Module 1 My First Day at Senior High
阅读理解提速练——练速度
(限时：20分钟)
A
(2016·江西重点中学盟校第一次联考)Students wishing to safeguard their careers against changes in the job market should opt for science rather than arts degrees, according to a survey of undergraduates.
Engineering and chemistry were considered to be the most “future proof”， as they are courses most likely to lead to an enduring and adaptable career.
Students polled by Pearson College were broadly optimistic that their chosen courses would prepare them for a world in which the job market could change dramatically during their working lives.
But opinion was sharply divided over which degrees were best for futureproof careers.
Eightytwo percent of respondents believed engineering would help develop futureproof skills, with 74 percent believing the same of chemistry and 73 percent of computer science.
But just 33 percent of undergraduates believed history would lead to a futureproof career, and 40 percent English.
However more than two thirds of students (67 percent) thought the world of work would be significantly different or completely unrecognizable in 20 years.
The findings, published today, come after Education Secretary Nicky Morgan sparked controversy with claims that teenagers should steer clear of the arts and humanities and opt for science or maths subjects if they want to access the widest range of jobs.
She said that in previous decades students would only take maths or science if they wanted to pursue a specific career such as medicine or pharmacy, but nowadays that “couldn't_be_further_from_the_truth”.
“If you wanted to do something different, or even if you didn't know what you wanted to do ... then the arts and humanities were what you chose. Because they were useful — we were told — for all kinds of jobs. Of course now we know that couldn't be further from the truth, and that the subjects that keep young people's options open and unlock doors to all sorts of careers are the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.”
She also described maths as “the subject that employers value most” and said that pupils who study Alevel maths will earn 10 percent more over their lifetime.
“These figures show us that too many young people are making choices aged 15 which will hold them back for the rest of their lives.”she said.
语篇解读：本文是一篇说明文。文章介绍了课程的选择对学生们未来的发展情况的影响。
1．In order to guarantee your future job, which kind of courses will you choose according to the survey?
A．Engineering or English.
B．History or Maths.
C．Maths or Art.
D．Engineering or Chemistry.
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据第二段“Engineering and chemistry ... an enduring and adaptable career.”可知，工程学和化学被认为是最有前景的学科，因为它们能够让人找到持久的、适应性强的职业。因此要想未来工作有保证，应选择工程学和化学。故选D项。
2．What's the students' attitude towards their chosen courses?
A．Doubtful.B．Worried.
C．Optimistic.D．Objective.
解析：选C 观点态度题。根据第三段“Students polled by Pearson College were broadly optimistic that their chosen courses ...”可知，学生对所选择的课程持乐观态度。故选C项。
3．How do you understand the underlined words?
A．It is far away from the truth.
B．It's to the truth.
C．It couldn't be closer to the truth.
D．It reflects the truth.
解析：选A 句意理解题。根据画线部分前的“She said that in previous decades ... or pharmacy ...”并结合转折连词及时间状语“but nowadays”可推知，现在仅仅选择数学和自然科学这两门课是远远不够的。因此画线部分的意思是“现在这是很不符合实际情况的”。故选A项。
4．What did Nicky Morgan indicate in her claim?
A．If you want to do something different, the arts and humanities are what you choose now.
B．STEM subjects can make young people choose their future jobs freely.
C．At college, young people should make choices for their lives.
D．Maths and science are considered to be the subjects that employers value most.
解析：选B 推理判断题。根据倒数第三段最后一句可知，STEM课程为学生能够自由选择各种职业提供了可能。故选B项。
B
(2016·济南市高三调研)For twenty years, I saved all my college course notes and textbooks: that's a lot of paper.
Worse, it's not easy to carry them around — and trust me, they aren't light — on at least seven moves. Yet I never once looked at them. They sat in our basement, covered in a thick layer of dust. If books and papers could wonder, they'd wonder why they were still under our stairs after all those years. When would the Big Day come?
Well, the Big Day eventually did arrive; only it was different than expected. My wife, always more accepting changes than I am, finally talked me into clearing out the entire mess.
The pain I experienced was also unexpected. What hurt me was to come across those terrible papers I'd written, which reminded me of my poor study habits, and an embarrassing lack of comprehension. It was great to get rid of them. But it was also a clearing of personal history.
At first, I struggled with this. The truth was in the record that my books, my notes, and my papers were primary source materials, documenting an important time in my life. To clear them out was to clear out the truth.
What I've learned since taking this leap is that the process is more important than the truth. I feel as if much of my real education during my college years isn't in the documents but now in me.
So I am glad to free myself of this physical burden. And what's better is that I don't need to look back to those painful moments. They belong to the past.
You might want to consider doing something similar, either under the stairs of your basement or in your mind.
What is the personal rubbish piling in your life? Clear it out and make your life awesome.
语篇解读：本文是一篇夹叙夹议文。作者下决心清除了堆积多年的大学课本和笔记后，从开始纠结“清除了过去的记录，就清除了过去的历史”到最终明白“过程才最重要”的道理。5．Why was the author finally determined to desert all the college materials?
A．Because his wife persuaded him to.
B．Because they were of no use at all.
C．Because they were heavy on the moves.
D．Because they occupied space too long.
解析：选A 细节理解题。根据文章第三段的第二句“My wife ... finally talked me into clearing out the entire mess.”可知，作者的妻子说服了作者，故选A项。
6．The author struggled at the very beginning for ________.
A．a sense of pain
B．a sense of embarrassment
C．a sense of regret for the past
D．a sense of losing part of his history
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据文章第四段中的“But it was also a clearing of personal history.”及第五段中的“To clear them out was to clear out the truth.”可知，作者纠结的是“清除了过去的记录，就清除了过去的历史”，故选D项。
7．What does the underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refer to?
A．The past experiences.
B．The wasted collegerelated materials.
C．The rubbish in the basement.
D．Physical and psychological mess.
解析：选D 代词指代题。根据文章最后两段中的“either under the stairs of your basement or in your mind”以及“What is the personal rubbish piling in your life？”可知，it指代的是物质上和心理上的垃圾，故D项正确。
8．What would be the best title for the passage?
A．Let It Go
B．Sort It Out
C．Give up the Past
D．Forget the History
解析：选A 标题归纳题。结合全文内容可知，本文主要讲述的是该放弃生活中的“垃圾”的时候，我们就应该任凭它去，并且文章在篇末点题，“Clear it out”是关键词，故A项最适合作文章标题。
C
(2016·四川省南充市第三次适应性考试)Two recent studies have found that punishment is not the best way to influence behavior.
One showed that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards. Researchers at Harvard University in the United States and the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden did the study.
They had about two hundred college students play a version of the game known as the Prisoner's Dilemma. The game is based on the tension (紧张气氛) between the interests of an individual and a group. The students played in groups of four. Each player could win points for the group, so they would all gain equally. But each player could also reward or punish each of the other three players, at a cost to the punisher.
Harvard researcher David Rand says the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation. The groups that rewarded it the most earned about twice as much in the game as the groups that rewarded it the least. And the more a group punished itself, the lower its earnings were. The group with the most punishment earned twentyfive percent less than the group with the least punishment. The study appeared last month in the journal Science.
The other study involved children. It was presented last month in California at a conference on violence and abuse. Researchers used intelligence tests given to two groups. More
than eight hundred children aged two to four the first time they were tested. More than seven hundred children aged five to nine.
The two groups were retested four years later, and the study compared the results with the first test. Both groups contained children whose parents used physical punishment and children whose parents did not. The study says the IQs — or intelligence quotients — of the younger children who were not spanked were five points higher than those who were. In the older group, the difference was almost three points.
Murray Strauss from the University of New Hampshire worked with Mallie Paschall from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Professor Strauss has written extensively about physical punishment of children. He says the more they are spanked, the slower their mental development. He also looked at average IQs in other nations and found them lower where spanking was more common.
语篇解读：本文是一篇议论文。文章通过两项研究的数据和结果证明了体罚不是规范行为举止的最好方法。
9．Which could be the best title of the passage?
A．Punishment
B．The Best Way to Influence Behavior
C．Punishment or Reward: Which Works Better on Behavior?
D．Two Recent Studies
解析：选C 标题归纳题。通读全文可知，文章通过两项研究来证明：表扬和惩罚这两种方式哪种在规范人的行为方面更有效。C项概括了文章内容，适合做标题。故答案选C。
10．The underlined word “spanked” probably means “______”．
A．wonB．punished
C．testedD．praised
解析：选B 词义猜测题。根据第六段第二句可知，两组都有父母实行体罚和不实行体罚的孩子。画线词所在句意为“这个研究表明，在年龄较小的孩子中，没有受到体罚的孩子的智商比受到体罚的孩子高五分”。因此画线词的意思与“体罚”意思相近。故答案选B。
11．According to the passage, the researchers may agree the best way to influence behavior is ________.
A．rewarding good behavior
B．correcting bad behavior
C．punishing badlybehaved children
D．praising wellbehaved children
解析：选A 推理判断题。根据第四段可知，成员之间互相奖励的团队要比互相惩罚的团队得分高。由此可推知，专家认为规范行为举止的最好方式是表扬好的行为。故答案选A。
12．The author develops the passage ________.
A．in order of time
B．in order of importance
C．by describing his experiences
D．by using quotations (引证) and statistics
解析：选D 写作手法题。通读全文可知，文章通过两项研究的数据和结果证明了体罚不是规范行为举止的最好方法。故答案选D。