21世纪报高一版阅读理解

21st Century June 24, 2013ABig Ben, the Queen, a plate of ham and eggs –no, no, no. If you’re looking for a symbol of Britain, only one thing passes the test – the umbrella.Now, I know what you’re thinking – we have rain in China and we have umbrellas too. Certainly, I will never forget the way it rained when I lived in Beijing: the streets became instant (立即的) rivers and the sky flashed with lightning for hours on end. People dove (冲) for cover under bin bags, the shops were emptied of their plastic ponchos (斗篷) within seconds, and I found myself soaked (浸透) from head to foot, my poorly-chosen skirt and T-shirt now totally see-through.This would never have happened in Britain. For one thing, during my year in Beijing, it only really rained about 10 times. But although we never get a Beijing-style washout in London, the drizzle (毛毛雨) that does fall is all but constant. Even when the sky is perfectly blue, you can be sure it’s going to cloud over and start drizzling again within the hour.And when it does, there is chaos. Trains stop, drains (下水道) block, and buses break down as if this was the first time the local authorities had seen this wet stuff coming out of the clouds.So – as with so many things in the UK –it’s up to ordinary people to sort themselves out. No self-respecting Briton will ever leave home without his “brolly” – as the umbrella is affectionately (亲切地) known.A brolly has hundreds of uses, even on rare rain-free days. A real gentleman of London will use his umbrella as a walking stick. A traditional game of cricket (板球) can be played using an umbrella as a bat (球棒). Nor do you ever have to be afraid of robbers – your umbrella doubles as a defensive (防卫的) weapon.There is no brolly more British than my own. But it’s not from London or Manchester or anywhere in the UK. It was a gift from my Chinese teacher – in Beijing.How fitting that my No 1 symbol of Britishness – like almost everything in Britain – was made in China.21. The author mentioned her rainy weather experience in Beijing to show that ______.A. many foreigners have embarrassing moments living in BeijingB. the rain in Beijing is usually much heavier than the rain in LondonC. British people are more used to rainy weather than Chinese peopleD. both Beijingers and Londoners have unpleasant experiences with sudden rain22. The underlined word “this” in Paragraph 3 refers to “______”.A. people getting extremely wet on rainy daysB. sudden rain leading to traffic troublesC. people being well-prepared on rainy daysD. it only raining a dozen times per year23. The underlined word “chaos” in Para graph 4 probably means ______.A. doubtB. excitementC. joyD. disorder24. What is the main idea of the article?A. Beijing-style rain and London-style drizzles both bring chaos.B. Everything in Britain was made in China.C. Why the umbrella is the best symbol of Britain.D. What British people use a brolly for.BThe newspaper I previously worked for employs a very friendly receptionist. All receptionists are supposed to be friendly, but Connie has such a positive tone, she could brighten your day by saying, “Did anyone ever tell you that you look like a movie star? You ought to go to Hollywood and audition (试镜) for the title role in a new movie: The Return of King Kong.”“A movie star?” you’d say. “Thank you so much. That’s the best compliment I’ve received since my music teacher told me I sing as well as Zhao Benshan.”I appreciated Connie’s friendliness because I’ve come across a few unfriendly receptionists, including one at the Indian embassy in Washington DC who could make both King Kong and Godzilla run away in fear.During a stop at the embassy (大使馆) several years ago, I watched her harass (不断烦扰) visitor after visitor and thought to myself, “One billion people to choose from and they couldn’t hire anyone friendlier. This woman could single-handedly ruin India’s tourist industry. If the Indian government were smarter, they’d appoint her to a new positi on: Director of Prisons. The crime rate would drop so fast, many politicians would lose money.”In contrast, Connie is so pleasant that some people are willing to call the newspaper every day just to greet her and say, “When’s my wedding picture going to appear in the paper? Hopefully before the divorce.”Whatever they say, Connie remains friendly and polite. She’s an excellent receptionist and a true success. Yes, a success.For some reason, we seem to reserve the term “success” for people with money, f ame or power. But who gave them such a monopoly (专利)? You don’t have to be an actor or entrepreneur (企业家) or software expert to be a success. Receptionist, farmer, teacher, homemaker – all can be just as successful, even if they’ve never made a single appearance on a talk show.25. Connie’s words made t he author feel ______.A. uncomfortableB. like a starC. amused and good about herselfD. that she should take up acting26. What does the author try to convey in the fourth paragraph?A. Having a friendly and light-hearted manner is important for a receptionist.B. The Indian embassy hired an accomplished receptionist.C. Everyone should choose a career that suits them.D. Picking a good receptionist is important for a government department.27. What does the author think of “success”?A. Success depends on how much praise you give others.B. Being successf ul means doing one’s job well.C. An actor and an entrepreneur are equal when it comes to success.D. People who appear on a talk show are always successful.28. Which of the following best describes the article’s message?A. Be friendly and polite.B. Do not go on a talk show.C. Success is difficult to attain.D. Be an excellent receptionist.CYour smartphone (智能手机) can do a lot of things. It can call people. It connects to the Internet. It enables you to play fun games. But there is a dark side to this smart little device (设备) of yours – it might also spread disease.“People are just as likely to get sick from their phones as from handles of the bathroom,” Jeffrey Cain, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, told The Wall Street Journal.This may be hard to believe, but scientists reached this conclusion after they tested eight random cell phones from an office in Chicago. All the tested phones showed high numbers of coliforms (大肠菌), a kind of bacteria found in excrement (粪便), with about 2,700 to 4,200 units of the bacteria on each phone. In drinking water, the healthy limit is less than 1 unit per 100 ml of water. This bacteria can cause flu, pinkeye (红眼病) and diarrhea (腹泻).Although computers, keys and pens all carry germs (细菌), our smartphones get far dirtier. They touch a lot of stuff, including our hands and the inside of our pocket or purse. We take them almost everywhere: the bus, the subway and who hasn’t played Angry Bir ds or Fruit Ninja while sitting on the toilet?“Some things that we think are personal are actually more public than we imagine,” Cain said.What’s even worse is that after the phone returns from its dirty trip, it then spends most of its timecozying up to our faces. You don’t think about how often you touch your phone to your face, do you? Our noses, mouths and ears are all warm and rich in grease (油脂), an environment that germs really like.Compared to traditional keypads (键盘), touch screens transmit (传播) germs more easily to hands. According to Time magazine’s website, an expert in Australia warned that playing with iPads and iPhones at Apple stores is a health risk.So how do you keep your smartphone clean? Alcohol is effective when used to kill germs from the back and side of your phone. But it might harm the screen. There is one simple and reliable way you can reduce the germs on your phone’s s urface: wash your hands regularly.29. The underlined word “dark” in the first paragraph means ______.A. blackB. hopelessC. unclearD. unpleasant30. By saying “Some things we think are personal are actually more public than we imagine”, Cain meant that ______.A. people love to share their smartphones more than they realizeB. our personal items could be as risky to our health as public itemsC. smartphones are used in public places more than people realizeD. most people don’t know how dirty their ce ll phones are31. Compared with traditional keypads, smartphones _______.A. are greasier and need more alcohol to cleanB. make contact with our hands more oftenC. get warm more easily and are harder to cleanD. get much nearer to our faces32. What is the article mainly about?A. Tips on the use of smartphones.B. Health problems caused by the use of smartphones.C. The danger of coliforms infection.D. The influence that smartphones have on our life.DSeventeen years ago, a sheep was born in a research center in Scotland. But unlike other lambs, this one drew the attention of the entire world. Why? She was the first sheep born thanks to cloning (克隆技术). The researchers named her Dolly.The birth of Dolly suggested an answer to a question that had been around for a long time: Is there any way we can bring back extinct animals, like the mammoth (猛犸象)? Cloning seems to be the most likely way.However, cloning is far more complicated and difficult than you might imagine. It requires (需要) at least three main ingredients: DNA from the animal to be cloned, an egg to receive that DNA and a mother animal to carry the embryo (胚胎). Any one of these going wrong can lead to the failure of the whole experiment.“The potential of cloning is intriguing (吸引人的),” Oliver Ryder, an expert at the San Diego Zoo, US, told National Geographic. “But it’s been very little tested in terms of its practical application (应用).”Take the birth of Dolly as an example. According to Scientific American, scientists injected DNA into nearly 300 eggs, but only 30 turned into embryos. Out of those embryos, only five developed into lambs after being implanted (植入) into a mother sheep. But four of them died shortly after birth and only one survived to adulthood. That’s Dolly.The success rate would probably be even lower for extinct animals. For one, the DNA of extinct animals is almost impossible to find. Imagine that we had the DNA of a mammoth, for example. Scientists say that an elephant’s egg would probably be used to receive the DNA since the elephant is the living species most closely related to the mammoth. But any mismatch (不匹配) between DNA and egg – a very likely outcome – could cause the early death of the cloned animal.As you can see, the chance of cloning a dinosaur is small. But scientists are confident that someday cloning could at least be used to save endangered animals from extinction.“Once cloning of endangered animals is properly established, it will be a very powerful tool,” said Pasqualino Loi, scientist of the University of Teramo in Italy.33. The birth of Dolly suggests that ______, according to the article.A. the success rate for sheep cloning is very reliableB. cloning technology can be easily put into practiceC. cloning technology has great potentialD. many extinct animals could soon reappear on Earth34. Which of the following is TRUE about the cloning of mammoths?A. Scientists have already found mammoth DNA.B. Elephant eggs and mammoth DNA might not match.C. Scientists are sure that they can bring mammoths back to life through cloning.D. The mammoth cloning experiment might lead to the birth of new species.35. What might Pasqualino Loi agree with according to the text?A. Scientists should clone as many animal species as possible.B. Scientists have already succeeded in cloning certain endangered species.C. Cloning technology could help us save endangered animals.D. Most people still haven’t recognized the potential of cloning technology.三、任务型阅读阅读短文并根据文章内容回答问题,注意答案不要超过题目要求的词数。