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题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通

湖北省沙市中学2018-2019学年高二下学期英语期中考试试卷

阅读理解

    When I heard the piano, I walked to Mrs. Windsor's house and waited outside as I always did. That meant she was working with another student, and I was not supposed to bother them by ringing the bell. I stood against the wall and daydreamed what I'd rather be doing. "Almost anything", I sighed dejectedly. I had been tutored enough to read, understand, and even write some musical compositions, but I just didn't have a gift for it. It didn't come to me naturally. I thought back to happier times when I was writing stories and acting them out with my friends, cutting up old clothes to make dresses that performers wear in plays, and building scenery out of old things we found. But Mrs. Windsor had offered to give me the lessons for free, so I felt my duty to try.

    The door opened and Wendy Barton came out. I walked in, sat down on the piano bench and began to sort through my sheet music.

    "Hello," I heard a voice behind me say softly. I turned around to see a little girl standing behind me, eating an apple. But before I could make any response, Mrs. Windsor walked into the room in her usual urgent manner and announced, "Jennifer, this is my niece, Pasha. Pasha, this is Jennifer. Pasha will be giving you your lesson today. I'm up to my ears in something else!" she then exited to the kitchen.

Pasha set her apple down on the side table and slid beside me on the piano bench.

    "What piece do you like best?" she asked.

    "What do you mean?" I asked. "They're all the same to me. I don't know.

    "You mean you don't have a favorite?"

    "No, not really."

    Pasha looked at me, rather puzzled, then opened my sheet music to the beginning page and asked me to play. I arranged my fingers on the keys and studied the notes on the page for a moment. Then I frowned and concentrated to make the notes on the page match the finger movements. I have to admit I was a rather mechanical pianist.

    After about a page or two, Pasha gently put her hand on top of mine as if to calm my fingers. There was a long pause. "What are you hearing in the music?" I looked at her rather strangely and admitted I didn't know what she meant.

    "Like a story. What story is being playing out within the music?"

    "I guess I've never thought about it before. I don't know."

    "Here, let me try and you listen," Pasha advised.

    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her fingers dance lightly over the keys. Then, she began to play. "See, it begins here beside some kind of river. Hear the water flowing beside you?"

    Her fingers rose and fell gently on the keys. "Now the princess appears and she's picking flowers from the water's edge." A carefree, happy piece of music filled the air in time to Pasha's dancing fingers. "Oh, but she slips!" The music changed. "And our princess is being carried off by the fast-flowing stream. Quickly, the princess's horse sees her plight (困境)," Pasha continued, "and races to the river's edge where he swims out to let her catch hold of him. They make it to the bank and she hugs her faithful horse and swears she will never again wear princess skirts that weigh her down." Pasha finished with a big smile and then looked at me.

"Aren't you the girl who tells the stories?" she asked.

    "I guess. I do tell a lot of stories."

    "Oh, yes! All the kids talk about them. I've heard about you. Well, all you have to do is learn to hear the stories in the music. That's all there is to it."

    "I've never thought it that way."

    "Let's try another one, shall we?" Pasha smiled and together we played that afternoon, finding the stories in the music and learning that sometimes it takes a friend to pull you out of the river onto dry land again.

(1)、The underlined word "dejectedly" in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______
A、nervously B、desperately C、impatiently D、unhappily
(2)、Jennifer got lost in thought when she ________
A、played the piano with Pasha for the first time B、listened to Pasha tell her story about the princess C、remembered happier times of writing stories and acting them out D、discovered that Mrs. Windsor's niece would be giving the piano lesson
(3)、By describing herself as a mechanical pianist, the author showed ______
A、she could remember the notes in a short time B、she was playing the piano without thinking C、Pasha was showing off her skills D、it had been a long time since she played last time
(4)、Which of the following can best describe Pasha?
A、Creative B、Naughty C、Humorous D、Brave
(5)、This text would be probably found in ______
A、a collection of stories about friendship and learning B、a book of daily records about famous young musicians C、a magazine series about the challenges of overcoming fears D、a series of newspaper articles about musical instruments
举一反三
阅读理解

    For those who make journeys across the world, the speed of travel today has turned the countries into a series of villages.Distances between them appear no greater to a modern traveler than those which once faced men as they walked from village to village. Jet planes fly people from one end of the earth to the other, allowing them a freedom of movement undreamt of a hundred years ago.

    Yet some people wonder if the revolution in travel has gone too far. A price has been paid, they say, for the conquest (征服) of time and distance. Travel is something to be enjoyed, not endured (忍受).  The boat offers leisure and time enough to appreciate the ever-changing sights and sounds of a journey. A journey by train also has a special charm about it. Lakes and forests and wild, open plains sweeping past your carriage window create a grand view in which time and distance mean nothing. On board a plane, however, there is just the blank blue of the sky filling the narrow window of the airplane. The soft lighting, in-flight films and gentle music make up the only world you know, and the hours progress slowly.

    Then there is the time spent being “processed” at a modern airport. People are conveyed like robots along walkways; baggage is weighed, tickets produced, examined and produced yet again before the passengers move to another waiting area. Journeys by rail and sea take longer, yes, but the hours devoted to being “processed” at departure and arrival in airports are luckily absent. No wonder, then, that the modern high-speed trains are winning back passengers from the airlines.

    Man, however, is now a world traveler and cannot turn his back on the airplane. The working lives of too many people depend upon it; whole new industries have been built around its design and operation. The holiday maker, too, with limited time to spend, patiently endures the busy airports and limited space of the flight to gain those extra hours and even days, relaxing in the sun. speed controls people's lives; time saved, in work or play, is the important thing—or so we are told. Perhaps those first horsemen, riding free across the wild, open plains, were enjoying a better world than the one we know today. They could travel at will, and the clock was not their master.

阅读理解

    The decisions that we make shape us throughout our lives. No matter what decisions we make, good or bad, each one puts us on a new road in the future. Make a bad decision? No problem. Learn from the decision and make another decision to get on a different path. This is advice that I got from Tony Robbins in his book Awaken the Giant Within. This is a book that I recommend(推荐) to anyone wanting to develop a fire to make changes in their life. It helped me to understand how fear of making poor choices was hindering me from becoming the great man who I am today. Now I am not saying I am a well-known person in any particular circle. But I am the king of my castle working hard and trying to make good decisions in regard to the paths that I have chosen. I am a great man in the eyes of my wife and my children. And that is all the recognition that I need in my lifetime. And I know that my past failures have been the building block that I continue to use to build my career and self-image in my community that I live in.

    Ben Lerer, cofounder of the CEO of Thrillist Media Group, is a good example of this. In an article on the Fast Company website, Lerer talks about this very subject. He says, “I've had to make some really tough decisions but finally, I think the best companies are those that can recognize when something isn't going right, and fix it, instead of just turning a blind eye because it's easier.” Great people make decisions. When a decision does not have the desired result, make a different decision. It does not get any simpler than that.

阅读理解

    What's more exciting than having a fresh hot pizza delivered to your door?  How about having it brought to you by a robot?  Thanks to Domino's Robotic Unit or DRU, that just became a reality! On March 8, the three-foot tall robot delivered its first pizza to some lucky residents in Brisbane, Australia.

    The fully autonomous DRU is the result of cooperation between Domino's Pizza Australia and Marathon Robotics. The 450-pound machine that travels at a maximum speed of 12. 4 miles an hour can traverse a distance of up to 12 miles and back, before requiring to recharge the battery. LIDAR, a laser-based sensor technology similar to the one used in self-driving cars, enables DRU to detect and avoid obstacles, while traditional sensors, much like those used in vacuum robots ensure its path is safe as it heads to its destination.

    The robot can fit up to ten pizzas and even has a separate cold area to accommodate drink orders. To access their food, customers have to enter the unique code provided for them by the company. This not only ensures that they pick up the right pizza, but also prevents the pies from getting stolen.

    Scientists expect additional DRU's to be ready for service in their various Queensland locations within the next six months. But don't expect these super cute robots to replace humans anytime soon. According to Domino's the DRU still needs extensive testing, which the company believes could take up to two years.

    And then there is also the issue of regulations. The public use of autonomous vehicles is still banned in most countries. But Don Meij, the CEO and Managing Director of Domino's Pizza Australia New Zealand Ltd, is not worried. He is“confident that one day DRU will become an integral part of the Domino's family. ”

阅读理解

I often teach about happiness and what has become clear is this: There are some qualities unhappy people always have. Here are some of them.

 Happy people know life can be hard and tend to live through hard times. They take responsibility for how they got themselves into a mess, and focus on getting themselves out of it as soon as possible. Unhappy people see themselves as victims of life and stay stuck in the "look what happened to me" attitude instead of finding a way through and out to the other side.

    Most happy people believe in the good in people instead of thinking everyone is out to get them. Generally open and friendly towards people they meet, happy people foster(培养) a sense of community around themselves and meet new people with an open heart. Unhappy people are distrustful of most people they meet and don't think strangers can be trusted. Unfortunately, this behaviour slowly closes all chances of meeting new friends.

    Unhappy people believe someone else's good fortune is stolen from their own. They believe there's not enough goodness to go around and always compare others' against theirs. This leads to jealousy(嫉妒). Happy people know that others' good luck and superior circumstances are just signs of what they also can achieve if they try hard enough. They believe in unlimited possibilities and don't get stuck in thinking one person's good fortune limits their possible outcomes in life.

    There's only so much space between the two ears. Unhappy people fill that space with constant worry and fear. Happy people experience fear and worry too, but they make an important difference between feeling it and living with it. When fear or worry crosses happy people's minds, they'll ask themselves if there's an action they can take to prevent their fear or worry from happening and they take it. If not, they realise they're spinning in fear and they lay it down.

阅读理解

At thirteen, I was diagnosed (诊断) with a kind of attention disorder. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I could not.

    In my first literature class, Mrs Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, "Mrs Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it."

 She glanced at me through her glasses, "You are not different from your classmates, young man."

 I tried, but I didn't finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.

    In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn't get much education. But Louis didn't give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots (点), which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.

    Wasn't I the "blind" in my class, being made to learn like the "sighted" students? My thoughts spilled out (涌出) and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was not different from others; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way to solve his problems, why should I ever give up?

    I didn't expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day—with an "A" on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words: "See what you can do when you keep trying?"

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。

We cannot argue with reality. We cannot argue with science. Therefore, we simply cannot argue with the fact that there are no straight lines in the universe.

Let's start with science. The science of a straight line falls under the subject of physics. It might seem like a complicated topic, but the theory behind it is pretty simple. If you start rowing in a boat from one place and keep sailing, the concept of the curved(弯曲的) Earth will take you in a circle and you will end up where you started. The brain forms the concept of a straight line to simplify what you see in nature. Consider it a tool for the mind to recognize reality.

The concept of straight lines was controversial and heavily influenced the politics and society of Europe from the 15th century to the 17th century. Greek thinkers and scholars like Aristotle in the 5th century already proved that the Earth was a globe, but many Europeans at that time did not believe in this idea! However, some Europeans during the Age of Exploration denied this belief. Just as the famous Italian scientist Galileo Galilei was persecuted(迫害) for advocating a heliocentric (日心的) model of the solar system, many thinkers like Giordano Bruno were shamed for believing that the Earth was round.

Well, my friends, let's move on to life. The concept of nothing going in a straight line can be associated with life as much as it relates to science and architecture. Whenever you do something, it never turns out to play out exactly as planned. I especially know that as a thirteen-year-old! Life is a rough road—every time you go forward, it is followed by two steps back or to the side. Just like how science explains it, life is a curvy path full of unexpected twists, turns, and adventures that nobody can ever predict.

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