长宁区2015年高三英语二模

III. Reading Comprehension
Section A
Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
Early in the age of affluence (富裕) that followed World War II, an American economic analyst declared, "Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into habits, that we seek our __51___ satisfaction, our self-satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced at an ever ___52___ rate." Americans have __53____ to the call, and much of the world has followed.
Consumption has become a central pillar of life in industrial lands and is even deeply rooted in social ___54__. Opinion surveys in the world's two largest economies, Japan and the United States, show consumerist definitions of success becoming very popular.
Over consumption by the fortunate in the world is an environmental problem ___55___ in severity by anything but perhaps population growth. Their increasing exploitation of resources __56___ to exhaust or unalterably spoils forests, soils, water, air and climate.
Ironically (有讽刺意味的), high consumption may be a __57___ blessing in human terms, too. The time-honored values of integrity of character, good work, friendship, family and community have often been ___58___ in the rush to riches.
Thus, many people in the industrial lands have a sense that their world of plenty is somehow hollow. With the __59____ of a consumerist culture, they also think that they have been ___60__ attempting to satisfy what are essentially social, psychological and spiritual needs with material things.
___61___, the opposite of overconsumption—poverty—is no ___62___ to either environmental or human problems. It is much worse for people and bad for the natural world too. Peasants who have nothing left cut-and-burn their way into the rain forests of Latin America, and hungry nomads (游牧民) turn their animals out onto African grassland, reducing it to ___63____.
If environmental ___64___ results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough. What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more ___65___ to add noticeably to human satisfaction?
51. A. natural B. spiritual C. cultural D. actual
52. A. promising B. promoting C. falling D. increasing
53. A. proved B. returned C. responded D. persevered
54. A. values B. moralities C. identities D. problems
55. A. qualified B. unmatched C. compared D. unprocessed
56. A. happens B. manages C. starts D. threatens
57. A. mixed B. detected C. counted D. terrified
58. A. promoted B. sacrificed C. satisfied D. relieved
59. A. improving B. neglecting C. sponsoring D. misleading
60. A. fruitlessly B. successfully C. occasionally D. eagerly
61. A. As a result B. For instance C. Of course D. From then on
62. A. solution B. pollution C. consideration D. contribution
63. A. attraction B. rubbish C. homeland D. desert
64. A. construction B. destruction C. development D. improvement
65. A. remain B. occur C. cease D. happen
Section B
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have read.
(A)
Not too many decades ago it seemed “obvious” both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people’s natural relations, loosened their responsibilities to relatives and neighbors, and substituted in their place loosel relationships with passing acquaintances(相识之人). However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the “obvious” is not true. It seems that if you are a city resident, you typically know a smaller proportion of your neighbors than you do if you are a resident of a smaller community. But, for the most part, this fact has few significant consequences. It does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your neighbors you will know no one else.
Even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within small, private social worlds. Indeed, the number and quality of meaningful relationships do not differ between more and less urban people. Small-town residents are more involved with kin than are big-city residents. Yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships with people who share similar interests and activities. Urbanism may produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not differ between town and city. Nor are residents of large communities any likelier to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation, a feeling of not belonging, than are residents of smaller communities. However, city dwellers do worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust of strangers.
These findings do not imply that urbanism makes little or no difference. If neighbors are strangers to one another, they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young trouble makers. Moreover, as Wirth suggested, there may be a link between a community’s population size and its social heterogeneity(多样性). For instance, sociologists have found much evidence that the size of a community is associated with bad behavior including gambling, drugs, etc. Large-city urbanites are also more likely than their small-town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan(见多识广的) outlook, to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles, to vote for leftist political candidates, and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups, unpopular political groups, and so-called undesirables. Everything considered, heterogeneity and unusual behavior seem to be outcomes of large population size.
66. According to the paragraph 1, it was once a common belief that people in modern society __________ .
A) tended to acqaint themselves with people passing by
B) could not develop very close relationships wth others
C) bore great responsibilities to neighbors and relatives
D) usually had more friends than small-town residents
67. One of the consequences of urbanism is that the city residents __________ .
A. suffer fron the lack of friendship
B. lower the quality of relationships
C. show little concern for other people
D. become suspicious of each other
68.We can learn from the passage that the bigger a community is,__________
A) the more open-minded people are B. the more similar its interests is
C) the more likely it it to display stress D) the better its quality of life is
69. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Advantages and disadvantages of living in big cities or small towns
B. Minor differences in the interpersonal relations between cities and towns
C The positive role that urbanism has been playing in our modern society.
D The strong feeling of alienation that city inhabitants are suffering.
(B)
TRAIN TRA VEL INFORMATION
We offer several distinct options for you to choose the ticket that suits you best.
Only one discount may apply to each fare.
CHANGES AND REFUNDS
Tickets may be refunded not later 5 minutes before the departure of the train for a charge of 15% of the ticket price, or the journey may be changed to another day for a charge of 10% of the ticket price. (Not applicable to same day returns.)
CHANGES FOR SAME DAY TRA VEL
You may change your ticket once without charge for a journey on the same day as the original ticket.
INFORMA TION OF INTEREST TO TRA VELLERS
When you buy your ticket, it is up to you to check that the dates and time of the journey on it are exactly as you requested.
Tickets control and access to each train platform will be open until 2 minutes before departure of the train.
Each traveler may take one suitcase and one item of hand luggage. You may also check in 15kgs of luggage not later than 30 minutes before departure, at no extra charge.
If you would like to charter a train, or make reservations for over 25 passengers traveling together, call the Sales Department.
OUR TIMETABLE IS GUARANTEED
If the arrival of your train at you destination is delayed by more than 5 minutes according to the timetable, we will refund the full price of your ticket if the delay is caused by our company.
70.How much will a passenger pay if he wants to alter his ticket to three days later?
A.25% of the original price
B.20% of the original price
C.15% of the original price
D.10% of the original price
71.The limit of luggage for a single passenger is .
A.One suitcase, one handbag and one 15kgs check-in luggage
B.One handbag, two pieces of 15kgs check-in luggage.
C.One handbag and two pieces of 15kgs check-in luggage.
D.One suitcase, one handbag and one 30kgs check-in luggage.
72.What does the Train Company guarantee?
A.Students,children,senior citizens and groups can get 25% discount of the original price.
B.Passengers get the full price of the tickets back if the train if delayed over five minutes.
C.Same-day-returns can be fully refunded if they are canceled two minutes before departure.
D.People with Globe-trotter tickets can take any kind of the discounts listed in the brochure.
(C)
How do predators (猎食动物) affect populations of the prey (猎物) animals? The answer is not as simple as might be thought. The Moose(麋鹿) reached Isle Royale in Lake Superior by crossing over winter ice and bred freely there in isolation without predators. When wolves later reached the island, naturalists widely assumed that the wolves would play a key role in controlling the moose population. Careful studies have demonstrated, however, that this is not the case. The wolves eat mostly old or diseased animals that would not survive long anyway. In general, the moose population is controlled by food availability, disease and other factors rather than by wolves.
When experimental populations are set up under simple laboratory conditions, the predator often wipes out its prey and then becomes extinct itself. However, if safe areas like those prey animals have in the wild are provided, the prey population drops to low level but not extinction. Low prey population levels then provide inadequate food for the predators, causing the predator population to decrease. When this occurs, the prey population can rebound. In this situation the predator and prey population may continue in this cyclical pattern for some time.
Population cycles are characteristic of small mammals, and they sometimes appear to be brought about by predators. Ecologists studying hare populations have found that the North American snowshoe hare follows a roughly ten-year cycle. Its numbers fall tenfold to thirty in a typical cycle, and a hundredfold change can occur. Two factors appear to be generating the cycle: food plants and predators.
The preferred foods of snowshoe hares are tender willow branches. As the hare population increases, the quantity of these branches decreases, forcing the hares to feed on low-quality high-fiber food. Lower birth rates and low growth rates follow, so there is a corresponding decline in hare abundance. Once the hare population has declined, it takes two to three year for the quantity of branches to recover.
A key predator of the snowshoe hare is the Canada lynx. The Canada lynx shows a ten-year cycle of abundance(大量) that parallels the abundance cycle of hares. As hare numbers fall, so do lynx numbers, as their food supply decreased.
Predators are an essential factor in maintaining communities that are rich and diverse in species. Without predators, the species that is the best competitor for food, shelter, and other
environmental resources tends to dominate and exclude the species with which it competes. This phenomenon is known as “competitor exclusion”. However, if the community contains a predator of the strongest competitor species, then the population of that competitor is controlled. Thus even the less competitive species are able to survive. From the stand point of diversity(多样性), it is usually a mistake to eliminate a major predator from a community.
73.The author uses the example of the moose and wolves on Isle Royale to _________________.
A. provide evidence that predators influence prey populations
B. question the belief in the effect of predators on prey populations
C. demonstrate predator population grows faster than that of the prey
D. prove that studies of isolated populations tend to be useful
74.The word “rebound” in the passage is closest in meaning to _____________.
A. React
B. Resist
C. Remain
D. Recover
75.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Laboratory results can’t explain the changes in predator and prey populations of the wild.
B. The growth of hare population may lead to a corresponding increase in its birth rates.
C. The experimental environments can promote the growth of predator and prey populations.
D. The existence of a major predator in a community is a threat to the diversity of species.
76.What can we conclude from the passage about the cycle of the Canada lynx?
A. When hare numbers decrease, lynx numbers increase.
B. It has a great effect on the number of snowshoe hare.
C. It closely follows the cycle of the snowshoe hare.
D. It is not directly related to the availability of lynx food.
77.What is the best title of this passage?
A. What role predators play in keeping competitor species.
B. Whether predators have an impact on prey populations.
C. A study of the populations of the predator and prey animals.
D. Contributing factors of the changes in animal populations.。