It remains a curiosity and a bit of a histori...

It remains a curiosity and a bit of a historical mystery why we don't all drive on the same side of the road. The fact is that most people are right-handed; that's why, for much of history, drivers have stuck to the left. Ancient Romans using two-wheeled carriages are believed to have held the reins(缰绳) with their right hands and a whip with their left; to avoid whipping the near drivers, they favored the left-hand side the road. It's also easier for right-handers to get on a horse from the left, so riders were attracted to that side to avoid the near traffic as they climbed on and off. Finally, knights(骑士) and the other drivers favored the left so they could do battle, if necessary, with their good hand.

So why does most of the world travel on the right side today? Theories differ, but there's no doubt Napoleon was a major influence. The French have used the right since the late 18th century.　 Some say that before the French Revolution, people in upper class drove their carriages on the left, forcing the peasantry to the right. During the violence, fearful rich people sought to mix with the peasantry by traveling on the right as well. Regardless of the origin, Napoleon brought right-hand traffic to the nations he conquered, including Russia, Switzerland and Germany. Hitler, in turn, ordered right-hand traffic in Czechoslovakia and Austria in the 1930s. Nations that escaped right-handed conquest, like Great Britain, kept their left-handed tradition.

1.Who had a major effect on “keep-right” traffic law?

A. Ancient Romans　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. Hitler

C. Napoleon　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Austrians

2. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us?

A. Napoleon brought right-hand traffic to the nations he conquered.

B. Hitler ordered right-hand traffic in Austria.

C. Great Britain escaped right-handed conquest.

D. The reasons that most of the world drives on the right side.

3.What does the word peasantry in the last paragraph mean?

A. People in upper class.

B. Right-handers.

C. Drivers.

D. Poor people.

4. Apart from Great Britain, which country mentioned in the text keeps left-hand

traffic?

A. France　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. Ancient Rome

C. Russia　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. Germany

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

So far no one has______convincing evidence of why dinosaurs died out,and it remains a mystery.

A. come about　　 B. come into

C. come up with　　 D. come out

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

We all know the importance of curiosity, and here are some tips on how to develop it.

Keep an open mind. This is essential if you are to have a curious mind. Be open to learning, unlearning, and relearning things. 　　 1.　 Therefore, you should be prepared to accept this possibility and change your mind.

2.　　 Most people just accept the world as it is. This way, they will certainly lose the “holy curiosity”. Try to dig deeper beneath the surface of what is around you. A sure way to dig deeper beneath the surface is asking questions. What, why, when, who, where, and how are the questions curious people always ask.

Don’t label anything as boring. Whenever you label something as boring, you close one more door of possibilities. Curious people are unlikely to consider things boring. 　 3.　　 Even if they don’t yet have time to explore them, they will leave the door open to be visited another time.

Take learning as something fun. If you see learning as a burden, there’s no way you will want to dig deeper into anything. That will just make the burden heavier. However, if you think of learning as something fun, you will naturally want to dig deeper. 　　 4.

Read diverse materials. It will introduce you to the possibilities and excitement of other worlds which may attract your interest in exploring further. One easy way to do this is through reading diverse materials. 　 5.　　 It’ll feed your mind with the excitement of a new world.

A. Never take things as granted.

B. Don’t spend too much time on just one world.

C. Try to pick a book or magazine on a new subject.

D. Some things you know and believe might be wrong.

E. It doesn’t matter that you don’t agree to others’ opinions.

F. Instead, they always see these things as a door to an exciting new world.

G. So look at life through the glasses of fun and enjoy the learning process.

高三英语其他题中等难度题查看答案及解析

Here I'd like to talk about how to develop your curiosity and make use of it to make discoveries. Asking questions is the first step to make discoveries and find interesting answers when you are curious about something and want to know more about it.

Firstly, write down the subject that you are interested in on a note card or piece of paper. Just put the main idea down, such as “Discover more about dinosaurs.”

Next, think for a moment about what you already know about your subject and list information like the sentences below：

1. Dinosaurs lived long before human beings appeared.

2. Dinosaurs lived on the earth for more than 150 million years.

3. Some dinosaurs fed on plants, some on meat.

Thirdly, ask yourself “What can I do with what I want to learn？” On your paper, start writing down questions about the dinosaurs as you think of them：

1. What's the best weather for dinosaurs to live in?

2. How many kinds of dinosaurs are there?

3. Have dinosaurs really disappeared?

Fourthly, armed_with_your_list_of_questions,_you can now visit the nearest library or turn to computer to begin your research. As you learn more about your subject, you'll probably discover some new questions.

For example, you might discover that dinosaurs disappeared about 65 million years ago. Why? What happened? Asking new questions can help you research your subject more deeply.

The next time you find something interesting to research, take time to organize your thinking by asking good questions. And remember—learning more always bring more questions.

1.While doing some research, you should take the following steps________.

①list what you want to know

②choose a research subject

③list what you already know

④discover new problems

A．①④③②　　　　　    B．①②④③

C．②③①④　     D．②①④③

2.What does the underlined sentence “armed with your list of questions” mean?

A．Taking your list of questions with you to do more research.

B．Writing down your list of questions before turning to the computer.

C．Discussing your questions with your classmates for solution.

D．Putting your questions aside before going to the library.

3.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A．You can find all the answers online.

B．Learn more, and you'll have no questions.

C．Asking questions is the only way for research.

D．During the research, more questions may arise.

4.The best title for this passage is________.

A．Discovering Dinosaurs　　　　　　　　　　　　　

B．Asking Good Questions

C．Finding Suitable Subjects　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

D．Having Interesting Answers

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

We all know the importance of curiosity, and here are some tips on how to develop it.

Keep an open mind. This is essential if you are to have a curious mind. Be open to learning, unlearning, and relearning things. 1.Therefore, you should be prepared to accept this possibility and change your mind.

2.Most people just accept the world as it is. This way, they will certainly lose the “holy curiosity”. Try to dig deeper beneath the surface of what is around you. A sure way to dig deeper beneath the surface is asking questions. What, why, when, who, where, and how are the questions curious people always ask.

Don’t label anything as boring. Whenever you label something as boring, you close one more door of possibilities. Curious people are unlikely to consider things boring.

3.Even if they don’t yet have time to explore them, they will leave the door open to be visited another time.

Take learning as something fun. If you see learning as a burden, there’s no way you will want to dig deeper into anything. That will just make the burden heavier. However, if you think of learning as something fun, you will naturally want to dig deeper.4..

Read diverse materials. It will introduce you to the possibilities and excitement of other worlds which may attract your interest in exploring further. One easy way to do this is through reading diverse materials.5.. It’ll feed your mind with the excitement of a new world.

A. Never take things as granted.

B. Don’t spend too much time on just one world.

C. Try to pick a book or magazine on a new subject.

D. Some things you know and believe might be wrong.

E. It doesn’t matter that you don’t agree to others’ opinions.

F. Instead, they always see these things as a door to an exciting new world.

G. So look at life through the glasses of fun and enjoy the learning process.

高三英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析

How the Grand Canyon (大峡谷) was created remains one of the geology’s greatest mysteries. Some evidence suggests that the process was a gradual one in which the Colorado River (which runs through the canyon) slowly cut deeper and deeper into the ground over millions of years. But volcanic rock samples taken from the canyon now suggest that the canyon was down-cut instead.

Down-cutting is when a flood of water rushes over a landscape (地形) with enough force to cut deeply into the ground and leaves behind a canyon. Such a flood is usually released when a natural or man-made dam (堤坝) bursts.

Robert Webb, a research geologist, says natural dams seem to have formed and broken across the Colorado River several times during the last million years. The dams were built when lava(熔岩) from the eruptions of nearby volcanoes flowed into the river. The lava hardened into hard rocks and blocked the river, causing it to back up and form a lake. Each time the lake grew so huge that it broke the rock dam, releasing a flash flood that furthered the down-cutting process and deepened the canyon.

Down-cutting is not just an earthly event. Satellite photos sent back from Mars suggest that the process has happened there, too, say many other researchers.

The photos, taken by the Mars Global Surveyor, indicate that an enormous lake existed on Mars 3.5 billion years ago. The lake spilled into a large nearby hole. One edge of the hole broke, releasing a flash flood that quickly carved out a grand canyon.

The existence of down-cutting on Mars is just one more piece of evidence that the cold, dry planet was once warm and wet.

1.In the past, deep canyons were believed to have formed _______.

A. as a result of a sudden break of volcanoes　　

B. due to river flows over millions of years

C. owing to the burst of artificial dams

D. thanks to our ancestors’ creative work

2.According to the passage, which of the following statements is TURE?

A. Several volcanoes broke out on Mars directly creating grand canyons.

B. Several great lakes existed on the upper parts of the Colorado River.

C. People built high dams on the upper parts of the Colorado River.

D. The Colorado River crossed the Grand Canyon to form down-cutting.

3.From the last three paragraphs we learn that _______.

A. there are great lakes on Mars

B. there are active volcanoes on Mars

C. there might be cities on Mars

D. there might be life on Mars

4.The passage can be titled as _______.

A. Lakes on Earth and Mars

B. The Cause of Lake Formation

C. The Force of Dam Breaking

D. Canyons—Results of Flood Cutting

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

LOS ANGELES,July8（Xinhua）——Michael Jackson's burial remained a mystery as part of his brain is being held by the coroner's （验尸官）office for tests, an official said.

The late superstar's body was transported to an undisclosed place Tuesday after a star-crowded public memorial service at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. It is still unclear where and when the singer's body will be buried.

Ed Winter, assistant chief coroner said families often wait for mass of brain part to be returned before permitted burial. He said he understood no burial would take place immediately although he was not aware of instructions from the Jackson family. The coroner's office released a death certificate(证明) for Jackson Tuesday that listed the cause of death as "delay."

Michael Jackson，the King of Pop，was born on August 29，1958，and died on June 25，2009 after being rushed to a Los Angeles hospital from his rented house when his heart stopped functioning properly. A police investigation into his death is focusing on the possibility that his death was caused by a medication overdose（过量）, including possibly Diprivan, a powerful sedative (镇静剂)usually used for general anesthesia（麻醉）.

68. Why hasn’t Jackson’s burial been held? ______

A. The place to bury him isn’t sure.

B. His family didn’t give instructions

C. Part of his body is still being tested

D. The time to bury him is still being  discusseded

69. The direct cause of the super popstar’s death is ______

A. that his heart stopped beating

B. due to a powerful sedative used for anesthesia

C. overdose of some medicine

D. the delay of being rushed to the hospital

70. Which statement is true? ______

A. No one can bury the body of one’s beloved without the government’s instructions.

B. Many popstars were involved in Jackson’s memorial service.

C. The police doubted whether Jackson was murdered.

D. Jackson died at home.

71. We can infer from the passage that______

A. The burial can’t happen without a death certificate.

B. Jackson’s family are skeptical (怀疑的)about Jackson’s death

C. Jackson was possibly murdered by his doctor

D. The brain part of all people’s body must be transported to be tested

高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

ROME: The legend of Leonardo da Vinci is covered in mystery: How did he die?Are the remains buried in a French castle really those of the master? Was the "Mona Lisa" a self-portrait in disguise (伪装)?

A group of Italian scientists believe the key to solving those puzzles lies with the remains, and they say they are seeking permission to dig up the body to conduct carbon and DNA testing.

If the skull is undamaged, the scientists can go to the heart of a question that has fascinated scholars and the public for centuries: the identity of the "Mona Lisa." Recreating a virtual and then physical reconstruction of Leonardo's face, they can compare it with the smiling face in the painting.

"We don't know what we'll find if the tomb is opened. We could even just find grains and dust," says Giorgio Gruppioni, an anthropologist who is participating in the project. "But if the remains are well kept, they are a biological record of events in a person's life, and sometimes in their death." Silvano Vinceti, the leader of the group, said that he plans to press his case with the French officials in charge of the said burial site at Amboise Castle early next week.

Leonardo moved to France at the invitation of King Francis I, who named him "first painter to the king." He spent the last three years of his life there, and died in 1519 at age 67. The artist's original burial place, the palace church of Saint Florentine, was destroyed during the French Revolution and remains that are believed to be his were eventually reburied in the Saint-Hubert Chapel near the castle.

"The Amboise tomb is a symbolic tomb; it's a big question mark," said Alessandro Vezzosi, the director of a museum dedicated to Leonardo in his hometown of Vinci. Vezzosi said that investigating the tomb could help identify the artist's bones with certainty and solve other questions, such as the cause of his death. He said he asked to open the tomb in 2004 to study the remains, but the Amboise Castle turned him down.

The group of 100 experts involved in the project, called the National Committee for Historical and Artistic Heritage, was created in 2003 with the aim of "solving the great mysteries of the past," said Vinceti, who has written books on art and literature.

Arguably the world's most famous painting, the "Mona Lisa" hangs in the Louvre in Paris, where it drew some 8.5 million visitors last year. Mystery has surrounded the identity of the painting's subject for centuries, with opinions ranging from the wife of a Florentine merchant to Leonardo's own mother.

That Leonardo intended the "Mona Lisa" as a self-portrait in disguise is a possibility that has interested and divided scholars. Theories have existed: Some think that Leonardo's taste for tricks and riddles might have led him to hide his own identity behind that puzzling smile; others have guessed that the painting hid an androgynous lover.

If granted access to the grave site, the Italian experts plan to use a tiny camera and radar to confirm the presence of bones. The scientists would then exhume (挖掘) the remains and attempt to date the bones with carbon testing.

At the heart of the proposed study is the effort to discover whether the remains are actually Leonardo's, including with DNA testing.

Vezzosi questions the DNA comparison, saying he is unaware of any direct descendants (后代) of Leonardo or of tombs that could be attributed with certainty to the artist's close relatives.

Gruppioni said that DNA from the bones could also eventually be compared to DNA found elsewhere. For example, Leonardo is thought to have rubbed colors on the canvas with his thumb, possibly using saliva (唾液), meaning DNA might be found on his paintings.

Even in the absence of DNA testing, other tests could provide useful information, including whether the bones belonged to a man or a woman, and whether the person died young or old.

Even within the committee, experts are divided over the identity of the "Mona Lisa."

Vinceti believes that a tradition of considering the self-portrait to be not just a faithful imitation of one's features but a representation of one's spiritual identity may have resonated (共鸣) with Leonardo.

Vezzosi, the museum director, dismissed as "baseless and senseless" the idea that the "Mona Lisa" could be a self-portrait of Leonardo. He said most researchers believe the woman may have been either a wife of the artist's sponsor, the Florentine nobleman Giuliano de Medici, or Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a rich silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. The traditional view is that the name "Mona Lisa" comes from the silk merchant's wife, as well as its Italian name: "La Gioconda."

1.   Where is this passage most probably taken from?

2.   Why does the author ask a couple of questions in the beginning?

3.   The best title of this story might be “_____”.

4.The sentence “he plans to press his case with the French officials” (underlined in Paragraph 4) suggests that Vinceti intends to _____.

5.   Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

6.   We can infer from the last two paragraphs that _____?

高三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 does the underlined word “perspicacious” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Strong.    B．Smart.

C．Popular.    D．Active.

4.The following paragraph 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 self­development

高三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 does the underlined word“perspicacious”in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Strong.　     B．Smart.

C．Popular.　     D．Active.

4.The following paragraph 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

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析