2020年高考英语专题复习阅读理解(15篇) 五A1.In 1974, after filling out fifty applications, going through four interviews, and winning one offer, I took what I could get—a teaching job at what I considereda distant wild area: western New Jersey. My characteristic optimism was alive onlywhen I reminded myself that I would be doing what I had wanted to do since I was fourteen—teaching English.School started, but I felt more and more as if I were in a foreign country. Was this rural area really New Jersey? My students took a week off when hunting season began. I was told they were also frequently absent in late October to help their fathers make hay on the farms. I was a young woman from New York City, who thought that“Make hay while the sun shines”just meant to have a good time.But, still, I was teaching English. I worked hard, taking time off only to eat and sleep. And then there was my sixth-grade class—seventeen boys and five girls who were only six years younger than me. I had a problem long before I knew it. I was struggling in my work as a young idealistic teacher. I wanted to make literature come alive and to promote a love of the written word. The students wanted to throw spitballs and whisper dirty words in the back of the room.In college I had been taught that a successful educator should ignore bad behavior.So I did, confident that, as the textbook had said, the bad behavior would disappear as I gave my students positive attention. It sounds reasonable, but the text evidently ignored the fact that humans, particularly teenagers, rarely seemreasonable. By the time my boss, who was also my taskmaster, known to be the strictest, most demanding, most quick to fire inexperienced teachers, came into the classroom to observe me, the students exhibited very little good behavior to praise.My boss sat in the back of the room. The boys in the class were making animal noises, hitting each other while the girls filed their nails or read magazines. I just pretended it all wasn’t happening, and went on lecturing and tried to ask some inspiring questions. My boss, sitting in the back of the room, seemed to be growing bigger and bigger. After twenty minutes he left, silently. Visions of unemployment marched before my eyes.I felt mildly victorious that I got through the rest of class without crying, butat my next free period I had to face him. I wondered if he would let me finish out the day. I walked to his office, took a deep breath, and opened the door.He was sitting in his chair, and he looked at me long and hard. I said nothing.All I could think of was that I was not an English teacher;I had been lying to myself, pretending that everything was fine.When he spoke, he said simply, without accusation, “You had nothing to say to them. ”“You had nothing to say to them.”he repeated. “No wonder they’re bored. Why not get to the meat of the literature and stop talking about symbolism. Talk with them, not at them. And more important, why do you ignore their bad behavior?”We talked. He named my problems and offered solutions. We role-played. He was the bad student, and I was the forceful, yet, warm, teacher.As the year progressed, we spent many hours discussing literature and ideas about human beings and their motivations. He helped me identify my weaknesses and my strengths. In short, he made a teacher of me by teaching me the reality of Emerson’s words:“The secret to education lies in respecting the pupil.”Fifteen years later I still drive that same winding road to the same school. Thanks to the help I received that difficult first year, the school is my home now.（1）It can be inferred from the story that in 1974 .A.the writer became an optimistic personB.the writer was very happy about her new jobC.it was rather difficult to get a job in the USAD.it was easy to get a teaching job in New Jersey（2）According to the passage, which of the following is most probably the writer’s problem as a new teacher?A.She had blind trust in what she learnt at college.B.She didn’t ask experienced teachers for advice.C.She took too much time off to eat and sleep.D.She didn’t like teaching English literature.（3）What is the writer’s biggest worry after her taskmaster’s observation of her class?A.She might lose her teaching job.B.She might lose her students’ respect.C.She couldn’t teach the same class any more.D.She couldn’t ignore her students’ bad behavior any more.（4）Which of the following gives the writer a sense of mild victory?A.Her talk about symbolism sounded convincing.B.Her students behaved a little better than usual.C.She managed to finish the class without crying.D.She was invited for a talk by her boss after class.（5）The students behaved badly in the writer’s classes because .A.they were eager to embarrass herB.she didn’t really understand themC.they didn’t regard her as a good teacherD.she didn’t have a good command of English（6）The taskmaster’s attitude towards the writer after his observation of her class can be best described as .A.cruel but encouragingB.fierce but forgivingC.sincere and supportiveD.angry and aggressiveB2.When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolutedelight, which seems to get rarer the older we get.For kids, happiness has a magical quality. Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved(毫无掩饰的).In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.In adulthood the things that bring deep joy—love, marriage, birth—also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated(复杂的).My definition of happiness is“the capacity for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don’t think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children, had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this is what satisfied her.We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we’ve got to have. We’re so self-conscious about our“right”to it that it’s making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren’t necessarily happier.Happiness isn’t about what happens to us—it’s about how we see what happens to us. It’s the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have, but enjoying what we do possess.（1）As people grow older,they .A.feel it harder to experience happinessB.associate their happiness less with othersC.will take fewer risks in pursuing happinessD.tend to believe responsibility means happiness（2）What can we learn about the author from Paragraphs 5 and 6?A.She cares little about her own health.B.She enjoys the freedom of traveling.C.She is easily pleased by things in daily life.D.She prefers getting pleasure from housework.（3）What can be inferred from Paragraph 7?A.Psychologists think satisfying work is key to happiness.B.Psychologists’ opinion is well proved by Grandma’s case.C.Grandma often found time for social gatherings.D.Grandma’s happiness came from modest expectations of life.（4）People who equal happiness with wealth and success .A.consider pressure something blocking their wayB.stress their right to happiness too muchC.are at a loss to make correct choicesD.are more likely to be happy（5）What can be concluded from the passage?A.Happiness lies between the positive and the negative.B.Each man is the master of his own fate.C.Success leads to happiness.D.Happy is he who is content.C3.Are you looking for some new and exciting places to take your kids (孩子) to?Try some of these places:·Visit art museums.They offer a variety of activities to excite your kids’interest.Many offer workshops for making hand-made pieces, traveling exhibits, book signings by children’s favorite writers, and even musical performances and other arts.·Head to a natural history museum.This is where kids can discover the past from dinosaur(恐龙) models to rock collections and pictures of stars in the sky.Also, ask what kind of workshops and educational programs are prepared for kids and any special events that are coming up.·Go to a Youtheater.Look for one in your area offering plays for child and family visitors.Pre-show play shops are conducted by area artists and educators where kids can discover the secret about performing arts.Puppet(木偶)making and stage make-up are just a couple of the special offerings you might find.·Try hands-on science. Visit one of the many hands-on science museums around the country.These science play-lands are great fun for kids and grown-ups alike.They’ll keep your child mentally and physically active the whole day through while pushing buttons, experimenting, and building.When everyone is tired, enjoy a fun family science show, commonly found in these museums.（1）If a child is interested in the universe, he probably will visit .A.a YoutheaterB.an art museumC.a natural history museumD.a hands-on science museum（2）What can kids do at a Youtheater?A. Look at rock collections.B. See dinosaur models.C. Watch puppet making.D. Give performances.（3） What does “hands-on science” mean in the last paragraph?A. Science games designed by kids.B. Learning science by doing things.C. A show of kids’ science work.D. Reading science books.（4）Where does this text probably come from?A. A science textbook.B. A tourist map.C. A museum guide.D. A news report.D4.The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru’s heartbreaking story could have one good consequence—other countries might learn from its mistakes.For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived on the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798.He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. Then whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten-year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.Nauru’s real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate(磷酸盐) on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which is a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip mine. When a companystrip-mines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip-mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars.In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem—their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was almost financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen.（1）What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?A.To seek help for Nauru’s problems.B.To give a warning to other countries.C.To show the importance of money.D.To tell a heartbreaking story of a war.（2）What was Nauru like before the Europeans came?A.Rich and powerful.B.Modern and open.C.Peaceful and attractive.D.Greedy and aggressive.（3）The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from .A.soil pollutionB.phosphate overminingC.farming activityD.whale hunting（4）Which of the following was a cause of Nauru’s financial problem?A.Its leaders misused the money.B.It spent too much repairing the island.C.Its phosphate mining cost much money.D.It lost millions of dollars in the civil war.（5）What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?A.The ecological damage is difficult to repair.B.The leaders will take the experts’ words seriously.C.The island was abandoned by the Nauruans.D.The phosphate mines were destroyed.EF5.When John was growing up,other kids felt sorry for him.His parents always had him weeding the garden,carrying out the garbage and delivering newspapers.But when John reached adulthood,he was better off than his childhood playmates.He had more job satisfaction,a better marriage and was healthier.Most of all,he was happier.Far happier.These are the findings of a 40-year study that followed the lives of 456 teenage boys from Boston.The study showed that those who had worked as boys enjoyed happier and more productive lives than those who had not.“Boys who worked in the home or community gained competence(能力)and came to feel they were worthwhile members of society,”said George Vaillant,the psychologist(心理学家)who made the discovery.“And because they felt good about themselves,others felt good about them.”Vaillant’s study followed these males in great detail.Interviews were repeated at ages 25,31 and 47.Under Vaillant,the researchers compared the men’smental-health scores with their boyhood-activity scores.Points were awarded for part-time jobs,housework,effort in school,and ability to deal with problems.The link between what the men had done as boys and how they turned out as adults was surprisingly sharp.Those who had done the most boyhood activities were twice as likely to have warm relations with a wide variety of people,five times as likely to be well paid and 16 times less likely to have been unemployed.The researchersalso found that IQ and family social and economic class made no real difference in how the boys turned out.Working—at any age—is important.Childhood activities help a child develop responsibility,independence, confidence and competence—the underpinnings(基础)of emotional health.They also help him understand that people must cooperate and work toward common goals.The most competent adults are those who know how to do this.Yet work isn’t everything.As Tolstoy once said,“One can live magnificently in this world if one knows how to work and how to love,to work for the person one loves and to love one’s work.”（1）What do we know about John?A.He enjoyed his career and marriage.B.He had few childhood playmates.C.He received little love from his family.D.He was envied by others in his childhood.（2）Vaillant’s words in Paragraph 2 serve as .A.a description of personal values and social valuesB.an analysis of how work was related to competenceC.an example for parents’expectations of their childrenD.an explanation why some boys grew into happy men（3）Vaillant’s team obtained their findings by .A.recording the boys’effort in schoolB.evaluating the men’s mental healthparing different sets of scoresD.measuring the men’s problem solving ability（4）What does the underlined word“sharp”probably mean in Paragraph 4?A.Quick to react.B.Having a thin edge.C.Clear and definite.D.Sudden and rapid.（5）What can be inferred from the last paragraph?petent adults know more about love than work.B.Emotional health is essential to a wonderful adult life.C.Love brings more joy to people than work does.D.Independence is the key to one’s success.G6.For those who make journeys across the world, the speed of travel today has turned the countries into a series of villages. Distances between them appear no greater to a modern traveler than those which once faced men as they walked from village to village. Jet planes fly people from one end of the earth to the other, allowing them a freedom of movement undreamt of a hundred years ago.Yet some people wonder if the revolution in travel has gone too far. A price has been paid, they say, for the conquest(征服) of time and distance. Travel is something to be enjoyed, not endured(忍受). The boat offers leisure and time enough to appreciate the ever-changing sights and sounds of a journey. A journey by train also has a special charm about it. Lakes and forests and wild, open plains sweeping past your carriage window create a grand view in which time and distance mean nothing. On board a plane, however, there is just the blank blue of the sky filling the narrow windows of the airplane. The soft lighting, in-flight films and gentle music make up the only world you know, and the hours progress slowly.Then there is the time spent being ‘processed’ at a modern airport. People are conveyed like robots along walkways; baggage is weighed, tickets produced, examined and produced yet again before the passengers move to another waiting area. Journeys by rail and sea take longer, yes, but the hours devoted to being ‘processed’ at departure and arrival in airports are luckily absent. No wonder, then, that the modern high-speed trains are winning back passengers from the airlines.Man, however, is now a world traveler and cannot turn his back on the airplane. The working lives of too many people depend upon it; whole new industries have been built around its design and operation. The holiday-maker, too, with limited time to spend, patiently endures the busy airports and the limited space of the flight to gain those extra hours and even days, relaxing in the sun. Speed controls people’s lives; time saved, in work or play, is the important thing—or so we are told. Perhaps those first horsemen, riding free across the wild, open plains, were enjoying a better world than the one we know today. They could travel at will, and the clock was not their master.（1）What does the writer try to express in Paragraph 1?A.Travel by plane has speeded up the growth of villages.B.The speed of modern travel has made distances relatively short.C.The freedom of movement has helped people realize their dreams.D.Man has been fond of traveling rather than staying in one place.（2）How does the writer support the underlined statement in Paragraph 2?A.By giving instructions.B.By analyzing cause and effect.C.By following the order of time.D.By giving examples.（3）According to Paragraph 3, passengers are turning back to modern high-speed trains because .A.they pay less for the ticketsB.they feel safer during the travelC.they can enjoy higher speed of travelD.they don’t have to waste time being ‘processed’（4）What does the last sentence of the passage mean?A.They could enjoy free and relaxing travel.B.They needed the clock to tell the time.C.They preferred traveling on horseback.D.They could travel with their master.（5）What is the main idea of the passage?A.Air travel benefits people and industries.B.Train travel has some advantages over air travel.C.Great changes have taken place in modern travel.D.The high speed of air travel is gained at a cost.H7.Astronauts on shorter shuttle missions(使命)often work very long days.Tasks are scheduled so tightly that break times are often used to finish the day’s work.This type of schedule is far too demanding for long missions on the International Space Station (ISS).ISS crewmembers usually live in space for at leasta quarter of a year.They work five days on and two days off to mimic the normalway they do things on Earth as much as possible.Weekends give the crew valuable time to rest and do a few hours of housework.They can communicate with family and friends by email,internet phone and through private video conferences.While astronauts cannot go to a baseball game or a movie in orbit,there are many familiar activities that they can still enjoy.Before a mission,the family and friends of each ISS crewmember put together a collection of family photos,messages,videos and reading material for the astronauts to look at when they will be floating 370 kilometers above the Earth.During their mission,the crew also receives care packages with CDs,books,magazines,photos and letters.And as from early 2010,the internet became available on the ISS,giving astronauts the chance to do some “web surfing(冲浪)” in their personal time.Besides relaxing with these more common entertainments,astronauts can simply enjoy the experience of living in space.Many astronauts say that one of the most relaxing things to do in space is to look out the window and stare at the universe and the Earth.Both the shuttle and the ISS circle the planet several times each day,and every moment offers a new view of the Earth’s vast land mass and oceans.（1）What does the word“mimic”in Paragraph 1 probably mean?A. Find.B. Copy.C. Change.D. Lose.（2） Which of the following best describes the families of the astronauts on the ISS?A.They are caring and thoughtful.B.They are worried and upset.C.They are impatient and annoyed.D.They are excited and curious.（3）In the final paragraph,the author shows that astronauts .A.get more pleasure in space than on the EarthB.find living in space a bit boring and tiringC.regard space life as commonD.love to see the Earth from space（4）The passage mainly discusses how astronauts .A.work for longer missions in spaceB.connect with people on the EarthC.observe the Earth from spaceD.spend their free time in spaceI8.As a young boy,I sometimes traveled the country roads with my dad.He was a rural mail carrier,and on Saturdays he would ask me to go with him.Driving through the countryside was always an adventure:There were animals to see,people to visit,and chocolate cookies if you knew where to stop,and Dad did.In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chickens,and when I was a boy it was such fun to stick your fingers through one of the holes of the boxes and let the baby birds peck on your fingers.On Dad’s final day of work,it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service.“Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route,”he used to say,“and a story at every one.”One lady had no mailbox,so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind.Once inside,he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail.One note left in a mailbox read,“Nat,take these eggs to Marian;she’s baking a cake and doesn’t have any eggs.”Mailboxes might be buried in the snow,or broken,or lying on the ground,but the mail was always delivered.On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him with a cup of hot chocolate.A young girl wrote letters but had no stamps,so she left a few buttons on the envelope in the mailbox;Dad paid for the stamps.One businessman used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox for Dad to take to the bank.Once,the amount came to $ 32,000.A dozen years ago,when I traveled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad’s death,the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories.I thoughtI knew them all,but that wasn’t the case.As I drove home,I noticed two lamp poles,one on each side of the street.When my dad was around,those poles supported wooden boxes about four feet off the ground.One box was painted green,and the other was red,and each had a long narrow hole at the top with white lettering:SANTA CLAUS,NORTH POLE.For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those holes.I made a turn at the corner and drove past the post office and across the railroadtracks to our house.Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I heard footsteps.There,at the door,stood Frank Townsend,Dad’s postmaster and great friend for many years.So we all sat down at the table and began to tell stories.At one point Frank looked at me with tears in his eyes.“What are we going to do about the letters this Christmas?”he asked.“The letters?”“I guess you never knew.”“Knew what?”“Remember,when you were a kid and you used to put your letters to Santa in those green and red boxes on Main Street?It was your dad who answered all those letters every year.”I just sat there with tears in my eyes.It wasn’t hard for me to imagine Dad sitting at the old oak table in our basement reading those letters and answering each one.I have since spoken with several of the people who received Christmas letters during their childhood,and they told me how amazed they were that Santa had known so much about their homes and families.For me,just knowing that story about my father was the gift of a lifetime.（1）It can be inferred from the passage that the writer regarded his travels with Dad as .A.great chances to help other peopleB.happy occasions to play with baby chickensC.exciting experiences with a lot of funD.good opportunities to enjoy chocolate cookies（2）The writer provides the detail about the businessman to show that .A.Dad had a strong sense of dutyB.Dad was an honest and reliable manC.Dad had a strong sense of honorD.Dad was a kind and generous man（3）According to the passage,which of the following impressed the writer most?A.Dad read letters for a blind lady for years.B.Dad paid for the stamps for a young girl.C.Dad delivered some eggs to Marian.D.Dad answered children’s Christmas letters every year.（4）The method the writer uses to develop Paragraph 4 is .A.offering analysesB.providing explanationsC.giving examplesD.making comparisons（5）What surprised the children most when they received letters in reply from Santa Claus every year?A.Santa Claus lived alone in the cold North Pole.B.Santa Claus answered all their letters every year.C.Santa Claus had unique mailboxes for the children.D.Santa Claus had so much information about their families.（6）Which of the following is the best title for the passage?A.The MailB.Christmas LettersC.Special MailboxesD.Memorable TravelsJ9.In his 1930 essay“Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren”, John Keynes,a famous economist,wrote that human needs fall into two classes:absolute needs,which are independent of what others have,and relative needs,which make us feel superior to our fellows. He thought that although relative needs may indeed be insatiable(无止境的),this is not true of absolute needs.Keynes was surely correct that only a small part of total spending is decided by the desire for superiority. He was greatly mistaken, however, in seeing this desire as the only source of insatiable demands.Decisions to spend are also driven by ideas of quality which can influence the demand for almost all goods, including even basic goods like food. When a couple goes out for an anniversary dinner, for example, the thought of feeling superior to others probably never comes to them. Their goal is to share a special meal that stands out from other meals.There are no obvious limits to the escalation of demands for quality. For example, Porsche, a famous car producer, has a model which was considered perhaps the best sports car on the market. Priced at over $120, 000, it handles perfectly well and has great speed acceleration. But in 2004, the producer introduced some changes which made the model slightly better in handling and acceleration. People who really care about cars find these small improvements exciting. To get them, however, they must pay almost four times the price.By placing the desire to be superior to others at the heart of his description of insatiable demands, Keynes actually reduced such demands. However, the desire for higher quality has no natural limits.（1）According to the passage,John Keynes believed that .A.desire is the root of both absolute and relative needsB.absolute needs come from our sense of superiorityC.relative needs alone lead to insatiable demandsD.absolute needs are stronger than relative needs（2）What do we know about the couple in Paragraph 3?A.They want to show their superiority.B.They find specialty important to meals.C.Their demands for food are not easily satisfied.D.Their choice of dinner is related to ideas of quality.（3）What does the underlined word“escalation”in Paragraph 4 probably mean?A. Understanding.B. Increase.C.Difference.D. Study.（4）The author of the passage argues that .A.absolute needs have no limitsB.demands for quality are not insatiableC.human desires influence ideas of qualityD.relative needs decide most of our spending。
