give Persephone to him as his wife. Zeus did not want either to disappoint Hades or to upset Demeter, so he said he would not agree to the marriage, but neither would he forbid it. Hades, therefore, decided to take the girl without permission. When Persephone was picking flowers in the garden, he seized her and took her to the underworld. When Demeter found out what happened to Persephone, she became so angry that she caused all plants