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2019-2020年高考英语阅读冲刺 阅读理解1(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40 分) 阅读下面的短文,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。Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem: It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.Though he was tired, Howe slept badly. He turned and turned. Then he had a dream. He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle. The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They came up towards him with their spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was a hole in the tip of each spear. The inventor awoke from the dream, realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem. Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle. This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practised sewing machine.Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way.Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams. So did the great physicist Albert Einstein. Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.To know the value of dreams, you have to understand what happens when you are asleep. Even then, a part of your mind is still working. This unconscious(无意识的), but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day. It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed. It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake. However, the unconscious part acts in a special way. It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves”.1.According to the passage, Elias Howe was_.A. the first person we know of who solved problems in his sleepB. much more hard-working than other inventorsC. the first person to design a sewing machine that really workedD. the only person at the time who knew the value of dreams2.The problem Howe was trying to solve was_.A. what kind of thread to useB. how to design a needle which would not breakC. where to put the needleD. how to prevent the thread from getting caught around the needle3.Thomas Edison is spoken of because_.A. he also tried to invent a sewing machineB. he got some of his ideas from dreamsC. he was one of Howes best friendsD. he also had difficulty in falling asleep4.Dreams are sometimes called“secret messages to ourselves” because _.A. strange images are used to municate ideasB. images which have no meaning are usedC. we can never understand the real meaningD. only specially trained people can understand themBLanguage learning begins with listening. Children are greatly different in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and later starters are often long listeners .Most children will“obey”spoken instructions some time before they can speak, though the word “obey” is hardly accurate as a description of the eager and delighted cooperation usually shown by the child .Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gesture and by making questioning noises.Any attempt to study the development from the noises babies make to their first spoken words leads to considerable difficulties. It is agreed that they enjoy making noises, and that during the first few months one or two noises sort themselves as particularly expressive as delight, pain, friendliness, and so on. But since these cant be said to show the babys intention to municate ,they can hardly be regarded as early forms of language. It is agreed, too, that from about three months they play with sounds for enjoyment, and that by six months they are able to add new words to their store. This self-imitation(模仿)leads on to deliberate(有意的)imitation of sounds made or words spoken to them by other people. The problem then arises as to the point at which one can say that these imitations can be considered as speech.It is a problem we need to get out teeth into. The meaning of a word depends on what a particular person means by it in a particular situation and it is clear that what a child means by a word will change as he gains more experience of the world .Thus the use at seven months of “mama” as a greeting for his mother cannot be dismissed as a meaningless sound simply because he also uses it at other times for his father, his dog, or anything else he likes. Playful and meaningless imitation of what other people say continues after the child has begun to speak for himself, I doubt, however whether anything is gained when parents take advantage of this ability in an attempt to teach new sounds .5.Before children start speaking_.A.they need equal amount of listeningB.they need different amounts of listeningC.they are all eager to cooperate with the adults by obeying spoken instructionsD.they cant understand and obey the adults oral instructions6.Children who start speaking late _.A.may have problems with their listeningB.probably do not hear enough language spoken around themC.usually pay close attention to what they hearD.often take a long time in learning to listen properly7.A babys first noises are _.A.an expression of his moods and feelingsB.an early form of languageC.a sign that he means to tell you somethingD.an imitation of the speech of adults8.The problem of deciding at what point a babys imitations can be considered as speech_.A.is important because words have different meanings for different peopleB.is not especially important because the changeover takes place graduallyC.is one that should be properly understood because the meaning of words changes with ageD.is one that should be pletely ignored(忽略)because childrens use of words is often meaningless 9.The speaker implies_.A.parents can never hope to teach their children new soundsB.children no longer imitate people after they begin to speakC.children who are good at imitating learn new words more quicklyD.even after they have learnt to speak, children still enjoy imitatingCThe greatest recent changes have been in the lives of women. During the twentieth century there was an unusual shortening of the time of a womans life spent in caring for children. A woman marrying at the end of the 19th century would probably have been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which custom, chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a womans youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and is likely to take paid work until retirement at sixty. Even while she has the care of children ,her work is lightened by household appliances(家用电器)and convenience foods.This important change in womens way of life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age ,and though women tend to marry younger ,more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Many more after wads, return to full or part-time work.Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with both husband and wife accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfaction of family life, and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money and running the home, according to the abilities and interest of each of them.10.We are told that in an average family about 1990_.A.many children died before they were fiveB.the youngest child would be fifteenC.seven of eight children lived to be more than fiveD.four or five children died when they were five11.When she was over fifty, the late 19th century mother_.A.would expect to work until she diedB.was usually expected to take up paid employmentC.would be healthy enough to take up paid employmentD.was unlikely to find a job even if she is now likely12.Many girls, the passage says, are now likely to _.A.marry so that they can get a jobB.leave school as soon as they canC.give up their jobs for good after they are marriedD.continue working until they are going to have a baby13.According to the passage,it is now quite usual for women to _.A.stay at home after leaving schoolB.marry men younger than themselvesC.start working again later in lifeD.marry while still at schoolDAny mistake made in the printing of a stamp raises its value to stamp collectors. A mistake on one inexpensive postage stamp has made the stamp worth a million and a half times its original value.The mistake was made more than a hundred years ago in the British colony of Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean. In 1847 an order for stamps was sent to a London printer-Mauritius was to bee the fourth country in the world to issue stamps.Before the order was filled and delivered, a ball was planned at Mauritius Government House, and stamps were needed to send out the invitations. A local printer was instructed to copy the design for the stamps. He accidentally inscribed the words“Post Office” instead of“Post Paid” on the several hundred stamps that he printed.Today there are only twenty-six of these misprinted stamps left fourteen One Penny Orange-Reds and twelve Two Penny Blues. Because of the Two Penny Blues rareness and age, collectors have paid as much as 16 800 for it.14.Over a century ago, Mauritius _.A.was an independent countryB.belonged to IndiaC.was one of the British coloniesD.was a small island in the Pacific Ocean15. The mistake on the stamps was made _.A.in MauritiusB.at Mauritius Government HouseC.in a post officeD.in London16. Stamp collectors have paid 16 800 for _.A. fourteen One Penny Orange-RedsB. twelve Two Penny BluesC. one One Penny Orange-RedD. one Two Penny BlueEPersonal puters and the Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time.Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members, but new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care most about. I know this from personal experience.E-mail makes it easy to work at home, which is where I now spend most weekends and evenings. My working hours arent necessarily much shorter than they once were but I spend fewer of them at the office. This lets me share more time with my young daughter than I might have if shed been born before electronic mail became such a practical tool.The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends. Say you do something fun see a great movie perhaps-and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it. If you call each one, you may tire of telling the story.With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience, and address it to all the friends you think might be interested. They can read your message when they have time, and read only as much as they want to. They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience.E-mail is also an inexpensive way stay in close touch with people who live far away. More than a few parents use E-mail to keep in touch, even daily touch, with their children off at college.We just have to keep in mind that puters and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch. They dont take the place of any of the old ways.17. The purpose of this passage is to _.A. explain how to use the InternetB. describe the writers joy of keeping up with the latest technologyC. tell the merits(价值) and usefulness of the InternetD. introduce the reader to basic knowledge about personal puters and the Internet18. The use of E-mail has made it possible for the writer to _.A. spend less time workingB. have more free time with his childC. work at home on weekendsD. work at a speed fortable to him19. According to the writer, E-mail has an obvious advantage over the telephone because the former helps one _.A. reach a group of people at one time convenientlyB. keep ones munication as personal as possibleC. pass on much more information than the laterD. get in touch with ones friends faster than the later20. The best title for this passage is _.A. puter: New Technological AdvancesB. Internet: New Tool to Maintain Good FriendshipC. puters Have Made Life EasierD. Internet: a Convenient Tool for munication参考答案:CDBABDABDDDDCCA DCBAD
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