2014年3月高三二测模拟考试

第I卷

第二部分：阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）

第一节（共15小题；每小题2份，满分30分）

阅读下列短文，从所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

For most people, graduation is an exciting day – the culmination (顶点) of years of hard work. My graduation day... was not.

I remember that weekend two years ago, family and friends had traveled far to watch our class walk across the stage. But like everyone else in my graduating class, I had watched the economy go from bad to worse during my senior year. We graduates had degrees, but very limited prospects (前景). I hadn’t secured a job, and I knew that the next day, when my lease (租约) ended, I would no longer have a place to call home.

The weeks ahead weren’t easy. I gathered up everything I couldn’t carry and put it into storage. Then, because I had no opportunities in my small university town, I packed up my car and drove to California to find work. But what I thought would take a week dragged into two, then four, and 100 job applications later, I found myself in the same spot as I was before. The due date to begin paying back my student loans was creeping even closer.

Have you ever felt utter dread? That feeling became constant in my life. The most frustrating part was no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t seem to make any progress.

I channeled my frustration into a children’s book. Beyond the River was the story of an unlikely hero, a little fish who refused to give up.

And then one day, with no writing degree or contacts in the writing world – just hard work and perseverance – I was offered a publishing contract for my first book. After that, things were in place. I was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with the Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after.

Often our dreams lie in waiting just a little further upstream, and all we need is the courage to push beyond the river.

21. When the writer graduated, he _________.

A. sent out a lot of applications B. laid great expectations on his job

C. almost had no place to live in D. found it difficult to pack up his luggage

22. What disappointed the writer most?

A. He didn’t get his degree. B. he dreamt too many bad dreams.

C. He had a feeling of failure. D. his effort didn’t pay off.

23. We can infer the writer’s Beyond the River is ______.

A. a fairy tale B. a romantic story

C. a humorous story D. a science fiction

24. What lesson does the writer learn from his experience?

A. Your hope comes from your dream. B. It takes a long time to find a job.

C. Don’t give up even in hard times. D. Writing doesn’t require a degree.

B

Meet Jeff Wilson AKA Professor Dumpster(垃圾箱), an environmental scientist and the Dean of Huston Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. The reason for his unusual nickname? He has decided to live in a dumpster for the next year. Yes, the kind that you might find filled with trash behind a restaurant.

Wilson says the inspiration to do something first hit him two years ago, when he was working on an article at a neighborhood coffee shop and caught sight of an eight-yard dumpster.

Now that he has found one, Professor Dumpster is putting his students to work. After all, the point of this project isn’t just to spend his life living out of a garbage can: there is, a much greater purpose involved. As an environmental scientist, the professor constantly thinks about sustainable living and how every person should try to minimize his/her impact on our already stretched resources. That, is the challenge Wilson wanted his students to step up to, this entire year.

Using their math, science, engineering and technology skills, he wants them to retrofit(改进) his 33 square-foot dumpster into a modern space that includes a shower, a toilet, a kitchen and a bed and is fitted with conveniences like air-conditioning and even WiFi. The demand? It all has to be green and sustainable.

So why is Wilson planning to go through such hardship? That is because he wants to equip his students with the tools to survive in a world that is rapidly heading towards a population of 10 billion people. A large majority of the population adjust to living in tighter spaces in the world where resources and space should be limited to be used.

By promoting awareness and education on these subjects, Wilson is helping students everywhere see that living “small” and sustainably is certainly possible. And while the dumpster project may seem a little crazy to some, the professor thinks of it as a “playful and imaginative” educational experiment and conversation-starter to discuss the fact that all of us can do with less as we move into the future.

25.What is Jeff Wilson concerned about all the time?

A. How to search for a suitable trash can.

B. Challenging his students to follow his proposal.

C. Spending seven months sleeping in his office.

D. Finding sustainable living ways of using fewer resources.

26. What requirements does Jeff Wilson ask his students to meet?

A. They should minimize the impact on stretched resources.

B. All their work should be carried out in a modern space.

C. All their work should be green and sustainable.

D. They should change his dumpster into a hotel.

27. Why does Jeff Wilson make his students do such a hard job?

A. To encourage them to try to reduce the population.

B. To help them find survival ways in the limited world.

C. To make them adjust to the limited space.

D. To change their tighter spaces into larger ones.

28. What is the best title for the passage?

A. How Should We Teach Our Students in Effective Ways?

B. Who Will Be the Next One to Live in a Dumpster?

C. Why Is This Professor Moving into a Dumpster?

D. What We Can Do to Save Our Earth?

C

Does money buy happiness? No! Ah, but would a little more money make us a little happier? Many of us smirk(傻笑，假笑) and nod. There is, we believe, some connection between financial fitness and emotional fulfillment. Three in four American college students—nearly double the 1970 proportion— now consider it “very important” or “essential” that they become “very well off financially”. Money matters.

But a surprising fact of life is that in countries where nearly everyone can afford life’s necessities, increasing wealth matters surprisingly little. The connection between income and happiness is “surprisingly weak,” observed University of Michigan researcher Ronald Inglehart in one 16-nation study of 170,000 people. Once comfortable, more money provides diminishing returns(报酬递减). The second piece of pie, or the second $100,000, never tastes as good as the first. Even lottery winners and the Forbes’ 100 wealthiest Americans surveyed by University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener have expressed only slightly greater happiness than the average American. Making it big brings temporary joy. But in the long run wealth is like health: its complete absence can create suffering, but having it doesn’t guarantee happiness. Happiness seems less a matter of getting what we want than of wanting what we have.

Has our happiness, however, floated upward with the rising economic tide? Are we happier today than in 1940s, when two out of five homes lacked a shower or tub? Actually, we are not. Since 1957, the number of Americans who say they are “very happy” has declined from 35 to 32 percent. Meanwhile, the divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide(自杀) rate has increased nearly three times, the violent crime rate has gone up nearly four times, and depression has mushroomed. Economic growth has provided no boost to human morale. When it comes to psychological well being, it is not the economy.

I call this soaring wealth and shrinking spirit “the American paradox.” More than ever, we have big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low confidence, secured rights and reduced civility. We are good at making a living but often fail at making a life. We celebrate our prosperity(繁荣) but long for a purpose. We treasure our freedoms but long for connection. In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger.

29. Which of the following statements best expresses the author’s view?

A. The more money we earn, the less returns we have.

B. The more money we earn, the happier we would be.

C. In the long run, money cannot guarantee happiness.

D. In the long run, happiness grows with economy.

30. “The second $100,000 never tastes as good as the first” because _____.

A. it is not so fresh as the first $100,000

B. it is not so important as the first $100,000

C. profit brought by it is less than that from the first $100,000

D. happiness brought by it is less than that from the first $100,000

31. According to the passage, people do well in making a living but don’t _____.

A. have any primary aim B. know how to spend money

C. know how to enjoy life D. keep in touch with other people

32. The things that happened after 1957 are given to show that _____.

A. people’s spiritual needs cannot be fulfilled by wealth

B. family problems become more and more serious

C. young people are not happy about their life

D. social crimes have increased significantly

D

14 days from just ￡2,090

Fully inclusive from the UK

Price cover international airfares, departure taxes, fuel charge, local transportation all meals, entrance fees, guides, daily tours and visas for UK citizens.

◆ Days 1-3 UK-Shanghai

Fly to the great city of Shanghai and in the evening sample traditional Shanghai food. Visit the beautiful YU Garden, Old Town. Shanghai Museum, cross the Great Nampa Bridge and tour the Pudong area. Also explore Xintiandi with its 1920’s style Shikumen buildings and end your stay in Shanghai with an amazing Huangpu River evening tour.

◆ Days 4-7:Shanghai-Yangtze River Tour

Fly to Yichang and change （approx: one hour）to board your Yangtze River ship for the next four nights. Enjoy a tour of the three Gorges Dam（三峡大坝）before sailing on the grand Yangtze River, passing through the impressive Three Gorges. We take a side trip to the lesser Three Gorges or travel up the Shennong Str