2021届中考英语专题训练—科普类阅读理解+答案

2021

届中考英语专题训练

科普类阅读理解

+

答案

Passage 1

Thousands of years ago, people didn’t know that the Earth moved. They thought the sun really did move across

the sky. The Greek god Helios was said to drive the sun across the sky with his chariot (

战车

). But now, the way

people think has changed. Nowadays, it is the sun that drives a “chariot” around the sky.

What do I mean by this? Well, quite simply, there is now a plane (or “chariot”) that is powered by the sun. It

has special parts on its wings. These parts absorb power from the sun. They absorb so much power that the plane

can still fly even at night. In Greek mythology (

神话

), Helios had to take a break at night. It seems we’re finally

even more powerful than the gods themselves.

This plane is called Solar Impulse. It will fly across the US in May. This is very important for the future of the

world.

Why is solar energy (

太阳能

) important? Well, other kinds of energy are known to cause problems. If you live

in China, you’ve probably noticed the pollution. This is caused by burning coal and gas to make energy. The heat

and chemicals created by burning these things give us power. But if we use power from the sun, we don’t have to

burn anything and there will not be any pollution.

Solar energy is not entirely ready yet. It needs to be improved. But the best thing about it is that, unlike coal

and gas. it doesn’t run out. The Solar Impulse plane could pretty much keep flying forever. Of course, the sun’s light

will eventually run out too one day, but not for another 5 billion years. That’s a pretty long flight.

1. The plane Solar Impulse ______.

A.

c

annot fly at night

B. is powered by chemicals

C.

i

s driven by solar energy

D. was made in the US

2. Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that ______.

A.

u

sing solar energy causes less pollution

B. solar energy is the best kind of energy

C.

c

reating energy by burning things causes pollution

D. burning things will not be allowed in China

3. Which is the story probably taken from?

A.

A

science magazine.

B. A history textbook.

C. A Greek myth.

D. A storybook.

4. What’s the story mainly about?

A.

T

he story of the Greek god Helios.

B. How China makes use of energy.

C.

T

he uses and advantages of solar energy.

D. The disadvantages of burning coal and gas.

Passage 2

Thanks to endless photos on social media and the wealth of information on the internet, future people should

have a clear picture of how we lived in the 21st century.

But Martine Rothblatt, a businesswoman from the US, wants to go a step further by digitally cloning (

克隆

)

human minds.

These “mindclones” would have all of our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes, and be able to think just like us.

Rothblatt imagines that mindclones will first begin as digital assistants in our mobile devices (

安置

), until they

become walking, talking versions of us - but these are far from reality at the moment.

Mindcloning technology is still very young, and it might be a long time before we can send our artificial selves

1

/

5

to school so we don’t have to sit through math class. However, scientists at Stanford University in the United States

recently created a circuit (

电路

) board modeled on the human brain that could simulate 1 million neurons (

神经元

)

and billions of connections in the brain.

Eventually, Rothblatt sees mindclones having their own rights as people, and even falling in love and getting

married.

“Let’s say [the ex Apple CEO] Steve Jobs meets another mindclone. They fall in love. Mindclones are just

people without bodies. Once the mindclones fall in love, they are going to get married. That’s what people do,” she

said.

But Rothblatt’s idea that the digital versions of ourselves would have the same rights as people is not shared

by everyone. Some people have argued that the mind must be embedded (

嵌入

) in biology for it to be considered

“life”, HuffPost reported.

1. According to Rothblatt, mindclones ______.

A.

w

ill eventually become robots

B. will be used in our mobile devices

C.

w

ill become reality soon

D. have more rights than people

2. Which of the following best explains the underlined word “artificial” in Paragraph 4?

A. Useful.

B. Man-made.

C. Human-like.

D. Different.

3. What is the latest development in mindcloning technology?

A. We can send our artificial selves to school.

B. People can improve their studies by using mindclones.

C. Steve Jobs and a mindclone will get married.

D. A circuit board has been modeled after a human brain.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly tell us?

A. The writer agrees with Rothblatfs idea.

B. The writer disagrees with Rothblatfs idea.

C. Not everyone agrees with Rothblatt about mindclones’ rights.

D. It’s pointless to discuss the rights of “mindclones”.

Passage 3

In your dreams, you may clearly see something or hear someone talking. But what about smells? Can you ever

remember smells from your dreams?

A study published in 1896 looked at different sensory experiences in dreams. It found that visual experience

mainly controls one’s dreams. It takes up about 85 percent, while auditory (

听觉的

) experience makes up 69 percent,

and smell only 7 percent.

But why? Scientists from the University of Illinois, US, have a theory based on what is known about the brain.

In our brain, there is a special part called the cerebral cortex (

大脑皮层

). It is linked to our feelings. As much

as two-thirds of the cerebral cortex works in vision. So vision appears often in dreams. Auditory experience is

closely tied to language, and language is processed entirely in the cerebral cortex.

Smell, on the other hand, has little to do with

the cerebral cortex. It connects directly

to the

memory and

emotional systems. That is why a smell can sometimes bring back a distant memory.

Another possibility is that perhaps smell is not easily affected by our imagination. For example, close your

eyes and imagine your favorite dish. What do you get? It is easy to think about what it looks like. But it is not as

easy to imagine its smell.

The vision and auditory senses are part of a complex process inside the brain. But smell is a direct measurement

of chemicals in the air. There is less imagination involved in smell. Therefore, smell might be less influenced by the

brain activity that happens while dreaming. It is similar to taste and touch. That is why you don’t usually have the

experience of taste and touch in your dreams.

1. Which experience mainly controls one’s dreams, according to the 1896 study?

2

/

5