阅读理解训练题-41.doc

阅读理解训练题（四十一）
A
The next time you try for a high-ranking post, you could let your possible boss listen to a recommending（推荐）phone call “made” by US President George W. Bush or British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Of course, neither of them could really do that for you—you would just “borrow” their voices.
AT & T labs will start selling speech software that, it says, is so good at reproducing the sounds of a human voice that it can recreate voices and even bring the voices of long – dead famous people back to life.
The software, which turns printed text into speech, makes it possible for a company to use recordings of a person’s voice to say things that the person never actually said.
Possible customers for the software, which is priced at the thousands of dollars, include telephone call centers, companies that make software that reads digital files aloud, and makers of automated voice devices. The advances raise several problems. Who, for example, owns the rights to a famous person’s voice? (Some experts even believe that new contracts will be drawn that include voice-licensing clauses.)
And although scientists say the technology is not yet good enough to commit fraud（假冒）, would the synthesized（合成的）voices at last be able to trick people into thinking that they were getting phone calls or digital audio recordings from people they knew?
Even Mr Fruchterman, one of AT & T lab’s possible first customers, said he wondered what the new technology might bring. “Just like you can’t trust a photograph any more,” he said, “you won’t be able to trust a voice either.”
56．With the help of the speech software, it is most possible .
A．to improve a famous person’s speech B．to say what you want in another’s voice
C．to make a speech much more easily D．to help you to find a better job
57．If the speech software is widely used, .
A．people would no longer believe each other
B．it would not be necessary to go for a speech by a famous person
C．no radio or TV broadcasters would be needed
D．recording a voice alone would not be taken as a proof in the court
58．According to the passage, you can infer that .
A．the software will turn out to be an immediate success in the market
B．the government will forbid the sale of the software in the market
C．it’s hard to decide whether the software will enjoy popularity
D．the software will soon prove to be nothing but rubbish
59．The passage mainly wants to .
A．introduce a new software B．explain the disadvantage of a new invention
C．advertise a new kind of product D．describe the future market of a new product
B
Millions of women use cosmetics, often called ‘make-up’. The cosmetics industry is one of the biggest in the world. Most large stores sell cosmetics, and there are always shops at airports selling them cheaply.
The word ‘cosmetics’ refers to anything that people put on their faces to make them look better. Lipstick, face powder and cream, and eye make-up are the most popular. Although more women than men use cosmetics, there are cosmetics for men as well as women.
Some people even have cosmetic surgery to make their faces look different. They have the shape of their noses and eyes changed.
The most widely used cosmetic is probably lipstick, as many women who do not wear any other make-up will often put on a little lipstick.
Lipstick is made by mixing together different oils and colors. This mixture is then allowed to get hard and is cut into the shape of a small pencil. When a woman presses the lipstick to her lips, the end of it becomes soft, and some of it sticks to her lips, giving them extra color.
Cosmetics were probably first used in India, but it was the Egyptians, six thousand years ago, who made the most use of them. Rich Egyptian women painted their eyes green and black. They used a red color to paint pretty designs on their fingernails, the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet. Pictures of Cleopatra always show her wearing a lot of make-up.
The Romans also used cosmetics. They liked to make their skin very white and to paint their eyes. They also used a kind of lipstick.
In England at one time, very rich women had baths in milk to make their skin beautiful. They also used a lot of sweet-smelling powder to stop people smelling their bodies, which were often very dirty because they did not wash very often or change their clothes.
At one time, some cosmetics were not safe. They were bad for the skin, and some of the lipsticks and powders that people used were even poisonous. Nowadays, people in the cosmetics industry take great care to make sure that everything they use is completely safe.
60．People use cosmetics .
A．only at airports B．to color their feet
C．to make themselves look better D．instead of surgery
61．‘Cosmetics’ refers to .
A．lipstick B．make-up C．creams D．surgery
62．In earlier times, cosmetics were .
A．never used in milk baths B．never used on the eyes
C．never used on the skin D．sometimes harmful to the skin
C
Have you ever noticed, when looking at a map of the world, that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa look as though they might fit together? If you have, you are not alone. In 1965 the English scientist Sir Edward Bullard used a computer to Text the fit of the two continents and found that at an ocean depth of 2000 meters the match was very close indeed.
It seems too remarkable to be possible, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that Africa was once joined to South America. For example, there is a belt of ancient rocks along the east of Brazil which corresponds with the rocks across the South Atlantic in West Africa.
There is further evidence that existing land masses were once linked. The remains of a 400-to-500-million-year-old mountain chain has been found running down the eastern part of Greenland, western Scandinavia, and through north-west Scotland and Ireland, into western Canada, eventually finding their way to north-west Africa.
Then there is the evidence from life itself. In various parts of the world today the same animals and plants can be found on land masses separated by, in some cases, thousands of miles of oceans. Did they evolve（进化）at the same time in two different places? It seems unlikely. Biologists believe that there must have been land bridges which have now sunk beneath the sea. Also fossils found in sedimentary rocks(fossils are the preserved remains of life forms)have allowed geologists to trace the same plants from South America, and Antarctica in rocks perhaps 300 million years old.
The ice that is now confined to the polar regions has always been so limited in extent. Indeed, during a period of the Earth’s history known as the permocarboniferous（二叠石灰纪）age about 250-350 million years ago there is evidence from the rocks that there were glaciers covering South America, parts of Africa, and India Australia. On the other hand, in the northern hemisphere（北半球）there were deserts. If the continents were distributed（分布）as they are today, it is hard to understand how this could be.
So there is considerable evidence to show whole continents moved apart, and naturally many people have tried to discover how and why whole land masses moved.
63．According to the author’s opinion, Africa and South America didn’t move apart until .
A．500 million years ago B．350 million years ago
C．200 million years ago D．300 million years ago
64．The sentence “…eventually finding their way to north-west Africa” means
A．We can find a way from the eastern part of Greenland to north-west Africa.
B．We can also find these remains in north-west Africa.
C．The mountain chain goes from the eastern part of Greenland to north-west Africa.
D．It is a long way from the eastern part of Greenland to north-west Africa.
65．The best title for this passage would be .
A．The Evidence of the Continental Drift B．The Movement of the Two Continents
C．The Continental Drift D．The History of the Earth.
66．Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A．We can find the same animals and plants on the two continents.
B．We can find the same remains of a 400-to-500-million-year-old mountain chain.
C．There are deserts in the northern hemisphere.
D．The same animals and plants evolved at the same time in two different places.
D
Exchange a glance with someone, then look away. Do you realize that you have made a statement? Hold the glance for a second longer and you have made a different statement. Hold it for 3 seconds, and the meaning has changed again. For every social situation, there is a permissible time that you can hold a person’s gaze without being intimate, rude, or aggressive. If you are on an elevator, what gaze-time are you permitted? To answer this question, consider what you typically do. You very likely give other passengers a quick glance to size them up（打量）and to assure them that you mean no threat. Since being close to another person signals the possibility of interaction, you need to send out a signal telling others you want to be left alone. So you cut off eye contacts what sociologist Erving Goffiman（1963）calls “a dimming of the lights”. You look down at the floor, at the indicator lights, anywhere but into another passenger’s eyes. Should you break the rule against staring at a stranger on an elevator, you will make the other person extremely uncomfortable, and you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself.
If you hold eye contacts for more than 3 seconds, what are you telling another person? Much depends on the person and the situation. For instance, a man and a woman communicate interest in this manner. They typically gaze at each other for about 3 seconds at a time, and then drop their eyes down for 3 seconds, before letting their eyes meet again. But if one man gives another man a 3-second-plus stare, he signals, “I know you”. “I am interested in you.” or “You look peculiar and I am curious about you.” This type of stare often produces hostile feelings.
67．It can be inferred from the first paragraph that .
A．every glance has its significance(meaning or importance)
B．staring at a person is an expression of interest
C．a gaze longer than 3 seconds is unacceptable
D．a glance carries more meaning than words
68．If you want to be left alone on an elevator the best thing to do is .
A．to look into another passenger’s eyes B．to avoid eye contacts with other passengers
C．to signal you are not a threat to anyone D．to keep a distance from other passengers
69．By “a dimming of the lights”, Erving Goffiman means .
A．closing one’s eyes B．turning off the lights
C．stopping glancing at others D．reducing gaze-time to the minimum.
70．The passage mainly discusses .
A．the limitations of eye contacts B．the exchange of ideas through eye contacts
C．proper behavior in situations
D．the role of eye contacts in interpersonal communication
E
In Europe people hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right throughout the meal, a system that is generally agreed to be more efficient than the American zigzag（曲折的）method. Americans hold both the fork and the knife in their right hands throughout the meal, so they continually change their forks to the left hand when they have to cut their meat. It seems to be funny for the Europeans to see Americans busy changing their dinner sets, making a lot of noises. A few explanations for this American style are as follows:
(1)Americans are practical and efficient. Since most of us are right-handed, it is reasonable to keep our working tools at all times in the right hand that can use them most efficiently.
(2)Americans, the master of the New World are rebels（判逆者）. They use the zigzag method to break the rules in the Old World and in this way they are thumbing their nose at Mother England. Americans are a restless kind. They do not like to sit in one spot for very long
when dining.
(3)Forced to do so, they respond by “playing” with the silver.
Whatever the reason for the practice, it is now certainly as American as apple pie. Europeans recognize this and are quick to attack it as evidence of American innocence（无知）of form. Arguments against the zigzag method rest not only on grounds of efficiency but also on those of tradition. In Old World Dining, the knife is held in the right hand continually because it can serve as an instant defense against the uninvited intruders（入侵者）. However, such alertness（警觉）is out of place in the New World, as every American believes that this is the home of the brave. Americans juggle their silverware, perhaps, to show that they are not afraid and that one of them holding a fork is worth any number of them holding blades（刀）.
71．Americans use to hold their fork to pick up the salad.
A．the right hand B．the left hand C．both hands D．either of the two hands
72．As the masters of the New World, Americans use a different cutting method from that in the
Old World to .
A．show their independence of Mother England B．show their disrespect to Mother England
C．add a new tradition to those in Mother England
D．show off their creativeness to Mother England
73．In the sentence, the word “juggle” probably means .
A．hold B．play with C．pick up D．lay down
74．Also in the last sentence, the two “them” refer to .
A．Americans B．Europeans
C．Americans and Europeans separately D．Europeans and Americans separately
75．Which of the following statements is NOT true? .
A．European people hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right hand.
B．The zigzag eating method is related to American characteristics.
C．The Zigzag eating method has become an American feature.
D．European people will use the American method because of its efficiency.

阅读理解训练题（四十一）答案
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