阅读理解精讲精炼19
101.
You've just come home, after living abroad for a few years. Since you've been away, has this country changed for the better—or for the worse?
If you've just arrived back in the UK after a fortnight's holiday, small changes have probably surprised you—anything from a local greengrocer suddenly being replaced by a mobilephone shop to someone in your street moving house.
So how have things changed to people coming back to Britain after seven, ten or even 15 years living abroad? What changes in society can they see that the rest of us have hardly noticed—or now take for granted? To find out, we asked some people who recently returned.
Debi: When we left, Cheltenham, my home town, was a town of white, middleclass families—all very conservative(保守的). The town is now home to many eastern Europeans and lots of Australians, who come here mainly to work in hotels and tourism. There are even several shops only for foreigners.
Having been an immigrant (移民) myself, I admire people who go overseas to find a job. Maybe if I lived in an inner city where unemployment was high, I'd think differently, but I believe foreign settlers have improved this country because they're more openminded and often work harder than the natives.
Christine: As we flew home over Britain, both of us remarked how green everything looked. But the differences between the place we'd left behind and the one we returned to were brought sharply into focus as soon as we landed.
To see policemen with guns in the airport for the first time was frightening—in Cyprus, they're very relaxed—and I got pulled over by customs officers just for taking a woolen sweater with some metalmade buttons out of my case in the arrivals hall. Everyone seemed to be on guard. Even the airport carhire firm wanted a credit card rather than cash because they said their vehicles had been used by bank robbers.
But anyway, this is still a green, beautiful country. I just wish more people would appreciate what they've got.
51．After a short overseas holiday, people tend to ________.
A．notice small changes
B．expect small changes
C．welcome small changes
D．exaggerate small changes
52．How does Debi look at the foreign settlers?
A．Cautiously.
B．Positively.
C．Sceptically.
D．Critically.
53．When arriving at the airport in Britain, Christine was shocked by ________.
A．the relaxed policemen
B．the messy arrivals hall
C．the tight security
D．the bank robbers
54．Which might be the best title for the passage?
A．Life in Britain.
B．Back in Britain.
C．Britain in Future.
D．Britain in Memory.
【要点综述】此篇涉及人们对家乡变化的关注，短期离家和长期离开家乡的人们对家乡变化的感悟是不一样的。
51．A 信息理解题。由第二段第一句…small changes have probably surprised you…可知答案。其他选项不能根据文章得出。
52．B 推理判断题。由第五段中but I believe foreign settlers have improved this country because…可知B项正确。
53．C 信息理解题。由倒数第二段第一句…policemen with guns in the airport…及最后一句…their vehicles had been used by bank robbers. 可知C为正确答案。
54．B 主旨大意题。第一段即为全文的主旨段，从全文也可看出文章讲的是离开家乡一段时间再回来，人们便会感知家乡的变化。 When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.
It goes like this: You can't take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks to the rail station. We'd take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the train, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn't like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom's friend was waiting to give us a ride home—our first car ride of the day.
The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal (多方式的). She understood that depending on cars only was a
failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence—the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.
Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just lightrail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox—and often an inadequate one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.
On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestrut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where's the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?
I'm writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn't try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.
55．Which was forbidden by Mom on Transportation Days?
A．Having a car ride.
B．Taking the train twice.
C．Buying more than one toy.
D．Touring the historic district.
56．According to the writer, what was the greatest benefit of her Transportation Days?
A．Building confidence in herself.
B．Reducing her use of private cars.
C．Developing her sense of direction.
D．Giving her knowledge about vehicles.
57．The underlined word “paralyzed”(in Para.5) is closest in meaning to “________”．
A．displayed
B．justified
C．ignored
D．ruined
58．Which means of transportation does the writer probably disapprove of?
A．Airplane.
B．Subway.
C．Train.
D．Car.
【要点综述】此篇讲述了作者乘车的经历，折射出西方父母注意让孩子从小就接触和了解社会，从而培养孩子认识问题和解决问题的能力。
55．B 信息理解题。由第二段第一句It goes like this：You can't take any means of
transportation more than once.可知B项中twice不可以做，所以B项正确。
56．A 推理判断题。由第三段中The good thing about Transportation Days is not only…She understood that depending on cars …above all, a failure of confidence…可知A为正确答案。
57．D 词意猜测题。paralyze使不能正常工作，此处根据句意为“破坏，毁坏”。母亲帮“我”解开其中的奥秘，否则“我”当初的尝试会遭到破坏。由后面的几个问句即可得出其情景意义。其他选项不符合句意。
58．A 信息理解题。最后一段的on an airplane, …we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all.可知A正确。
103.
How is it that siblings(兄弟姐妹) can turn out so differently? One answer is that in fact each sibling grows up in_a_different_family. The firstborn is, for a while, an only child, and therefore has a completely different experience of the parents than those born later. The next child is, for a while, the youngest, until the situation is changed by a new arrival. The mother and father themselves are changing and growing up too. One sibling might live in a stable and close family in the first few years; another might be raised in a family crisis, with a disappointed mother or an angry father.
Sibling competition was identified as an important shaping force as early as in 1918. But more recently, researchers have found many ways in which brothers and sisters are a lasting force in each others' lives. Dr. Annette Henderson says firstborn children pick up vocabulary more quickly than their siblings. The reason for this might be that the later children aren't getting the same oneonone time with parents. But that doesn't mean that the younger children have problems with language development. Laterborns don't enjoy that much talking time with parents, but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters, learning entire phrases and getting an understanding of social concepts such as the difference between “I” and “me”．
A Cambridge University study of 140 children found that siblings created a rich world of play that helped them grow socially. Lovehate relationships were common among the children. Even those siblings who fought the most had just as much positive communication as the other sibling pairs.
One way children seek more attention from parents is by making themselves different from their siblings, particularly if they are close in age. Researchers have found that the first two children in a family are typically more different from each other than the second and third. Girls with brothers show their differences to a maximum degree by being more feminine than girls with sisters. A 2003 research paper studied adolescents from 185 families over two years, finding that those who changed to make themselves different from their siblings were successful in increasing the amount of warmth they gained from their parents.
63．The underlined part “in a different family” (in Para. 1) means
“________”．
A．in a different family environment
B．in a different family tradition
C．in different family crises
D．in different families
64．In terms of language development, laterborns ________.
A．get their parents' individual guidance
B．learn a lot from their elder siblings
C．experience a lot of difficulties
D．pick up words more quickly
65．What was found about fights among siblings?
A．Siblings hated fighting and loved playing.
B．Siblings in some families fought frequently.
C．Sibling fights led to bad sibling relationships.
D．Siblings learned to get on together from fights.
66．The word “feminine” (in Para. 4) means “________”．
A．having qualities of parents
B．having qualities of women
C．having defensive qualities
D．having extraordinary qualities
【要点综述】此篇是关于同一家庭里不同子女的成长情况和兄弟姐妹之间相互影响的调查报告。从中我们可以看出即使生活在同一个家庭里，兄弟姐妹成长的环境也不尽相同，他们既有区别，又相互影响。
63．A 推理判断题。由划线部分下文可知，同一家庭里的兄弟姐妹由于成长的时空背景不尽相同，所以虽然他们生活在同一屋檐下，但家里的人文环境是在变化的，所以A正确。
64．B 信息理解题。根据第二段中的…but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters…可知B项正确。
65．D 信息理解题。由第三段最后一句可知D项正确。
66．B 词意猜测题。由划线词的上下文可知，有兄弟的女孩比只有姐妹的女孩更有女子气质。所以B是正确答案。
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。
104.
“Have a nice day！” may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless expression. When my friend Maxie says “Have a nice day” with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.
“Have a nice day. Next！” This version of the expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone (腔调) with a fixed procedure. They_are_spoken_at_me,_not_to_me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else's is the management's attempt to increase business.
The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other.Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting is at an end. Sometimes the expression saves us when we don't know what to say.
“Oh, you just had a tooth out? I'm terribly sorry, but have a nice day. ”
The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says “Have a nice day” to you, you may find it heartwarming because someone you don't know has tried to be nice to you.
Although the use of the expression is an insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and all the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it's nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don't care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like.
26. How does the author understand Maxie's words?
A．Maxie shows her anxiety to the author.
B．Maxie really wishes the author a good day.
C．Maxie encourages the author to stay happy.
D．Maxie really worries about the author's security.
27. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
A．The salesgirl is rude.
B．The salesgirl is bored.
C．The salesgirl cares about me.
D．The salesgirl says the words as a routine.
28. By saying “Have a nice day，” a stranger may ________.
A．try to be polite to you
B．express respect to you
C．give his blessing to you
D．share his pleasure with you
29. According to the last paragraph, people say “Have a nice day” ________.
A．sincerely
B．as thanks
C．as a habit
D．encouragingly
30. What is the
best title of the passage?
A．Have a Nice Day — a Social Custom
B．Have a Nice Day — a Pleasant Gesture
C．Have a Nice Day — a Heartwarming Greeting
D．Have a Nice Day — a Polite Ending of a Conversation
【要点综述】这是一篇描述人际关系的文章。主要介绍“Have a nice day！”这一习语，它是人与人之间见面打招呼的用语。
26. B 细节理解题。根据第一段的I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.看出作者的朋友在祝福作者一天心情愉快。故选B。
27.
D 句义猜测题。根据本段的The words come out in the same tone with a fixed procedure.和Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else’s is the management’s attempt to increase business.猜出这是销售人员的日常用语。故选D。
28.
A 细节理解题。根据第四段If a stranger says “Have a nice day” to you, you may find it heartwarming because someone you don’t know has tried to be nice to you.看出陌生人对你是友好的，表现出他的礼貌。故选A。
29.
C 细节理解题。由最后一段的第一句(特别是custom一词)和最后两句(While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like.)可知，人们常说 “Have a nice day”，已成为一种习惯了。
30.
A 主旨大意题。由最后一段，特别是该段的第一句可知。
105.
Sports account for a growing amount of income made on the sales of commercial time by television companies. Many television companies have used sports to attract viewers from particular sections of the general public, and then they have sold audiences to advertisers.
An attraction of sport programs for the major U. S. media companies is that events are often held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons—the slowest time periods of the week for general television viewing. Sport events are the most popular weekend programs, especially among male viewers who may not watch much television at other times during the week. This means the television networks are able to sell advertising time at relatively high prices during what normally would be dead time for programming.
Media corporations also use sports to attract commercial sponsors that might take their advertising dollars elsewhere if television stations did not report certain sports. The people in the advertising departments of major corporations realize that sports attract male viewers. They also realize that most business travelers are men and that many men make family decisions on the purchases of computers, cars and life insurance.
Golf and tennis are special cases for television programming. These sports attract few viewers, and the ratings (收视率) are unusually low. However, the audience for these sports is attractive to certain advertisers. It is made up of people from the highest income groups in the United States, including many lawyers and business managers. This is why television reporting of golf and tennis is sponsored by companies selling highpriced cars, business and personal computers, and holiday trips. This is also why the networks continue to carry
these programs regardless of low ratings. Advertisers are willing to pay high fees to reach highincome consumers and those managers who make decisions to buy thousands of “company cars” and computers. With such viewers, these programs don't need high ratings to stay on the air.
41. Television sport programs on weekend afternoons ________.
A．result in more sport events
B．get more viewers to play sports
C．make more people interested in television
D．bring more money to the television networks
42. Why would weekend afternoons become dead time without sport programs?
A．Because there would be few viewers.
B．Because the advertisers would be off work.
C．Because television programs would go slowly.
D．Because viewers would pay less for watching television.
43. In many families, men make decisions on ________.
A．holiday trips
B．sports viewing
C．television shopping
D．expensive purchases
44. The ratings are not important for golf and tennis programs because ________.
A．their advertisers are carmakers
B．their viewers are attracted by sports
C．their advertisers target at rich people
D．their viewers can afford expensive cars
45. What is the passage mainly about?
A．Television ratings are determined by male viewers.
B．Rich viewers contribute most to television companies.
C．Sports are gaining importance in advertising on television.
D．Commercial advertisers are the major sponsors of sport events.
【要点综述】本文讲述的是通过在星期六和星期日的下午播放一些电视节目来吸引那些高收入的人来看，给广告带来了极大的效益。说明体育在电视广告中起着很重要的作用。
41. D 细节理解题。由文章的“Sports account for a growing amount of income made on the sales of commercial time by television companies.”看出在这个时段做体育广告会给电视台赚很多的钱。故选D。
42.
A 细节理解题。从第二段看出在这个时段看电视人很少，所以是dead time。故选A。
43.
D 细节理解题。从第三段…many men make family decisions on the purchases of computers, cars and life insurance.看出在美国家庭男士在购买贵重物品上做决定。故选D。
44.
C 细节理解题。根据第四段的内容“…However, the audience for these sports is attractive to certain advertisers. It is made up of people from the highest income groups…”可推知不是为了让他们看高尔夫这些运动的，而是为了吸引这些高收入的人。也就是说“他们面对的都是一些富人”。故选C。
45.
C 主旨大意题。文章开篇点题，讲的是通过在星期六和星期日的下午播放一些电视节目来吸引那些高收入的人来看，给广告带来了极大的效益。说明体育在电视广告中起着很重要的作用。故选C。
106.
Some people believe that a Robin Hood is at work, others that a wealthy person simply wants to distribute his or her fortune before dying. But the donator who started sending envelopes with cash to deserving causes, accompanied by an article from the local paper, has made a northern German city believe in fairytales(童话)．
The first envelope was sent to a victim support group. It contained 10,000 with a cutting from the Braunschweiger Zeitung about how the group supported a woman who was robbed of her handbag; similar plain white anonymous(匿名) envelopes, each containing 10,000, then arrived at a kindergarten and a church.
The envelops keep coming, and so far at least 190, 000 has been distributed. Last month, one of them was sent to the newspaper's own office. It came after a story it published about Tom, a 14yearold boy who was severely disabled in a swimming accident. The receptionist at the Braunschweiger Zeitung opened an anonymous white envelope to find 20 notes of 500 inside, with a copy of the article.The name of the family was underlined.
“I was driving when I heard the news，”Claudia Neumann, the boy's mother, told Der Spiegel magazine.“I had to park on the side of the road; I was speechless.”
The money will be used to make the entrance to their house wheelchairaccessible and for a course of treatment that their insurance company refused to pay for.
“For someone to act so selflessly, for this to happen in such a society in which everyone thinks of himself, was astonishing，” Mrs.Neumann said. Her family wonder whether the donator is a Robin Hood character, taking from banks to give to the needy.
Henning Noske, the editor of the Braunschweiger Zeitung, said：“Maybe it is an old person who is about to die. We just do not know.”However, he has told his reporters not to look for the city's hero, for fear that discovery may stop the donations.
56．The Braunschweiger Zeitung is the name of ________.
A．a church
B．a bank
C．a newspaper
D．a magazine
57．Which of the following is TRUE about the donation to Tom?
A．The donation amounted to 190, 000.
B．The donation was sent directly to his house.
C．The money will be used for his education.
D．His mother felt astonished at the donation.
58．It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A．the donator is a rich old man
B．the donation will continue to come
C．the donation comes from the newspaper
D．the donator will soon be found out
59．What would be the best title for the passage?
A．Money Is Raised by the Newspaper
B．Newspaper Distributes Money to the Needy
C．Unknown Hero Spreads Love in Envelopes
D．Robin Hood Returns to the City
【要点综述】本文是一篇记叙文。介绍了城市英雄以匿名信封的形式在经济上帮助需要帮助的人。
56. C 推理判断题。从第一段“But the donator who started sending envelopes with cash to deserving causes, accompanied by an article from the local paper”和第二段“with a cutting from the Braunschweiger Zeitung”可推出Braunschweiger Zeitung是当地一家报纸。
57. D 细节理解题。从倒数第二段Tom的妈妈所说的话可知答案。
58. B 推理判断题。从最后一段“he has told his reporters not to look for the city’s hero, for fear that discovery may stop the donations.”可知捐赠还会继续。
59. C 主旨大意题。本文介绍了城市英雄以匿名信封的形式在经济上帮助需要帮助的人。
Spring is coming, and it is time for those about to graduate to look for jobs. Competition is tough,
so job seekers must carefully consider their personal choices.
Whatever we are wearing, our family and friends may accept us, but the workplace may not.
A high school newspaper editor said it is unfair for companies to discourage visible tattoos(纹身), nose rings, or certain dress styles. It is true you can't judge a book by its cover, yet people do “cover” themselves in order to convey(传递)certain messages. What we wear, including tattoos and nose rings, is an expression of who we are. Just as people
convey messages about themselves with their appearances, so do companies.
Dress standards exist in the business world for a number of reasons, but the main concern is often about what customers accept.
Others may say how to dress is a matter of personal freedom, but for businesses it is more about whether to make or lose money. Most employers do care about the personal appearances of their employees(雇员)，because those people represent the companies to their customer.
As a hiring manager I am paid to choose the people who would make the best
impression on our customers. There are plenty of wellqualified candidates, so it is not wrong to reject someone who might disappoint my customers.
Even though
I
am openminded,
I can't expect all our customers are.
There is nobody to blame but yourself if your set of choices does not match that of your preferred employer. No company should have to change to satisfy a candidate simply because he or she is unwilling to respect its standards, as long as its standards are legal.
57．Which of the following is the newspaper editor's opinion according to Paragraph 2?
A．People's appearances carry messages about themselves.
B．Customers' choices influence dress standards in companies.
C．Candidates with tattoos or nose rings should be fairly treated.
D．Strange dress styles should not be encouraged in the workplace.
58．What can be inferred from the text?
A．Candidates have to wear what companies prefer for an interview.
B．What to wear is not a matter of personal choice for companies.
C．Companies sometimes have to change to respect their candidates.
D．Hiring managers make the best impression on their candidates.
59．Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A．Employees Matter
B．Personal Choices Matter
C．Appearances Matter
D．Hiring Managers Matter
60．The author's attitude towards strange dress styles in the workplace may best be described as________.
A．enthusiastic
B．negative
C．positive
D．sympathetic
【要点综述】又是一年毕业季，很多大学毕业生又要开始为寻找一份可以赖以生存的工作而奔忙了，但是，影响就业成功的因素很多，其中有一点就是面试时的着装。
57．C 推理判断题。根据第二段的首句可知报纸编辑认为有纹身或戴鼻环去面试的人应该受到公平的对待，故本题选C。
58．B 推理判断题。通读第三段可知本文作者的意思是：员工的穿着不再是员工的私人问题，而是影响到公司的声誉和发展的大问题。选B。
59．C 主旨大意题。本文大意是关于员工的着装问题，故本题选C。
60．B 作者意图题。根据本文后两段可知，作者不赞成员工着奇装异服，即作者的态度是“否定的”，故选B。
108.
A funny thing happened on the way to the communications revolution: we stopped talking to one another.
I was walking in the park with a friend recently, and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation.There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day and…I became invisible, absent from the conversation.
The telephone used to connect you to the absent.Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent.Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communications technology is a tragedy to the closeness of human interaction.With email and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another.With voice mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone.If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.
As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets automated, the alienation(疏远) index goes up.
You can't even call a person to get the phone number of another person anymore.Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.
I am not against modern technology.I own a cell phone, an ATM card, a voicemail system, and an email account.Giving them up isn't wise, they're a great help to us.It's some of their possible consequences that make me feel uneasy.
More and more, I find myself hiding behind email to do a job meant for conversation, or being relieved that voice mail picked up because I didn' t really have time to talk.The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier, or at least facilitating my antisocial instincts.
So I've put myself on technology restriction: no instant messaging with people who live near me, no cellphoning in the presence of friends, no letting the voice mail pick up when I'm at home.
16．Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
A.The Advance of Communications Technology
B.The Consequences of Modern Technology
C.The Story of the Communications Revolution
D.The Automation of Modern Communications
17．The sentence “Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent” means that _________.
A．the people sitting beside you have to go away to receive phone call
B．you can hardly get in touch with the people sitting beside you
C．modern technology makes it hard for people to have a facetoface talk
D．people can now go to work without going to the office
18．The writer feels that the use of modern communications is
_________.
A．satisfyingB．encouraging
C．disappointing
D．embarrassing
19．The passage implies that
________.
A．modern technology is bridging people
B．modern technology is separating people
C．modern technology is developing too fast
D．modern technology is interrupting our communication
20．What does the underlined word “facilitating” mean?
A．加深
B．限制
C．帮助
D．装备
【要点综述】 本文主要论述现代技术的消极影响——现代技术的使用在疏远人与人之间的距离。
16. B 主旨大意题。本文主要论述了现代技的影响。
17. C 句意理解题。第一段作者提出：通讯革命使我们不再面对面地交谈；第二段作者举自己生活的一例来予以说明； 第三段作者感慨“Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent”，即其意应为：现在技术使人们很难有面对面的交谈。故选C项。
18. D 推理判断题。根据第五段可知，作者并不反对现代技术，也认为它极有帮助，只是某一些结果让他感到不安，比如第二段中他所举的生活例子。由此判断他会认为使用现代技术有时令人感到尴尬，故选D项。
19. B 推理判断题。根据第四段可推断现代技术正在疏远人们之间的关系，故选B项。
20. A 词义猜测题。画线词所在的这一段主要在讲述现代技术对他的消极影响，因此他才决定限制自己对现代技术的使用。由此判断画线词应意为“加深”，即：加重他的不爱交际的天性。故选A项。