【阅读理解】
Skeptics are a strange lot.Some of them refuse to admit the serious threat of human activities to the enviroment, and they are tired of people who disagree with them.Those people，say skeptics，spread nothing but bad news about the environment.The “ecoguilt”brought on by the discouraging news about our planet gives rise to the popularity of skeptics as people search for more comforting worldviews.
Perhaps that explains why a new book by Bjorn Lomborg received so much publicity.That book ，The Skeptical Environmentalist, declares that it
measures the “real state of the world”as fine. Of course ，another explanation is the deep
pockets of some big businesses with special interests. Indeed, Mr. Lomborg's views are similar to those of some industryfunded organizations, which start huge activities through the media to confuse the public about issues
like global warming.
So it was strange to see Mr. Lomborg's book go largely unchallenged in the media though his beliefs were contrary to most scientific opinions. One national newspaper in Canada ran a number of articles and reviews full of words of praise, even with the conclusion that “After Lomborg, the environmental movement will begin to die down.”
Such onesided views should have immediately been challenged. But only a different review appeared in Nature, a respected science magazine with specific readership. The review remarked that Mr. Lomborg's “preference for unexamined materials is incredible(不可信的)”．
A critical (批判的)eye is valuable, and the media should present information in such a way that could allow people to make informed decisions. Unfortunately, that is often inaccessible as blocked by the desire to be shocking or to defend some special interests. People might become halfblind before a world partially exhibited by the media. That's a shame, because matters concerning the health of the planet are far too important to be treated lightly.
本文讲述了怀疑论者不承认人类活动对环境造成的危胁，认为地球状况是良好的，这迎合了一些追求利益的商业公司。但是关系地球健康的问题是相当重要的，人们一定要严肃对待。
1. According to the passage, which of the following may be regarded as “skeptics”？
A. People who agree on the popularity of “ecoguilt”．
B. People who disbelieve the serious situation of our planet.
C. People who dislike the harmful effect of human activities.
D. People who spread comforting news to protect our environment.
答案：B。细节理解题。根据短文第一段可知，怀疑论者不承认人类活动对环境的影响。短文第二段第二句话中提到，他们认为世界的真正状态是好的，由此可知B项正确。
2. Which of the following can be a reason for the popularity of Lomborg's book?
A．Some big businesses intend to protect their own interests.
B．The book challenges views about the fine state of the world.
C．The author convinces people to seek comforting worldviews.
D．Industryfunded media present confusing information.
答案：A。细节理解题。根据短文第二段最后一句话可知Lomborg的观点与一些由工业资助的组织的观点是相似的。因此可知这些大的组织为了自己的利益也不会注重环保。
. The author mentioned the review in Nature in order to ______.
A. voice a different opinion B. find fault with Lomborg's book
C. challenge the authority of the media D. point out the value of scientific views
答案：A。推理判断题。第三段提到加拿大的一家报纸对Lomborg的书大加赞扬，第四段又提到这片面的观点应当受到挑战，然后说“Nature”杂志上就有不同的评论。由此可知A项正确。
. What is the author's main purpose in writing the passage?
A. To encourage the skeptics to have a critical eye.
B. To warn the public of the danger of halfblindness with reviews.
C. To blame the media's lack of responsibility in presenting information.
D. To show the importance of presenting overall information by the media.
答案：D。作者意图题。由短文最后一段第二句话可知，媒体应当提供全方位的信息，让人们在了解情况的前提下做出决定。由此可知D项正确。
【浙江省2017高考英语模拟冲刺卷】
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项标号涂黑。
When I heard the piano, I walked to Mrs. Windsor’s house and waited outside as I always did. That meant she was working with another student, and I was not supposed to bother them by ringing the bell. I stood against the wall and daydreamed what I’d rather be doing. “Almost anything”, I sighed dejectedly. I had been tutored enough to read, understand, and even write some musical compositions, but I just didn’t have a gift for it. It didn’t come to me naturally. I thought back to happier times when I was writing stories and acting them out with my friends, cutting up old clothes to make dresses that performers wear in plays, and building scenery out of old things we found. But Mrs. Windsor had offered to give me the lessons for free, so I felt my duty to try.
The door opened and Wendy Barton came out. I walked in, sat down on the piano bench and began to sort through my sheet music.
“Hello,” I heard a voice behind me say softly. I turned around to see a little girl standing behind me, eating an apple. But before I could make any response, Mrs. Windsor walked into the room in her usual urgent manner and announced, “Jennifer, this is my niece, Pasha. Pasha, this is Jennifer. Pasha will be giving you your lesson today. I’m up to my ears in something else!” she then exited to the kitchen.
Pasha set her apple down on the side table and slid beside me on the piano bench.
“What piece do you like best?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “They’re all the same to me. I don’t know.
“You mean you don’t have a favorite?”
“No, not really.”
Pasha looked at me, rather puzzled, then opened my sheet music to the beginning page and asked me to play. I arranged my fingers on the keys and studied the notes on the page for a moment. Then I frowned and concentrated to make the notes on the page match the finger movements. I have to admit I was a rather mechanical pianist.
After about a page or two, Pasha gently put her hand on top of mine as if to calm my fingers. There was a long pause. “What are you hearing in the music?” I looked at her rather strangely and admitted I didn’t know what she meant.
“Like a story. What story is being playing out within the music?”
“I guess I’ve never thought about it before. I don’t know.”
“Here, let me try and you listen,” Pasha advised.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting her fingers dance lightly over the keys. Then, she began to play. “See, it begins here beside some kind of river. Hear the water flowing beside you?”
Her fingers rose and fell gently on the keys. “Now the princess appears and she’s picking flowers from the water’s edge.” A carefree, happy piece of music filled the air in time to Pasha’s dancing fingers. “Oh, but she slips!” The music changed. “And our princess is being carried off by the fast-flowing stream. Quickly, the princess’s horse sees her plight (困境),” Pasha continued, and races to the river’s edge where he swims out to let her catch hold of him. They make it to the bank and she hugs her faithful horse and swears she will never again wear princess skirts that weigh her down. She will only wear jeans and T-shirt from now on.” Pasha finished with a big smile and then looked at me.
“Aren’t you the girl who tells the stories?” she asked.
“I guess. I do tell a lot of stories.”
“Oh, yes! All the kids talk about them. I’ve heard about you. Well, all you have to do is learn to hear the stories in the music. That’s all there is to it.”
“I’ve never thought it that way.”
“Let’s try another one, shall we?” Pasha smiled and together we played that afternoon, finding the stories in the music and learning that sometimes it takes a friend to pull you out of the river onto dry land again.
55. The underlined word “dejectedly” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______.
A. nervously
B. desperately
C. impatiently
D. unhappily
56. Jennifer got lost in thought when she ________.
A. played the piano with Pasha for the first time
B. listened to Pasha tell her story about the princess
C. remembered happier times of writing stories and acting them out
D. discovered that Mrs. Windsor’s niece would be giving the piano lesson
57. By describing herself as a mechanical pianist, the author showed ______.
A. she could remember the notes in a short time
B. she was playing the piano without thinking
C. Pasha was showing off her skills
D. it had been a long time since she played last time
58. Which of the following can best describe Pasha?
A. Creative
B. Naughty
C. Humorous
D. Brave
59. Which of the following is the best title for the text?
A. Never Give up
B. A Piano Lesson
C. Why I Hated Playing the Piano
D. A Friend for Ever
60. This text would be probably found in ______.
A. a collection of stories about friendship and learning
B. a book of daily records about famous young musicians
C. a magazine series about the challenges of overcoming fears
D. a series of newspaper articles about musical instruments
55．D根据上下文可知。
56. C第一段I thought back to happier times when I was writing stories and acting them out with my friends,---可知。
57. B第九段I arranged my fingers on the keys and studied the notes on the page for a moment. Then I frowned and concentrated to make the notes on the page match the finger movements. I have to admit I was a rather mechanical pianist. 可知58. A第十五段 Her fingers rose and fell gently on the keys. ----可知59. B通读全文可知60. A通读全文可知The baby monkey is much more developed at birth than the human baby. Almost from the moment it is born, the baby monkey can move around and hold tightly to its mother. During the first few days of its life the baby will approach and hold onto almost any large, warm, and soft object in its environment, particularly if that object also gives it milk. After a week or so, however, the baby monkey begins to avoid newcomers and focuses its attentions on “mother”—the real mother or the mother－substitute (母亲替代物).
During the first two weeks of its life warmth is perhaps the most important psychological (心理的) thing that a monkey mother has to give to its baby. The Harlows, a couple who are both psychologists, discovered this fact by offering baby monkeys a choice of two types of mother－substitutes—one covered with cloth and one made of bare wire. If the two artificial mothers were both the same temperature, the little monkeys always preferred the cloth mother. However, if the wire model was heated, while the cloth model was cool, for the first two weeks after birth the baby monkeys picked the warm wire mother－substitutes as their favorites. Thereafter they switched and spent most of their time on the more comfortable cloth mother.
Why is cloth preferable to bare wire? Something that the Harlows called contact(接触) comfort seems to be the answer, and a most powerful influence it is. Baby monkeys spend much of their time rubbing against their mothers' skins, putting themselves in as close contact with the parent as they can. Whenever the young animal is frightened, disturbed, or annoyed, it typically rushes to its mother and rubs itself against her body. Wire doesn't “rub” as well as does soft cloth. Prolonged (长时间的) “contact comfort” with a cloth mother appears to give the babies confidence and is much more rewarding to them than is either warmth or milk.
According to the Harlows, the basic quality of a baby's love for its mother is trust. If the baby is put into an unfamiliar playroom without its mother, the baby ignores the toys no matter how interesting they might be. It screams in terror and curls up into a furry little ball. If its cloth mother is now introduced into the playroom, the baby rushes to it and holds onto it for dear life. After a few minutes of contact comfort, it obviously begins to feel more secure. It then climbs down from the mother－substitute and begins to explore the toys, but often rushes back for a deep embrace (拥抱) as if to make sure that its mother is still there and that all is well. Bit by bit its fears of the new environment are gone and it spends more and more time playing with the toys and less and less time holding onto its “mother”.
50．Psychologically, what does the baby monkey desire most during the first two weeks of its life?
A. Warmth.
B. Milk.
C. Contact.
D. Trust.
51．After the first two weeks of their life, baby monkeys prefer the cloth mother to the wire mother because the former is ________.
A. larger in size
B. closer to them
C. less frightening and less disturbing
D. more comfortable to rub against
52．What does the baby monkey probably gain from prolonged “contact comfort”？
A. Attention.
B. Softness.
C. Confidence.
D. Interest.
53．It can be inferred that when the baby monkey feels secure, ________.
A. it frequently rushes back for a deep embrace when exploring the toys
B. it spends more time screaming to get rewards
C. it is less attracted to the toys though they are interesting
D. it cares less about whether its mother is still around
54．The main purpose of the passage is to ________.
A. give the reasons for the experiment
B. present the findings of the experiment
C. introduce the method of the experiment
D. describe the process of the experiment
【要点综述】 这是一篇说明文。作者主要向读者阐述了一个关于幼猴的实验发现。
50．A 考查细节理解。从文章第一段“During the first few days of its life…onto almost any large, warm, and soft object…”可知，幼猴刚出生最需要的是温暖，所以选A项。
51．D 考查推理判断。从第三段“Why is cloth preferable to bare wire？…Baby monkeys spent much of their time rubbing against their mothers' skins…”推知，幼猴选择“布妈妈”，而不是“线妈妈”的原因在于相对于“线妈妈”而言，“布妈妈”皮肤接触起来更舒服，可能也更暖和，故选D项。
52．C 考查细节理解。从第三段“Prolonged (长时间的)‘contact comfort’ with a cloth mother appears to give the babies confidence and …”可知，长时间地与“布妈妈”接触，增加了幼猴的自信心，因此C项是最佳答案。
53．D 考查推理判断。从最后一段“If its cloth mother is now introduced…it obviously begins to feel more secure.It then climbs down from…and less and less time holding onto its ‘mother’．”推知，当幼猴看到“布妈妈”后，它会觉得有安全感，从而在行为上会放松起来，从而越来越喜欢玩玩具，而减少与“母亲”接触的时间，所以D项正确。
54．B 考查写作意图。文章主要介绍了一个关于幼猴的实验结果，因此作者在文章中是要呈现这个结果给读者，所以B项为最佳答案。
C8 [2017·北京卷] ----D
Multitasking
People who multitask all the time may be the worst at doing two things at once, a new research suggests. The findings, based on performances and self－evaluations by about 275 college students, indicate that many people multitask not out of a desire to increase productivity, but because they are easily distracted (分心) and can't focus on one activity. And “those people turn out to be the worst at handling different things，” said David Sanbonmatsu, a psychologist at the University of Utah.
Sanbonmatsu and his colleagues gave the students a set of tests and asked them to report how often they multitasked, how good they thought they were at it, and how sensation－seeking (寻求刺激) or impulsive (冲动) they were. They then evaluated the participants' multitasking ability with a tricky mental task that required the students to do simple mathematical calculations while remembering a set of letters.
Not surprisingly, the scientists said, most people thought they were better than average at multitasking, and those who thought they were better at it were more likely to report using a cellphone while driving or viewing multiple kinds of media at once. But those who frequently deal with many things at the same time were found to perform the worst at the actual multitasking test. They also were more likely to admit to sensation－seeking and impulsive behavior, which connects with how easily people get bored and distracted.
“People multitask not because it's going to lead to greater productivity, but because they're distractible, and they get sucked into things that are not as important，” Sanbonmatsu said.
Adam Gazzaley, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not a member of the research group, said one limitation of the study was that it couldn't find out whether people who start out less focused tend toward multitasking or whether people's recognizing and understanding abilities change as a result of multitasking.
The findings do suggest, however, why the sensation－seekers who multitask the most may enjoy risky distracted driving. “People who are multitasking are generally less sensitive to risky situations，” said Paul Atchley, another researcher not in the group. “This may partly explain why people go in for these situations even though they're dangerous.”
67. The research led by Sanbonmatsu indicates that people who multitask
________．
A. seek high productivity constantly
B. prefer handling different things when getting bored
C. are more focused when doing many things at a time
D. have the poorest results in doing various things at the same time
68．When Sanbonmatsu and his colleagues conducted their research, they
________．
A. assessed the multitasking ability of the students
B. evaluated the academic achievements of the students
C. analyzed the effects of the participants' tricky mental tasks
D. measured the changes of the students' understanding ability
69．According to Sanbonmatsu, people multitask because of their
________．
A. limited power in calculation
B. interests in doing things differently
C. inability to concentrate on one task
D. impulsive desire to try new things
70．From the last paragraph, we can learn that multitaskers usually
________．
A. drive very skillfully
B. go in for difficult tasks
C. fail to react quickly to potential dangers
D. refuse to explain the reasons for their behavior
【要点综述】 这是一篇科普议论文，主要论证同时处理多重任务这一心理现象。犹太大学研究者发现，同时处理多重任务并不是出于提高生产率的目的，而是当事人容易分心而不能专心于所做的事情上。尽管来自加州大学的研究者提出了不同的看法，但确实证明同时处理多重任务者对于危险境地确实不太敏感。
67．D 细节理解题。根据第一段“those people turn out to be the worst at handling different things”可知选D。
68．A 细节理解题。根据第二段“They then evaluated the participants' multitasking ability with a tricky mental task…”可知评估的是参与者的同时处理多重任务的能力。
69．C 细节理解题。根据第四段“…but because they're distractible…”可知，人们同时处理多重任务是因为他们容易分心，而不是高效。distractible“容易分心的，不专心的”，C项是对它的同义转换。
70．C 细节理解题。从最后一段“…are generally less sensitive to risky situations”可知，同时处理多重任务者对于潜在危险不能及时做出反应。