试题

试题 试卷

logo

题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通

湖北省宜昌市协作体2018-2019学年高二上学期英语期末考试试卷(含小段音频)

阅读理解

    The bristlecone pine (狐尾松) is one of the longest-living things on Earth. These trees, with their strangely shaped branches, can live up to 5,000 years, but experts worry that a warming climate in some areas may threaten its future.

    Researchers say warmer weather is permitting a similar kind of tree, the limber pine (柔枝松), to take over good growing places from the ancient bristlecone. They say the tree is being forced out of mountainous areas where it grows.

    Scientists at the University of California, Davis, say climate change is causing the trees to compete with each other.

    Brian Smithers led the research project. “The limber pine is taking all the good spots,” he said.

    Bristlecone pines grow in high mountain forests in eastern California, Nevada and Utah. In the mountains, they face high winds and extreme temperatures.

    The difficult conditions leave the trees with twisted(变形的) branches and shapes. To survive long periods without water, parts of the trees die, including much of their outer bark (外皮). This makes the trees appear dead, except for small green pine needles. They show that the tree is indeed alive.

    The oldest living bristlecone pine is somewhere in California. It is not marked in any special way, so that people do not try to damage it.

    The limber pine is the bristlecone's distant relative and competitor, which can also live a long time — up to 2,000 years. Researchers say it is found at lower elevations (纬度), where temperatures are warmer.

    The scientists at the University of California, Davis, recently released the results of a three-year study. Their research centered on trees that have started growing in the last 50 years in the Great Basin area of California's White Mountains. The researchers found that most of the trees growing at higher elevations were limber pines.

    Smithers said, “It's very strange to see it charging higher up and not see the bristlecone charging up the mountain slopes ahead of the limber pine.”

    Smithers said the bristlecones are not in danger of disappearing, but he thinks they could be forced out of some places where they have grown for thousands of years.

(1)、What can we learn about the bristlecone pine from the text?

a. One of its living conditions is cold climate.  b. The shape of the tree is twisted.

c. It has the longest life in the world.    d. It can only be found in California.

A、ab. B、bc. C、ac. D、cd.
(2)、What can we learn from the text?
A、The bristlecone pine can adapt to different environments. B、The bristlecone pine grows at lower elevations. C、Some bristlecone pines are still alive although their outer bark is dead. D、The bristlecone pine's habitat has been seriously damaged by humans.
(3)、What did the researchers find about trees that have started growing in the last 50 years?
A、The limber pine can live up to 2,000 years. B、The higher elevations were almost taken up by limber pines. C、The number of bristlecone pines is increasing. D、The bristlecone pine grew at higher elevations.
(4)、What is Smithers' opinion?
A、The bristlecone pine is in danger of disappearing. B、Some measures should be taken to protect the bristlecone pine. C、Some limber pines should be cut down to make room for the bristlecone pine. D、Some places where the bristlecone pine used to grow may be occupied by the limber pine.
举一反三

根据短文理解,选择正确答案。

    Love it or hate it, there is no escape from Internet slang(俚语).

    This is especially true among young people in some English-speaking countries such as Australia, the UK and the US. These days, if they haven't caught up with the latest popular Internet slang, chances are that they often feel behind the times.

    Take these posts by The Washington Post for example: “David Bowie dying is totes tradge” and “When Cookie hugged Jamal, it made me totes emosh. ”

    What on earth do these mean? Well, “totes” is a short form of the adverb “totally”. Likewise, “tradge” means “tragic” and “emosh” means “emotional”.

    It seems that, for millennials (those born between the early 1980s and late 1990s), typing in this abbreviated form is not only time-saving but also in.

    Many millennial slang words are formed by what linguists(语言学家) call the practice of  “totesing” —the systematic abbreviation of words, according to a recent article in The Washington Post.

    Some people think that millennial slang affects the English language negatively. However, Melbourne University linguist Rosey Billington doesn't agree.

     “When you are able to use language in a creative way, you show you are linguistically knowledgeable because you know the language rules well enough to use words in a different way.” Billington told News.com.au.

    Her view is supported by two linguists, Lauren Spradlin and Taylor Jones, from the City University of New York and the University of Pennsylvania respectively. The two believe that totes-speak is a highly-organized system that can only be used by speakers who have mastered English pronunciation.

    The ability to break apart syllables(音节) and mix different sounds together is key. “Totesing is about sounds, and it follows the sometimes-complex sound system of English,” Jones told The Washington Post. “Totesing is considered random by some people, but it's not true. Instead, it has strict rules to follow. You need to be very fluent in the English language to be able to understand totes-speak. ”

阅读理解

    Everybody is happy as his pay rises.Yet pleasure at your own can disappear if you learn that a fellow worker has been given a bigger one.Indeed, if he is known as being lazy, you might even be quite cross.Such behavior is regarded as "all too human", with the underlying belief that other animals would not be able to have this finely developed sense of sadness.But a study by Sarah Brosnan of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well.

    The researchers studied the behaviors of some kind of female brown monkeys.They look smart. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food happily.Above all, like female human beings, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of "goods and services" than males.

    Such characteristics make them perfect subjects for Doctor Brosnan's study.The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens (奖券) for food.Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for pieces of cucumber.However, when two monkeys were placed in separate and connected rooms, so that each other could observe what the other is getting in return for its rock, they became quite different.

    In the world of monkeys, grapes are excellent goods (and much preferable to cucumbers).So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was not willing to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber.And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either shook her own token at the researcher, or refused to accept the cucumber.Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other room (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to bring about dissatisfaction in a female monkey.

    The researches suggest that these monkeys, like humans, are guided by social senses.In the wild, they are co-operative and group-living.Such co-operation is likely to be firm only when each animal feels it is not being cheated.Feelings of anger when unfairly treated, it seems, are not the nature of human beings alone.Refusing a smaller reward completely makes these feelings clear to other animals of the group.However, whether such a sense of fairness developed independently in monkeys and humans, or whether it comes from the common roots that they had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.

阅读理解

    Someone has put forward a dream home which is so advanced that its kitchen can suggest what to make with certain things. Also, a Microsoft home doesn't just warn you when you're out of milk—it can send you a fresh gallon.

    But are these innovations just magic, or are they really coming soon to a neighborhood near you? To find out, US News asked some experts to get their opinions about the home of the not-so-distant future. Here's a look at the innovations.

    The housing boom was marked by mass-produced buildings filled with units which look the same. The coming years, however, will give way to a personalized approach to home construction, with houses as more of an instrument of self-expression. "The successful builders will be the ones that figure out how to change their production model enough to make the buyers feel like they are really getting something that is designed for them, not just a model," says Kermit Baker, the chief economist at the American Institute of Architects.

    Future homes will probably shrink. "We will be building smaller but smarter houses," says Ed McMahon, a senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute. "Instead of having a room for just one use, consumers will demand homes that make better use of space," says Susanka, whose best-selling book, The Not So Big House, has become increasingly influential in home design. Seldom-used quarters, such as dining and living rooms, will be replaced with space that can serve both functions. "The goal of his 'right-size' home is to fit its owners like a specially cut suit rather than a jacket you buy in a store," says Susanka.

阅读理解

A Guide to the University

    Food

    The TWU Cafeteria is open 7am to 8pm. It serves snacks, drinks, ice cream bars and meals. You can pay with cash or your ID cards. You can add meal money to your ID cards at the Front Desk. Even if you do not buy your food in the cafeteria, you can use the tables to eat your lunch, to have meetings and to study.

    If you are on campus in the evening or late at night, you can buy snacks, fast food, and drinks in the Lower Café located in the bottom level of the Gouglas Centre. This area is often used for entertainment such as concerts, games or TV watching.

Relaxation

    The Globe, located in the bottom level of McMillan Hall, is available for relaxing, studying, cooking, and eating. Monthly activities are held here for all international students. Hours are 10 am to 10 pm, closed on Sundays.

Health

    Located on the top floor of Douglas Hall, the Wellness Centre is committed to physical, emotional and social health. A doctor and nurse is available if you have health questions or need immediate medical help or personal advice. The cost of this is included in your medical insurance. Hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to noon and 1:00 to 4:30pm.

Academic Support

    All students have access to the Writing Centre on the upper floor of Douglas Hall. Here, qualified volunteers will work with you on written work, grammar, vocabulary, and other academic skills. You can sign up for an appointment on the sign-up sheet outside the door two 30 –minute appointments per week maximum. This service is free.

Transportation

    The TWU Express is a shuttle service. The shuttle transports students between campus and the shopping centre, leaving from the Mattson Centre. Operation hours are between 8am and 3pm. Saturdays only. Round trip fare is $1.

阅读理解

    Angus, Doris, Gabriel and Kamil are some of the 21 names that have been chosen to be given to storms in the UK in the 2016/17 season.

    The Met Office, the UK's national weather service, decided to give storms boys' and girls' names in 2015 in the same way as they did in America.

    The Met Office hopes that naming big storms will mean people are more aware (意识到) of them and how dangerous they can be. Derrick Ryall, from the Met Office, said, "We have seen how naming storms elsewhere in the world raises people's awareness of storms before they break."

    In the past, the same UK storm could be given different names by different organisations. "We noticed that many organisations during the last couple of winters, when we have had bad storms, started giving names to them. Think back to the St Jude's Day storm in 2013, and the so­called Hurricane Bawbag in Scotland in 2011. But it led to confusion (混乱)," a Met Office spokeswoman said.

    According to the Met Office, there is a name for each letter of the whole alphabet (字母表), except for Q, U, X, Y and Z. That is the same as the naming tradition used in America. And not all storms will be big enough to get names — only those expected to cause great damage.

    If there are more than 21 storms in a year, the Met Office will start again with another name beginning with "A". However, according to Met Office spokeswoman Lindsay Mears, "It's unlikely we would get through the whole alphabet in one season. We had 14 storms in the very bad winter of 2013/14, and if the naming system had been in operation then we wouldn't have used the whole alphabet."

返回首页

试题篮