浙江省高考题阅读A篇

①One evening in February 2007, a student named Paula Ceely brought her car to a stop on a remote road in Wales. She got out to open a metal gate that blocked her path .That’s when she heard the whistle sounded by the driver of a train. Her Renault Clio was parked across a railway line. Seconds later, she watched the train drag her car almost a kilometre down the railway tracks.Ceely’s near miss made the news because she blamed it on he GPS (导航仪). She had never driven the route before. It was dark and raining heavily. Ceely was relying on her GPS, but it made no mention of the crossing. “I put my complete trust in the device and it led me right into the path of a speeding train,” she told the BBC.Who is to blame here? Rick Stevenson, who tells Ceely’s stor y in his book When Machines Fail Us, points the finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital devices, he says, but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small problems. And it’s not just GPS devic es: Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless keyboards.The problem with his argument in the book is that it’s not clear why he only focuses on digital technology, while there may be a number of other possible causes. A map-maker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. Perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor singalling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the GPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn’t say.It’s a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an account of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat computer-based locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft; both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once again not all new locks have proved reliable. Perhaps, but maybe it’s also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some combination of these factors.The game between humans and their smart devices is amusing and complex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be a way for a wiser use of technology.If there is such a way, it should involve more than just an awareness of the shortcomings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands of years. They have probably been fooling us for just as long.41.What did Paula Ceely think was the cause of her accident？A. She was not familiar with the road.B. It was dark and raining heavily then.C. The railway workers failed to give the signal.D. Her GPS de vice didn’t tell her about the crossing.42.The phrase “near miss” (Paragraph 2) can best be replaced by______.A. close hitB. heavy lossC. narrow escapeD. big mistake43. Which of the following would Rick Stevenson most probably agree with?A. Moder n technology is what we can’t live without.B. Digital technology often falls short of our expectation.C. Digital devices are more reliable than they used to be.D. GPS error is not the only cause for Ceely’s accident.44. In the writer’s opinion, Stevenson’s argument is _______.A. one-sidedB. reasonableC. puzzlingD. well-based45. What is the real concern of the writer of this article?A. The major causes of traffic accidents and car thefts.B. The relationship between human and technology.C. The shortcomings of digital devices we use.D. The human unawareness of technical problems.②Easter (复活节) is still a great day for worship, candy in baskets and running around the yard finding eggs, but every year it gets quite a bit worse for bunnies.And no, not because the kids like to pull their ears. The culprit is climate change, and some researchers found that rising temperatures are having harmful effects on at least five species of rabbit in the US,Take the Lower Keys Marsh rabbit, for instance. An endangered species that lives in the Lower Florida Keys, this species of cottontail is a great swimmer -- it lives on the islands! -- but it is already severely affected by development and now by rising sea levels. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, an ocean level rise of only 0.6 meters will send these ~ys jumping to higher ground and a 0.9-meter rise would wipe out their habitat (栖息地) completely.The snowshoe hare, on the other hand, has a color issue. Most of these rabbits change their fur color from white in the wintertime to brown in the summer, each designed to give them better cover from predators (~I~') ~ As the number of days with snow decreases all across the country, however, more and more bunnies are being left in white fur during brown dirt days of both fall and spring, making them an easier mark for predators. Researchers know that the color change is controlled by the number of hours of sunlight, but whether the rabbit will be able to adapt quick enough to survive is a big question. The National Wildlife Federation has reported that hunters have noticed their numbers are already markedly down.American pikas or rock rabbits, a relative of rabbits and hares, might be the first of these species to go extinct due to climate change. About 7-8 inches long, pikas live high in the cool. damp mountains west of the Rocky Mountains. As global temperatures rise, they would naturally migrate (J~2~) to higher ground -- but they already occupy the mountaintops. They can't go any higher. The National Wildlife Federation reports that they might not be able to stand the new temperatures as their habitat heats up.The volcano rabbit has the same problem. These rabbits live on the slopes of volcanoes in Mexico, and recent studies have shown that the lower range of their habitat has already shifted upward about 700 meters, but there are not suitable plants for them to move higher, so they are stuck in the middle. Scientists are concerned about their populations.Native to the US, pygmy rabbits weigh less than 1 pound and live in the American West. They are believed to be the smallest rabbits in the world. Their habitats have been destroyed by development. Several populations, such as the Columbia Basin pygmy, almost went extinct and were saved by zoo breeding programs. Pygmy rabbits also rely on winter cover by digging tunnels through the snow to escape predators, but lesser snowfall is leaving them exposed.All of this gives new meaning to dressing up in a giant bunny costume this Easter.41. The writer mentions Easter at the beginning of the passage in order toA. show the importance of Easter DayB. introduce the issue about bunniesC. remind people of Easter traditionsD. discuss the relationship between Easter and bunnies42. The word “culprit” (Paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to_________A. criminalB. judgeC. victimD. producer43. According to the passage, some rabbits can now be easily discovered by predators because theyA. are exposed to more skillful huntersB. have moved to habitats with fewer plantsC. haven't adapted themselves to climate changeD. can't change their fur color into white in the fall and the spring44. The problem faced by volcano rabbits and rock rabbits is thatA. both are affected by less snowB. both are affected by rising sea levelsC. neither can find enough foodD. neither can migrate to higher places45. Which best describes the writer's tone in the passage?A. Approving.B. Concerned.C. Enthusiastic.D. Doubtful.③No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the discovery that some people did certain kinds of work better than others did them. That led to the concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job.Let’s take a man we’ll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He did everything connected with farming. He planted seeds, tended the fields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time, he did many other jobs on the farm. However, he didn’t make the bricks for his house, cut his trees into boards, make the plows (犁), or any of other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he got them from people who specialized in doing each of those things.Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Using what he knew about farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright invented a plow that made farming easier. Mr. Plowright did not really like farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really good plows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow for one of my plows.How did Mr. Plowright let people know what he was doing? Why, he advertised, of course. First he opened a shop and then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign may have been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and a simple arrow pointing to the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his really good plows.Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago. Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.A medium, in advertising talk, is the way you communicate your message. You might say that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, or sound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use it today. Originally, just the human voice and maybe some kind of simple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people’sattention.A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt, shopkeepers might hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this earliest form of advertising involved a newly arrived ship loaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described the goods, explained where they came from, and praised their quality. His job was, in other words, not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today’s world. (478 words)41. What probably led to the start of advertisement?A. The discovery of iron.B. The specialization of labor.C. The appearance of new jobs.D. The development of farming techniques.42. To advertise his plows, Mr. Plowright __________.A. praised his plows in publicB. placed a sign outside the shopC. hung an arrow pointing to the shopD. showed his products to the customers43. The writer makes up the two stories of Mr. Fielder and Mr. Plowright in order to __________.A. explain the origin of advertisingB. predict the future of advertisingC. expose problems in advertisingD. provide suggestions for advertising44. In ancient Egypt, a crier was probably someone who __________.A. owned a shipB. had the loudest voiceC. ran a shop selling goods to farmersD. functioned like today’s TV or radio commercial45. The last two paragraphs are mainly about __________.A. the history of advertisingB. the benefits of advertisingC. the early forms of advertisingD. the basic design of advertising④Wealth starts with a goal saving a dollar at a time. Call it the piggy bank strategy(策略). There are lessons in that time-honored coin-saving container.Any huge task seems easier when reduced to baby steps. I f you wished to climb a 12,000-foot mountain, and could do it a day at a time, you would only have to climb 33 feet daily to reach the top in a year. If you want to take a really nice trip in 10 years for a special occasion, to collect the $15,000 cost, you have to save $3.93 a day. If you drop that into a piggy bank and then once a year put $1,434 in a savings account at 1% interest rate after-tax, you will have your trip money.When I was a child, my parents gave me a piggy bank to teach me that, if I wanted something, I should save money to buy it. We associate piggy banks with children, but in many countries, the little containers are also popular with adults. Europeans see a piggy bank as a sign of good fortune and wealth. Around the world, many believe a gift of a piggy bank on New Year’s Day brings good luck and financial success. Ah, but you have to put something in it.Why is a pig used as a symbol of saving? Why not an elephant bank, which is bigger and holds more coins? In the Middle Ages, before modern banking and credit instruments, people saved money at home, a few coins at a time dropped into a jar or dish. Potters(制陶工) made these inexpensive containers from an orange-colored clay(黏土) called “pygg,” and folks saved coins in pygg jars.The Middle English wordfor pig was “pigge”. While the Saxons pronounced pygg, referring to the clay, as “pug”, eventually the two words changed into the same pronunciation, sounding the “i” as in pig or piggy.As the word became less associated with the orange clay and more with the animal, a clever potter fashioned a pygg jar in the shape of a pig, delighting children and adults. The piggy bank was born.Originally you had to break the bank to get to the money, bringing in a sense of seriousness into savings. While piggy banks teach children the wisdom of saving, adults often need to relearn childhood lessons. Think about the things in life that require large amounts of money--- college education, weddings, cars, medical care, starting a business, buying a home, and fun stuff like great trips. So when you have money, take off the top 10%, put it aside, save and invest wisely.41. What is the piggy bank strategy?A. Paying 1% income tax at a time.B. Setting a goal before making a travel plan.C. Aiming high even when doing small things.D. Putting aside a little money regularly for future use.42.Why did the writer’s parents give him a piggy bank as a gift?A. To delight him with the latest fashion.B. To encourage him to climb mountains.C. To help him form the habit of saving.D. To teach him English pronunciation.43. What does then underlined word “something”(Paragraph 3) most probably refer to?A. MoneyB. GiftsC. Financial successD. Good luck44. The piggy ban originally was _________.A. a potter’s instrumentB. a cheap clay containerC. an animal-shaped dishD. a pig-like toy for children45. The last paragraph talks about ________.A. the seriousness of educating childrenB. the enjoyment of taking a great tripC. the importance of managing moneyD. the difficulty of starting a business⑤From the very beginning of school we make books and reading a constant source of possible failure and public humiliation. When children are little we make them read aloud, before the teacher and other children, so that we can be sure they “know” all the words they are reading. This means that when they don’t know a word, they are going to make a mistake, right in front of everyone. After having taught fifth-grade classes for four years, I decided to try at all costs to rid them of their fear and dislike of books, and to get them to read oftener and more adventurously.One day soon after school had started, I said to them, “Now I’m going to say something about reading that you have probably never heard a teacher say before. I would like you to read a lot of books this year, but I want you to read them only for pleasure. I am not going to ask you questions to find out whether you understand the books or not. If you understand enough of a book to enjoy it and want to go on reading it, that’s enough for me. Also I’m not going to ask you what words mean. “The children sat stunned and silent. Was this a teacher talking? One girl, who had just come to us from a school where she had had a very hard time, looked at me steadily for a long time after I had finished. Then, still looking at me, she said slowly and seriously, “Mr. Holt, do you really mean that?” I said just as seriously, “I mean every word of it.”During the spring she really astonished me. One day, she was reading at her desk, From aglimpse of the illus trations I thought I knew what the book was. I said to myself, “It can’t be,” and went to take a closer look. Sure enough, she was reading Moby Dick , in edition with woodcuts. I said, “Don’t you find parts of it rather heavy going?” She answered, “Oh, sure, but I just skip over those parts and go on to the next good part. ”This is exactly what reading should be and in school so seldom is—an exciting, joyous adventure. Find something, dive into it, take the good parts, skip the bad parts, get what you can out of it, go on to something else. How different is our mean-spirited, picky insistence that every child get every last little scrap of “understanding” that can be dug out of a book.41. According to the passage, children’s fear and dislike of books may r esult from________.A. reading little and thinking littleB. reading often and adventurouslyC. being made to read too muchD. being made to read aloud before others42. The teacher told his students to read______ .A. for enjoymentB. for knowledgeC. for a larger vocabularyD. for higher scores in exams43. Upon hearing the teacher’s talk, the children probably felt that________.A. it sounded stupidB. it was not surprising at allC. it sounded too good to be trueD. it was no different from other teachers' talk44. Which of the following statements about the girl is TRUE according to the passage?A. She skipped over those easy parts while reading.B. She had a hard time finishing the required reading tasks.C. She learned to appreciate some parts of the difficult books.D. She turned out to be a top student after coming to this school.45. From the teacher's point of view,_________ .A. children cannot tell good parts from bad parts while readingB. children should be left to decide what to read and how to readC. reading is never a pleasant and inspiring experience in schoolD. reading involves understanding every little piece of information。