2012高考英语精选备考题库系列（含详解）阅读理解（五）

1、2012高考英语精选备考题库系列（含详解）阅读理解（五）备战2012高考，精选阅读200篇，适合高三上学期使用，希望对大家有帮助。（2011年8月）LONDON (Reuters) Quiet please Britain s Queen Elizabeth is preparing to have her swans counted.Buckingham Palace has announced that the annual Swan Upping, a tradition dating back to the 12th century which involves a census of

2、 the swan population on the River Thames, will be conducted by the Queen s official Swan Marker from July 20 24.“With the assistance of the Queen s Swan Warden, Professor Christopher Perrins of the University of Oxford, the swans and young cygnets (小天鹅) are also assessed for any signs of injury or d

3、isease，” Buckingham Palace said in announcing the count.The process involves the Swan Marker, David Barber, rowing up the Thames for five days with the Swan Warden in traditional skiffs while wearing special scarlet uniforms and counting, weighing and measuring swans and cygnets.It may seem eccentri

4、c, but it is very important to the Queen, According to custom, Britain s sovereign owns all unmarked, mute swans in open water, but the Queen now exercises the right only on stretches of the Thames and its nearby tributaries.In medieval times, the Swan Marker would not only travel up the river count

5、ing the swans, but would catch as many as possible as they were soughtafter for banquets and feasts.This year, the Swan Marker and the Swan Warden are particularly keen to discover how much damage is being caused to swans and cygnets by attacks from dogs and from discarded fishing tackle (渔具)It is a

6、lso an important year because Queen Elizabeth has decided to join her team of Swan Uppers for part of the census. She will follow them up the river and visit a local school project on the whole subject of swans, cygnets and the Thames.“Education and conservation are essential to the role of Swan Upp

7、ing and the involvement of school children is always a rewarding experience，” Buckingham Palace said.语篇解读泰晤士河上每年都要举行一个重要的活动：数天鹅。英国皇室的这一传统已经延续了好几个世纪。1. In medieval times，_.A. swans were better protected than nowB. a lot of swans were killed by dogsC. swans were a delicious dish on royal banquetsD. co

8、mmon people could catch the swans解析细节理解题。从文章倒数第四段可知，在中世纪天鹅被捉住，然后成为皇家宴会上的美味。答案C2We can infer from the passage that the process of counting the swans _.A. remains almost unchanged in the past yearsB. involves a lot of royal membersC. sometimes lasts longer than beforeD. is always guarded by special so

9、ldiers解析推理判断题。从文章第四段对数天鹅过程的描述以及参与清点的官员的穿着打扮可知，其过程几乎没有变化，因为这是一项传统活动。答案A3This year, the Swan Marker and the Swan Warden mainly want to find out_.A. the exact number of swans and cygnetsB. how a local school project is going onC. how much damage the swans and cygnets sufferD. how education and conserva

10、tion are carried out along the Thames解析细节理解题。从文章倒数第三段内容可知答案为C。答案C4Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?A. Britain s Queen is concerned about swans.B. Britain s Queen orders a count of swans.C. An old tradition in Buckingham Palace.D. Queen Elizabeth will count swans herself.解析主旨大意题

11、。文章第一段是本文的主题段，英国女王下令清点泰晤士河上的天鹅的数量。答案B5The underlined word “tributaries” can be best replaced by _.A. districts B. banksC. trees D. branches解析词义理解题。根据语境和常识可知，此处是指在泰晤士河及其支流上生活的天鹅。故答案为D。答案D长难句解读In medieval times, the Swan Marker would not only travel up the river counting the swans, but would catch as

12、many as possible as they were soughtafter for banquets and feasts.在中世纪，负责清点天鹅的人不仅沿河清点天鹅的数量，还会尽可能多地捕捉一些，因为天鹅当时是宴会桌上的美餐。本句是一个并列句，not only.but(also).引导并列句，后面的as引导原因状语从句。Happiness is contagious,_researchers reported on Thursday.People with the most social connections spouses, friends, neighbors and rela

13、tives were also the happiest, the data showed. “Each additional happy person makes you happier，” Christakis said.“Imagine that I am connected to you and you are connected to others and others are connected to still others. It is this fabric of humanity, like an American patch quilt.”Each person sits

14、 on a differentcolored patch. “Imagine that these patches are happy and unhappy patches. Your happiness depends on what is going on in the patch around you，” Christakis said.“It is not just happy people connecting with happy people, which they do. Above and beyond, there is this contagious process g

15、oing on.”And happiness is more contagious than unhappiness, they discovered.“If a social contact is happy, it increases the likelihood that you are happy by 15 percent，” Fowler said. “A friend of a friend, or the friend of a spouse or a sibling (兄弟姐妹), if they are happy, increases your chances by 10

16、 percent，” he added.A happy thirddegree friend the friend of a friend of a friend increases a persons chances of being happy by 6 percent.“But every extra unhappy friend increases the likelihood that youll be unhappy by 7 percent，” Fowler said.The finding is interesting and it is useful, too, Fowler

17、 said.“Among other benefits, happiness has been shown to have an important effect on reduced mortality (死亡率), pain reduction, and improved cardiac (心脏的) function. So better understanding of how happiness spreads can help us learn how to promote a healthier society，” he said.The study also fits in wi

18、th other data suggested in 1984 that having $ 5,000 extra increased a persons chances of becoming happier by about 2 percent.“A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000，” Christakis said.语篇解读美国科学家的一项最新研究成果表明，快乐感可以互相传递。这项研究成果为我们构建更为健康、和谐的社会提供了依据和方法。1According to the research, your happiness _.A. has noth

19、ing to do with your workmates or schoolmatesB. has something to do with anyone who has a close relationship with youC. depends on those who are in favour of you or are against youD. has little to do with what social connections you have解析推理判断题。根据第二段、第三段内容可知，快乐感会不断传递和扩散，你的配偶、朋友、邻居、亲戚等的快乐指数会直接影响你的快乐程度

20、，故选B。答案B2The underlined word “contagious” in the first paragraph means _.A. infectious B. beautifulC. effective D. prior解析词义猜测题。第一句是全文的主题句。由文章第二、三、四段可知，快乐感可以在人们之间传播，故contagious的意思是“有感染力的，有传染性的”。答案A3It can be inferred that_.A. happiness spreads as fast and widely as unhappinessB. unhappiness spreads

21、faster and more widely than happinessC. happiness spreads faster and more widely than unhappinessD. the spread of unhappiness has not been studied by researchers解析推理判断题。根据第六段“And happiness is more contagious than unhappiness，they discovered.”一句可推知选C。答案C4Which of the following will increase your chan

22、ces of becoming happier most?A. Being in a party with a happy atmosphere.B. A happy experience of your brother or your parents.C. A happy trip to a foreign country of your friends.D. Happiness of your friend s friend.解析事实细节题。根据第七、第八段讲述的别人的快乐感对你的影响几率可知，排在最前的是“If a social contact is happy”，故选A。答案A5Wha

23、t does Christakis mean by saying “A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000” ?A. A happy friend can help you bring in a wealth of $ 20,000.B. A happy friend is a wealth which is worth about $ 20,000.C. A happy friend increases your chances of being happy by 2%.D. A happy friend increases your chances o

24、f being happy by 8 %.解析句意理解题。结合上一段中的“that having $5,000 extra increased a persons chances of becoming happier by about 2 percent”可知，一个快乐的朋友带给你的快乐相当于大约$20,000带给你的快乐，也就是$5,000的四倍，即一个快乐的朋友给你带来快乐的几率为8%，故选D。答案D长难句解读The study also fits in with other data suggested in 1984 that having $ 5,000 extra increas

25、ed a persons chances of becoming happier by about 2 percent.该句为主从复合句，主句为The study also fits in with other data，suggested in 1984为过去分词作定语修饰data，后面that引导的是同位语从句，说明data的内容。该从句的主语为having $5,000 extra，a persons chances为宾语，of becoming happier为定语修饰chances，by about 2 percent为程度状语。The Parthenon in Athens is

26、a building with a long and complex history. Built nearly 2,500 years ago as a temple celebrating the Greek goddess Athena, it was for thousands of years the church of the Virgin Mary of the Athenians, then a mosque (清真寺), and finally a ruin. The building was changed and the sculptures much damaged o

27、ver the centuries. By 1800 only about half of the original sculptural decoration remained.Between 1801 and 1805, Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Athens, acting with the full knowledge and permission of the Ottoman authorities，removed about half of the remai

28、ning sculptures from the fallen ruins and from the building itself.Lord Elgin loved Greek history and transported the sculptures back to Britain. The arrival of the sculptures in London had a huge effect on the European public, greatly increasing interest in ancient Greek culture and influencing con

29、temporary artistic trends. These sculptures were acquired from Lord Elgin by the British Museum in 1816 and since then they have all been on display to the public, free of charge.Since the early 1980s, however, the Greek government has argued for the permanent removal to Athens of all the Parthenon

30、sculptures in the British Museum. They have also challenged the British Museum Board of Trustees legal title to the sculptures.The British Museum, however, insists that it exists to tell the story of cultural achievement throughout the world, from the dawn of human history over two million years ago

31、 until the present day. The museum considers itself an important resource for the world: the breadth and depth of its collection allows the world public to reexamine cultural identities and explore the complex network of interconnected world cultures.It also says that, within the context of this unp

32、aralleled collection, the Parthenon sculptures are an important representation of ancient Athenian civilization. Each year millions of visitors admire the artistry of the sculptures and gain insights on how ancient Greece influenced and was influenced by the other civilizations that it encountered.1

33、. For most of its history people went to the Parthenon to_.A. admire the goddess AthenaB. pray to their godC. search for sculpturesD. learn about its complex history答案B2. The underlined “it” (in Paragraph 4) refers to “_”A. the British MuseumB. the Greek governmentC. the ParthenonD. the British Muse

34、um Board of Trustees答案A3. What can we infer from the passage?A. The sculptures introduced ancient Greek culture to the west.B. Ancient Greek culture has greatly influenced world culture.C. The British Museum has made much money from the Parthenon sculptures.D. The British Museum is the place most ca

35、pable of preserving these sculptures.答案B4. What can we learn about Lord Elgin from the passage?A. He is greatly admired in Greece.B. He worked for the Ottoman Empire.C. He saved the Parthenon sculptures from being destroyed.D. He had a deep interest in Greek culture.答案D5. The authors main intention

36、in writing this passage is to tell_.A. the history of the Parthenon and its sculpturesB. what people can see in the British MuseumC. why the British Museum refuses to return the sculpturesD. the influence of Greece on British culture答案CIf you travel to a new exhibit at the San Francisco Conservatory

37、 of Flowers, you will have chances to see some meat-eating plants. Take bladderworts, a kind of such plant, for example. They appear so small and grow in a quiet pond. But these are the fastest-known killers of the plant kingdom, able to capture a small insect in 1/50 of a second using a trap door!O

38、nce the trap door closes on the victim, the enzymes(酶) similar to those in the human stomach slowly digest the insect. When dinner is over, the plant opens the trap door and is ready to trap again.Meat-eating plants grow mostly in wet areas with soil that doesn t offer much food value. In such condi

39、tions, these amazing plants have developed insect traps to get their nutritional needs over thousands of years. North America has more such plants than any other continent.Generally speaking, the traps may have attractive appearance to fool the eye, like pitcher plants, which get their name because

40、they look like beautiful pitchers (a container like a bottle) full of nectar(花蜜)The Asian pitcher plant, for example, has bright colors and an attractive half-closed lid. Curious insects are tempted to come close and take a sip, and then slide down the slippery (光滑的)slope to their deaths.Hair-like g

41、rowths along the pitcher walls ensure that nothing cab escape, and the digestive enzymes can get to work. A tiny insect can be digested in a few hours, but a fly takes a couple of days.Some of these pitchers are large enough to hold two gallons. Meateating plants only eat people in science fiction m

42、ovies, but sometimes a bird or other small animals will discover that a pitcher plant isn t a good place to get a drink.语篇解读本文是一篇说明文，介绍了一些特别的植物靠捕食动物获得生长所需养分的“食肉植物”。1From the first paragraph, we can know that bladderworts can _.A. capture 50 small insects in a secondB. capture an insect in the shorte

43、st timeC. be found floating on a quiet lakeD. digest an insect in 1/50 of a second解析细节理解题。第一段指出，bladderworts能在1/50秒的时间内捕获一只小昆虫，是植物中已知的捕获动物速度最快的，因此选B。答案B2If the trap door of a meateating plant is closed, the plant _.A. is fooling insects into taking a sipB. is producing nectarC. is tempting insects t

44、o come closeD. is enjoying a dinner解析细节判断题。第二段说，一旦“陷阱门”将猎物关起来，类似于人胃里的那些消化酶就开始慢慢地消化它了，由此判断D正确。答案D3Meateating plants can grow in wet and poor soil because they _.A. can get nutrition from animalsB. don t need much food valueC. can make the most of such conditionsD. have developed digestive enzymes解析推理

45、判断题。这些植物生长在潮湿贫瘠的土壤中，为获得生长所需的养分，在数千年的进化中，它们演化出了捕获昆虫的“陷阱”，由此推出它们主要从动物中获取养分，而不是从土壤中获取养分。答案A4Which of the following is the picture of the Asian pitcher plant?解析推理判断题。根据第四、五、六段可知亚洲捕虫草主要有这些特征：状如水瓶，颜色鲜亮，有半掩的盖子，综合此三项可知，只有A项最合适。答案A5According to the passage, which of the following is true?A. South Asia has th

46、e most meateating plants.B. Some of the meateating plants can even eat a human.C. Hairlike growths in the plants help trap insects.D. The traps of these plants have a dull color.解析细节理解题。依据文章第三段最后一句可知，北美洲的食肉植物最多，故A错。从最后一段中的第二句可知，食肉植物是不吃人的，所以B项错。从文章倒数第二段可知，这些须状的东西可以防止小昆虫逃跑，故C项正确。从文章第四段可知，食肉植物为了吸引昆虫一般有

47、漂亮的外形，故D项错。答案CAfter years of research and testing, the hybrid car was developed and put on the market. It s an interesting and exciting new improvement in today s world as we look for better ways to protect the quality of the air we breathe and conserve our natural resources.The quality of our air i

48、s affected by many different things. But one of the largest sources of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline which is used to power a car s engine. The EPA has set national standards to help control the level of harmful pollutants sent off into the air, and the autom

49、obile industry has acted by producing a hybrid car that uses less gas and therefore causes less pollution.A hybrid car is a combination of a regular car that runs on gasoline and an electric car that is battery powered. Some people tend to think that since the hybrid car is partially electric, you h

50、ave to plug it in to charge it. But thats not how it works. The 144volt battery pack is actually recharged through the energy that is produced when the cars brakes are used. This is referred to as “regenerative braking” , because it generates electricity.Although the hybrid car still runs on gasolin

51、e most of the time, this helps it use less gas than a regular car. When the driver stops at a traffic light, the engine automatically shuts off to save fuel. Then, as soon as the driver puts the car in gear and touches the gas pedal, the engine starts back up.Have you ever ridden in a car with someo

52、ne who ran out of gas? That probably wouldn t happen if you were riding in a hybrid car. It flashes a waming on its computer screen that says, “I am low on gas”. When it completely runs out, the warning reads，“YOU ARE NOW OUT OF GAS！” Then the electric power supply kicks in to let the driver travel

53、a few more miles to a gas station.语篇解读本文主要介绍了一种新型汽车hybrid cars的优点和生产这种汽车的原因。1Which of the following is true according to the passage?A. The hybrid car will be put on the market.B. Hybrid cars run faster than regular cars.C. When the hybrid car stops at a traffic light, the driver will get a warning.

54、D. The burning of fossil fuels is one of the largest sources of air pollution.解析细节判断题。根据第二段的“But one of the largest sources of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline which is used to power a cars engine.”可知答案。答案D2According to the passage, the word “hybrid” refers to _

55、.A. a hightech discoveryB. energy savingC. a new inventionD. a combination of two things解析词义猜测题。由文章的第三段的第一句“A hybrid car is a combination of a regular car that runs on gasoline and an electric car that is battery powered.”可知答案。答案D3“Regenerative breaking” is an important process of the hybrid car bec

56、ause _.A. it allows the car to come to a quick stopB. it gives the driver a smoother rideC. it produces energy to charge the batteryD. it can control the speed of the car解析细节理解题。由文章的第三段的“The 144volt battery pack is.because it generates electricity.”可知答案。答案C4Which of the following is right about the

57、EPA?A. They designed hybrid cars.B. They outlawed (宣布为不合法) the burning of fossil fuels.C. They set important guidelines that help control pollution.D. Their main purpose is to protect endangered plants and animals.解析细节理解题。由文章的第二段的第三句可知答案。答案C5Which of the following is the reason for developing hybrid cars?A. They use less gas than regular cars.B. They re safer to drive than most cars.C. Theyre more modern than other cars.D. They cost less than regular cars.解析细节理解题