阅读理解(二)A
Few laws are so effective that you can see results just days after they take effect.But in the nine days since the federal cigarette tax more than doubled－to $1.01 per pack－smokers have jammed telephone “quit lines” across the country seeking to kick the habit.
This is not a surprise to public health advocates.They've studied the effect of state tax increases for years，finding that smokers，especially teens，are price sensitive.Nor is it a shock to the industry，which fiercely fights every tax increase.
The only wonder is that so many states insist on closing their ears to the message.Tobacco taxes improve public health，they raise money and most particularly，they deter people from taking up the habit as teens，which is when nearly all smokers are addicted.Yet the rate of taxation varies widely.
In Manhattan，for instance，which has the highest tax in the nation，a pack of Marlboro Light Kings，cost $10.06 at one drugstore Wednesday.In Charleston，S.C.，where the 7 cent a pack tax is the lowest in the nation，the price was $4.78.
The influence is obvious.
In New York，high school smoking hit a new low in the latest surveys－13.8%，far below the national average.By comparison,26% of high school students smoke in Kentucky.Other low tax states have similarly depressing teen smoking records.
Hal Rogers，Representative from Kentucky，like those who are against high tobacco taxes，argues that the burden of the tax falls on lowincome Americans “who choose to smoke.”
That's true.But there is more reason in keeping future generations of lowincome workers from getting hooked in the first place.As for today's adults，if the new tax drives them to quit，they will have more to spend on their families，cut their risk of cancer and heart disease and feel better.
【语篇解读】 烟草税增加后，取得了立竿见影的效果——许多烟民纷纷戒烟。然而有些地方却对此充耳不闻，中学生吸烟的比例居高不下。本文让我们意识到：从长远看，通过增加烟草税而使人们戒烟是泽被千家万户的大事。
1．The text is mainly about ________.
A．the price of cigarettes
B．the rate of teen smoking
C．the effect of tobacco tax increase
D．the differences in tobacco tax rate
解析 主旨大意题。本文主要谈论的是烟草税增加后取得的明显效果以及给人们带来的益处。A、B、D三项均为文章的某一方面。
答案 C
2．What does the author think is a surprise?
A．Teen smokers are price sensitive.
B．Some states still keep the tobacco tax low.
C．Tobacco taxes improve public health.
D．Tobacco industry fiercely fights the tax rise.
解析 事实细节题。由第三段第一句可知，唯 一让人吃惊的是，有些州对此充耳不闻，也就是继续保持低烟草税。
答案 B
．Rogers' attitude towards the lowincome smokers might be that of ________.
A．tolerance
B．unconcern
C．doubt
D．sympathy
解析 推理判断题。Roger认为高烟草税是把税收负担加到了低收入的烟民身上，故应该持同情态度。
答案 D
．What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A．The new tax will be beneficial in the long run.
B．Lowincome Americans are more likely to fall ill.
C．Future generations will be hooked on smoking.
D．Adults will depend more on their families.
解析 推理判断题。由全文最后一句可知，增加烟草税促使烟民戒烟，可让他们有更多的时间与家人团聚，减少癌症和心脏病的发病率，从长远看，是一件有益的事情。
答案 A
-----A
More than 17 ,000 flights to and from European airspace were cancelled, including all flights from Britain ’ s major airports.
The Met office reported that volcanic ash had begun to fall across Britain, coating surfaces with a fine layer of dust and raising fears for people with breathing difficulties.
Meanwhile experts warned of shortages of some foods with produce destined for British shops
in airport warehouses in other parts of the world.
Geologists reported that activity at the volcano increased yesterday, spewing a plume of ash 5.3 miles high into the atmosphere.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office said the winds blowing the volcanic ash south east to Europe and up into Scandinavia and Russia will continue in the same direction for at least two days and could go on until Wednesday. But scientists fear there could be more eruptions from the 5，466-foot volcano, Mount Eyjafjallajkull.
A university geophysicist said：“From what we ’ve seen, it could erupt，pause for a few week，and then possibly erupt again. It could go on for months. ” As the no fly zone expanded yesterday, so did the chaos. The Icelandic volcano causing travel chaos across Europe could go on erupting for months, geologists have warned.
The National Air Traffic Control Service ( Nats) extended restrictions on flights from British airports to 7p. m. on Sunday, with the expectation of further extensions.
Ferry operators have reported record bookings. P&O took 6,000 foot passengers across the channel on Friday compared to the 100 to 200 it would expect on a normal Friday in April.
Eurostar trains were fully booked until tomorrow, with 50,000 more passengers than normal since the airline disruption (中断）began on Thursday，including comedian John Cleese who arrived back in London last night after a most difficult overland journey from Switzerland.
The operator is charging passengers a minimum £ 223 for a single ticket from Paris to London over the next two days prompting criticisms of profiteering. A return ticket can normally be bought for as little as £ 69. Eurostar denied it was cashing in. some 4,000 British tourists have been stranded in South Africa.
The British Embassy in Athens said there were currently “many thousand” British holidaymakers trying to leave Greece after the holidays, in many cases anxious to get back in time for the start of the school term this week，with some of those desperate to return resorting to renting cars or embarking on long trains journeys.
1. Where is the volcano, Mount Eyjafjallajkull located?
A. England.
B. Ireland.
C. Iceland.
D. Switzerland.
答案解析：答案为C。本题为细节题。由第六段 “The Icelandic volcano …”可知， 答案为C。
2. The worst affected problem for most of the Europeans during the eruption was _______.
A. breathing difficulties
B. shortages of food
C. the airline disruption
D. a fine layer of dust
答案解析：答案为A。本题为细节推理题。由第一、二段可知，火山喷发导致了欧洲航班取消、火山灰从天空落下、地上铺满了火山灰等问题，然而最严重的问题是第二段提到的 “…and raising fears for people with breathing difficulties.” 呼吸困难引起了人们的恐惧，这威胁到人们的生命安全，故答案为A。
3. What does the underlined word "chaos" mean in Para 6?
A. Danger.
B. Anxiety.
C. Desperation.
D. Disorder.
答案解析：答案为D。本题为词义猜测题。结合划线词语的下文 “The Icelandic volcano causing travel chaos across Europe could go on erupting for months ….”可以推断，欧洲的火山可能会喷发几个月，它导致了旅行混乱（disorder.），故答案为D。A选项 “danger”意为“危险”，B选项 “anxiety”意为 “焦虑”， C选项“desperation”意为“绝望”，均不符合文意，故不选。
4. From the passage, we know that the volcano eruption _________.
A. forced all the people to go back home
B. brought the train company a large profit
C. made 6,000 passengers take ships to cross the Channel
D. prevented British students from going to school on time
答案解析：答案为B。本题为推理题。由第九段 “Eurostar trains were fully booked until tomorrow, with 50,000 more passengers than normal since the airline disruption began on Thursday…”可知，自从航空线中断后，Eurostar火车票订购爆满，比通常多50,000名乘客，因此可以推断，火山喷发给火车公司带来了大量利润，故答案为B。
A选项表达有误。由第八段 “Ferry operators have reported record bookings. P&O took 6,000 foot passengers across the channel on Friday …”可知，在周五有6,000 旅客乘坐渡船过海峡，可以推断，其他时间也有旅客乘坐渡船，故C选项的人数表达有误。由最后一段 “The British Embassy in Athens said there were currently “many thousand” British holidaymakers trying to leave Greece after the holidays, in many cases anxious to get back in time for the start of the school term this week…”可知，外面度假的英国人努力离开希腊，其中很多人是为了及时赶上本周开学的时间，故D选项“阻止了英国学生按时上学”错误。
较难题目特训：科普知识类
Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri(MU)researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.
“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density (密度),” said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope (放射性同位素)battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries.”
Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/nanoelectromechanical systems(M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.
“People hear the word‘nuclear’and think of something very dangerous, “ he said. “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems. “
His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor (半导体). Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.
“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure (晶格结构) of the solid semiconductor. “ Kwon said. “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”
Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that the battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair.
1. Which of the following is true of Jae Kwon?
A. He teaches chemistry at MU.
B. He developed a chemical battery.
C. He is working on a nuclear energy source.
D. He made a breakthrough in computer engineering.
2. Jae Kwon gave examples in Paragraph 4 .
A. to show chemical batteries are widely applied
B. to indicate nuclear batteries can be safely used
C. to describe a nuclear-powered system
D. to introduce various energy sources
3. Liquid semiconductor is used to .
A. get rid of the radioactive waste
B. test the power of nuclear batteries
C. decrease the size of nuclear batteries
D. reduce the damage to lattice structure
4. According to Jae Kwon, his nuclear battery .
A. uses a solid semiconductor
B. will soon replace the present ones
C. could be extremely thin
D. has passed the final test
5. The text is most probably a .
A. science news report
B. book review
C. newspaper ad
D. science fiction story
【参考答案】31.1-5 CBDCA
高考英语冲刺阅读理解专项-----B
In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied (依赖)on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit (追求)of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve (缓解) can we discover a new meaning in competition.
1. What does this passage mainly talk about?
A. Competition helps to set up self-respect.
B. Opinions about competition are different among people.
C. Competition is harmful to personal quality development.
D. Failures are necessary experiences in competition.
答案解析：答案为B。本题考查文章的大意。文章第一段列举两种对待竞争的不同的观点，有人支持，有人反对；后面两段分别对两种观点进行阐述，因此本文的大意就是不同的人对待竞争有不同的观点，故答案为B。
2. Why do some people favor competition according to the passage?
A. It pushes society forward.
B. It builds up a sense of duty.
C. It improves personal abilities.
D.It encourages individual efforts.
答案解析：答案为A。本题为细节题。由第一段 “Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity.”可知，有些人对竞争的评价很高，认为是它促进了社会的进步和繁荣，故答案为A。
3. The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 means _______.
A. those who try their best to win
B. those who value competition most highly
C. those who are against competition most strongly
D. those who rely on others most for success
答案解析：答案为C。本题为词义猜测题。由划线部分的前文 “However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition.” 可知，一些人似乎在成功的欲望里迷失了自己，然而另外一些人的态度相反，他们强烈谴责竞争，因此 “the most vocal”指代的是那些反对竞争的人，故答案为C。
4．What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a “desire to fail”?
A. One’s worth lies in his performance compared with others’.
B. One’s success in competition needs great efforts.
C. One’s achievement is determined by his particular skills.
D. One’s success is based on how hard he has tried.
答案解析：答案为A。本题为细节题。由最后一段 “Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others.”可知，反对竞争的人也就是“渴望失败的人”和真正的竞争者都有着错误的想法：个人的自尊依赖于与别人比较时候的表现如何，故答案为A。
5. Which point of view may the author agree to?
A. Every effort should be paid back.
B. Competition should be encouraged.
C. Winning should be a life-and-death matter.
D. Fear of failure should be removed in competition.
答案解析：答案为D。本题考查作者的观点。由最后一段最后一句话 “Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve can we discover a new meaning in competition.”可知，只有失败的恐惧感得到缓解我们才能发现竞争的新的意义之所在，故答案为D“竞争中应该消除对失败的恐惧”。