【阅读】高一英语时文悦读第五期(答案附后)

高一英语组

Passage 1

This is no April Fools joke.

Students from the San Diego Jewish Academy in the US broke the Guinness World Record when they managed to make more than 800 sandwiches in three minutes on April 1.

However, the students were doing more than just setting a world record. They gave the sandwiches to the homeless and so learned a lesson about helping their community.

“We want our students to know it’s not enough to talk about changing the world,” said school principal (校长) Chaim Heller. “It’s not enough to raise money to change the world. You have to use your hands and feet.”

The world record for making the most sandwiches in three minutes had been 490. But the 550 students from kindergarten to 12th grade may have shattered (打破) that record by making 868 sandwiches in the school gym.

The sandwiches were given to the Alpha Project, which served them later that day to homeless people and low-income residents (居民) around Alpha Square. Students found 52 tables waiting for them in the school gym, each laid out with slices of bread, lettuce, sliced tomatoes and American cheese. Forty-five parent volunteers were on hand to help, and a note on each table told the students what to put in each sandwich – two slices of cheese, one slice of tomato and one piece of lettuce.

The gym’s scoreboard was set at three minutes. A countdown commenced (开始), a buzzer sounded and tables throughout the gym became a flurry of (一阵忙乱) fast-moving cheese and bread.

The youngest students made one sandwich each while older ones made two. Within two minutes, almost all of the students had stepped back from their table. They waved their gloved hands in the air to show that they had finished.

“These types of experiences not only bring together our school community, but help students learn that everyone can make a sandwich to help those in need,” said Heller. “We want our students to see themselves as leaders who can make a difference in people’s lives.”

1. Why did students from the San Diego Jewish Academy make 868 sandwiches?

A. To set a Guinness World Record. B. To raise money to help poor people.

C. To help their community through their action. D. To put their cooking knowledge into practice 2. What do we know about the sandwich-making event? A. Students had to prepare the ingredients themselves. B. The students were asked to make two sandwiches each. C. Parents were not allowed to help their kids.

D. Most of the students finished their work ahead of time. 3. What did Heller think of the activity? A. It was a waste of study time.

B. It helped students to learn. C. It failed to achieve its purpose. D. It interested many students in cooking.

Passage 2

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, “The British are the only people who like to be told how bad things are.” This is definitely (绝对地) true of British comedy. Most people think humor is about happy things, but for the British, the opposite is true. We love to use our cruel sense of humor to complain and be negative (消极的).

British comedy, for example, draws a fine line between comedy and tragedy (悲剧). BBC’s The Office is a TV show, famous for its dry humor. The main character, David Brent, is a foolish man, and the show’s comedy comes from his delusions. For example, he often tells himself that he is loved by everyone but the viewer can see that everyone hates him.

Stupid characters for the audience to laugh at are an old tradition in Britain. In Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, the character Malvolio is an old man whom people play tricks on. The audience will laugh away, although the reality is that this man is a truly tragic individual (个体

This side of British humor is reflected (反映) in friendships as well. At university, my friends and I would always laugh at one another. I had an American friend who actually found this sarcasm (挖苦) quite upsetting. She didn’t realize that in Britain, the better friends you are with someone, the more you laugh at them. This approach – laughing at everything – may sound rather depressing (让人

郁闷的), but our strange humor played a big part in British history. In World War II, along with a stiff upper lip (坚定沉着), the British got through it by laughing. What else was there to do?

There is a saying in English: “Laugh and the world laughs with you; cry and you cry alone.” If you are ever on the receiving end of British sarcasm, you may feel like crying, but it’s best to just laugh it off!

4. British comedy is different from other types in that ______ .

A. it is often surprising and boring B. it often laughs at human nature

C. it is often about the bad things in life D. it often makes people feel depressed

5. What does the underlined word “delusions” in Paragraph 2 mean? A. Strong abilities. B. Fun characters. C. Wrong beliefs. D. Deep confidence.

6. Why is Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night mentioned in the article? A. To show one of the best examples of British comedy.

B. To explain how Shakespeare’s comedy is different from others’. C. To show how difficult it is to make people accept British comedy. D. To prove Britain has a long tradition of laughing at stupid characters.

7. How does the author advise people to react to British humor? A. Learn from it. B. Don’t take it seriously. C. Forget about the upsetting things. D. Be careful not to make stupid mistakes.

Passage 3

Parrots have been known to mimic (模仿) words, but have you ever thought how they communicate? The sounds they make may sound meaningless to us, but new research has found that wild parrots are actually given names by their parents. According to a study led by Karl Berg of Cornell University in the US, nestlings (雏鸟) are given a unique sound of their own, which stays with them for their entire lives.

In the study, the team placed hidden cameras in the nests of 17 different wild parrots. After studying their sounds, the team identified slight differences in the calls parents used to communicate with each chick. And even before the nestlings had learned to communicate properly, the baby birds seemed to recognize and mimic their calls.

Sounds very similar to humans, doesn’t it?

The study also proved that these signature calls are acquired socially not genetically (基因上地). To do this, scientists switched the eggs in nine of the 17 nests, so that half of the parrots were raising nestlings that weren’t theirs. Using the recordings, the scientists concluded the nestlings all used names similar to those the parents (whether biological or nonbiological) called them for the first weeks of their lives.

Lucie McNeil, from National Geographic, said, “this would be the first [proven] example of a non-human species teaching acoustical (声学的) communication.”

Lead scientist for the study, Karl Berg told National Public Radio of the US,

“Most people say, ‘Well, all those calls are just noise,’ but I think they’re having conversations.”

Fox News also asked Berg what else the parrots might be saying? He replied, “The theory is that these birds are deciding where the food is, ‘Do we want to go 3 km North-Northwest?’ “Do we want to go to that field?’ They are sort of arguing or discussing.”

Natural science author, Virginia Morell, wrote: “Very gradually, scientists are learning to decode the conversations of very different animals that live lives rich with plans, quarrels, and romance.”

You never know, if the science of animal translation keeps advancing, we might one day be watching a reality series about parrots. 8. What did the new research find about wild parrots? A. They can talk by learning from people. B. The sounds they make are meaningless. C. They have names given by their parents. D. They have a unique way of making sounds. 9. What does the study suggest?

A. Different parrots are called differently by their parents. B. Baby parrots can tell who their biological parents are. C. Baby parrots can mimic their biological parents’ calls better. D. Parrots are the most skilled animals in acoustical communication. 10. Why did the scientists switch the eggs in the study?

A. To see whether the parents could recognize their own babies.

B. To see whether the parrots made the same sounds all their lives. C. To see whether the signature calls were acquired socially or genetically. D. To see whether biological and nonbiological parents named babies differently. 11. The underlined word “decode” in the second-to-last paragraph is closest in meaning to “_____”.

A. mimic B. understand C. practice D. create

Passage 4

For most of my life I knew nothing about motorcycles. I believed that motorcycle riders were tough and leather-wearing (穿着皮衣的) loners. In my mind they were the kind of people who were constantly looking for trouble, using the roar of a motorcycle engine (发动机) to frighten others off.

Then, on a warm May evening outside our house my boyfriend began to show me his new motorcycle. It was the first time it had ever been mentioned and I was shocked.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked. I didn’t really understand what I was looking at.

It wasn’t until August that I was able to actually ride on the motorcycle with him. I prepared very well: a new helmet (头盔) and slightly oversized leather jacket. The first ride was tricky. I held on a little too tight (紧的) and breathed a little too infrequently. The cars felt a little too close and traffic seemed to move too fast. The evening ride was short. After that, the bike carried us higher and higher into the hills. We pulled over and stopped to watch the sun set over the city below. I swung

(摆动) my leg over to get off the bike, slightly shaky and full of nervous energy. Sometimes, when he was gone on a Saturday ride, I’d try on his leathers and look in the mirror, wondering if I looked like a biker myself.

Since then, I’ve learned a few things and slowly my prejudices (偏见) about motorcycles and motorcycle riders have started to shift. Sitting on the back of a motorcycle, placing all your trust in someone to get you safely home is a way of reminding you that you love them.

Maybe the most important lesson, though, is that you really can’t judge a book by its cover – no matter how much leather it wears. Motorcycle riders are not scary, or mean, or unapproachable (不可接近的). They’re adults who remember the freedom of riding their first bicycle, and are continuously seeking to recreate the experience.

Choose the best answer:

12. What did the author think of motorcycle riders at first? A. They were losers at life. B. They were troublesome. C. They were very strong. D. They were very social. 13. What do we learn about the author’s first ride? A. She didn’t know how to equip herself. B. She found it easy to handle the ride. C. She enjoyed the scenery she saw on her ride. D. She finally overcame her nervousness. 14. What lesson did the author learn from her ride?

A. Practice makes perfect. B. Actions speak louder than

words.

C. Don’t judge people by their appearance. D. It takes courage to make a difference.

15. What is the main purpose of the article? A. To stress the importance of riding safety. B. To encourage people to ride motorcycles.

C. To explain why the author wanted to be a motorcycle rider. D. To share her riding experience and thoughts about it.

Passage 5

根据短文内容, 从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项, 选项中有两项为多余选项。

In China, traveling by train is a common way to visit new places and go back to one’s hometown during holidays. 16. ______. It wasn’t always that way, though. 17.______ , when many railway companies started up and competed with each other to build new railway routes. Trains became a symbol of progress, with New York City’s Grand Central Station becoming a major cultural landmark (地标). 18. ______. For example, Johnny Cash wrote a song called Folsom Prison Blues. But eventually, railways were replaced by highways as “car culture” took over the US. China would go on to adopt trains even more quickly and widely than the US. 19.______ , which allows people to travel with ease. This is especially obvious during chunyun, when China’s train stations are crowded with thousands of people

who are trying to get home.

I had never traveled by train until I moved to China. My first trip by train was from Beijing to Tianjin by high-speed train. It was amazing how quickly I could get there - just half an hour. Since then, I’ve taken the train to lots of other cities － Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen, to name a few. It’s always a good time. 20._____. And for some reason, instant noodles (方便面) taste better on the train than they do anywhere else.

A. China’s railway network connects the entire country

B. But there are many differences between Chinese and US railways C. The US railway system started to grow in 1826

D. Traveling on a high-speed train costs more than traveling on a normal train E. But in the US, traveling by train is a very old tradition F. People on the train tend to be friendly and happy to chat G. Musicians even wrote songs about trains

Passage 6

A couple of months ago, I made a promise to myself.

I had put some money in an envelope in my __21__ with the intention of giving this envelope 22 to the first person I came across who __23__ it. Months passed, and 24 my daily life got busy, I was unable to keep my 25 . Whenever I opened my wallet and saw the 26 , I was reminded of my 27 for it, and I would feel a little 28 for having not acted upon it.

The voice within told me to do 29 . Today, while walking to work on a busy street, I passed a 30 elderly lady with her hand out on the sidewalk. Seeing her wrinkled face and sightless eyes, I stopped 31 . A wave of sympathy washed over me, and I _32__ the envelope of money that had been lying in my wallet all these months. I 33 the money from the envelope and bent down to her level. 34 , I took her hand, pressed the dollar bills into it, and closed her fingers over the notes so that she could 35 the money and understand my gesture. After I got up, I slowly moved away. I felt like I had 36 something. I had kept my 37 to myself. The lady slightly nodded her head. I felt 38 and moved on.

Afterwards, I thought about why such a 39 act had taken so long. This small act was a huge step toward facing and walking through my own fears around 40 . What a blessing it is to complete these generous (慷慨的) little gestures!

21. A. coat B. wallet C. pocket D. handbag

22. A. back B. out C. away D. up 23. A. found B. used C. earned D. deserved

24. A. as B. until C. though D. if 25. A. attention B. promise C. belief D. principle

26. A. sign B. note C. photo D.

envelope

27. A. intention B. respect C. design D. longing

28. A. satisfied B. disappointed C. surprised D. angry 29. A. anything B. nothing C. something D. everything

30. A. deaf 31. A. immediately unhappily

32. A. discovered remembered

33. A. threw away added up

34. A. Nervously Quickly

35. A. feel 36. A. missed achieved

37. A. idea message

38. A. worried hopeful

39. A. brave B. blind B. gradually B. ignored B. took out B. Proudly B. see B. explored B. word B. awkward B. simple C. tired C. calmly C. forgot C. counted out C. Gently C. accept C. noticed C. experience C. blessed C. common D. weak D. D. D. D. D. keep D. D. D. D.

practical

40. A. giving B. doing C. taking D. communicating

Passage 7

Inspiring words help girl turn corner at her new high

school

幸福靠奋斗， 快乐靠勇敢而坚持不懈的追求。 词数 245 建议阅读时间 4 分钟

At the tail end of August, 2018, I was proud to find out that I’d got into a top high school. At that moment, however, I was unaware (不知道的) of how terrible it would be at first.

From the very first day of school I suffered. Along with the extremely busy schedule and the pain of separation from my friends, I felt continually frustrated (挫败的). And my low rank (排名) made me feel hopeless.

It was in October, when I got the chance to speak to one of the school seniors that things took a turn for the better. “It’s as President Xi Jinping once said, ‘Happiness is achieved through hard work,’” the senior advised me.

As soon as I heard these words I was deeply moved. Hope took the place of despair (绝望) and diligence (勤奋) became the theme of my life. I started spending hours on difficult questions and turned to teachers for help. Step by step, I’ve become a competitor rather than just a survivor. I am convinced (坚信的) that the future is in my hands.

My high school seems like a mother to me, while I’m her most ordinary child. Every time I see her, I am afraid that my performance will tarnish (损坏) her good name. So, I hope that I can do something that will bring honor to her. And she is always there waiting for me to come back with my dream achieved.

Passage 8

Why fewer is better

学会“断舍离”，享受极简生活。 词数 295 建议阅读时间 5分钟

Lin Hanxing is a 30-year-old who lives in Beijing. She owns just five shirts, two pairs of pants, four pairs of shoes and a few other things. It’s hard to believe that only five years ago, Lin was one of those people who couldn’t stop buying stuff. Back then, she had more than 400 pieces of clothing and handbags.

But that was before she saw an online challenge in 2014, introduced by Joshua Becker, a blogger in the United States who was promoting (推广) a minimalist lifestyle (极简生活方式). He encouraged people to reduce the number of their belongings to fewer than 100. Lin decided to give it a try.

She got rid of 90 percent of her stuff. She also deleted (删除) 120 contacts she never spoke to from her social networking account. After doing all that, Lin said she felt “lighter”.

We used to think owning more was the way to lead a rich life. But now many people tend to believe that the opposite is also true – and perhaps truer.

According to US sociologist Joel Stillerman, people who are educated and well-off are more likely to have a minimalist lifestyle. “These people are making the statement: ‘I can afford to have less.’,” he said.

But leading a minimalist lifestyle doesn’t mean spending less. A report by UK market research company Euromonitor found young Chinese people spend less on possessions, but more on short holidays and visits to the movies.

“They are looking for a life that is all about culture,” Alison Angus, head of lifestyles at Euromonitor, said about Chinese youth.

So perhaps it all comes down to how we define (定义) “rich”. Is wealth in life about buying more and owning more, or is it about learning more and experiencing more?

Passage 9

Do we need to walk that far? 词数 205 建议阅读时间 4分钟

A smart fitness tracker (健康追踪器) will probably encourage you to walk 10,000 steps a day. But do we really need to walk that much to stay healthy? According to BBC, walking 10,000 steps benefits some people but it’s not necessary for everyone.

Many studies, according to Live Science, show that increasing daily walking to 10,000 steps could reduce blood pressure after 24 weeks and improve blood glucose (血糖) levels. This could help people process the fat they eat to lose weight.

Although it may be helpful, it may not be necessary. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the US recommends that adults engage (参加) in 150 minutes of moderate (适度的) activity each week. In order to meet this standard,

people need to walk about 7,000 to 8,000 steps a day.

Still, if people feel they can walk more, there is no reason for them to stop at 8,000 steps, since we “know that more is better”, according to Catrine Tudor-Locke, director of the Walking Behavior Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in the US.

Passage 10 Jay-Z gives back

词数 230 建议阅读时间 4分钟

Rap music has gotten quite popular in China over the last couple of years. Many Chinese rappers are influenced by their Western counterparts (同行). One of the greatest rappers is Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z.

But he’s known for more than just his rapping. Carter has made many efforts to help with civil rights (民权) in the United States. Last month he was given the President’s Award by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The body said that Carter had always addressed the issues that black people most care about. He had used his “global platform to create everlasting change”.

Indeed, throughout his career, the 49-year-old rapper has used music to make people question their attitudes toward black people, particularly in songs like Can I Live II and Say Hello.

Carter has other concerns too. In 2003, he founded the Shawn Carter

Foundation, which helps poor students pay for college. He believes that everyone is equal, and that everyone can shine in his or her own way. As he once said, “I believe everyone in the world is born with genius-level talent. Apply yourself to (致力于) whatever you’re genius at, and you can do anything in the world.”

Passage 11

Life just seems to speed up

为什么我们年纪越大，感觉时间过得越快呢? 词数353 建议阅读时间6分钟

When we are children, the summer holidays seem to last forever, and the wait between Spring Festivals feels like an eternity (无穷无尽). But later, we may find that the time just seems to fly by, with weeks, months and entire seasons disappearing from a blurred (模糊不清的) calendar at a fast speed. Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?

According to the Daily Mail, our brains degrade as we get older. That decreases the amount of information we can deal with in a single day.

“The human mind senses time changing when the perceived (被感知的) images change,” Adrian Bejan from Duke University, US, told the Daily Mail. “The present is different from the past because the mental viewing has changed, not because somebody’s clock rings.”

Infants (幼儿), for example, move their eyes much more often than adults because they’re processing (处理) images at a faster rate. They deal with a large amount of information and do many things in a single day. This makes them feel like a single day lasts for a long time.

However, as people get older, fewer images are processed in the same amount of time. Therefore, older people receive less information during a day than younger people. This causes things to seem as though they’re happening more quickly. Apart from the degradation of our brains, some psychological reasons also make us experience time differently.

People may measure time by the number of memorable events that can be recalled (回忆) within a certain period.

When we think about our youth, we may remember a life packed with first-time activities, for example, our first time traveling without our parents, or our first date. We experienced these events so vividly that time then seems to us to have passed very slowly. According to David Eagleman of the Baylor College of Medicine in the US, recalling these memories makes us feel like they took forever. Many adults find life is routine and sometimes dull. For this reason, when they look back, they might feel like there are not many exciting things to remember. Therefore, time seems to be moving faster to them.

Passage 12 Lighting up black holes

黑洞：探索一小步，人类一大步。 词数 321 建议阅读时间 6分钟

There are moments in our lives when we’re just left in awe (敬畏地). For me, these moments include when I found out that Jupiter is 121.9 times bigger than Earth, and that Qomolangma, Earth’s highest mountain – if thrown into the ocean upside down – wouldn’t be large enough to fill the Mariana Trench (马里

亚纳海沟), the deepest place on Earth.

But none of these moments compares to this one: when scientists revealed (公布) the first-ever picture of a black hole on April 10.

What you see in the picture might be merely an orange ring – a blurry (模糊的) bit of orange ring even – but it is in fact a black hole and is 55 million light-years from Earth. And it’s bigger than anything we know of: The sun doesn’t even begin to compare with it, since its mass (质量) is 6.5 billion times that of our star.

It got me wondering: How many more black holes are there? What lies another 100 million, or 1,000 million, light-years away? And what does the size of the universe mean to us – tiny beings on a tiny planet?

But don’t get me wrong. The news isn’t supposed to be discouraging at all: After all, it is in contrast (对比) to the size of the universe that human beings can see how much they’ve achieved.

Just think about it: We’re flesh-and-blood creatures, and yet we managed to extend (延伸) our sight by building telescopes that “see” millions of light-years away. These telescopes are located in eight places around the world, and scientists from 20 countries worked together for two years to process all the data before finally bringing the image to us.

It’s true that we tend to feel awe in the face of forces that are much bigger than us. But perhaps we should hold ourselves in awe as well, for all that we tiny human beings have learned about the universe.

参：

Passage 1 CDB Passage 2 CCDB Passage 3 CACB Passage 4 BCCD Passage 5 ECGAF

Passage 6 21-25 BCDAB 26-30 DABCB 31-35 ADBCA 36-40 DBCBA