2017高考英语阅读理解解析版汇编（72）
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。
Decision- making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative(负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
“Stress affects how people learn, ”says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress. ”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images (影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress—at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also less easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision- making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
Men who had been stressed by the cold- water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk- taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better; when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
1. We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to .
A. keep rewards better in their memory
B. recall consequences more effortlessly
C. make risky decisions more frequently
D. learn a subject more effectively
2. According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their .
A. ways of making choices B. preference for pleasure
C. tolerance of punishmentsD. responses to suggestions
3. The research has proved that in a stressful situation, .
A. women find it easier to fall into certain habits
B. men have a greater tendency to slow down
C. women focus more on outcomes
D. men are more likely to take risks
【参考答案】 1—3、AAD
较难题目特训：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。
For five days, Edmonton’s Downtown Park is transformed into one huge stage where artists are able to share their talents, and where people are able to celebrate and enjoy themselves. Since its beginning in 1980, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival has been commemorating (纪念) the true feeling of what folk music is all about and that’s the traditional togetherness (友爱) that is felt when people gather to share stories and feelings through song.
This year will be the sixth year when volunteer Riedel will be offering up her time to the festival. “People coming off a busy spring and summer have a moment of relaxation,” Riedel said. “It’s really easy to relax, and it’s great seeing family and friends have fun together.” These families and friends come from all different kinds of musical tastes. People who take pleasure in Blues are there, so are people who love Bluegrass. This festival does its best to develop everyone’s musical interests.
With so many years of experience, the festival has become a well-oiled machine, and does whatever it can to make attendees feel as comfortable as possible. There are free water stations throughout the venue (举办地) for people to fill up their travel cups. When people buy food, reusable dishes are given a $2 plate fee, but that is returned when the plate is brought back.
The festival has completely sold out of tickets, and in record time. But with big names such as Van Morrison and Jakob Dylan, it’s easy to see how that was going to happen. There is no parking area during the festival, so using the Park & Ride system or Edmonton Transit is highly recommended. A bike lock-up area is provided and will be available Thursday until Sunday one hour before the gates open until 45 minutes after the gates close.
The Edmonton Folk Music Festival begins on Wednesday, Aug. 4 with Van Morrison playing the special donation fund (基金) concert, and will finish up on Sunday, Aug. 8.
1. The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is held mainly to .
A. gather people with different musical tastes
B. remind people of the real sense of folk music
C. exhibit the good voices of great talents in folk music
D. collect old stories of folk music
2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Riedel has volunteered for the festival for at least 5 years.
B. It’s hard for people to appreciate Blues.
C. It costs people a little to fill up their cups from water stations.
D. People have to pay $2 for a plate of food.
3. We can learn from the passage that .
A. people can get tickets easily for the festival
B. the Edmonton Folk Music Festival is well organized
C. driving one’s own car to the festival is highly recommended
D. bikes are available at the festival from Wednesday to Sunday
4. What would be the best title for this passage?
A. Folk Music of Blues B. One Festival for All
C. Festival for Family Gathering D. Edmonton’s Downtown Park
【参考答案】1-4 BABB
较难题目特训：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。
Feeling blue about the world? “Cheer up,” says science writer Matt Ridley.” The world has never been a better place to live in, and it will keep on getting better both for humans and for nature.”
Ridley calls himself a rational optimist—rational, because he’s carefully weighed the evidence; optimistic, because that evidence shows human progress to be both unavoidable and good. And this is what he’s set out to prove from a unique point of view in his most recent book, The Rational Optimist. He views mankind as a grand enterprise that, on the whole, has done little but progress for 100,000 years. He backs his findings with hard facts gathered through years of research.
Here’s how he explains his views.
1) Shopping fuels invention
It is reported that there are more than ten billion different products for sale in London alone. Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty, our own generation has access to more nutritious food, more convenient transport, bigger houses, better cars, and, of course, more pounds and dollars than any who lived before us. This will continue as long as we use these things to make other things. The more we specialize and exchange, the better off we’ll be.
2) Brilliant advances
One reason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer-lived and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs—food, clothing, fuel and shelter—have grown a lot cheaper. Take one example. In 1800 a candle providing one hour’s light cost six hours’ work. In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes’ work to pay for. In 1950 it was eight seconds. Today it’s half second.
3) Let’s not kill ourselves for climate change
Mitigating(减轻) climate change could prove just as damaging to human welfare as climate change itself. A child that dies from indoor smoke in a village, where the use of fossil-fuel(化石燃烧) electricity is forbidden by well-meaning members of green political movements trying to save the world, is just as great a tragedy as a child that dies in a flood caused by climate change. If climate change proves to be mild, but cutting carbon causes real pain, we may well find that we have stopped a nose-bleed by putting a tourniquet(止血带) around our necks.
1. What is the theme of Ridley’s most recent book?
A. Weakness of human nature.
B. Concern about climate change.
C. Importance of practical thinking.
D. Optimism about human progress.
2. How does Ridley look at shopping?
A. It encourages the creation of things.
B. It results in shortage of goods.
C. It demands more fossil fuels.
D. It causes a poverty problem.
3. The candle and lamp example is used to show that .
A. oil lamps give off more light than candles
B. shortening working time brings about a happier life
C. advanced technology helps to produce better candles
D. increased production rate leads to lower cost of goods
4. What does the last sentence of the passage imply?
A. Cutting carbon is necessary in spite of the huge cost.
B. Overreaction to climate change may be dangerous.
C. People’s health is closely related to climate change.
D. Careless medical treatment may cause great pain.
【参考答案】1-4 DADB
较难题目特训：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。
Howling is a behaviour commonly observed among a wolf pack. As pack animals, wolves work together to hunt and rely on howling as an important means of communication among each other. There are different explanations of a wolf’s howl and it appears that there may be more to discover.
One theory is that wolves howl to bond better together. It’s almost as if howling together helps the pack stay together. Perhaps something similar to people feeling a sense of involvement with each other when singing a song together. But this theory may be wrong, explains Fred H. Harrington, a professor who studies wolf behaviour.
Indeed, there have been times when wolves have been seen one moment howling in a chorus, and the next, quarreling among each other. It appears that usually the lowest-ranking members of the pack may actually be“punished” for joining in the chorus at times. So is howling a way to strengthen a social bond or just a way to reconfirm status among its members? —Why do wolves howl for sure?
What is clear, however, is that howling is often used among packmates to locate each other. Hunting grounds are distant and it happens that wolves may separate from one another at times. When this happens, howling appears to be an excellent means of gathering.
Howling, interestingly, is a contagious behaviour. When one wolf starts to howl, very likely others will follow. This is often seen to occur in the morning, as if wolves were doing some sort of “roll call” where wolves all howl together to report their presence.
1. What is the possible similarity between wolves’ howling together and humans’ singing in chorus?
A. The act of calling each other.
B. The sense of accomplishment.
C. The act of hunting for something.
D. The sense of belonging to a group.
2. Why does Harrington think the “social bond” theory may be wrong?
A. Wolves separate from each other after howling.
B. Wolves tend to protect their hunting grounds.
C. Wolves sometimes have quarrels after howling together.
D. Wolves of low rank are encouraged to join in the chorus.
3. Researchers are sure that wolves often howl to .
A. show their ranks
B. find their companions
C. express their loneliness
4. “Howling. . . is a contagious behaviour” (in the last paragraph)means .
A. howling is a signal for hunting
B. howling is a way of communication
C. howling often occurs in the morning
D. howling spreads from one to another
【参考答案】1-4 DCBD
较难题目特训：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。
According to the US government, wind farms off the Pacific coast could produce 900 gigawatts of electricity every year. Unfortunately, the water there is far too deep for even the tallest windmills (see picture) to touch bottom. An experiment under way off the coast of Norway, however, could help put them anywhere.
The project, called Hywind, is the world’s first large-scale deepwater wind turbine (涡轮发电机). Although it uses a fairly standard 152-ton, 2. 3-megawatt turbine, Hywind represents totally new technology. The turbine will be fixed 213 feet above the water on a floating spar(see picture), a technology Hywind’s creator, the Norwegian company StatoilHydro, has developed recently. The steel spar, which is filled with stones and goes 328 feet below the sea surface, will be tied to the ocean floor by three cables (缆索); these will keep the spar stable and prevent the turbine from moving up and down in the waves. Hywind’s stability (稳定性) in the cold and rough sea would prove that even the deepest corners of the ocean are suitable for wind power. If all goes according to plan, the turbine will start producing electricity six miles off the coast of southwestern Norway as early as September.
To produce electricity on a large scale, a commercial wind farm will have to use bigger turbines than Hywind does, but it’s difficult enough to balance such a large turbine so high on a floating spar in the middle of the ocean. To make that turbine heavier, the whole spar’s centre of gravity must be moved much closer to the ocean’s surface. To do that, the company plans to design a new kind of wind turbine, one whose gearbox (变速箱) sits at sea level rather than behind the blades (see picture).
Hywind is a test run, but the benefits for perfecting floating wind-farm technology could be extremely large. Out at sea, the wind is often stronger and steadier than close to shore, where all existing offshore windmills are planted. Deep-sea farms are invisible from land, which helps overcome the windmill-as-eyesore objection. If the technology catches on, it will open up vast areas of the planet’s surface to one of the best low-carbon power sources available.
1. The Hywind project uses totally new technology to ensure the stability of .
A. the cables which tie the spar to the ocean floor
B. the spar which is floating in deep-sea water
C. the blades driven by strong and steady sea wind
D. the stones filled in the spar below the sea surface
2. To balance a bigger turbine high on a floating spar, a new type of turbine is to be designed with its gearbox sitting .
A. on the sea floorB. on the spar top
C. at sea level
D. behind the blades
3. Wide applications of deepwater wind power technology can .
A. solve the technical problems of deepwater windmills
B. make financial profits by producing more turbines
C. settle the arguments about environmental problems
D. explore low-carbon power resources available at sea
【参考答案】1-3 BCD