山西省晋城市第一中学校2023-2024学年高二下学期开学英语试题.docx

山西省晋城市第一中学校2023-2024学年高二下学期开学英语试题
学校:___________姓名：___________班级：___________考号：___________

一、阅读理解
Tom Sawyer Play Is an Adventure
A 35-minute hand-clapping, foot-stomping musical version of a Mark Twain favorite returns with this Tall Stacks festival.
“Tom Sawyer: A River Adventure” has all the good stuff, including the fence painting, the graveyard, the island and the cave. It is adapted by Joe McDonough, with music by David Kisor. That’s the local stage writing team that creates many of the Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati’s original musicals, along with the holiday family musicals at Ensemble Theatre.
This year Nathan Turner of Burlington is Tom Sawyer, and Robbie McMath of Fort Mitchell is Huck Finn.
Tumer, a 10th-grader at School for Creative and Performing Arts, is a familiar presence on Cincinnati’s stages. He is a star act or of Children’s Theatre, having played leading roles in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “The Wizard of Oz,” and is fresh from Jersey Production “Ragtime”.
McMath is a junior at Beechwood High School. He was in the cast of “Tom Sawyer” when it was first performed and is a Children’s Theatre regular, with five shows to his credit. This summer he attended Kentucky’s Governor’s School for the Arts in Musical Theatre.
Note to teachers: Children’s Theatre has a study guide demonstrating how math and science can be taught through “Tom Sawyer.” For downloadable lessons, visit the official website of Children’s Theatre.
1．Who wrote the music for “Tom Sawyer: A River Adventure”?
A．David Kisor. B．Joe McDonough.
C．Nathan Turner. D．Robbie McMath.
2．What can we learn about the two actors?
A．They study in the same school. B．They worked together in ”Ragtime“.
C．They are experienced on stage. D．They became friends ten years ago.
3．What does Children’s Theatre provide for teachers?
A．Research funding. B．Training opportunities.
C．Technical support. D．Educational resources.

Recently, we dug through a box of graphic design (平面设计) from the 1980s at the Smithsonian Institution Archives. We were originally in search of historical designs needed for an upcoming event, but came across some clues that uncovered a part of Smithsonian history that had been buried for over fifty-five years.
As we opened the last file folder in the box, we were faced with a paper from 1965 filled with amazing drawings. These designs were logo ideas for the 1965 James Smithson Bicentennial Celebration, and there, among the drawings, was the now familiar Smithsonian sunburst. Alongside the logo was a typewritten note signed by C． Pontes. My colleague and I turned to each other and wondered. “Who was C． Pontes?”
A quick look into the Smithsonian guidelines disclosed more information on the logo’s designer and its history. Crimilda Pontes, the Smithsonian’s first official graphic designer, was hired by Secretary S. Dillon Ripley in 1965. Pontes received her Master of Arts in graphic arts from Yale University in 1959 and designed books and book jackets for the Yale University Press until 1964. Ripley knew Pontes from his time at Yale, so when he was appointed Secretary, he invited Pontes to bring her artistic talents to the Smithsonian. And there she stayed for twenty-three years until her retirement in 1988. According to Smithsonian historian Pam Henson, almost anything designed for the Smithsonian between the years 1965 and 1988 can likely be credited to Pontes.
After having now looked through many boxes of her files, we know that Pontes often went back and annotated (给……作注解) her documents before they were filed. Looking more closely at this sheet of drawings from 1965, you will see that Pontes has done the same here. At the top of the page she writes: C． Pontes’ first assignment at the Smithsonian — symbol for bicentennial of Smithson’s birth. Sunburst chosen later evolved into S. I. seal.
4．Who might be the author of the text?
A．A travel writer. B．An event planner.
C．A graphic designer. D．An expert on history.
5．How did the author probably feel at the sight of the note?
A．Worried. B．Depressed. C．Confused. D．Ashamed.
6．What can be learned about Crimilda Pontes?
A．She contributed a lot to the Smithsonian.
B．She earned her Master of Arts in the 1960s.
C．She was on bad terms with S. Dillon Ripley.
D．She taught graphic design at Yale University.
7．What can be a suitable title for the text?
A．The Smithsonian’s Brief History
B．The Story of the Smithsonian Sunburst
C．A Brief Visit to the Yale University Press
D．Crimilda Pontes’ Road to Smithsonian

On September 7, 1991, the costliest hailstorm (雹暴) in Canadian history hit Calgary’s southern suburbs. As a result, since 1996 a group of insurance companies have spent about $2 million per year on the Alberta Hail Suppression Project. Airplanes seed threatening storm cells with a chemical to make small ice crystals fall as rain before they can grow into dangerous hailstones. But farmers in east-central Alberta — downwind of the hail project flights — worry that precious moisture (水分) is being stolen from their thirsty land by the cloud seeding.
Norman Stienwand, who farms in that area, has been addressing public meetings on this issue for years. “Basically, the provincial government is letting the insurance companies protect the Calgary-Edmonton urban area from hail,” Mr. Stienwand says, “but they’re increasing drought risk as far east as Saskatchewan.”
The Alberta hail project is managed by Terry Krauss, a cloud physicist who works for Weather Modification Inc. of Fargo, North Dakota. “We affect only a very small percentage of the total moisture in the air, so we cannot be causing drought.” Dr. Krauss says. “In fact, we may be helping increase the moisture downwind by creating wetter ground.”
One doubter about the safety of cloud seeding is Chuck Doswell, a research scientist who just retired from the University of Oklahoma. “In 1999, I personally saw significant tornadoes form from a seeded storm cell in Kansas,” Dr. Doswell says. “Does cloud seeding create killer storms or reduce moisture downwind? No one really knows, of course, but the seeding goes on.”
Given the degree of doubt, Mr. Stienwand suggests, “It would be wise to stop cloud seeding.” In practice, doubt has had the opposite effect. Due to the lack of scientific proof concerning their impacts, no one has succeeded in winning a lawsuit against cloud-seeding companies. Hence, private climate engineering can proceed in relative legal safety.
8．What does the project aim to do?
A．Conserve moisture in the soil. B．Forecast disastrous hailstorms.
C．Prevent the formation of hailstones. D．Investigate chemical use in farming.
9．Who are opposed to the project?
A．Managers of insurance companies. B．Farmers in east-central Alberta.
C．Provincial government officials. D．Residents of Calgary and Edmonton.
10．Why does Dr. Doswell mention the tornadoes he saw in 1999?
A．To compare different kinds of seeding methods. B．To illustrate the development of big hailstorms.
C．To show the link between storms and moisture. D．To indicate a possible danger of cloud seeding.
11．What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A．Scientific studies have proved Stienwand right. B．Cloud-seeding companies will continue to exist.
C．The doubt about cloud seeding has disappeared. D．Private climate engineering is illegal in Canada.

The Stanford marshmallow (棉花糖) test was originally conducted by psychologist Walter Mischel in the late 1960s. Children aged four to six at a nursery school were placed in a room. A single sugary treat, selected by the child, was placed on a table. Each child was told if they waited for 15 minutes before eating the treat, they would be given a second treat. Then they were left alone in the room. Follow-up studies with the children later in life showed a connect ion between an ability to wait long enough to obtain a second treat and various forms of success.
As adults, we face a version(版本) of the marshmallow test every day. We’re not tempted (诱惑) by sugary treats, but by our computers, phones, and tablets — all the devices that connect us to the global delivery system for various types of information that do to us what marshmallows do to preschoolers.
We are tempted by sugary treats because our ancestors lived in a calorie-poor world, and our brains developed a response mechanism(机制) to these treats that reflected their value — a feeling of reward and satisfaction. But as we’ve reshaped the world around us, dramatically reducing the cost and effort involved in obtaining (获取) calories, we still have the same brains we had thousands of years ago, and this mismatch(不匹配) is at the heart of why so many of us struggle to resist (抵抗) tempting foods that we know we shouldn’t eat.
A similar process is at work in our response to information. Our formative (有重大影响的) environment as a species was information-poor, so our brains developed a mechanism that prized (高度重视) new information. But global connectivity has greatly changed our information environment. We are now endlessly bombarded (轰炸) with new information. Therefore, just as we need to be more thoughtful (深思熟虑的) about our caloric consumption (热量消耗), we also need to be more thoughtful about our information consumption, resisting the temptation of the mental “junk food” in order to manage our time most effectively.
12．What did the children need to do to get a second treat in Mischel’s test?
A．Take an examination alone. B．Show respect for the researchers.
C．Share their treats with others. D．Delay eating for fifteen minutes.
13．According to paragraph 3, there is a mismatch between ______.
A．the calorie-poor world and our good appetites B．the shortage of sugar and our nutritional needs
C．the rich food supply and our unchanged brains D．the tempting foods and our efforts to keep fit
14．What does the author suggest readers do?
A．Absorb new information readily (欣然地). B．Use diverse information sources.
C．Be selective information consumers. D．Protect the information environment.
15．Which of the following is the best title for the text?
A．Eat Less, Read More B．The Bitter Truth about Early Humans
C．The Marshmallow Test for Grownups D．The Marshmallow Test for Children.

Why don’t birds on a wire get a shock??
Now how is that possible? The fact is, for a living creature to get a shock there has to be a substantial flow of currents through the body. 16 Firstly, the bird not only forms a circuit with the wire, but it also offers high resistance to currents, so currents pass through the wire instead of the bird.
It’s a bit like this, would you prefer going on a smooth road or a road full of holes? The answer is obvious. 17 All objects offer some amount of resistance to the flow of currents, depending on the material.
18 However, the most important reason why currents don’t pass through the bird is, there is barely any voltage (电压) difference across the bird. Current flow is actually just a flow of minute charged particles (粒子). These charged particles need an energy input in order for them to move. The amount of energy needed to move the charges from one point to another is measured in terms of the potential difference between the two points.
A bird sitting on high-tension wires has both its feet placed firmly on the same wire. 19 In order for currents to flow through the bird there must be a sizeable difference in voltage across the body. The potential difference between the bird’s two feet is tiny and so a very small current flows through the bird which can barely be registered.
20 On the other hand if it were to touch the wire and some other object connected to the ground, it would receive a deadly shock.
A．Currents travel like water.
B．There are differences in birds’ shapes.
C．Just like you, the current prefers taking the easier path.
D．This is just one of the reasons why birds don’t get a shock.
E．However, there’s barely any current running through the bird’s body for two reasons.
F．Therefore, the net potential difference from one end of the bird to the other is almost zero.
G．If the bird were to touch the wire and another wire at the same time, it would receive a mild shock.

二、完形填空
While taking a 20-hour train ride along the edge of the Taklimakan Desert in northwestern China, I had the kind of humbling, educational, and above all else, wonderful 21 with a local that all travelers long for. A young Chinese man 22 me on the train. My 23 friend spoke virtually no English, so I happily took the 24 to practice my Chinese.
Over several hours, he would tell me about how he had 25 a two-year professional school to quickly find a job 26 highways in order to help support his family. Perhaps the most 27 , however, was the fact that this man spent hours studying every day after hard physical labor. Without batting an eye, he would 28 a translated Emerson passage before asking about the literary influence of American 29 as a whole. ”And what do you all learn about Russian authors?” I 30 him asking at one point.
It would have been easy to 31 my assumptions about this highway builder who had never been more than a few hundred miles from home. But this highly informed, 32 , and admirable person prevented me doing so. In the course of a couple of hours, he 33 me just how much one can gain from 34 with an open mind, and a willingness to 35 with locals from all walks of life.
21．A．experiment B．encounter C．competition D．appointment
22．A．treated B．saved C．lectured D．approached
23．A．true B．so-called C．new D．long-lost
24．A．chance B．advice C．trouble D．right
25．A．visited B．financed C．attended D．founded
26．A．building B．sweeping C．checking D．guarding
27．A．typical B．obvious C．natural D．remarkable
28．A．publish B．quote C．сорy D．download
29．A．writers B．historians C．workers D．students
30．A．anticipate B．imagine C．recall D．catch
31．A．look into B．rely on C．go over D．deal with
32．A．well-behaved B．multi-skilled C．warm-hearted D．self-educated
33．A．asked B．warned C．showed D．promised
34．A．traveling B．reading C．searching D．teaching
35．A．cooperate B．side C．negotiate D．engage

三、语法填空
阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
The shelves in most supermarkets are full of family-size this and multi-buy that. However, if you’re shopping for one, buying extra 36 (benefit) from price reductions doesn’t make sense. Either your shopping is then too heavy to carry home 37 you can’t use what you’ve bought while it’s still fresh.
Of course, shops are not charities — they price goods in the way 38 will make them the most money. If most of their customers are happy to buy larger quantities, that’s 39 they’ll promote. But that leaves the solo (单独) customers out of pocket and disappointed.
Many supermarkets are no longer doing “buy one get one free” promotions beca