阅读理解精选20
If you were to walk up to Arthur Bonner and say, “Hey, Butterfly Man,” his face would break into a smile. The title suits him. And he loves it.
Arthur Bonner works with the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, once thought to have died out. Today the butterfly is coming back — thanks to him. But years ago if you’d told him this was what he’d be doing someday, he would have laughed, “ You’re crazy.” As a boy, he used to be “ a little tough guy on the streets”. At age thirteen, he was caught by police stealing. At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man.
“ I knew it had hurt my mom,” Bonner said after he got out of prison. “So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again.”
One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat for an endangered butterfly called El Segundo blue.
“I saw the sign ‘Butterfly Habitat’ and asked, ‘How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?’” Bonner recalls. “Dr. Mattoni laughed and handed me a magnifying glass(放大镜) , ‘Look at the leaves.’ I could see all these caterpillars(蝴蝶的幼虫) on the plant. Dr Mattoni explained, ‘Without the plant, there are no butterflies.’”
Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr. Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly needed help. That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue. Since then he’s been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back. He grows astragals, the only plant the butterfly eats. He collects butterflies and brings them into a lab to lay eggs. Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat.
The butterfly’s population, once almost zero, is now up to 900. For their work, Bonner and Dr. Mattoni received lots of awards. But for Bonner, he earned something more: he turned his life around.
For six years now Bonner has kept his promise to stay out of prison. While he’s bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too.
41. When he was young, Arthur Bonner _______.
A. broke the law and ended up in prison
B. was fond of shooting and hurt his mom
C. often laughed at people on the streets
D. often caught butterflies and took them home
42. Bonner came to know the Palos Verdes blue after he _______.
A. found the butterfly had died out
B. won many prizes from his professor
C. met Dr. Mattoni, a professor of biology
D. collected butterflies and put them into a lab
43. From the last sentence of the text, we learn that raising butterflies has ________.
A. made Bonner famous
B. changed Bonner’s life
C. brought Bonner wealth
D. enriched Bonner’s knowledge
44. What does the underlined phrase “put through” mean in the 3rd paragraph?
A. hurt
B. recall
C. remember
D. experience
45. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. A Promise to Mom
B. A Man Saved by Butterflies
C. A Story of Butterflies
D. A Job Offered by Dr. Mattoni
[答案及解析]
本文主要讲述了一个叫阿瑟的人通过养蝴蝶既拯救了蝴蝶，又拯救了自己的故事。
41. A
细节理解题。根据第二段陈述的阿瑟曾因伤人，偷窃等原因入狱。
42. C
细节理解题。根据第六段的第一、二句话得知，几周后阿瑟收到了教授的电话，告诉他有一种蝴蝶需要他的帮助，那就是他怎样遇到这种蝴蝶的。
43. B
细节理解题。根据文章最后一段可知阿瑟自此遵守了诺言再也没有入狱，因此说蝴蝶改变了他，故选B。
44. D
词义猜测题。根据上下文语境得知。
45. B
主旨大意题。文章整体上讲述的是阿瑟从没有养蝴蝶时的糟糕生活到养蝴蝶后的转变。