高中英语阅读理解专项练习题-科普知识型阅读理解.doc

1.2013四川卷 阅读理解
Fear may be felt in the heart as well as in the head, according to a study that has found a link between the cycles of a beating heart and the chance of someone feeling fear.
Tests on healthy volunteers found that they were more likely to feel a sense of fear at the moment when their hearts are contracting(收缩) and pumping blood around their bodies, compared with the point when the heartbeat is relaxed. Scientists say the results suggest that the heart is able to influence how the brain responds to a fearful event, depending on which point it is at in its regular cycle of contraction and relaxation.
Sarah Garfinkel at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School said: "Our study shows for the first time that the way in which we deal with fear is different depending on when we see fearful pictures in relation to our heart."
The study tested 20 healthy volunteers on their reactions to fear as they were shown pictures of fearful faces. Dr Garfinkel said, "The study showed that fearful faces are better noticed when the heart is pumping than when it is relaxed. Thus our hearts can also affect what we see and what we don't see - and guide whether we see fear."
To further understand this relationship, the scientists also used a brain scanner(扫描仪) to show how the brain influences the way the heart changes a person's feeling of fear.
"We have found an important mechanism by which the heart and brain ‘speak’to each other to change our feelings and reduce fear" Dr Garfinkel said.
"We hope that by increasing our understanding about how fear is dealt with and ways that it could be reduced, we may be able to develop more successful treatments for anxiety disorders, and also for those for those who may be suffering from serious stress disorder."

1. What is the finding of the study?
A. One's heart affects how he feels fear. B. fear is a result of one's relaxed heartbeat.
C. fear has something to do with one's health. D. One’s fast heartbeats are likely to cause fear.
2. The study was carried out by analyzing _______.
A. volunteers' heartbeats when they saw terrible pictures
B. the time volunteers saw fearful pictures and their health conditions
C. volunteers' reactions to horrible pictures and data form their brain scans
D. different pictures shown to volunteers and their heart-brain communication
3. Which of the following is closest in meaning to "mechanism" in Paragraph 6?
A. Order.           B. System.          C. Machine.          D. Treatment.
4.This study may contribute to _______.
A. treating anxiety and stress better
B. explaining the cycle of fear and anxiety
C. finding the sky to the heart-brain communication
D. understanding different fears in our hearts and heads
答案:1.A 2.C 3.B 4.A
2.2013安徽合肥质检
It is a tall tale that terrifies most young children. Swallow a piece of chewing gum and it will remain in your body for seven years before it is digested. Or so they say. An even worse tale is that swallowed gum can wrap itself around your heart.
   But what does happen if you should accidentally eat a stick of gum? Chewing gum is made out of gum base, sweeteners, coloring and flavoring. The gum base is pretty indigestible—it is a mixture of different ingredients（成分）that our body can’t use.
   Most of the time, your stomach really cannot break down the gum the way it would break down other foods. However, your digestive system has another way to deal with things you swallow. After all, we eat lots of things that we are unable to fully digest. They keep moving along until they make it all the way through the gut（肠子）and come out at the other end one to two days later.
   The saliva（唾液）in our mouths will make an attempt at digesting chewing gum as soon as we put it in our mouths. It might get through the shell but many of gum's base ingredients are indigestible. It's then down to our stomach muscles—which contract and relax, much like the way an earthworm moves—to slowly force the things that we swallow through our systems.
   Swallowing a huge piece of gum or swallowing many small pieces of gum in a short time can cause a blockage within the digestive system, most often in children, who have a thinner digestive tube than adults—but this is extremely rare.

1.Children might feel terrified after swallowing chewing gum mainly because  ___________.
A. they believe the tall tales about chewing gum
B. chewing gum will stay in their body for many years

C. their heart will be wrapped by chewing gum
D. chewing gum is indigestible for children
2. What happens to the food that can’t be fully broken down?      .
A. It remains in our digestive system forever
B. It will be eventually moved out of our body
C. It will fight against the power of the gut
D. It will stick to the gut for one or two days
3. The word It (in the 4th paragraph) refers to “___________      ”.
A. the attempt           B. the salvia          C. the shell      D. the gum base 
4. What would be the best title for text?     
A. How does our digestive system work?
B. Can chewing gum be swallowed by kids?
C. Does swallowing chewing gum matter?
D. Why swallowing chewing gum frightens kids?
参考答案: 1.A 2.B 3.B 4. C
3.2013 江西南昌模拟
“Plants were expected to get larger with increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere，but changes in temperature，humidity and nutrient availability seem to have trumped the benefits of increased carbon dioxide，” said researchers from the National University of Singapore.
45 percent of the species studied now reach smaller adult sizes than they did in the past.The researchers point out that warmer temperatures and changing habitats，caused by climate change，are possible reasons for the shrinking of creatures.
“We do not yet know the exact mechanisms involved，or why some organisms are getting smaller while others are unaffected，” the researchers said.“Until we understand more，we could be risking negative consequences that we can’t yet quantify.”
The change was big in cold-blooded animals.Only two decades of warmer temperatures were enough to make reptiles (爬行动物) smaller.An increase of only 1 ℃ caused nearly a 10 percent increase in metabolism (新陈代谢)．Greater use of energy resulted in tiny tortoises and little lizards.Fish are smaller now too.Though overfishing has played a part in reducing numbers，experiments show that warmer temperatures also stop fish growth.There is a recent report on warmer temperatures’ negative effects on plankton (浮游生物)，the base of the marine ecosystem.
Warm­blooded animals weren’t immune from the size change caused by climate change.Many birds are now smaller；Mammals have been miniaturized too.Soay sheep are thinner.Red deer are weaker.And polar bears are smaller，compared with historical records.
This isn’t the first time this has happened in Earth’s history. 55 million years ago，a warming event similar to the current climate change caused bees，spiders and ants to shrink by 50 to 75 percent over several thousand years.That event happened over a longer time than the current climate change.
The speed of modern climate change could mean organisms may not respond or adapt quickly enough，especially those with long generation times.So，it is likely that more negative influences of climate change will be shown in the future.

1．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A．Why do some species become smaller?
B．How does climate change in Earth’s history?
C．Climate change has many negative effects
D．Species become smaller as climate warms
2．The underlined word “trumped” in the first paragraph can be replaced by “________”．
A．increased B．beaten C．strengthened D．equaled
3．Researchers from the National University of Singapore believe that________. A．how climate change affects animals’ sizes has not been found clearly
B．all the animals on the Earth have become smaller
C．too many studies on animals’ sizes have been done
D．climate change has more negative effects on warm-blooded animals
4．What can we learn from the passage?
A．Climate change has even affected plankton negatively.
B．Birds have suffered more from climate change than fish.
C．Cold-blooded animals become smaller because of the lack of food.
D．The warming event has never happened in Earth’s history before.

参考答案: 1.D 2.B 3.A 4. A 5.A
4.2013郑州预测二
If the eyes are the romantic’s window into the soul, then the teeth are an anthropologist’s ( 人类学家 ) door to the stomach.
In a study published last month in the journal Science, Peter Ungar of the University of Arkansas and his partner, Matt Sponheimer of the University of Colorado, US, examined the teeth of our early human ancestors to find out what they were really eating.
They already knew that different foods cause different marks on teeth. Some cause scratches, while others cause pits (坑).The carbon left on teeth by different foods is also different. Tropical grasses, for example, leave one kind of carbon, but trees leave another kind because they photosynthesized ( 光合作用 ) differently.
Traditionally, scientists had looked at the size and shape of teeth and skulls ( 头骨 ) to figure out what early humans ate. Big flat teeth were taken to be signs that they ate nuts and seeds, while hard and sharp teeth seemed good for cutting meat and leaves. But this was proven wrong.
The best example was the Paranthropus (傍人), one of our close cousins, some of which lived in eastern Africa. Scientists used to believe Paranthropus ate nuts and seeds because they had big crests(突起)on their skulls, suggesting they had large chewing muscles and big teeth. If this had been true, their teeth should have been covered with pits like the surface of the moon. They would also have had a particular type of carbon on their teeth that typically comes from tree products, such as nuts and seeds.
However, when the two scientists studied the Paranthroupus, it turned out to have none of these characteristics. The teeth had a different kind of carbon, and were covered with scratches, not pits. This suggests they probably ate grass, not nuts and fruit stones. It was the exact opposite of what people had expected to find.
Carbon “foodprints” give us a completely new and different insight into what different species ate and the different environments they lived in. If a certain species had the kind of carbon on its teeth that came from grasses, it probably lived in a tropical grassland, for example.

1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 probably means that anthropologists can  ______.
A. know the structure of human stomachs by studying their teeth
B. find out the diet of early humans by studying their teeth

C. learn whether humans were healthy by looking at their teeth
D. get the most useful information about humans from their teeth

2.According to Paragraphs 3-5，which of the following statements is true?
A. Pits on teeth are caused by eating grass or leaves.
B. Scratches on teeth are caused by eating nuts or seeds.

3.The example of the Paranthropus was mentioned in order to tell us ______.
A. they were one of our close cousins living in eastern Africa
B. living environment makes a difference to skull structure
C. they had different eating habits from other humans
D. the size and shape of teeth don’t show accurately what early humans ate

4.Which of the following structures shows the best organization of the article?
(CP： Central Point Para: Paragraph P： Point Sp: Sub-point次要点 C: Conclusion)

参考答案: 1.B 2.C 3.D 4. A
5---2014预测
Global Positioning Systems are now a part of everyday driving in many countries. These satellite-based systems provide turn-by-turn directions to help people get to where they want to go. But they can also cause a lot of problems, sending you to the wrong place or leave you completely lost. Many times, the driver is to blame. Sometimes a GPS error is responsible. Most often, says Barry Brown, it is a combination of the two.
Barry Brown is with the Mobile Life Centre in Stockholm, Sweden. The center studies human-computer interaction, or HCI, especially communications involving wireless devices. We spoke to Mr. Brown by Skype He told us about an incident involving a friend who had flown to an airport in the eastern United States. There he borrowed a GPS-equipped car to use during his stay.
Barry Brown: “And they just plugged in an address and then set off to their destination. And, then it wasn’t until they were driving for thirty minutes until they realized they actually put in a destination back on the West Coast where they lived. They actually put their home address in. So again, the GPS is kind of 'garbage in garbage out'.”
Mr Brown says this is a common human error. But, he says, what makes the problem worse has to do with some of the shortcomings, or failures, of GPS equipment.
Barry Brown: “One problem with many GPS units is they have a very small screen and they just tell you the next turn. Because they just give you the next turn, sometimes that means that it is not really giving you the overview that you would need to know that it’s going to the wrong place.”
Barry Brown formerly served as a professor with the University of California, San Diego. While there, he worked on a project with Eric Laurier from the University of Edinburgh. The two men studied the effects of GPS devices on driving by placing cameras in people’s cars. They wrote a paper based on their research. It is called “The Normal, Natural Troubles of Driving with GPS.”
Barry Brown: “One of the things that struck us, perhaps the most important thing was that you have to know what you’re doing when you use a GPS. There are these new skills that people have developed. There are these new competencies that you need to have to be able to use a GPS because they sometimes go wrong.”
Barry Brown says this goes against a common belief that GPS systems are for passive drivers who lack navigational skills.
“The Normal, Natural Troubles of Driving With GPS” lists several areas where GPS systems can cause confusion for drivers. These include maps that are outdated, incorrect or difficult to understand. They also include timing issues related to when GPS commands are given.
Barry Brown says to make GPS systems better we need a better understanding of how drivers, passengers and GPS systems work together.

1. What is the best title for this passage?
A. Is GPS system reliable to use?
B. What is the use of GPS?
C. How to make the most of GPS?
D. Blame! GPS or Passengers?

2. What is the implication of the underlined part?
A. GPS is just a garbage device.
B. GPS will not correct human errors.
C. GPS adjusts your wrong destination.
D. GPS is just as smart as human beings.

3. Which is NOT mentioned as a GPS shortcoming in the passage?
A. Small screen. B. Timing of commands.
C. Outdated ma