江苏省2011届高三英语阅读理解专练（12）
A
The Fourth“21th Century Cup” National English Speaking Competition is to be held in Shanghai.
Organizers: China Daily and Shanghai Broadcasting Network.
Co-ordinater: China University English Speaking Association （CUESA）.
Co-sponsors（联办单位）: English Speaking Union （ESU）, Lotus Software （China）Co. Ltd. , Times Publishing Group of Singapore, Hilton Shanghai, Pearson Education, Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.
Date: March 26 （Friday）, 1999.
Place: Hilton Shanghai.
Competition Format （形式）: Each student will present a prepared speech on the given topic, followed by a three -minute off - hand speech and a three - minute question and answer period with the judges.
Prepared speech period: six minutes.
Q & A period: three minutes.
Speech topic: People and Nature: In search of harmony （和谐）in a new age ＋your personal opinion. （Topice for the off hand speech will be given on the day of competition）.
Prizes: Besides books and certificates （证书）, the top two winners will be offered scholarships（奖学金）to travel to the annual international English -speaking competition which will be held by the English Speaking Union in London in May, 1999. The third and fourth place winners will be offered a study trip to Singapore, sponsored by the Times Publishing Group. The fifth through 10th place winners will be offered cash prizes. All the competitors will receive certificates from the English Speaking Union and book prizes provided by Pearson Education and Foreign Language T eaching & Research Press. The teachers of the top winners will also receive a one - year membership to the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language（IATEFL）
1．The main purpose of this passage is ________.
A. to invite you to take part in the competition
B. to tell you some information of the competition
C. to help to improve your spoken English
D. to show you how to win the competition
2．Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the Shanghai English Speaking Competition?________.
A. Where and when it will take place.
B. Its program.
C. What each winner will be offered.
D. The number of its competitors.
3．Suppose you get the si xth place, you’ll________ .
A. travel to London for free.
B. become a one - year member of IATEFL
C. get some money , some books and a certificate
D. get a chance to study in Singapore
4．An “off- hand speech”is________.
A. a speech not longer than three minutes
B. a speech without preparation
C. a speech with a piece of paper in hand
D. a speech which is well prepared
B
Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants. But in the executive（主管的）circle, beauty can become a liability.
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.
Handsome male executives were considered having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success.
Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.
All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes.
Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the “manly”qualifies required.
This is true even in politics, “When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently, ” says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates（候选人）. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.
The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.
5．The word “liability” most probably means ________.
A. disadvantage
B. advantage
C. misfortune
D. trouble
6．Bowman’s exper iment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness________
A. turns out to be a disadvantage to men
B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women
C. has as little effect on men as on women
D. affects men and women alike
7．It can be inferred from the passage that people’s views on beauty are often________.
A. practical
B. supportive
C. old – fashioned
D. one - sided
8．The author writes this passage to ________.
