.
IV. 阅读理解
Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, on July 24,1897. In those days, airplanes were not nearly as common as they are today. Earhart was 12 years old before she ever saw an airplane, and she did not take her first flight until 1920. America Earhart was so thrilled by her first airplane ride that she quickly began to take flying lessons.
Her first instructor was Neta Snook, one of the first women to graduate from the Curtiss School of Aviation(飞行).Earhart borrowed mone from her mother to buy a two-seat plane. She got her US flying licence in December 1921, and in 1923, Earhart received her international pilot’s license—only the 16th woman to do so.
Amelia Earhart wasn’t afraid to break down barriers. After flying across the Atlantic as a passenger in 1928, Amelia Earhart’s next goal was to complete a transatlantic crossing(横跨大西洋)alone. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first person to make a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic. In 1932, exactly five years after Lindbergh’s flight, Earhart became the first woman to repeat the feat(壮举).
She decided that her next trip would be to fly around the world. In March 1937, she flew to Hawaii with fellow pilot Paul Mantz to begin this flight. Earhart lost control of the plane on takeoff, however, and the plane had to be sent to the factory for repairs.
In June, she went to Miami to again begin a flight around the world, this time with Fred Noonan as her navigator(领航员).The pair made it to New Guinea in 21 days, even though Earhart was tired and ill. During the next leg of the trip, they departed New Guinea for Howland Island, a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. July 2, 1937, was the last time Earhart and Noonan communicated with a nearby Coast Guard ship. They were never heard from again.
56.What would be the best title for the passage?
A Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight
B Amelia Earhart—the First woman to Fly Around the World
C Amelia Earhart’s Life Story
D Amelia Earhart—a Woman pilot of Great Courage
57. What can we infer from the second paragraph?
A Amelia Earhart first took her flying cource before 1920
B Amelia Earhart’s mother supported her taking flight career
C Neta Snook was Amelia Earhart’s only instructor
D Amelia Earhart also graduated from the Curtiss School of Aviation.
58. The underlined sentence in the third paragraph suggests that________
A women were not allowed to fly a plane alone at that time
B a transatlantic crossing was not a great challenge for pilots at that time
C Amelia Earhart wanted to achieve as much as men pilots do
D Amelia Earhart wasn’t afraid to fly together with men pilots
59. What happened to Amelia Earhart in the end?
A She probably got lost and died
B She successfully complete her flight around the world
C She lost control of the plane and was saved by a Coast Guard ship
D She became ill during the trip and gave it up on Howland Island.
It doesn’t kill germs better than cooler water, but turning tap temperatures high, the US burns carbon equal to the emissions of Barbados.
People typically wash their hands seven times a day in the United States, but they do it at a far higher temperature than is necessary to kill germs, a new study says. The energy waste is equivalent to the fuel use of a small country.
It’s cold and flu season, when many people are concerned about avoiding germs. But forget what you think you know about hand washing, say researchers at Vanderbilt University. Chances are good that how you clean up is not helping you stay healthy; it is helping to make the planet sick.
Amanda R. Carrico, a research assistant professor at the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment in Tennessee, told National Geographic that hand washing is often “a case where people act in ways that they think are in their best interest, but they in fact have inaccurate beliefs or outdated perceptions.”
Carrico said, “It’s certainly true that heat kills bacteria, but if you were going to use hot water to kill them it would have to be way too hot for you to tolerate.”
She explained that boiling water, 212°F (99.98°C), is sometimes used to kill germs - for example, to clean drinking water that might be polluted with germs. But “hot” water for hand washing is generally within 104°F to 131°F (40°C to 55°C.) At the high end of that range, heat could kill some germs, but the sustained contact that would be required would scald the skin.
Carrico said that after a review of the scientific literature, her team found “no evidence that using hot water that a person could stand would have any benefit in killing bacteria.” Even water as cold as 40°F (4.4°C) appeared to reduce bacteria as well as hotter water, if hands were scrubbed, rinsed(冲洗)and dried properly.
In fact, she noted that hot water can often have an unfavorable effect on hygiene. “Warmer water can harm the skin and affect the protective layer on the outside, which can cause it to be less resistant to bacteria,” said Carrico.
Using hot water to wash hands is therefore unnecessary, as well as wasteful, Carrico said, particularly when it comes to the environment. According to her research, people use warm or hot water 64 percent of the time when they wash their hands. Using that number, Carrico’s team calculated a significant impact on the planet.
“Although the choice of water temperature during a single hand wash may appear minor, when multiplied by the nearly 800 billion hand washes performed by Americans each year, this practice results in more than 6 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually,” she said.
That’s roughly equal to the emissions of two coal-fired power plants, or 1,250,000 passenger vehicles, over the course of a year. It’s higher than the greenhouse gas emissions of small countries like El Salvador or Armenia, and is about equivalent to the emissions of Barbados. If all US citizens washed their hands in cooler water, it would be like eliminating the energy-related carbon emissions of 299,700 US homes, or the total annual emissions from the US zinc or lead industries.
The researchers found that close to 70 percent of respondents said they believe that using hot water is more effective than warm, room temperature, or cold water, despite a lack of evidence backing that up, said Carrico. Her study noted research that showed a “strong cognitive(认知的) connection” between water temperature and hygiene in both the United States and Western Europe, compared to other countries, like Japan, where hot water is associated more with comfort than with health.
The researchers published their results in the July 2013 issue of International Journal of Consumer Studies. They recommended washing with water that is at a “comfortable” temperature, which they noted may be warmer in cold months and cooler in hot ones.What does the writer mainly focus on when writing this passage?
A.Whether hot water helps kill germs effectively in hand washing. |
B.How hot water contributes to the serious worsening of our planet. |
C.Why the consumption of hot water is unnecessary and wasteful. |
D.What the advantages and disadvantages of using hot water are. |
The underlined word scald in paragraph six probably means .
A.burn | B.improve | C.soften | D.wrinkle |
According to the passage, all the following share roughly the same CO2 emissions yearly EXCEPT .
A.two coal-fired power plants | B.US zinc or lead industries |
C.1,250,000 passenger vehicles | D.El Salvador or Armenia |
Which of the following is WRONG according to the passage?
A. Boiling water at 212°F (99.98°C) works effectively in killing germs.
B. Warmer water can damage the protective layer of the outside skin.
C. There is much difference between cold water and hot water in reducing bacteria.
D. Americans have inaccurate beliefs or outdated perceptions in hand washing.Which of the following is the standard of a comfortable water temperature for washing hands?
A. Warmer in winter and cooler in summer.
B. Between 104°F to 131°F (40°C to 55°C).
C. Below 104°F (40°C) or above 131°F (55°C).
D. Warm enough to kill germs and clean up. If you want to read stories of this kind afterwards, which of the following magazines will you probably subscribe to?
A.Universal Science Fiction | B.Science & Discoveries |
C.Environment & Protection | D.Exploration of America |
My day began on a definitely sour note when I saw my six-year-old wrestling with a limb of my azalea(杜鹃花)bush. By the time I got outside, he’d broken it. “Can I take this to school today?” he asked. With a wave of my hand, I sent him off. I turned my back so he wouldn’t see the tears gathering in my eyes.
The washing machine had leaked on my brand-new linoleum. If only my husband had just taken the time to fix it the night before when I asked him instead of playing checkers with Jonathan.
It was days like this that made me want to quit. I just wanted to drive up to the mountains, hide in a cave, and never come out.
Somehow I spent most of the day washing and drying clothes and thinking how love had disappeared from my life. As I finished hanging up the last of my husband’s shirts, I looked at the clock. 2:30. I was late. Jonathan’s class let out at 2:15 and I hurriedly drove to the school.
I was out of breath by the time I knocked on the teacher’s door and peered through the glass. She rustled through the door and took me aside. “I want to talk to you about Jonathan,” she said.
I prepared myself for the worst. Nothing would have surprised me. “Did you know Jonathan brought flowers to school today?” she asked. I nodded, thinking about my favorite bush and trying to hide the hurt in my eyes. “Let me tell you about yesterday,” the teacher insisted. “See that little girl?” I watched the bright-eyed child laugh and point to a colorful picture taped to the wall. I nodded.
“Well, yesterday she was almost hysterical. Her mother and father are going through a nasty divorce. She told me she didn’t want to live, she wished she could die. I watched that little girl bury her face in her hands and say loud enough for the class to hear, ‘Nobody loves me.’ I did all I could to comfort her, but it only seemed to make matters worse.” “I thought you wanted to talk to me about Jonathan,” I said.
“I do,” she said, touching the sleeve of my blouse. “Today your son walked straight over to that child. I watched him hand her some pretty pink flowers and whisper, ‘I love you.’“
I felt my heart swell with pride for what my son had done. I smiled at the teacher. “Thank you,” I said, reaching for Jonathan’s hand, “you’ve made my day.”
Later that evening, I began pulling weeds from around my azalea bush. As my mind wandered back to the love Jonathan showed the little girl, a biblical verse came to me: “...these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” While my son had put love into practice, I had only felt anger.
I heard the familiar squeak of my husband’s brakes as he pulled into the drive. I snapped a small limb bristling with hot pink azaleas off the bush. I felt the seed of love that God planted in my family beginning to bloom once again in me. My husband’s eyes widened in surprise as I handed him the flowers. “I love you,” I said.Why did the woman cry when seeing her son had broken the azalea bush?
A.Because she could not tolerate the harm to it. |
B.Because it made her bad mood even worse. |
C.Because her son did not ask her for permission. |
D.Because she wanted to hand it to her husband. |
The writer wanted to hide in the mountain cave probably for the reason of .
A.feeling fed up with her endless daily housework |
B.her husband’s failing to fix the machine in time |
C.boring daily routine with a feeling of lack of love |
D.her hoping to seek happiness in a brand new place |
We can infer from the passage that the writer expressed love to her husband in that .
A.she was inspired by her son that love was supposed to be felt and practiced |
B.she felt guilty that she misunderstood her husband and wanted to apologize |
C.she felt it necessary to have a complete family for the happiness of herself |
D.she wanted to prove her love and expected the same words from her husband |
Q: On Facebook, my friends are a mix of real-life pals, former classmates, professional colleagues, extended-family members, and … my mom. Mom is the first to like and comment on everything I post, which is annoying. I tried talking to her about it, but her feelings quickly got hurt, so I backed off. I know I can’t block her, but now I don’t want to post anything. How do I handle this?
A:This is about Facebook, not your mom. The often-shrugged-off truth about social media is that nothing is private. It’s easy to forget this, so in a way, you’re lucky that your mom is reminding you. Everything you post—comments, likes, photos—is freely available to future friends, employers, lovers etc unless blocked. That said, you can ask Mom again nicely to tone it down. You can also customize your controls so she can’t see everything you post.
Q:In which situations am I required to make a phone call versus send a text message?
A:A text is for information—time, date, news. It’s for the stuff you can keep short and sweet. A phone call is for analysis, discussion, opinion, and, if you must, gossip.
Q:I’m always on Facebook, so I just send messages to friends through the site. But when should I log off and send an e-mail?
A:When you’re serious about anything. Think of it as chatting with someone on a bus versus asking her to meet you for coffee. The former is good for casual conversation; the latter is personal and requires attention.
Q:For which occasions should I mail paper invitations versus send e-mail ones? (E-cards are free and easy—what’s not to love?!)
A:Anything important needs a paper invitation. That’s your baseline. So ask yourself: “Do I want people to dress up for this event?” If the answer is yes, dress up your invitation by making it printed instead of virtual. For more casual events and gatherings, e-card away.
Q:Is using emoticons ever inappropriate to express a feeling or make a point in texts or e-mails?
A:Emoticons are for fun. Is the message you’re writing fun? Use an emoticon. Are you asking for a big favor? Skip it. Is the message to your boss or a colleague? Skip it. Avoid them if you want to be taken seriously about anything.
Q:I have a big, happy announcement to share with a lot of people. Is it appropriate to share it on my blog?
A:Yes, so you don’t have to go cc-ing everyone in an e-mail. Post away. But send a private message to those who should know first.
Q:I have a big, sad announcement. What should I do?
A:Respect your privacy—and yourself. Pick up the phone and call a trusted friend or family member to let her know, and then ask her to help spread the news offline.What do we learn about social media from the first Q and A?
A.It is illegal to keep track of personal privacy on Facebook. |
B.Personal privacy is inaccessible online with control customized. |
C.People tend to ignore privacy provided it is blocked purposefully. |
D.We need someone to remind us constantly of our privacy online. |
Which of the following is appropriate about using social media?
A.Sending texts to consult a doctor for surgery |
B.Carrying on casual conversations via emails. |
C.Emailing your boss with emoticons for promotion. |
D.Writing a formal invitation for a dress-up event. |
According to the passage, how would you make it known that you have won a scholarship to Harvard?
A.Arranging for a social gathering to celebrate it. |
B.Informing your teachers who may help you spread. |
C.Telling your parents before posting it on your blog. |
D.Sending everyone a message privately to share it. |
At the moment, there are two reliable ways to make electricity from sunlight. You can use a panel of solar cells to create the current directly, by liberating electrons from a semiconducting material such as silicon. Or you can concentrate the sun’s rays using mirrors, boil water with them, and employ the steam to drive a generator.
Both work. But both are expensive. Gang Chen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Zhifeng Ren of Boston College therefore propose an alternative. They suggest that a phenomenon called the thermoelectric(热电)effect might be used instead—and they have built a prototype(原型)to show that the idea is practical.
Thermoelectric devices are not new. They are used, for example, to capture waste heat from car engines. They work because certain materials generate an electrical potential difference within themselves if one part is hotter than another. That can be used to drive a current through an external circuit.
The reason thermoelectric materials have not, in the past, been applied successfully to the question of solar power is that to get a worthwhile current you have to have a significant temperature difference. (200℃ is considered a good starting point.) In a car engine, that is easy. For sunlight, however, it means concentrating the heat in some way. And if you are going to the trouble of building mirrors to do that, you might as well go down the steam-generation route, which is a much more efficient way of producing electricity. If the heat concentration could be done without all the equipment of mirrors, though, thermoelectricity’s inefficiency would be balanced by the cheapness of the equipment.
In their view, three things are needed to create a workable solar-thermoelectric device. The first is to make sure that most of the sunlight which falls on it is absorbed, rather than being reflected. The second is to choose a thermoelectric material which conducts heat badly but electricity well. The third is to be certain that the temperature gradient(梯度)which that badly conducting material creates is not wasted by poor design.The following methods can be adopted to make electricity from sunlight EXCEPT .
A.putting a panel of solar cells into use |
B.concentrating sun’s rays with mirrors |
C.creating a solar-thermoelectric device |
D.building a practical solar prototype |
Why was the application of thermoelectric materials a failure in the past?
A.Because it’s hard for them to build enough mirrors to make it work. |
B.Because 200℃ was hard to reach at that time even in a car engine. |
C.Because of the failure of having a significant temperature difference. |
D.Because it was hard to focus the sun’s rays with equipment of mirrors. |
Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
A.Thermoelectric Device --- the Best Method of All |
B.A New Method of Making Electricity from Sunlight |
C.How to Create a Workable Thermoelectric Device |
D.Solar Power --- a New Energy Trend in the Future |
Every electronic gadget (小玩意) needs good memory. A music player stores songs, albums and playlists. A computer holds schoolwork and programs and remembers how far a player has advanced in his or her favorite game. Mobile phones store names, numbers and hundreds of texts.
Now, scientists in California say they have come up with a way to turn a living cell into a memory device.
It can store only one tiny bit of information, but it’s a start. In the future, a cell-based gadget might travel through the body and record measurements. The benefit to human health could be big: the right tool, for example, might record the earliest signs of disease.
Doctors, scientists and other curious people want to know what is happening inside the body, even at levels that can’t be seen by the naked eye. So far, there is no device small enough to travel through the bloodstream.
If normal machines won’t do the trick, perhaps biology will. Scientists who work in the field of synthetic (合成的) biology are trying to find ways to turn living things into human tools. In the case of the new memory device, bioengineers from Stanford University used the genetic material inside living cells to record information.
This genetic material consists of DNA. Found in nearly every cell, DNA carries all of the information that keeps a living thing alive.
In the new experiment, the researchers turned DNA from bacteria(细菌) into a switch. They “flip (翻转)” a small section of DNA. Then, using the same procedure (过程) , the scientists flip the section again—returning it into its normal structure.
Using these DNA switches, “We can write and erase DNA in a living cell,” bioengineer, Jerome Bonnet, explained to Science News.
It might take years before his team or others identity whether a DNA-based memory device might be practical. Right now, it takes one hour to complete a flip. That is far too long to be useful. Plus, a flipped section has a very small little memory—less than what a computer uses to remember a single letter.
“This was an important proof that it was doable,” Bonnet told Science News. “Now we want to build a more complex system, something that other people can use.”What is the aim of listing the electronic things in the first paragraph?
A.To make the passage more fashionable. |
B.To show how electronic things have memory. |
C.To discuss things in detail. |
D.To make the subject of the text more understandable. |
What is possible future benefit of the cell-based gadget for people?
A.To detect disease at the earliest point. |
B.To help improve the memory. |
C.To help people build a body. |
D.To replace many electronic gadgets. |
What is the object being researched?
A. The cells of bacteria.
B. The DNA of bacteria.
C. A section of bacteria.
C. The nucleus of bacteria.What do we know about a flipped section of DNA?
A.It has a very small memory. |
B.It can function as a computer. |
C.It has one letter in it. |
D.It takes a day to complete it. |