2016届广东省天河区高考英语二轮语法复习精讲精练：阅读理解16

　　阅读理解精讲精炼16

　　80.

　　Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman's smile

　　at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. It often causes confusion(困惑) across cultures. For example, many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places(although this is less common in big cities). Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don't smile enough. In Southeast Asian cultures, a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.

　　Our faces show emotions(情感), but we should not attempt to “read” people from another culture as we would “read” someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions. Rather, there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressiveness permitted. For example, in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.

　　It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cultural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotion are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of “reading” the other person incorrectly.

　　49．What does the smile usually mean in the U．S.?

　　A．Love.

　　B．Politeness.

　　C．Joy.

　　D．Thankfulness.

　　50．The author mentions the smile of the Vietnamese to prove that a smile can ________.

　　A．show friendliness to strangers

　　B．be used to hide true feelings

　　C．be used in the wrong places

　　D．show personal habits

　　51．What should we do before attempting to “read” people?

　　A．Learn about their relations with others.

　　B．Understand their cultural backgrounds.

　　C．Find out about their past experience.

　　D．Figure out what they will do next.

　　52．What would be the best title for the text?

　　A．Cultural Differences

　　B．Smiles and Relationships

　　C．Facial Expressiveness

　　D．Habits and Emotions

　　【要点综述】本文主要介绍了不同的文化背景下，不同国家的人们在运用面部表情的时候也有着很大的差异，因此，我们在判断他人面部表情的含义的时候，不要以自己的文化背景为根据，这样会做出错误的判断。

　　49. C　细节理解题。根据第一段的“For example, in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure.”可知在美国，微笑一般表示的是“高兴”的意思。A项表示“爱”；B项“有礼貌”，是一些特殊情况下的含义；D项表示“感谢”，没有这个信息。

　　50. B　推理判断题。结合第一段的最后一句话“Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.” 提到了越南人以微笑来结束一个悲伤的故事，是掩饰真实情感的例子，故选B。A项“对陌生人友好”，是美国人的做法；C项“微笑会在错误的地方使用”；D项表示“个人的习惯”；均与原文信息不符。

　　51. B　细节理解题。根据最后一段的最后一句话“If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of ‘reading’ the other person incorrectly.”可知在理解他人的面部表情的时候，首先要懂得他们的文化背景，不能以自己的文化来理解他人的面部表情。A“了解与他人的关系”；C“找出他们过去的经历”；D“预测他们下一步将做什么”；均与原文信息不符。

　　52. C　标题归纳题。本文主要介绍了在不同的文化背景下，人们的面部表情传达的意思不同，以美国人和世界各地其他不同国家的人们在面部表情表达方式的不同为例，说明了我们在理解他人表情的时候，不要以自己的文化背景为基础，因此选C。A“文化差别”；B“微笑与关系”；D“习惯与感情”；均不是文章的主题。

　　If Confucius(孔子)were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He'd need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.

　　While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.

　　But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.

　　In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲学)．Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Western philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.

　　So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well.

　　Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.

　　As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.

　　64．The opening paragraph is mainly intended to ________.

　　A．provide some key facts about Confucius

　　B．attract the readers' interest in the subject

　　C．show great respect for the ancient thinker

　　D．prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations

　　65．We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students ________.

　　A．have a great interest in studying Chinese

　　B．take an active part in Chinese competitions

　　C．try to get high scores in Chinese exams

　　D．fight for a chance to learn Chinese

　　66．What is the best title for the passage?

　　A．Forgotten Wisdom in America

　　B．Huge Fans of the Chinese Language

　　C．Chinese Culture for Westerners

　　D．Old Thinker with a Big Future

　　67．The passage is likely to appear in ________.

　　A．a biography

　　B．a history paper

　　C．a newspaper

　　D．a philosophy textbook

　　【要点综述】尽管东西方纪念孔子的方式不同，孔子在西方仍受到推崇。世界各地的孔子学院受到了西方人的欢迎。这成为了解中国文化的桥梁。

　　64. B　写作意图题。作者开篇提出，如果孔子活到今天，按照西方点蜡烛庆祝他的生日，吹蜡烛是一件麻烦的事情。作者以这个作为开场白，目的是吸引读者。C有一定的干扰性。作者在后面讲述了西方人不会这么做，这并不代表他们不尊重孔子，由此我们排除C。

　　65. A　推理判断题。第四段的第一句就是本段的主旨句。这一段讲述了孔子文化在西方的受欢迎程度，因此我们可以得出答案。

　　66. D　主旨大意题。全文讲述了孔子学院在西方的受欢迎程度。它架起了东方文化向西方输送的桥梁，因此是古老的思想家与未来的结合。C有一定的干扰性。本文介绍了孔子思想在西方国家的传播，因此C的范围过大。

　　67. C　文章出处题。本文介绍了孔子学院在西方的盛行，因此属于报道类文章，应该是在报纸里出现。

　　82.

　　Grown­ups are often surprised by how well they remember something they learned as children but have never practiced ever since. A man who has not had a chance to go swimming for years can still swim as well as ever when he gets back in the water. He can get on a bicycle after many years and still ride away. He can play catch and hit a ball as well as his son. A mother who has not thought about the words for years can teach her daughter the poem that begins “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” or remember the story of Cinderella or Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

　　One explanation is the law of overlearning, which can be stated as follows: Once we have learned something, additional learning trials increase the length of time we will remember it.

　　In childhood we usually continue to practice such skills as swimming, bicycle riding, and playing baseball long after we have learned them. We continue to listen to and remind ourselves of words such as “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” and childhood tales such as Cinderella and Goldilocks. We not only learn but overlearn.

　　The multiplication tables (乘法口诀表) are an exception to the general rule that we forget rather quickly the things that we learn in school, because they are another of the things we overlearn in childhood.

　　The law of overlearning explains why cramming (突击学习) for an examination, though it may result in a passing grade, is not a satisfactory way to learn a college course. By cramming, a student may learn the subject well enough to get by on the examination, but he is likely soon to forget almost everything he learned. A little overlearning, on the other hand, is really necessary for one's future development.

　　67．What is the main idea of Paragraph 1?

　　A．People remember well what they learned in childhood.

　　B．Children have a better memory than grown­ups.

　　C．Poem reading is a good way to learn words.

　　D．Stories for children are easy to remember.

　　68．The author explains the law of overlearning by________.

　　A．presenting research findings

　　B．setting down general rules

　　C．making a comparison

　　D．using examples

　　69．According to the author, being able to use multiplication tables is ________.

　　A．a result of overlearning

　　B．a special case of cramming

　　C．a skill to deal with math problems

　　D．a basic step towards advanced studies

　　70．What is the author's opinion on cramming?

　　A．It leads to failure in college exams.

　　B．It's helpful only in a limited way.

　　C．It's possible to result in poor memory.

　　D．It increases students' learning interest.

　　【要点综述】本文是一篇议论文。成年人常常惊叹他们能很好地记着儿时学过的东西。作者认为这是儿时过度学习的结果，是因为当我们儿时学会一样东西的时候，我们不是就此停止，而是继续练习，才使我们记忆深刻。文章用例证法说明了“过度学习”的概念。 最后作者谈到了“过度学习”的好处和“突击学习”的弊端。

　　67. A　段落大意题。根据文章第一段中的“Grown­ups are often surprised by how well they remember something they learned as children but have never practiced ever since.”可知，文章讲的是成年人常常惊叹他们非常好地记着儿时学过的东西。C、D断章取义，讲得太具体，B项错误，因为那是过度学习的结果，不是儿时记忆力好。所以A正确。

　　68. D　推理判断题。根据文章的内容可知：作者采用了举例子的说明方法。比如：“practice such skills as swimming, bicycle riding, and playing baseball long after we have learned them.”和“…they [the multiplication tables(乘法口诀表)] are another of the things we overlearn in childhood.”

　　69. A　推理判断题。根据文章的第四段“because they are another of the things we overlearn in childhood.”可知，乘法口诀仍然是儿时过度学习的结果。所以选A。

　　70. B　推理判断题。根据文章最后一段中的“By cramming, a student may learn the subject well enough to get by on the examination, but he is likely soon to forget almost everything he learned.”可知，突击学习只在有限的方面有帮助。所以B正确。

　　82.

　　blue necklace hoping to protect themselves against evils(灾祸)．

　　People's choice of colors is also influenced by their bodies' reactions (反应)toward them. Green is said to be the most restful color. It has the ability to reduce pain and relax people both mentally and physically. People who work in green environments have been found to have fewer stomach aches.

　　Red can cause a person's blood pressure to rise and increase people's appetites(食欲). Many decorators will include different shades of red in the restaurant. Similarly, many commercial websites will have a red “Buy Now” button because red is a color that easily catches a person's eye.

　　Blue is another calming color. Unlike red, blue can cause people to lose appetite. So if you want to eat less, some suggest that eating from blue plates can help.

　　The next time you are deciding on what to wear or what color to decorate your room, think about the color carefully.

　　60. Muslims regard green as a symbol of heaven mainly because of their ________.

　　A. cultural values

　　B. commercial purposes

　　C. personal experiences

　　D. physical reactions to the color

　　61. Why will many commercial websites have a red “Buy Now” button?

　　A. To relax people physically.

　　B. To increase people's appetites.

　　C. To encourage people to make a purchase.

　　D. To cause a person's blood pressure to rise.

　　62. What color might help lose weight according to the text?

　　A. Red.

　　B. Green.

　　C. Blue.

　　D. Purple.

　　63. Which of the following would be the most proper title for the text?

　　A. Colors and Human Beings

　　B. The Cultural Meaning of Color

　　C. Colors and Personal Experiences

　　D. The Meaning and Function of Color

　　【要点综述】本文主要讲颜色在不同的国家中代表不同含义以及在日常生活中的不同功能。

　　60. A　细节推断题。根据第二段中The answer depends largely on cultural values as well as personal experiences.可知颜色和文化价值以及个人经历有关。再根据…for Muslims, it means heaven.可判断应该是文化价值而不是个人经历。

　　61. C　细节推断题。根据第四段中…because red is a color that easily catches a person's eye可知红色容易吸引眼球，意思是鼓励别人购买。

　　62. C　细节推断题。根据第五段中blue can cause people to lose appetite. So if you want to eat less, some suggest that eating from blue plates can help.可判断选C。

　　63. D　主旨大意题。本文主要讲颜色的不同意义和功能，所以可判断选D。

　　83.

　　There is no better way to enjoy Scottish traditions than going fishing and tasting a little bit of whisky(威士忌) at a quiet place like the Inverlochy Castle. When Queen Victoria visited the castle in 1873 she wrote in her diary, “I never saw a lovelier spot. ” And she didn't even go fishing.

　　Scotland is not easily defined.

　　In certain moments, this quiet land of lakes and grasses and mountains changes before your very eyes. When evening gently sweeps the hillside into orange light, the rivers, teeming with fish, can turn into streams of gold.

　　As you settle down with just a fishing pole and a basket on the bank of River Orchy, near the Inverlochy Castle, any frustration(烦恼) will float away as gently as the circling water. It's just you and purple, pink, white flowers，seeking a perfect harmony. If you are a new comer to fishing, learning the basics from a fishing guide may leave you with a lifetime's fun. For many, fishing is more than a sport; it is an art.

　　Scotland offers interesting places where you can rest after a long day's fishing. Set against a wild mountain and hidden behind woodland, the beautiful Inverlochy Castle Hotel below the Nevis is a perfect place to see the beauty of Scotland's mountains. Ben Nevis is the highest of all British mountains, and reaching its 1343­metre top is a challenge. But it's not just what goes up that matters; what comes down is unique. More than 900 metres high, on the mountain's north face, lies an all­important source of pure water. Its name comes from the Gaelic language “usquebaugh ” or “water of life”； and it is the single most important ingredient(原料) in Scotland's best known drink：whisky.

　　64. The story of Queen Victoria is to show that ________.

　　A. the Queen is rich in tour experience

　　B. the Castle is a good place to go in Scotland

　　C. tasting whisky is better than going fishing

　　D. 1873 is a special year for the Queen

　　65. How is Paragraph 2 mainly developed?

　　A. By giving descriptions.

　　B. By following time order.

　　C. By analyzing causes.

　　D. By making comparisons.

　　66. What is Ben Nevis special for?

　　A. The Inverlochy Castle Hotel.

　　B. The beauty of its surroundings.

　　C. The water from the mountain.

　　D. The challenge up to its top.

　　67. What is the main purpose of the passage?

　　A. To introduce Scottish traditions to tourists.

　　B. To show the attractions of Scotland to readers.

　　C. To explore geographical characteristics of Scotland.

　　D. To describe the pleasures of life in Scotland.

　　【要点综述】该篇材料介绍了苏格兰Inverlochy Castle的迤逦风光，既有地理风光，又有人文情怀。其写作目的是向读者介绍这里的风土人情，吸引游客观光游览。

　　64. B　推理判断题。引用维多利亚女王的故事目的是提升其城堡的名望。

　　65. A　推理判断题。该段首句Scotland is not easily defined(苏格兰很难定义)明示，该段材料使用的是白描的手法，即通过详尽的描述来说明此地风光无限。

　　66. C　细节理解题。短文最后一段直接说明Ben Nevis的特产——酿造上等威士忌的优质水源。

　　67. B　写作意图题。该篇材料不惜笔墨描述Inverlochy Castle及其附近的风光，其目的显而易见：招揽游客。

　　To take the apple as a forbidden fruit is the most unlikely story the Christians(基督教徒) have ever cooked up. For them, the forbidden fruit from Eden is evil (邪恶的). So when Columbus brought the tomato back from South America, a land mistakenly considered to be Eden, everyone jumped to the obvious conclusion. Wrongly taken as the apple of Eden, the tomato was shut out of the door of Europeans.

　　What made it particularly terrifying was its similarity to the mandrake，a plant that was thought to have come from Hell (地狱). What earned the plant its awful reputation was its roots which looked like a dried­up human body occupied by evil spirits. Though the tomato and the mandrake were quite different except that both had bright red or yellow fruit, the general population considered them one and the same, too terrible to touch.

　　Cautious Europeans long ignored the tomato, and until the early 1700s most_of_the_Western_people_continued_to_drag_their_feet. In the 1880s, the daughter of a well­known plant expert wrote that the most interesting part of an afternoon tea at her father's house had been the “introduction of this wonderful new fruit—or is it a vegetable？” As late as the twentieth century some writers still classed tomatoes with mandrakes as an “evil fruit”.

　　But in the end tomatoes carried the day.The hero of the tomato was an American named Robert Johnson, and when he was publicly going to eat the tomato in 1820，people journeyed for hundreds of miles to watch him drop dead. “What are you afraid of？” he shouted. “I'll show you fools that these things are good to eat！”Then he bit into the tomato.Some people fainted. But he survived and, according to a local story，set up a tomato­canning factory.

　　68. The tomato was shut out of the door of early Europeans mainly because ________.

　　A. it made Christians evil

　　B. it was the apple of Eden

　　C. it came from a forbidden land

　　D. it was religiously unacceptable

　　69. What can we infer from the underlined part in Paragraph 3?

　　A. The process of ignoring the tomato slowed down.

　　B. There was little progress in the study of the tomato.

　　C. The tomato was still refused in most western countries.

　　D. Most western people continued to get rid of the tomato.

　　70. What is the main reason for Robert Johnson to eat the tomato publicly?

　　A. To make himself a hero.

　　B. To remove people's fear of the tomato.

　　C. To speed up the popularity of the tomato.

　　D. To persuade people to buy products from his factory.

　　71. What is the main purpose of the passage?

　　A. To challenge people's fixed concepts of the tomato.

　　B. To give an explanation to people's dislike of the tomato.

　　C. To present the change of people's attitudes to the tomato.

　　D. To show the process of freeing the tomato from religious influence.

　　【要点综述】本文介绍了西红柿被欧洲人视为禁果而长期受到敌视的历史渊源，而文章最后叙述的第一位在公众面前食用该禁果的先贤Robert Johnson的壮举则让西红柿红遍全球。

　　68. D　细节理解题。第一段先谈及苹果被基督教徒视为禁果，而和苹果外观极为相似的西红柿一样被欧洲人排斥。

　　69. C　推理判断题。该句前半部分中的ignore一词明示西红柿被视为禁果的现实，而该段最后一句则强化了对此论断的佐证。

　　70. B　推理判断题。从勇士Robert Johnson对公众的质问句 “What are you afraid of？”及“I’ll show you fools that these things are good to eat！”中可见其壮举的目的是为了让人们摒弃对西红柿的恐惧及偏见。

　　71. C　写作意图题。短文前半部分介绍了西红柿被视为禁果的原因，而最后一段则记录了Robert Johnson食用所谓禁果的壮举，其写作目的是介绍人们对西红柿态度转变的历史过程。

　　85.

　　Easter(复活节)is still a great day for worship, candy in baskets and running around the yard finding eggs, but every year it gets quite a bit worse for bunnies.

　　And no, not because the kids like to pull their ears. The culprit is climate change, and some researchers found that rising temperatures are having harmful effects on at least five species of rabbit in the US.

　　Take the Lower Keys Marsh rabbit, for instance. An endangered species that lives in the Lower Florida Keys, this species of cottontail is a great swimmer—it lives on the islands！—but it is already severely affected by development and now by rising sea levels. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, an ocean level rise of only 0.6 meters will send these guys jumping to higher ground and a 0.9­meter rise would wipe out their habitat(栖息地)completely.

　　The snowshoe hare, on the other hand, has a color issue. Most of these rabbits change their fur color from white in the wintertime to brown in the summer, each designed to give them better cover from predators(捕食者). As the number of days with snow decreases all across the country, however, more and more bunnies are being left in white fur during brown dirt days of both fall and spring, making them an easier mark for predators. Researchers know that the color change is controlled by the number of hours of sunlight, but whether the rabbit will be able to adapt quick enough to survive is a big question. The National Wildlife Federation has reported that hunters have noticed their numbers are already markedly down.

　　American pikas or rock rabbits, a relative of rabbits and hares, might be the first of these species to go extinct due to climate change. About 7­8 inches long, pikas live high in the cool, damp mountains west of the Rocky Mountains. As global temperatures rise, they would naturally migrate(迁移) to higher ground—but they already occupy the mountaintops. They can't go any higher. The National Wildlife Federation reports that they might not be able to stand the new temperatures as their habitat heats up.

　　The volcano rabbit has the same problem. These rabbits live on the slopes of volcanoes in Mexico, and recent studies have shown that the lower range of their habitat has already shifted upward about 700 meters, but there are not suitable plants for them to move higher, so they are stuck in the middle. Scientists are concerned about their populations.

　　Native to the US, pygmy rabbits weigh less than 1 pound and live in the American West. They are believed to be the smallest rabbits in the world. Their habitats have been destroyed by development. Several populations, such as the Columbia Basin pygmy, almost went extinct and were saved by zoo breeding programs. Pygmy rabbits also rely on winter cover by digging tunnels through the snow to escape predators, but lesser snowfall is leaving them exposed.

　　All of this gives new meaning to dressing up in a giant bunny costume this Easter.

　　41．The writer mentions Easter at the beginning of the passage in order to ________.

　　A．show the importance of Easter Day

　　B．introduce the issue about bunnies

　　C．remind people of Easter traditions

　　D．discuss the relationship between Easter and bunnies

　　42．The word “culprit”(Paragraph 2)is closest in meaning to ________.

　　A．criminal

　　B．judge

　　C．victim

　　D．producer

　　43．According to the passage, some rabbits can now be easily discovered by predators because they ________.

　　A．are exposed to more skillful hunters

　　B．have moved to habitats with fewer plants

　　C．haven't adapted themselves to climate change

　　D．can't change their fur color into white in the fall and the spring

　　44．The problem faced by volcano rabbits and rock rabbits is that ________.

　　A．both are affected by less snow

　　B．both are affected by rising sea levels

　　C．neither can find enough food

　　D．neither can migrate to higher places

　　45．Which best describes the writer's tone in the passage?

　　A．Approving.

　　B．Concerned.

　　C．Enthusiastic.

　　D．Doubtful.

　　【要点综述】复活节的兔子，本应该是很喜庆的动物，但是现状却是由于气候变化，很多兔子面临着灭绝的危险，那么它们到底有着怎么样的困境呢？让我们读文章去了解一下吧。

　　41. B　推理判断题。从文章第一段…gets quite a bit worse for bunnies和第二段And no, not because the kids like…等知，第一段提到复活节的目的在于引出下文中关于兔子的话题，故应该选B项。

　　42. A　词义猜测题。从文章第二段And no, not because the kids like…和…is climate change…，以及下文多次提到的兔子们遭受到的困境可知，这里culprit表示“罪魁祸首，灾难制造者”的含义，所以词义同A项。

　　43. C　推理判断题。从第二段知，受气候的影响，兔子们遇到了困境。比如第三段提到的Lower Keys Marsh rabbit(湿地兔)和第四段提到的the snowshoe hare(雪兔)都反映出它们对环境变化的不适应，这才是造成它们受困的原因，所以选C项。

　　44. D　细节理解题。从第五段…they would naturally migrate(迁移) to higher ground—but they…They

　　can’t go any higher…和第六段…but there are not suitable plants for them to move higher…知，这两种兔子濒临灭绝的原因在于它们都无法进一步向高地迁徙。所以选D项。

　　45. B　观点态度题。从第一段…gets quite a bit worse for bunnies，以及全文字里行间作者对于兔子遭遇的表述可以看出，作者对于有些兔子濒临灭绝的现状表现出了关心和担忧，所以选B项。

　　The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru's heartbreaking story could have one good consequence—other countries might learn from its mistakes.

　　For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived on the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798. He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.

　　However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. Then whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten­year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.

　　Nauru's real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate(磷酸盐) on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which is a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.

　　A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip­mine. When a company strip­mines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip­mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.

　　In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.

　　Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem—their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was almost financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen.

　　56. What might be the author's purpose in writing the text?

　　A. To seek help for Nauru's problems.

　　B. To give a warning to other countries.

　　C. To show the importance of money.

　　D. To tell a heartbreaking story of a war.

　　57. What was Nauru like before the Europeans came?

　　A. Rich and powerful.

　　B. Modern and open.

　　C. Peaceful and attractive.

　　D. Greedy and aggressive.

　　58. The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from

　　________.

　　A. soil pollution

　　B. phosphate overmining

　　C. farming activity

　　D. whale hunting

　　59. Which of the following was a cause of Nauru's financial problem?

　　A. Its leaders misused the money.

　　B. It spent too much repairing the island.

　　C. Its phosphate mining cost much money.

　　D. It lost millions of dollars in the civil war.

　　60. What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?

　　A. The ecological damage is difficult to repair.

　　B. The leaders will take the experts' words seriously.

　　C. The island was abandoned by the Nauruans.

　　D. The phosphate mines were destroyed.

　　【要点综述】文章主要讲述了太平洋岛国瑙鲁如何从一个环境优美的天堂岛变成一个生态失衡、满目疮痍的小岛。

　　56. B　写作意图题。由文章第一段的“Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru's heartbreaking story could have one good consequence—other countries might learn from its mistakes.”可以看出，作者的目的是给当前很多只注重发展经济而忽略环境保护的国家一个警告。故选B。

　　57. C　细节理解题。从第一段提到的“太平洋上的国家瑙鲁岛曾经是一个美丽的地方”看出，瑙鲁岛attractive；由第二段第一句以及第三段第一句可知，上千年来，瑙鲁岛的人们生活在偏远的小岛上，过着平静的生活。故选C。

　　58. B　细节理解题。由最后一段的“Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem－their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing.”可以看出“磷酸盐逐渐减少，开采殆尽”。由此可以看出，“磷酸盐的过量开采”导致了生态灾难。故选B。

　　59. A　细节理解题。由最后一段的“Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. ”看出，是领导人不正确使用资金导致了财政问题。故选A。

　　60. A　推理判断题。文章最后告诉我们：Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island，也就是说：瑙鲁岛上的生态损失弥补起来需要大量的资金和时间，即选项所说的“修复起来很难”。故选A。