09届高考英语（任务型阅读）题库（一）At the beginning of the twentieth century, many people thought that the American family was falling apart. A century later, we know that this was not the case. However, although the family is still alive in the United States, its size and shape were very different 100 years ago.In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there were mainly two types of families in the United States: the extended and the nuclear. The extended family usually includes grandparents, parents, and children living under the same roof. The nuclear family consists of only parents and children.Today there are many different kinds of families. Some people live in “traditional” families, that is, a stay-home mother, a working father, and their own biological children. Others live in two-paycheck families, single-parent families, adoptive or foster, families, blended families (where men and women who were married before marry again and combine the children from previous marriages into the new families），child less families, and so on.What caused the structure of the family to change? In the early 1900s the birthrate began to fall and the divorce rate began to rise. Women were suddenly choosing to go to college and take jobs outside the home. In the 1930s and 1940s, many families faced serious financial, or money problems during the Great Depression, when many people lost their jobs. During World War II （1939-1945)，5 million women were left alone to take care of their homes and their children. Because many men were at war, thousands of these "war widows" had to go to work outside their home.During the next ten years, the situation changed. There were fewer divorces, and people married at a younger age and had more children than the previous generation. It was unusual for a mother to work outside the home during the years when her children were growing tip. Families began leaving cities and moving into single-family homes in the suburbs. The traditional family seemed to be returning.In the years between 1960s and 1990s, there were many important changes in the structure of the family. From the 1960s to the early 1970s, the divorce rate doubled and the birthrate fell by half. The number of single-parent families tripled, and the number of couples living together without being married doubled again. In fact, the single-parent household, once unusual, has replaced the "traditional" family as the typical family in the States. If we can judge from history, however, this will probably change again in the twenty-first century.The Changes of the American Family1. kinds/ types2. main3. namely4. more5.periods6. lack7. birthrate8. fewer9. occurred 10. temporary（二）The family sphere(范围) used to be defined by its isolation from the public realm. There was the public male realm（领域）of "rational accomplishment" and cruel competition, and the private female and child-rearing sphere of home, intuition（直觉）and emotion. The private realm was supposed to be isolated from the realities of adult life. For both better and worse, television and other electronic media tend to break down the difference between those two worlds. The membrane around the family sphere is much more permeable(可渗透的). TV takes public events and transforms them into dramas that are played out in the privacy of our living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms.Parents used to be the channel through which children learned about the outside world. They could decide what to tell their children and when to tell it to them. Since children learn to read in stages, books provide a kind of natural screening process, where adults can decide what to tell and not tell children of different reading abilities. Television destroyed the system that separated adult from child knowledge and separated information into year-by-year slices for children of different ages. Instead, it presents the same information directly to children of all ages, without going through adult filters.So television presents a real challenge to adults. While a parent can read a newspaper without sharing it with children in the same room, television is accessible to everyone in that space. And unlike books, television doesn't allow us to flip（翻转）through it and see what's coming up. We may think we're giving our children a lesson in science by having them watch the Challenger takeoff, and then suddenly they learn about death, disaster and adult mistakes.Books allow adults to discuss privately what to tell or not tell children. This also allows parents to keep adult material secret from children and keep their secret keeping secret. Take that same material and put it on The Today Show and you have 800,000 children hearing the very things the adults are trying to keep from them. "Television takes our kids across the globe before parents give them permission to cross the street."More importantly, children gradually learn that adults are worried and anxious about being parents. Actually, television has also places families under a lot of stress.How Television Changes Childhood?1. Homes2. public3.connected4.indirectly5.books6.difference7. Content8. decided/ chosen9.adult 10. challenges（三）Some people believe that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society, and we should return to the old traditions of family and community then we will have a better life. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above opinion?In this fast-paced world, many values are undergoing major changes. While people traditionally prioritize caring, sharing and generosity in life and work, modern people seem to be more self-absorbed and self-concerned.Modern people act selfishly to survive the harsh competition of life. They say that it is a jungle out there. To survive, you have to fight with whatever means that come handy. Obviously greedy and selfishness go perfectly well with such ideas. In a company, employees do everything they can to get better pay and higher position, even at the cost of colleagues. We are in any way advocating any selfish conduct. It is just that people are pressured to act in a certain way due to outside influences.In spite of common practice, it is hard to conclude that modern society is built on greed and selfishness, both of which are not newly invented vocabulary. In ancient times people also did greedy and selfish things though such behaviors were more condemned then. But we can not ignore the fact that people in the past lived a relatively more isolated life and faced less pressure compared with their modern counterparts.Are we happier to share with others and be generous to them? There is no fixed answer either. Some people take great pleasure helping and giving to others while others feel happy doing the opposite. But I personally think that people should not be too selfish. Caring for others can actually encourage the development of a mutually beneficial relationship.In conclusion, modern people appear to be more self-centered than those in the past due to strong outside pressure. However, we should encourage people to know the importance of being caring and generous and to build a mutually beneficial relationship with others.Are Modern People Becoming More Selfish?1.Values2. place3. concerned4. Behaviors5. goals6. Reasons7. competition8. pressure9. attitudes 10. benefit（四）Traditionally, customers may consider more about what they buy the product for. However, the image of product and the consuming circumstance have become the key points to attract customer awareness and stimulate their buying needs. Frequently, customers buy goods just because they are cute, lovely and unique. With a less emphasis on functional utilities, the experience and imaginative space are placed into an increasingly important role. The image of product is emphasized, as well as the communication between products and consumers. “Customer behavior, which appears to be focused and directed at the object and at pleasure, in fact responds to quite different objectives: displaced expression of desire, and the production of a code of social values through the use of differential signs”(Baudrillard) . The reason for image-oriented customer behavior is probably that customers‟ lifestyle has been continuously virtualized by paying much attention to “Virtual Reality”. The evidences can be traced from computer games and Hollywood movies, in which customers‟ preference for fleeing reality is perfectly matched.This change requires us to take efforts to enhance product image by integrating style, color, taste, shape and material, and communicate with customers creatively, imaginatively and innovatively, and enable them to enjoy the distinctive experience image brings. “[A] need is not a need for a particular object as much as it is a …need‟ for difference” ( Baudrillard). The typical example is Apple Computer‟s IMAC, which has strong visual impact and outstanding dynamics. By this way, customer relationship can be set up through image, and brand can be treated as living that can transform people. Other examples commonly used are Disney Fairyland and Las Vegas, where new experience and imagination are fully demonstrated. In sum, consumption is negotiation, a never-ending conversation held in the languages of advertising, packaging, branding, fashion, and entertainment.More Attention to the Image of Product1.concerned/ cared2. use/ function3. attracted4.image5. ways6. stressedmunication8. reason9. lifestyle 10. Examples（五）A listener has written from China for advice about how to lose weight. Michael in Shanghai says he is 26 and has battled obesity for most of his life.Obesity , a severe weight problem, is a complex condition. A doctor may advise taking medicine along with changing one‟s behaviors. Experts say that the most successful weight—loss plans include a well-balanced diet and exercise.People who want to avoid weight gain have to balance the number of calories they eat with the number of calories they use. To lose weight, you can reduce the number of calories you take in, increase the number you use, or both.A recent study looked at four of the most popular dieting plans in the US. Researchers at Stanford University in California studied over 300 overweight women, mostly in their thirties and forties. Each woman went on one of the four plans: Atkins, The Zone, Ornish or LEARN. The women attended diet classes and received written information about the food plans.At the end of the year, the women on the Atkins diet had lost the most, more than four andone-half kilograms on average. They also did better on tests for cholesterol levels and blood pressure.Christopher Gardner, who led the study, says the Atkins diet may be more successful because of its simple message to eat less sugar. He also says that the advice to increase protein in the diet leads to more satisfying meals. He says that there was not enough money to study men, but that men would probably have similar results.Last week, another report based on thirty-one studies suggested that only a small minority of people have long-term success with dieting. Most dieters regained their lost weight within five years and often they become more overweight. But those who kept the weight off generally were the ones who exercised.Title: 1.___________to lose weightKey: 1. Proper ways 2. changing one‟s behaviors 3. weight-loss 4. take in 5. exercise 6. increase 7. Ornish 8. another report 9. regain 10. losing weight（六）We find that bright children are rarely held back by mixed-ability teaching. On the contrary, both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming (把…按能力分班)pupils. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright child. After all, it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade! Besides, it is rather unreal to grade people just according to their intellectual ability. This is only one aspect for their total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full, not just their academic ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills, and we find that mixed-ability teaching contributes to all these aspects of learning.In our classrooms, we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups: this gives them the opportunity to learn to cooperate, to share, and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to cope with personal problems as well as learning how to think, to make decisions, to analyze and evaluate, and to communicate effectively. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teacher.Sometimes the pupils work in pairs; sometimes they work on individual tasks and assignments, and they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is appropriate. We encourage our pupils to use the library, and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this efficiently. An advanced pupil can do advanced work: it does not matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best, not their least, and we give them every encouragement to attain this goal.Keys: 1. academic ability 2. social skills 3. mixed-ability 4. take into account 5. discourage6. contribute to7. leadership skills8. personal problems9. effectively 10. as well as（七）There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as an external (外在的) result or a product that can easily be identified and measured．The worker who gets a rise, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language—all these examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts．By contrast (对照) , the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way．The process is not the road itself, but the attitudes, feelings people have , and their caution or courage, as they meet with new experiences and unexpected difficulties．In this process, the journey never really ends；there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept．In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to face the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first．How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is necessary for our ability to grow．Do we see ourselves as quick and curious? If so, we tend to take more chances and be more open to unfamiliar experiences．Do wethink we‟re shy and indecisive? Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and we think we are slow to adapt (适应) change or that we‟re not smart enough to deal with a new challenge．Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all．These feelings of insecurity (不安全) and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow．If we protect ourselves too much, then we stop growing．We become trapped inside a shell of our own making．Keys: 1. Growth 2. measured 3. much more difficult 4. get a rise 5. their grades 6. caution or courage 7. in new ways 8. new challenges 9. take risks10. unfamiliar experiences（八）Without most people realizing it, there has been a revolution in office work over the last ten years. Before that time, large computers were only used by large, rich companies that could afford the investment. With the advancement of technology, small computers have come onto the market, which are capable of doing the work that used to be done by much larger and expensive computers, so now most smaller companies can use themThe main development in small computers has been in the field of word processors (处理器) , or WPS as they are often called. 40% of British offices are now estimated to have a word processor and this percentage is growing fast.There are many advantages in using a word processor for both secretary and manager. The secretary is freed from a lot of daily work, such as re-typing letters and storing papers. He or she can use this time to do other more interesting work for the boss. From a manager‟s point of view, secretarial time is being made better use of and money can be saved by doing daily jobs automatically outside office hours.But is it all good? If a lot of daily secretarial work can be done automatically, surely this will mean that fewer secretaries will be needed. Another worry is the increasing medical problems related to work with visual display units (显示器). The case of a slow loss of sight among people using word processors seems to have risen greatly. It is also feared that if a woman works at a VDU for long hours, the unborn child in her body might be killed. Safety screens to put over a VDU have been invented but few companies in England bother to buythem.Whatever the arguments for and against word processor, they are a key feature (特征) of this revolution in office practice.Keys: 1. replace 2. most smaller companies 3.improved 4.disadvantages 5.daily work6. The boss/manager7.money8. secretaries9. lose sight 10.might be killed（九）If you and your friends wish to share a secret, you can write it in code, and no one else will be able to read it. Codes are one way of writing in secrets. Ciphers(暗码) are another. In the code each word is written as a secret code or word number. In a cipher each letter is changed.Codes and ciphers have played an important role in the history of the word. Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler who defeated almost all the countries in Europe about 2000years ago, used a cipher when he sent secret messages to his troops. During American Revolution, George Washington‟s spies used a kind of code to send him information about the enemy before his military（军事的）action. In World War 2,the American “broke”,or figured out, Japan‟s most important navy codes and got enough information to destroy a powerful Japanese fleet（舰队）。
