Foigow英语六级阅读理解练习题四

1、生命中，不断地有人离开或进入。于是，看见的，看不见的；记住的，遗忘了。生命中，不断地有得到和失落。于是，看不见的，看见了；遗忘的，记住了。然而，看不见的，是不是就等于不存在？记住的，是不是永远不会消失？ 英语六级阅读理解练习题(四)It is fashionable nowadays to talk about “Englishes”surely one of the least attractive of recent coinages. But it is an indication that the great community of users of English are now

2、conscious of the fact that they do not all have exactly the same accent， or habit of grammar and idiom， or vocabulary. They have a choice， and they intend to use it. How does Britain stand in this comparison？ What is the role of the British Council， and other British educational interests？ How does

3、a major initiative like the Cobuild project further the image of Britain abroad？ Born with EnglishIn Britain on the whole we do not have much of a choice. We can take steps to modify our language a little， and there are some famous recent examples of the perils attending that policy. But by and larg

4、e we just use the language that somehow emerges in early development and usually seems adequate for our daily communication needs.We should never forget what an asset it is to us all that this language is English. Everyone who has English as a birthright has an inbuilt （固有的） advantage in internation

5、al communication. Not only are we spared the trouble and expense of mastering the language later on， we also have access to a mastery of it which is of such high quality that few foreigners ever reach the same level.Such an asset beats North Sea Oil hands down. It must be worth billions of pounds a

6、year and it is renewed solely by the operation of normal social processes. Only EnglishThere are some disadvantages which must at least be mentioned. We in Britain are in danger of turning this asset into arrogance， insularity and complacency. Since there is no commercial pressure on us to learn any

7、 particular foreign language， we tend as a nation to be very bad learners of other languages.。 This cuts us off from the ability to appreciate fully the culture of others， and denies us the ability to make the wonderful outward gesture of using someone elses own language. Both personally and commerc

8、ially， most British people do not know what they are missing， and our competitors are well able to take advantage of this weakness.Busy and important people nowadays travel a lot and find themselves frequently attending meetings and giving talks， which have to be in English although everyone else sh

9、ares a common language. It would improve the situation if on each occasion the unfortunate monolingual were to give a simple and sincere apology. The old adage （格言） » that if you just speak English loudly enough everyone will understand， is truer than ever before， but is getting less and less e

10、ffective.In practical terms， of course， the person restricted to English could not be expected to speak all sorts of other languages， and this is an inhibiting factor anyone else knows exactly which language is best worth investing in. But we native speakers of English should always be kept consciou

11、s of the fact that we frequently force our friends， customers and colleagues into a disadvantageous position. Which English？The English language has been so successfully exported round the world that the native speakers no longer have control over it. They are now in a snow minority， for a start， an

12、d todays learners of English are not learning it particularly to talk to Englishmen， but also to talk to each other. The very features that distinguish native speakers disqualify them from key discussions like “Which is the best English？”There are a lot of good models of English available. As well a

13、s British English there is American English， the other world-wide model，。 with Canadian， Australian， New Zealand and South African English also available as prominent models.And what about the English which is established as a second language in many Commonwealth countries？ Indian English， West Afri

14、can English， West Indian English， Singaporean English and others have adapted to local circumstances over many years and are in the process of being re-exported. Because they are used in the everyday lives of millions of non-native speakers， they have features which could make them very attractive a

15、s practical alternatives to a native speaker variety. When native speaking teachers are not welcome politically in a country， for example， there will be found plenty of well-qualified and experienced colleagues from such countries.Further， we are witness at the present time to the development of Eng

16、lish as an additional language in a number of communities which have a common language already and which are under no political pressure to adopt English. People from Scandinavia， West Germany and Holland， for instance， have English available as a matter of course. Their way of teaching it is moving

17、 from the concerns of access to a foreign culturethe great literature etc. to the priorities of a working language in a communityhow to get things done. Gradually， for international matters， it will be more sensible to use English rather than translate. English language films will not be dubbed （配音）

18、 or subtitled any more. English language journalism will be edited and read by foreign communities， and gradually written by them also.Very soon there will be powerful new models of English offered to the worldmodels which can claim to have arisen without the attentions of native speakers， to have n

19、one of the mystique， and yet to be usable as the principal language of external and public affairs. These models will derive authority from an impressive group of scholars and administrators who must never be overlookedthe thousands of experts on English and the teaching of it who are not themselves

20、 native speakers. In PracticePracticality is a key feature of anyones choice of a language model. Quite apart from the various reasons advanced above， the learner may in an actual situation have a very restricted choice of language models， in the available teachers and in access to materials. Record

21、ed material and radio and television transmissions offer alternatives， but they may confuse as much as extend the choice available to the learner.Teachers and learners just have to make the best of what is available to them at the time and in the place where they are working. The sustained efforts o

22、f authors， scholars and publishers are key factors in the strong presence of British English abroad， and in the maintenance of that presence.Pronunciation is a good case with which to illustrate this point. Throughout the world， learners of British English are aiming at a pronunciation that few of t

23、heir teachers usethe Received Pronunciation （RP） associated with the public schools. The reason is that RP is the variety of English which is best documented and most readily available in teaching materials. Because of its origins， it is unassailable as a model and contributes to the elitist atmosph

24、ere of the British variety of English.But if we put these compelling arguments to one side， and view it dispassionately， RP is not a very useful model of pronunciation. It has some very complex sound combinations， particularly diphthongs， and it is not very closely related to the spelling system. Un

25、like other varieties， RP speakers make much the same noise saying poor， paw， pour， and pore， and do not distinguish between ion and iron. So it is not the linguistic features of RP that give it such an appeal， but its social status and， above all， its availability in the classroom.1. GA （general Ame

26、rican pronunciation） is becoming more and more popular with British youth.2. British native speakers are ignorant of cultures in other countries.3. The English language is diverse in grammar， vocabulary， or pronunciation.4. English is learned to communicate with native speakers.5. RP is appealing in

27、 that its status is peculiar.6. It is not troublesome at all to substitute qualified English teachers for native speaking teachers.7. Choice of a language model is determined by its popularity.8. Native speakers of English have an innate advantage in_communication.9. Competitors of English speakers

28、may well take advantage of the weaknessmost British people do not know_.10. New models of English are likely to emerge without the _.答案：1. NG 2. N 3. Y 4. N 5. Y 6. Y 7. N8. international 9. what they are missing 10. attentions of native speakersAre some people born clever， and others born stupid？ O

29、r is intelligence developed by our environment and our experiences？ Strangely enough， the answer to both these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth， and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand， a

30、child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of a persons intelligence are fixed at birth， but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view， now held by most experts，

31、 can be supported in a number of ways.It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people， the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random（任意的） from the population，it

32、is likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the other hand we take two identical （完全相同的） twins they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters， parents and children， usually have similar intelligence， and this clearly su

33、ggests that intelligence depends on birth.Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one， for example， to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing， and this indi

34、cates that environment as well as birth playsa part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other， but who are not related at all， are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence.26. Which of these sentences best describes the writers point i

35、n Paragraph 1？A. To some extent， intelligence is given at birth.B. Intelligence is developed by the environment.C. Some people are born clever and others born stupid.D. Intelligence is fixed at birth， but is developed by the environment.27. It is suggested in this passage that_.A. unrelated people a

36、re not likely to have different intelligenceB. close relations usually have similar intelligenceC. the closer the blood relationship between people， the more different they are likely to be in intelligenceD. people who live in close contact with each other are not likely to have similar degrees of i

37、ntelligence28. Brothers and sisters are likely to_.A. have similar intelligence B. have different intelligenceC. go to the same university D. go to the same factory29. In Paragraph 1， the word “surroundings” means_.A. intelligence B. lifeC. environments D. housing30. The best title for this article

38、would be_.A. On IntelligenceB. What Intelligence MeansC. We Are Born with IntelligenceD. Environment Plays a Part in Developing Intelligence答案：26. D 27. B 28. A 29. C 30. AHoming pigeons are placed in a training program from about the time they are twenty-eight days of age. They are taught to enter

39、the cage through a trap and to exercise above and around the loft（鸽棚） ， and gradually they are taken away for short distances in willow baskets and released. They are then expected to find their way home in the shortest possible time.In their training flights or in actual races， the birds are taken

40、to prearranged distant points and released to find their way back to their own lofts. Once the birds are liberated， their owners， who are standing by at the home lofts， anxiously watch the sky for the return of their entries. Since time is of the essence， the speed with which the birds can be induce

41、d to enter the loft trap may make the difference between gaining a win or a second place.The head of a homing pigeon is comparatively small， but its brain is one quarter larger than that of the ordinary pigeon. The homing pigeon is very intelligent and will persevere to the point of stubbornness; so

42、me have been known to fly a hundred miles off course to avoid a storm.Some homing pigeon experts claim that this bird is gifted with a form of built-in radar that helps it find its own loft after hours of flight， for hidden under the head feathers are two very sensitive ears， while the sharp， promin

43、ent eyes can see great distances in daytime.Why do homing pigeons fly home？ They are not unique in this inherent skill; it is found in most migratory birds， in bees， ants， toads， and even turtles， which have been known to travel hundreds of miles to return to their homes. But in the animal world， th

44、e homing pigeon alone can be trusted with its freedom and trained to carry out the missions that people demand.1. This passage is mainly about_.A. homing pigeons and their trainingB. how to buy a homing pigeonC. protection of homing pigeons against the threat of extinctionD. liberation of homing pig

45、eons2. According to the passage， what happens to homing pigeons when they are about a month old？A. They are kept in a trap.B. They enter their first race.C. They begin a training program.D. They get their wings clipped and marked.3. According to the passage， the difference between a homing pigeon an

46、d an ordinary one is_.A. the span of the wings B. the shape of the eyesC. the texture of the feathers D. the size of the brain4. The author mentions all of the following attributes that enable a homing pigeon toreturn home EXCEPT_.A. instinct B. air sacsC. sensitive ears D. good eyes5. Why does the

47、author mention bees， ants， toads， and turtles in the last paragraph？A. To describe some unusual kinds of pets.B. To measure distances traveled by various animals.C. To compare their home-finding abilities with those of homing pigeons.D. To interest the reader in learning about other animals.答案：1. A

48、2. C 3. D 4. B 5. CThe difference between a liquid and a gas is obvious under the conditions of temperature and pressure commonly found at the surface of the Earth. A liquid can be kept in an open container and fill it to the level of a free surface. A gas forms no free surface but tends to diffuse

49、throughout the_1_available; it must therefore be kept in a closed container or held by a gravitational field， as in the_2_of a planets atmosphere. The distinction was a _3_feature of early theories describing the phases of matter. In the nineteenth century， for example， one theory maintained that a

50、liquid could be “dissolved” in a vapor without losing its identity， and another theory_4 _that the two phases are made up of different kinds of molecules. The theories now prevailing take a quite different approach by emphasizing what liquids and gases have in _5 _They are both forms of matter that

51、have no _6 _structure， and they both flow readily.The fundamental similarity of liquids and gases becomes clearly apparent when the temperature and pressure are _7_somewhat. Suppose a closed container _8_filled with a liquid is heated. The liquid expands， or in other words becomes less dense; some o

52、f it evaporates. In contrast， the vapor above the liquid surface becomes denser as the evaporated molecules are _9_to it. The combination of temperature and pressure at which the densities become _10_is called the critical point.A. added B. case C. prominent D. heldE. equal F. partially G. example H

53、. previousI. space J， lifted K. permanent L. particularlyM. extended N. raised 0. common答案：I. I 2. B 3. C 4. D 5. O 6. K 7. N 8. F 9. A 10. EYou have probably heard it said that if you put a horsehair in a container of rainwater and place it in the sunshine， a snake will develop. It is hard to convi

54、nce people even today that this is not true， yet it is not difficult to get a horsehair and some rainwater to try the experiment. Since very early times men have believed that living things could come from non-living things. Some people thought that frogs and toads developed from the mud of ponds， r

55、ats from the river Nile， and insects from dew or from rotting waste. Vergil wrote that slime begat（产生） frogs. Centuries later， other men wrote that water produced fishes and that mice came from old rags. This notion that living things can come from lifeless matter is known as the theory of “spontane

56、ous generation. ” Today we know that living things can come only from living things. Redi， in the seventeenth century， was the first to experiment to prove that insects do not originate from rotting matter. From his experiment， Redi concluded that maggots appear in decaying meat simply because the e

57、ggs of flies hatch there， and not from “spontaneous generation”。At the time of Leeuwenhoek the microscope was not well developed， but with it he discovered bacteria. The study of these tiny forms of life which looked like specks（小污点） to him was not practical until more than 150 years later， when mic

58、roscopes were much improved. However， the discovery led some medical men at the time to think that contagious diseases were due to germs passed from the sick to the well.Dr. Edward Jenner， a young English physician， overheard a milkmaid say that she was not afraid of smallpox because she had just re

59、covered from an attack of cowpox. This gave Jenner the clue， and in 1796 he proved that a person vaccinated with cowpox germs is quite certain to escape from getting smallpox. At this time smallpox was so common that about only one person in a hundred escaped.In Aristotles days， it was the common belief that air caused foods to s