2016届高考英语二轮复习阅读理解精选训练（35）外研版

　　2016高考英语二轮阅读理解精选（35）及答案

　　A

　　Harry Houdini was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.

　　Of course, his secret was not magic or supernatural power. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.

　　Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in clubs in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.

　　It was the publicity (宣传) that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape from ankle chains. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks. She passed it quickly from her mouth to his.

　　Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? Worldwide fame and a name remembered today.

　　56. According to the passage, Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on ______.

　　A. his special tricks and supernatural powers

　　B. his unusual ability and skeleton key

　　C. his magic tricks and supernatural powers

　　D. his wisdom and magic tricks

　　57. It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous ______ .

　　A. in 1894 B. before he married

　　C. at the age of 17 D. when he was 24

　　58. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

　　A. Houdini was a famous American magician.

　　B. Houdini was first recognized in Chicago.

　　C. Houdini first entered the entertainment world together with his wife.

　　D. Houdini was popular with people from Europe and America.

　　59. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

　　A. A Skeleton Key B. A Secret Prisoner

　　C. Worldwide Fame D. Great Escapes

　　B

　　Traditional fairy tales are being abandoned by parents because they are too scary for their young children, a study has found.

　　A research has discovered one in five parents has given up old classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel in favour of more modern books. One third of parents say their children have been left in tears after hearing the horrible details of Little Red Riding Hood. And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids as the themes of the story are kidnapping and killing. Similarly, Goldilocks and the Three Bears is also a tale likely to be left on the book shelf as parents feel it forgives stealing.

　　The survey of 2,000 adults was completed to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM, which starts tonight at 9 p.m. on Watch, and sees six drama series based on traditional fairy tales. The survey has found a quarter of parents polled will not consider reading a fairy tale to their children until they have reached the age of five, as they have to face too many awkward questions from their children.

　　Steve Hornsey, General Manager, Watch, said, “Bedtime stories are supposed to soothe children and send them off to sleep soundly. But as we see in GRIMM, some fairy tales can be dark and dramatic tales so it’ s understandable that parents worry about reading them to young children. As adults, we can see the innocence in fairy tales, but a five-year-old child would take them too seriously. Despite the dark nature of some classic fairy tales, as we see in GRIMM, good will defeat evil and there is always a moral to the story.”

　　The study also shows two thirds of mums and dads try to avoid stories which might give their children nightmares. However, half of parents think traditional tales are more likely to have a strong moral message than a lot of modern kids’ books, such as The Gruffalo, The Hungary Caterpillar and the Mr. Men books.

　　60. We can learn from Para. 3 that GRIMM is _________.

　　A. a fairy tale book

　　B. a movie for children

　　C. a play loved by children

　　D. a drama based on traditional fairy tales

　　61. The underlined word “soothe” in Para. 4 can be replaced by “_________”.

　　A. put down

　　B. calm down

　　C. take down

　　D. come down

　　62. Which of the following may Steve Hornsey agree to?

　　A. A moral always exists in a classic fairy tale.

　　B. All fairy tales are dark.

　　C. Adults take fairy tales too seriously.

　　D. All fairy tales are good for children’s sleep.

　　63. What’s the author’s attitude towards traditional fairy tales?

　　A. Optimistic.

　　B. Not mentioned.

　　C. Casual.

　　D. Disapproving.

　　C

　　A new study of 8,000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily，it is a bad thing for young people．Puppy love（早恋）may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression．The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys，and younger girls are the worst of all．

　　The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “loss of self”．According to the study，even though boys would say “lose themselves in a romantic relationship”，this “loss of self” is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls．Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions．They won’t tell that to their parents．

　　Dr Marianm Kaufman，an expert on young people problems，says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing．Trying romance often causes the depression．She advises kids not to jump into romance too early．During growing up，it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self．She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends，attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family．

　　Parents should watch for signs of depression—eating or mood changes—and if they see signs from their daughters or sons，they need to give help．The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age．Love will always make us feel young，but only maturity（成熟）gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects．

　　64．What’s the main idea of the passage?

　　A．Puppy love may bring young people depression．

　　B．Parents should forbid their children’s love．

　　C．Romance is a twoedged sword for adults．

　　D．Romance is good for young people．

　　65．Which of the following is more likely to have depression?

　　A．Young people who have a strong sense of selfishness．

　　B．Young boys whose parents watch for their behavior．

　　C．Young girls who always hide their feelings and opinions．

　　D．Careless parents whose children are deep in love．

　　66．What can be inferred from the passage?

　　A．Lacking love can lead young people to grow up more quickly．

　　B．Early love makes young people keep close to their friends and parents．

　　C．Parents should help their children to be aware of the signs of depression．

　　D．The older a woman is，the less likely she seems to lose herself in romance．

　　67．What’s the author’s attitude towards puppy love?

　　A．Confused

　　B．Disapproving

　　C．Disinterested

　　D．Scared

　　D

　　Time and how we experience it have always puzzled us. Physicists have created fascinating theories, but their time is measured by a pendulum（钟摆）and is not psychological time, which leaps with little regard to the clock or calendar. As someone who understood the difference remarked, “When you sit with a nice girl for two hours it seems like a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove, a minute seems like two hours.”

　　Psychologists have long noticed that larger units of time, such as months and years, fly on swifter wings as we age. They also note that the more time is structured with schedules and appointments, the more rapidly it seems to pass．For example, a day at the office flies compared with a day at the beach. Since most of us spend fewer days at the beach and more at the office as we age, an increase in structured tune could well be to blame for why time seems to speed up as we grow older．

　　Expectation and familiarity also make time seem to flow more rapidly. Almost all of us have had the experience of driving somewhere we’ve never been before. Surrounded by unfamiliar scenery, with no real idea of when we’ll arrive, we experience the trip as lasting a long time. But the return trip, although exactly as long, seems to take far less time. The unfamiliarity of the journey has become routine. Thus taking a different route on occasion can often help slow the clock.

　　When days become as identical as beads（小珠子）on a string, they mix together, and even months become a single day. To fight this, try to find ways to interrupt the structure of your day—to stop time. Learning something new is one of the ways to slow the passage of time. One of the reasons the days of our youth seems so full and long is that these are the days of learning and discovery. For many of us, learning ends when we leave school, but this doesn’t have to be.

　　68. The quotation in the first paragraph is used to indicate ______.

　　A. psychological time is quite puzzling

　　B. time should not be measured by a pendulum

　　C. physical time is different from psychological time

　　D. physical theory has nothing to do with the true sense of time

　　69. Why do units of time fly faster as we grow older?

　　A. Our sense of time changes.

　　B. We spend less time at the beach.

　　C. More time is structured and scheduled.

　　D. Time is structured with too many appointments.

　　70. What is the main idea of the passage？

　　A. It gives various explanations about time.

　　B. It describes how we experience time psychologically.

　　C. It shows the different ideas of physicists and psychologists on time.

　　D. It explains why time flies fast and how to slow it down psychologically.

　　参考答案

　　A篇：56-59 BDCD

　　B篇 60 -63 DBAB

　　C篇 64-67

　　ACDB

　　D篇 68-70 CCD