高考英语拔高试题解析(二)

高考英语拔高试题解析（二）

Section I: Structure and V

ocabulary

In each question, decide which of the four choices given will most suitably complete the sentence

if inserted at the place marked. Put your choice in the brackets on the left. (10 points)

EXAMPLE:

I was caught ________ the rain yesterday.

[A] in

[B] by

[C] with

[D] at

ANSWER: [A]

1.

The skyscraper stands out ________ the blue sky.

[A] in

[B] against

[C] under

[D] beneath

2.

They have always been on good ________ with their next-door neighbors.

[A] friendship

[B] relations

[C] connection

[D] terms

3.

Hello! Is that 21035? Please put me ________ to the manager.

[A] across

[B] up

[C] through

[D] over

4.

Why do you look so ________? You never smile or look cheerful.

[A] miserable

[B] unfortunate

[C] sorry

[D] rude

5.

Eggs, though nourishing, have ________ of fat content.

[A] large number

[B] a large number

[C] the high amount

[D] a high amount

6.

Jim always ________ his classmates in a debate.

[A] backs out

[B] backs away

[C] backs up

[D] backs down

7.

Most of the people who ________ two world wars are strongly against arms race.

[A] have lived out

[B] have lived through

[C] have lived on

[D] have lived off

8.

There are many inconveniences that have to be ________ when you are camping.

[A] put up

[B] put up with

[C] put off

[D] put away

9.

Is it true that those old houses are being pulled down ________ new office blocks?

[A] to accommodate

[B] to provide for

[C] to increase

[D] to make room for

10.

Being in no great hurry, ________.

[A] we went the long route with scenery

[B] the long, scenic route was our preference

[C] we took the long scenic route

[D] our preference was taking the long, scenic route

Section II: Reading Comprehension

Each

of

three

passages

below

is

followed

by

five

questions.

For

each

question

there

are

four

answers, read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each of the question. Put your

choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (15 points)

Text 1

For centuries men dreamed of achieving vertical flight. In 400 A.D. Chinese children played with

a

fan-like

toy

that

spun

upwards

and

fell

back

to

earth

as

rotation

ceased.

Leonardo

da

Vinci

conceive the first mechanical apparatus, called a “Helix,” which could carry man straight up, but

was only a design and was never tested.

The ancient-dream was finally realized in 1940 when a Russian engineer piloted a strange looking

craft of steel tubing with a rotating fan on top. It rose awkwardly and vertically into the air from a

standing

start,

hovered

a

few

feet

above

the

ground,

went

sideways

and

backwards,

and

then

settled back to earth. The vehicle was called a helicopter.

Imaginations were fired. Men dreamed of going to work in their own personal helicopters. People

anticipate that vertical flight transports would carry millions of passengers as do the airliners of

today. Such fantastic expectations were not fulfilled.

The

helicopter

has

now

become

an

extremely

useful

machine.

It

excels

in

military

missions,

carrying troops, guns and strategic instruments where other aircraft cannot go. Corporations use

them

as

airborne

offices,

many

metropolitan

areas

use

them

in

police

work,

construction

and

logging

companies

employ

them

in

various

advantageous

ways,

engineers

use

them

for

site

selection and surveying, and oil companies use them as the best way to make offshore and remote

work stations accessible to crews and supplies. Any urgent mission to a hard-to-get-to place is a

likely task for a helicopter. Among their other multitude of used: deliver people across town, fly to

and from airports, assist in rescue work, and aid in the search for missing or wanted persons.

11.

People expect that ________.

[A] the airliners of today would eventually be replaced by helicopters

[B] helicopters would someday be able to transport large number of people from place to place as

airliners are now doing

[C]

the

imaginations

fired

by

the

Russian

engineer’s

invention

would

become

a

reality

in

the

future

[D] their fantastic expectations about helicopters could be fulfilled by airliners of today

12.

Helicopters work with the aid of ________.

[A] a combination of rotating devices in front and on top

[B] a rotating device topside

[C] one rotating fan in the center of the aircraft and others at each end

[D] a rotating fan underneath for lifting

13.

What is said about the development of the helicopter?

[A] Helicopters have only been worked on by man since 1940.

[B] Chinese children were the first to achieve flight in helicopters.

[C] Helicopters were considered more dangerous than the early airplanes.

[D] Some people thought they would become widely used by average individuals.

14.

How has the use of helicopters developed?

[A] They have been widely used for various purposes.

[B] They are taking the place of high- flying jets.

[C] They are used for rescue work.

[D] They are now used exclusively for commercial projects.

15.

Under what conditions are helicopters found to be absolutely essential?

[A] For overseas passenger transportation.

[B] For extremely high altitude flights.

[C] For high-speed transportation.

[D] For urgent mission to places inaccessible to other kinds of craft.

Text 2

In ancient Greece athletic festivals were very important and had strong religious associations. The

Olympian

athletic

festival

held

every

four

years

in

honor

of

Zeus,

king

of

the Olympian

Gods,

eventually

lost its local character, became first a national event and then, after the rules against

foreign

competitors

had

been

abolished,

international.

No

one

knows

exactly

how

far

back

the

Olympic Games go, but some official records date from 776 B.C. The games took place in August

on the plain by Mount Olympus. Many thousands of spectators gathered from all parts of Greece,

but no married woman was admitted even as a spectator. Slaves, women and dishonored persons

were not allowed to compe

te. The exact sequence of events uncertain, but events included boy’s

gymnastics,

boxing,

wrestling,

horse

racing

and

field

events,

though

there

were

fewer

sports

involved than in the modern Olympic Games.

On the last day of the Games, all the winners were honored by having a ring of holy olive leaves

placed on their heads. So great was the honor that the winner of the foot race gave his name to the

year of his victory. Although Olympic winners received no prize money, they were, in fact, richly

rewarded

by

their

state

authorities.

How

their

results

compared

with

modern

standards,

we

unfortunately have no means of telling.

After an uninterrupted history of almost 1,200 years, the Games were suspended by the Romans in

394 A.D. They continued for such a long time because people believed in the philosophy behind

the

Olympics:

the

idea

that

a

healthy

body

produced

a

healthy

mind,

and

that

the

spirit

of

competition in sports and games was preferable to the competition that caused wars. It was over

1,500 years before another such international athletic gathering took place in Athens in 1896.

Nowadays,

the

Games

are

held

in

different

countries

in

turn.

The

host

country

provides

vast

facilities,

including

a

stadium,

swimming

pools

and

living

accommodation,

but

competing

courtiers pay their own athletes’ expenses.

The Olympics start with the arrival in the stadium of a torch, lighted on Mount Olympus by the

sun’s

rays.

It

is

carried

by

a

succession

of

runners

to

the

stadium.

The

torch

symbolized

the

continuation

of

the

ancient

Greek

athletic

ideals,

and

it

burns

throughout

the

Games

until

the

closing

ceremony.

The

well-known

Olympic

flag,

however,

is

a

modern

conception:

the

five

interlocking rings symbolize the uniting of all five continents participating in the Games.

16.

In ancient Greece, the Olympic Games ________.

[A] were merely national athletic festivals

[B] were in the nature of a national event with a strong religious colour

[C] had rules which put foreign participants in a disadvantageous position

[D] were primarily national events with few foreign participants

17.

In the early days of ancient Olympic Games ________.

[A] only male Greek athletes were allowed to participate in the games

[B] all Greeks, irrespective of sex, religion or social status, were allowed to take part

[C] all Greeks, with the exception of women, were allowed to compete in Games

[D] all male Greeks were qualified to compete in the Games

18.

The order of athletic events at the ancient Olympics ________.

[A] has not definitely been established

[B] varied according to the number of foreign competitors

[C] was decided by Zeus, in whose honor the Games were held

[D] was considered unimportant

19.

Modern

athletes’

results

cannot

be

compared

with

those

of

ancient

runn

ers

because

________.

[A] the Greeks had no means of recording the results

[B] they are much better

[C] details such as the time were not recorded in the past

[D] they are much worse

20.

Nowadays, the athletes’ expenses are paid for ________.

[A] out of the prize money of the winners

[B] out of the funds raised by the competing nations

[C] by the athletes themselves

[D] by contributions

Text 3

In science the

meaning of the word “explain” suffers with civilization’s every step in search of

reality. Science cannot really explain electricity, magnetism, and gravitation; their effects can be

measured

and

predicted,

but

of

their

nature

no

more

is

known

to

the

modern

scientist

than

to

Thales

who

first

looked

into

the

nature

of

the

electrification

of

amber,

a

hard

yellowish-brown

gum.

Most

contemporary

physicists

reject

the

notion

that

man

can

ever

discover

what

these

mysterious forces “really” are. “Electricity,” Bertrand Russell says, “is not a thing, like St. Paul’s

Cathedral; it is a way in which things behave. When we have told how things behave when they

are electrified, and under what circumstances they are electrified, we have told all there is to tell.”

Until recently scientists would have disapproved of such an idea. Aristotle, for example, whose

natural science dominated Western thought for two thousand years, believed that man could arrive

at an understanding of reality by reasoning from self-evident principles. He felt, for example, that

it

is

a

self-evident

principle

that

everything

in

the

universe

has

its

proper

place,

hence

one

can

deduce

that

objects

fall

to

the

ground

because

that’s

where

they

belong,

and

smoke

goes

up

because that’s where it belongs. The goal of Aristotelian science was to explain why things happen.

Modern

science

was

born

when

Galileo

began

trying

to

explain

how

things

happen

and

thus

originated

the

method

of

controlled

experiment

which

now

forms

the

basis

of

scientific

investigation.

21.

The aim of controlled scientific experiments is ________.

[A] to explain why things happen

[B] to explain how things happen

[C] to describe self-evident principles

[D] to support Aristotelian science

22.

What principles most influenced scientific thought for two thousand years?

[A] the speculations of Thales

[B] the forces of electricity, magnetism, and gravity

[C] Aristotle’s natural science

[D] Galileo’s discoveries

23.

Bertrand Russell’s notion about electricity is ________.

[A] disapproved of by most modern scientists

[B] in agreement with Aristotle’s theory of self

-evident principles

[C] in

agreement with scientific investigation directed toward “how” things happen

[D] in agreement with scientific investigation directed toward “why” things happen

24.

The passage says that until recently scientists disagreed with the idea ________.

[A] that there are mysterious forces in the universe

[B] that man cannot discover what forces “really” are

[C] that there are self- evident principles

[D] that we can discover why things behave as they do

25.

Modern science came into being ________.

[A] when the method of controlled experiment was first introduced

[B] when Galileo succeeded in explaining how things happen

[C] when Aristotelian scientist tried to explain why things happen

[D] when scientists were able to acquire an understanding of reality of reasoning

Section III: Structure and V

ocabulary

Fill

in

the

blanks

with

the

words

which

best

complete

the

sentence.

Put

your

choices

in

the

ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

EXAMPLE:

It was the largest experiment we have ever had, it ________ six hours.

[A] ended

[B] finished

[C] was

[D] lasted

ANSWER: [D]

26.

As scheduled, the communications satellite went into ________ round the earth.

[A] circle

[B] orbit

[C] path

[D] course

27.

When I saw Jane, I stopped and smiled, but she ________ me and walked on.

[A] refused

[B] ignored

[C] denied

[D] missed

28.

It was a good game, and at the end the ________ was Argentina 3, West Germany 2.

[A] mark

[B] account

[C] record

[D] score

29.

George took ________ of the fine weather to do a day’s work in his garden.

[A] chance