The study of a modern language has a unique _...

The study of a modern language has a unique ______ to make to the development of cultural awareness.

A.influence B.connection C.contribution D.devotion

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

We each have a unique genetic(基因的, 遗传的)make-up. Every cell of our body has the same set of about 100, 000 separate genes made of DNA. These are the instructions for producing a person. Genes decide everything from the colour of our skin to the way our brain works. We have one of several billion combinations of DNA which come from the random mixing of our parents’ genes. Except for identical twins(同卵双胞胎), no one has the same combination as another person. We are unique! We are unique in another way, too: in the way we are raised and all the experiences we have from before birth to adult life. These experiences influence us, our behaviour and attitudes, and the choices we make.

But are genes or life experiences more important in shaping our appearance and personality?　 Scientists are studying twins to find out. One set of twins occurs every 70 births—some are identical and others are non-identical twins. Identical twins are special because they share exactly the same genes and often the same environment. Non-identical twins are more like ordinary brothers and sisters.

Some identical twins have been adopted and brought up in different homes. With identical genes but a different home environment, scientists can study twins to see how much a particular feature depends on the genes we inherit(继承). For example, we know that eye problems, like short-sightedness, are mostly genetic. But resistance to pain is largely dependent on experiences. Genes also influence our eating habits. Identical twins brought up apart often like to eat at the same time of day and feel full after eating the same amount. Non-identical twins in similar circumstances have more varied eating habits. Identical twins are also more likely to follow the same patterns for marriage and divorce than non-identical twins.

Scientists are trying to identify the different genes that influence our behavior. Some people are thrill-seekers and get into risk-taking and adventurous activities. They take up extreme sports like bungee jumping and possibly take drugs. Scientists have discovered a gene which affects this.

We could ask, “Are our lives determined by our genes or our upbringing?　 ”Scientists are learning more all the time, but it is certainly true that both are important in making us who we are.

1.What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

A. Both our genes and our experiences make us who we are.

B. How we turn out depends on our parents’ genes.

C. Everyone has a physical double somewhere in the world.

D. We cannot easily change our physical appearance.

2.Why are scientists studying twins?

A. To find out how many twins are born every year.

B. To discover what shapes us as individuals.

C. To compare differences between twins.

D. To study brother-and-sister relationships.

3. According to the passage,　　　　　　　 .

A. one in 70 twins are genetically identical

B. non-identical twins are usually not of the same sex

C. twins separated at birth behave exactly the same

D. identical twins are genetically the same

4.What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A. Our love of sports.　　　　　　 B. Our attitude to risk-taking.

C. Our skill at bungee jumping.　　 D. Our ability to take drugs.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has  come up with the unexpected conclusion that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species

The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard universities when they were examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to modern elephants—the Asian elephant, African forest elephant and African savanna elephant

Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石)，mammoths and mastodons， the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants. They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and mammoths.

The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephants and the African forest elephants have been distinct species for several million years. The divergence of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly mammoths. This result amazed all the scientists.

There has long been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate species but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different species.

Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest elephants were two populations of the same species despite the elephants’ significant size differences. The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5metres. The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant. But the fact that they look so different does not necessarily mean they are different species. However, the proof lay in the analysis of the DNA.

Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the department of Animal Sciences at the University of Minois, said, “We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for conservation purpose. Since 1950 all African elephants have been conserved as one species. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinct animals, the forest elephant should become a bigger priority (优先)for conservation purpose .”

1.One of the fossils studied by the researchers is that of ________.

A. the Asian elephant                   B. the forest elephant

C. the savanna elephant                D. the mastodon elephant

2.The underlined word “divergence” in paragraph 4means “________”

A. evolution        B. exhibition       C. separation         D. examination

3.The researcher’s conclusion was based on a study of the African elephant’s _____

A. DNA           B. height          C. weight            D. population

4.What were Alfred Roca’s words mainly about?

A. The conservation of African elephants.

B. The purpose of studying African elephants

C. The way to divide African elephants into two units

D. The reason for the distinction of African elephants

5.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. Naturalist’s Belief about Elephants.

B. Amazing Experiment about Elephants

C. An Unexpected Finding about Elephants

D. A Long scientific Debate about Elephants

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

A recent study of ancient and modern elephants has  come up with the unexpected conclusion that the African elephant is divided into two distinct (不同的) species

The discovery was made by researchers at York and Harvard universities when they were examining the genetic relationship between the ancient woolly mammoth and mastodon to modern elephants—the Asian elephant, African forest elephant and African savanna elephant

Once they obtained DNA sequences (序列) from two fossils (化石)，mammoths and mastodons the team compared them with DNA from modern elephants. They found to their amazement that modern forest and savanna elephants are as distinct from each other as Asian elephants and mammoths.

The scientists used detailed genetic analysis to prove that the African savanna elephants and the African forest elephants have been distinct species for several million years. The divergence of the two species took place around the time of the divergence of Asian elephants and woolly mammoths. This result amazed all the scientists.

There has long been debate in the scientific community that the two might be separate species but this is the most convincing scientific evidence so far that they are indeed different species.

Previously, many naturalists believed that African savanna elephants and African forest elephants were two populations of the same species despite the elephants’ significant size differences. The savanna elephant has an average shoulder height of 3.5metres while the forest elephant has an average shoulder height of 2.5metres. The savanna elephant weighs between six and seven tons, roughly double the weight of the forest elephant. But the fact that they look so different does not necessarily mean they are different species. However, the proof lay in the analysis of the DNA.

Alfred Roca, assistant professor in the department of Animal Sciences at the University of Minois, said, “We now have to treat the forest and savanna elephants as two different units for conservation purpose. Since 1950 all African elephants have been conserved as one species. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very distinct animals, the forest elephant should become a bigger priority (优先)for conservation purpose .”

1.

One of the fossils studied by the researchers is that of ________.

A. the Asian elephant                  B. the forest elephant

C. the savanna elephant                D. the mastodon elephant

2.

The underlined word “divergence” in paragraph 4means “________”

A. evolution        B. exhibition       C. separation         D. examination

3.

The researcher’s conclusion was based on a study of the African elephant’s ____________

A. DNA           B. height          C. weight            D. population

4.

What were Alfred Roca’s words mainly about?

A. The conversation of African elephants.

B. The purpose of studying African elephants

C. The way to divide African elephants into two units

D. The reason for the distinction of African elephants

5.

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

A. Naturalist’s Belief about Elephants.        B. Amazing Experiment about Elephants

C. An Unexpected Finding about Elephants    D. A Long scientific Debate about Elephants

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Recent studies have discovered that fathers uniquely contribute to the development of their children, _____ in low income families.

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

The language we use affects the decisions we make, according to a new study. Participants made more reasonable decisions when money-related choices were given in a foreign language that they had learned in a classroom setting than when they were asked in a native tongue.

To study how language affects reasoning, University of Chicago psychologists looked at a well-known phenomenon: people are more risk-taking when a decision irrelevant to their own feelings (such as which medicine to give to a sick elephant) is presented in terms of a potential gain than when it is framed as a potential loss even when the outcomes are the same. In the study, native English speakers who had learned Japanese, native Korean speakers who had learned English and native English speakers studying French in Paris all showed the expected tendency when they were asked the question in their native tongue. In their foreign language, however, the tendency disappeared.

A second set of experiments tested another cognitive (认知的) prejudice –we expect a personal loss will be more painful than the same amount of gain will be pleasant, so the benefit of winning must be disproportionately large for us to take a bet(打赌) (such as gambling with our own money). Again, the foreign-language effect was obvious in two different experiments, one with native Korean speakers and one with native English speakers. The Koreans took more theoretical bets in English than Korean, and the native English speakers took more real bets in Spanish than they did in English.

“When people use a foreign language, their decisions tend to be less prejudiced, more analytic, more systematic, because the foreign language provides psychological distance,” lead author Boaz Keysar suggests. Cognitive prejudices are rooted in emotional reactions, and thinking in a foreign language helps us disconnect from these emotions and make decisions in a more economically reasonable way. This study did not consider, however, the cases in which emotional engagement improves, rather than prevents, our choices: “We have an emotional system for a good reason,” Keysar says.

1.What is the foreign language effect discussed in this passage?

A. People make more reasonable decisions in a foreign language than in their native tongues.

B. Foreign languages play more important roles in making decisions than native languages do.

C. Emotional engagement can prevent reasonable decision makings but improve them as well.

D. Cognitive prejudices are more likely to appear in a foreign language than in a native tongue.

2.What does the underlined sentence mean?

A. People need to win a large sum of money before they decide to take a bet.

B. People are advised not to take a bet if they are not ready for the pain of losing.

C. People don’t take a bet unless they would win much more than they would lose.

D. People will feel more pleasant winning a bet than winning a large sum of money.

3.According to Keysar, what is the reason of the foreign language effect in this research?

A. Foreign languages have great effect on decision makings.

B. People are less prejudiced when thinking in a foreign language.

C. People are more risk-taking in a foreign language environment.

D. Personal feelings have little influence in foreign language thinking.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Speaking two languages can actually help reduce some effects of aging on the brain, a new study has found.

Researchers tested how long participants needed to _______ from one cognitive (认知) task to another, something that’s known to _______ longer for older adults, said lead researcher, Brain Gold, an expert at the University of Kentucky, “It has great effects these days because our population is _______ gradually,” Gold said. “Seniors are _______ longer, and that’s a good thing, but it’s only a good thing _______ a certain degree that their brains are _______.”

Gold’s team compared task-switching of younger and older _______, knowing they would find slower speeds in the _______ population because of previous studies. _______, they found that older adults who spoke two languages were able to switch mental gear (齿轮) ________ than those who didn’t.

First, Gold and his team ________ 30 people, who were either bilingual (双语的) ________ monolingual (单语的), to look at a series of colored shapes and ________ with the name of each shape by pushing a button. Then, they ________ the participants with a similar series of colored shapes and asked them to respond with what ________ the shapes were by pushing a button. The bilingual people had the ________ to respond faster to the shifting prompts (提示).

Researchers then gathered 80 more people for a second ________; 40 bilinguals and 40 monolinguals. This time, researchers used FMRI machines to ________ brain activity during the same shape-and color-identifying ________. Gold and his team found that bilingual people had different brain activity than their monolingual peers.

“Learning a second language in childhood was thought of as ________,” Gold said. “Actually, it’s beneficial.”

1.A. switch　　 B. perform　　 C. jump　　 D. transport

2.A. hold　　 B. spend　　 C. last　　 D. take

3.A. increasing　　 B. aging　　 C. growing　　 D. exploding

4.A. surviving　　 B. staying　　 C. living　　 D. expecting

5.A. with　　 B. in　　 C. at　　 D. to

6.A. powerful　　 B. healthy　　 C. sensitive　　 D. special

7.A. adults　　 B. researchers　　 C. leaders　　 D. seniors

8.A. random　　 B. ordinary　　 C. older　　 D. younger

9.A. Thus　　 B. Otherwise　　 C. Besides　　 D. However

10.A. faster　　 B. slower　　 C. longer　　 D. better

11.A. paid　　 B. asked　　 C. promised　　 D. forced

12.A. yet　　 B. nor　　 C. or　　 D. and

13.A. remember　　 B. realize　　 C. recall　　 D. reply

14.A. presented　　 B. rewarded　　 C. assisted　　 D. treated

15.A. forms　　 B. types　　 C. colors　　 D. sizes

16.A. right　　 B. ability　　 C. opportunity　　 D. determination

17.A. experiment　　 B. conclusion　　 C. lesson　　 D. task

18.A. recognize　　 B. improve　　 C. make　　 D. record

19.A. tools　　 B. scores　　 C. tasks　　 D. games

20.A. useless　　 B. reasonable　　 C. simple　　 D. interesting

高三英语完形填空困难题查看答案及解析

It is not just the size of the Olympic Games ___makes them unique, but ____they mean to us .

A．which, that        B．that, what         C．that, because       D．that, that

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

To make sure those relics are well preserved，the museum has ________ modern technologies to monitor the conditions of them.

A．adapted　                         B．applied

C．appointed　                     D．abolished

高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

B

Two new studies suggest that modern running shoes could increase the risk of injuries to runners.

One study involved sixty-eight healthy young women and men who ran at least twenty-four kilometers a week. The runners were observed on a treadmill machine. Sometimes they wore running shoes. Other times they ran barefoot.

Researchers from the JKM Technologies Company in Virginia, the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado did the study.

They found that running shoes create more stress that could damage knees, hips and ankle joints than running barefoot. They observed that the effect was even greater than the effect reported earlier for walking in high heels.

The study appeared in the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine.

The other study appeared in the journal Nature. It compared runners in the United States and Kenya. The researchers were from Harvard University in Massachusetts, Moi University in Kenya and the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

They divided the runners into three groups. One group had always run shoeless. Another group had always run with shoes. And the third group had changed to shoeless running.

Runners who wear shoes usually come down heel first. That puts great force on the back of the foot. But the study found that barefoot runners generally land on the front or middle of their foot. That way they ease into their landing and avoid striking their heel.

Harvard’s Daniel Lieberman led the study. He says the way most running shoes are designed may explain why those who wear them land on their heels. The heel of the shoe is bigger and heavier than other parts of the shoe, so it would seem more likely to come

down first. Also, the heel generally has thick material under it to soften landings.

60. How many organizations are involved in the two studies?

A. Three.                          B. Four.                      C. Five.                      D. Six.

61. What can we learn from the text?

A. Most running shoes are designed improperly.

B. The design of high heels is better than that of running shoes.

C. No one will run with running shoes in the future.

D. Both of the studies are done in America.

62. Why do running shoes increase the risk of injuries to runners?

A. They could create stress.

B. They’re too big and heavy.

C. They can affect the way the runners land.

D. Their heels can soften landings.

63. How did the researchers do the two studies?

A. By practising.         B. By comparing.      C. By questioning.     D. By reasoning.

高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析