Module 4 Great Scientists
阅读理解提速练——练速度
(限时：20分钟)
A
(2016·华中师大附中高三上学期期中检测)Chinese female scientist Tu Youyou won the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine on October 5 for her discoveries concerning a novel treatment against malaria (疟疾). This is the first Nobel Prize given to a Chinese scientist for work carried out within China.
Tu shared the prize with Irishborn William Campbell and Satoshi Omura of Japan, who were honored for their revolutionary antiroundworm treatment. 84yearold Tu is awarded this prize for her contribution to cutting the death rate of malaria, reducing patients' suffering and promoting mankind's health. Although she received several medical awards in the past, the 2015 Nobel Prize is definitely the most privilege reward that recognizes Tu's dedication and perseverance in discovering artemisinin (青蒿素), the key drug that battles malariafriendly parasites (寄生虫).
However, her route to the honor has been anything but traditional. She won the Nobel Prize for medicine, but she doesn't have a medical degree or a PhD. In China, she is even being called the “threenoes” winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she's never worked overseas. No wonder her success has stirred China's national pride and helped promote confidence of native Chinese scientists.
The fact that Tu has none of these three backgrounds reminds us that science should be more accessible to all. One shall be able to become a scientist no matter what kind of background he or she comes from, as long as one dives into scientific research. There have been discussions on people who really love science but are never able to achieve much during their whole life. Their contributions can never be ignored. They work so hard to prove the wrong way so that the future researchers will be closer to the right one.
As the first Chinese mainland Nobel Prize Winner of natural science award, Tu's recordbreaking winning also serves as a reminder to those who are too eager for instant success. Science is never about instant success. Tu spent decades on scientific research before its value is officially acknowledged. There is no way to measure how much one devotes to science and compare it with how much reward he or she may get.
语篇解读：本文是一篇议论文。中国女科学家屠呦呦获得了2015年度诺贝尔医学奖，作为一名“三无”无医学学位、无博士学位、无海外经历获奖者，她带给我们很多值得思考的东西。
1．We can know from the text that ________.
A．Tu worked at home and abroad to conduct her research
B．Tu got the Nobel Prize for her antiroundworm treatment
C．the Nobel Prize is the first award to recognize her work
D．her discovery of artemisinin has helped to cut malaria death rate
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据第三段第三句中“she's never worked overseas”可知A项错误；根据第二段第一句可知，进行antiroundworm treatment的是爱尔兰和日本的两位科学家，故B项错误；根据第二段最后一句可知，屠呦呦曾经获得过几个医学奖项，故C项错误。根据第二段第二句可知D项正确。
2．The author seems to agree that a person who is more likely to become a scientist is the one with________.
A．a sense of national pride
B．relevant academic knowledge
C．a desire to achieve success
D．enthusiasm for scientific research
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据第四段第二句可知，一个人无论什么背景、来自何处，只要专心于科学研究，就有可能成为一名科学家，故选D。
3．In writing the passage, the author intends to________.
A．inform readers of the news and make comments
B．discourage the pursuit of instant success in science
C．remind readers of the principles of scientific research
D．praise the award winner and encourage scientific research
解析：选A 写作意图题。通读全文可知，作者首先告知大家屠呦呦获奖的消息，然后对此进行评论，故选A。
B
(2016·石家庄高三教学质检二)Almost everybody in America will spend a part of his or her life behind a shopping cart. They will in a lifetime, push the chromeplated_contraptions many miles. But few will know — or even think to ask — who it was that invented them.
Sylvan N. Goldman invented the shopping cart in 1937. At that time he was in the supermarket business. Every day he would see shoppers lugging groceries around in baskets they had to carry.
One day Goldman suddenly had the idea of putting baskets on wheels. The wheeled baskets would make shopping much easier for his customers, and would help to attract more business.
On June 4, 1937, Goldman's first carts were ready for use in his market. He was terribly excited on the morning of that day as customers began arriving. He couldn't wait to see them using his invention.
But Goldman was disappointed. Most shoppers gave the carts a long look, but hardly anybody would give them a try.
After a while, Goldman decided to ask customers why they weren't using his carts. “Don't you think this arm is strong enough to carry a shopping basket？” one shopper replied.
But Goldman wasn't beaten yet. He knew his carts would be a great success if only he could persuade people to give them a try. To this end, Goldman hired a group of people to push carts around his market and pretend they were shopping! Seeing this, the real customers gradually began copying the phony (假的) customers.
As Goldman had hoped, the carts were soon attracting larger and larger numbers of customers to his market. But not only did more people come — those who came bought more. With larger easiertohandle baskets, customers unconsciously bought a greater number of items than before.
Today's shopping carts are five times larger than Goldman's original model. Perhaps that's one reason why Americans today spend more than five times as much money on food each year as they did before 1937 — the coming of the shopping cart.
语篇解读：本文是一篇记叙文，主要介绍了Goldman发明购物车的原因、经过和结果。
4．What do the underlined words “chromeplated contraptions” in the first paragraph refer to?
A．Baskets. B．Private cars.
C．Suitcases.
D．Shopping carts.
解析：选D 词义猜测题。根据画线词前的“... a part of his or her life behind a shopping cart.”可以得出，画线词的意思是购物手推车。
5．What was the purpose of Goldman's invention?
A．It was to prove him to be a good inventor.
B．It was to reduce the burden of his employees' work.
C．It was to make shopping easier and attract more business.
D．It was to help the disabled make shopping easily in his market.
解析：选C 细节理解题。根据第三段中的“... make shopping much easier for his customers, and would help to attract more business.”可知，C项正确。
6．Goldman hired a group of people to push carts around his market in order to ________.
A．attract people to buy things in his market
B．encourage people to use his shopping carts
C．make his market different from the others
D．keep the groceries from being stolen
解析：选B 细节理解题。根据第七段中的“... persuade people to give them a try.”可知，他雇一些人假装顾客在超市里面推购物车的目的是想鼓励人们使用他的购物车。
7．What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A．Goldman will become very famous because of his invention.
B．Goldman's invention will be regarded as the greatest one in the world.
C．Supermarket business has benefited a lot from Goldman's invention.
D．There will be nothing that can replace Goldman's invention.
解析：选C 推理判断题。根据最后一段的内容可知，现今购物车是Goldman发明的购物车的五倍大，那就可能是美国人今天的购物花费是购物车发明之前的五倍的一个原因。由此可推断出，超市的生意从Goldman的发明中受益匪浅。
C
(2016·甘肃省高三第一次诊断)
Washington D．C. is No.1
It is best known as a city of monument. In the middle of traffic circles or on street corners, you'll find statues, plaques (匾牌), and simple blocks of marble there. They honor the people who helped shape the US.
And on Oct. 20, Lonely Planet, one of the world's largest travel guides, named Washington D．C. the No.1 city in its list of “Best in Travel 2015”．
“The year 2015 is a fantastic year to visit Washington D．C.，” Tom Hall, editorial director of Lonely Planet, told The Guardian. “The 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination (暗杀) makes this year big for Washington D．C. The famous top hat of America's 16th president and the gun that fired the deadly shot will be on display. Add that to its incredible eats, performing arts and museums. The nation's capital is looking better than ever.”
There are a lot of free museums in the city. When British scientist James Smithson died in 1829, he left a will giving his money to the United States to open a museum at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution. It has turned out to be a wonderful gift, and the institution now covers 19 museums. And of course, no Washington tour is complete without seeing the White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court, which are home to the three pillars (核心) of the
US government. But there is more to explore in the center of the US power. It is a city you can walk across, with wideopen avenues, old neighborhoods, and river views.
And as USA_Today notes, diversity is another reason to “fall in love with the city”. “There is a lot of diversity in Washington D．C., seen in its people, its neighborhoods and its landmarks. From Chinatown to Little Ethiopia, visiting the nation's capital is like seeing the world in one trip，” said the newspaper.
语篇解读：本文是一篇说明文，列举了种种理由力证华盛顿是2015年最值得旅游参观的地方。
8．One of the reasons why Washington D．C. is worth a visit in 2015 is that ________.
A．food and performing arts there are much better than anywhere else in the world
B．the top hat of 15th president of America will be on show in the year 2015
C．seeing the museums will make your tour in Washington D．C. complete
D．the diversity of the city offers you an opportunity to see more in one trip
解析：选D 细节理解题。根据最后一段中的“diversity is another reason to ‘fall in love with the city’”和“From Chinatown to ... in one trip”可知，多元化的华盛顿可以让你在一次旅行中看到更多，故选D项。
9．Which of the following details is RIGHT according to the article?
A．The 150th anniversary of Lincoln's assassination makes the tour more worthwhile.
B．The first reason why Washington D．C. is worth a visit is that it is the capital of the country.
C．Lonely Planet decides to make Washington D．C. a mostvisited place in 2015.
D．All the museums in Washington D．C. were named after the Smithsonian Institution.
解析：选A 正误判断题。根据第三段中的“The 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination (暗杀) makes this year big for Washington D．C.”可知，林肯被刺杀150周年纪念将成为华盛顿旅游的一大亮点，故A项正确；B项文章中并未提到华盛顿值得一游的第一个原因是它是美国的首都；C项歪曲原文，《孤独星球》的编辑主任介绍了2015年华盛顿的情况，但并不是他们决定让华盛顿成为2015年最值得旅游的城市；D项说所有的博物馆太过绝对。
10．What is USA Today according to the last paragraph?
A．A wellknown company.
B．A newspaper.
C．An advanced institution.
D．A website.
解析：选B 细节理解题。根据最后一段“And as USA_Today notes ... said the newspaper.”可知，USA Today 是一份报纸。