高二英语话题阅读训练 Week Sixteen科小品高二全册英语试题

冠夺市安全阳光实验学校Week Sixteen 科普小品一、阅读理解（共20小题；共40.0分）
A
As any plane passenger will confirm, a crying baby is almost impossible to ignore, no matter how hard you try. Now scientists believe they may have worked out why. An infant's cries pull at the heartstrings in a way that other cries don't, researchers found.
Researchers found that the sound of a baby crying can trigger unique emotional responses in the brain, making it impossible for us to ignore them—whether we are parents or not. Other types of cry, including calls of animals in sadness, fail to cause the same response—suggesting the brain is programmed to respond specifically to a baby's cry.
A team of Oxford University scientists scanned the brains of 28 men and women as they listened to a variety of calls and cries. After 100 milliseconds—roughly the time it takes to blink—two regions of the brain that respond to emotion lit up. Their response to a baby's cry was particularly strong. The response was seen in both men and women—even if they had no children.
You might read that men should barely notice a baby and step over it and not see any of them but it's not true. There is a specialized processing in men and women which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective that both genders would be responding to these cues. The study was in people who were not parents, yet they are all responding at 100ms to these particular sounds, so this might be a fundamental response present in all of us regardless of parental status.
Fellow researcher Katie Young said it may take a bit longer for someone to recognize their own child's cries because they need to do more "fine-grained analysis". The team had previously found that our reactions speed up when we hear a baby crying. Adults performed better on computer games when they played the sound of a baby crying than after they heard recordings of adults crying or high-pitched birdsong.
1. Why is a baby's crying difficult to ignore?
A. Because it cries louder than others.
B. Because it cries in a different manner.
C. Because its cry is moving.
D. Because its cry is absorbing.
2. What does the underlined word "trigger" in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Cause.
B. Avoid.
C. Remove.
D. Cure.
3. According to the passage, responses to a baby's cry are
strong .
A. in people with children
B. in people with no children
C. in neither men nor women
D. in both men and women
4. People's response to baby's cry can be understood .
A. from human's fundamental emotion
B. from a view of parents
C. from a view of people who are not parents
D. from an evolutionary view
5. When do grown-ups play computer games much better?
A. When hearing recordings of adults crying.
B. When hearing recordings of high-pitched birdsong.
C. When hearing recordings of old people crying.
D. When hearing recordings of babies crying.
B
At last, good news to report about the "greenest government ever".
A package of railway spending across England and Wales worth £9.4bn—of which £4.2bn will be spent on previously unannounced projects. The projects include a high capacity "electric spine" running between Yorkshire and the East Midlands down to south coast ports, and the electrification of the line between Sheffield and Bedford. Further electrification is also planned in Wales meaning two-thirds of the Welsh population will have access to electric trains.
Speaking on Radio 4's Today program this morning, she said, we all know that diesel(柴油机) is massively expensive so if we can move over to electric trains, not only are they greener, they're also cheaper and also they are lighter too, so what that means is that when they are on the track they don't damage it so much, so maintenance costs go down too.
Rail electrification is an important part of the Department's carbon strategy. Typically an electric train emits between 20% and 35% less carbon per passenger mile than a diesel train. This benefit will only improve as the electricity generation industry reduces its carbon levels. Electric trains also have zero emissions at the point of use, of particular benefit for air quality in pollution hot spots like city centres and mainline stations such as London Paddington.
A lot depends on the decarbonisation(低碳排放) of our electricity generation, but by the time these new electrified lines are fully operational in the 2020s we should be advancing with the decarbonisation of the grid. However you calculate it, though, electric trains are greener than diesel trains.
Interestingly, he added that a high-speed electric train traveling at 300km per hour—as might be seen on HS2—would still emit less CO2 per passenger kilometer than a diesel train traveling at its top speed of 220km per hour. Combine all this with the fact that railway electrification, particularly on city commuter routes, helps to reduce local air pollution—a topical subject in London this week-and it seems clear that electric trains are the way to go.
6. Which parts will benefit most from electric trains?
A. England and Ireland.
B. England and Scotland.
C. Wales and Scotland.
D. Wales and England.
7. What's the main idea of Paragraph 2?
A. The benefits of the electric trains.
B. The benefits of the diesel trains.
C. The shortcoming of the electric trains.
D. The shortcoming of the diesel trains.
8. The underlined word "emits" means .
A. gives away
B. gives over
C. gives out
D. gives up
9. What's the author's attitude on the decarbonisation?
A. Doubtful.
B. Confident.
C. Negative.
D. Unclear.10. According to the passage, the Londoners will focus a lot
on .
A. railway electrification
B. high-speed electric trains
C. city commuter routes
D. diesel train traveling
C
It has long been believed that drinking green tea is good for the memory. Now researchers have discovered how the chemical properties of China's favorite drink affect the generation of brain cells, providing benefits for memory and spatial(空间的) learning. "There has been plenty of scientific attention on its use in helping prevent cardiovascular diseases, but now there is emerging evidence that its chemical properties may impact cellular mechanisms in the brain," said Professor Yun Bai.
Professor Bai's team focused on the organic chemical EGCG, a key property of green tea. The team believed it can also have a beneficial effect against age-related degenerative(退化的) diseases. "We proposed that EGCG can improve cognitive function by impacting the generation of neuron cells, a process known as neurogenesis," said Bai. "We focused our research on the hippocampus, the part of the brain which processes information from short-term to long-term memory."
The team found that EGCG boosts the production of neural progenitor cells, which like stem cells can adapt, or differentiate, into various types of cells. The team then used laboratory mice to discover if this increased cell production gave an advantage to memory or spatial learning. "We ran tests on two groups of mice, one which had imbibed EGCG and a control group," said Bai. "First the mice were trained for three days to find a visible platform in their maze(迷宫). Then they were trained for seven days to find a hidden platform."
The team found that the EGCG treated mice required less time to find the hidden platform. Overall the results revealed that EGCG enhances learning and memory by improving object recognition and spatial memory. "We have shown that the organic chemical EGCG acts directly to increase the production of neural progenitor cells, both in glass tests and in mice," concluded Bai. "This helps us to understand the potential for EGCG, and green tea which contains it, to help combat degenerative diseases and memory loss."
11. The new evidence suggests chemical properties .
A. in black tea may impact cellular mechanisms in the brain
B. in green tea may affect cellular mechanisms in the brain
C. in black tea may damage cellular mechanisms in the brain
D. in green tea may damage memory and spatial learning 12. According to the passage, Professor Bai's team paid attention to .
A. short-term and long-term memory
B. the generation of neuron cells and hippocampus
C. age-related degenerative diseases
D. the organic chemical EGCG and hippocampus
13. The underlined word "imbibed" refers to .
A. drunk
B. stolen
C. carried
D. refused
14. The team found that it took more time .
A. for the EGCG treated mice to find the hidden platform
B. for the EGCG treated mice to find the visible platform
C. for the control mice to find the hidden platform
D. for the control mice to find the visible platform
15. What might be the potential for EGCG?
A. To decrease the blood level.
B. To improve the time memory.
C. To help treat memory loss.
D. To cure degenerative diseases.
D
Students who stay up late to cram for a test or finish a project have lower comprehension and worse performance in the classroom as a result, research shows. The old saying that "you snooze, you lose" doesn't apply to students who stay up late to cram for a test or finish a class project.
The UCLA team found that regardless of how much time a high schooler normally spends on homework each day, a student who gives up sleep for extra study time will have trouble the next day understanding material in class and be more likely to struggle with an assignment or test-the opposite of the student's intent.
The researchers didn't quantify(量化) the increased risk for academic problems following a longer-than-usual study session, but they said the number of problems was "surprisingly greater." The relationship held up no matter how ambitious the student was, as measured by the amount of time spent studying on a typical day, and it became stronger as students progressed through high school.
The results rang true to Kai Daniels, a senior at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies. On occasions when she's stayed up late to study, she's had more trouble absorbing material in class. "I'd have to re-teach myself at night," she said. The finding makes a lot of sense, and several new studies are showing that the quantity and the quality of sleep are important for remembering new information and consolidating(巩固) learning.
Students who get too little sleep don't have enough time to process what they study; even just one night of sleep deprivation(剥夺) can have a negative effect. Parents should do what they can to make sure their children have sufficient and consistent sleep. Most adolescents need just over nine hours of sleep a night, which 9% of high school students actually get, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Though a consistent study and sleep schedule are ideal, the demands that high school students face make that "infeasible(办不到的)," the researchers wrote.
16. New research shows that giving away sleep for school work
is .
A. a good trade
B. a special trade
C. a common trade
D. a bad trade
17. Students give up their sleep just to .
A. understand material in class
B. get more time to play
C. get more time to study
D. struggle with a test
18. The underlined "it" in Paragraph 3 means .
A. The relationship
B. The risk
C. The problem
D. The student
19. What does the example of Kai Daniels prove?
A. The importance of staying up late to study.
B. The importance of the quantity and the quality of sleep.
C. The importance of remembering new information.
D. The importance of consolidating learning.
20. Why can NOT most students in high school get enough sleep?
A. Because they should obey the school rules.
B. Because their parents force them to stay up.
C. Because they obey the rules of the National Sleep Foundation.
D. Because they face the pressure of going to college.
二、阅读理解（共4小题；共8.0分）
Animals do amazing things. Birds migrate immense distances. Whales communicate across vast oceans. Honeybees remember familiar flowers. Crows can turn sticks into tools. Elephants can imitate sounds. Monkeys do simple math. Can animals also warn us if a natural disaster is about to strike? A few days before the Asian tsunami(海啸) several months ago, a person watched thousands of ants rush away from the beach into the forest. According to other accounts, elephants screamed and ran to higher ground as many as 10 days before disaster struck. Dogs refused to go outside.
Despite decades of research, scientists don't know how to predict earthquakes and tsunamis. Maybe animals can do better. Some people say that animals have a special kind of power for sensing the future. They call it a “sixth sense”. The scientific evidence for an animal sixth sense, however, is slim, says John Caprio, a neurobiologist(神经生物学家) at Louisiana State University. If reports about animals escaping danger are actually true, Caprio says, the animals must be responding to real sensations, rather than using some mysterious type of otherworldly perception.
When it comes to sensing earthquakes and tsunamis, feeling the vibrations(震动) they create in the earth is probably key, says Joel Greenspan. “Animals are always in direct contact with the ground,” Greenspan says. “We don't do that anymore. We have shoes and clothes. We pay attention to other people, sights, and sounds.” That way, if an animal is standing or lying around, it can sense the footsteps of predators(食肉动物) coming its way. Perhaps the animals in Asia mistook the earthquake and tsunami for a monster coming to eat them. In response, they ran in the opposite direction and ended up saving themselves.
Even though scientists are far from knowing everything about why animals behave the way they do, most scientists are sure there must be rational explanations. Further research, however, might help us understand what it feels like to be a fish, a cat, an elephant, or a mouse.
21. This article is mainly about .
A. amazing animals
B. amazing world
C. sixth sense
D. sense of danger
22. Where may this article appear?
A. Science news.
B. Entertainment.
C. Science fiction.
D. Latest News on TV.
23. According to Joel, how can elephants sense the coming of tsunami?
A. They can feel the vibration in the earth.
B. They mistook tsunami for a monster's coming.
C. They were using mysterious type of perception.
D. They have sixth sense which humans don't have.
24. The underlined word “slim” in the second paragraph
means .
A. clear
B. sufficient
C. strange
D. little 答案
一、阅读理解
1. B
2. A
3. C
4. D
5. D
6. D
7. A
8. C
9. B 10. A 11. B 12. D 13. A 14. C 15. C
16. D 17. C 18. A 19. B 20. D
二、阅读理解
21. D 22. A 23. A 24. D。