新闻类阅读理解模拟训练(118395)-高三英语阅读(622)-21英语网

A

The sharing economy has grown in recent years to include everything from apartment sharing to car sharing to community tool sharing.

Since 2009, a new form of the sharing economy has been emerging in neighborhoods throughout the US and around the world – Little Free Libraries. The libraries are boxes put in neighborhoods from which local people can take out and put in books. Little Free Libraries come in all shapes and sizes. Some libraries also have themes, focusing on books for children, adults or tour guides.

In 2009, Tod Bol built the first Little Free Library in the Mississippi River town of Hudson, Wisconsin, to honor his mother, who loved reading. When he saw the people of his community gathering around it, exchanging conversation as well as books, he knew he wanted to take his simple idea further.

“We have a natural sense of wanting to be connected, but there are so many things that push us apart,” Bol told The Atlantic.

Since then, his idea has become a movement, spreading from state to state and country to country. According to LittleFreeLibrary.org, there are now 18,000 of the little boxes around the world, found in each of the 50 US states and 70 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.

The Internet has helped to spread Little Free Libraries. But an Atlantic article said that they are something different in a world of e-reader downloads. The little wooden boxes are refreshingly physical and human. When you open the door of the box, chance and your neighbors’ tastes determine what you’ll find. You might find a graphic novel, a cookbook or a tour guidebook.

For many people, this sense of discovery is Little Free Libraries’ main appeal. “A girl walking home from school might pick up a graphic novel that gets her excited about reading; a man on his way to the bus stop might find a book of poetry that changes his view on life,” said The Atlantic article. “Every book is a potential source of inspiration.”

1. Which of the following is TRUE about Little Free Libraries?

A. When you take a book, you need to put another back.

B. Most of the books are donated by local libraries.

C. The books in it have to be specific sizes.

D. Some libraries have specific themes.

2. Why did Tod Bol decide to spread his idea of Little Free Libraries?

A. Because he sought to build more libraries in memory of his mother.

B. Because he needed to have more conversations with his neighbors.

C. Because he found it a good way to build up a sense of community.

D. Because he realized that he could start a national reading movement.

3. Little Free Libraries are different from e-reader downloads in that _____.

A. the books are more about humans B. they can satisfy various tastes

C. they provide chances to make surprising discoveries

D. the books are free to take out and put in

B

When a laptop or smartphone battery starts losing its power, the only options are to buy an expensive replacement, or just keep it plugged in all the time. But one woman may have found the answer to this problem.

Mya Le Thai is a scientist studying at the University of California. She recently discovered a process that may lead to batteries that last forever.

Thai said she had been frustrated that the batteries for her wireless devices (设备) degraded over time, until they failed to charge fully. Thai did not like having to keep her laptop connected to an electrical outlet (电源插座) to keep it powered on. So, she decided to do something about that problem. At first, she and her team at UC Irvine thought about inventing a new battery. But as they experimented, Thai discovered something that might permit lithium-ion (锂离子) batteries to last forever.

Lithium-ion batteries power most wireless devices. Over time, the batteries lose the ability to hold a charge. Most of these batteries have a life span of about 7,000 charging cycles before they die. One of the reasons lithium-ion batteries degrade is their use of nanowires to carry electricity. Nanowires are extremely thin. A human hair is thousands of times thicker, for example. Nanowires are extremely efficient carriers of electricity, which makes them useful in batteries. But Thai said their thinness also makes them weak. “Nanowires break and fracture over time,” she said. “That’s why they lose capacity.”

But, Thai had a theory – the nanowires might last longer if covered with a gel (凝胶). She and her team tested this theory. “It was a long process and a lot of work,” Thai said. The team tried many coverings for the wires. PMMA, a type of plastic, was one of them. The nanowires were coated with PMMA and cycled through charges 200,000 times. The PMMA-coated nanowires showed no evidence of damage. The results suggest that batteries could last forever, without losing charging ability. Thai said 200,000 cycles amount to about three months on just one device.

Thai hopes to continue her research to understand why this gel works so well and to see if any other gel could create better results. Mya Le Thai said she is enjoying the publicity about her discovery. She said she never expected her research to get media coverage. “It’s kind of cool,” she said. “I’m really glad people are showing interest in my work and not just in the work itself, but also in technology and energy.”

4. What caused Thai to work on lithium-ion batteries?

A. She found that batteries gradually wear out.

B. She disliked the batteries for her laptop.

C. She thought batteries were too expensive.

D. She and her team were assigned to invent a new battery.

5. Which of the following sentences is TRUE about nanowires?

A. They are too weak to carry electricity.

B. They last only 7,000 charging cycles.

C. They are the main cause of battery degrading.

D. They are not suitable to use in batteries.

6. The breakthrough may most probably lie in ____.

A. a new kind of battery B. new materials for batteries

C. coating nanowires in gel D. a new way of charging batteries

7. What may be the best title for the passage?

A. Why batteries are degrading B. Scientist invents life-long battery

C. Nanowires discovered by scientist D. Nanowires trying on new coating

C

Educators across the US are calling for major changes to the admissions process in higher education.

The National Center for Educational Statistics reported that US colleges and universities received more than 9 million applications between 2013 and 2014. The schools admitted more than 5 million students in that time.

But a new report says that the problem is not about the number of students that are being admitted, but rather how students are selected.

The Harvard School of Graduate Education, along with 80 other schools and organizations, released the report in January 2016. Called “Turning the Tide – Making Caring Common”, the report argues that the process schools use to choose students causes major problems.

David Hawkins is the Executive Director for Educational Content and Policy at the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. Hawkins told Voice of America that most colleges and universities require many things from students when they apply.

Schools usually ask for an essay describing a student’s interests or why they want to study at that school. The schools also ask for letters from teachers or other responsible adults describing why a student is a good candidate.

But, Hawkins says, the area that schools are most concerned with is a student’s high school grades and standardized test results.

The report suggests that paying attention to academic success over other qualities works well for some students but hurts others. In addition, Academic success is not the most important quality a student should have. More attention should be paid to showing whether or not a student wants to do good in the world, according to the report. It also argues that too much focus on academic success puts pressure on young people, which can be bad for their health.

It goes on to state that the best way to change the admissions process is by

changing college applications. The report suggests that schools should ask for evidence that students care about other people. Moving attention away from academic ability will make the process less about competition, the report says. Students will feel less stress about meeting higher and higher expectations.

But the report does have its critics. Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, told Voice of America that every few years, someone makes the same argument for change. He said that no real change has happened yet and that even many of the schools that agree with the report still make no changes.

“Many of the institutions that have supported the findings in the report are the very institutions that have the most competitive admissions processes in the country,” Schaeffer said.

Lloyd Thacker, Executive Director of the Education Conservancy, told Voice of America that until a majority of schools agree to make the changes, there will still be problems. But, he said, the admissions process was better in the past. If bad changes can affect the process, so can good ones.

8. What is the problem of the admissions process according to the report?

A. The schools ask too many things from the applying students.

B. The schools attach too much importance to students’ academic records.

C. The number of students getting admitted is too small.

D. Admissions officers consider too many unimportant factors.

9. Which of the following do colleges NOT ask of applicants?

A. Their reasons to attend the school.

B. A description of their interests.

C. Recommendation letters from adults.

D. Evidence that students care about others.

10. Critics argue that _____.

A. history has proved that all changes are good

B. the largest schools are expected to make changes first

C. not enough schools currently agree with the report

D. some schools don’t do what they believe is right.

D

Today and every day we are the targets of advertisers, fundraisers and politicians trying to persuade us to buy something, do something or think a certain way. And they’re good at it. Over the years, they’ve learned a lot about which features to build into a communication and which psychological strings to pull at to make it successful. But by concentrating so much on the message itself, they’ve missed a significant part of the process.

Research done in the last 15 years shows that the best persuasion is achieved through pre-suasion – the practice of arranging for people to agree with a message before they even know what’s in it.

Pre-suasion works by focusing people’s attention on a selected concept, which in turn makes them overvalue it over related ones. In one study, visitors to an online sofa store were greeted with pictures of either soft clouds or small coins in the background of its landing page. Those who saw the clouds were more likely to prefer soft, comfortable sofas for purchase while those who saw the money preferred cheaper models.

Long before scientists started studying the process of pre-suasion, a few famous communicators already had an understanding of it. For example, in 1588, thousands of British troops, who were gathered to stop a sea attack by Spain at Tilbury in the UK, were deeply concerned that their leader Queen Elizabeth I, as a woman, would not be prepared for battle. In addressing the men, she dealt with their fears pre-suasively – first acknowledging their concern by admitting a weakness, which established her honesty for whatever she said next, and then following it with a strength that made people forget about the weakness. “I know,” she said, “I have the body of a weak … woman. But I have the heart of a king, and a king of England, too.” It’s been reported that the cheers after she said this were so long and so loud that officers had to ride among the soldiers ordering them to calm down so the queen could continue.

With great success, social influencers have always featured persuasive expressions like emotional stories and last-chance opportunities. Perhaps due to that success, they’ve mostly missed an accompanying truth. For the greatest possible impact, it’s not only what you do; it’s also what you do just before you do what you do.

11. In Paragraph 1, the author says “they’ve missed a significant part of the process”. What is missing?

A. The true meaning of the message.

B. The process of working on one’s communication skills.

C. People’s psychological state.

D. A key strategy to follow before delivering a message.

12. How does the “pre-suasion” technique work?

A. By redirecting the audience’s focus on an idea before giving your message.

B. By being honest with whomever you want to persuade.

C. By making the audience feel comfortable and at ease.

D. By putting oneself in the audience’s shoes to consider the problem.

13. Why does the author mention Queen Elizabeth I?

A. To give proof of different speaking techniques.

B. To give an example of successful pre-suasion.

C. To show the need to focus on great opportunities.

D. To show the importance of admitting one’s limitations.

14. What can be inferred from the whole article?

A. The success of pre-suasion depends on the audience’s personality.

B. Pre-suasion techniques matter much more than the message itself.

C. Pre-suaders needn’t stress the advantages of what they want to promote.

D. Successful pre-suasion puts people in a state of mind in which they are ready to accept your message.

E

Today’s students all over the world are losing an hour a week of productivity due to their smartphone activity.

That is what two researchers from the London School of Economics are arguing with their new study that examined 130,000 students in 91 British schools that employed various smartphone-use policies. Then, they looked at how their respective students performed in 16-year-olds’ national exams.

In what may not come as a surprise to some, researchers Richard Murphy and Louis-Philippe Beland found that as schools’ phone policies evolved since 2001, with some choosing to completely ban smartphones, school test scores improved by an average of 6.4 percent. The increase in scores from underachieving students were even more significant as they saw their scores increase by an average of 14 percent.

“The results suggest that low-achieving students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile phones, while high achievers can focus in the classroom regardless of the mobile phone policy,” the researchers told CNN. “We found the effect of banning phones for these students was the same as an additional hour a week in school, or increasing the school year by five days.”

Professors Murphy and Beland said their study does not mean that smartphones and other technology have no place in assisting learning.

“There are, however, potential drawbacks to new technologies,” they told CNN, citing the temptation (诱惑) to text, play games or chat on social media.

Therefore, cell phones will not be completely out of classrooms anytime soon. Cell phone ownership among young people and children has skyrocketed in the past few years. Pew Research and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University reported that as of 2013, 78 percent of teens ages 12 to 17 owned a cell phone, 47 percent of which were smartphones.

The use of smartphones in schools is a controversial topic. Parents want to be able to reach their children while teachers complain about the effect they have on classes.

In March, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ended a decade-long citywide ban on cell phones in public schools and left them to make up their own rules.

But Murphy and Beland said the decision may not have a good result.

“Schools could significantly reduce the education achievement gap (差距) by prohibiting mobile phone use in schools. So by allowing phones in schools, New York may unintentionally increase the inequalities of outcomes.”

15. What’s the passage mainly about?

A. Smartphone bans in schools are beneficial.

B. Smartphones cause students many problems.

C. Some students use smartphones too much.

D. Heavy cell phone use can harm students’ learning abilities.

16. Which of the following is TRUE about the research?

A. It examined 130,000 underachieving students.

B. It proves that smartphones are no good for students’ studies.

C. Cell phone ownership among teens aged 12 to 17 amounted to about 50 percent.

D. In schools with smartphone bans, scores of the underachieving students showed an average increase of 14 percent.

17. Which could best replace the underlined word “distracted” in Paragraph 4?

A. Amused. B. Interested. C. Assisted. D. Affected.

18. As the research suggests, thanks to smartphone use students may ____.

A. lose about an hour every day B. lose five days in a school year

C. increase their scores by an average of 6.4 percent

D. decrease their scores by an average of 14 percent