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题型:阅读理解 题类: 难易度:普通

湖北省恩施州高中教育联盟2023-2024学年高二下学期期中考试英语试题

 阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

Pieter Bruegel's iconic 1565 painting The Harvesters hangs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work shows people harvesting wheat nearly as tall as they are. "Nowadays, however, if you walk through a wheat field, you basically see that wheat is about knee-height. The reduced height is essentially a consequence of being bred (培育) along with genes for increasing production to feed a growing population," biologist De Smet explained.

De Smet said wheat was just one example of how historical artwork could allow us to track the transformation of food crops over time. He teamed up with art historian Vergauwen, a friend since childhood, to document such art work around the world. They have been mainly looking at things where they can spot changes in shape, color and size.

Their interest in plants in artwork began with a visit to the Hermitage Museum, where they noticed an odd-looking watermelon in an early-17th-century painting. It appeared to be pale and white on the inside. Biologist De Smet assumed the painter had done a poor job. But art historian Vergauwen had a different idea. "No, this is one of the best painters ever from that era. So if he painted it like that, that's the way it must have looked like," he explained.

Other paintings revealed that both red and white watermelons were grown during the 17th century. "With all the genetic knowledge we now have, we can look at how something comes about in more detail," said De Smet. "For example, until the 18th century, European strawberries appeared tiny in paintings. They then grew in size as they were crossbred with North American varieties."

Ultimately, the team hopes to create an online research database of historical plant artwork. They seek the contributions of art enthusiasts around the world via the social media. "However," Vergauwen reminds, "if you're going to use, for example, Picasso to try and understand how a pear looked in the early 20th century, you might be misled."

(1)、What can we learn about the painting The Harvesters?
A、It shows how people successfully grew wheat. B、It proves that wheat was much shorter in the past. C、It gives clues about how w heat in the 16th century looked like. D、It explains the consequence of different breeding methods.
(2)、What inspired the research team to start their study?
A、Their preference for food crops. B、Their friendship since childhood. C、Their divided views on an old painting. D、Their shared interest in the Hermitage Museum.
(3)、What is the message from Vergauwen in the last paragraph?
A、Art enthusiasts are not careful enough. B、Abstract paintings often mislead people. C、Oil paintings are hard to understand. D、The source paintings need to be realistic.
(4)、What is the purpose of the text?
A、To comment on historical plant paintings. B、To tell interesting stories behind plant artwork. C、To inform readers of a scientific breakthrough. D、To introduce a study on food crop transformation.
举一反三
阅读理解。

    Many people write to newspaper and magazines to express their opinions. Letters to the editor must carry the writer's full name, address and telephone number, although the information is not necessary for publication. This requirement to provide personal particulars is a clear indication that writers are held responsible for what they say. When a writer wants his voice heard, he needs to claim ownership of his voice. Responsibility is the name of the game.

    “People today prefer living together to putting their signatures on a marriage certificate because they refuse to accept responsibility for the relationship,” said social worker Ken Yip, “and this is what is causing a lot of family problems.” When we sign a paper, for example, a business contract or a bank document, the signature is a seal of consent, an agreement to take the matter seriously. Most governments and many organizations will not process written complaints if they do not bear the writer's signature. The absence of a signature, they explain, tells us that the writer cannot be too serious and therefore does not deserve a reply.

    There are people who wish to remain anonymous(匿名的) for various reasons. Multi-billionaire Mr. King donates generously to charity several times a year. He gives simply because he wants to help but not for the publicity his donations may bring, and he does not want his good deeds to make news. In other cases, people insist on anonymity because they are afraid of the consequences of revealing their identity. Crime witnesses may be willing to assist the police, but most are unwilling to give their names when reporting a crime.

    Name or no name? The answer is very personal and lies in how much we want to get involved. We all have a name. It is a matter of responsibility to use it when we make a statement, a claim or an accusation. We all want to honor our own name, and it is only by stamping our expression of an opinion with our own name that we honor what we say.

阅读理解

    In the mid-1950s, I was a somewhat bored early-adolescent male student who believed that ________________________ One day, this approach threw me into embarrassment

    In Mrs. Totten's eighth-grade math class at Central Avenue School in Anderson, Indiana, we were learning to add and subtract decimals (小数).

    Our teacher typically assigned daily homework, which would be recited in class the following day. On most days, our grades were based on our oral answer to homework questions.

    Mrs. Totten usually walked up and down the rows of desks requesting answers from student after student in the order the questions had appeared on our homework sheets. She would start either at the front or the back of the classroom and work toward the other end.

    Since I was seated near the middle of about 35 students, it was easy to figure out which questions I might have to answer. This particular time, I had completed my usual two or three problems according to my calculations.

    What I failed to expect was that several students were absent, which threw off my estimate. As Mrs. Totten made her way from the beginning of the class,I desperately tried to determine which math problem I would get. I tried to work it out before she got to me, but I had brain freeze and couldn't function.

When Mrs. Totten reached my desk,she asked what answer I'd got for problem No. 14. “I…I didn't get anything,” I answered,and my face felt warm.

    “Correct,” she said.

    It turned out that the correct answer was zero.

What did I learn that day? First, always do all your homework. Second, in real life it isn't always what you say but how you say it that matters. Third,I would never make it as a mathematician.

    If I could choose one school day that taught me the most, it would be that one.

阅读短文,从每题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中,选出最佳选项。

    Electronic book publishing has many of the same risks and opportunities as electronic music publishing. By delivering text direct to the reader's computer screen, the e-book could cut down costs, and allow creators to deal directly with their audience, by passing (绕开) traditional publishers and traders. But it also raises the possibility of mass piracy (盗版). Phil Rance, founder and managing director of Online Originals, a London-based e-book publisher, sums it up, "No one wants Napster (在线音乐服务) to happen to books."

    Indeed, the most popular MP3may have put the frighteners on an industry that generally operates some way behind the "bleeding edge". The Meta Group, a leading US-based market researcher, says publishers are far too concerned about protecting their rights, "We believe all the recent legal control over Napster is like putting a finger in a river that is already overflowing. Publishers need to deal with reality and come up with new ways to develop wide electronic distribution, asking the question: How can we use the certainty of wide distribution to our advantage."

    At the moment, most publishers would like to limit the use of e-books to the person who bought them, or to the computer used to download them. If that can be done, e-books become just an extra income stream in a publishing industry that would continue to operate the way it does today, according to Terry Robinson, business manager for Adobe's e-paper group. "If you've cracked the digital rights aspect, you've cracked the market." He says.

    Robert Nichols, Books Director at BOL agrees, "Rights management is absolutely important. Publishers just say that 'until copyright is secure, we are not going to talk'."

 阅读短文,回答问题

The rejuvenating effects of a restorative nocturnal repose are widely recognized; it can engender a state of enhanced well-being. Academics in the field posit that the excellence of one's slumber may indeed be instrumental in the prolongation of one's lifespan.

Male subjects who enjoy a state of somnolent tranquility could potentially extend their existence by a span of nearly five decades in comparison to those bereft of such repose. The female counterparts stand to gain an increment of two decades. Additionally, it has been observed that youthful individuals who adhere to salutary somniferous routines are less susceptible to a premature demise. However, the mere quantity of repose is insufficient to reap the potential healthful dividends; the caliber of one's slumber is equally pivotal.

The parameters of commendable slumber were delineated by a quintet of distinct criteria. These encompassed an optimal duration of seven to eight hours of repose per nocturnal cycle; experiencing difficulty in the initiation of sleep no more than twice per hebdomadal period; similar challenges in maintaining somnolence no more than twice weekly; abstaining from the consumption of any soporific pharmaceuticals; and awakening with a sensation of invigoration on no fewer than five days per septenary cycle.

The conclusions derived from the study intimate that approximately 8% of fatalities, irrespective of their etiology, could be imputed to inadequate somniferous patterns. Dr. Frank Qian, a resident physician specializing in internal medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, America, remarked, "A distinct proportional response relationship was discerned. Consequently, an increase in the beneficial elements pertaining to the quality of sleep correlates with a progressive diminution in mortality from all causes."

The research collated data from a populace of 172,321 individuals with an average age of 50, of which 54% were female. These participants were engaged in the National Health Interview Survey, spanning the years 2013 to 2018, which sought to scrutinize the well-being of the American populace, inclusive of inquiries into their somniferous habits.

The subjects were tracked for a mean period of 4.3 years, during which 8,681 succumbed to death. Of these fatalities, 2,610 (30%) were attributable to cardiovascular afflictions, 2,052 (24%) to oncological disorders, and 4,019 (46%) to a miscellany of other causes. Among the male and female participants who reported adherence to all five indices of quality sleep (an optimal quintile score), the expectancy of life was augmented by 4.7 years for males and by 2.4% for females, in contradistinction to those who possessed none or a solitary factor.

Further scholarly endeavor is warranted to elucidate the raison d'être for the dichotomy in the enhancement of life expectancy, with males exhibiting twice the increment observed in females despite equivalent somniferous quality.

A caveat of the study lies in the reliance on self-reported somniferous habits, which were not subjected to objective quantification or verification.

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