高中英语阅读理解

Harry potter and The Hunger Games haven’t been big hits for nothing. Lots of teens still read quite a lot. But a study shows a clear decrease over time. Nearly half of 17-year-olds say they read for pleasure no more than one or two times a year. That’s way down from ten years ago.
The digital revolution (革命) means there are more platforms (平台) than ever to read on. Jim Steyer has been studying the effect of technology on children. He has four kids and has seen the trend most with his 16-year-old. “I start to see it in our 10-year-old as well, because he is reading less and less, and more and more attracted to some of the digital media platforms that he has access to, and that he didn’t have access to when he was 6 or 7 years old,” he says.
The studies don’t say that kids are reading less because they’re spending more time online. But Steyer is convinced that’s at least part of the answer.
“First of all, most children now have access to e-readers, or other smart electronic devices like phones and tablets (平板电脑),” he says. “ And they’re spending time on that. Many reports show the increasing use of new technology platforms by kids. It just strikes me as extremely logical that that’s a big reason.
Researchers want to know more about how teens are spending their time in the digital age. But Kathryn Zickuhr of the Pew Research Center says it’s tricky. If a kid is looking at a book, you may think he or she is reading. But when it comes to looking at a smartphone or tablet, who knows?
“We’ve heard from middle and high school teachers that sometimes the Internet is wonderful for enthusiastic students to do deep research,” says Zickuhr. “But on the other side, obviously there are many distractions on the Internet.”
However, Jim Steyer says, “Kids with parents who read, who buy or take books out of the library for their kids, and who then set time aside in their kids’ daily schedule for reading, tend to read the most — whether it’s on a book, an e-book or some other devices.”
What did Jim Steyer see in his four kids?

A．They tend to read more on electronic devices.

B．They created their own digital media platform.

C．They improved their reading on electronic devices.

D．They have become more addicted to digital media.

What statement may Kathryn Zickuhr agree to?

A．Kids are easily distracted on the Internet.

B．Most kids pretend to be doing online reading.

C．Most kids like to read on a smartphone or tablet.

D．Kids rarely use the Internet to do serious research.

The last paragraph suggests that ________.

A．parents need to spare time to read for kids

B．parents should make a reading plan for kids

C．parents can do a lot to encourage more reading

D．parents working in a library tend to read the most

What is the main idea of the text?

A．What books do teens like to read the most?

B．Why aren’t teens reading like they used to?

C．How can teens read on electronic platforms?

D．When will teens turn to books for fun again?

The Celerifere, an early version of the bicycle, was built around 1791 by a French man, Comte Mede de Sivrac. It was basically a scooter with a high seat. There were no pedals---you had to push with your feet like you do with a skateboard or a scooter.
Around 1816 Baron Karl Drais de Sauerbrun in Germany added a moveable steering（操纵）handle. These early machines were often known as dandy horses or hobby horses, but weren’t very popular.
The improvement that made them popular was added by a Scottish blacksmith around 1839. Kirkpatrick Macmillan added pedals to enable it to get up hills. It was this improvement that made the bicycle a serious form of transportation.
Bike were called velocipedes（脚踏两轮车）or bone-shakers, because of the lack of the proper tires made for a rough ride! It wasn’t until around 1869 that they began to be called bicycles (“two-wheels”). Carriage makers in Paris (either Pierre and Ernest Michaux, or their employee Pierre Lallement) switched the pedal to the front wheel. That’s why it is usually either Lallement or the Michauxs, not Macmillan, who are considered as the inventor of the bicycle.
In 1869 the penny-farthing or high-wheeler was invented. With the large wheel the rider could go much farther with each push of the pedal, but caused many accidents because the seat was so far off the ground.
In the mid-1880s Englishman James Starley manufactured what he called the “safety bicycle” , which had two similarly-sized wheels and a major improvement--- a chain（链条）and sprocket（链轮齿） driven rear wheel, with the pedals between the two wheels like modern bicycles.
One more historical note---it’s possible that the idea of the bicycle was thought of almost 400 years before it was actually invented. There is a drawing of a bicycle-like machine in one of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, which dates back to about 1493.
Who is recognized as the inventor of the bicycle?

A．The Michauxs.

B．Macmillan.

C．Comte Mede de Sivac.

D．Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun.

Why was the bicycle not popular in the early 1800’s?

A．It was too expensive.

B．The seat was too high.

C．There were no pedals.

D．It had no tires.

Which of the following statements can NOT be inferred from the passage?

A．The “safety bicycle” was much like the modern bicycle.

B．Leonardo da Vinci once drew a machine similar to the bicycle.

C．The penny-farthing did not last long because it was a bit too dangerous.

D．Comte Mede De Sivrac’s invention had both a steering handle and pedals.

What’s the best title of the passage?

A．The Inventor of the Bicycle

B．Modern Bicycles

C．The History of the Bicycle

D．Leonardo da Vinci and the Bicycle

When I was three, my parents took me to have an operation in India, which stopped my eyesight from deteriorating（恶化）. Several years later we moved to Pakistan, where I received 12 operations within one year and went completely blind. Later, I realized that the doctors used me as an experiment.
I met my husband when he came over from India to study. I wanted to go to India to marry him, but it was almost impossible to emigrate. I made a crazy plan to cross the borders of several countries to get to India. I was arrested in the first country I escaped to. Back in Pakistan, I lost my job and was asked to sign a “never-to-escape” promise. Instead, when I got home, I made a cup of coffee and decided to make a formal application for emigration. The chance was slim, and people who applied to go to India found it hard to find a job in Pakistan while they were waiting. In the end, my husband managed to smooth the way for my emigration. We got married and had children. But after nine years, he died of brain cancer. I was helpless for a while, and then I learned to face reality optimistically. He taught us happiness came from inside us.
Six years ago, I brought home a dog called Moritz from the seeing-eye dog centre. He was short with long ears. No one liked him because of his pathetic（可怜的）appearance. We were almost always together. Moritz could not leave me for even one minute. Now when I walk down the street, not like before, people will come up and say, “What a good seeing-eye dog!”, and have a little chat with me as a normal creature.
I’m now working for the Association of the Blind and I have many good friends, and a special friend in Hamburg. It is a wonderful feeling to speak freely with someone I can’t see, to trust one another.
The author went blind just because _______.

A．she was born completely blind

B．she received an operation in India

C．her parents didn’t pay attention to her illness

D．she was unluckily put to the test

What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．It was full of hope to unite with her husband.

B．Emigrating to India was never easy at that time.

C．She was very thin and weak at that hard time.

D．There was little chance to find a job in India.

When the author walked down the street before, people may _________.

A．look down upon her and view her as a poor being

B．chat with her with great warmth

C．criticize how ugly her dog looked

D．respect her for her independence

From the text, we learn the author is ________.

A．a burden not only for her family but also for the society

B．a kind-hearted lady protecting wretched pets

C．not an obedient citizen

D．a determined and optimistic person

A Groundbreaking Event
It was an unforgettable field trip. Twenty-six fifth-graders from George Bancroft Elementary School, in Washington, D.C., went to the White House on Friday. They used shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows to help First Lady Michelle Obama break ground on a new vegetable garden.
This White House garden is the first since World War Ⅱ. In the 1940s, First lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a White House “Victory Garden” to encourage Americans to grow gardens at home. Mrs. Obama’s new garden is an L-shaped patch near the fountain on the South Lawn. Vegetables to be planted include lettuce, peas, collard greens, onions and spinach. A herb garden will grow garlic, sage and cilantro. These herbs are used in Mexican food, an Obama family favourite. White House chefs will prepare meals for the First Family with food from the garden and some of the produce will be donated to Miriam’s Kitchen, a soup kitchen near the White House.
Health food is important to Mrs. Obama. She said that the purpose of the garden is to make sure that her family, the White House staff, and guests eat fresh vegetables. Mrs. Obama has also said that she hopes the new White House garden will help educate Americans about the importance of fresh, nutritious food at a time when obesity is a national crisis. A diet high in natural, unprocessed foods helps people maintain a healthy weight.
Mrs. Obama said she has found that her daughters, Malia, 16, and Sasha, 13, like vegetables more if they have been involved in growing them. “If they have been involved in planting and picking the vegetables, they are much more curious about giving them a try,” she said. When Bancroft students go back to the White House this summer they will get to taste the vegetables they helped to grow. After they help to harvest the crops, they will cook them in the White House kitchen and then eat them.
What did the Bancroft students do outside the White House?

A．They gave shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows to the First Lady.

B．They did research on what life is like for the First Lady.

C．They helped First Lady Michelle Obama to plant a garden.

D．They gave fruit and vegetables to the First Lady.

The reason why First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a “Victory Garden” was that _________.

A．she did it just for fun.

B．she wanted other citizens to follow her example.

C．she wanted to please her husband.

D．she wanted to get some gardening experience.

Why did Mrs. Obama plan to plant the garden?

A．Because she wanted her children to become gardeners.

B．Because she wanted to know what gardening is like.

C．Because she wanted to become a second Eleanor Roosevelt.

D．Because she wanted people in the white house to eat a healthy food.

Liverpool city council want to clear the city of fat pigeons. They say that people are feeding the birds, which makes them fat. The pigeons get bigger because their normal diet would consist of seeds and insects, not high-fat junk food they are eating in the city centre.
The council want people to know that everyone who feeds the pigeons is responsible for the streets being so crowded with these birds. They hope to encourage the birds to move away from the city centre and into parks and open spaces.
Ten robotic birds have been brought into the city centre to scare the pigeons away and visitors are asked not to give the pigeons any food. The mechanical birds - known as “robops” - will sit on the roofs of buildings. They can be moved around to different locations. They look like a peregrine falcon, which is a bird that kills pigeons. They even make noises and flap their wings to scare the pigeons. They hope that the pigeons will go away before the city becomes the European Capital of Culture in two years.
Pigeons in Liverpool get fat because they eat ________ .

A．birds	B．seeds
C．insects	D．high-fat junk food

What do Liverpool city council try to do?

A．They want the pigeons to move out of the city centre.

B．They want people to feed the pigeons with healthy food.

C．They want people to keep the pigeons at home.

D．They want to keep robotic birds instead of pigeons.

The robotic birds are used to _________.

A．make the city colorful

B．drive away the pigeons

C．help feed the pigeons

D．show people directions

This passage is most probably a(n) __________.

A．notice	B．news report
C．short story	D．advertisement

Today is Sarah’s birthday. She is seventy-five. We asked a few old friends to dinner.
Like most elderly people, I suppose, we spent most of the evening talking about old times. Thirty years ago, the village used to be a quiet place. Now it has changed. Every Sunday hundreds of cars pass through the village at what I think a dangerous speed. They make the village almost as noisy as the streets of a large town. As a boy I enjoyed riding on the backs of the farm horses. Things are different now. Today there are very few horses working on the farms. The farm workers today drive tractors, not horses. A man is not of much use on a farm unless he knows all about machines. Now almost every house in the village has a TV set. Is it a good thing for children to spend the evening sitting in front of a TV set? When I was young I did not waste my time indoors. I would spend the long summer evenings outdoors. I would play with my friends, go fishing or walk by the river. When my grandchildren asked me the reason why I haven’t bought a TV set, I tell them there are many books I still want to read. I can’t find time for both reading and watching TV.
The old like to talk about _______.

A．themselves

B．others

C．the past

D．nothing

When I was a boy, I _______ riding on farm horses.

A．used to see people

B．disliked

C．was fond of

D．saw some elderly people

Which is NOT right according to the passage?

A．In the past the village was a quiet place.

B．It is a good time for children to watch TV all evening.

C．On Sundays many cars pass through the village at a dangerous speed.

D．When I was young I didn’t waste my time indoors.

I would rather _______ than _______.

A．watch TV; do some reading

B．play with friends; go fishing

C．do some reading; watch TV

D．go fishing; play with friends

Computer programmer David Jones earns ￡35,000 a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank ready to let him have a credit card (信用卡). Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18. The 16-year-old works for a small firm in Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David’s firm releases (推出) two new games for the fast throwing computer market each month.

But David’s biggest headache is what to do with his money. Even though he earns a lot, he cannot drive a car, take out a mortgage (抵押贷款), or get credit cards. David got his job with the Liverpool-based company four months ago, a year after leaving school with six O-levels and working for a time in a computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs,” he said. David spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother 50 pounds a week. But most of his spare time is spent working.
“Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school,” he said. “But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway.” David added:“I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never know when the market might die away.”
In what way is David different from people of his age?

A．He often goes out with friends.

B．He lives with his mother.

C．He has a handsome income.

D．He graduated with six O-levels.

What is one of the problems that David is facing now?

A．He is too young to get a credit card.

B．He has no time to learn driving.

C．He has very little spare time.

D．He will soon lose his job.

Why was David able to get the job in the company?

A．He had done well in all his exams.

B．He had written some computer programs.

C．He was good at playing computer games.

D．He had learnt to use computers at school.

Why did David decide to leave school and start working?

A．He received lots of job offers.

B．He was eager to help his mother.

C．He lost interest in school studies.

D．He wanted to earn his own living.

Do women’s minds work the same as men’s? Absolutely not. At least, that is what most men are convinced of. Psychologists view the subject either as a matter or frustration or a joke. Now the biologists have moved into this minefield, and some of them have found that there are real differences between the brains of men and women. But being different, they point out hurriedly, is not the same as being better or worse.
There is, however, a definite structural variation between the male and female brain. The difference is in a part of the brain that is used in the most complex intellectual processes-the link between the two halves of the brain.
The two halves are linked by a trunkline of between 200 and 300 million nerves, the corpus callosum. Scientists have found quite recently that the corpus callosum in women is always larger and probably richer in nerve fibres than it is in men. This is the first time that a structural difference has been found between the brains of women and men and it must have some significance. The question is "What?", and, if this difference exists, are there others? Research shows that present-day women think differently and behave differently from men. Are some of these differences biological and inborn, a result of evolution? We tend to think that is the influence of society that produces these differences. But could we be wrong?
Research showed that these two halves of the brain had different functions, and that the corpus callosum enabled them to work together. For most people, the left half is used for word handing, analytical and logical activities; the right half works on pictures, patterns and forms. We need both halves working together. And the better the connections, the more harmoniously the two halves work. And, according to research findings, women have the better connections.
But it isn't all that easy to explain the actual differences between skills of men and women on this basis. In schools throughout the world girls tend to be better than boys at "language subjects" and boys better at maths and physics. If these differences correspond with the differences in the hemispheric trunkline, here is an unalterable distinction between the sexes.
We shan't know for a while, partly because we don't know of any precise relationship between abilities in school subject and the functioning of the two halves of the brain, and we cannot understand how the two halves interact via the corpus callosum. But this striking difference must have some effect and, because the difference is in the parts of the brain involved in intellect, we should be looking for differences in intellectual processing.
Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

A．Results of scientific research fail to support popular belief.

B．Brain differences point to superiority of one sex over the other.

C．Biologists are conducting research where psychologists have given up

D．The structural difference in the brain between the sexes has long been known.

The corpus callosum functions in __________.

A．forming the nerve fibers.

B．differing man from woman.

C．enabling the brain to work.

D．processing the most complex intellectuality.

According to the passage it is commonly believed that brain differences are caused by ______factors.

A．social

B．psychological

C．physical

D．biological

"these differences" in paragraph 5 refer to those in ________.

A．school subjects

B．skills of men and women

C．the brain structure of men and women

D．activities carried out by the brain

At the end of the passage the author proposes more work on ________.

A．the brain structure as a whole

B．the functioning of part of the brain

C．the distinction between the sexes

D．the effects of the corpus callosum

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
One of the most important things in the world is friendship. In order to have friends, you have to be a friend. But how can you be a good friend at school?
Listen — Listen when they are talking. Don’t say anything unless they ask you a question. Sometimes it’s not necessary for you to have anything to say; they just need someone to talk to about their feelings.
Help them — If your friend is ever in need of something, be there to help them. You should try to put them first, but make sure you don’t do everything they want you to do. Try to take an extra (额外的) pencil or pen with you to classes in case (以防) they forget one. Have a little extra money in your pocket in case they forget something they need.
Be there for them — Try to make something for your friend to help make them feel better in hard times. Making cards and encouraging them are among the nicest things you can do for a friend. Marilyn Monroe, a famous U.S. actor, once said, “I often make mistakes. Sometimes I am out of control. But if you can’t stay with me at my worst, you are sure not to deserve (值得) to be with me at my best.” Always remember this! If you don’t want to stay with your friends when they’re in hard times, then you don’t deserve to be with them when they’re having a good time!
______ — Try to make plans with your friends. Go shopping, go for ice cream, have a party, go to a movie and so on. Take time to know each other even better by doing something you both enjoy. By planning things together, you both can have a good time. And you’ll remember these things when you’re all old!
While your friend is talking to you about his or her feelings, you should _____.

A．give him or her some advice

B．just listen unless asked

C．calm him or her down

D．share your feelings as well

When we provide help for our friends, we should _____.

A．try to do everything for them

B．put them before ourselves

C．change their bad habits first

D．pay attention to their shortcomings

What can we learn from Marilyn Monroe’s words?

A．Life without a friend is death.

B．A friend is easier lost than found.

C．A friend in need is a friend indeed.

D．A man is known by his friends.

Which of the following can be put in the blank of the last paragraph?

A．Make plans.	B．Enjoy yourself.
C．Understand your friends.	D．Play with your friends.

What is the passage mainly about?

A．How to find a good friend.

B．How to help friends in trouble.

C．How to be a good friend.

D．How to make more friends.

Anyone who has worn a cast (石膏) knows that rebuilding muscle strength once the cast is removed can be difficult. Now researchers at the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI) at Ohio University have found that the mind is critical in maintaining muscle strength following a long period of not moving and that mental imagination may be key in reducing the associated muscle loss.
Strength is controlled by a number of factors---the most studied by far is skeletal muscle. However, the nervous system is also an important, though not fully understood, determining factor of strength and weakness.
Brian C. Clark and colleagues set out to test how the system functions in strength development. They designed an experiment to measure changes in wrist (腕) muscle strength in three groups of healthy adults. Twenty-nine subjects wore a hard cast that extended from just below the elbow (肘) past the fingers, effectively preventing the hand and wrist from moving, for four weeks. Fifteen subjects who did not wear casts served as the control group.
Of the 29 people wearing a hard cast, half were asked to regularly perform an exercise, imagining they were strongly contracting their wrist for five seconds and then resting for five seconds. This was repeated four times in a row followed by a one-minute break for a total of 13 rounds per session and five sessions per week. The other half performed no imagination exercises.
At the end of the four-week experiment, both groups who wore casts had lost strength in their unmoving limbs (肢体) when compared to the control group. But the group that performed imagination exercises lost 50% less strength than the non-imagination group. The nervous system’s ability to fully make the muscle recover also returned more quickly in the imagination group compared to the non-imagination group.
What does the underlined word “critical” mean in the first paragraph?

A．Serious.	B．Embarrassing.
C．Important.	D．Normal.

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Scientists have partly understood the nervous system.

B．Whoever has worn a cast for long may have difficulty in muscle recovery.

C．Scientists have already spent a lot of time in studying skeletal muscle.

D．The number of the subjects in the experiment was 29 in all.

What can we learn from the experiment?

A．The control group lost 50% less strength than the non-imagination group.

B．The imagination group lost more strength than the non-imagination group.

C．The control group wore casts but didn’t perform the imagination exercise.

D．The speed of non-imagination group’s muscle recovery was slower.

Where can you most probably find the passage?

A．In a science magazine.	B．In a storybook.
C．In a textbook .	D．In a book review.

Beaches are not only great for lying on and doing water sports, and in fact one of the best ways of enjoying them is a classic beach walk. Here at iWantSun. Co. Uk, we’ve been searching the globe to find you the world’s best and most glorious beach walks, and here’s our pick of the top.
The Footpath of the Gods, Amalfi Coast, Italy
The name says it all really and you truly do feel up there to walking along this wonderful mountain coastal path, which offers some of the most striking views on the planet. The path begins at town of Bomerano to charming Positano along the UNESCO World Heritage area of the Amalfi Coast. The whole walk will take you approximately four and a half hours to complete and pass over narrow rocky paths, past sheer cliffs and shining blue bays.
Sydney’s Great Coastal Walk, Australia
Sydney’s coastline is one of the most beautiful and diverse in the world. Here you have national parks, historic sites, steep cliffs, sparkling beaches and quiet bays all in one place. Sydney’s Great Walk runs all the way from Barrenjoey in the north to Royal National Park in the south and takes an incredible seven days to complete. However, if you’re not up to doing the full walk, then there are many different parts of the walk that you can do right in the city. Walking from the city’s famous Bondi Beach to the sweeping curve of Bronte Beach takes just an hour, which takes in some top scenery.
Great Ocean Walk, Australia
The Great Ocean Walk stretches 104 km along Victoria’s famous Great Ocean Road, located on the southern coast of Australia, from the resort town Apollo Bay to the magnificent Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles are the area’s famous stone landmarks which stand out like giants from the sea. The walk passes through a range of landscapes and sights, from national parks, famous surfing spots and deserted beaches, to wild coastlines, cascading waterfalls, lush forests, historic lighthouses and ghostly shipwrecks. Day walks and shorter three-hour walks such as the Wreck Beach Walk or the Lighthouse Cemetery and Lookout Walk can also be enjoyed.
So next time when you’re looking for a beach holiday don’t just think about the resorts and the sand, but consider a more active sun holiday, discovering some of the best beaches in the world.
The author intends to tell us ____________.

A．the world’s best places for beach walks

B．the wonderful beaches in the world

C．the ideal tourism resort for health

D．the beautiful beaches in Australia

When you arrive at the Amalfi Coast _______________.

A．you must be disappointed at the footpath

B．you will be fascinated by the scenery

C．you can start walking from Positano

D．you may be trapped in narrow rocky paths

What is special about Sydney’s Great Coastal Walk?

A．It takes about more than five hours to complete.

B．It starts from Royal National Park in the north.

C．It provides visitors a variety of great landscapes.

D．It really has the longest coastline in the world.

According to the fourth paragraph we can know that __________________.

A．Apollo Bay is at the end of the Great Ocean Walk

B．the Twelve Apostles exists below the surface of the sea

C．the Wreck Beach Walk can also give visitors pleasure

D．most visitors can finish the 104 km walk in three hours

Christian Eijkman, a Dutch doctor, left the Netherlands for the island of Java. Many people on the island had a disease called beri-beri. He was going there to try and find a cure.
At first, Eijkman thought some kind of germ (细菌) caused beri-beri. He raised some chickens. He didn’t eat them, but made experiments on them. The local people were quite surprised at that. One day he noticed that his chickens became sick when they were fed the food most Javanese ate — refined white rice (精炼米). When he fed them with unrefined rice, also known as brown rice, they recovered. Eijkman realized that he had made an important discovery — that some things in food could prevent disease. These things were named vitamins. The Javanese were not getting enough vitamins because they had actually removed the part that contains vitamins. Later, other diseases were also found to be caused by the lack of vitamins in a person’s food.
Today many people know the importance of vitamins and they make sure they have enough vitamins from the food they eat. If they don’t, they can also take vitamin pills.
Christian Eijkman went to the island of Java to ______.

A．help the Javanese with their illness

B．find ways to grow better crops

C．do some research about the island

D．spend his holiday

Why did Christian Eijkman raise some chickens?

A．To eat them.

B．To make money by selling them.

C．To give the Javanese a surprise.

D．To carry out his experiments.

If a person doesn’t get enough vitamins in his diet, he’d better ______.

A．eat more rice	B．eat vitamin pills
C．eat some chicken	D．eat more meat

In the Internet age, speed reading is a necessary and important skill. We skim over articles and e-mails to try to get key words and the main idea of the text. With so much information through our electronic devices (电子设备), it would be impossible to get through everything if we read word by word, line by line. However, a new trend calls on people to enjoy reading slowly.
A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a café and turn off their smartphones. They sit back in comfortable chairs and read in silence for an hour.
Unlike typical book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn’t to exchange ideas about certain books, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment. According to the story, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the traditional way of reading.
Traditional readers, like Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to understand others. Some of these benefits have been backed up by science. For example, a study of 300 elderly people published by the journal Neurology last year showed that adults who take part in activities that use their brain, such as reading, suffer less memory loss as they get older. Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand others’ mental states and beliefs — a key skill in building relationships.
Yet technology has made us less careful readers. Computer and phone screens have changed our reading patterns from the top-to-bottom, left-to-right reading order we traditionally used, to a wild skimming pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text online that has many links to other web pages also leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says British journalist Patrick Kingsley, only half joking. Because of the Internet, he says we have become very good at collecting a wide range of factual tidbits (花边新闻), but we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, think and connect all these facts with each other.
Speed reading is a necessary and important skill in the Internet age because people ______.

A．no longer read word by word, line by line

B．have to get the meaning faster

C．have much more information to read

D．must use their smartphones more frequently

Members of the Wellington book club are expected to ______.

A．make coffee for the other members

B．read peacefully for an hour

C．regularly exchange ideas about books

D．turn off their smartphones for sleeping

According to the Neurology study, who is most likely to suffer memory loss?

A．A 79-year-old woman who reads regularly.

B．A 17-year-old middle school student who seldom reads.

C．A healthy 24-year-old university graduate who often plays games.

D．A 65-year-old man who rarely reads.

The last paragraph is written to ______.

A．explain the secrets of others’ minds

B．describe the problems caused by electronic reading

C．call on people to read more about science

D．encourage people to read as slowly as possible

Great white sharks! Just hearing that name makes many people’s hair stand on end. In reality, these big fish have more to fear from us than we do from them. For many years, people killed countless great white sharks in the waters around the United States.
But thanks to conservation (保护) efforts, great whites are making a comeback in the U.S. Two recent studies show that the population of these sharks is rising along the east and west coast.
Why is the growing population of a killer fish something to celebrate? “When you fish too many of them, you start to lose balance in the environment,” says shark researcher Tobey Curtis. As the biggest killer, sharks help keep the populations of fish, seals, and other creatures they eat from growing too large.
In spite of their importance, great white sharks had long been hunted for their meat and their fins (鳍). Then, in 1997, the U.S. government passed a law that didn’t allow the hunting of great whites. Afterwards, the numbers of these sharks in the U.S. waters started to increase.
The law wasn’t the only thing that has helped great whites. Conservationists have also played a part in the sharks’ comeback. The research group OCEARCH is using a method called tagging (加标签) to help change people’s attitudes about great white. They let the public follow each shark as it travels the world’s oceans. OCEARCH also gives each tagged shark a name to help people form a closer connection with the big fish.
The group’s most well-known shark is named Katharine. She was tagged last year near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Since then, thousands of people have tracked Katharine’s movements on Twitter and the OCEARCH website.
This helps people see sharks in a new way. Chris Fischer, the founder of OCEARCH believes learning to appreciate great whites will encourage people to do more to protect them.
The underlined part “makes many people’s hair stand on end” in Paragraph 1 can best be replaced  by______.

A．worries many people	B．bores many people
C．frightens many people	D．interests many people

The law passed in 1997 ______.

A．seemed very helpful

B．let scientists down

C．needed to be changed

D．made people like great whites

Katharine’s example is used to show that ______.

A．great whites are in fact lovely animals

B．the OCEARCH website has a lot of visitors

C．the number of great whites is growing quickly

D．OCEARCH help people get closer to great whites

The main purpose of the passage is to ______.

A．introduce an experiment result

B．make an advertisement for OCEARCH

C．remind us that big killers are dying out

D．inform us that great whites are making a comeback

My wife and I have always been friendly with the clerks at the local store. I don’t think many people appreciate what a difficult job these clerks have. They work for a little money and I often wonder how they make ends meet.
One of the clerks, Charlie, was always wearing his glasses but he didn’t one day. I asked him about it and he said they’d been out of order and that he couldn’t afford a new pair. His family needed money. It was clear that he was having a difficult time.
We wanted to help him, so we turned to our own eye doctor for help with a plan. We had his secretary contact him, asking him to come in for an eye exam for free. We told the doctor to let him order whatever glasses he wanted and that we would pay for them. Although Charlie questioned what was going on, the doctor just told him that someone had offered the money for his new glasses. When we went in to pay the bill, the doctor told us he was touched by our idea so that he waived the exam fee and only charged us for half the price of the glasses!
It was so wonderful to see Charlie in his new glasses and he enjoyed telling all the regular customers how the gift came about. I’m sure that upon hearing his story, ideas of kindness may have come in the minds of many people.
Why didn’t the clerk Charlie wear glasses one day?

A．It was very warm and fine.

B．His glasses were missing.

C．His old glasses were broken.

D．He forgot to wear his glasses.

From the passage, we can infer that ______.

A．Charlie was a young man with skills

B．Charlie knew who paid the money for the new glasses

C．Charlie completely accepted the money for the new glasses

D．Charlie couldn’t support his family with enough money

The underlined word “waived” in the third paragraph can be replaced by ______.

A．took up	B．gave up
C．cut down	D．put off

Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?

A．Customers’ Gift to an Employee

B．A Friendly Clerk — Charlie

C．The Wonderful Feeling of Helping others

D．An Expensive Pair of Glasses