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.
A
Children's Books: Hawking's fact and fiction
George F．R．Ellis & Ruby
BOOK REVIEWED-George's Secret Key to the Universe
by Lucy & Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking's book A Brief History of Time was a huge commercial success．Its achievements in bringing difficult scientific ideas to a wide audience are not so clear．Now the distinguished physicist has teamed up with his daughter Lucy to produce a children's book designed to communicate contemporary physics．Will 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?
George's Secret Key to the Universe is an adventure story complete with villains and hero and is illustrated with enjoyable line-drawings．It involves a lost pig, a humorously portrayed intelligent computer, school bullies and a trip through the Solar System．Didactic discussions on aspects of modern physics, such as supernova explosions and black-hole physics are hung on this set-up．There are also fact boxes on physics and astronomy, and some photographs of astronomical phenomena: planets, comets, galaxies and so on．Overall, the book is a serious effort to convey facts and ideas in present day astronomy and astrophysics, within a science-fiction adventure story．
The mixture is great．Children love facts and adventure stories．The combination will catch their interest and keep them occupied for hours．After 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 review．Like any educational tool, it will succeed for some and not for others．I suppose there should be more of the former．
1．Where do you think this passage is taken?
A．From a news story． B．From a textbook．
C．From a book review． D．From an advertisment．
2．Which of the following books is mainly reviewed in this passage?
A．George's Secret Key to the Universe B．A Brief History of Time
C．The Nature of Space and Time D．Hawking's fact and fiction
3．What is the author’s attitude towards the book being reviewed?
A．It will be less successful． B．It will be more successful．
C．It will be a complete failure． D．It all depends on Ruby
4．The underlined word “leafing” （in the last paragrph） probably means ______．
A．adding leaves to a book B．throwing away a book
C．tearing up a book D．turning pages of a book
B
Exercise, such as walking, can reduce the risk of diabetes （糖尿病） in people whose blood sugar is starting to rise．That outcome was shown in a large study．Despite trying hard, those who dieted and worked out lost very little weight．But they did manage to maintain a regular walking program, and fewer of them went on to develop diabetes．
Exercise also may reduce the risk of heart disease．There seems to be some effect: Most of the heart protection appears to be realized by walking regularly．More intense exercise has been shown to provide only slightly greater benefits．
Active people are much less likely to smoke; they’re thinner and they eat differently than people who are less active．They also tend to be more educated, and education is one of the strongest predictors of good health in general and a longer life．As 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 exercising．
Still, 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 balance．Exercise may prevent broken bones—but only indirectly．
And what about weight loss? Lifting weights builds muscles but will not make you burn more calories．Jack 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 4．4 pounds．That added muscle would increase the metabolic rate （代谢率） by only 24 calories a day．
Exercise alone, in the absence of weight loss, has not been shown to reduce blood pressure．Nor does it make much difference in cholesterol （胆固醇） levels．Weight loss can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but if you want to lose weight, you have to diet as well as exercise．Exercise alone has not been shown to bring sustained weight loss．Just ask Steven Blair, an exercise researcher at the University of South Carolina．He runs every day and even runs marathons．But, he adds, “I was short, fat and bald when I started running, and I’m still short, fat and bald．Weight control is difficult for me．I fight the losing battle．”
The difficulty, Dr．Blair says, is that it’s much easier to eat 1,000 calories than to burn off 1,000 calories with exercise．As 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．’”
5．In the case of Steven Blair, running does ______ to his weight control．
A．little B．much C．good D．harm
6．The last paragraph of the text tells us that the problem is that people tend to ______?
A．burn off 1,000 calories in a day B．use more energy than they get
C．get more energy than they use D．run five miles in a football game
7．Which of the following is true according to the text?
A．Exercise can certainly prevent heart disease．
B．Exercise alone can not reduce blood pressure．
C．Lifting weight can directly prevent broken bones．
D．Walking can not reduce blood sugar in people．
8．According to the text, the more educated one is, the ______．
A．less exercise one will take B．stronger and thinner one will be
C．more cigarettes one will smoke D．healthier one will generally be
C
FRIDAY, Dec．5, 2008—College students who think all-night study sessions will help them remember facts might want to get some sleep instead．That's the message from a new study that finds that as you sleep, the mind consolidates the things you learn during the day．
Study participants who learned how to play a video game in the morning or evening did a better job the next day after a night's rest, apparently because their brains were actively absorbing what they'd learned as they slept．
The 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 Chicago．
For the study, the researchers recruited 200 college students．Most of them weren't very familiar with playing video games．Some of the participants learned how to play the games in the morning, while others learned in the evening．The researchers then tested the subjects on the video games 12 hours later and 24 hours later．
Those who took part in the morning training sessions showed an average eight-percentage-point improvement in their performance immediately after training．They performed more poorly—scoring four percentage points better—12 hours later．But they scored 10 percentage points better the next morning．
"If we train you in the morning and come back at the end of the day, you forget some of what you learned," Nusbaum said．"But 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 trained．
The role that dreams play in the learning process—if any—isn't clear．But some dreams could serve as a kind of practice for the brain, Nusbaum said．"If you play a video game a lot, and you're playing in your dreams, maybe that could help you learn．"
Jerry Siegel, professor at the Center for Sleep Research at the University of Calfornia, Los Angeles, said going without sleep hurts performance, but he's not convinced that sleep itself actively contributes to learning．
"If 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 said．"No sleep needs to occur for this to happen．"
Still, Siegel suggested that sleep before learning a skill is crucial．"For long-term retention, it is more important to be well rested and therefore attentive when you are doing the learning than afterwards," he said．"It is even better if you don't have to choose and get your natural amounts of sleep every day．"
9 What does the underlined word ‘want’ （in Paragraph 1） mean?
A．lack B．wish C．desire D．need
10 What is mainly talked about in this text?
A．The effect of video games on learning．
B．The relation between sleep and learning．
C．The role of dreams in the learning process
D．The difference between morning and evening trainings．
11 What would be the best title for the text?
A．Sleep strengthens learning． B．Dreams clearly help learning．
C．A break before learning is better． D．Video games improve performance．
12 Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A．Training in the morning showed better results at once．
B．Learning won’t occur during sleeping without dreams．．
C．Sleeping well helps to absorb what one learned
D．Studying all night helps to remember more facts．
D
An 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 efforts．
In fact, studies that have tested the link between a person's level of scientific knowledge and attitudes towards the field have generated mixed results．"It's been a very hard question," says sociologist Nick Allum of the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK．
To 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 Bulgaria．These studies assessed, for example, whether participants knew certain scientific facts and whether they supported developments in genetically modified food or nanotechnology．
To 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 education．Allum presented his results at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC last week．
But now this question is cleared up, researchers must begin to deal with more pressing questions, Allum says．"The argument should move on．"
His finding cannot, for example, show whether better science education will increase general support for the field．This 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 facts．
And a person's level of scientific knowledge actually goes a very tiny way towards explaining their attitudes towards science．Allum believes that there are probably far more important factors, such as their moral values, religious beliefs and political leaning．
And people's trust in science may be influenced by how tightly regulated they believe the process to be in their country．This 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 example．
Finally, science lovers hope to strengthen support for the field, but it looks as if simple science education will not be enough．As Allum says: "It's all horribly complicated．"
13．In Allum’s opinion, ______ will have little influence on a person’s attitude towards science．
A．scientific knowledge B．moral values
C．religious beliefs D．political leaning
14．From the passage we can infer that ______．
A．the surveys were carried out in a few countries
B．Europeans love science more than Americans
C．Allum kept his research results a secret
D．Nick Allum is not a natural scientist
15．The underlined word ‘those’ refers to _____．
A．science lovers B．different attitudes
C．people in general D．genetically modified crops
16．What is mainly talked about in this passage?
A．Special beliefs of the sociologist Nick Allum．
B．Link between knowledge and love of science．
C．Ways in which people love science．
D．The function of science education．
E
STREAMWOOD, Ill．—For years, attendance was small at Tefft Middle School’s yearly parent-teacher conferences, but the principal did not blame families for their poor response．Instead, she blamed the poor way the conferences were conducted．
“Five years ago, the most important person—the student—was left out of the parent-teacher conference,” Tefft’s 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 teacher’s opinion on their classroom performance．
Recently, 525 parents attended parent-teacher-student conferences, Ms．Smiley said, compared with 75 parents in 2003．No 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 we’re learning that every school has its own DNA, and there is not a prescription for conferences that works for every school,” Ms．Kinney said．“There is such an increasingly diverse population at our nation’s schools, the one-size-fits-all model conference just doesn’t 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 friends．
When 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 Iowa．The population had nearly doubled to 10,000 residents, and 37 percent of the students at Plano Middle School were now from low-income families．
The 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 diagnosis．
Still, Mr．Heller is convinced that a true dialogue concerning a student’s 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