英语六级阅读理解.doc

The English policeman has several nicknames ( 绰号 ) but the most frequently used are copper and bobby. The first name comes from the verb to cop (which is also slang ) , meaning to take or to capture , and the second comes from the first name of Sir Robert Peel, the nineteenth-century politician, who was the founder of the police force as we know it today. An early nickname for the policeman was peeler, but this one has died out.Whatever we may call them, the general opinion of the police seems to be a favorable one; except, of course, among the criminal part of the community where the police are given more derogatory nicknames which originated in America, such as fuzz or pig. Visitors to England seem nearly always to be very impressed by the English police. It has, in fact, become a standing joke that the visitor to Britain, when asked for his views of the country, will always say, at some point or other, I think your policemen are wonderful. Well, the British bobby may not always be wonderful but he is usually a very friendly and helpful sort of character. A music-hall song of some years ago was called If You Want To Know The Time, Ask A Policeman. Nowadays, most people own watches but they still seem to find plenty of other questions to ask the policeman. In London, the policemen spend so much of their time directing visitors about the city that one wonders how they ever find time to do anything else!Two things are immediately noticeable to the stranger when he sees an English policeman for the first time. The first is that he does not carry a pistol (手枪) and the second is that he wears a very distinctive type of headgear, the policemans helmet. His helmet, together with his height, enable an English policeman to be seen from a considerable distance, a fact that is not without its usefulness. From time to time it is suggested that the policeman should be given a pistol and that his helmet should be taken from him, but both these suggestions are resisted by the majority of the public and the police themselves.21. Nowadays British people call the policeman_.A. pig B. peelerC. fuzz D. bobby22. Which of the following statements is TRUE?A. There are fewer criminals in America than in Britain.B. The English police usually leave a deep impression on visitors.C. The British bobby is friendly but not helpful.D. The English police enjoy having pistols.23. If you see an English policeman for the first time, you will probably notice at once thatA. he often tells people time B. he is usually very helpfulC. he has a helmet on his head D. he wears special clothes24. That an English policeman can be seen from some distance is _.A. of some help to people B. of no help to peopleC. very strange and funny D. a standing joke25. Visitors praise the English police because_.A. they are armed with modern equipmentB. they obey ordersC. they are often given thanks by peopleD. they are polite and helpful21. D 22. B 23. C 24. A 25. DMost of us trade money for entertainment. Movies, concerts and shows are enjoyable but 11 .If you think that you cant have a good time without spending a lot of money, read on. A little resourcefulness and a few minutes of newspaper-scanning should give you some pleasant surprises.People may be the most interesting show in a large city. 12 through busy streets and see what everybody else is doing. You will probably see people from all over the world; you will 13 see people of every age, size, and shape, and youll get a free fashion show, too. Window-shopping is also a 14 sport if the stores are closed.Check the listings in your neighborhood paper. Local colleges or schools often 15 the public to hear an interesting speaker or a good 16 . The film or concert series at the local public library probably wont cost you a penny. Be sure to check commercial advertisements too. A flea market can provide hours of pleasant looking round. Perhaps you can find a free cooking or crafts 17 in a department store.Plan ahead for some activities. It is always more pleasant not to have people in front of you in a museum or at a zoo. You may save some money, too, since these places often 18 aside one or two free 19 days at slow times during the week. Make sure that you are including the indispensable 20 that people travel miles to see. If you feel like taking an interesting walk, find a free walking tour, or plan one yourself.A. expensive B. Wonder C.debate D. admissionE. set F. Wander G.safe H. additionI. valuable J. dispute K.welcome L. confidentlyM. sights N. demonstration O.certainlyBack in the old days, when I was a child, we sat around the family roundtable at dinnertime and exchanged our daily experiences. It wasnt very organized, but everyone was recognized and all the news that had to be told was told by each family member.We listened to each other and the interest was not put-on; it was real. Our family was a unit and we supported each other, and nurtured each other, and liked each other, andwe were even willing to admitwe loved each other.Today, the family roundtable has moved to the local fast-food restaurant and talk is not easy, much less encouraged. Grandma, who used to live upstairs, is now. the voice on long distance, and the working parent is far too beaten down each day to spend evening relaxation time listening to the sandbox experience of an eager four-year-old.So family conversation is as extinct as my old toys and parental questions such as What have you been doing, Bobby? have been replaced by Im busy, go watch television. And watch TV they do; count them by the millions.But its usually not childrens television that children watch. Saturday morning, the childrens hour, amounts to only about 8 percent of their weekly viewing.Where are they to be found? Watching adult television, of course, from the Match Game in the morning, to the afternoon at General Hospital, from the muggings and battles on the evening news right through the family hour and pastinto Starsky and Hutch. Thats where you find our kids, over five million of them, at 10 p. m. , not fewer than a million until after midnight! All of this is done with parental permission.Television, used well, can provide enriching experiences for our young people, but we must use it with some sense. When the carpet is clean, we turn off the vacuum cleaner. When the dishes are clean, the dishwasher turns itself off.Not so the television, which is on from the sun in the morning to the moon at night and beyond!Parents must exercise some control and show some concern about the cultural influence on the child when a program not intended for that child is viewed. Parents need to intervene (干涉). Nonintervention may be a wise policy in international affairs, but the results of parental nonintervention will not be wise at all.26. From the first two paragraphs one may infer that the writers a attitude towards the old days is_.A. preferring B. hatingC. being tired of D. disappointing27. The working parent is not willing to listen to her (his) four-year-old child talking about his sandbox games because she (he) is_.A. boring B. very tiredC. busy D. angry28. According to the writer, the responsibility for the kids watching adult television and watching it for a long time should be undertaken by_.A. the television stations B. the societyC. TV programs D. their parents29. If we use television with some _television can provide our young people withmuch knowledge.A. instruction of experts B. judgment of our ownC. direction of engineers D. indication of teachers30. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?A. Parental nonintervention will not be praised.B. Nonintervention may be a good policy in international affairs.C. Parents must exercise some control and show some concern about the cultural influence on the children.D. Parents need to intervene.26. A 27. B 28. D 29. B 30. CWho KnowsSince no one knows what scientific discoveries will be made between now and the year A. D. 2000, each of us can make his own predictions.Our prophecies (预言) need not be completely wild guesses. We know science has moved forward rapidly in the past 50 years and will continue to do so. If we allow our imaginations to be guided by known research, our prophecies need not be sheer fantasy. We dont have to go so far as to predict that there will be invasion by men from Mars, or that all food and nourishment will be taken in capsule form, or that mechanical men will roam the world.With the scientific information that we have available now, lets make an estimate of progress in air travel. It is likely that within 50 years we shall travel through the air at a speed of 10,000 miles per hour. Too fast? Not at all. Jet-propelled planes can now travel at least 1,000 miles an hour, and jet planes will be outmoded(过时的) shortly by guided missiles. The X-15 rockets speed in 1961 was 3,690 miles per hour, and scientists are hoping to double and even triple this speed. They will accomplish this speed-up, because there is no apparent scientific obstacle to prevent it.Some day, certain aerodynamic(空气动力学的) problems will be overcome and missiles will be enlarged to carry at least 25 passengers. When scientists have solved all the problems of constructing and increasing the speed of apparatus-carrying missiles, their skill will lead them to the next stepmissiles for interplanetary flight. This prediction is a scientific possibility in the near future.Flights into outer space began when Sputnik I was launched in 1957, and man first went into space in 1961. During the late 1950s and early 1960s many satellitesman-made astral bodiesorbited the earth and moon. Satellites, which will be controlled by men on earth, may have many beneficial uses. Perhaps scientists will discover a source of energy 100 miles above the earth. This energy could be transmitted to us as a source of power for manufacturing plants or even for our cook stoves. Or one of these missiles might serve as the medium for transmitting communications across the globe. Telephonic communications might be carried on by beaming waves at the missile, which would in turn beam waves at a telephone halfway across the world. The missile might be the telephonic connection, for example, between you in New York, and a friend in Bangkok.Such a satellite might also be used as the transmitting medium for international television broadcasts. Programs being telecast from a Paris studio could then be seen simultaneously in every other country. This immediate international transmission will surely be a development before the turn of a new century.We may expect to order our clothing, groceries,and other household goods by television-phone. We prophesy that within twenty five years, our telephones will be equipped with television screens so that we can see the person at the other end of the line.Other fields of science have also made gigantic (巨大的 ) strides in progress. Medicine had operated so efficiently in the past half-century that many diseases have been nearly wiped out. And more will join this disappearing group of diseases. Diabetes and polio are under control. We can hope and expect that cancer will be conquered. Certain skin diseases, like psoriasis and eczema, which are exceedingly common though not fatal, will be eradicated(消灭). The victims of annoying diseases will lead pleasanter lives.Even the healthy will benefit from the advances in medicine. Life expectancy already had been lengthened and scientists know that the time is coining rapidly when the person one hundred years old will not be a phenomenonDespite these alarming statistics, the scale of the threat that smoking causes to womens health has received surprisingly little attention. Smoking is still seen by many as a mainly male problem, perhaps because men were the first to take up the habit and therefore the first to suffer the ill-effects. This is no longer the case. Women who smoke like men will die like men. WHO estimates that, in industrialized countries, smoking rates amongst men and women are very similar, at around 30 per cent; in a large number of developed countries, smoking is now more common among teenage girls than boys.As women took up smoking later than men, the full impact of smoking on their health has yet to be seen. But it is clear from countries where women have smoked longest, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, that smoking causes the same diseases in women as in men and the gap between their death rates is narrowing. On current trends, some 20 to 25 per cent of women who smoke will die from their habit. One in three of these deaths will be among women under 65 year of age. The US Surgeon General has estimated that, amongst these women, smoking is responsible for around 40 per cent heart disease deaths, 55 per cent of lethal strokes and, among women of all ages, 80 per cent of lung cancer deaths and 30 per cent of all cancer deaths. Over the last 20 years, death rates in women from lung cancer have more than doubled in Japan, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom; have increased by more than 200 per cent in Australia, Denmark and New Zealand; and have increased by more than 300 per cent in Canada and the United States.21. The effect of smoking on women has not been paid enough attention because_.A. men suffer more from smokingB. men would like women to smokeC. men are considered the main sufferers of smokingD. there are alarming statistics of death caused by smoking22. This is no longer the case. The word this refers to_.A. that men used to suffer the ill-effectsB. that there were alarming statisticsC. that the scale of threat become largerD. that women suffered from smoking as greatly as men23. From the fact that in some developed countries smoking is now more common among teenage girls than boys, we can predict that in the days to come, _.A. women will have the same diseases as menB. more women may suffer from smoking than menC. the smoking rates among men and women will dropD. the teenage girls today may give up smoking when they are grown-ups24. All of the following statements are the effects of smoking on women EXCEPT thatA. the death rates of the women and men who are smoking are in similar proportionB. smoking causes the same diseases in women as in menC. in the past 20 years, death rates in women from lung cancer have more than doubledD. smoking is responsible for 30 percent of all cancer deaths among women25. In the phrase lethal stroke, the word lethal most probably means_.A. causing death B. causing discomfortC. causing poor health D. causing anxiety21. C 22. A 23. B 24. C 25. AThe men who race the cars are generally small, with a tight, nervous look. They range from the early 20s to the middle 40s, and it is usually their nerves that go first.Fear is the drivers constant companion, and tragedy can be just a step behind. Scarcely a man in the 500 does not carry the scars of ancient crashes. The mark of the plastic surgeon is everywhere, and burned skin is common. Sometimes a drivers scars are invisible, part of his heritage. Two young drivers, Billy Vukovich and Gary Bettenhausen, raced in their first 500 in 1968. Less than 20 years before, their fathers also competed against one another on the Indy trackand died there.All this the drivers accept. Over the years, they have learned to trust their own techniques, reflexes, and courage. They depend, too, on a trusted servantscientific engineering. Though they may not have had a great deal of schooling (an exception is New Zealands Bruce McLaren, who has an engineering degree), many drivers are gifted mechanics, with a feeling for their engines that amount to kinship.A few top drivers have become extremely wealthy, with six-figure incomes from prize money, endorsements, and jobs with auto-product manufacturers. Some have businesses of their own. McLaren designs racing chassis (底盘). Dan Gurneys California factory manufactured the chassis of three of the first four ears in the 1968 Indy 500, including his own second place car.Yet money is not the only reason why men race cars. Perhaps it isnt even the major reason. Three-time Indy winner(1961, 1964, 1967) A. J. Foyt, for example, can frequently be found competing on dirty tracks in minor-league races, where money, crowds and safety features are limited, and only the danger is not. Why does he do it? Sometimes Foyt answers, Its in my blood. Other times he says, Its good practice. Now and then he replies, Dont ask dumb questions. 26. The statement it is usually their nerves that go first means_.A. at first they all have a nervous lookB. they often find they cant bear the tension even if they are in good conditionC. someday they find they cant make responses to any riskD. they can continue their career at most until the middle 40s27. It can be inferred that a car accident is often coupled with_.A. a plastic surgeon B. a companionC. a risk D. a fire28. The invisible scars of the drivers mentioned in the second paragraph refers to_.A. the regrets left by their fathers B. the fears left by their fathersC. the cars left by their fathers D. the heritage left by their fathers29. Bruce McLaren is different from most of the drivers in that_.A. he himself designs chassis B. he has an engineering degreeC. he manufactures chassis D. he is a gifted mechanic30. A. J. Foyt often takes part in minor-league races for_.A. prize m