广州二模英语试卷

2017年广州市普通高中毕业班综合测试（二）英语（）第二部分阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

AMany people would love to leave their jobs behind and have a life-changing adventure overseas. They imagine lying under palm trees as the sun goes down. However, life overseas is not always easy, and many are not prepared for the shock of living in an alien culture.The honeymoon periodAt first, for those who actually decide to move abroad, life is an exciting adventure. They enjoy exploring their new surroundings, and life seems like an extended holiday. They don’t mind trying the local cuisine and discovering the local culture. They can even afford to practice their foreign-language skills without fear of making mistakes.Trouble in paradiseIn many cases, when people consider moving to another country, they often fail to realize how different life will be. As time goes by, they become frustrated when language and cultural misunderstandings become a daily headache. In this stage, the visitors begin to withdraw from life in the host country and avoid spending time with local people in favor of mixing with others from their own cultural background.The road to recoveryGradually, most visitors realize they must accept the differences and not fight against them. This change encourages them to improve their language skills and slowly they manage to do the things they could easily do at home, such as opening a bank account. This new-found confidence enables them to see a side of life which very few tourists get to witness.Adjusting to life abroad can often be a real problem. The secret to overcoming it is to stop trying to change your host country: you will not succeed. If not, you risk losing your dream and having to return to the old life you wanted to leave behind.21. Why do people moving abroad feel excited at first?A. They find foreign living much easier.B. They have the necessary language skills.C. They love the adventure and exploration.D. They enjoy meeting people from different cultures.22. According to the author, what is the main problem many people moving abroad face?A. Homesickness.B. Culture shock.C. Health problems.D. Lack of employment.23. What would the author suggest people moving abroad do?A. Study the local language.B. Go on holidays frequently.C. Learn how to open a bank account.D. Seek out people from their home country.BAustralia loves interesting money. In 1988, it was the first country to replace paper money with special plastic banknotes. Now it’s introduced a new five-dollar bill so technologically advanced that many experts are calling it the money of the future!At first glance, the new note looks much like the old one. It has the same pink colour and main pictures on the front and back. But look closer, and you will notice a clear window running down the middle, surrounded by images of the yellow Prickly Moses, a type of Australian plant.Tilt(使倾斜) the note a little and you will see the Eastern Spinebill, an Australian bird, beating its wings as if trying to fly away. Turn the bill from side to side, and you will notice the picture of a small building at the bottom of the note spins, and the image of “5” changes position. While these moveable features are impressive and entertaining, that was not the reason Australian government officials spent ten years developing them. Their primary purpose was to make it impossible forcriminals to produce their own fake notes.The new five-dollar note also has something to help blind people easily identify the money. It has s raised bump alongside the top and bottom, enabling blind people to quickly determine its value.The credit for persuading the Australian government to add this all-important bump goes to 15-year-old Connor McLeod. The blind Sydney teenager came up with the idea in 2014 after being unable to tell how much money he had received for Christmas. Connor says he was so embarrassed at not being able to see the difference between notes that he only carried coins to pay for food at not being able to see the difference between notes that he only carried coins to pay for food at the school cafeteria. To convince the government officials of his idea, Connor started a website that got huge public attention.The government will add this feature to the new $10 bill which comes out in late 2017, as well as the updated $20, $50, and $100 bills that are still being designed.24. Which picture does NOT move when the banknote is tilted ?A. The bird.B. The number.C. The plants.D. The building.25. What was the main reason the Australian government created the new banknote?A. To make the note more difficult to copy.B. To show the country’s advanced technology.C. To help blind people more easily use money.D. To make the not’s appearance more attractive.26. What can we guess about Australian coins?A. They are different in size or shape.B. They are required in school cafeterias.C. They are more frequently used than notes.D. They are more convenient for young people.27. What did Connor do to persuade the government?A. He wrote a letter to the leaders.B. He organized an online meeting.C. He sought support on the Internet.D. He requested a special Christmas gift.CAt this year’s Technology Forum, speakers include world-famous people, such as Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, and lesser-known individuals with great ideas to change the world. One of the latter is Jonny Cohen, a high school senior, green businessman and creator of GreenShields.Since Cohen was a child, he has been innovating and inventing. When he was 12 and took science classes at Northwestern University, he saw a school bus and had an idea: what if the shape of school bus was improved to make it more fuel efficient? This would greatly reduce the amount of pollution it produced. He set about making a wind tunnel in his parents’ garage and placed small metal plates or shields on toy school buses to test them. The result: his shields redirected the airflow over and around the bus, decreased wing drag, and produced better fuel economy and less pollution.Cohen went through various experiments to improve his GreenShields invention. With the help of MIT and Cook-Illinois Bus Company, which donated a full-sized bus for Cohen’s experiments, he now has a shield model that is inexpensive and easy to attach, enabling widespread adoption.How much of an impact can these shields have on climate change? Fuel consumption for the average US school bus is seven miles per gallon. GreenShields increases fuel efficiency by 10-20%, saving about $600 per bus per year, and costs only $30 to attach. Cohen and his partners are now trying to persuade the government to put GreenShields on all school buses.With almost half-a-million school buses in America using nearly $ billion of fuel per year, a consumption reduction of 10-20% would make a big difference in pollution. Not to mention the roughly $285 million in annual savings on fuel.28. What can we learn about Jonny Cohen from the text?A. He has produced GreenShields independently.B. He has been employed to improve school buses.C. He is a world-famous businessman and inventor.D. He has a talent for finding and solving problems.does GreenShields make a bus more fuel efficient?A. By reducing the amount of wind drag.B. By improving the quality of fuel used.C. By providing a wind tunnel for the bus.D. By changing the shape of the bus engine.30. Where did Cohen begin testing his shields?A. At Northwestern University.B. In his parents’ garage.C. At a local bus company.D. In an MIT lab.31. What’s the intended benefit of Cohen’s invention?A. To provide school buses with cheaper fuel.B. To reduce the cost of producing school buses.C. To increase the profits of the school bus industry.D. To make school buses more environmentally-friendly.DWe all know the feeling: looking at the computer screen, pretending to be interested in our homework, even though we really feel bored. But such feelings may soon be at an end, says Dr. Harry Witchel, head of the Essex Medical School. He believes that computers of the future will notice when people feel bored and even take action to stop it.Before you get concerned, the machine won’t be reading your mind. It will be observing the many movements you make while using a computer. It’s not interested in the big movements needed to use the machine 一like moving a mouse or touching a screen — but small, barely noticeable movements like closing your eyes，moving in your seat or rubbing your face. Witchel calls these “boredom movements" and says they show how interested the person is in what they are reading or watching. The higher the interest level, the less movement!To test his theory, Witchel invited 27 people to perform various computer-based tasks. The activities ranged from playing online games (an interesting task) to reading documents like government laws that most people would find boring.A special video camera followed the participants’ movements as they completed each task. Just as the researcher expected, the “boredom movements" greatly decreased, by as much as 42%，when the subjects were very interested in what they were reading or seeing.Fortunately, Dr Witchel isn’t planning to use his results to create machines that report students who are not paying attention at school. Instead, he wants “movement sensing” technology to be built into future computers in order to improve students' computer-based learning experience.The scientist says that by measuring the students' interest level as they work, educators will be able to adjust their materials in real-time to keep students focused. Witchel also believes that the technology can provide filmmakers with honest audience opinions and in the future, help to develop more intelligent robots.32. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 1 refer to?A. Homework.B. A computer.C. Boredom.D. The future.33. Why did Dr Witchel carry out his research?A. To discover how bored people move.B. To find out what makes people bored.C. To see if interested people are more active.D. To test the link between boredom and movement.34. Which movement would Witchel's technology most likely pay attention to?A. Turning off the machine.B. Typing words on a keyboard.C. Surfing quickly between webpages.D. Moving one’s head from side to side.35. How will the new technology help education, according to Witchel?A. By reducing teachers' workload.B. By maintaining students' learning interest.C. By reporting students' misbehavior in class.D. By making learning more like a computer game.第二节（共5小题，每小题2分，满分10分）根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。