The painter Georgia O’keeffe was born in Wisc...

The painter Georgia O’keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887 and grew up on her family’s farm. At seventeen she decided she wanted to be an artist and left the farm for schools in Chicago and New York, but she never lost her bond with the land. Like most painters, O’Keeffe painted the things that were most important to her, and nearly all her works are simplified portrayals of nature.

O’Keeffe became famous when her paintings were discovered and exhibited in New York by the photographer Levered Stieglitz, whom she married in 1924. During a visit to New York in 1929, O’Keeffe was so moved by the bleak（荒凉的） landscape and broad skies of the Western desert that she began to paint its images. Cows’ skulls and other bleached（变白的） bones found in the desert figured prominently（突出的） in her paintings. When her husband died in 1946, she moved to New Mexico permanently and used the horizon lines of the desert, colorful flowers, rocks, barren(贫瘠的) hills, and the sky as subjects for her paintings. Although O’Keeffe painted her best known works in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s, she continued to produce tributes（贡品、颂词） to the Western desert until her death in 1986.

O’Keeffe is widely considered to have been a pioneering American modernist painter. While most early modern American artists were strongly influenced by European art, O’Keeffe’s position was more independent. She established her own vision and preferred to view her painting as a private endeavor. Almost from the beginning, her work was more indentifiably American than that of her contemporaries in its simplified and idealized treatment of color, light, space, and natural forms.

1. Which of the following best tells what this passage is about ?

2.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an influence on O’Keeffe’s paintings ?

3.Which of the following is most similar to O’Keeffe’s relationship with nature?

4.Why is O’Keeffe considered an artistic pioneer ?

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Picasso, the famous Spanish painter, was born in 1881. His father was an art teacher. Picasso began to paint very early. He was admitted to the Royal Academy at the age of 15. After 1900, he spent much time in Paris, living there from 1904 to 1947, when he moved to the south of France.

Throughout his career, Picasso moved from style to style with ease. He practiced sculpture, illustrated books and also showed great interest in pottery design and other fields of art.

Picasso produced a great number of drawings during his lifetime. No later artist of the School of Paris has replaced him in international influence.

Picasso is generally considered to be the foremost figure in 20th century French art. His paintings are now exhibited in leading European and American galleries.

1.The main idea of the passage is ______.

2. According to the writer, Picasso was ______.

3. How long did he stay in Spain and France?

4. Picasso moved from style to style with ease. It means ______.

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

When you are little, the whole world feels like a big playground. I was living in Conyers, Georgia the summer it all happened. I was a second grader, but my best friend Stephanie was only in the first grade. Both of our parents were at work and most of the time they let us go our own way.

It was a hot afternoon and we decided to have an adventure in Stephanie’s basement. As I opened the basement door, before us lay the biggest room, full of amazing things like guns, dolls, and old clothes. I ran downstairs, and spotted red steel can. It was paint. I looked beyond it and there lay even more paint in bright colors like purple, orange, blue and green.

“Stephanie, I just found us a project for the day. Get some paintbrushes. We are fixing to paint.” She screamed with excitement as I told her of my secret plans and immediately we got to work. We gathered all the brushes we could find and moved all of our materials to my yard. There on the road in front of my house, we painted bit stripes (条纹) of colors across the pavement (人行道). Stripe by stripe, our colors turned into a beautiful rainbow. It was fantastic!

The sun was starting to sink. I saw a car in the distance and jumped up as I recognized the car. It was my mother. I couldn’t wait to show her my masterpiece. The car pulled slowly into the driveway and from the look on my mother’s face, I could tell that I was in deep trouble.

My mother shut the car door and walked towards me. Her eyes glaring, she shouted, “What in the world were you thinking? I understood when you made castles out of leaves, and climbed the neighbors’ trees, but this! Come inside right now!” I stood there glaring hack at her for a minute, angry because she had insulted (侮辱) my art.

“Now go clean it up!” Mother and I began cleaning the road. Tears ran down my cheeks as I saw my beautiful rainbow turn into black cement.

Though years have now passed, I still wonder where my rainbow has gone. I wonder if, maybe when I get older, I can find my rainbow and never have to brush it away. I guess we all need sort of rainbow to brighten our lives from time to time and to keep our hopes and dreams colorful.

1. What did the writer want to do when his mother came home?

A. To introduce Stephanie to her.

B. To prevent her from seeing his painting.

C. To put the materials back in the yard.

D. To show his artwork to her.

2.In his mother’s eyes, the writer_______.

A. was a born artist                     B. always caused trouble

C. was a problem solver                  D. worked very hard

3. The underlined word “rainbow” in the last paragraph refers to ______.

A. the rainbow in the sky

B. the stripes on the pavement

C. something imaginative and fun

D. important lessons learned in childhood

4. It can be learned from the passage that parents should ________.

A. encourage children to paint

B. value friendship among children

C. discover the hidden talent in children

D. protect rather than destroy children’s dreams

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

When you are little, the whole world feels like a big playground. I was living in Conyers, Georgia the summer it all happened. I was a second grader, but my best friend Stephanie was only in the first grade. Both of our parents were at work and most of the time they let us go our own way.

It was a hot afternoon and we decided to have an adventure in Stephanie’s basement. As I opened the basement door, before us lay the biggest room, full of amazing things like guns, dolls, and old clothes. I ran downstairs, and spotted red steel can. It was paint. I looked beyond it and there lay even more paint in bright colors like purple, orange, blue and green.

“Stephanie, I just found us a project for the day. Get some paintbrushes. We are fixing to paint.” She screamed with excitement as I told her of my secret plans and immediately we got to work. We gathered all the brushes we could find and moved all of our materials to my yard. There on the road in front of my house, we painted bit stripes (条纹) of colors across the pavement (人行道). Stripe by stripe, our colors turned into a beautiful rainbow. It was fantastic!

The sun was starting to sink. I saw a car in the distance and jumped up as I recognized the car. It was my mother. I couldn’t wait to show her my masterpiece. The car pulled slowly into the driveway and from the look on my mother’s face, I could tell that I was in deep trouble.

My mother shut the car door and walked towards me. Her eyes glaring, she shouted, “What in the world were you thinking? I understood when you made castles out of leaves, and climbed the neighbors’ trees, but this! Come inside right now!” I stood there glaring hack at her for a minute, angry because she had insulted (侮辱) my art.

“Now go clean it up!” Mother and I began cleaning the road. Tears ran down my cheeks as I saw my beautiful rainbow turn into black cement.

Though years have now passed, I still wonder where my rainbow has gone. I wonder if, maybe when I get older, I can find my rainbow and never have to brush it away. I guess we all need sort of rainbow to brighten our lives from time to time and to keep our hopes and dreams colorful.

1.What did the writer want to do when his mother came home?

A. To introduce Stephanie to her.             B. To prevent her from seeing his painting.

C. To put the materials back in the yard.       D. To show his artwork to her.

2. In his mother’s eyes, the writer_______.

A. was a born artist                        B. always caused trouble

C. was a problem solver                    D. worked very hard

3.The underlined word “rainbow” in the last paragraph refers to ______.

A. the rainbow in the sky                   B. the stripes on the pavement

C. something imaginative and fun            D. important lessons learned in childhood

4.It can be learned from the passage that parents should ________.

A. encourage children to paint               B. value friendship among children

C. discover the hidden talent in children       D. protect rather than destroy children’s dreams

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Roger Rolls was the first black governor in the history of New York State, USA. He was born in one of New York’s notorious(臭名昭著) slums. The children born here rarely did decent work after they grew up. However, Roger Rolls was an exception, for he was not only admitted to the university, but also he became a governor. At his inaugural(就职的) press conference, a reporter asked him, “What made you become the governor?” Faced with more than 300 journalists, Rolls did not mention his struggle but only spoke of his primary school schoolmaster---Pierre Paul.

In 1961, Pierre Paul was engaged as the director and principle of Nobita Primary School. When he entered this school, he found the children here didn’t cooperate with the teachers. Pierre thought up many ways to guide them, but none was effective. Later, he found these children were very superstitious(迷信的), so when he gave lectures, he added a program of palm reading as a means of fortune-telling, with which he encouraged the students.

When Rolls Jumped from the hathpace (高台) and walked to the platform with his small hands stretched out, Pierre Paul said, “As soon as I see your slender little fingers, I know you will be the governor of New York State in future.” At that moment, Rolls was shocked because only his grandmother inspired him once, saying that he could become the governor of New York State, so he remembered that remark and believed him.

From that day on, the “New York State Governor” was like a banner that constantly inspired him to study energetically and make progress. Rolls no longer stained his clothes with mud, nor did he speak in foul (污秽的) language. He began to straighten his back when he was walking. In the next more than 40 years, he demanded himself according to the identity of a governor. At the age of 51, he finally became the governor of New York State.

Put up a banner of faith for yourself and you will have the drive to struggle and the vitality of life.

1.In terms of Roger Rolls’ success, what did he mention made him become the governor of New York State?

A. That he was born in a poor family.

B. His strong belief and his hard struggle.

C. His great achievements in his university.

D. Pierre Paul’s and his grandmother’s encouragement.

2.We know from Para. 2 that ___________.

A. Pierre Paul was expert at palm reading

B. Nobita primary School was a key school in 1961

C. Pierre Paul had a unique way of guiding his students

D. at first students in Pierre Paul’s primary school obeyed school rules well

3.What was always in Roger Rolls’ mind then?

A. New York State Governor.

B. His slender little fingers.

C. His birthplace and identity.

D. The captain of a five-ton ship.

4.Which of the following is NOT true of Rolls after he heard Paul’s remark?

A. He didn’t speak in foul language.

B. He kept his back straight while walking.

C. He studied energetically and made progress.

D. He ignored his stained clothes and only worked hard.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Mark Twain was a great writer.He was born in 1835 in the USA.He was also a famous speaker.He was famous for his sense of humour.Many people liked to listen to his talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.

One day，Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing.Before he was going to leave，one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes in the town and told him that he’d better not go there.Mark Twain waved his hands and said，“It doesn’t matter.The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine.I don’t think they will come to visit me.”

After he arrived at the town，Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station.He went into his room，but when he was just about to have a rest，quite a few mosquitoes flew around him.The waiters felt very sorry about that.“I’m very sorry，Mr.Mark Twain.There are too many mosquitoes in our town，” one of them said to him.

Mark Twain，however，made a joke，saying to the waiter，“The mosquitoes are very clever.They know my room number.They didn’t come into the wrong room.” What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.

But that night Mark Twain slept well.Do you know why？That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.

1.That day Mark Twain went to the town ________.

A．to see one of his friends

B．because he wanted to do something there for his writing

C．because he was told there were a lot of mosquitoes there

D．to see one of his relatives

2.All the people present laughed heartily because ________.

A．the mosquitoes were very clever and they didn’t come into the wrong room

B．the mosquitoes　 knew Mark Twain’s room number

C．Mark Twain gave the waiters some nice presents

D．Mark Twain made a joke

3.From the story we know ________.

A．no mosquitoes troubled Mark Twain in the night

B．the owner of the hotel told the waiters to look after Mark Twain well at night

C．Mark Twain didn’t have a good rest that night

D．there were not mosquitoes in the hotel any longer

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Mark Twain liked to tell interesting stories to make people laugh.

B．Mark Twain went to the small town for his writing.

C．He slept well because the mosquitoes didn’t come into his room.

D．The waiters felt sorry，for there were many mosquitoes in Mark Twain’s room.

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Paracutin was born in Mexico in February, 1943. At the end of one week Paracutin was 500 feet high, and it is now over 9, 000 feet high. Today Paracutin is asleep.

What is Paracutin? It was the first volcano(火山) in the world which was seen from its birth right up to the present day. On February 20, 1943, a peasant and his wife set out to work in their corn fields from the Mexican village of Paracutin. They were surprised to find the earth warm under their feet. Suddenly they heard noises deep in the earth and a small hole appeared in their field. In the afternoon there was a sudden loud noise and stones were thrown high in the air. The peasants ran from the field and turned to watch. They saw the birth of a volcano.

Large quantities of stone and lava(岩浆) broke out and a little hill began to form. By evening this hill was 100 feet high and hot ashes(灰烬) were falling on the village. At night the strong light of the hot lava lit up the countryside. The trees near the village were killed and the villagers had to leave their houses. When the village was destroyed, its name was given to the volcano. The news quickly reached Mexico City, far to the east. Many people came to watch the scene. The volcano grew and grew for ten years and hundreds of square miles of forest were destroyed. Then Paracutin went to sleep.

1.Paracutin was once the name of ________.

2.What was destroyed in the growing up of the volcano?

3.In this passage the writer is trying to ________.

4.What can we learn about volcanoes from this passage？

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

John Grisham was born on February 2,1955, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in the USA. His father was a construction worker and moved his family all around the southern states of America, stopping wherever he could find work. Eventually they settled in Mississippi. Graduating from law school in 1981, Grisham practiced law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation(诉讼). In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.

One day at the Dessoto County courthouse, Grisham heard the horrifying testimony(证词) of a 12-year-old rape victim. He decided to write a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her attackers. He got up every morning at 5 am, to work on the novel, called A Time to Kill, which was published in 1988. Grisham’s next novel, The Firm, was one of the biggest hits of 1991, spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Grisham was then able to give up law and concentrate on writing. Grisham lives with his wife and two children, dividing their time between their Victorian home on a 67 acre farm in Mississippi and a 204 acre plantation near Charlottesville, Virginia.

When he’s not writing, Grisham devote time to charitable(慈善) causes, including mission trip with his church group. As a child he dreamt of becoming a professional baseball player, and now serves as the local Little League leader. He has built six ball fields on his property and hosts children from Little League teams.

1．What inspired Grisham to write his first novel?

A．A case of murder.    B．A case of rape.

C．His father’s experience.   D．His life on the farm.

2．The story of the novel A time to Kill would probably focus on __________.

A．how the girl was attacked       B．what the circumstances of the rape were

C．how the girl’s father would act       D．how the case of rape was settled

3．Which of the following is not true of the novel The Firm?

A．It was popular at the time of publication. B．It earned Grisham great fame.

C．It brought Grisham wealth. D．It was carried by the New York Times as a series.

4．It can be inferred from the passage that Grisham has built ball fields on his property _______.

A．to achieve his life’s goal as a professional baseball player

B．to coach children in baseball

C．to see his childhood dream being realized in the children

D．to provide facilities of baseball training

5．John Grisham is a _______ at present.

A．writer  B．lawyer   C．Congressman D．professional baseball player

高二英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

When was the woman born?

A. In 1980　　 B. In 1982.　　 C. In 1984.

高二英语短对话中等难度题查看答案及解析

Larry Bird was born in 1965 in a small town in the Middle Western State of Indiana. He was tall, and good at playing basketball. He attended Indiana State University. Bird led the team into the College Basketball Championship Game.

After completing his college studies, Larry Bird began playing professional basketball for the Boston Celtics. He remained with the Celtics for all his professional career. During those 13 years, Larry Bird was named the Most Valuable Player of the Year three times. He scored more than 21, 000 points, and he played in 13 of the highest scoring games in his team’s history. Once he scored 60 points in just one game.

During his very successful basketball career, Larry Bird suffered a number of injuries. In 1989, he stopped playing because of pain in his feet. He returned in 1990, but the pain in his feet returned too. In the next two years he experienced more medical problems, and he missed many games.

Larry Bird did play on the Dream Team－the first Olympic Team with professional players. However, after winning the gold medal in Barcelona, he announced that he would retire from professional basketball. Larry Bird said he would have liked to play a little longer, but he could not because of his health problems. He also said it was a good time to leave the game. He wanted to be remembered as a winner.

1.The underlined word “scored” in the second paragraph means ________.

A. lost　　　　　 B. made　　　　 C.　 got　　　　　　 D. wrote

2.When he returned to his team in 1990, ________.

A. he still had a lot of medical problems caused by the previous（先前的）injuries

B. he played in all the following games for his team

C. he had recovered from a number of injuries

D. He didn’t play for his team any more

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Larry Bird began his career after his graduation from the college.

B. He lost interest in playing basketball after he retired.

C. Though he left the team, he didn’t feel too much regret.

D. He thought it a right decision to leave the team.

高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析