重庆合川市高考英语一轮 阅读理解练习（8）.doc

重庆合川市2014高考英语阅读理解一轮练习（8）及答案 (第*篇)andrew ritchie, inventor of the brompton folding bicycle, once said that the perfect portable bike would be“ like a magic carpet.you could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag”. then he paused：“ but youll always be limited by the size of the wheels. and so far no one has invented a folding wheel.”it was a rareindeed uniqueoccasion when i was able to put ritchie right. a 19th-century inventor，william henry james grout，did in fact design a folding wheel. his bike, predictably named the grout portable, had a frame that split into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. all the bits fitted into grouts wonderful bag，a leather case.grouts aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train.now doesnt that sound familiar? grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. and importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage：in grouts day ，tyres were solid，which made the business of splitting a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. you couldnt do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated(充气的) tyre.so，in a 21st-century context, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? it is not. a british design engineer, duncan fitzsimons, has developed a wheel that can be squashed into something like a slender ellipse(椭圆). throughout，the tyre remains inflated.will the young fitzsimonss folding wheel make it into production? i havent the foggiest idea. but his inventiveness shows two things. first, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. its as silly a concept now as it was 100-years-ago：theres plenty still to go for. second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. you can buy a folding bike for less than 1,000 that can be knocked down so small that it can be carried on a plane minus wheels, of courseas hand baggage.folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. have we yet got the magic carpet of andrew ritchies imagination? no. but its progress.语篇解读一位发明家想要发明折叠自行车的话，最大的困难是如何折叠轮子。其实19世纪的一位发明家在当年已经做到了，令人欣喜的是现在又有人想出了折叠轮子的办法。我们都在期待着。1. we can infer from paragraph 1 that thc brompton folding bike_.a. was portableb. had a folding wheelc. could be put in a pocketd. looked like a magic carpet解析推理判断题。这种自行车的特点是便于携带，而不是呈地毯状或为的是能放进口袋，故不能选c或d。答案a2. we can learn from the text that the wheels of the grout portable_.a. were difficult to separateb. could be split into 6 piecesc. were fitted with solid tyresd. were hard to carry on a train解析推理判断题。从文章第三段“and importantly.in grouts day，tyres were solid.”可得知答案。他的折叠方法只适合当时的固体轮胎。答案c3. we can learn from the text that fitzsimonss invention_.a. kept the tyre as a whole pieceb. was made into production soonc. left little room for improvementd. changed our views on bag design解析推理判断题。从文章第四段“squashed into.like a slender ellipse”可得知答案。答案a4. which of the following would be the best title for the text?a. three folding bike inventorsb. the making of a folding bikec. progress in folding bike designd. ways of separating a bike wheel解析主旨大意题。全文讲述了不同时期的三位发明家对折叠自行车的探索。故选c。答案c*结束most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. to this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. the most popular free time activity in britain is going for a walk. and when joggers (慢跑者) jog, they dont run the streets. every one of them automatically heads to the park or the river. it is my firm belief that not only do we all need nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not.but despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived (丧失). i spent my boyhood climbing trees. these days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and strange new ideas about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.the truth is to be found elsewhere. a study in the us: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for adhd (多动症). those whose housing had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.a study in sweden indicated that kindergarten children who could play in a natural environment had less illness and greater physical ability than children used only to a normal playground. a us study suggested that when a school gave children access to a natural environment, the entire school would do better in studies.another study found that children play differently in a natural environment. in playgrounds, children create a hierarchy (等级) based on physical abilities, with the tough ones taking the lead. but when a grassy area was planted with bushes, the children got much more into fantasy play, and the social hierarchy was now based on imagination and creativity.most bullying (恃强凌弱) is found in schools where there is a tarmac (柏油碎石) playground; the least bullying is in a natural area that the children are encouraged to explore. this reminds me unpleasantly of sunnyhill school, with its hard tarmac, where i used to hang about in corners dreaming about wildlife.but children are frequently discouraged from involvement with natural spaces, for health and safety reasons, for fear that they might get dirty or that they might cause damage. so, instead, the damage is done to the children themselves: not to their bodies but to their souls.one of the great problems of modern childhood is adhd, now increasingly and expensively treated with drugs. yet one study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to adhd children. however, we spend money on drugs rather than on green placesthe life of old people is much better when they have access to nature. the most important for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. and study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality.in wider and more difficult areas of life, there is evidence to indicate that natural surroundings improve all kinds of things. even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.dr william bird, researcher from the royal society for the protection of birds, states in his study, “a natural environment can reduce violent behaviour because its process helps reduce anger and behavior that people might regret later.” wild places need encouraging for this reason, no matter how small their contribution.we tend to think human beings are doing nature some kind of favour when we are protecting nature. the error here is far too deep: not only do humans need nature for themselves, but the very idea that humanity and the natural world are separable things is damaging.human beings are a species of animals. for seven million years we lived on the planet as part of nature. so we miss the natural world and long for contact with non-human life. anyone who has patted a dog, stroked a cat, sat under a tree with a glass of beer, given or received a bunch of flowers or chosen to walk through the park on a nice day, understands that.we need the wild world. it is necessary to our well-being, our health, our happiness. without other living things around us we are less than human.15. what is the authors firm belief?a. people seek nature in different ways.b. people should spend most of their lives in the wild.c. people have quite different ideas of nature.d. people must make more efforts to study nature.16. what does the author say people prefer for their children nowadays?a. personal freedom.b. things that are natural.c. urban surroundings.d. things that are purchased.17. what does a study in sweden show?a. the natural environment can help children learn better.b. more access to nature makes children less likely to fall ill.c. a good playground helps kids develop their physical abilities.d. natural views can prevent children from developing adhd.18. children who have chances to explore natural areas _.a. tend to develop a strong love for scienceb. are more likely to dream about wildlifec. tend to be physically tougher in adulthoodd. are less likely to be involved in bullying19. what does the author suggest we do to help children with adhd?a. find more effective drugs for them.b. provide more green spaces for them.c. place them under more personal care.d.engage them in more meaningful activities.20. in w