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题型:阅读理解 题类:模拟题 难易度:普通

湖南省师范大学附属中学2020届高三上学期英语考前演练试卷(五)

阅读理解

    How was your day today? If it was just sort of OK, with nothing much happening, then Scott Shaffer wants to hear from you. Mr Shaffer is the editor of the Journal of Mundane Behaviour. "We can learn a lot about the way that society works by examining normal patterns of behavior," he says. "All the ordinary decisions we make and ordinary things we do are society in action."

    The idea that social scientists should "study the unmarked", in Mr Shaffer's words, has also spread to historians. Traditionally, most history has been written as the story of greatness. It is all about great ideas, great people and great economic and social forces changing the way that millions of people live for ever. Albert Einstein's theory of relativity changed the way that we look at the universe. But has he been of more benefit to humanity than the unknown person who invented the first really comfortable shoe? Try thinking great thoughts when your feet hurt.

    In recent years, books of micro-history have been a great success with the public. Most micro historians like to relate their subject to wider developments in society. According to historian Catherine Gallagher, the potato was once a matter of great argument. Supporters pointed out that it could grow cheaply and easily and help feed the poor. Opponents said that this would lead to the poor becoming more powerful, since they did not have to spend every hour working to feed themselves. It seems that European socialism started with an argument about vegetables. British historian Colin Jones wants us to look at pictures painted hundreds of years ago. He wants us to notice the fact that nobody smiles in these pictures. Compare that with today, when everyone smiles for the camera and refusing to smile is seen as an unfriendly act. It is all because of dentistry, he says. Once people were able to look after their teeth, they began to smile and the world became a happier place.

    Whether stories like this are true or not, they put ordinary people at the center of history. Most of us are not going to change the world in a big way. But we might be able to do something that makes life a bit easier for other people. And maybe one day a historian will come along and write the story. It is something to get excited about, though perhaps not very excited.

(1)、Why does the author tell you to try thinking great thoughts when your feet hurt?
A、To show the ordinary is necessary. B、To show history is created by the unknown. C、To show great thoughts are unnecessary. D、To show greatness comes from the ordinary.
(2)、What was the most important thing about the argument about the potato?
A、It helped the poor to feed themselves. B、It helped to spend less money on food. C、It brought about a struggle against the rich. D、It led to great changes in society.
(3)、Why didn't people smile in pictures painted hundreds of years ago?
A、They lived a hard life. B、Their teeth looked terrible. C、They were not friendly. D、They preferred to look serious.
(4)、What is mainly discussed in the text?
A、The ways to make life easier. B、The importance of the ordinary in history. C、The increasing interest in micro-history. D、Unknown people who invented small things.
举一反三
阅读理解

    Scientists found that sleeping considerably improves our creativity. After taking a nap people are able to think faster and put more imagination into their thinking. Besides, if we dream, the thinking abilities are improved even more.

    Researchers consider that sleeping on a problem in most cases leads to elucidation(解释). They say when a person enters a phase called Rapid Eye Movement (REM) during sleep, it increases the effect. Such phase takes place right before we awake and according to scientists it helps our brain make links between unrelated subjects.

    In the study, led by Professor Sara Mednick, scientists made a conclusion that the REM was "important for assimilating(消化) new information into past experience" in order to find solutions to creative problems.

    Prof. Mednick is a psychiatrist at the University of California. Her study involved the analysis of 77 adults. Each participant was given several word-associated creative tasks. All tasks were given in the morning, with participants being shown a number of groups of 3 words, for example: cookie, heart and sixteen. They were asked to come up with a word that would be associated with all three given terms—like sweet. Sometime later, after some participants were allowed to sleep, they were asked to perform the same tasks and some new ones. It is worth mentioning that while some people slept, researchers used brain scans to see the type of sleep each participant entered.

    When given the same tasks, participants, who took a nap, were able to give more varied solutions, some of which were much better than they gave earlier. But when given new tasks, researchers found that those who entered REM sleep had a 40 percent better result compared to the performance they showed in the morning.

阅读理解

    Maybe it is true that we do not know what we have got until we lose it,but it is also true that we do not know what we have been missing until it arrives.

    It takes an hour to like someone,and a day to love someone,but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back.Do not expect love in return;but if it does not,be content it has grown in yours.Do not rely on one's appearance;it can trick you.Do not rely on wealth;even that fades away.Rely on someone who makes you smile,because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

    There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them.Dream what you want to dream;go where you want to go;be what you want to be,because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

    The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past.You cannot go on well in life until you let your past failures and heartaches go off.May you have enough happiness to make you sweet,enough trails to make you strong,enough sorrow to keep you human,enough hope to make you happy.The happiest of people do not necessarily have the best of everything;they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.Happiness waits for those who cry,those appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.Always put yourself in others' shoes.If you feel that it hurts you,it probably hurts the other person,too.

    When you were born,you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.Live your life so that when you die, you are the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

阅读理解

    A study, conducted by David Evans of the World Bank and Anna Popova of Stanford University, looked at 19 programs around the world in which individuals were given cash transfers from the government, either as a handout or as a "reward" for something like getting kids to school on time or taking them to the doctor for checkups.

    Evans and Popova looked at the impact those cash transfers had on the family budget and whether or not they led to an increase in spending on alcohol and cigarettes .What they found was that they almost always led to a reduction in a family's alcohol and tobacco purchases.

     The news may surprise some people, but it's true, and the researchers have several theories about why.

    One theory is that the cash transfer made things possible that once seemed impossible. Investing in their kids' education or buying healthier and more expensive foods may be within reach now, but without the cash handout, these goals weren't even a possibility. So families cut back on other expenses (like alcohol and tobacco) to make those dreams a reality.

    Another theory is that people just generally seem to do what they're told. If they are given money and told to use it for their family's welfare, in most cases, they will do just that. And that leads to the third theory: These cash transfers are usually given to women, and studies show that when women control the purse strings, more money is spent on taking care of their children.

    Whatever the reason for the trend, the data is clear—families that receive cash handouts don't waste the money on booze and cigarettes as was previously thought. Instead, they typically use that money for the benefit of their families. And that's money well spent.

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。

    For all the technological wonders of modem medicine, health care-with its fax machines and clipboards (写字板) —is out of date. This outdated era is slowly drawing to a close as the industry catches up with the artificial-intelligence (AI) revolution.

    Eric Topol, an expert in heart disease and enthusiast for digital medicine, thinks AI will be particularly useful for such tasks as examining images, observing heart traces for abnormalities or turning doctors' words into patient records. It will be able to use masses of data to work out the best treatments, and improve workflows in hospitals. In short, AI is set to save time, lives and money.

    The fear some people have is that AI will be used to deepen the assembly-line culture of modem medicine. If it gives a "gift of time" to doctors, they argue that this bonus should be used to extend consultations, rather than simply speeding through them more efficiently.

    That is a fine idea, but as health swallows an ever-bigger share of national wealth, greater efficiency is exactly what is needed, at least so far as governments and insurers are concerned. Otherwise, rich societies may fail to cope with the needs of ageing and growing populations. An extra five minutes spent chatting with a patient is costly as well as valuable. The AI revolution will also enable managerial accountants to adjust and evaluate every aspect of treatment. The autonomy of the doctor will surely be weakened, especially, perhaps, in public-health systems which are duty-bound to cut unnecessary costs.

    The Hippocratic Oath (誓言) holds that there is an art to medicine as well as a science and that "warmth, sympathy and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug". There's lots of sense in it: the patients of sympathetic physicians have been shown to recover better. Yet as the supply of human carers fails to satisfy the demand for health care, the future may involve consultations on smartphones and measurements monitored by chatbots. The considerately warmed stethoscope (听诊器), placed gently on a patient's back, may become a relic of the past.

阅读理解

    As the temperature rises, sweaty humans are making a response that is further worsening the problem of climate change. At present, the world just has 1.6 billion air conditioning units, but these units use a surprising total of ten percent of all global electricity supply. While less than a third of families globally are so equipped, the most AC-addicted countries are Japan (in 91 percent of families), the US (90 percent) and South Korea(86 percent).

    New research by the International Energy Agency (IEA) guesses that the total number of AC units is likely to increase to over 5.6 billion by 2050-equal to ten new units being sold every second for more than 30 years-with sales driven particularly by India, China and Indonesia. This will make the use of air conditioning one of the world's largest demands for energy.

    "Growing electricity demand for air conditioning is one of the most critical blind spots in today's energy debate," argues Faith Birol, executive director of the IEA. "With rising incomes, air conditioner ownership will skyrocket, especially in the developing world. While this will improve daily lives, it is quite necessary that efficiency performance be prioritized."

    Birol and the IEA stress the need for new efficiency standards to ensure that consumers are at least buying units that require significantly less power to function, therefore decreasing the total energy demand. Variations on the traditional "vapor compression" technology, which has formed the basis for AC units for more than a century, may appear really important. A water-based system was recently developed by researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS), which uses 40 percent less electricity and produces only one by-product: drinkable water.

    "Our cooling system can be tailored for all types of weather conditions, from wet climate in the tropics to dry climate in the deserts," says associate professor Ernest Chua at NUS. "While it can be used for indoor living and commercial spaces, it can also be easily used to provide air conditioning for blocks of buildings in an energy-efficient manner."

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