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题型:阅读选择 题类:真题 难易度:普通

2017年山东省泰安市中考英语真题试卷(含听力题目无音频)

阅读理解

C

    Many years ago, a French naturalist, Comte de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics(批评家)did not like them.

    Thomas Jefferson did not like what Comte de Buffon had said about the natural wonders(奇观)of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Comte de Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if(好像)they were unimportant.

    This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was also a naturalist, as well as a farmer, an inventor, a historian, a writer and a politician(政治家). He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

    In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Comte de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word—belittle. He said, “Comte de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic(大西洋).”

    Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in the English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle—to make small, unimportant.”

    Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle(独立纪事报)used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “It is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.”

    In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle shouldn't become English. And more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it.”

    This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used where the English language is spoken.

(1)、Thomas Jefferson was NOT a ______.
A、naturalist B、historian C、politician D、musician
(2)、We can infer(推断)that Jefferson created the word “belittle” out of his ______.
A、anger B、excitement C、kindness D、responsibility
(3)、What can we know about the word “belittle” from the passage?
A、It has already disappeared from the English language. B、It had been used before it was put in the English language dictionary. C、It is used to describe natural wonders now. D、An American politician decided to kill this word in 1872.
(4)、What's the passage mainly about?
A、How the word “belittle” came into being. B、The argument about natural wonders. C、Every word has a long history behind. D、Noah Webster supported Jefferson's idea.
举一反三
阅读理解

How many bicycles do you need in your life? For Chai Lin, the answer is 1,300 and the number is continuing to grow.

Bicycles first came into China in the 19th century. At that time, they were a symbol of having a lot of money. And later they became a common way of transport. When Chai saw some people riding a bicycle, he said,"They were like flying on the streets, and my heart went flying with them."Since then, he dreamed of owning a bike.

However, at that time a bicycle was too expensive for ordinary Chinese. To get enough money sooner, Chai began to sell his pictures in the street. With his own hard work and the help of his family, Chai got his first bike, at the price of 880 yuan, in 1979.

Chai Lin became a businessman years later and he could buy motorbikes and cars. ▲ He began to collect bikes of different brands and ages from around the world in different ways. Up to now, Chai has collected more than 1,300bikes.

With his collection growing, there was no room big enough to keep it. In 2009, with the support of the Gansu provincial government, he spent 200 million yuan building a museum just for exhibiting(展出) his bikes. After 10 years' hard work, the Gansu Sanmu Bicycle Museum in Lanzhou finally opened to the public in January 2019. People can go and enjoy the bikes for free. By 2024, more than two million visitors have been there.

"A large part of my collection is not yet exhibited and has to be kept in other places. I hope to expand (扩大) the museum for my bikes,"he said.

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