.EducationalCamps2010★21stCent-优题课

第二部分：阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
第一节：（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分）
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，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
After finishing my shopping, I headed for the checkout counter but was blocked in the narrow passage by a young man that appeared to be about sixteen years old. I wasn’t in a hurry, so I patiently waited for the boy to realize that I was there.
After a little while, he waved his hands excitedly, in the air and shouted in a loud voice, "Mommy, I'm here．Mommy, I'm here．" It was obvious now, he was mentally challenged．Suddenly, he turned and saw me standing so close to him．His eyes widened and watched me surprisingly．He turned and saw me standing so close to him. His eyes widened and watched me surprisingly. I stepped back and asked, " Hey, buddy, what’s your name? " " My name is Denny and I'm shopping with my mother," he responded proudly．"Wow," I said, "that's a cool name．I wish my name was Denny, but my name is Hal．" "Hal like Halloween?" he asked．"Yes," I answered．"How old are you, Denny?" "How old am I now．Mommy?" he asked his mother as she came over from the next passage．"You' re fifteen years old, Denny; now be a good boy and let the lady pass by．" I continued to talk to Denny for several more minutes about summer vacation, bicycles and school．I watched his brown eyes dance with excitement．
As we were talking, he suddenly ran toward the toy section．
Denny's mom thanked me for taking the time to talk with her son．She told me that most people wouldn' t even look at him, much less talk to him…I told her that it was my pleasure and then I said, " Denny is a blue rose and if I didn' t stop and smell that rose with my heart, I would miss a blessing from God．"
She looked more puzzled．I told her that there are plenty of red, yellow and pink roses in God's garden, however, blue roses are very rare and should be appreciated for their beauty and distinctiveness （特殊之处）．Denny is such a "blue rose" in God's garden．
46．The story may happen______．
A．in a school B．during the summer vacation
C．in a super market D．in the toy section
47．The boy's brown eyes dance with excitement because______．
A．he was the center of someone's attention
B．Denny is a cool name
C．he is shopping with his mother
D．he likes summer vacation
48．We can infer from the passage that Danny ______.
A．was mentally challenged B．is 15 years old
C．was often very lonely and neglected D．is a ‘blue rose1’ in God's garden
49．From the passage we can learn that _______.
A．there are plenty of red, yellow and pink roses in God’s garden
B．blue roses'are very rare and should be appreciated
C．most people wouldn’t even look at Denny
D．every person should be appreciated in our life

E
“The Lord of the Rings”, one of the best sellers in the new millennium (千年), was made up of three parts —— “The Fellowship of the Ring”, “Two Towers”, and “The Return of the King”. Millions upon millions of people have read it in over 25 different languages, but fewer know about the author and the history of the composition of the creative masterwork.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892. His parents died when he was a child. Living in England with his aunt, Tolkien and his cousins made up play languages, a hobby that led to Tolkien’s becoming skilled in Welsh, Greek, Gothic, Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon.
After graduating from Oxford, Tolkien served in World War I. In 1917, while recovering from trench fever, he began composing the mythology (神话) for The Rings. As a professor of Anglo-Saxon in 1930s at Oxford, Tolkien was part of an informal discussion group called the Inklings, which included several writers. The group was soon listening to chapters of Tolkien’s imaginative work “The Hobbit”.
Hobbit was a name Tolkien created for a local people that could best be described as half-sized members of the English rural (乡村的) class. Hobbits live in hillside holes. One of them, Bilbo Baggins, looks for treasures with a group of dwarves (侏儒). On the way, he meets the twisted, pitiful creature Gollum, from whom he sees a golden ring that makes the holder invisible.
One of Tolkien’s students persuaded her employer, publisher Allen & Unwin, to look at a draft (草稿). The chairman of the firm, Stanley Unwin, thought that the best judge for a children’s book would be his ten-year-old son. The boy earned a shilling for reporting back that the adventure was exciting, and “The Hobbit” was published in 1937.
It sold so well that Unwin asked for a continuation. Over a dozen years later, in 1954, Tolkien produced “The Lord of the Rings”, a series of books so creative that they hold readers — new and old — after their publication.
57. What can we learn from the text?
A. “The Lord of the Rings” didn’t sell well in the last millennium.
B. People know better about Tolkien himself than about his works.
C. Tolkien was quite familiar with Old English.
D. Tolkien knew very well about different kinds of local languages in Africa.
58. Which of the following helped most in making “The Hobbit” published?
A. One of Tolkien’s students. B. Stanley Unwin’s son.
C. Allen & Unwin. D. Bilbo Baggins.
59. What is mainly discussed in the text?
A. “The Lord of the Rings” and its writer.
B. A completely new masterwork in the new millennium.
C. A famous professor at Oxford University. D. The power of the magic ring.
60. Which of the following shows the right order of Mr. J.R.R.Tolkien’s life experience?
a. He had his “The Hobbit” published. b. He became a member of the Inklings.
c. He served in World WarⅠ d. He became an undergraduate at Oxford.
e. His work “The Lord of the Rings” came to the world.
f. He moved to England to live with his aunt.
A. f-d-b-c-a-e B. f-d-c-b-a-e C. f-c-d-b-e-a D. d-f-c-a-b-e

D
The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to present all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his word, “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill（钻孔） deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above 0ºC. The seeds will be protected behind walls a meter thick and high-security door.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below 0ºC. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s safest gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first put forward the idea in the 1980s. But safety concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
53．The project is meant to ______.
A．increase the world’s food output in the future
B．carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C．build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
D．protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
54．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A．The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B．Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousands years ago.
C．Spitsbergen is chosen because it is free of the nuclear war forever.
D．Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
55．We can infer from the text that _______.
A．Norway had meant to build the storage centre about 20 years before.
B．The storage center will greatly promote world agriculture
C．People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year.
D．There haven’t been any seed storage centres in the world before.
56．What is probably the best title of the passage?www.
A．The Best Place to Store Seeds B．Noah’s Ark（诺亚方舟）of Plant Seeds in Plan
C．Concerns of World Food SupplyD．A New Way to Feed the World

C
Today just as technology changed the face of industry, farms have experienced an “agricultural revolution”. On the farm of today, machines provide almost all the power.
One of the most important benefits will be the farm computer. A few forward-looking farmers are already using computers to help them run their farms more efficiently. The computers help them keep more accurate records so they can make better decisions on what crops to plant, how much livestock(家畜) to buy, when to sell their products, and how much profit they can expect. Many computer companies have been developing special computer programs just for farmers. Programs are being written for pig producers, grain farmers, potato farmers, and dairy farmers. In the future, farmers will be able to purchase computer programs made to their needs. Because of the growing importance of computers on the farm, students at agricultural colleges are required to take computer classes in addition to their normal agricultural courses. There can be no doubt that farmers will rely on computers even more in the future. While the old-time farm depended on horse power, and modern farms depend on machine power, farms of the future will depend on computer power.
Another technological advance which is still in the experimental stage is the robot, a real “mechanized hired hand” that will be able to move and, in some ways, think like a human being. Agricultural engineers believe that computer-aided robots will make shocking changes in farming before the end of the century. Unlike farmers of the present, farmers of the future will find that many day-to-day tasks will be done for them. Scientists are now developing robots that will be able to shear（修剪） sheep, drive tractors, and harvest fruit. Even complex jobs will be done by robots. For example, in order to milk their cows, farmers must first drive them into the barn, then connect them to the milking machines, watch the machines, and disconnect them when they are finished. In the future, this will all be done by robots. In addition, when the milking is completed, the robots will automatically check to make sure that the milk is pure. The complete change of the farm is far in the future, but engineers expect that some robots will be used before long.
49. Which sentence carried the main idea of the whole passage?
A.The first sentence of the third paragraph.
B. The first sentence of the second paragraph.
C. The first sentence of the first paragraph.
D. The last sentence of the second paragraph.
50. According to the passage, computers can not help farmers decide _______.
A. how much money they can earn from their products
B. whether to plant a certain kind of crop
C. what livestock to raise D. when to sell their products
51. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Farmers in the future will depend totally on computers.
B. Farmers mainly use machines on their farms at present.
C.Both computers and robots have been in use on today’s farms.
D. Students at agricultural colleges must take computer classes because they can do
nothing without the help of computers on today’s farms.
52. What is the best title for the whole passage?
A. Computer, Farmers’ Best Friend B. Farmers in The Future
C. The Agricultural Revolution D. Computers and Robots

B
“It was all his own idea, ” says Pat Peters, the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto, California high school football coach Bob Peters, 39. Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract” --a document stating that for 70 days this summer he would take over the care and feeding of the couple’s four children, plus all household chores. Although he didn’t even know how to make coffee when he signed, he was quite confident.(He thought the experience would make a nice book.)
After 40 of the 70 days, he was ready to give up. “I was beaten down, completely humbled（挫败的）,” admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press, stating, “Not only is motherhood a difficult task, not only is it never-ending, it is an impossible job for any normal human being.”
Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts. After they were married in 1960, she worked as a secretary to help put him through university. Since then Bob has been the football and wrestling coach at Palo Alto’s Cubberley High while Pat raised the kids. Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley. “I had been around children so much,” she sighs, “I couldn’t talk to a grown-up.” She continued to run the household, however----until Bob signed the contract, therefore, she decided to relax and enjoy it.
Although Peters had consulted(咨询) with his school’s home economics teachers and the head of the cafeteria, his meals were sometimes a disaster. “I tried to slip the butter I’d forgotten under the eggs after they were frying, ” he says. For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot—sometimes having Macdonald’s hamburgers for lunch and dinner.
As for housekeeping, a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made. “I found an easier way-I shut the doors, ” he says. Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week. “I made them wear their shirts inside out, and when we went to pick up Pat at work they turned them right side out so they would look clean.”
Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong, he is routinely sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative（暂时的） title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day.
45. The couple signed the contract because _______.
A. Pat complained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself
B. Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest
C. they agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks
D. Bob thought it easy to take care of the family and wanted the experience for a book
46. It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract, he would have to _______.
A. pay a certain amount of money
B.admit publicly he was wrong about motherhood
C. say sorry to his wife D. do all the housework for years
47. What can we learn about Pat Peters?
A. She was hard-working and selfless. B. She was pretty and kind-hearted.
C. She was tired of the child-raising and household tasks.
D. She did not love Bob any longer.
48. Which of the following can best end the news story?
A. “Wait till your mother gets home!” B. “My experience of being a mother.”
C. “I’m proud of you all, my dear!”D. “Motherhood: an impossible job for anyone.”