2023年北京重点校高二（下）期末英语汇编阅读理解C篇一、阅读理解（2023春·北京朝阳·高二统考期末）Growing up, Chelsea Wood dreamed of becoming a sea biologist and studying large, exciting animals like sharks. Instead, she later found herself looking through a microscope at the organs of a snail(蜗牛) and saw thousands of little white sausage-shaped parasites(寄生虫). Through the microscope, each parasite had two dark eyespots, which made them surprisingly attractive. “I couldn’t believe that I’d been looking at snails for as long as I had and missing all the cool stuff happening inside them,” says Wood, now a parasitologist at University of Washington.Nearly half of all known animals on Earth are parasites. According to one study, a tenth of them may already be certain to extinction due to climate change, loss of their hosts, and intentional attempts of wiping them out. But now it seems that few people care.By definition, parasites live in or on a host and take something from that host. But not all parasites cause harm, and only a small percentage affect their hosts. In fact, parasites play essential roles in ecosystems, keeping some populations in check while helping to feed others. Without parasites keeping them in check, populations of some animals would explode. Many parasites move into their next host by controlling the host they’re in, which drive that host into an animal’s mouth so that the animal can be fed.Even human health wouldn’t entirely benefit from wiping out parasites. The human immune system(免疫系统) evolved with a group of parasites, and when we killed them off, our immune systems began attacking ourselves. Some people with Crohn’s disease have even purposely infected themselves with intestinal(肠道的) parasites live deserves our attention. If you get to understand them, you may find the bravery and attraction of parasites. They’ve evolved clever means of survival, from becoming a fish’s tongue to controlling the mind of cockroach(蟑螂).However, scientists aren’t eager to save all the parasites. The guinea worm, for instance, gets a hard pass from even the most stubborn conservationists. It grows to adulthood inside a person’s leg, causing harm to one’s health. Ultimately, the goal of promoting parasite conservation isn’t to make everyone fall in love with them. Instead, it’s to call a relaxation in our war against all of them, because there’s still so much we don’t understand about their value to ecosystems and maybe even to people.1．What does the author indicate by referring to Chelsea Wood’s story?A．All parasitologists initially intended to study parasites.B．Parasites are easily ignored compared with large animals.C．Animals like sharks have more research value than parasites.D．Scientists study parasites because of their attractive appearance.2．The author uses the example underlined in paragraph 4 to __________.A．introduce an approach B．draw a comparisonC．present an assumption D．illustrate an argument3．What can we infer from the passage?A．Parasites can smartly survive without their hosts.B．Conservationists believe all parasites should be protected.C．Some parasites are important for the balance of our ecosystem.D．Parasites can change their hosts by directly moving onto other animals.4．Which would be the best title for the passage?A．Why are parasites Dying Out?B．Why Should We Spare Parasites?C．How Do Parasites Affect Ecosystems?D．How Can We Create a World Without Parasites?（2023春·北京大兴·高二统考期末）Do you know the websites that let you name a star after your beloved one, your kid or your dog for a small fee? Yeah, those are all fake— you could pay me to “name” a star for $50, and I’ll take your money and show the name online. I’ll even send you a fancy certificate! It seems that you’ve named a star, but it just doesn’t count.Actually, the only organization that owns official naming rights is the International Astronomical Union, or the IAU. It was founded in 1919 and based in Paris, France. It is where astronomers and other professionals have reached the agreements and is the official record-keeping body for all discoveries in space.Recently they do open up an opportunity for the public to name a dozen of planets outside the solar system. These planets will be among the first to be studied with the James Webb Space Telescope. However, they currently only have boring and complicated documents that were used to find them. That’s why the IAU is looking for something more interesting.But before you start naming the planets, you should know the rules. First, nothing is rude or annoying. Second, the name should be less than 16 characters long and pronounceable in at least one language with no commercial or business names and nothing is named after a living individual or a pet.The competition, named “Stars Worlds”, is open next Thursday, January 20th. It’s the third such contest the IAU has held, and the purpose is to get the public more interested in science as well as the organization. The competition also helps to break centuries of European dominance when it comes to naming things in the night sky. So people around the world can share the joy of discovery and make their mark in history.5．How does the author introduce the topic of the passage?A．By listing figures.B．By taking an example.C．By offering a solution.D．By showing differences.6．What can we know about the IAU from the passage?A．It was founded by France.B．It studies the space telescope.C．It organizes trips to the space.D．It has the right to name the stars.7．What is the last paragraph mainly about?A．Why the competition is held.B．How the competition develops.C．What to expect in the competition.D．How to take part in the competition.8．Where is this passage most likely taken from?A．A novel.B．A textbook.C．A diary.D．A magazine.（2023春·北京海淀·高二统考期末）Hardly a day goes by without some new claim promising to bring uscloser to the metaverse(元宇宙) in the not-too-distant future. On hearing this, some will feel pure excitement, but others will feel unsure or downright opposed. Our habit in recent history has been looking down upon those with doubts on technological progress. It may be time to re-examine that.There has been a backlash to technology since historical memories began. Every new form of communication has attracted criticism for increasing the pace of life. For example, people once feared that cars travelling at 20 to 30 miles per hour might rob their passengers of oxygen.When we look back, contemporary resistance to technological advancement can look completely foolish, but often it isn’t. The Luddites, for example, the destroyer of mill (作坊) machinery in the early industrial revolution, are generally referred to as a historical joke. But if we look at their real complaints, it wasn’t some naive anti-progress movement; it was about economics. Cotton mills replaced skilled, home-based, independent work with lower-skilled work in a factory, accompanied by much less autonomy and much less pay.The mill might have been more efficient and thus more profitable, but it would take decades of campaigning to distribute those gains even approximately fairly—with the birth of the trade union movement, the welfare state and more. So, was their resistance really so unreasonable?While metaverse advocates would like to paint skeptics as simply rooted in the past, at least some doubts are well founded. The reasons to be cautious of the next wave of technology are varied. One is simply whether the technologies in question are where they are claimed to be. If the company has a habit of over promising, few in the know will take its claims of inventions seriously.Other more striking metaverse technologies rely on virtual reality, which still largely consists of heavy headsets and odd arm controls—all just to be able to operate an avatar through an awkward online world. VR has been “the next big thing” for decades and the public has consistently felt otherwise: there isn’t much to do once you are there, the technology gives many people motion sickness and, perhaps most problematically of all, the whole thing just seems extremely silly. Another popular innovation, health tracking, hasn’t caught the wider public by storm because many consumers worry about what will happen to their data.There is much to anticipate as we bring online and offline worlds together. But we should learn not to dismiss concerns or caution about this, either. There are many rational reasons for people to take part in the techlash.9．What does the underlined word “backlash” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?A．Exposure.B．Commitment.C．Opposition.D．Transformation.10．What can we learn about the Luddites movement?A．It contributed to the success of the industrial revolution.B．It made lower-skilled workers replaced by mills.C．It led to the birth of the trade union movement.D．It was launched largely for economic reasons.11．People are hesitant about the next wave of technology partly because they _________.A．are not interested in virtual realityB．think some companies make overstatementsC．worry about the inaccuracy of their data collectedD．are embarrassed about wearing the awkward headsets12．As for technological innovation, the author would agree _________.A．enthusiasts are being unreasonableB．the public should stay cool-headedC．most of the criticism is groundlessD．people should welcome new technology（2023春·北京西城·高二统考期末）This week I watched an international news program and saw what looked like most of the planet—the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia—painted in bright oranges and reds. Fahrenheit (华氏温度的) temperatures in three-digit numbers seemed to burn all over on the world map.Heat records have burst around the globe. This very weekend, crops are burning, roads are bending and seas are rising, while lakes recede, or even disappear. Ice sheets melt in rising heat, and wildfires attack forests. People are dying in this heat. Lives of all kinds are threatened, in cities, fields, seas, deserts and forests. Wildlife, farm animals, insects and human beings are in pain.The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says there is more deadly heat in our future because of climate change caused by our species on this planet. Even with advances in wind, solar and other alternative energy sources, and international promises and agreements, the world still derives about 80% of its energy from fossil fuels, like oil, gas and coal, which release the carbon dioxide that’s warmed the climate to the current temperatures of this hot summer. The WMO’s chief, Petteri Taalas, said this week, “In the future these kinds of heatwaves are going to be normal.”The most alarming word in his forecast might be: “normal.” I’m of a generation that thought of summer as a sunny time for children. I think of long days spent outdoors without worry, playing games or just wandering. John Updike wrote in his poem, “June”:The sun is richAnd gladly paysIn golden hours,Silver days,And long green weeksThat never end.School’s out. The timeIs ours to spend.There’s Little League,Hopscotch, the creek,And, after supper,Hide-and-seek.The live-long lightIs like a dream...But now that bright, “live-long light,” of which Updike wrote, might look threatening in a summer like this.The extremely hot weeks that we see this year cause one to wonder if our failures to care for the planet given to us will make our children look forward to summer, or fear another season of heat.13．What does the underlined word “derive” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?A．Get.B．Reduce.C．Waste.D．Save.14．According to WMO, ______.A．alternative energy is the solution to climate changeB．the heatwaves are caused by the advanced technologyC．agreements need to be signed to deal with climate changeD．use of traditional energy is responsible for the heatwaves15．Why does the author mention John Updike’s poem?A．To describe the beauty of summer.B．To indicate the end of happy summers.C．To compare different feelings about summer.D．To suggest ways for children to spend summer.16．Which might be the best title for the passage?A．What leads to a hot summer B．Children are afraid of summerC．Burning summers are the future D．How we can survive a hot summer（2023春·北京东城·高二统考期末）Overly technical language in science articles doesn’t just muddy the waters for non-experts—it can alienate readers, potentially shutting them out from scientific discussion and knowledge. That’s the conclusion of a study published in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology, and it applies to general-interest articles just as much as to scientific papers.“When we have a hard time conceptualizing information, we become really scared of it,” says lead author Hillary Shulman, a communication researcher. Scientists can create “unnecessary barriers” with words, she says. The study involved 650 members of the general public who read paragraphs on three cutting-edge topics: self-driving cars, robotic surgery and 3D bio-printing. The members are divided into two groups: for the experimental group, the paragraphs were loaded with jargon terms (行业术语), such as “remote ergonomic console”; for the control group, the paragraphs were written with words that are familiar to most readers, such as “separate control panel”.After reading the passages, the study participants rated their experience in a series of questionnaires. Those who read jargon-filled paragraphs were more likely to say that they had difficulty understanding the language and the information. They were also significantly more likely to say that they weren’t good at science, and less likely to say that they would seek out information on the topic in the future. Some of the participants who read the jargon- heavy text received links to definitions of technical terms, but that didn’t reduce their frustrations or enhance their feelings of understanding.Scientists can learn to cut back on their use of technical language when talking to people who are not researchers,says Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, a science-communication researcher. She co-authored a January study showing that scientists with media training can write articles that are just as engaging as pieces written by professional journalists. “Avoiding jargon is a fundamental part of that, but it’s not the whole story,” she says. To really connect with the public, she recommends that scientists tell a story that’s relevant to the audience. Members of the public aren’t the only ones who can be turned off by jargon, Shulman says. Students can be, too. “I teach a class with 400 undergrads,” she says. “When you’re training people, you can introduce jargon with a little more sensitivity. You’re trying to invite them into the environment.”Of course, technical words still have an important function in science. Shulman’s paper is itself heavily loaded with terms such as “metacognition” and “self-schema”. “The irony of that is not lost on me,” she says. “When it comes to scientific literature, you can’t get anything published unless it’s full of jargon. Scientists want to speak to other scientists in the most precise way possible.”17．In the study, participants in the experimental group probably find themselves ______.A．lacking in elementary reading skillsB．uninterested in reading definitions of jargonC．incompetent to deal with complex informationD．not confident about grasping new science topics18．According to Baram-Tsabari, scientists had better ______.A．publicize science in a more accessible wayB．receive the training for professional journalistsC．limit jargon in communication with each otherD．conduct extensive research related to the public19．What does Shulman think of using jargon in her paper?A．Disadvantageous.B．Shameful.C．Unavoidable.D．Tricky.（2023春·北京平谷·高二统考期末）With the development of technology, computers are more capable of using language. Large language models ( LLMs) , of which the most famous is ChatGPT, produce what looks like human writing. However, a debate has been aroused over these items: what the machines are actually doing internally and what the operation of the brain is when humans speak.According to Professor Noam Chomsky, a famous linguist( 语言学家) , human language is different from all other kinds of communication. All human languages are more similar to each other than they are to other types of communication, such as whale song or computer code. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Chomsky and two co-authors said “ we know” that computers do not think or use language as humans do. LLMs, in fact, just predict the next word in a string of words.It is hard to understand what LLMs “think”. Details of the programming and training data of commercial ones like ChatGPT are proprietary. And not even the programmers know exactly what is going on inside.Linguists have, however, found clever ways to test LLMs’ underlying knowledge. They found that LLMs can handle some new words and grasp parts of speech. For example, tell ChatGPT that “dax” is a verb meaning to eat a slice of pizza by folding it, and the system can use it easily: “ After a long day at work, I like to relax and dax on aslice of pizza while watching my favourite TV show. ”GPT-3 ( the LLM underlying ChatGPT until the recent release of GPT-4 ) is estimated to be trained on about 1, 000 times the data a human ten-year-old is exposed to. That leaves open the possibility that children have an inborn tendency to grammar, making them far more proficient than any LLM. In a forthcoming paper in Linguistic Inquiry, researchers claim to have trained an LLM on no more text than a human child is exposed to, finding that it can use even rare bits of grammar. But other researchers have tried to train an LLM on a database of only child-directed language. Here LLMs behaved worse. Perhaps the brain really is built for language, as Professor Chomsky says. 20．According to Noam Chomsky, ______.A．whale songs are similar to computer codeB．no further research shall be carried out on ChatGPTC．computers do not deal with language like humans doD．human language is based on other kinds of communication21．It can be inferred from Paragraph 4 that______ .A．LLMs might become a tool of learning languagesB．some linguists are opposed to the technology of LLMsC．linguists have the hobby of daxing on a slice of pizzaD．any complicated word in the world can be handled via LLMs22．The passage mainly tells us ______.A．what LLMs are not capable ofB．how linguists understand LLMsC．why human should reject ChatGPTD．that human languages would be replaced by ChatGPT参考答案1．B 2．D 3．C 4．B【导语】本文为说明文。
