山西省2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练：阅读理解（25）
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
A
Scientific experiments can sometimes go wrong and when they do the results may range from the disastrous to the troubling. One such experiment took place in South America about fifty years ago. Whether its final consequences will cause serious damage or nothing more than a small trouble still remains to be seen.
The story began in 1956 when an American scientist working in Brazil decided to solve the problem of increasing the productivity of that country's bees. He imported a very active type of African bee from Tanzania and mated it with the more easy-going native variety to produce a new kind of bees. The new bees worked harder and produced twice as much honey. It seemed that Professor Kerr, for that was the scientist's name, had a total success on his hands.
Then things began to go wrong. For some reason as yet unseen, but perhaps as a result of something in their environment, the new bees began to develop extremely attacking personalities. They became bad-tempered and easy to be angry, attacked the native bees and drove them from their living places.
But worse was to follow. Having taken over the countryside, the new bees, with their dangerous stings (叮), began to attack its neighbours — cats, dogs, horses, chickens and finally man himself. A long period of terror began that has so far killed a great number of animals and about 150 human beings.
This would have been bad enough if the bees had stayed in Brazil. But now they are on the move, heading northwards in countless millions towards Central and North America, and moving at the alarming speed of 200 miles a year. The countries that lie in their path are naturally worried because it looks as if nothing can be done to stop them.
1. The results of the South American experiment_______.
A. have caused a serious trouble
B. have proved to be wrong
C. are not yet certain
D. are not important
2. The experiment mentioned in this passage was designed to_______.
A. increase the amount of honey in Brazil
B. make Brazilian bees more easy-going
C. increase the number of bees in Brazil
D. make African bees less active
3. Which of the following may be the cause of the new bees' attacking personalities?
A. Their production of honey.
B. Their hard work.
C. Their living environment.
D. Their bad temper.
4. The last paragraph implies that _______.
A. the bees have been driven to Central and North America
B. the bees may bring about trouble in more countries
C. the bees must be stopped from moving north
D. the bees prefer to live in Brazil
B
Have you ever received a gift that was so clearly , not your taste that you wondered if perhaps it had been handed to you by mistake? Worse, have you ever given a present and watched your friend look as though she had opened the wrong box? Maybe she responded with a polite “Why, thank you,” but you knew you had missed the mark. Why do presents sometimes go wrong? And what do your choices (good and had) reflect about your personal qualities?
Choosing the right is an art, I believe. It calls for empathy－the ability to put yourself into someone else’s head and heart. We’re all able to do this; in fact, we’e born with a kind of natural empathy. After the earliest period of childhood, however, it needs to be reinforced（）－by our parents, teachers, friends. When it isn’t, we’re not able to understand other people’s feelings as sharply. This can show in the gifts we select, and so can many other emotional qualities.Think back to the presents you’ve given over the past year, the time and effort you put into your selection, how much you spent, your thoughts while you were shopping, and your feelings when the receiver opened the package. Keep in mind that what you choose displays your inner world. Of course, you may express yourself differently with different friends, relatives, and other people you know.
We live in a society where exchanging presents is an important part of communication. Ignoring the tradition won’t make it go away. If you really dislike such a tradition, tell your friends ahead of time.
5. The underlined expression “you had missed the mark” means “you had failed to_________ ”.
A. make her feel better
B. keep your friendship
C. receive a present in return
D. get the expected effect
6. Which of the following is the main idea of the second paragraph?
A. Natural empathy needs to be reinforced.
B. Emotional changes influence one’s choice of gifts.
C. Selecting the right gift is an ability people are born with.
D. Choosing gifts requires one to understand the receivers.
7. In the third paragraph, the author tells us that _____________. .
A. attention should be paid to the receivers’ responses
B. one learns from what he did in the past
C. the choice of girls reflects one’s emotional qualities
D. one should spend more time choosing gifts
8. The best possible title for this passage is “___________”.
A. Ways of Choosing Gifts
B. An Important Tradition
C. Exchanging Presents
D. Message in a Gift
C
Take Action for a Better World: Volunteers Needed
Six months’ preparation in Denmark: Africa studies, team work combined with social work with risk group teenagers.
Six months’ community work in Malawi in People to People Projects: Child Aid, HIV / AIDS. Fights and Teacher Training.
Qualifications: 18 years, hard working and social engagement.
Please contact us by e-mail: takeaction@ betterworld.com.
Part-time work with Exchange Students
YOUTH International is a non-profit high school foreign exchange students organization. We welcome teenagers from over 80 countries worldwide and provide host families. The community Representative is a part-time position designed for people with a strong desire to do something rewarding in the community and earn some extra money.
Applicants best suited for this work should enjoy teenagers, have a strong interest in cross-cultural communication and feel comfortable networking. Full training and support will be provided through branch offices throughout the US. Positions available in most states.
If interested, please email staff@ youth. org or call 888—123—9872.
International Summer Job
Hi, I’m an ESL student in China. I’m 20, quiet and polite, and I speak reasonable English. I’m looking for a summer job in an English-speaking country. I can teach Chinese or do house and garden work and cook Chinese dishes. Can anybody offer me a job? I don’t need to earn much, just enough in two months ( July --- August) to pay for my return ticket to China. My goal is to improve my English and see a bit more of the world.
My email is: ram3462@ hotmail.com.
Call for Native Speaker of English
I am looking for native speakers of English to join in an experiment. This experiment is carried out over the Internet. You don’t need any specific knowledge other than understanding and speaking English at a native level. The first task will take you around 15 minutes. After this task, you can decide whether you want to continue the experiment. The tasks involve reading texts and designing questions and answers.
If you are willing to help me, then please email us: club3864@ hotmail.com
9. Who is suitable to work as a Community Representative in YOUTH International?
A. One who enjoys working with teenagers from different countries.
B. One who hopes to take action in fighting against diseases.
C. One who has a strong desire to improve his or her English.
D. One who wants to earn some pocket money in the program.
10. Where will Jack, a volunteer, receive the training before he is sent to work in Malawi?
A. In some local offices in the US.
B. In an ESL organization in China.
C. In a preparation program in Demark.
D. In an exchange student center in Africa.
11. If Mrs. Black in the US hopes to learn some Chinese at home, she may contact _______.
A. takeaction@betterworld.com
B. ram3462@hotmail.com
C. club3864@hotmail.com
D. staff@youth.org
12. What are volunteers for an experiment over the Internet supposed to do?
A. To interview people online.
B. To do some house work.
C. To offer advice on Child Aid
D. To provide language exercises.
D
He’s an old cobbler (修鞋匠) with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me: “I haven't time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street;
he'll fix them for you right away.
But I’d had my eye on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman (手艺人). “No,” I replied, “the other fellow can’t do it well. ”
“The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait” — without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap (鞋带) you might as well just throw away the pair.
My man saw I wouldn't give in, and he smiled. He wiped his hands on his blue apron (围裙), looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said,“Come back in a week. ”
I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.
“See what I can do?” he said with pride. “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work. ”
When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange, dusty felt hat, his funny accent from who-knows-where and, above all, his pride in his craft.
These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption (消费) rather than a way to realize their own abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.
13. Which of the following is true about the old cobbler?
A. He was equipped with the best repairing tools.
B. He was the only cobbler in the Marais.
C. He was proud of his skills.
D. He was a native Parisian.
14. The sentence “He was something out of an ancient legend. ” (paragraph 7) implies that _______.
A. nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him
B. it was difficult to communicate with this man
C. the man was very strange
D. the man was too old
15. According to the author, many people work just to _______.
A. realize their abilities
B. gain happiness
C. make money
D. gain respect
16. This story wants to tell us that_______.
A. craftsmen make a lot of money
B. whatever you do, do it well
C. craftsmen need self-respect
D. people are born equal
E
Silence is unnatural to man. He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness. In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and he fears silence more than anything else. Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence. If he is introduced to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a failure, a worthless person, and is full of envy of the emptiest-headed chatterbox. He knows that ninety nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure（蜡塑人像）.The aim of conversation is not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep up the buzzing sound. There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito(蚊子). But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person. Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind. He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take pert in the buzzing with his neighbors.
Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not to know the reason why human beings wish to talk. Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new. Some of them are content if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people’s ears, though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel. At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time, they just prove themselves to be successful conversationists.
17. According to the author, people make conversation to _________.
A. exchange ideas
B. prove their value
C. achieve success in life
D. overcome their fear of silence
18. By “the buzzing of a fly” (Para. 1),the author means “_________”.
A. the noise of an insect
B. a low whispering sound
C. meaningless talks
D. the voice of a chatterbox
19. According to the passage, people usually talk to their neighbors _________.
A. about whatever they have prepared
B. about whatever they want to
C. in the hope of learning something new D. in the hope of getting on well
20. What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
A. To discuss why people like talking about weather
B. To encourage people to join in conversations
C. To persuade people to stop making noises
D. To explain why people keep talking
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