2020届盐城市第一高级中学高三英语上学期期中试卷及参考答案第一部分阅读（共两节，满分40分）第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项AA Lifelong Devotion to Keeping People FedYuan Longping is a Chinese agricultural scientist and educator, known for developing the hybrid rice varieties.Yuan graduated from the Southwest Agriculture Institute in 1953 andbegan his teaching career at an agriculture school.In the 1960s, when a serious food shortage sweptChina, Yuan decided to devote himself to studying how to increase the yields of rice. He then began a lifelong connection with rice.Yuan succeeded in growing the world’s first high-yielding hybrid rice varieties in 1973, which could reach a yield of over 500 kg per mu (about 0.067 hectares), rising from the previous yield of only 300 kg per mu. For the next four decades, he continued to work on research and development of hybrid rice, achieving increasingly higher outputs. In 2020, hybrid rice developed by Yuan’s team achieved 1,500 kilograms per mu in two growing seasons, a new world record.InChina, where rice is the main food for the majority of the 1.4 billion people, the planting area of hybrid rice has reached 16 million hectares, or 57 % of the total planting area of rice, helping feed an extra 80 million people a year.Hybrid rice has also been grown in over 40 countries, including theU.S.,Brazil,India,Vietnam, thePhilippinesandMadagascar. The total planting area of the hybrid rice has reached 8 million hectares overseas.Even after a great success, Yuan never held himself back from making new breakthroughs. In 2017, his team started to grow seawater rice inQingdao. The rice was designed to grow in saline-alkaline land and survive even after being completely in seawater. His team planned to develop a type of seawater rice that could be planted in 6.67 million hectares of saline-alkaline land acrossChinato boost the country’s rice harvest by about 20 %. In 2018, Yuan’s team was invited to plant the saline-alkaline tolerant rice in experimental fields inDubai, which achieved huge success. In June 2020, his team started to grow seawater rice on a farm at an altitude of 2,800 meters in northwestChina’sQinghaiProvince. The experiment succeeded.Yuan had two dreams — to “enjoy the cool under the rice crops taller than men” and that hybrid rice could be grown all over the world to help solve the global food shortage.1. What made Yuan Longping decide to study rice?A. A serious food shortage.B. Agriculture development.C. His interest in the rice experiment.D. His wish to plant the tallest rice in the world.2. From the passage, we know that Yuan Longping ________.A. developed a variety of hybrid riceB. worked as a scientist after graduationC. started to grow seawater rice inDubaiin 2017D. grew the first high-yielding hybrid rice varieties in 19533. We can infer from the passage that Yuan Longping’s most outstanding qualities are________.A. modest and outgoingB. honest and creativeC. generous and optimisticD. responsible and devotedBWhy isn’t science better? Look at career incentive(激励).There are oftensubstantial gaps between the idealized and actual versions of those people whose work involves providing a social good. Government officials are supposed to work for their constituents. Journalists are supposed to provide unbiased reporting and penetrating analysis. And scientists are supposed to relentlessly probe the fabric of reality with the most rigorous and skeptical of methods.All too often, however, what should be just isn’t so. In a number of scientific fields, published findings turn out not toreplicate(复制), or to have smaller effects than, what was initially claimed. Plenty of science does replicate — meaning the experiments turn out the same way when you repeat them -but the amount that doesn’t is too much for comfort.But there are also waysin which scientists increase their chances of getting it wrong. Running studies with small samples, mining data for correlations and forming hypotheses to fit an experiment’s results after the fact are just some of the ways to increase the number of false discoveries.It’s not like we don't know how to do better. Scientists who study scientific methods have known about feasible remedies for decades. Unfortunately, their advice often falls ondeaf ears.Why? Why aren't scientific methods better than they are? In a word: incentives. But perhaps not in the way you think.In the 1970s, psychologists and economists began to point out the danger in relying on quantitative measures for social decision-making. For example, when public schools are evaluated by students’ performance on standardized tests, teachers respond by teaching “to the test”. In turn, the test serves largely as of how well theschool can prepare students for the test.We can see this principle—often summarized as “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”—playing out in the realm of research. Science is a competitive enterprise. There are far more credentialed (授以证书的) scholars and researchers than there are university professorships or comparably prestigious research positions. Once someone acquires a research position, there is additional competition for tenure grant funding, and support and placement for graduate students. Due to this competition for resources, scientists must be evaluated and compared. How do you tell if someone is a good scientist?An oft-used metric is the number of publications one has in peer-reviewed journals, as well as the status of those journals. Metrics like these make it straightforward to compare researchers whose work may otherwise be quite different. Unfortunately, this also makes these numbers susceptible to exploitation.If scientists are motivated to publish often and in high-impact journals, we might expect them to actively try to game the system. And certainly, some do—as seen in recent high-profile cases of scientific fraud(欺诈). If malicious fraud is the prime concern, then perhaps the solution is simply heightened alertness.However, most scientists are, I believe, genuinely interested in learning about the world, and honest. The problem with incentives is that they can shape cultural norms without any intention on the part of individuals.4. Which of the following is TRUE about the general trend in scientific field?A. Scientists are persistently devoted to exploration of reality.B. The research findings fail to achieve the expected effect.C. Hypotheses are modified to highlight the experiments' results.D. The amount of science that does replicate is comforting.5. What doesdeaf earsin the fourth paragraph probably refer to?A. The public.B. The incentive initiators.C. The peer researchers.D. The high-impact journal editors.6. Which of the following does the author probably agree with?A. Good scientists excel in seeking resources and securing research positions.B. Competition for resources inspires researchers to work in a more skeptical way.C. All the credentialed scholars and researchers will not take up university professorships.D. The number of publication reveals how scientists are bitterly exploited.7. According to the author, what might be a remedy for the fundamental problem in scientific research?A. High-impact journals are encouraged to reform the incentives for publication.B. The peer-review process is supposed to scale up inspection of scientific fraud.C. Researchers are motivated to get actively involved in gaming the current system.D. Career incentives for scientists are expected to consider their personal intention.CWhen Chip heard the mail truck arriving on his sixth birthday, herushed out—not knowing that he’d come back with a treasure.Outside the house, which was decorated with birthday balloons, postwoman Shelley held a pile of boxes. One was marked with Chip’s name and a greeting for his Special day, November 5.“So,” when he came running out the door, she said, “You must be Chip!” And he said,“Yes.” She said, “Today’s your birthday?” And he started smiling. Shelley said, “So, let me see if I can find you something for your birthday.”She checked her pocket and surprised him with a gift: a dollar bill and four quarters.On this day, the 42-year-old postwoman made one little boy very happy. “He was very excited,” said his mom, Bonnie. “He came running back in the house just waving his money.” Chip is saving up to buy a Spider-man action figure.“Our family has had money problems since I lost my job. Gestures like that are valuable memories.” Her hope is that Chip and his eight-year-old sister, Bennett, will remember this when they grow up. “Not the ugly that is out there right now, but the good and the kind and the giving.”A photo of a smiling Chip and Shelley next to the mail truck has been shared widely on social media. Shelley said she was just trying to give back, because people are often nice to her eight-year-old son, Joshua.On a recent day, Chip heard the mail truck and rushed out again, this time to deliver an envelope with a thank-you card for his favorite mail carrier. Since that day, the families have kept in contact. Shelley has struggled to find someone who can take care of her son, and Bonnie has agreed to watch him at her home while his mom is on her mail route.8. Why did Chip rush out when he heard the mail truck the first time?A. To thank the postwoman.B. To get a gift box mailed to him.C. To receive birthday wishes from the driver.D. To watch the mail truck.9. What did Shelley do to make Chip happy?A. She gave him some pocket money.B. She sent him some birthday balloons.C. She presented him with a greeting card.D. She bought him a Spider-man action figure.10. What is Chip’s mother’s attitude towards Shelley?A. Grateful.B. Curious.C. Doubtful.D. Indifferent.11. What does Chip’s mother do to help Shelley?A. She offers to deliver the mails for her.B. She often helps drive her mail truck.C. She looks after her son when she is at work.D. She posts pictures of her mail truck on social media.DI had just delivered a memorable speech, and I was about to learn how the judges decided my performance. The audience leaned forward and a period of silence fell across the room. I felt the drum rolled in my heart.The third-place winner was announced. The name was not mine. Then the second-place winner, still not me. At last, the moment of truth came. I was about to either enjoy the warmth of victory or regret the months’ preparation. My heart felt closer to the latter.Losing is a part of life, and I have dealt with it on more than one occasion. However, it was an indescribable feeling to drive a 200-mile round trip, get up very early on a freezing Saturday morning, and yet still finish fourth out of four competitors in my group. After Lincoln lost the 1858 Illinois Senate race, he said, “I felt like the 12-year-old boy who kicked his toe. I was too big to cry and it hurt too bad to laugh.” Oh yeah, I could relate.I had spent many hours in front of a computer and in libraries doing research for the Lincoln Bicentennial Speech Contest. After not placing in the first year of the contest, I really wanted to compete again. Lincoln had many failures, but he never allowed them to defeat his spirit or ambition, so I was not going to give up on a second contest! I reworked my speech for the following year, but again I did not place.I couldn’t accept the fact that I failed twice in something that I had worked so hard on, until I thought about my hero. Never mind the lost prize money and praise—through learning stories about Lincoln, I discovered that I can fail successfully.12. How did the author feel after finishing his speech?A. Delighted.B. Annoyed.C. Thrilled.D. Nervous.13. What can be inferred from Paragraph 3?A. He was regretful about his not being fully prepared.B. He felt upset for getting up early on a chilly morning.C. He once kicked and hurt his toe when he was 12 years old.D. He turned out to be the last one of his group in the contest.14. Why did the author decide to enter the second contest?A. He was eager to prove himself to be the best contestant.B. He was inspired by the never-give-up spirit of Lincoln.C. He was willing to enjoy the warmth and joy of victory.D. He was determined to win the prize money and praise.15. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?A. A memorable hero in my lifeB. Never mind others’ judgmentsC. Losing is an indescribable feelingD. Stand up from where we tripped over第二节（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）阅读下面短文，从短文后的选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
