It’s a Saturday night, the kids are asleep and we have no plans. Before we fall into our routine and watch a movie, I try to talk my husband into playing a card game. Unconvinced, he continues tapping away on his phone. But just before disappearing into the social media rabbit hole, he has an idea. He looks over me and suggests, “Why don’t we try calling one of our friends?”
I look at him with raised brows, as if his suggestion is somewhat ridiculous and perhaps even socially unacceptable. You can’t just call someone out of the blue now…right? But then I realize in the not so distant past, this was the norm. My early teenage years saw me connecting with friends through a phone. We could chat for hours about the latest gossip and news, sometimes hidding under my blanket in order to avoid the chances of being caught by my parents. I could even memorize the phone numbers of loved ones then. I guess these days, they would be on my “Favorites” list in my smartphone.
Today, many of my “favorite” people are followed from a distance through social media, and even they very rarely—if ever—would get an actual call from me. The birth announcement by my oldest friend is received through scrolling the past pictures. The news of a divorce from a couple arrives after a photo of a woman led me on a search for more gossip. Bits of such information, may have been a part of my digital feed for years. The idea of actually picking up the phone to reconnect with a long-lost friend is a frightening one—even seeing the name of an old friend pop up in an incoming call can feel a little afraid.
I ask my husband, “Who would we call?” After tossing around a few names, we agree on some potential candidates—people whose lives have taken them in different directions, but with whom we still share deep friendships.
1.How does the author feel about her husband’s suggestion at first?
A.Excited. B.Motivated.
C.Nervous. D.Surprised.
2.With the phone, the author’s teenage years was_____.
A.difficult but interesting B.peaceful and meaningful
C.pleasant and unforgettable D.inconvenient but enjoyable
3.In the following days, the couple may ____.
A.share more of their private information with others
B.contact more long-lost friends through social media
C.have more personal communications with their friends
D.add more friends’ names to the contact lists in their phones
4.What’s the purpose of the passage?
A.To argue for the need of the contact of long-lost old friends.
B.To tell us about one of his unforgettable experiences.
C.To remind us to turn to phones to keep in toch with friends.
D.To persuade us to follow our friends through the social media.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
The brain has a powerful ability to remember and connect events separated in time. And now, in that new study in mice published in Neuron, scientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute have cast light on how the brain can form lasting links.
The hippocampus—a small, seahorse-shaped region buried deep in the brain—is an important headquarters for learning and memory. Previous experiments in mice showed that disruption (中断) to the hippocampus leaves the animals with trouble learning to associate two events separated by tens of seconds.
“The traditional view has been that cells in the hippocampus keep up a level of continuous activity to associate such events,” said Dr. Ahmed, co-first author of the study. “Turning these cells off would thus disrupt learning.”
To test this view, the researchers imaged parts of the hippocampus of mice as the animals were exposed to two different stimuli (刺激物): a neutral (神经的) sound followed by a small but unpleasant puff of air. A fifteen-second delay separated the two events. The scientists repeated this experiment across several trials. Over time, the mice learned to associate the sound with the soon-to-follow puff of air. Using advanced microscopy, they recorded the activity of thousands of neurons (神经元) , a type of brain cell, in the animals’ hippocampus over the course of each trial for many days.
“We expected to see continuous neural activity that lasted during the fifteen-second gap, an indication of the hippocampus at work linking the auditory sound and the air puff,” said computational neuroscientist Stefano Fusi, PhD. “But when we began to analyze the data, we saw no such activity.” Instead, the neural activity recorded during the fifteen-second time gap was sparse (稀少的). Only a small number of neurons worked, and they did so seemingly at random.
To understand activity, they had to shift the way they analyzed data and use tools designed to make sense of random processes. Finally, the researchers discovered a complex pattern in the randomness: a style of mental computing that seems to be a remarkably efficient way that neurons store information.
“We were happy to see that the brain doesn’t maintain ongoing activity over all these seconds because that’s not the most efficient way to store information,” said Dr. Ahmed. “The brain seems to have a more efficient way to build this bridge.”
In addition to helping to map the circuitry involved in associative learning, these findings also provide a starting point to more deeply explore disorders, such as panic and post-traumatic stress disorder.
1.What can we learn about the hippocampus?
A.It weakens with the memory decline.
B.It is a brain region crucial for memory.
C.It serves as a tool of learning languages.
D.It is involved in the visual area of the brain.
2.The new study in mice indicates that ______.
A.continuous activity happens as expected
B.no neurons stay active at intervals of 15 seconds
C.a complex pattern helps the brain learn associations
D.neuronal information is stored in well-designed tools
3.From the last two paragraphs, we can infer that the findings ______.
A.inspire deeper explorations of disorders
B.provide evidence for language learning
C.build a bridge between different parts of the brain
D.help map some aspects of a person’s experiences
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
Like producers of wine from France's Champagne area, Brazil's chocolate industry is using geographical indication, or GI labels with good results. These labels show where the cocoa comes from and its quality. The special labels can lead to higher prices on the market.
Henrique Almeida is the 63-year-old owner of a farm in Coaraci, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. He is pleased with the "South Bahia" geographical indication for his cocoa. "The production of fine cocoa and the creation of the geographical indication label make it possible to have a profitable business and pull our region upwards," Almeida said.
For many years, farmers in Bahia had produced common cocoa, used widely in the chocolate industry. But in 1989, an outbreak of "witches' broom" disease sharply reduced the productivity of Bahia's cocoa trees. These trees make up to 86 percent of Brazil's national crop. At the time, Almeida, like other producers in southern Bahia, chose to improve the quality of his crop in order to be able to continue growing.
"When I bought the farm, standard cocoa prices were low, and cocoa farmers were unmotivated(无动机的), while the chocolate market was doing well," he told the French news agency AFP. "I started growing fine cocoa to make my own chocolate and add value to my product."
The label is the result of 10 years of work by Almeida and other cocoa producers, as well as cooperatives and researchers. Together, they created the South Bahia Cocoa Association to define(定义)production rules. The National Institute of Industrial Property registered the GI 6 years after the first registered GI.
The “South Bahia” label is the second GI given to Brazilian cocoa. The Linhares region in the state of Espirito Santo was the first GI to be registered in 2012. Tome-Acu in the northeastern state of Para became the third in 2019.
1.What might be a result of witches' broom in 1989?
A.Many cocoa trees in Brazil died. B.Cocoa became quite expensive.
C.Farmers started to grow fine cocoa. D.Chocolate industry had to use common cocoa.
2.When was the "South Bahia" labeled?
A.In 2012. B.In 2014.
C.In 2016. D.In 2018.
3.What might happen to Brazilian cocoa in the future?
A.A national cocoa association may appear quickly.
B.Common cocoa may disappear soon.
C.Cocoa fanners may apply for more GI labels.
D.Cocoa prices will be higher and higher.
4.What's the main idea of the text?
A.Brazil's cocoa industry benefits from GI labels.
B.Brazil's cocoa farmers are learning to make French wine.
C.GI labels are making higher profits for Brazil's cocoa farmers.
D.Better Brazil's cocoa trees will bring finer Brazil's cocoa.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
The decline in sea ice seen in the Arctic in recent decades has been linked by scientists to the spread of a deadly virus in marine (海洋的) mammals. Researchers found that Phocine distemper virus (PDV) had spread from animals in the North Atlantic to populations in the North Pacific.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the ice has been retreating by around 12% per decade between 1979 and 2018. These sea ice changes in September (2018) are likely unprecedented (前所未有的) for at least 1, 000 years. “Between 1979 and 2018, the real proportion (比例) of multi-year ice that is at least five years old has declined by approximately 90%,” the IPCC said in their report on the oceans and the cryosphere (冰冻圈) published in September.
Against this changing background, researchers have investigated the likely spread of the PDV infection, which caused a large number of deaths among harbour seals in the North Atlantic in 2002. Melting sea ice is now connecting marine mammals, like these Steller sea lions, which were formerly separated by ice . “As animals move and come in contact with other species, they carry opportunities to introduce and catch new infectious disease, with potentially destructive effects.” said author Dr Tracey Goldstein, from the University of California, Davis.
The authors warn that this trend could continue as they believe climate driven changes in the Arctic ocean will increase. The opportunities for the spread of PDV will likely grow, with uncertain health outcomes for many species.
1.What does the word “populations” in paragraph 1 refer to?
A.The marine mammals. B.The people.
C.The virus. D.The land animals.
2.What are the statistics in paragraph 2 about?
A.The loss of sea ice. B.The formation of sea ice.
C.The effect of sea ice. D.The proportion of sea ice.
3.What does paragraph 3 try to tell us?
A.How marine mammals adapt to their habitats.
B.How a large number of seals died in the Arctic.
C.How melting ice is linked to the spread of virus.
D.How marine mammals live with the melting ice.
4.In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?
A.Entertainment. B.Health.
C.Education. D.Nature.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
NASA has big plans for returning astronauts to the moon in 2024, a stepping stone on the path to sending humans to Mars. But where should the first people on the Red Planet land? While there are lots of places on Mars scientists would like to visit, few would make practical landing sites for astronauts. Thanks to the researchers, their newly-published paper in Geophysical Research Letters will help by providing a map of water ice believed to be as little as an inch (2. 5 centimeters) below the surface.
Water ice will be a key consideration for any potential landing site. With little room to spare aboard a spacecraft, any human missions to Mars will have to harvest what’s already available for drinking water. Liquid water can’t last in the thin air of Mars. With so little air pressure, it turns from a solid to a gas when exposed to the atmosphere. On this planet, water ice is locked away underground. Buried water ice changes the temperature of the Martian surface, so the study’s authors relied on heat-sensitive instruments to find ice that astronauts could easily dig up. The authors of the new paper make use of data from spacecrafts to locate water ice that could potentially be within reach of astronauts on the Red Planet.
The paper’s lead author, Sylvain Piqueux of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said, ‘‘We’re continuing to collect data on buried ice on Mars, aiming to find the best places for astronauts to land.” Piqueux is planning a comprehensive campaign to continue studying buried ice across different seasons, watching how the abundance of this resource changes over time.
1.What’s the benefit of the study?
A.To produce a map of the surface of Mars.
B.To help decide where to land on Mars.
C.To speed up the harvest of ice deep inside Mats.
D.To arouse attention to seasonal changes on Mars.
2.Why is water ice important for any landing site?
A.Because it is the source of power.
B.Because water only exists in the form of solid on Mars.
C.Because it can serve as drinking water.
D.Because astronauts are too busy to collect pure water.
3.How can heat-sensitive instruments tell the location of buried ice?
A.By measuring the surface temperature of Mars.
B.By digging up the surface of Mars.
C.By collecting the data of rocket fuel.
D.By calculating the amount of liquid in the air.
4.In which section of a website may this text appear?
A.Education. B.Travel.
C.Sport. D.Technology.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
Imagine you are floating in space on a huge NASA spacecraft. A satellite is on a collision course with your spaceship. You have just been told by your commanders on Earth to evacuate. You and your teammates have to make rapid decisions for your escape and survival.
Engaging children in a NASA mission (任务) is a lesson that 23 pre-service teachers (职前教师)were taught to carry out at a recent Pre-Service Teacher Institute (PSTI) summer workshop (讲习班)at NASA’s Ames Research Center.
At this two-week workshop, these college students were given hands-on activities designed to increase their skills in teaching STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) . They were shown how to include NASA missions and research into their lesson plans. They met with NASA engineers and were given tours of NASA facilities (设施)by the latter to help them develop and teach a problem-based lesson to children.
“NASA is pleased to support college students who want to teach STEM to young children,” said Lewis Braxton, director of the research center. “It was exciting to see PSII students fully engaged in developing new skills in STEM to meet the challenges of a space-related teaching task,” said Steve Price, the principal investigator of PSTI at California State University, Fresno.
“PSTI has provided me with the necessary tools and techniques to fully develop my skills as a teacher. I’ll use what I’ve learned to help my students succeed in their studies,” said Elijah Carnillo, one of the pre-service teachers.
1.What does the underlined word “evacuate” in Paragraph 1 mean?
A.Withdraw.
B.Wait.
C.Follow.
D.Resist.
2.What is the purpose of the PSTI workshop?
A.To invite students to engage in NASA missions.
B.To encourage graduates to work at NASA.
C.To introduce the latest space technology.
D.To help with space-related STEM teaching.
3.What did NASA engineers do for the PSTI students?
A.They graded their homework.
B.They adjusted their work schedules.
C.They built them a spacecraft model.
D.They showed them some space equipment.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.PSTI: Getting You Ready for Your Class
B.STEM: The Key to a Successful Career
C.Space: The Final Homework Frontier
D.NASA: The Home of Astronauts
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
Eudaimonia is an Ancient Greek word, particularly stressed by the philosophers Plato and Aristotle, which deserves far more attention than it has because it corrects the shortfalls (缺失)in one of the most central, but troubling words in our modem language: happiness.
When we nowadays try to clearly express the purpose of our lives,it is the word “happiness” that we commonly turn to. We tell ourselves and others that the most important principle for our jobs, our relationships and the conduct of our day-to-day lives is the pursuit of happiness. It sounds like an innocent enough idea, but too much reliance on the term means that we frequently unfairly tend to quit or, at least, heavily question a great many challenging but worthwhile situations. The Ancient Greeks did not believe that the purpose of life was to be happy; they proposed that it was to achieve Eudaimonia, a word which has been best translated as “fulfilment”.
What distinguishes happiness from fulfilment is pain. It is very possible to be fulfilled and—at the same time—under pressure, suffering physically or mentally, overburdened and, quite frequently, in an irritable (易怒的)mood. This is a slight psychological difference that is hard for the word “happiness” to capture, for it’s tricky to speak of being happy yet unhappy, or happy yet suffering. However, such a combination is readily accommodated within the respected and noble-sounding idea of Eudaimonia.
The word encourages us to trust that many of life’s most worthwhile projects will sometimes be in conflict with contentment, and yet will be worth pursuing. Properly exploring our professional talents, managing a household, keeping a relationship going, creating a new business venture or engaging in politics... none of these goals are likely to leave us cheerful and grinning on a daily basis. They will, in fact, involve us in all manner of challenges that will deeply exhaust and weaken us, provoke (激怒)and wound us. And yet we will perhaps, at the end of our lives, still feel that the tasks were worth undertaking. Through them, we’ll have achieved something deeper and more interesting than happiness.
With the word Eudaimonia in mind, we can stop imagining that we are aiming for a pain-free existence—and then blaming ourselves unfairly for being in a bad mood. We’ll know that we are trying to do something far more important than smile all the time: we're striving to do justice to our full human potential.
1.What do we know about “Eudaimonia” from the passage?
A.It was first created by two Greek philosophers.
B.It has received a lot of attention from the public.
C.It still has some shortfalls that need to be corrected.
D.It was regarded as the purpose of life in ancient Greece.
2.According to Paragraph 3, happiness .
A.is the opposite of fulfillment
B.is free from physical or mental pain
C.stresses the psychological difference
D.serves as a respected and noble life goal
3.We can learn from the passage that .
A.aiming for happiness may lead to wrong self-blaming
B.goals that wound and weaken us result in happiness
C.challenges leading to contentment are worth undertaking
D.feeling fulfilled means we should avoid tough situations
4.The passage encourages the readers to .
A.find fulfillment with all efforts B.seek for a pain-free existence
C.keep optimistic whatever happens D.balance happiness and suffering
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
In an ideal world, we might be able to live free from discrimination. But not this one, in which we are constantly dividing everything into “us" and “them".
This is especially true during times of fear, like now, when the novel coronavirus is spreading across China and the world. It's a time when “us" means safe and clean while “them" means infectious and risky. Or at least we'd like to believe so.
But this is actually a misbelief, which has been fueled and promoted by fear, and sadly, the media. When the outbreak first started, the term “Wuhan virus" was used in some news, creating hostility (敌意)toward people from Wuhan and Hubei as a whole. There were reports of hotels refusing to accept guests from Hubei and some hospitals denied their entry even when they needed treatment for other medical problems.
Elsewhere in the world, German magazine Der Spiegel labeled the virus on its cover as “Made in China". Australia's Herald Sun, meanwhile, printed, “China Kids Stay Home" on its front page, implying that all kids from China are carriers of the virus. It's also reported that Chinese people overseas have faced harassment (骚扰)and even violence.
This kind of misbelief is exactly why and when the World Health Organization (WHO) was trying to come up with a name for the disease, it had to be careful. “We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical (地理的)location, an animal, an individual or group of people," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, on Feb 11. And COVID-19 was the final decision.
World leaders and institutes are also sharing sensible voices. "There is no place in our country for discrimination driven by fear or misinformation," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a Lunar New Year celebration in Toronto on Feb 2. Cornell University also sent an email to students and faculty, saying, “We need to remember to care for one another and not make assumptions about others' symptoms or any characteristics of identity."
It's understandable that during times like this, we want to go to extreme lengths to make sure we're safe. But fear is never part of the cure. Only love and independent thinking takes you further.
1.What is the main purpose of Paragraphs 3 and 4?
A.To explain what has brought about misbelief.
B.To show how some news media misled the public.
C.To compare how different countries responded to COVID --- 19.
D.To present what Chinese people overseas suffer from COVID --- 19.
2.Justin Trudeau and Cornell University are quoted in the text to .
A.show positive attitudes in face of COVID ---19
B.explain why it is important to prevent discrimination
C.describe different opinions of the influence of the virus
D.introduce measures taken by foreign countries to fight COVID---19
3.What's the attitude of the author towards "discrimination"?
A.Neutral. B.Supportive. C.Opposed. D.Unconcerned.
4.What is the main idea of the passage?
A.We should always be willing to care for others.
B.Fear and discrimination are as contagious as a virus.
C.We shouldn't let misinformation influence our own judgment.
D.The media should give people confidence during times of fear.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
We pick the upbeat tunes for parties and workouts, and save the low-key songs for romantic or sad moments. It’s hardly a new idea that music is mixed with our emotions. But how have our favorites changed over the decades, and what do these changes say about America’s shifting emotional landscape (景象)?
Researcher E. Glenn Schellenberg set out to examine songs popular in America during the last five decades, using a selection from Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 charts, hoping to learn how emotional cues (提示) in music, such as tempo (slow to fast) and mode (major or minor key), have changed since 1960.
The most striking finding is the change in key. Songs written in a major key tend to sound warm and high-spirited, while songs in a minor key can sound darker and more melancholic (忧郁的). Over the last few decades, popular songs have switched from major to minor keys. Broadly speaking, the sound has shifted from bright and happy to something more complex. The study also finds America’s popular songs have become slower and longer. Even more interesting, is that our current favorites are more likely to be emotionally ambiguous, such as sad-sounding songs being fast or happy-sounding songs being slow.
A possible explanation for the changes is that the more contemporary music reflects the hardships that our society has gone through. However, Schellenberg believes that the steady increase in length and decrease in tempo doesn’t support the idea of growing difficulties fully because it would mean our problems have increased steadily over the last fifty years. He suggests that popular songs have become more complex over time because Americans are becoming more diverse and individualized in their musical tastes.
Though we can only guess about the specific causes of this evolution in music, Schellenberg’s initial observations have helped to open the door to research on the link between emotion and music consumption. Perhaps someday we’ll learn more of the secrets behind the music we love and the times we live in.
1.Why did Schellenberg start the study?
A.To change music styles. B.To explore changes in music.
C.To select America’s favorite music. D.To examine the creation of music.
2.What can we learn from the findings?
A.Older songs were often more sad-sounding.
B.Popular songs have become warmer and shorter.
C.Recent hits are likely to be longer and more complex.
D.Current favorites tend to be composed in a major key.
3.What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?
A.The influences of the study. B.The diversity of musical tastes.
C.The causes of the music changes. D.The features of America’s society.
4.What is the author’s attitude to the study?
A.Positive. B.Doubtful.
C.Disapproving. D.Ambiguous.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
More than a decade ago, cognitive scientists John Bransford and Daniel Schwartz, both then at Vanderbilt University, found that what distinguished young adults from children was not the ability to retain facts or apply prior knowledge to a new situation but a quality they called “preparation for future learning.” The researchers asked fifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect bald eagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans of similar quality (although the college students had better spelling skills). From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schooling had failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, major scientific ideas.
The researchers decided to go deeper, however. They asked both groups to generate questions about important issues needed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences. College students focused on critical issues of interdependence between eagles and their habitats. Fifth graders tended to focus on features of individual eagles (“How big are they?” and “What do they eat?”). The college students had cultivated the ability to ask questions, the cornerstone (最重 要部分)of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn.
Museums and other institutions of informal learning may be better suited to teach this skill than elementary and secondary schools. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studied how learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people's scientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask “What if?” and “How can?” questions that nobody present would know the answer to and that would spark exploration,they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibit-asking more questions, performing more experiments and making better interpretations of their results. Specifically, their questions became more comprehensive at the new exhibit. Rather than merely asking about something they wanted to try,they tended to include both cause and effect in their question. Asking juicy questions appears to be a transferable skill for deepening collaborative inquiry into the science content found in exhibits.
This type of learning is not confined to museums or institutional settings. Informal learning environments tolerate failure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground to cover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere, Our society depends on them being able to make critical decisions about their own medical treatment, say, or what we must do about global energy needs and demands. For that, we have an informal learning system that gives no grades, takes all comers,and is available even on holidays and weekends.
1.What is traditional educators interpretation of the research outcome mentioned in the first paragraph?
A.Students are not able to apply prior knowledge to new problems.
B.College students are no better than fifth grader in memorizing facts.
C.Education has not paid enough attention to major environmental issues.
D.Education has failed to lead students to think about major scientific ideas.
2.College students are different from children in that_____ ?
A.they have learned to think critically.
B.they are concerned about social issues.
C.they are curious about specific features.
D.they have learned to work independently.
3.What is the benefit of asking questions with no ready answers?
A.It arouses students’ interest in things around them.
B.It cultivates students’ ability to make scientific inquiries.
C.It trains students’ ability to design scientific experiments.
D.It helps students realize not every question has an answer.
4.At the end of the passage the author seems to encourage educators to ____.
A.train students to think about global issues
B.design more interactive classroom activities
C.make full use of informal learning resources
D.include collaborative inquiry in the curriculum
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析