辽宁省灯塔市高考英语阅读理解连载(9)

2014辽宁省灯塔市高考英语阅读理解连载（9）及答案阅读理解Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821, on the island of St. Helena off the coast of Africa. He was 51 years old at the time. When doctors examined Napoleon's body, they said that the former emperor of France had died from cancer of the stomach. That was the cause of death recorded in the official report. However, other doctors disagreed. One doctor who was present during the examination of the body said that Napoleon died of hepatitis（肝炎）. Other historians and medical experts have suggested that Napoleon died of syphilis（梅毒）, tuberculosis（肺结核）, or perhaps malaria. Now, after careful research, a British chemist thinks that Napoleon might have been poisoned -- not by a person, but by his wallpaper.Napoleon was sent to the island of St. Helena in 1815 after he lost the battle of Waterloo. He was a prisoner on the island. Although he had servants to attend to him, he had to live in one small building. St. Helena is a very wet island, so the walls of the building were always covered with mold. Napoleon became ill from spending too much time inside his house. Almost constantly he had a fever, chills, and felt sick to his stomach. He often felt pain in his shoulders and in his side. His skin turned yellow. He got frequent headaches, and he would become dizzy and vomit. None of the medicine that the doctors gave Napoleon seemed to help. They were not sure what was the matter. Finally, Napoleon was too weak to leave the house. One night, while he was sleeping, he went into a coma （昏迷）and died.Many doctors who later reviewed the reports of Napoleon's illness found that the symptoms did not show a man who suffered from stomach cancer. It seemed obvious that Napoleon had died from some other cause. In 1961, a Swedish doctor examined some of Napoleon’s hair and found a high level of arsenic（砒霜）, a chemical poison. Was Napoleon murdered? It is doubtful. Arsenic was used in many types of medicine during Napoleon’s time, so he might have taken the arsenic as a cure for his illness. Then, in 1982, Dr. David Jones from England began to look into the mystery and suggested that Napoleon might have breathed in arsenic which was in the air of his house. In the 1700s and 1800s, arsenic was used to make a kind of green paint used on cloth and wallpaper. If the paint was used on a wet wall, the arsenic would go into the air. A person in the room might breathe that air. After studying the wallpaper in the room where Napoleon died, Dr. Jones found high levels of arsenic in the green paint on the walls.6. The passage says that .A. a British doctor thinks he has found the cause of Napoleon's deathB. many doctors have tried to guess the cause of Napoleon's deathC. Napoleon could have died from poisonD. all of the above7. Why did Napoleon live on St. Helena?A. He owned the island.B. He was a prisoner there.C. His family lived there.D. He liked the island.8. Napoleon suffered from the following symptoms except __________.A. chillsB. feverC. dizzinessD. bleeding9. The official report said that Napoleon died of____________.A. cancerB. a comaC. moldD. poison10. According to Dr. Jones, how did the arsenic probably get into Napoleon's body?A. He ate it.B. He breathed it in.C. He touched it.D. He drank it.【参考答案】6—10、DBDABC7 [2013·重庆卷]It is widely known that any English conversation begins with The Weather.Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr.Johnson's famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” T hough Johnson's observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, most commentators fail to come up with a convincing explanation for this English weather－speak.Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that，as the English weather is not at all exciting，the obsession with it can hardly be understood.He argues that “To an outsider，the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it.” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive.Bryson is wrong, he says，because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena. “The i nterest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather－speak among the English.Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point.The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all.English weather－speak is a system of signs，which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other.Everyone knows conversations starting with weather－speak are not requests for weather data.Rather, they are routine greetings，conversation starters or the blank “fillers”. In other words, English weather－speak is a means of social bonding.72．The author mentions Dr.Johnson's comment to show that ________．A．most commentators agree with Dr.JohnsonB．Dr.Johnson is famous for his weather observationC．the comment was accurate two hundred years agoD．English conversations usually start with the weather73．What does the underlined word “obsession” most probably refer to?A．A social trend.B．An emotional state.C．A historical concept.D．An unknown phenomenon.74．According to the passage，Jeremy Paxman believes that ________．A．Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weatherB．there is nothing special about the English weatherC．the English weather attracts people to the British IslesD．English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty75．What is the author's main purpose of writing the passage?A．To explain what English weather－speak is about.B．To analyse misconceptions about the English weather.C．To find fault with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman.D．To convince people that the English weather is changeable.【要点综述】本文通过对Bill Bryson和Jeremy Paxman两人迥然不同的观点的陈述来阐明作者对英国人以天气为寒暄内容的见解。