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The United States Postal Service(LISPS)is offering a way to people who are interested in seeing tomorrow’s mail today．The postal service will send consumers images(图像)of their letters，magazines and other mail before they arrive．The new service is called Informed Delivery．It is an attempt to remain competitive in an ever—changing world．
Postal service officials say the increased use of email，digital messaging services and social media has made it difficult to stay relevant．David Rupert is a media relations specialist who spoke about the competition the agency now faces．Whether you turn on a television or your computer，or people come to your door with different products and services，all of those are competing for consumers’time and energy，he said．
Interested users are first required to sign up for Informed Delivery．Once registered，the consumer receives a daily email with virtual(虚拟)images of letters or other things to be delivered．The US Postal Service says it can especially help those who have a mailbox at their local post office，so they know when to get their mail：
Another postal offering is a service that seeks to make advertising-related mail-often called junk mail—more fun．The service uses virtual and augmented reality(虚拟现实和增强现实)to let consumers interact with their junk mail．Many companies put special coding on their advertising，which can give users an interactive experience．Some companies even put virtual reality eyeglasses in the mail to make their ads come to life．Consumers have mixed reactions to virtual and augmented reality advertising．“You can find some good things within junk mail．It is a good idea．We’11 see how it works，”Postal service user Victor Teah said．But Jocelyn Coatney doesn’t think it would change her mind about junk mail．“For some，that might be fun．But for me，it would be useless，”she said．
1.What does the underlined word“they”in the first paragraph refer to?
A. The images of the mail．
B. Informed Delivery services．
C. Letters，magazines and other mail．
D. The traditional advertising—related mail．
2.Why does the US Postal Service create Informed Delivery?
A. To make people interested in mails．
B. To improve its competitiveness．
C. To be relevant to other services．
D. To make a great fortune．
3.Which of the following best summarizes Paragraph 2?
A. The fall of the US Postal Service．
B. The replacement of the mail service．
C. The potential market for the new service．
D. The challenge the US Postal Service faces．
4.Why does the author write what Victor and Jocelyn said at the end of the text?
A. To prove virtual and augmented reality is helpful．
B. To show us many users are using advertising—related mail．
C. To give examples of users’mixed reactions to junk mail．
D. To wish virtual and augmented reality advertising to work better．
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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In the United States，a company is working on a project that could change the way we think about public transportation.Its planned system would move people around in steel tubes.Those passengers would be traveling at speeds of up to 1,200 kilometers per hour.
The futuristic steel tube transportation system is called Hyper1oop.Workers plan to test the system next year in a specially built community called Quay Valley.The town will be powered entirely by energy from the sun.
The Hyperloop transport system is the idea of businessman Elon Musk.Dirk Ahlborn is head of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.He says his company has taken Mr.Musk’s idea and is developing a system that will be safe，environmentally friendly and fast.
“It’s 100 percent solar powered…we’re not going to get up to 760 miles per hour，but we believe we can actually break the records that are existing right now.”
This means that a four-hour drive from Los Angeles，California to Las Vegas，Nevada，could someday take only 30 minutes by Hyperloop.The system involves a series of capsules that float inside a long tube.These containers would not need to travel along a pathway or track.The system has been designed to operate above or below ground.
“Inside the tube you create a low pressure environment very similar to an airplane that’s at high altitudes.So now the capsule travelling inside the tube doesn’t come up against as much resistance，and therefore can travel really fast with very little energy.”
Dick Ahlborn and his company will use an eight—kilometer track in Quay Valley to find the best way to set up passenger traffic and repair capsules.A larger system will cost an estimated six to $10 billion to build.If Mr.Ahlborn and his company succeed，we may one day see these very fast Hyperloop capsules speeding through tubes around the world.
1.Which of the following is true of Hyperloop?
A. It will travel along a pathway or track.
B. It will use more energy than current trains.
C. There is a high pressure inside the tube of it.
D. A series of experiments on it will be carried on.
2.We may learn from the text that
A. Dirk is worried about the speed of Hyperloop
B. Hyperloop has been built in the United States
C. Hyperloop will be powered by energy from the sun
D. Hyperloop has reached to 760 miles per hour
3.What does the underlined word“containers”in Paragraph 5 refer to?
A. Systems. B. Capsules. C. Tubes. D. Airplanes.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. Hyperloop Is Closer To Reality B. Hyperloop Will Test At Quay Valley
C. Elon Musk’s Idea Is Under Discussion D. Hyperloop Travels Around The World
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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People in the United States have many ways to get news, some of which are available 24 hours a day. In a recent survey（调查）, about 15 percent of American interviewees said that they spend less than one-half to two hours per day watching, listening to, or reading the news. News comes from every source, not only from printed ways, but from TV, radio, and the Internet as well.
With the increased availability of news, serious questions have been raised about the role of the news media in society. Should the media report every detail about every story, even when the information does not seem timely or valuable? Some researchers are concerned that by focusing on everything at once, the media increasingly ignore the more important social, political and economic problems that we face. We cannot concentrate on what’s important by reading about what is not. One extreme example of this is the type of information covered by the tabloid（小报）media, which focus on negative stories of violence and crime.
How can people deal with all the news that is available to them? Some become “news resisters” and choose to turn their backs on news, resisting their desire to turn on the TV and read the paper every day. They argue that although daily news reports may provide us with many facts, they do not include the background or some information that we need to understand news events. They suggest that, instead of daily reports, we look for information that has more in-depth analysis of the news, such as monthly magazines.
1.What percentage of the interviewees spend less than one half to two hours per day paying attention to the news? (within 3 words)
2.According to the researchers, what is the disadvantage of news media? (within 6 words)
3.How do you describe tabloid media? (within 5 words)
4.Who are “news resisters”? (within 9 words)
5.What information does “news resisters” look for? (within 2 words)
高三英语其他题中等难度题查看答案及解析
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The US Postal Service(USPS) is losing billions of dollars a year. The government company that delivers "small mail" is losing out to email and other types of electronic communication. First-class mail amount fell from a high point of 104 million pieces in 2000 to just 64 million pieces by 2014.
Congress permits the 600,000-employee USPS to hold a monopoly over first-class and standard mail. The company pays no federal, state or local taxes；pays no vehicle fees； and is free from many regulations on other businesses. Despite these advantages, the USPS has lost 52 billion since 2007, and will continue losing money without major reforms.
The problem is that Congress is preventing the USPS from reducing costs as its sales decline, and is blocking efforts to end Saturday service and close unneeded post office locations. USPS also has a costly union-dominated workforce that slows the introduction of new ideas or methods down. USPS workers earn significantly higher payment than comparable private-sector workers. The answer is to privatize the USPS and open postal markets to competition. With the rise of the Internet, the argument that mail is a natural monopoly that needs government protection is weaker than ever.
Other countries facing declining letter amounts have made reforms. Germany and the Netherlands privatized their national postal companies over a decade ago, and other European countries have followed suit. Britain floated shares of the Royal Mail on its stock exchange in 2013. Some countries, such as Sweden and New Zealand, have not privatized their national postal companies, but they have opened them up to competition.
These reforms have driven efficiency improvements in all of these countries. Additional number of workers have been reduced, productivity has risen and consumers have benefited. Also, note that cost-cutting measures — such as closing some post offices — are good for both the economy and the environment.
Privatization and competition also encourage new changes. When the USPS monopoly over "extremely urgent" mail was stopped in 1979, we saw an explosion in efficient overnight private delivery by firms such as FedEx.
The government needs to wake up to changing technology, study postal reforms abroad and let businessmen reinvent（彻底改造）our out-of-date postal system.
1.What does the underlined word "monopoly" in Paragraph 2 mean?
A.The act of solving a problem.
B.A duty to deal with something.
C.Complete control of a public service/goods.
D.The plan of investing money in something.
2.What do we know about the USPS?
A.Its great competitor is the delivery firm FedEx.
B.It is an old public service open to competitions.
C.Its employees don't pay federal, state or local taxes.
D.It has complete control of first-class and standard mail.
3.The author mentions some other countries in Paragraph 4 to_______ .
A.explain the procedures of reform to the USPS
B.show the advantages of private postal services
C.set some examples for the government to learn from
D.prove the situation is very common around the world
4.The author probably agrees that the USPS_______ .
A.needs government's protection as ever
B.can work together with other businesses
C.must be replaced by international companies
D.should be sold out and become a private service
5.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in this passage?
I： Introduction CP： Central point P： Point Sp： Sub-point C： Conclusion
A.
B.
C.
D.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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Joseph Goldberger was a doctor for the United States Public Health Service and he was an advocate for scientific and social recognition of the links between poverty and disease. In 1914, Goldberger was asked by US Surgeon General Rupert Blue to study a skin disease that was killing thousands of people in the South. The disease was pellagra (糙皮病)．
Goldberger traveled to the state of Mississippi where many people suffered from pellagra. He studied the victims and their families. Most of the people lived a hard life. The doctor came to believe that the disease didn’t pass on from one to another, but was instead related to food. He received permission from the state governor to test this idea at a prison. Prisoners were offered pardons if they took part. One group of prisoners received their usual foods, mostly corn products. A second group ate meat, fresh vegetables and drank milk. Members of the first group developed pellagra. The second group did not.
But some medical researchers refused to accept Goldberger’s idea. For the South, pellagra was more than simply a medical problem. There were other things, including Southern pride.
So Goldberger had himself injected (注射) with blood from a person with pellagra. He also took liquid from the nose and throat of a pellagra patient and put them into his own nose and throat. He even swallowed pills that contained skin from pellagra patients. An assistant also took part in the experiments. So did Goldberger’s wife. None of them got sick.
Joseph Goldberger died of cancer in 1929. He was fiftyfive years old. Several years later, researchers discovered the exact cause of pellagra: a lack of vitamin B3 known as niacin.
1.Who were likely to get pellagra according to Goldberger?
A.People in the south of America.
B.People having a poor diet.
C.People in prison.
D.People touching pellagra patients.
2.What did Goldberger want to prove by the experiments mentioned in Paragraph 4?
A.Pellagra wasn’t so terrible.
B.Pellagra could be cured.
C.Pellagra didn’t spread.
D.Pellagra wasn’t a medical problem.
3.Why did some medical researchers refuse to accept Goldberger’s idea?
A.Goldberger’s idea sounds ridiculous.
B.They have done their own research.
C.The result hurt their pride.
D.Goldberger didn’t do enough research.
4.Which words can be used to describe Goldberger?
A.Selfless and friendly. B.Devoted and determined.
C.Patient and expert. D.Stubborn and enthusiastic.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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The U．S．Postal Service (USPS) is losing billions of dollars a year．The government company that delivers "small mail" is losing out to email and other types of electronic communication．First-class mail amount fell from a high point of 104 million pieces in 2000 to just 64 million pieces by 2014.
Congress permits the 600,000-empIoyee USPS to hold a monopoly (垄断) over first-class and standard mail．The company pays no federal, state or local taxes; pays no vehicle fees; and is free from many regulations on other businesses．Despite these advantages, the USPS has lost $52 billion since 2007, and will continue losing money without major reforms.
The problem is that Congress is preventing the USPS from reducing costs as its sales decline, and is blocking efforts to end Saturday service and close unneeded post office locations．USPS also has a costly union-dominated workforce that slows the introduction of new ideas or methods down．USPS workers earn significantly higher payment than comparable private-sector workers．The answer is to privatize the USPS and open postal markets to competition．With the rise of the Internet, the argument that mail is a natural monopoly that needs government protection is weaker than ever.
Other countries facing declining letter amounts have made reforms．Germany and the Netherlands privatized their national postal companies over a decade ago, and other European countries have followed suit．Britain floated shares of the Royal Mail on its stock exchange in 2013．Some countries, such us Sweden and New Zealand, have not privatized their national postal companies, but they have opened them up to competition.
These reforms have driven efficiency improvements in all of these countries．Additional number of workers have been reduced, productivity has risen and consumers have benefited．Also, note that cost-cutting measures—such as closing tone post offices—are good for both the economy and the environment.
Privatization and competition also encourage new changes．When the USPS monopoly over "extremely urgent" mail was stopped in 1979, we saw an explosion in efficient overnight private delivery by firms such as FedEx.
The government needs to wake up to changing technology, study postal reforms abroad and let businessmen reinvent our out-of-date postal system.
1.What do we know about the USPS?
A．Its great competitor is the delivery firm FedEx.
B．It is an old public service open to competitions.
C．Its employees don't pay federal, state or local taxes.
D．It has complete control of first-class and standard mail.
2.The author mentions some other countries in Paragraph 4 to __________.
A．explain the procedures of reform to the USPS
B．show the advantages of private postal services
C．set some examples for the government to learn from
D．prove the situation is very common around the world
3.The author probably that the USPS __________.
A．needs government’s protection as ever
B．can work together with other businesses
C．must be replaced by international companies
D．should be sold out and become a private service
4.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in this passage?
A．
B．
C．
D．
高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析
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The U. S. Postal Service (USPS) is losing billions of dollars a year. The government company that delivers "small mail" is losing out to email and other types of electronic communication. First-class mail amount fell from a high point of 104 million pieces in 2000 to just 64 million pieces by 2014.
Congress permits the 600.000-empIoyee USPS to hold a monopoly (垄断) over first-class and standard mail. The company pays no federal, state or local taxes; pays no vehicle fees; and is free from many regulations on other businesses. Despite these advantages, the USPS has lost $52 billion since 2007, and will continue losing money without major reforms.
The problem is that Congress is preventing the USPS from reducing costs as its sales decline, and is blocking efforts to end Saturday service and close unneeded post office locations. USPS also has a costly union-dominated workforce that slows the introduction of new ideas or methods down. USPS workers earn significantly higher payment than comparable private-sector workers. The answer is to privatize the USPS and open postal markets to competition. With the rise of the Internet, the argument that mail is a natural monopoly that needs government protection is weaker than ever.
Other countries facing declining letter amounts have made reforms Germany and the Netherlands privatized their national postal companies over a decade ago, and other European countries have followed suit. Britain floated shares of the Royal Mail on its stock exchange in 2013. Some countries, such us Sweden and New Zealand, have not privatized their national postal companies, but they have opened them up to competition.
These reforms have driven efficiency improvements in all of these countries. Additional number of workers have been reduced, productivity has risen and consumers have benefited. Also, note that cost-cutting measures—such as closing tone post offices—are good for both the economy and the environment.
Privatization and competition also encourage new changes. When the USPS monopoly over "extremely urgent" mail was stopped in 1979, we saw an explosion in efficient overnight private delivery by firms such as FedEx.
The government needs to wake up to changing technology, study postal reforms abroad and let businessmen reinvent our out-of-date postal system.
1.What do we know about the USPS?
A. Its great competitor is the delivery firm FedEx.
B. It is an old public service open to competitions.
C. Its employees don't pay federal, state or local taxes.
D. It has complete control of first-class and standard mail.
2.The author mentions some other countries in Paragraph 4 to __________.
A. explain the procedures of reform to the USPS
B. show the advantages of private postal services
C. set some examples for the government to learn from
D. prove the situation is very common around the world
3.The author probably that the USPS __________.
A. needs government’s protection as ever
B. can work together with other businesses
C. must be replaced by international companies
D. should be sold out and become a private service
4.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in this passage?
A.
B.
C.
D.
I: Introduction CP: Central point P: Point
Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
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Googlefight is a simple service available on the Internet which offers you the chance to compare two different items and see how many hits they get on the Google search engine. The seemingly simple device has proved invaluable to users, especially to help win arguments.
For example, imagine that you and your friends are arguing about who are the most popular music or movie stars, you can decide the argument by writing the names in the Googlefight boxes. Let’s say that you are arguing about Jackie Chan and Jet Li. You will quickly discover that Jet Li is mentioned 16 million times on Google pages, whereas Jackie Chan is mentioned a mere 12 million times! In this unscientific way, you can claim victory for one Star over another.
But teachers have come up with ways of using Googlefight which are much more useful from an academic point of view, particularly when it comes to studying languages. You can, for example, find out the frequency of two words with the same meaning, and deduce (推断) from the answers which one is more common. For example, let’s take the words “buy” and “purchase”, which mean the same thing (although “buy” is only a verb and “purchase” is both a verb and a noun). It is immediately clear from Googlefight that “buy” is much more commonly used, with a massive three and a half billion hits, compared to only one billion occurrences for the more formal word.
But the real value of Googlefight to the language learner is in determining which is the more common of two phrases. For example, “raining cats and dogs” is an old-fashioned English expression about the weather. Do English speakers still use it? Or are they more likely to say “pouring down”? Googlefight suggests the latter. “Pouring down” has 898,000 Google hits, whereas “raining cats and dogs” only has 326,000.
With phrases, it’s important to remember that you need to use quote marks to make the search more accurate. For example, if you type in the similar phrases “look after” and “take care of “ without quote marks, the second phrase seems to be more common, but with quote marks, the result is reversed.
1. What is Googlefight?
A. A fight between two people on Google.
B. A way to make sure you win an argument.
C. A website showing how many hits two different things have.
D. A list of all the websites on Google.
2. Language teachers find it useful because _______.
A. there are a lot of words on Googlefight
B. it can tell them which of the two words with the same meaning appears more often
C. some words mean the same thing
D. common words have a billion hits
3. What must you remember to do if you are checking phrases by Googlefight?
A. Make sure they mean be same thing.
B. Make sure they are different.
C. Remember to put quote marks round the phrase.
D. Don’t put quote marks round the phrase.
4. Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Googlefight is effective to determine the more common of two phrases.
B. Googlefight is a scientific way to decide an argument.
C. Quote marks can make the search more accurate.
D. Googlefight is invaluable to help win arguments.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) continues to be in the red. It reported a net loss of $5.6 billion for 2016 alone, the 10th straight year its expenses have exceeded revenue. Meanwhile, it has the debts of more than $120 billion, mostly for employee health and retirement costs. There are many bankruptcies. Fundamentally, the USPS is in a historic squeeze between technological change that has permanently decreased demand for its bread-and-butter product, and a regulatory structure that denies management the flexibility to adjust its operations to the new reality.
Interest groups ranging from postal unions to postcard makers exert self-interested pressure on the USPS’s final supervisor—Congress (参议院), insisting that whatever else happens to the Postal Service, aspects of the present legal situation they depend on get protected. This is why repeated attempts at reform legislation (立法) have failed in recent years, leaving the Postal Service unable to pay its bills except by postponing vital modernization.
Now comes word that everyone involved—Democrats, Republicans, the Postal Service, the unions and the systems heaviest users—has finally agreed on a plan to fix the system. Legislation is moving through the White House that would save USPS an estimated $28.6 billion over five years, which could help pay for new vehicles, among other survival measures. Most of the money would come from a penny-per-letter permanent rate increase and from shifting postal retirees into Medicare. The latter step would largely reduce the financial burden of annually pre-funding retiree health care, thus addressing a long-standing complaint by the USPS and its union.
If it clears the White House, this measure will still have to get through the Senate—where someone is bound to point out that it amounts to the bare, bare minimum necessary to make the Postal Service stay afloat, not comprehensive reform. There’s no change to collective bargaining at the USPS, a major mistake considering that personnel accounts for 80 percent of the agency’s costs. Also missing is any discussion of getting rid of Saturday letter delivery. That common-sense change enjoys wide public support and would save the USPS $2 billion per year. But postal special-interest groups seem to have killed it, at least in the White House. The emerging consensus around the bill is a sign that legislators are getting frightened about a politically embarrassing short-term collapse at the USPS. It is not, however, a sign that they’re getting serious about transforming the postal system for the 2lst century.
1.The financial problem with the USPS is caused partly by ________.
A.its rigid management. B.its unbalanced budget.
C.the cost for technical innovation D.the suspension of bank support.
2.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A.protecting every interest group benefits the USPS
B.the USPS will invest more money in retiree health care
C.the White House has already approved the reform
D.the author seems to be discontent with legislators
3.What does the underlined words “stay afloat” mean in Paragraph 4?
A.Boom. B.Survive.
C.Decline. D.Expand.
4.Which of the following is probably the best title for the text?
A.The USPS Starts to Miss Its Good Old Days
B.The USPS Starts to cooperate with Legislators
C.The USPS Needs Comprehensive Aid and Reform
D.The USPS Is Bound to Get out of the Dilemma
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
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B
Some schools in the United States offer Chinese language classes with government support from China.
Saint Mary’s School is a private college preparatory school in Medford, Oregon.
Carly Irvine is in her fourth year of learning Mandarin(普通话).
CARLY IRVINE: “Since China and America are working so closely and our relationship is growing more and more, I think it will be very important in the future to know Chinese.”
Saint Mary’s also teaches Spanish, German and Latin. It added Mandarin in two thousand five. Two years ago, it became the first school in the country to join the Confucius Classroom program.
The program pays about half the costs of a teacher sent to a school in the United States. China’s Education Ministry also provides books and other materials.
Saint Mary’s principal, Frank Phillips, says knowing Chinese will help students in a world where China is quickly gaining economic power.
Zheng Ling, a teacher at Saint Mary’s, came from China in two thousand eight.
ZHENG LING: “People do not know much about China, especially the latest development. So I think this is a chance for them to know more about China, what China is really like. It’s quite different from what it was twenty years ago.”
The Confucius Classroom program is in about forty countries, including more than fifty American schools and universities.
A recent report said more schools in the United States are teaching Chinese and Arabic, although the numbers are still low.
45. How many American schools and universities have the Confucius Classroom program?
A. 4. B. 20. C. 40. D. 50.
46. Which of the following is true about Saint Mary’s School?
A. It is a public college preparatory school.
B. It added Mandarin in two thousand six.
C. It became the first school in America to join the Confucius Classroom program.
D. It also teaches Spanish, German and French.
47. How does Carly Irvine think learning Chinese?
A. Helpful. B. Useless. C. Unnecessary. D. Terrible.
48. What’s the passage mainly about?
A. Some US Students Learn Mandarin with China’s Help.
B. China is quickly gaining economic power.
C. Saint Mary’s School.
D. Carly Irvine.
高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析