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题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通

江苏省南通市通州区2017-2018学年高二下学期英语期末调研测试卷

阅读理解

    It is not easy getting the attention of tourists away from the well-known white sandy beaches of Byron Bay. But in this relying Australian surf town, a solar (太阳能的)-powered train might just do a good job.

    Opening to the public in December 2017 along a 1.9-mile-long stretch (一段) of track that sat abandoned for more than a decade, the Byron Bay Rail Company has breathed new life into a pair of disused railcars dating back to the 1940s. They're now used to transport passengers between Byron Bay's central business district and the North Beach area. After remaining in service as part of a regional passenger rail network until the early 1990s, the aging railcars were out of service and sat uncared for — almost destroyed by time and unpleasant Aussie climate — in a railyard for more than 20 years. You'd never know it by looking at these nearly 70-year-old workhorses today, though: they've been decorated, equipped, topped with custom-made photovoltaic panels (定制的光电池板) and rearranged to accommodate up to 100 seated beach goers.

    It's those train-top PV panels that truly set the Byron Bay Rail Company's flagship train apart from other heritage rail restoration projects.

    Drawing additional power from a 30-kilowatt solar array (阵列) located atop the train's storage building, the tain is said to be the first in the world to be completely powered by the sun. Solar energy caught by the 6.5-kilowatt train-top solar panels is stored directly in an onboard battery system that powers motors, lighting and the like. When stopped at its home platform, the train pushes into chargers for quick battery top-offs with electricity produced by the storage building's rooftop solar array. The 77 kilowatt-hour battery can hold enough juice for 12 to 15 runs on a single charge. During long periods of cloudiness when the solar arrays don't get enough sun, the train uses the main electric network, supply using renewable energy sold by community-based service Enova Energy.

    The Byron Bay Rail Company's first-in-the-world folly solar-powered train is a good example of historic rail preservation with a 21st century development. Operating as a not-for-profit company, the Byron Bay Rail Company also expected the AU$4 million line to be a way to relieve traffic jam between downtown Byron Bay and the rapidly growing North Beach area. Really, there's no bigger unpleasant thing than sitting in bad traffic for 40 minutes trying to get to the beach.

(1)、What makes the train really extraordinary?
A、That it looks the same as trains from the past. B、That it is powered by train-top PV panels. C、That it runs along specially designed tracks. D、That it is a heritage rail restoration project.
(2)、Which of the following statement is TRUE?
A、A 30-kimowatt solar array is fixed on the top of the train. B、The train runs at the speed of 77 kilometers per hour. C、The storage building is more than a shelter for the train. D、It takes a long time to charge the train each time.
(3)、From the last paragraph, we can infer that       .
A、the Byron Bay Rail Company has made a big profit with the train B、the Byron Bay Rail Company offers free rides with the train C、the train plays a key role in the rapid growth of the North Beach area D、it used to be very inconvenient for someone to drive to the beach
举一反三
阅读理解

    Have you ever run out of coffee or tea? Found no eggs in the fridge? No bread for the sandwich and the nearest shop is too far away? Well, all that can change in the future.

    If all goes well, the intelligent future kitchen will soon help solve all your problems. In the future, all kitchen units will be connected to the Internet. The intelligent future kitchen will give wise advice on planning your menu for the day. Worried about your weight? — It will tell you the right diet and what is good for your health. It will even keep in mind your likes and dislikes!

    Designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this smart kitchen promises to pay attention to all your needs. The computer's system will help keep an “eye” on the fridge. If the fridge is empty, the kitchen will automatically call and place an order at the local supermarket. So you don't have to worry about it at all.

    You get home late, and don't know what to make from the collection of ingredients (原料) in your fridge. A while back you might have ordered a take-out but now, instead of worrying about eating a collection of this and that, you're excited. You can pull out each vegetable, and pass each one in front of a web camera next to your fridge. A few moments later, a screen on your fridge would display a tasty recipe.

    After dinner, you take your plates to a box next to the sink. You don't have to clean them, your machine does. It produces new plates every time you need to eat. Later in the evening, you phone your other half, who is on a business trip half-way around the world. As you drink your cup of hot coffee, it makes your other half's cup change color on the other side of the world, another special way to keep in touch.

阅读理解

    Texting while walking is something that most of us are guilty of. We can't help replying to that message we just received. However, while it's fun to keep up with the latest gossip, we may actually be putting ourselves in danger.

    A team of researchers from two UK universities recently found that people who use their phones while on the move walk differently than usual.

    “Recently, a person in front of me was walking very slowly and weaving (迂回行进), and I thought, 'Is this person drunk?'” Matthew Timmis, co-author of the study, told the Guardian.

    It turned out that the person was just texting. Inspired by this, Timmis and his team set out to discover the effects of phone use on how we navigate streets.

    A group of 21 volunteers were asked to walk around a simulated (模拟的) street, complete with obstacles such as a step. The participants traveled the course a total of 12 times each, either writing or reading a message, making a call, or with no phone at all.

    It took the volunteers 118 percent longer to complete the course when using a phone. They also focused on the step obstacle 60 percent more and paid attention to the travel path 51 percent more when they weren't using a phone.

    Although there were no accidents, Timmis believes we should still be aware of what's going on around us.

    “The big risk here is suddenly-appearing hazards (危险), like a pedestrian (行人) suddenly walking in front of you,” he told the Guardian. “You are not going to be able to respond to that as efficiently, which increases the risk of injury.”

    To bring attention to the dangers of “text walking”, a temporary “texting lane” was set up in Antwerp, Belgium in 2015. And earlier this year, a special crosswalk featuring flashing red lights on the ground to get the attention of texters was set up in Wuhan, Hubei province.

    “Texting while walking can lead to collisions with poles or other pedestrians. You could even be endangering your own life when you cross the street without looking up,” a spokesperson for the company that made the Antwerp texting lane told Yahoo News.

阅读理解

    A new study suggests a simple getting-to-know-you exercise might improve classroom relationships. The teacher-student relationship affects every aspect of the educational experience. When students don't feel safe and respected by their teacher, they are less likely to devote themselves to their education. And when teacher feel distanced from their students, it is nearly impossible to walk into the classroom each day actively, let alone encourage motivation or investment in students.

    Hunter Gehlbach, a professor, explained that his research is primarily concerned with social perspectivetaking(换位思考), or the ability to understand what drives the people around us. As he explained, "My focus is classrooms and social perspective-taking--figuring out the thoughts and feelings of others seems important. We want teachers to be able to engage in this process and figure out the thought process of students as much as possible, in order to understand where and why they are making mistakes."

    Gehlbach and his colleagues gave 315 students and 25 teachers a "getting-to-know-you" survey of 30 items at the beginning of a school year. The researchers matched similarities between the teacher and the student, and then showed those similarities to the teachers and students. Five weeks later, the researchers returned to start a more indepth survey of both students and teachers, and to measure their opinions of their relationships and the classroom experience as a whole. The second survey showed that when teachers and students know they have five things in common, relationships and educational outcomes both improve.

    Gehlbach explained that the similarities he and his colleagues established were not based on personal information, but on shared preferences. Gehlbach explained: one of the biggest surprises in reading the similarity research was how little some of the similarities were that caused positive feelings towards others.

    Though Gehlbach's study has limitations, he is encouraged by the results and eager to explore the phenomenon further.

阅读理解

    The human body is designed to move. But modern lifestyles and office jobs rarely give us the chance to move around. As we know, we're sitting while we're eating; we sit in the car and we sit while we watch TV. And many of us sit for many hours at work.

    New research shows that sitting less than three hours a day might extend your life by two years. Peter Katzmarzyk, a scientist at the University of Louisiana in the southern United States, says that sitting is ubiquitous in our lives, meaning it is something we do all the time, everywhere.

    However, Mr. Katzmarzyk says that does not mean you can sit for the rest of your waking hours. He also says you may exercise often, "We can't throw away physical activity. It's extremely important. We have 60 years of research showing us that."

    Mr. Katzmarzyk and his colleagues are part of a new generation of researchers studying how sitting all day affects length of life. "Studies that have assessed the relationship between sitting and mortality (死亡率) or television viewing and mortality are very rare. There's only been a few of them, actually five or six now, in the last four or five years." They found that cutting television time to less than two hours a day could add one point four years to life.

    Luckily, change is already coming to some offices, especially in the design of desks. A "standing desk" lets people stand while they work. Another new design is called the "treadmill desk." A treadmill is an exercise machine that lets you walk in one place. Even some U.S. schools are beginning to experiment with desks that are part bicycle to keep children moving. That's one of the strategies that many companies are using now.

    Mr. Katzmarzyk also says studying this problem has inspired his team to make a few changes in their own lives.

 阅读理解

Josefa Marin went to New York from Mexico in 1987, supporting her daughter back home with the $140 a week she earned at a sweater factory. With that small income, she had to collect recyclables, trading in cans for five cents each.

When the clothing factory closed down in the late 2000s, she became a full-time recycler, picking up cans and bottles to make ends meet.

Marin's story is not unique. Millions around the world make a living from picking through waste and reselling it – a vital role that keeps waste manageable. In New York City, the administrative department collects only about 28 percent of the cans that could be recycled. Rubbish collectors keep millions of additional recyclables out of landfills every year.

Yet collectors are ruled out by government policies. The United States Supreme Court in 1988 stated that household garbage is public property once it's on the street. That enables police to search rubbish for evidence, but that protection hasn't always been extended to recyclers. And in places like New York City, which is testing city-owned locked containers to hide garbage from rats, containers are made clearly inaccessible for collectors.

"There's value in the waste, and we feel that value should belong to the people, not the city or the corporations", says Ryan Castalia, director of a nonprofit recycling and community center in Brooklyn.

Recognized or not, waste pickers have long been treated with disrespect. Marin recalls an occasion when someone living next to a building where she was collecting cans threw water at her. "Because I recycle it doesn't mean I am less of a person than anyone else," she says.

Some governments are starting to realize that protecting the environment and humanity go hand in hand. The United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, for example, calls for an end to poverty and all the risks it brings.

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