2016高考英语二轮阅读理解一百六十集选练（93）
2016高考训练题。阅读理解阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。An estimated 80 percent of American adults think music lessons, though at times boring and challenging in the eyes of some kids, improve children’s ability to learn or their performance in school. They say that the satisfaction for learning to play a new song helps a child express creativity.
Researchers at Harvard University , however, have found that there’s one thing musical training does not do. Samuel Mehr, the leading researcher of the new study, said it is wrong to think that learning to play a musical instrument improves a child’s intellectual development. The evidence comes from studies that measured the mental ability of two groups of 4-year-olds and their parents. One group attended music class; the comparison group went to a class that places importance on the optical arts-arts that can be seen.
“We found no evidence for any advantage on any of these tests for the kids participating in these music classes,” said Mehr.
Samuel Mehr says researchers have carried out many studies in an effort to learn whether musical training can make children smarter. Only one study seems to show a small percentage increase in IQ, intellectual scores among students after one year of music lessons.
He does not believe that IQ is a good measure of a child’s intelligence. Therefore, the researchers in his study compared how well children in the musical training group did on mental processing tasks, then the results were compared to those of children who did not take lessons.
Music lessons may not offer children a fast easy way to gain entry to the best schools later of their life, but the training is still important.
Mr Mehr notes that the works of writer William Shakespeare are not taught , so the children will do better in physics. He says Shakespeare is taught because it is important for cultural reasons.“And I don’t think music needs to be any different than that.”
1. What attitude do most American grown-ups have towards music lessons?
A. Approving
B. Uninterested
C. Doubtful
D. Uncertain
2. The underlined word“optical”in Paragraph 2 probably means
.
A. colorful
B. visual
C. traditional
D. serious
3. How did Samuel Mehr draw his conclusion in the new study?
A. By studying previous research results
B. By measuring the IQ of the kids.
C. By referring to some documents
D. By comparing two different groups
4. The study shows that
.
A. early music training has negative effects
B. musical lessons should be stopped at school
C. playing musical instrument makes kids more creative
D. musical training doesn’t improve kids’ intelligence
参考答案1—4、ABDD
【阅读理解】介绍说明类
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A,B,C或D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to represent all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on Earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if in his words “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above zero degrees Celsius. The seeds will be protected behind concrete walls a meter thick and high-security doors.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below zero Celsius. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s most secure gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason.Norway first proposed the idea in the 1980s. But security concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was permitted use of Spitsbergen. New Scientist says the plan won United Nations approval in October at a meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
1. The project is meant to_____.
A. increase the world’s food production in the future
B. carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C. protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
D. build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A. The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B. Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousand years ago.
C. Spitsbergen is chosen because it is away from the threat of unclear war forever.
D. Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
3. We can infer from the text that_____.
A. People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year
B. The storage center will greatly promote the development of world agriculture
C. Norway meant to have built the storage centre more than 20 years ago
D. There haven’t been any seed storage centers in the world before
4. What is probably the best title of the passage?
A. Noah’s Ark of Plant Seeds in Plan
B. The Best Place to Store Seeds
C. Concerns of World Food Supply
D. A New Way to Feed the World
【参考答案】1—4、CDCA
【由江西省吉安一中2016模拟改编】
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Historians usually just study great things that happened in the past time, but Drew Faust has made history! On February 11, 2007, Faust was named president of Harvard University. She is the first woman to hold the position in the school’s 371-year history.
“I am a historian,” she said. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the past, and about how it shapes the future. No university in the country, perhaps the world, has as remarkable a past as Harvard’s.”
“And our common enterprise is to make Harvard’s future even more remarkable than its past. That will mean recognizing and building on what we already do well. It will also mean recognizing what we don’t do as well as we should, and not being satisfied until we find ways to do better.”
It is her great desire for improvement and willingness to try out new ideas that have given Drew success in a world controlled by men. “This is a man’s world, my girl, and the sooner you learn that, the better off you’ll be.” Drew Faust recalls her mother telling her this when she was young, but she didn’t buy it.
Faust grew up in a well-off family in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley in the 1950s. Even then, she was a trailblazer(先驱). A conversation with her family’s black handyman (零工) and driver inspired her to write a letter, on school notebook paper, to President Dwight Eisenhower.
She asked that he help bring US citizens together in the south, a much divided part of the country at the time.
“Drew Faust is a historian with her eyes on the future,” said Susan Graham, a professor of Harvard. Many of the university’s schools said that they believe Harvard will have a brighter future under the leadership of Drew Faust.
1. Why does the writer say Drew Faust has made history?
A. Because she is a historian.
B. Because she was president of Harvard University.
C. Because she was the first woman to be president of Harvard University.
D. Because Harvard has a remarkable past
2. What do we know about historians?
A. They usually study great things that happened in the past.
B. They are usually presidents of universities.
C. They are usually born in well-off families.
D. They are usually women.
3. What does the underlined word “buy” in the fourth paragraph mean?
A. accept
B. expect
C. purchase
D. afford
4. What did her mother mean by saying “This is a man’s world, my girl...”?
A. To encourage her to do man’s work.
B. To tell her to do things as a girl should do.
C. To ask her to be well-off.
D. To expect her to be a historian.
5. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Faust was born in the north of the US.
B. She wrote a letter to President Eisenhower when she became president of Harvard.
C. Faust’s desire for improvement and willingness to try out new ideas has given her success.
D. Historians just care about great things that happened in the past.
【参考答案】1—5、CAABC
阅读理解。阅读下列短文, 从给的四个选项 (A、B、C和D) 中, 选出最佳选项。
Maggie was very glad that James was not a frequent visitor to the house. So far as the children were concerned, they had a mystery about him that stirred their imagination. He stirred Maggie’s anger, however, so that she often said to her husband, “It’s mercy that brother of yours doesn’t come oftener.”
In fact James came once a year, unexpectedly, around eight o’clock in the evening, and he stayed for six hours of close discussion with his brother. His arrival was a signal to the children that their bedtime would be delayed. Not that he ever spoke to them or played with them. He took no notice of them, as if he was unable to see children, at least until the time came for him to go. Instead, after his first greeting and a careless kiss, James took no notice of Maggie either, except to add, “You’ll be getting on with the supper, Maggie.” Such was his regard for her.
Maggie paid him back in her own way. She kept the children up, the four of them, to keep her company, she said, but of course they sang and made a noise and broke the endless sound of James’s voice. Very late, they dropped off to sleep in their chairs. Then, when James was about to go, Maggie woke them up and so more or less forced him to part with four shillings before he left. That gave her some satisfaction, for James, though rich, was mean. He always went home by the last train, just after two o’clock.
Maggie’s children secretly stared at their uncle. They could not forget that he had, in their mother’s words, “lost two wives and taken a third, ” They wondered about those two unfortunate lost ladies. They asked each other what their fate had been, and if neither could ever be found again. James never brought his third wife with him nor ever mentioned her. The children decided that he must be so frightened of losing her that he never allowed her outside the door.
1. The underlined word “mercy” in the text most probably means _______.
A. loss
B. wonder
C. lucky thing
D. terrible thing
2. Maggie never prepared anything special for James because _______.
A. he was a man difficult to please
B. she never knew when he was coming
C. she was too busy looking after her children
D. he never stayed long enough for a meal
3. What do we know about James’ behavior?
A. He was a kind man, with love for the family.
B. He was generous, especially towards his brother.
C. He was anxious to please the family, especially the kids.
D. He was rude to his sister-in-law.
4. Maggie felt pleased when _______.
A. she paid James the money that she owed him
B. James gave some money to the children
C. she had to wake James up to catch his train
D. James thanked her for the nice supper
5. The children did not realize that two of James’ wives _______.
A. had been dead
B. suffered from loss of memory
C. had run away from him
D. might appear again one day
【答案与解析】
本文讲Maggie和她的孩子们对他们的叔叔James来访的不欢迎。
1. C。词义猜测题。Maggie不喜欢James的来访, 由此可以说他不常来是一件幸运的事，所以答案为C。
2. B。事实细节题。根据 In fact James came once a year, unexpectedly可知答案为B。
3. D。推理判断题。根据 except to add, “You’ll be getting on with the supper, Maggie.” Such was his regard for her可知他对Maggie的态度不是很友好，故答案为D。
4. B。推理判断题。根据 Maggie woke them up and so more or less forced him to part with four shillings before he left. That gave her some satisfaction可知答案为B。
5. A。推理判断题。根据 They wondered about those two unfortunate lost ladies可知答案为A。