阅读理解综合模拟训练(60683)-高三英语阅读(394)-21英语网

A

Endless sea, sand and sunshine on a tiny island – everyone’s idea of heaven. Who wouldn’t want to live in such a place?

One person who certainly does is Ben Southall, from the UK. The 34-year-old was one of more than 34,000 people who applied for the post of “caretaker” on Hamilton Island, Australia, which the local government called “the best job in the world”. The position starts in July and runs for six months. The salary is 150,000 Australian dollars (780,639 yuan).

Why Southall? Well, first let’s take a look at the criteria for the job: “We’re looking for applicants who like to have adventures, have a great love of the outdoors and have good communication skills.”

On his application video, Southall expressed a love of adventure and included photographs of himself riding an ostrich (鸵鸟), running a marathon, diving, and kissing a giraffe.

“From the time he was announced in the Top 50, and then the Top 16, Southall did a great job by showing true excitement about Queensland,” Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said in a statement.

“His ideas for how he will make the role his own ... as well as his ability to rise to a challenge impressed the judges and helped him to win his place in the top job,” Lawlor said.

Southall was born in Coventry, UK and used his parents’ home as a base for his adventures. He had an old Land Rover that he used for a charity-fund-raising trek (跋涉) across Africa which involved joining in five marathons (a 42.16 km race) and climbing five mountains.

“It was sometimes hard work to make him get his head down and do his work because he always wanted to be outside,” his mother said about his early years.

“He wanted to go surfing in South Africa, so he got a job house-sitting to pay for it. We regularly ask him when he is going to get a proper job, but he is confident and has a strong set of friends and is a great social animal. Now he has got the perfect job for his skills,” said his father.

So, you see? No matter what type of person you are, there’s always the possibility of getting a dream job. How’s that? Just read the job descriptions carefully and think about how your skills and qualities fit with the ones needed for the job. That’s what Southall did to get his job.

1. The post of “caretaker” on Hamilton Island is said to be the best job in the world mainly because of ______.

A. a beautiful landscape B. a short working time

C. great pay for a fun job D. very good weather

2. According to Lawlor, what helped Southall win the job?

A. His outstanding application video.

B. His passion for the job and ability to face up to challenges.

C. His great love of adventures.

D. His true excitement about the Australian lifestyle.

3. Which of the following statements about Southall is true?

A. He did a poor job in school when he was young.

B. He worked as a house-sitter to raise charity funds.

C. He has won five marathons.

D. He is good at communicating with others.

4. We can learn from Southall that ______.

A. the world offers opportunities for everyone

B. setbacks will only make you stronger

C. all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

D. where there is a will, there is a way

B

When Kentucky Fried Chicken announced several weeks ago that it would be introducing grilled chicken (烤鸡), I’m embarrassed to admit how excited I felt.

I became a Kentucky Fried fan back in the 1980s when I was a teen. But over the next two decades I cut back for health reasons. Why, then, did I want the Colonel’s new, healthier product so badly?

For one thing, I wasn’t alone in my interest in the chicken. Thanks to Internet coupons for free meals, crowds went running to restaurants across the country. After accepting more than 10 million coupons, the chain had to stop the free food give-away.

CEO Roger Eaton later apologized. But his “apology” was more a sign of celebration than regret. “Not in our wildest imagination could we believe the response we’ve gotten,” Eaton said.

After all, the whole point of the coupon was to draw attention to the new product.

But Eaton’s real aim, I suspect, was far more dangerous. Like every other fast food CEO, he faces a serious challenge in this age of nutritional awareness: How to get folks to eat food that is bad for them.

Companies have found ways to make money from consumer concerns over nutrition by introducing “healthy” menu options.

A recent study of fast food eating habits showed that people who even consider a healthy item feel they have a right to the high-fat option.

This may be news to academics, but I think the fast food bosses have known about it for years. They understand how their customers think.

I tried KFC grilled chicken a few days ago. It is much healthier than the chain’s Original Recipe. The problem is that when it came time to order my food, I felt I could go ahead and order some unhealthy food too.

I gave myself permission to order two sides, and in the end, my meal was more than 800 calories. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers 2,000 calories to be a normal daily amount.

KFC’s grilled chicken may go on to be a great success. But like every “healthy” option offered by fast food chains, it’s a trick. The Colonel couldn’t care less whether you lose weight, as long as you keep making him money.

5. What’s the writer’s attitude towards Kentucky Fried Chicken’s new product, grilled chicken?

A. Embarrassed. B. Hateful. C. Excited. D. Indifferent.

6. In the writer’s opinion, KFC aimed to ______ by providing Internet coupons for free meals.

A. draw attention to the new product

B. help poor people

C. make business look good

D. make money from nutrition awareness

7. The 10th and 11th paragraphs showed that ______.

A. the writer enjoyed grilled chicken a lot more than fried chicken

B. you should always say no to high-fat food

C. the writer felt like he had the right to buy high fat food along with a healthier option

D. you need to watch out for the calories you eat at each meal

8. We can learn from the article that fast food chains offered “healthy” menu options to ______.

A. help customers lose weight B. get customers to feel good about them

C. follow official regulations D. earn more money

C

Here are some of our favorite study tips that will help any student study smarter, not harder:

Recite As You Study

Reciting – saying things out loud – should first take place as you read through each paragraph or section. Test yourself. This will help you to understand as well as learn faster because it is more active than reading or listening. It will also help you to notice your mistakes and the topics you have trouble understanding.

Take Fuller Notes

Notes should be in your own words, brief and clear. They should be tidy and easy to read. Writing notes will help you better than just underlining as you read, since it forces you to re-write ideas in your own words.

Study the Middle

The best time to review is soon after you’ve learned something. You are more likely to remember the material at the beginning and the end of the lesson, so make sure you focus on the middle when you review.

Sleep On It

Study before going to bed, unless you are very tired. It’s easier to remember material you’ve just learned after sleeping than after an equal period of daytime activity, because your brain continues to think even after you’ve fallen asleep.

Combine Memory and Understanding

There are two ways to remember: by memorizing and by understanding. Multiplication tables, telephone numbers, and math formulas are better learned by rote. Ideas are best learned by understanding.

The more ways you have to think about an idea, the more meaning it will have; the more meaningful the learning, the better you can remember it. Pay attention to similarities in ideas and concepts, and then try to understand how they fit in with things you already know. Never be satisfied with anything less than a completely clear understanding of what you are reading. If you are not able to follow the thought, go back to the place where you first got confused and try again.

9. You can notice your mistakes by ______.

A. saying things out aloud B. taking notes

C. studying the middle D. sleeping on it

10. The underlined word “rote” most probably means ______.

A. reading B. memorizing C. understanding D. writing

11. Which of the following is NOT helpful for your understanding?

A. Thinking about an idea in different ways.

B. Relating new ideas and concepts to what you already know.

C. Reading from the beginning to the end without stop.

D. Going back to what first made you confused and starting again.

D

A set of fossilized (石化的) footprints show that the first four-footed animals with spines (脊椎) – were treading (步行于) open ground 397 million years ago, earlier than previously believed.

An expert said the find would force experts to reconsider a key period in evolution when sea-based animals with back bones took their first steps toward becoming dinosaurs (恐龙), mammals (哺乳动物) and – eventually – human beings.

Until now, scientists thought they had the evolution from fin (鳍) to foot fairly well understood. The earliest tetrapods (四脚动物) had been traced to 385 million years ago. Experts thought that they had split from their close relatives, a fleshy-finned family of fish, a few million years earlier and then gone on to land.

But the new fossil footprints – uncovered in central Poland – push the timing back by several million years. Researcher Grzegorz Pienkowski said the fossils had been securely dated from the other materials they were found with.

Although at least some of the footprints may have been made in shallow water, fossil scientist Per Ahlberg, one of the article’s co-authors, said it was clear that the animals spent time walking around on land.

“We know from the site that you have rain drop prints and mud cracks (裂缝) in the sediment (沉积物),” he said.

The find also challenges the idea that tetrapods took over the surface from lakes or river beds. Ahlberg and his colleagues argued that the footprints were first created in what was probably a lake-like environment at the time, adding that a coastal area made sense because shifting tides could strand (使......搁浅) small marine (海洋的) animals, giving our fishy ancestors a reason to explore open land.

Clack warned against drawing conclusions on the basis of small marks left by animals on the bottom of a muddy (泥泞的) surface hundreds of millions of years ago. She said it would be important to see fossil evidence of the creature that made the footprints before coming to any clear conclusion.

Still, she said the new fossils would force scientists to reconsider what it was that originally turned fish into land-lovers.

She said some thought that tetrapods originally went ashore to lay their eggs out of reach of water-going enemies or that their ancestors grew legs to move from pool to pool. She said she had personally favored the idea that fish came from waters with little oxygen in order to catch their breath.

All those theories were called into question by the Polish find, she said.

It wouldn’t be logical for fish to lay their eggs in a place where the tide would wash right over them, for example, and the pool-hopping behavior wouldn’t make sense in a coastal environment. As for her oxygen idea, Clack said “that’s probably out the window.” The fossils suggested that tetrapods evolved (进化) well before sea oxygen levels started to drop, she said.

By Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press

12. The new find is important in that it ______.

A. involves the first securely dated fossil footprints of tetrapods

B. forces scientists to reconsider all their previous research

C. shows how evolution worked in the history of mammals

D. proves four-footed animals with back bones were on land earlier than previously believed

13. According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?

A. Scientists already have a clear idea of how fish evolved into mammals.

B. The earliest tetrapods split from a fleshy-finned family of fish and went on to land 385 million years ago.

C. Researchers were able to date the fossils by studying other materials collected at the site.

D. The fossilized footprints were proved to have been created in a lake-like environment.

14. According to Clark, ______.

A. it is too early to draw conclusions based on the find

B. early fish came from waters with little oxygen in order to catch their breath

C. the find proves that early tetrapods lived in coastal environments rather than lakes or rivers

D. once tetrapod fossils are found, scientists can decide on the exact nature of evolution from fish to mammals

15. According to the text, what do the underlined words “out the window” mean?

A. Realistic. B. No longer believable.

C. Out of question. D. Open to discussion.

E

The library is one of the most popular places at a Western university. Students turn to it for research, conversations about class, and many other services.

Compared with Chinese libraries, college libraries in the US and UK tend to offer more resources. A postgrad student (研究生) at Yale University can borrow as many as 225 books at a time.

In addition to borrowing books, there are online and electronic resources. These include a database search of popular and academic material, such as LexisNexis Academic, which offers items from newspapers and magazines.

Although books and articles are the items that students ask for most frequently, some libraries provide audio and video recordings, maps and sheet music(活页乐谱). At some schools, teachers and tutors put electronic copies of their teaching PPTs (幻灯片) on the library Web to give easier access for students.

Another useful service in Western college libraries is the Interlibrary Loan. This allows a student at one school to borrow books from another school. The loan request is made through the student’s college library, which gets the book, gives it to the user, and arranges for its return.

Technology has brought more services to students and has made libraries attractive. Some universities have services for students to send messages through the computer or mobile texts to ask the library staff for information.

Earlier this year, Harvard University introduced a new Scan and Deliver service, allowing students to make requests for parts of books and articles. Requests made through the system are handled by library staff. The student receives an e-mail with an Internet link to the scanned pages. The service is free and all material comes within four days.

It used to be that libraries didn’t allow food or drinks. But that rule is changing and many of them now contain a café so students can spend as much time as they want in the library.

Actually, some US university libraries are now all-night affairs, or have at least one study room open all night.

16. In western college libraries a postgrad can ______.

A. have a free drink or a meal B. borrow as many books as they want

C. access not only books but other study resources

D. ask questions and get answers from their tutors

17. LexisNexis Academic in Paragraph 3 is the name of ______.

A. a database B. a library C. a university D. a guide

18. How can a college student borrow books from other college’s libraries?

A. By going to these libraries. B. By getting them through the Internet.

C. By sending messages through the computer or mobile texts.

D. By borrowing them through their own library.

19. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Chinese library services are better than western ones.

B. Library staff play an important role in college library service.

C. Postgrads can post their own PPTs to the library website.

D. 24-hour services are adopted in all western libraries nowadays.

20. Why are university libraries more attractive now?

A. Because students can eat and drink there at any time.

B. Because students can have a stay-over there all night.

C. Because students can borrow anything they want there.

D. Because students can enjoy quicker and more convenient services.