专题能力训练二十一 阅读表达(三)
能力升级训练第65页
A
My name is Clara.I still remember that chilly December day,sitting in science class.I’d finished a worksheet early and picked up a TIME for Kids magazine.A piece of news caught my eye:NASA was holding an essay contest to name its Mars rover(火星探测器).Before I even knew anything else about it,a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind,Curiosity.
I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay.That afternoon,I raced home,sat down at the computer,and typed until my fingers ached.“Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind...”
Five months later,my mon received a phone call,and immediately,a wide smile spread across her face.
On August 5,2016,at 10:31 p.m,the rover named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars,and I was honored to have a front-row seat in NASA.
Curiosity is such an important part of who I am.I have always been fascinated by the stars,the planets,the sky and the universe.I remember as a little girl,my grandmother and I would sit together in the backyard for hours.She’d tell me stories and point out the stars,Grandma lived in China,thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas,but the stars kept us together even when we were apart.They were always there,yet there was so much I didn’t know about them.That’s what I love so much about space.
People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars.My answer is simple because we’re curious.We human beings do not just hole up in one place.We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.
1.How did Clara get the news about the essay contest?(no more than 10 words)
答案:By reading a Time for Kids magazine
Or:From a Time for Kids magazine
2.Why did Clara have a front-row seat in NASA?(no more than 10 words)
答案:She won the essay contest held by NASA.
Or:She named the Mars rover “Curiosity”.
Or:“Curiosity” was chosen as the name of the Mars rover.
3.What does Clara remember about the time spent with Grandma?(no more than 15 words)
答案:She sat together with Grandma listening to her stories about the stars.
Or:Her grandma told her stories about the stars.
Or:They sat together talking about the stars.
4.What does the underlined phrase “hole up”mean?(1 word)
答案:Stay/Remain/Live/Hide
5.In your opinion,why is curiosity important?(no more than 20 words)
答案:Curiosity is important because it leads to discovery or invention.
Or:With curiosity,we keep asking questions and exploring the world unknown.
Or:Curiosity drives us through our lives so that we never stop wondering about the things beyond our knowledge.
B
Born in 1949,Diana Nyad took an early interest in swimming as a sport and was a Florida State High School swimming champion.Like many young athletes,she had Olympic dreams,but a serious illness kept her from competing in the Games.The disappointment didn’t stop her from going forward.Instead,she became interested in marathon swimming.A brilliant athlete,she was well-conditioned for spending long periods of time in the water.As a long-distance swimmer,she would compete against herself and the obstacles presented by distance,danger,cold,and exhaustion.
For ten years Nyad devoted herself to becoming one of the world’s best long-distance swimmers.In 1970,she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario,setting the women’s record for the course.In 1972 she set another record by swimming 102.5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida.Then she broke a third record when swimming around Manhattan Island in 1975.
Nyad attempted to swim the distance between Florida and Cuba in 1978.Though the span of water is less than 100 miles wide,it is rough and dangerous.After battling the water for two days,she had to give up for the sake of her own health and safety.Even so,she impressed the world with her courage and strong desire to succeed.For Nyad her strength of purpose was just as important as reaching Cuba.That is how she defined success.It did not matter that her swim came up short;she believed she had touched the other shore.
When Nyad ended her career as a swimmer,she continued to try new things—travelling the world as a reporter,writing books and giving public speeches about her life.Diana Nyad works to inspire others,just as she did when she swam the waters of the world.
1.What prevented Nyad from taking part in the Olympic Games?(no more than 5 words)
答案:A serious illness (did).
2.What does the underlined word “obstacles” mean?(1 word)
答案:Difficulties/Problems/Troubles/Challenges.
3.What achievement did Nyad make in 1970?(no more than 10 words.)
答案:She swam a ten-mile marathon and set women’s record.
Or:She swam a ten-mile marathon,setting the women’s record.
Or:She set the women’s record for a ten-mile marathon swimming.
4.Why did Nyad believe that she had touched the other shore?(no more than 10 words)
答案:Because she had tried her best (to fulfill the task).
Or:Her strength of purpose was as important as reaching Cuba.
5.Please explain how you are inspired by Nyad.(no more than 20 words)
答案:I am encouraged by her determination and strong will.
Or:I am inspired by her courage and strong desire to succeed.
Or:From her I learned that once we set a goal,we should try hard to achieve it.
Or:We should never give up in the face of difficulty/failure.
Or:We should never stop trying new things and we may achieve success in different fields.
C
Frog is the 11th full-length novel by Mo Yan,who won the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature on October 11,2016.Compared to his previous novels paying more attention to the historical fantasy (幻想) color,Frog is closer to the historical reality writing.It mainly talks about the whole life of the rural doctor “Aunt”.Her father was a surgeon of the Eighth Route Army,who was very famous in Jiaodong Area.“Aunt” learned medicine from him and began new methods for delivery (接生) in the country.With her new methods,she delivered one baby after another and soon replaced the “fingersmith” (接生婆) in the women’s hearts.The babies delivered by “Aunt” were everywhere in the high-density northeast country,so were the dead in the hands of “Aunt”.As a doctor,“Aunt” tried her best to perform her duty and at the same time carried out the family planning policy with her pupils in China’s countryside.Letting the men with babies ligated (结扎),and the pregnant women with babies aborted (流产) became the two great things of her everyday work.
The novel tells us the life experiences of “Aunt”,a female rural doctor,who were engaged in the department of gynecology and obstetrics (妇产科工作) for more than 50 years.It reflects the nearly 50-year rural fertility (生育) history in the new China and describes the difficult and complicated historical process that China got through in order to control the population violent growth,and carry out the national policy of family planning.It was a great success at last.
The novel Frog had been brewed (酝酿) for over 10 years,written for four years,rewritten three times and was published in December 2009 by Shanghai literature and art publishing house.
1.Who won the 2016 Nobel Prize for literature on October 11,2016?(within 2 words)
答案:Mo Yan.
2.Where is Frog different from Mo Yan’s previous novels?(within 8 words)
答案:It is closer to the historical reality writing.
3.What did “Aunt” do in the northeast country as a doctor besides delivering?(within 7 words)
答案:She carried out the family planning policy.
4.How has the national policy of family planning been carried out in the new China’s countryside in the past 50 years?(within 3 words)
答案:Difficult and complicated.
5.How long was “Aunt” engaged in the department of gynecology and obstetrics?(within 5 words)
答案:For over 50 years.
D
You have to log on to your school’s online system to check your grades,but you find the system is kind of inconvenient.What do you do?
When Daniel Brooks was a senior at Pioneer High School in the US,he came up with a Silicon Valley-style solution;he developed an iPhone app (application,应用程序) IC Connector.
When he tried out his school’s new Web-based student information system earlier this year,he immediately noticed some shortcomings.He could no longer view his current grades for all his classes at once.Checking several classes required several clicks—which for a teenager is so much work.To save himself all this trouble,Brooks developed the app and sold it on the Apple app store.Now it has 2,300 users who have downloaded it across the US.
“It ended up on every iPhone and iPad and portable device that any student and teacher had on campus,” said Scott Peterson,the campus tech support worker at Pioneer High.
Brooks said he didn’t create the app to get rich—it is free.“A student is not going to want to pay 99 cents,” Brooks said.“They just want to see their grades nice and easy.”
However,in the months that followed,Brooks experienced highs and lows.His app is now so successful that users want more;in particular,his teachers have started pushing him to develop a version for them.However,the company Infinite Campus,which developed the information system,has been less positive.
The company said in an e-mail that he was confusing users and violating the company’s copyright by using Infinite Campus’ name and logo in the app’s name.Brooks’ father,Michael Brooks,has offered to change the name,but says he needs time to get Apple’s approval.Daniel also e-mailed and called Infinite Campus.They got no response.
Daniel Brooks starts at a California university this autumn.Despite Infinite Campus’ attitude,he continues to try to improve the app and hopes to put out an Android version soon.
1.Why did Daniel Brooks develop an iPhone app IC Connector?(within 8 words)
答案:Because he wanted to make checking grades easier.
2.What is Brooks’ teachers’ attitude towards the app he developed?(within 14 words)
答案:They appreciate it and are pushing him to develop a version for them.
3.What does Paragraph 7 talk about between Infinite Campus and Brooks?(within 7 words)
答案:It talks about the conflict between them.
4.What does Brooks’ aim to do now?(within 10 words)
答案:To improve the app and design an Android version.
5.Use one word to describe Brooks.
答案:Creative./Inventive./Innovative.