2018年高考真题英语(浙江卷)8.7

2018

年全国高考英语考试

(

浙江卷

) 8.7

第二部分

阅读理解

A

In 1812, the year Charles Dickens was born, there were 66 novels published in Britain. People

had been writing novels for a century

—

most experts date the first novel to Robinson Crusoe in 1719

but nobody wanted to do it professionally. The steam-powered printing press was still

in its early

stages; the literacy

（识字）

rate in England was under 50%. Many works of fiction appeared without

the names of the authors, often with something like

“

By a lady.

”

Novels, for the most part, were

looked upon as silly, immoral, or just plain bad.

In

1870,

when

Dickens

died,

the

world

mourned

him

as

its

first

professional

writer

and

publisher, famous and beloved, who had led an explosion in both the publication of novels and their

readership

and

whose

characters

—

from

Oliver

Twist

to

Tiny

Tim

—

were

held

up

as

moral

touchstones. Today Dickens’ greatness is unchallenged.

Removing him from the pantheon

（名人堂）

of English literature would make about as much sense as the Louvre selling off the

Mona Lisa

.

How

did

Dickens

get

to

the

top?

For

all

the

feelings

readers

attach

to

stories,

literature

is

a

numbers

game,

and

the

test

of

time

is

extremely

difficult

to

pass.

Some

60,000

novels

were

published during the Victorian age, from 1837 to1901; today a casual reader might be able to name a

half-dozen of

them. It’s partly

true

that Dickens’

style of writing attracted audiences

from

all

walks

of

life

.

It’

s

partly

that

his

writings

rode

a

wave

of

social,

political

and

scientific

progress. But it’s also that he rewrote the culture of literature and put himself at the center. No one

will ever know what mix of talent, ambition, energy and luck made Dickens such a singular writer.

But as the 200th anniversary of his birth approaches, it is possible

—

and important for our own

culture

—

to understand how he made himself a lasting one.

21. Which of the following best describes British novels in the 18

th

century?

A. They were difficult to understand.

B. They were popular among the rich.

C. They were seen as nearly worthless.

D. They were written mostly by women.

22. Dickens is compared with the Mona Lisa in the text to stress________.

A. his reputation in France

B. his interest in modern art

C. his success in publication

D. his importance in literature

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23. What is the author

’

s purpose in writing the text?

A. To remember a great writer.

B. To introduce an English novel.

C. To encourage studies on culture.

D. To promote values of the Victorian age.

B

Steven Stein likes to follow garbage trucks. His strange habit makes sense when you consider

that he

’

s an environmental scientist who studies how to reduce litter, including things that fall off

garbage trucks as they drive down the road. What is even more interesting is that one of Stein's jobs

is defending an industry behind the plastic shopping bags.

Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags every year. So many end up in tree

branches or along highways that a growing number of cities do not allow them at checkouts(

收银

台

) . The bags are prohibited in some 90 cities in California, including Los Angeles. Eyeing these

headwinds, plastic-bag makers are hiring scientists like Stein to make the case that their products are

not as bad for the planet as most people assume.

Among the bag makers' argument: many cities with bans still allow shoppers to purchase paper

bags, which are easily recycled but require more energy to produce and transport. And while plastic

bags may be ugly to look at, they represent a small percentage of all garbage on the ground today.

The industry has also taken aim at the product that has appeared as its replacement: reusable

shopping

bags.

The

stronger

a

reusable

bag

is,

the

longer

its

life

and

the

more

plastic-bag

use

it

cancels

out.

However,

longer-lasting

reusable

bags

often

require

more

energy to make.

One

study

found that a cotton bag must be used at least 131 times to be better for the planet than plastic.

Environmentalists don't dispute

（质疑）

these points. They hope paper bags will

be banned

someday too and want shoppers to use the same reusable bags for years.

24. What has Steven Stein been hired to do?

A. Help increase grocery sales.

B. Recycle the waste material.

C. Stop things falling off trucks.

D. Argue for the use of plastic bags.

25. What does the word

“

headwinds

”

< br>in paragraph 2 refer to?

A. Bans on plastic bags.

B. Effects of city development.

C. Headaches caused by garbage.

D. Plastic bags hung in trees.

26. What is a disadvantage of reusable bags according to plastic-bag makers?

A. They are quite expensive.

B. Replacing them can be difficult.

C. They are less strong than plastic bags.

D. Producing them requires more energy.

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27. What is the best title for the text?

A. Plastic, Paper or Neither

B. Industry, Pollution and Environment

C. Recycle or Throw Away

D. Garbage Collection and Waste Control

C

As

cultural

symbols

go,

the

American

car

is

quite

young.

The

Model

T

Ford

was

built

at

the

Piquette Plant in Michigan a century ago, with the first rolling off the assembly line

（装配线）

on

September 27, 1908. Only eleven cars were produced the next month. But eventually Henry

Ford

would build fifteen million of them.

Modern America was born on the road, behind a wheel. The car shaped some of the most lasting

aspects of American culture: the roadside diner, the billboard, the motel, even the hamburger. For

most of the last century, the car represented what it meant to be American

—

going forward at high

speed to find new worlds. The road novel, the road movie, these are the most typical American ideas,

born of abundant petrol, cheap cars and a never-ending interstate highway system, the largest public

works project in history.

In 1928 Herbert Hoover imagined an America with

“

a chicken in every pot and a car in every

garage.

”

Since

then,

this

society

has

moved

onward,

never

looking

back,

as

the

car

transformed

America from a farm-based society into an industrial .k

The cars that drove the American Dream have helped to create a global ecological disaster. In

America the demand for oil has grown by 22 percent since 1990.

The problems of excessive

（过度的）

energy consumption, climate change and population growth

have been described in a book by the American writer Thomas L. Friedman. He fears the worst, but

hopes for the best.

Friedman points out that the green economy

（经济）

is a chance to keep American strength.

“

The

ability

to

design,

build

and

export

green

technologies

for

producing

clean

water,

clean

air

and

healthy and abundant food is going to be the currency of power in the new century.

”

28. Why is hamburger mentioned in paragraph 2?

A. To explain Americans

’

love for travelling by car.

B. To show the influence of cars on American culture.

C. To stress the popularity of fast food with Americans.

D. To praise the effectiveness of America

’

s road system.

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