For several decades, there has been an extens...

For several decades, there has been an extensive and organized campaign intended to generate distrust in science, funded by regulated industries and libertarian think tanks（自由主义智囊团）whose interests and beliefs are threatened by the findings of modern science. In response, scientists have tended to stress the success of science. After all, scientists have been right about most things, from the structure of the universe to the relativity of time and space.

Quoting successes isn’t wrong, but for many people it’s not persuasive. What is typically declared to be the scientific method -- develop a supposition, then design an experiment to test it -- isn’t what scientists actually do. Science is active so that new methods get invented and old ones get abandoned. The scientific method doesn’t always work. False theories can produce true results, so even if an experiment works, it doesn’t prove that the theory it was designed to test it true.

If there is no identifiable scientific method, then what is the guarantee for trust in science?

The answer is the methods by which those claims are evaluated. A scientific claim is never accepted as true until it has gone through a long process of examination by fellow scientists. Until this point, scientific feedback is typically fairly friendly. But the next step is different: once the paper is ready, it is presented to a scientific journal, where things get a whole lot tougher. Editors deliberately send scientific papers to people who are not friends or colleagues of the authors, and the job of the reviewer is to find errors or other inadequacies. We call this process “peer review” because the reviewers are scientific peers but they act in the role of a superior who has both the right and the obligation to find fault. It is only after the reviewers and the editor are satisfied that any problems have been fixed that the paper is accepted for publication and enters the body of “science.”

Does this process ever go wrong? Of course. Scientists are human. But if we look carefully at historical cases where science went wrong, typically there was no agreement reached by all. Some people argue that we should not trust science because scientists are “always changing their minds.” While examples of truly settled science being overturned are far fewer than is sometimes claimed, they do exist. But the beauty of this scientific process is that it explains what might otherwise appear paradoxical（矛盾的）: that science produces both novelty（新颖性）and stability. New observations, ideas, interpretations introduce novelty: trans-formative questioning leads to collective decisions and the stability of scientific knowledge. Scientists do change their minds in the face of new evidence, but this is a strength of science, not a weakness.

1.Distrust in science has been found because _________.

A.scientists’ citing successes isn’t persuasive for many people to some extent

B.most scientists have tended to lay too much emphasis on the success of science

C.a wide - ranging and organized campaign has been founded in some industries and think tanks

D.someone’s benefits and beliefs are endangered by the findings of modern science

2.Which of the following statements will the author agree with about a scientific method?

A.A scientific method doesn’t necessarily take effect because science is changing.

B.A scientific method is not right because it isn’t what scientists actually do.

C.A successful experiment can guarantee the truthfulness of a claim by a scientific method.

D.True theories can produce false results because the scientific method doesn’t work.

3.What purpose does “peer review” in evaluating a scientific claim mainly serve?

A.The scientific claim can be completely accepted by the reviewers in the same field.

B.The scientific peers can draw right conclusions by finding its faults or other inadequacies.

C.The scientific claim can be published and recognized as true in science.

D.The scientific paper can be successfully submitted to a scientific journal.

4.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _________.

A.Not all the claims about the falsehood of well-established science lead to its being overturned

B.It is inevitable that science sometimes goes wrong because it appears paradoxical

C.The beauty of science lies in the paradox of being both novel and stable

D.Science is not trustful because scientists always change their minds.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

For several decades, there has been an extensive and organized campaign intended to generate distrust in science, funded by those whose interests and ideologies are threatened by the findings of modern science. In response, scientists have tended to stress the success of science. After all, scientists have been right about most things.

Stressing successes isn’t wrong, but for many people it’s not persuasive. An alternative answer to the question “Why trust science?” is that scientists use the so-called scientific method. If you’ve got a high school science textbook lying around, you’ll probably find that answer in it. But what is typically thought to be the scientific method — develop a hypothesis (假设), then design an experiment to test it — isn’t what scientists actually do. Science is dynamic: new methods get invented; old ones get abandoned; and sometimes, scientists can be found doing many different things.

If there is no identifiable scientific method, then what is the reason for trust in science? The answer is how those claims are evaluated. The common element in modern science, regardless of the specific field or the particular methods being used, is the strict scrutiny (审查) of claims. It’s this tough, sustained process that works to make sure faulty claims are rejected. A scientific claim is never accepted as true until it has gone through a lengthy “peer review” because the reviewers are experts in the same field who have both the right and the obligation (责任) to find faults.

A key aspect of scientific judgment is that it is done collectively. No claim gets accepted until it has been vetted by dozens, if not hundreds, of heads. In areas that have been contested, like climate science and vaccine safety, it’s thousands. This is why we are generally justified in not worrying too much if a single scientist, even a very famous one, disagrees with the claim. And this is why diversity in science — the more people looking at a claim from different angles — is important.

Does this process ever go wrong? Of course. Scientists are humans. There is always the possibility of revising a claim on the basis of new evidence. Some people argue that we should not trust science because scientists are “always changing their minds.” While examples of truly settled science being overturned are far fewer than is sometimes claimed, they do exist. But the beauty of this scientific process is that it explains what might otherwise appear paradoxical (矛盾的): that science produces both novelty and stability. Scientists do change their minds in the face of new evidence, but this is a strength of science, not a weakness.

1.How does the author think of the scientific method?

A.Stable. B.Persuasive.

C.Unreliable. D.Unrealistic.

2.What does the underlined word “vetted” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A.Explained. B.Examined.

C.Repeated. D.Released.

3.According to the passage, the author may agree that ______.

A.it is not persuasive to reject those faulty claims

B.settled science tends to be collectively overturned

C.a leading expert cannot play a decisive role in a scrutiny

D.diversity in knowledge is the common element in science

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A.Put Your Faith in Science B.Defend the Truth in Science

C.Apply Your Mind to Science D.Explore A Dynamic Way to Science

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

For several decades, there has been an organized campaign intended to produce distrust in science, funded by those whose interests are threatened by the findings of modern science. In response, scientists have tended to stress the success of science. After all, scientists have been right about most things, from the structure of the universe to the relativity of time and space.

Stressing successes isn’t wrong, but for many people it’s not persuasive. An alternative answer to the question “Why trust science?” is that scientists use the so-called scientific method. But what is called the scientific method isn’t what scientists actually do. Science is dynamic: new methods get invented; old ones get abandoned; and at any particular point, scientists can be found doing many different things. False theories sometimes lead to true results, so even if an experiment works, it doesn’t prove that the theory it was designed to test is true.

If there is no specific scientific method, then what is the basis for trust in science? The answer is the methods by which those claims are evaluated. A scientific claim is never accepted as true until it has gone through a long process of examination by fellow scientists. Scientists draft the initial version of a paper and then send it to colleagues for suggestions. Until this point, scientific feedback is typically fairly friendly. But the next step is different: the revised paper is submitted to a scientific journal, where things get a whole lot tougher. Editors deliberately send scientific papers to people who are not friends or colleagues of the authors, and the job of the reviewer is to find errors or other faults. We call this process “peer review” because the reviewers are scientific peers—experts in the same field—but they act in the role of a superior who has both the right and the responsibility to find fault. It is only after the reviewers and the editor are satisfied that any problems have been fixed that the paper will be printed in the journal and enters the body of “science.”

Some people argue that we should not trust science because scientists are “always changing their minds.” While examples of truly settled science being overturned are far fewer than is sometimes claimed, they do exist. But the beauty of this scientific process is that science produces both creativity and stability. New observations, ideas, explanations and attempts to combine competing claims introduce creativity; transformative questioning leads to collective decisions and the stability of scientific knowledge. Scientists do change their minds in the face of new evidence, but this is a strength of science, not a weakness.

1.Scientists stress the success of science in order to ________.

A.promote basic knowledge of science

B.remind people of scientific achievements

C.remove possible doubts about science

D.show their attitude towards the campaign

2.What can we learn about the so-called scientific method?

A.It’s an easy job to prove its existence.

B.It usually agrees with scientists’ ideas.

C.It hardly gets mixed with false theories.

D.It constantly changes and progresses.

3.What can we learn about “peer” review?

A.It seldom gives negative evaluation of a paper.

B.It is usually conducted by unfriendly experts.

C.It aims to perfect the paper to be published.

D.It happens at the beginning of the evaluation process.

4.The underlined sentence in the last paragraph implies that ________.

A.it is not uncommon for science to be overturned

B.scientists are very strong in changing their minds

C.people lose faith in those changeable scientists

D.changes bring creativity and stability to science

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

Life expectancy in the United States has been in decline for the first time in decades, and public health officials have identified a series of potential causes, including inaccessible health care, rising drug addiction and rates of mental health disorders, and socio-economic factors. Now, a study led by the Yale School of Medicine has attempted to find out the relative impact of two factors most often linked to life expectancy – race and education – by looking at data about 5,114 black and white participants in four U.S. cities.

The lives and deaths among this group of people – who took part in the study approximately 30 years ago when they were in their early 20s – show that the level of education, and not race, is the best predictor of who will live the longest.

Among the 5,114 people followed in the study, 395 had died. These deaths were occurring in working-age people, often with children, before the age of 60. The rates of death among participants in this group did clearly show racial differences, with approximately 9% of blacks dying at an early age compared to 6% of whites. There were also differences in causes of death by race. For instance, black men were significantly more likely to die of murder and white men from AIDS. The most common causes of death across all groups over time were cardiovascular disease and cancer.

But there were also obvious differences in rates of death by education level. Approximately 13% of participants with a high school degree or less education died compared with only approximately 5% of college graduates.

Strikingly, when looking at race and education at the same time, the researchers found that differences related to race almost disappeared: 13.5% of black subjects and 13.2% of white subjects with a high school degree or less died during the course of the study. By contrast, 5.9% of black subjects and 4.3% of whites with college degrees had died.

Therefore, improving overall quality of education is something tangible that can help reverse (扭转)this troubling trend in reduction of life expectancy among middle-aged adults.

1.What can we learn about the participants in the study?

A.The whites are more aggressive.

B.The whites got higher education.

C.More blacks than whites died young.

D.More whites than blacks died of cancer.

2.Compared with education, the influence of race on death rates is 　　　　　 .

A.significant B.unnoticeable

C.growing D.long-lasting

3.What does the underlined word “tangible” probably mean?

A.Realistic. B.Creative.

C.Challenging. D.Temporary.

4.What can be inferred from the research findings？

A.People can get smart through learning.

B.One should not discriminate other races.

C.People don’t enjoy equal rights for education.

D.One can live longer by getting more education.

高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析

The discussion on renewable energy has been going on for at least a decade and people have relied on fossil fuels almost entirely for more than a century. However, the situation when fossil fuels were the most efficient and the cheapest source of energy has been left far in the past. Many countries such as Germany and Sweden have already made significant efforts to fix this situation, employing numerous power plants working on the renewable resources of energy. The most effective among these resources is geothermal (地热的) energy.

Geothermal energy does not depend on the world’s economic and political situation as strongly as fossil fuels do. Besides, extracting (提炼) fossil fuels adds to the price of energy produced from them. Therefore, geothermal energy is much cheaper than traditional ones, saving up to 80% of the costs over fossil fuels.

Being a renewable resource, geothermal energy produces less waste and pollution than traditional energy sources. In geothermal systems, carbon dioxide makes up about 10% of air produced. Overall, in order to produce the electricity that can be used for one hour, the geothermal systems produce 0.1 pound of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases. For a comparison, a power plant producing from gas produces up to 2 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and those power plants that work on coal (煤) produce an astonishing 3.6 pounds of greenhouse gases.

Low costs is another reason why using geothermal power plants should be the first choice for many countries. Geothermal heat systems require 25% to 50% less energy for work compared with the traditional systems for heating or cooling. Besides, geothermal equipment is less big: due to the very nature of geothermal energy, geothermal power plants have only a few moving parts, all of which can be easily sheltered inside a relatively small building. What’s more, the life span of geothermal equipment is rather long. All these make geothermal power stations easy to build and keep.

1.Fossil fuels are more expensive than geothermal energy partly because _______.

A. it is free to use geothermal energy

B. fossil fuels are nearly used up

C. the production of fossil fuels costs a lot

D. geothermal energy doesn’t depend on political situation

2.According to Paragraph 3, what can be concluded from the comparison?

A. Coal is much more efficient than gas.

B. Gas and coal are often used to produce electricity.

C. Geothermal energy is environmentally friendly.

D. The geothermal systems don’t produce harmful gases.

3.Geothermal equipment is usually not as big as that of traditional energy because of ________.

A. the nature of geothermal energy　　 B. geothermal power plants

C. life span of geothermal equipment　　 D. the small buildings

4.What is the main idea of this passage?

A. Many countries have benefited from geothermal energy.

B. Geothermal energy is well accepted.

C. Geothermal energy has many advantages.

D. Fossil fuels are being run out of.

高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

The discussion on renewable energy has been going on for at least a decade and people have relied on fossil fuels almost entirely for more than a century. However, the situation when fossil fuels were the most efficient and the cheapest source of energy has been left far in the past. Many countries such as Germany and Sweden have already made significant efforts to fix this situation, employing numerous power plants working on the renewable resources of energy. The most effective among these resources is geothermal（地热的）energy.

Geothermal energy does not depend on the world’s economic and political situation as strongly as fossil fuels do. Besides, extracting（提炼）fossil fuels adds to the price of energy produced from them. Therefore, geothermal energy is much cheaper than traditional ones, saving up to 80% of the costs over fossil fuels.

Being a renewable resource, geothermal energy produces less waste and pollution than traditional energy sources. In geothermal systems, carbon dioxide makes up about 10% of air produced. Overall, in order to produce the electricity that can be used for one hour, the geothermal systems produce 0.1 pound of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases. For a comparison, a power plant producing from gas produces up to 2 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and those power plants that work on coal（煤）produce an astonishing 3.6 pounds of greenhouse gases.

Low costs is another reason why using geothermal power plants should be the first choice for many countries. Geothermal heat systems require 25% to 50% less energy for work compared with the traditional systems for heating or cooling. Besides, geothermal equipment is less big: due to the very nature of geothermal energy, geothermal power plants have only a few moving parts, all of which can be easily sheltered inside a relatively small building. What’s more, the life span of geothermal equipment is rather long. All these make geothermal power stations easy to build and keep.

1.Fossil fuels are more expensive than geothermal energy partly because _______.

A. it is free to use geothermal energy

B. the production of fossil fuels costs a lot

C. fossil fuels are nearly used up

D. geothermal energy doesn’t depend on political situation

2.According to Paragraph 3, what can be concluded from the comparison?

A. Geothermal energy is environmentally friendly.

B. Gas and coal are often used to produce electricity.

C. Coal is much more efficient than gas.

D. The geothermal systems don’t produce harmful gases.

3.Geothermal equipment is usually not as big as that of traditional energy because of______.

A. the life span of geothermal equipment

B. geothermal power plants

C. the nature of geothermal energy

D. the small buildings

4.What is the main idea of this passage?

A. Many countries have benefited from geothermal energy.

B. Geothermal energy is well accepted.

C. Fossil fuels are being run out of.

D. Geothermal energy has many advantages.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

63. The plan for a new airport have been scrapped __________ an extension to the old one.

高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析

A Utah man who has been in a wheelchair for more than three decades has created a pheasant hunt for people like him who need help getting into the outdoors.

Clint Robinson broke his neck after being thrown off a horse at a rodeo (竞技) 32 years ago. He’s done his best to keep getting into the outdoors to hunt and fish, the Daily Herald in Provo reports.

The event he calls “Wheelchairs in the Wild” pairs people that have physical disabilities with hunters who help them with whatever they need. Many go in off-road vehicles.

“What we’re trying to do is get new injured people back out into the field trying to get them back out, enjoying the outdoors and wildlife that’s out there and show them that there’s other things that they can do besides sitting in the house doing nothing,” Robinson said.

The youngest hunter at last year’s event was 13-year-old Missy Cowley who has spina bifida (脊柱裂). Her father loves to hunt but didn’t know how to accommodate (安排) her wheelchair. Her mother, Cindy Cowley, said it was amazing to find a program that allowed her daughter to go hunting.

“We always told her when she was little, you can do everything you want to do…but we just got to figure out a way,” Cindy Cowley said. “But we really didn’t know how we were going to get her up there to hunt.”

Missy Cowley said it was a great experience that also allowed her to meet other people who use wheelchairs. “This is wonderful. I can actually do it,” Missy said. “It was really fun. And I love being outdoors.”

Jerry Schlappi, officer from Division of Wildlife resources, who helped with the event, said Robinson is a perfect role model showing other wheelchair users with disabilities that they don’t have to give up what they love.

1.What can we know about Clint Robinson from the text?

A.He began to usea wheelchair thirty years ago.

B.He used to be interested in hunting and fishing.

C.He liked riding horses before getting disabled.

D.He is now more physically active than before.

2.What does Clint Robinson try to talk about in the fourth paragraph?

A.The benefits of his event. B.The purposes of his event.

C.The processes of his even. D.The difficulty with his event.

3.Why is much information about Missy Cowley’s family given in the text?

A.To show the effects of disabilities.

B.To explain the problem with hunters.

C.To show people’s interest in hunting.

D.To think highly of Robinson’s event.

4.What should be the best title for the text?

A.Hope Is brought back To Hunters with Disabilities.

B.Man Organizes hunting Event For Wheelchair Users.

C.Hunting Event Is Benefiting The Physically Disabled.

D.Wheelchair Users Are Supposed To Get Into Nature.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

There has been an outpouring of love for a 23-year-old disabled woman whose dog was killed in front of her while a groomer(美容师)tried to trim(修剪)its claws.

Calls and e-mails came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Arizona as well as Oakland and Macomb counties, offering Laurie Crouch, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis(硬化症), everything from dogs to money, such as that from Jason Daly of Roseville who said, “I would like to buy her a new dog. ”

A story about the death of Crouch’s pet, Gooch, was printed on the front page of Macomb Daily. Crouch said a groomer tied Gooch up with a collar, and then she and a man sat on the dog to trim its nails. Gooch died after one claw was trimmed.

Crouch yelled at the groomer to stop when she saw Gooch was struggling to breathe, but she said she was ignored. “If I could have walked, I would have put my hands on her and pulled her off my dog and physically stopped her, but I can’t do that. ”Gooch was not a trained service animal, but naturally helped Crouch by picking up things for her.

“This case is absolute animal abuse(虐待), ”Larry Obrecht, division manager of the Oakland County Animal Shelter in Auburn Hills said.

People who read the story contacted Oakland Press to offer help. A message, from Rebecca Amett of Giggles N Wiggles Puppy Rescue in Roseville, said, “We have puppies to donate and want to help the young woman who lost her service dog. ”

“When Gooch was with me I was happy, ”Crouch said, “I think I can be happy again but no animal can replace Gooch. There’s never going to be another Gooch out there but I think I will find a dog that can bring me joy again. ”

1.People called and emailed to　　　.

A. give their angry voice to the groomer

B. offer help and care to Laurie Crouch

C. tell Crouch how to punish the groomer

D. offer a cure for Crouch’s disease

2. Gooch died mainly because　　　.

A. the groomer was careless

B. the groomer didn’t know how to trim the dog’s nails

C. the groomer sat on the dog with another man

D. the dog was wearing a collar

3.What do we know about Crouch’s dog?

A. It was a specially trained service dog.

B. It was trained to do many things for people.

C. It was Crouch’s only friend.

D. It could offer some help to Crouch.

4.What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. A disabled woman’s service dog.

B. A cruel groomer killed a disabled woman’s dog.

C. People’s love for a disabled woman who lost her dog.

D. A disabled woman loves to have the dog as company.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

There has been an outpouring of love for a 23-year-old disabled woman whose dog was killed in front of her while a groomer(美容师) tried to trim(修剪) its claws.

Calls and e-mails came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Arizona as well as Oakland and Macomb counties, offering Laurie Crouch, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis(硬化症), everything from dogs to money, such as that from Jason Daly of Roseville who said, “ I would like to buy her a new dog.”

A story about the death of Crouch’s pet, Gooch, was printed on the front page of Macomb Daily. Crouch said a man sat on the dog to trim its nails. Gooch died after one claw was trimmed.

Crouch yelled at the groomer to stop when she saw Gooch was struggling to breathe, but she said she was ignored. “If I could have walked, I would have put my hands on her and pulled her off my dog and physically stopped her, but I can’t do that.” Gooch was not a trained service animal, but naturally helped Crouch by picking up things for her.

“This case is absolute animal abuse(虐待),” Larry Obrecht, division manager of the Oakland County Animal Shelter in Auburn Hills, said.

People who read the story contacted Oakland Press to offer help. A message, from Rebecca Amett of Giggles N Wiggles Puppy Rescue, in Roseville, said, “We have puppies to donate … and want to help the young woman who lost her service dog.”

“When Gooch was with me, I was happy,” Crouch said, “I think I can be happy again but no animal can replace Gooch. There’s never going to be another Gooch out there but I think I will find a dog that can bring me joy again.”

1. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. A disabled woman’s service dog.

B. A cruel groomer killed a disabled woman’s dog.

C. People’s love for a disabled woman who lost her dog.

D. Disabled woman loves to have the dog as company.

2.People called and emailed to 　　　　　　　 .

A. offer help and care to Laurie Crouch.　　　　

B. give their angry voice to the groomer.

C. offer a cure for Crouch’s disease.　　　　　　

D. tell Crouch how to punish the groomer.

3.We can infer from the passage that 　　　　　　 .

A. Crouch refused to take another dog.

B. Crouch must be sad after losing her dog.

C. Crouch has accepted another dog from a stranger.

D. Crouch can live well without a dog’s company.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析