Many people say dolphins are very intelligent...

Many people say dolphins are very intelligent. They seem to be able to think, understand, and learn things quickly. But are they smart like humans or more than cats or dogs? Dolphins use their brains differently from people. But scientists say dolphin intelligence and human intelligence are similar in some ways. How?

Fact 1: Talk to me

Like humans, every dolphin has its own “name”. The name is a special whistle. Each dolphin chooses a specific whistle for itself, usually by its first birthday. Actually, scientists think dolphins, like people, “talk” to each other about a lot of things, such as their age, their feelings, or finding food. And, like humans, dolphins use a system of sounds and body language to communicate. But understanding their conversations is not easy for humans. No one speaks “dolphin” yet, but some scientists are trying to learn.

Fact 2: Let’s play

Dolphins are also social animals. They live in groups, and they often join others from different groups to play games and have fun—just like people. In fact, playing together is something only intelligent animals do.

Fact 3: Fishermen’s helper

Dolphins and humans are similar in another way: both make plans to get something they want. In the seas of southern Brazil, for example, dolphins use an interesting strategy to get food. When fish are near a boat, dolphins show signs to the fishermen to put their nets in the water. Using this method, the men can catch a lot of fish. What is the advantage for the dolphins in doing so? They get to eat some of the fish.

1.What does a dolphin often use as its “name”?

A. A body language.　　　　　　　　 B. A special whistle.

C. Its feeling.　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Its age.

2.Why do dolphins join others from different groups?

A. To learn to “talk”.

B. To meet their families.

C. To play games.

D. To find food.

3.How do dolphins help fishermen catch fish?

A. By playing with other fish.

B. By following fishing boats.

C. By leading the fish into the net.

D. By showing signs to the fishermen.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

A. Dolphins are smarter than humans.

B. Dolphins make friends with humans.

C. Dolphins teach humans to speak “dolphin”.

D. Dolphins and humans are similar in some ways.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

OK, I admit it: emoticons(表情符号)are popular. Some people even think they are fun. Many seem unable to get through an e-mail or Instant Message chat sentence without using one. Some feel that they add feeling and character to otherwise cold digital communications.

Some people, such as a Hollywood scriptwriter John Blumenthal, however, blast the use of emoticons as “infantile(幼稚)just like the people who use them”. He believes that words themselves should be enough. “If you’re funny, happy or sad, that should be apparent from the comment that goes before the emoticons,” he argues.

In the eyes of Blumenthal, the use of emoticons is a gender issue. “Men don’t use emoticons very much. Maybe not at all,” he said, “Teenage girls and women seem to use them a lot. Maybe there’s an emoticon gene.”

It’s an interesting opinion, but it is not shared by all.

In an interview with The New York Times, Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, said that emoticons are popular because our brains are programmed “to seek out representations of humanity”. He believes that they are popular not because they are shortcuts for the lazy, but because they bring in something beyond language. They satisfy our needs to be with and communicate with people.

All of these arguments may be somehow right. Each one of us will choose to communicate in our own way. I tried to use one once and felt like I was stealing into a primary school class that I had no place being in. I’d rather let my words do the talking.

Friends, however, send me messages and e-mails full of emoticons. I have no problem with this. I don’t regard any of my friends as lazy or immature. It’s just a question of individuality.

1.What does the underlined word “blast” in the second paragraph mean?

A. clarify　　　　 B. criticize　　　　 C. support　　　　　 D. approve　

2.Which of the following views would John Blumenthal agree with?　　

A. It’s enough to use language in digital communication.

B. Instant Message chatters are childish.

C. Men never use emoticons.　　　　

D. There must be an emoticon gene in everybody.

3.From the text, we can conclude that the author______________.　

A. feels he has no difficulty using emoticons

B. thinks emoticons don’t suit him

C. encourages his friends to use emoticons

D. believes that emoticons are suitable for everyone

4.What is the main point of the article?　

A. Advice on language used over the Internet.

B. Arguments over the use of emoticons.

C. The history of the use of emoticons.

D. Reasons for the popularity of emoticons.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

It is very important for people to drink water in our everyday life. Many people believe they are supposed to drink eight glasses of water a day, or about two liters. Why? Because that is what they have been told all their life. But a recent report offers some different advice. Experts say people should obey their bodies; they should drink as much water as they feel like drinking. The report says most healthy people meet their daily needs for liquid by letting thirst be their guide. The report is from the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies. The report contains some general suggestions. The experts say women should get about 2.7 liters of water daily. Men should get about 3.7 liters. But wait——in each case, that is more than eight glasses.

There is one important difference. The report does not tell people how many glasses of water to drink. In fact, the experts say it may be impossible to know how many glasses are needed to meet these guidelines. This is because the daily water requirement can include the water content in foods. People do not get water only by forcing themselves to drink a set number of glasses per day. People also drink fruit juices and sodas and milk. They drink coffee and tea. These all contain water. Yet some also contain caffeine. This causes the body to expel(排出)more water. But the writers of the report say this does not mean the body loses too much water.

As you might expect, the Institute of Medicine says people need to drink more water when they are physically active. The same is true of those who live in hot climates. Depending on heat and activity, people could need two times as much water as others do. All this, however, does not answer one question. No one seems sure why people have the idea that good health requires eight glasses of water daily.

It may have started with a misunderstanding. In 1945, the National Academy of Sciences published some guidelines. Its Food and Nutrition Board(营养膳食) said a good amount of water for most adults was 2.5 liters daily. This was based on an average of one milliliter(毫升)for each calorie of food eaten. But that was only part of what the board said. It also said that most of this amount is contained in prepared foods.

1.In experts’ opinion, every day a person should drink ____.

A. as much water as he can                 B. more than eight glasses of water

C. according to actual need for his body           D. when he comes in sight of water

2.What is mainly described in the second paragraph?

A. People know about the daily water requirement.

B. People need water instead of all kinds of drink.

C. People get daily water not only from drinking.

D. People drink all kinds of drink every day.

3.Who might drink less water according to the third paragraph?

4.The main purpose of writing the texts is to _______.

A. make a good suggestion of drinking daily  B. make clear the requirements to drink daily

C. tell the importance of drinking water daily     D. figure out a good amount of water daily

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Contrary to many people believe, highly intelligent children are not necessarily certain to achieve academic success. In fact, so-called gifted students may fail to do well because they are unusually smart. Ensuring that a gifted child reaches his or her potential requires an understanding of what can go wrong and how to satisfy the unusual learning requirements of extremely bright young people.

One common problem gifted kids face is that they, and those around them, place too much importance on being smart. Such an emphasis can encourage a belief that bright people do not have to work hard to do well. Although smart kids may not need to work hard in the lower grades, when the work is easy, they may struggle and perform poorly when the work gets harder because they do not make the effort to learn. If the academic achievement of highly intelligent children remains below average for an extended period, many teachers will fail to recognize their potential. As a result, such students may not get the encouragement they need, further depressing their desire to learn. They may fall far behind in their schoolwork and even develop behavior problems.

IQ is just one element among many in the recipe for success—Children develop well or struggle in school for a host of reasons apart from IQ. These include motivation and persistence, social competence, and the support of family, educators and friends.

Because highly gifted children solve the most varied thought problems faster and more thoroughly than those with more average talents do, they need additional intellectual stimulation while they wait for the rest of the kids to learn the basics. Two central approaches are used to satisfy the educational needs of such children: acceleration and enrichment. Acceleration means studying material that is part of the standard subjects for older students. Enrichment involves learning information that falls outside the usual subjects.

A child might skip one or more grades as a way of accelerating in school. But being with older children for the entire school day—and perhaps for grade-based extracurricular activities such as sports—can make a child feel inferior in every filed outside of academics. One very bright fourth-grader who had skipped two grades remained far ahead of his classmates intellectually, but as his classmates reached adolescence, his social and other shortcomings became painfully apparent. While acceleration is not an option, or not a good one, enrichment can be. After all, school is not a race but an adventure in learning. As such, the goal is not finishing first but absorbing as much knowledge as possible in the time assigned. Thus, providing opportunities for a child to study topics outside the regular subjects can be at least as valuable as pushing him or her through the required material faster.

1. What is the basic reason for the low academic achievement of highly intelligent children?

A. Teachers’ failure to recognize their potential.

B. Too much emphasis on being intelligent.

C. Studying topics outside the regular subjects.

D. Lack of encouragement from teachers.

2. According to the passage, which of the following belongs to enrichment activities for talented children?

A. Skipping one of more grades and studying together with older children.

B. Learning the same material in the standard subjects for older students.

C. Learning information that is not included in the regular subjects.

D. Learning how to read with fluency even in their pre-school days.

3.Which of the following statements do you think is true about the writer?

A. He is in favor of enrichment rather than acceleration.

B. He is in favor of acceleration rather than enrichment.

C. He speaks highly of both enrichment and acceleration.

D. He thinks neither enrichment nor acceleration is a good choice.

4. In this article, the writer wants to ______.

A. point out the weaknesses of acceleration for gifted children

B. compare acceleration with enrichment for gifted children

C. stress the importance of enrichment for gifted children

D. discuss how to bring out gifted children’s potential

高二英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Ok, I admit it: Emoticons(表情符号) are popular. Some people even think they are fun. Many seem unable to get through an e-mail or Instant Message chat sentence without using one. Some feel that they add feeling and character to otherwise cold digital communications.

Some, however, such as editor and Hollywood scriptwriter John Blumenthal, blast the use of emotions as “ infantile(幼稚的) just like the people who use them”. He believes that words themselves should be enough. “If you’re being funny, happy or sad, that should be apparent from the comment that goes before the emoticons,” he argues.

In the eyes of Blumenthal, the use of emoticons is a gender issue. “Men don’t use emoticons very much. Maybe not at all.,” he said. “Teenage girls and women seem to use them a lot. Maybe there’s an emoticons gene.”

It’s an interesting opinion, but it is not shared by all.

In an interview with The New York Times, Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, said that emoticons are popular because our brains are programmed “to seek out representations of humanity”. He believes that they appeal not because they are shortcuts for the lazy, but because they tap into（输入）something beyond language. They reach to our need to be with and communicate with people.

All of these arguments may be somehow valid（正确的）. Each one of us will choose to communicate in our own way. I do not have much time for emoticons. I tried to use one once and felt like I was stealing into a primary school class that I had no place being in. I’d rather let my words do the talking.

Friends, however, send me messages and e-mails full of emoticons. I have no problem with this, I don’t regard any of my friends as lazy or immature. It’s just a question of individuality.

1.According to the article, emoticons are popular because_________.

A. most of them look funny

B. they are easy for lazy people to use

C. they add feeling and character to a communication

D. a reader cannot understand a message without them

2. Which of the following views would John Blumenthal agree with ?

A. Instant Message chatters are childish.

B. It’s enough to use language in digital communication.

C. Men never use emoticons.

D. There is an emoticon gene in everybody.

3.From the text, we can conclude that the author________.

A. feels he has no difficulty using emoticons

B. thinks emoticons don’t suit him

C. encourage his friends to use emoticons

D. believes that emoticons are suitable for everyone

4.What is the main point of the article ?

A. Advice on language used over the Internet.

B. The history of emoticons.

C. Arguments over the use of emoticons.

D. Reasons for the popularity of emoticons.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号中单词的正确形式。

Many of us know people who are always working and never seem to stop. Have you ever heard of anyone who is allergic 1._________ vacations? It’s not really an allergy and it is called leisure sickness. It happens like this—you are hoping to take 2. _________vacation and all ready for it, and when it finally begins, you get sick 3. _________ (immediate).

It’s a bit of a mystery. However, there are a few possible explanations. One theory is 4. _________ people have no time to get sick when focusing on work, and their bodies ignore the problems until they take a break. Another possibility is that 5. _________ is actually healthier to be very busy, for people become stronger and are less likely 6. _________ (fall) ill when they are always working. When extremely hard-working people go on vacation, their bodies relax and stop fighting illness the way that they usually do. That’s to say, they can’t adjust to 7. _________ (be) on vacation. When people are 8. _________ (occupy) with their work, they might forget how to relax, and the 9. _________ (press) of their sudden vacation makes them get ill. For most of us, however, vacations are fun, and leisure sickness is one problem about 10. _________ we do not have to worry.

高二英语语法填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

Many young people want to be pop stars. Pop stars are rich. Many people think they are leading a happy and easy life. In fact, they have very hard lives. They spend much of their time on travel. Sometimes the travel is interesting, but in most time it is boring to pop stars. The following chart is a day’s life of a pop star.

1.According to the chart, the pop star was a ________.

A. singer      B. dancer      C. player      D. pianist.

2.According to his plan, his plane should have taken off at _______.

A. 6:30       B. 7:00        C. 7:30        D.:8:00

3. At the radio station, the pop star ________.

A. showed fans how to become famous            B. gave a performance on the air

C. met fans and signed for them               D. told people how he lived his life

4.From this passage we get to know that ________.

A. not all people like pop stars                 B. pop stars have their own bands

C. fans are troublesome for pop stars          D. to be a pop star is not all fun

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Many people think of the brain as a mystery. They don't know much about intelligence and how it works. When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born smart, average, or dumb — and stays that way in the whole life. But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle — it changes and gets stronger when you use it. And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.

Everyone knows that when you lift weights, your muscles get bigger and you get stronger. A person who can't lift 20 pounds when he/she starts exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long time. That's because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise. And when you stop exercising, the muscles shrink and you get weaker. That's why people say “Use it or lose it！”

But most people don't know that when they practice and learn new things, parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise. Inside the cortex (皮层) of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells, called neurons. The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems. When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger. The more you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells grow. Then, things that you once found very hard or even impossible to do — like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra (代数) — seem to become easy after learning them for a period of time. The result is a stronger, smarter brain.

Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals' brains. They found out that animals that lived in a challenging environment were more “perspicacious” — they were better at solving problems and learning new things.

1.According to the first paragraph，________.

A. the function of our brain is like that of the muscle

B. until now it's impossible to explain the brain's mystery

C. many people believe one's intelligence is naturally determined

D. one's brain grows stronger as the age increases

2.Training muscles is compared to ________.

A. using the brain

B. connecting things in your brain

C. lifting weights

D. doing research about the brain

3.What is Paragraph 3 mainly about_________?

The complex structure of the brain.

B. How changes in the muscles affect the brain.

C. The importance of the brain.

D. How the brain becomes stronger by learning new things.

4.What does the underlined word “perspicacious” in the last paragraph probably mean_________?

A. Strong.　　　B. Smart.　　         C. Popular.　         D. Active.

5.The paragraph that follows the passage will most probably talk about _______.

A. the differences between animals’ brains and humans’ brains

B. the relation between human brains and muscles

C. scientists’ findings about animals’ brains

D. how to make your brain smarter through self-development

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

There are many rights to make sure that people will be treated fairly when they are suspected or accused of a crime. Sometimes these rights are called "due process of law". In using these rights, a person should have the help of a lawyer.

You have a right to protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. The police generally may not search you or your home, or take things you own, without a "warrant". A warrant is a paper which states, very exactly, the place to be searched and the things to be taken. Sometimes, however, the police will not need a warrant to search you or your property. If an officer sees you committing a crime, or if he has a good reason to believe you have committed a serious crime, he may arrest you and search you and the area right around you without a warrant.

If you invite a police without a warrant to come into your house and he finds proof of crime, the evidence may be used against you in court. If you do not want an officer to search you or your home and he does not have a warrant, tell him that you do not give him the right to search. However, if the officer will not listen, do not try to stop him. It is dangerous to resist and it may be illegal to do so. Any evidence which a policeman gets during an unlawful search and seizure cannot be used against you.

Police officers must act reasonably and fairly at all times. They should use physical force only when it is needed to arrest someone to enforce a law. They may not use physical violence to "teach someone a lesson".

1.According to the passage, a "warrant" is______.

A．an identification card                    B．an official written order

C．a special license                        D．an access card

2.The police can use physical force only when _______.

A．they want to teach the habitual thief a lesson

B．the criminal resists arrest

C．they catch the criminal on the spot

D．the suspect talks back

3.The passage centers around _______.

A．the rights of citizens                     B．the importance of warrants

C．the duty of the police                    D．criminal cases

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

It goes without saying that human intelligence is very advanced as opposed to plants and other living creatures. People’s capacity to fully understand, reason, organize, solve problems, display emotional intelligence, learn, communicate and think abstractly is outstanding. It is believed to be much more emphasized (强调) nowadays, when bright folks are normally one level higher than everyone else.

Nowadays many people are of the view that a high intelligence quotient (IQ) is an excellent assistance in pulling through life. Statistics reveal that whatever activity enabling the brain to function and operate, no matter whether in the form of difficulties or other obstacles (障碍) that can be overcome by this specific body area, has a positive effect on it.

So every time you are making full use of your mind for right answers in a quick crossword or if you are answering difficult riddles, you might be, in fact, raising the probabilities of increasing your intelligence. You could play effective brain games like crosswords, chess, riddles, puzzles, Internet games, word games and other games. These are useful in raising your intelligence primarily because they let you think in a different way as you make an effort to uncover answers to certain problems. Aside from this, this form of brain training continually encourages the brain to function and widen its capacity to concentrate and learn.

Needless to say, you’ve to make sure that you make the most of these brain exercises by not cheating yourself. Lastly, if you progress to a much more complicated level, try your best to answer difficult problems with no hints or clues so that you are able to further force your brain to work on its own.

1.What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?

A. The benefits of thinking and other brain exercises.

B. The difference between mankind and other creatures.

C. The reasons for emphasizing human intelligence.

D. The high level of human intelligence.

2.According to the author, many people increase their IQ in order to _____.

A. be one level higher than others

B. deal with difficulties in life

C. play games such as riddles

D. enable the brain to function

3.According to the text, through continuous brain training, people can _____.

A. learn a certain skill quickly

B. become a confident person

C. communicate with others well

D. concentrate in their class

4.What does the author mainly advise in the text?

A. Making good use of brain exercises to increase your intelligence.

B. Playing brain games to prevent brain disease.

C. Solving difficult problems on your own.

D. Getting rid of Internet games.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析