大学英语(B)阅读练习

1、阅读理解练习Passage 1The entertainment profession, or “show business”, attracts many young people. Unfortunately, only very few can hope to become famous and rich. Talent is not enough, because show business is as competitive as any other business. Without a good manager, a performer can never hope to suc

2、ceed. Fashion is important in this business, too. The best tailor in this world will never be a success if he makes old-fashioned clothes. In exactly the same way, a performer must change his act in order to follow the taste of the moment. This is true for all performers: actors, dancers and perhaps

3、 most of all, for singers.“Pop” stands for “popular”, and a pop singer has to work very hard to become popular. He must either give the public what they already want, or he must find a new way of singing that will attract their attention. Even when he has succeeded, and his CDs are sold everywhere,

4、he cannot relax. Then he must work harder than ever to stay popular, because there are always younger singers trying to become famous and to steal some of the popularity.The life of a successful pop singer is not at all easy. He can only relax when he is alone, because everything he does is watched

5、and reported in a special newspaper written for the fans. The fans are the most important people in the world for the singer. They buy his CDs or VCDs. They go to his concerts, and watch his MTV. And it is they who make the singer rich and famous. But they can be very annoying too. Sometimes their e

6、nthusiasm gets so wild and mad that they do anything to attract attention and their behavior is as uncontrolled as possible. They shout and cry very loudly during the performance. In order to get a “gift”, they steal everything from the singer: his handkerchiefs (), his T shirts, his toothbrush. The

7、y sometimes tear off buttons from the singers clothes, and they even cut off pieces of the unfortunate singers hair. Many singers have been forced to hide, and some who have not been so lucky as to escape have almost nothing on at the end of their performance with almost everything taken away.A pop

8、singer has to spend a lot of money on clothes, because he must always look smart, or at any rate, different. He must have a luxurious car. And? Most importanthe must always keep smiling for the benefit of his public. To keep his image young in his fans mind, he is not allowed to grow old.1. What is

9、not mentioned as the important thing to be a success in the entertainment profession in the passage?A. Being talented.B. Having a good manager.C. Getting the best tailor.D. Following the taste of the moment.2. A successful pop singer must work even harder because _.A. he cannot relaxB. he must find

10、new ways of singingC. younger singers are catching upD. he must stay popular to stop young singers3. For a pop singer, the most important advantage of having fans is that _.A. they buy his CDs or VCDs. They go to his concerts, and watch his MTVB. they watch him and report everything he doesC. they s

11、hout and cry very loudly during the performanceD. they make him rich and famous4. According to the author, the fans _.A. are usually madB. can be very annoyingC. are thievesD. are very wild people5. The most important thing that a pop singer must do for the benefit of his public is to _.A. keep smil

12、ingB. look smart or at least differentC. have an expensive carD. keep his image youngPassage 2In the United States, 30 percent of the grown-up population has a “weight problem”. To many people, the cause is clear: we eat too much. But scientific experiments do little to support this idea. Going back

13、 to the America of 1910, we find that people were thinner than today, yet they ate more food. In those days people worked harder physically, walked more, used machines much less , and didnt watch television.Several modern studies, besides, have shown that fatter people do not eat more on average tha

14、n thinner people. In fact, some research work, such as the 1979 study of 3,545 London office workers, reports that fat study by research group at Standford University School of Medicine found the following fact: the more the man ran, the greater body fat he lost. The more her ran, the greater was hi

15、s need for food. Thus, those who ran the most ate the most, yet lost the greatest amount of body fat. 6. What kind of physical problem do many grown-up Americans have?A. They are too thin.B. They work too hard.C. They are too fat.D. They lose too much body fat.7. Based on the information given in th

16、is article, suppose there are 500 grown-up Americans, about how many of them have a weight problem?A. 30.B. 50.C. 100.D. 1508. Are there scientific facts to support that eating too much is the cause of the “weight problem”?A. Yes, there are plenty of themB. Of course, there are facts to show this is

17、 true.C. There are hardly any scientific facts to support this.D. We dont know because the information is not given.9. Compared with the grown-up Americans today. The Americans of 1910 _.A. ate more food and had more physical activities.B. ate less food but had more activitiesC. ate less food and ha

18、d less physical activitiesD. had more weight problems10. What have some modern medical and scientific researchers reported to us?A. Fat people eat less food and are less active.B. Fat people eat more food and are more active.C. Fat people eat more food but are less active.D. Thin people run less but

19、 eat more food.Passage 3People travel a lot with Heaven Air because they know they will get what they want. They want. They want to go quickly and safely across the land, across the sea or right across the world, and they know Heaven Air will take them where they want to go whenever they want to go.

20、 Heaven Air flies all the newest and fastest planes to more towns and cities of the world than any other airlines.Do you want to go to Paris, Washington, Tokyo? Heaven Air will take you there, at all times of the day or night, right through the week. But Heaven Air flies not only to the biggest citi

21、es, we also fly two or three times a week to towns and cities in the very center of Asia, Africa, Africa and South America.People fly with Heaven Air because they know they will leave on time and arrive on time. They know that they will receive the best food and watch the best films.Heaven Air is se

22、cond to none.11. Heaven Air is the name of _.A. a planeB. an airlineC. a travel serviceD. an advertising program12. Traveling with Heaven Air is _.A. comfortable but expensiveB. cheap and pleasantC. exciting but tiringD. quick and safe13. Heaven Air can take you to Paris _.A. on weekends onlyB. just

23、 on weekdaysC. any time in a weekD. two or three times a week14. Most flights of Heaven Air go to _.A. big citiesB. small townsC. both big and small citiesD. the very center of Asia15. According to the advertisement, Heaven Air believes it is _.A. the second biggest in the worldB. the second best in

24、 the worldC. the biggest in the worldD. the best in the worldPassage 4Some people think they have an answer to the troubles of automobile crowding and city and dirty air in large cities. Their answer is the bicycle, or “bike”.In a great many cities, hundreds of people ride bicycles to work every day

25、. In New York City, some bike riders have even formed a group called Bike for a Better City. They claim that if more people rode bicycles to work there would be fewer automobiles in the downtown section of the city and therefore less dirty air from car engines.For several years this group has been t

26、rying to get the city government to help bike riders. For example, they want the city to draw bicycle lanes on some of the main streets, because when bike riders have to use the same lanes as cars, there are accidents. Bike for a Better City feels that if there special lanes more people would use bi

27、kes.But no bicycles lanes have been drawn. Not everyone thinks it is a good idea - they say it will slow traffic. Some store owners on the main streets say that if there is less traffic, they will have less business. And most people live too far from downtown to travel by bike.The city government ha

28、s not yet decided what to do. It wants to keep everyone happy. Only on weekends, Central Park is closed to cars, and the roads may be used by bicycles only. But Bike for a Better City says that this is not enough and keeps fighting to get bicycle lanes downtown.16. According to passage, bicycles _.A

29、. are more convenient than carsB. are safer traffic tools than carsC. are ridden by most people in the U.S.D. are the solution to some city problems17. The idea of special bicycle lanes is mostly favored by _.A. the city governmentB. some bike ridersC. people living far from downtownD. some store ow

30、ners18. “Bicycle lanes” in the third paragraph probably means _.A. narrow passages between buildings fro bicyclesB. roads full of bicyclesC. special arts of the road for bicycle riders onlyD. roads for bicycles only19. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?A. Bike for a Better

31、City members ride bicycles to work.B. Sometimes accidents may occur when cars and bikes are on the same lanes.C. The Central Park is closed to cars on weekends.D. In New York City, many people use bikes as they have special lanes.20. The best title for this passage is _.A. Traffic Crowding in New Yo

32、rk CityB. Air Pollution in New York City by CarsC. Special Lanes for PassengersD. A Solution to Traffic Problem in New YorkPassage 5We often use gestures to express our feelings, but the problem is that the gestures can be understood in different ways.It is true that a smile means the same thing in

33、any language. So does laughter or crying. Fear is another emotion that is shown in much the same way all over the world. In Chinese and in English literature, a phrase like “he went pale and began to tremble” suggests that the man is either very afraid or he has just got a very big shock. However, “

34、he opened his eyes wide” is used to suggest anger in Chinese whereas in English it means surprise. In Chinese, surprise can be described in a phrase like “they stretched out their tongues!” “Stretching out your tongue” in English is an insulting gesture or expresses strong dislike.Even in the same c

35、ulture, people differ in their ability to understand and express feelings. Experiments in America have shown that women are usually better than men at recognizing fear, anger, love and happiness on peoples faces. Other studies show that older people usually find it easier to recognize or understand

36、body language than younger people do.21. Which of the following is true according to the passage?A. We can easily understand what peoples gestures mean.B. Words can be better understood by older people.C. Gestures can be understood by most people but words are not.D. It is difficult to tell what peo

37、ple gestures really mean sometimes.22. Peoples facial expressions may be misunderstood in different cultures because _.A. people of different sexes may understand a gesture differentlyB. people speaking different languages have different facial expressionsC. people of different ages may have differe

38、nt interpretationsD. people from different cultures have different meanings about some facial expressions23. From the passage, we can conclude that _.A. gestures can be used to express feelingsB. gesture can be more effectively used than words to express feelingsC. words are often more difficult to

39、understand than gesturesD. gestures are used as frequently as words to express feeling24. In the same culture, people _.A. hardly ever fail to understand each others ideas and feelingsB. are equally intelligent even if they have different backgroundsC. almost all have the same understanding of the s

40、ame thingD. may have different abilities to understand and express feelings25. The best title for this passage can be _.A. GesturesB. FeelingsC. Gestures and FeelingsD. Culture and UnderstandingPassage 6Until the twentieth century cigarette smoking was not a widespread habit. The cigarette industry

41、started in the 1870s with the development of cigarette manufacturing machines. It helped produce great numbers of cigarettes very quickly and reduced the price greatly. And consequently more and more people, both men and women, began to smoke cigarettes. Men as a group, however, smoke more than wome

42、n. But the highest proportion of smokers is found in the age group of 24-44, regardless of sex difference.Income, education, and occupation all play a part in determining a persons smoking habits. City people smoke more than people living on farms. Well-educated men with high incomes are less likely

43、 to smoke cigarettes than men with fewer years of schooling and lower incomes. On the other hand, if a well-educated man with higher income smokers at all, he is likely to smoke more packs of cigarettes per day.The situation is somewhat different for woman. There are slightly more smokers among wome

44、n with higher family incomes and higher education than among the lower income and lower education groups. These more highly educated women tend to smoke more heavily.Among teenagers the picture is similar. There are fewer teenage smokers from upper-income, well-educated families, and fewer from families living in farm areas. High school students who are preparing for college are less likely to smoke than those who do not plan to continue theit education after high school. Children are most likely to start smoking if one or both of their parents smoke.26. When did cigarette smoking b