阅读理解。 When Babbage was working at Cambridge, a new idea occurred to him. He

题型：辽宁省高考真题难度：来源：

阅读理解。     When Babbage was working at Cambridge, a new idea occurred to him. He wanted to construct a
calculating machine to work out the solutions (解法) to maths problems not only with correctness but
also with a speed beyond the power of any human mind. His machine could solve problems involving
(涉及) long rows of figures in one continuous operation (运算).
     In 1822 Babbage exhibited his invention and won a prize from the government. After that, he
immediately started to work on a larger machine designed to solve more difficult problems. Although he
received some money left by his father, the money was not enough to support his design. He wrote to
the government about his plan and was given ￡2500 to start with, a sum worth much more in those days
than it is now.
     Babbage continued his work in London for four years. Then his health broke down, and he had to take
a long holiday abroad. When he returned to London in 1828, he was at the end of his resources. Many bills
remained unpaid. His chief assistant and co-workers quarreled with him and left with many expensive tools.
For one year no work was done. During this period, Babbage, whose mind was always active, suddenly
thought of a completely new idea for the machine. He rushed to meet the government officials to explain his
new idea. But this time, they were unwilling to help him. For eight years, they refused to say whether they
wanted the machine or not, and their final answer was "No."
     From 1828 to 1839, Babbage held the position of professor at Cambridge very successfully. But his
greatest work was the unfinished calculating machine which stood covered in dust in his house. It was the
beginning of the modern computer. 1. The machine Babbage designed would solve difficult maths problems ______. A. in one operation with few mistakes
B. in more than one operation without any mistakes
C. in more than one operation with slight mistakes
D. in one operation without any mistakes 2. Babbage failed to continue his research work in 1828 mainly because _______. A. he was in poor health
B. he almost ran out of money
C. his co-workers argued with him
D. he spent all his money on his bills 3. Babage explained his new idea to the government officials, expecting that _______. A. they would agree to his plan
B. they would pay for his new idea
C. they would support him with money
D. they would exhibit his new design 4. From the passage, we can infer that _______. A. Babbage failed to be a famous scientist at Cambridge
B. Babbage always had new ideas but gave them up easily
C. Babbage always needed support from the government officials
D. Babbage was the first designer of the modern computer

答案

1-4: DBCD

举一反三

阅读理解。     Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After all, you
probably sing or whistle when you are happy.
     Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However, they
sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay
out of their territory.
     Do you know what a "territory" is? A territory is an area that an animal,usually the male, claims (声称)
as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there.No other families of the same species (物种) are
welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a
stranger should enter your territory and threaten you,you might shout. Probably this would be enough to
frighten him away.
     If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing.
But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting (筑巢) season. So he is screaming all the
time,whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird"s song,and it is usually
enough to keep an outsider away.
     Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the
territory of theirs.
     You can see that birds have a language all their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting
up territories. 1. Some scientists believe that most of the time birds" singing is actually _____. A. an expression of happiness
B. a way of warning
C. an expression of anger
D. a way of greeting 2. What is a bird"s "territory"? A. A place where families of other species are not accepted.
B. A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice.
C. An area for which birds fight against each other.
D. An area which a bird considers to be its own. 3. Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season? A. Because they want to invite more friends.
B. Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away.
C. Because they want to find outsiders around.
D. Because their singing helps get rid of their fears. 4. How does the writer explain birds" singing? A. By comparing birds with human beings.
B. By reporting experiment results.
C. By describing birds" daily life.
D. By telling a bird"s story.

题型：湖北省高考真题难度：| 查看答案

阅读理解。     From the moment that an animal is born it has to make decisions. It has to decide which of the things
around it are for eating, and which are to be avoided ; when to attack and when to run away. The animal
is, in fact, playing a very dangerous game with its environment, a game in which it must make decision-a
matter of life or death.
     Animals" ability to act reasonably is believed to come partly from what we may call"genetic (遗传性的)
learning", which is different from the individual (个体的) learning that an animal does in the course of its
own lifetime. Genetic learning is learning by a species -animals of the same kind-as a whole, and it is
achieved by selection of those members of each generation that happen to act in the right way. However,
the role of genetic learning depends upon how similar the future environment is to the past. The more
important individual experience is likely to be, the less important is genetic learning as a means of getting over
the problems of the survival game. Because most animals live in ever changing environments from one
generation to the next, it is not surprising to find that very few species indeed depend wholly upon genetic
learning.
     In the great majority of animals, their particular ways of acting in a new environment are a compound
(复合体) of individual experience added to the action patterns animals are born with.That is why animals
can survive. 1. The animal"s life will come to an end _____.A. if the animal makes a wrong decision
B. if the animal plays a dangerous game
C. when the animal attacks its enemy
D. when the animal runs too slowly 2. Very few species depend entirely on genetic learning because _____. A. each generation has its own way of learning
B. their environments change all the time
C. they can act reasonably on their own
D. it takes their whole life to learn 3. When the environment doesn"t change much, _____. A. animals cannot act in a right way
B. genetic learning is less important for animals
C. individual learning plays a less important role
D. animals cannot get over problems on their on their own 4. Animals" living on generation after generation depends on _____. A. their natural action pattern with their own experience
B. the lessons they have learnt during their lifetime
C. their experience in particular environments
D. the knowledge passed on by their parents

题型：湖北省高考真题难度：| 查看答案

阅读理解。     Walk through the Amazon rainforest today and you will find it is steamy,warm,damp and thick.But if you
had been around 15,000 years ago, during the last ice age, would it have been the same?For more than 30
years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted (反应) to the
cold, dry climates of the ice ages, but until now, no one has reached a satisfying answer.
     Rainforests like the Amazon are important for mopping up CO2 from the atmosphere and helping to slow
global warming. Currently the trees in the Amazon take in around 500 million tonnes of CO2 each year; equal
to the total amount of CO2 giving off in the UK each year. But how will the Amazon react to future climate
change? If it gets drier, will it still survive and continue to draw down CO2? Scientists hope that they will be
able to learn in advance how the rainforest will manage in the future by understanding how rainforests reacted
to climate change in the past.
     Unfortunately,getting into the Amazon rainforest and collecting information are very difficult. To study past
climate, scientists need to look at fossilized pollen,kept in lake muds. Going back to the last ice age means
drilling deep down into lake sediments (沉淀物),which requires specialized equipment and heavy machinery.
There are very few roads and paths,or places to land helicopters and aeroplanes. Rivers tend to be the easiest
way to enter the forest,but this still leaves vast ares between the rivers completely unsampled (未取样). So far,
only a handful of cores have been drilled that go back to the last ice age and none of them provide enough
information to prove how the Amazon rainforest reacts to climate change. 1. The underlined phrase "mopping up" in the second paragraph means _____.A. cleaning up
B. taking in
C. wiping out
D. giving out 2. How will the Amazon rainforest react to future climate change? A. It"ll get drier and continue to remove CO2.
B. It"ll remain steamy,warm,damp and thick.
C. It"ll get warmer and then colder and drier.
D. There is no exact answer up to present.3. What"s the main idea of the last paragraph? A. It"s important to drill deep down into lake sediments to collect information.
B. It"s impossible to prove how climate changes in the Amazon rainforest.
C. It"s hard to collect information for studies of the past climate in the Amazon rainforest.
D. It"s necessary to have specialized equipment and machinery to study the past climate. 4. The best title for this passage may probably be _____. A. Studies of the Amazon
B. Climates of the Amazon
C. Secrets of the Rainforests
D. Changes of the Rainforests

题型：福建省高考真题难度：| 查看答案

阅读理解。     Animals can move from place to place, but plants cannot. When an animal is under attack, it can run away
or fight back.. Plants certainly cannot run away, and they lack teeth and claws. But plants can defend
themselves by using both physical and chemical means.
     Some plants have their own ways to keep animals away. For example, the leaves of the holly plant have
sharp spines (刺) that discourage grass-eating animals. Holly leaves on lower branches have more spines than
leaves on upper branches. This is because the lower leaves are easier for most animals to reach.
     Some plants, such as the oak tree, have thick and hard leaves that are difficult for animals to eat. Some
grasses may contain a sandy material; eating such grasses wears down the animal"s teeth.
     Many plants also have chemical defenses. Some plants produce chemicals that taste bitter or cause an
unpleasant reaction. Some plants may fight against an attack by increasing the production of these chemicals.
When a caterpillar (毛虫) bites a tobacco leaf, the leaf produces a chemical messenger. This messenger sends
to the roots the information to produce more nicotine. The higher levels of nicotine discourage the caterpillar.
     Many plants depend on both physical and chemical defenses. A certain plant in China, for instance, has
prickly (多刺的) leaves, and each prickle contains poisonous venom (毒液) A single experience with this kind
of plant will teach an animal to stay away from it in the future. 1. The holly plant has more spines on the lower leaves because most animals ______. A. are not tall enough
B. like the lower leaves only
C. are not clever enough
D. can get the lower leaves easily 2. To defend themselves, oak trees use ______. A. chemical means
B. physical means
C. bitter chemicals
D. sandy materials 3. How does tobacco protect itself against an attack from a caterpillar? A. Its leaves fight against the attack by physical means.
B. Its roots send a messenger to discourage the caterpillar.
C. Its roots increase the production of nicotine when it is attacked.
D. Its leaves produce poisonous sand to drive the caterpillar away. 4. What would be the best title for this passage? A. Plants and Animals
B. How Plants Defend Themselves
C. Attacks and Defenses
D. How Animals Eat Plant Leaves

题型：高考真题难度：| 查看答案

阅读理解。      The twentieth century saw greater changes than any century before: changes for the better, changes for
the worse; changes that brought a lot of benefits to human beings, changes that put man in danger. Many
things caused the changes, but, in my opinion, the most important was the progress in science.
     Scientific research in physics and biology has vastly broadened our views. It has given us a deeper
knowledge of the structure of matter and of the universe; it has brought us a better understanding of the nature
of life and of its continuous development. Technology m the application of science m has made big advances
that have benefited us in nearly every part of life.
     The continuation of such activities in the twenty-first century will result in even greater advantages to
human beings: in pure science-a wider and deeper knowledge in all fields of learning; in applied science-a more
reasonable sharing of material benefits, and better protection of the environment.
     Sadly, however, there is another side to the picture. The creativity of science has been employed in doing
damage to mankind. The application of science and technology to the development and production of weapons
of mass destruction has created a real danger to the continued existence of the human race on this planet. We
have seen this happen in the case of nuclear weapons, Although their actual use has so far occurred only in the
Second World War, the number of nuclear weapons that were produced and made ready for use was so large
that if the weapons had actually been used, the result could have been the ruin of the human race, as well as
of many kinds of animals.
     William Shakespeare said, "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn (纱线), good and ill together. ""The
above brief review of the application of only one part of human activities-science-seems to prove what
Shakespeare said. But does it have to be so? Must the ill always go together with the good? Are we biologically
programmed for war? 1. Which of the following best shows the structure of the passage?

2. From the fourth paragraph, we can infer that ______.A. a great many nuclear weapons were actually used for war
B. a large number of nuclear weapons should have been used for war
C. the author is doubtful about the ruin of human beings by nuclear weapons
D. the author is anxious about the huge number of nuclear weapons on the earth3. The underlined word "mingled" in the last paragraph most probably means ______. A. simple
B. mixed
C. sad
D. happy4. What do you think the author is most likely to suggest if he continues to write?A. Further application of science to war.
B. More reading of William Shakespeare.
C. Proper use of science in the new century.
D. Effective ways to separate the good from the ill.

题型：高考真题难度：| 查看答案