大同一中、同煤一中2015届高三上学期期末联合考试

英语试题

第Ⅰ卷　客观卷（共100分）

第一部分 阅读理解 (共两节，20小题；每小题3分，满分60分)

第一小节 (共15小题；每小题3分，满分45分)

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A,B,C和D)中，选出最佳选项,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

Do You Want To Change the Future of Education?

Our goal is to give a world-class education to everyone, everywhere, regardless of gender, income or social status.

Today, edx.org, a not-for-profit website, provides hundreds of thousands of people from around the globe with access to free education .We offer amazing quality classes by the best professors from the best schools. We enable our members to find out a new passion that will transform their lives and their communities.

Around the world from coast to coast, in over 192 countries, people are making the decision to take one or several of our courses. As we continue to grow our operations, we are looking for talented passionate people with great ideas to join the edX team. We aim to create an environment that is supportive ,diverse, and as fun as our brand.If you’re hardworking and ready to contribute to an unparalleled member experience for our community, we really want you to apply.

As part of the edX team, you’ll receive:

·Competitive compensation

·Generous benefits package

·Free lunch every day

·A great workplace where everyone cares and wants to change the world

While we appreciate every applicant’s interest, only those under consideration will be contacted .We regret that phone calls will not be accepted. We promise that every applicant will be treated fairly.

All positions are located in our Cambridge offices.

1.What’s the aim of the text?

A. To give an introduction to edX. B. To encourage people to join edX.

C. To predict the future of education. D. To advise us to choose quality education.

2. What does edX mainly do?

A. Providing free courses. B. Studying people’s learning habits.

C. Discovering people’s new passion. D. Researching the trend of education .

3. According to the text, edX____?

A. aims to change the world B. tries to build more schools

C. has schools in nearly 200 countries D. teaches people how to choose their courses

B

Apparently everyone knows that global warming only makes climate more extreme. A hot, dry summer has caused another flood of such claims. And one of the players that benefit the most from this story is the media: the idea of “extreme” climate simply makes for more exciting news.

Consider Paul Krugman writing breathlessly in The New York Times about the “rising incidence of extreme events.” He claims that global warming caused the current drought in America’s Midwest, and that supposedly record-high corn prices could cause a global food crisis(危机)。

But the United Nations’s latest assessment tells us precisely the opposite—there has an overall slight tendency toward less dryness in North America. Moreover, there is no way that Krugman could have identified this drought as being caused by global warming without a time machine since climate models estimate that such detection will be possible by 2048, at the earliest.

And, fortunately, this year’s drought appears unlikely to cause a food crisis, as global rice and wheat supplies are plentiful. Moreover, Krugman overlooks inflation(通货膨胀)：Prices have increased six-fold since 1969.So, the inflation-adjusted price of corn was higher throughout most of the 1970s.

Finally, Krugman forgets that concerns about global warming are the main reason that corn prices have skyrocketed since 2005.Nowadays 40 percent of corn grown in the United States is used to produce ethanol(乙醇)，which raises the price of corn –at the expense of many of the world’s poorest people.

Bill Mickbben similarly worries in The Guardian About the Midwest drought and corn prices.He confidently tells us that fierce wildfires from New Mexico and Colorado to Siberia are “exactly” what the early stages of global warming look like.

In fact, the latest study on global wildfire suggests that fire incidence has declined over the past 70 years and is now close to its preindustrial level.

When well—meaning campaigners want us to pay attention to global warming, they often end up making overstatements. And exaggerated(夸张的) claims merely fuel public distrust and unconcern. That is unfortunate, because global warming is a real problem, and we do need to address it.

4.In what way do the media benefit from extreme weather?

A. They can give voice to different views.

B. They can make themselves better known.

C. They can choose from a greater variety of topics.

D. They can attract people’s attention to their reports.

5. What is the author’s comment on Krugman’s claim about the current drought in America’s Midwest?

A. It will eventually get proof in 2048.

B. It is based on an erroneous climate model.

C. So far there is no way to prove its validity.

D. A time machine is needed to tell if it is true.

6. What is the chief reason for the rise in corn prices according to the author?

A. Inflation rates have been skyrocketing since the 1970s.

B. A considerable part of corn is used to produce green fuel.

C. Climate change has caused corn supply to drop markedly.

D. Demand for food has been rising in the developing countries.

7. What does the author think of the exaggerated claims in the media about global warming?

A. They lead to public distrust about science.

B. They create confusion about climate change,

C. They are strategies to raise public awareness.

D. They do a disservice to addressing the problem.

C

Nowadays it is common that people are buying more products and services than ever before through the Internet, so do Americans. And experts say the popularity of online sales is likely to spread to other countries. Online sales now represent as much as 10% of all retail sales in the United States. This has led traditional stores to seek new ways to keep their customers loyal.

Taking Lynne for example, she made good use of the Internet. she used the Internet to buy everything she needed for her Wedding and holiday gifts for her husband and stepdaughter. Other than food, 90% of her purchases were made on her home computer. “I find that, by being able to go online, choose the things that I need, and have them delivered to me right at my doorstep, I eliminate all the driving, all the crowds, all the noise of that, and I usually get a better selection.”

There are a lot of people like her. Experts say American online shopping hit records in both November and December. 57% of Americans have bought something electronically. Store owners worry that this growing amount of online sales will hurt their business. Cornell University marketing professor Ed Melaughlin says they can keep their customers by selling goods like clothing, which buyers may want to see and try on before purchasing. The stores could also offer things that are difficult to ship. Besides, some stores can please customers by offering to repair electronic products.

Bill Martin is the founder of Shopper Trak. His business helps stores learn about their customers. He said, “There is still a lot of emotion in the buying decision, you know, that takes place. Often you need that last sense of “Boy, this is exactly what I want before you are ready to part with money, and you can't always get that online. It's a rather cold process.”

While e-commerce worries some business owners, the only worry for delivery services is keeping up with the number of packages. UPS manager Dana Kline says her company is very busy at this time of the year.

UPS is so busy that it has filled 55,000 temporary work positions during the holiday season.

8. The?purpose?of?this?passage?is?to?tell?us?________.

A. the?challenge?online?owners?are?faced?with?

B. the?difference?between?online?sales?and?traditional?sales?

C. the?challenge?e－commerce?causes?to?traditional?sales

D. the?trouble?that?customers?often?meet?when?purchasing?online?

9. The?example?of?Lynne?is?mentioned?in?the?passage?to?show________.

A. online?sales?will?replace?traditional?sales?sooner?or?later

B. online?business?has?changed?many?Americans'?life?

C. traditional?stores?can't?offer?enough?food?to?their?customers?

D. traditional?stores?find?new?ways?to?keep?their?customers?loyal?

10. The?underlined?word?“eliminate”?in?Paragraph?2?can?be?replaced?by?“________”.

A. include?? B. decrease? C. avoid??? D. discourage

11. It?is?implied?in?Bill?Martin's?words?that?________.

A. store?owners?should?learn?more?about?their?customers??

B. traditional?stores?can?provide?goods?to?buyers?more?quickly?

C. some?owners?are?using?websites?to?persuade?people?to?visit?their?stores

D. traditional?stores?offer?a?social?experience?that?some?people?enjoy

D

When the swim season began, my 11-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and I cut a deal. She would go to practice three times a week, and I wouldn’t make her compete in swim meets.

Elizabeth does not like swim meets, she gets horribly nervous because she is afraid that she will do something wrong and let everyone down. she started to talk about quitting swimming, which broke my heart because she loves swimming. So I came up with the deal.

Recently, Elizabeth’s team announced a T-shirt relay, which works like this: One person from each relay team puts on a T-shirt and a pair of socks and swims 50 meters. She takes off the clothes and put them on the next person, who then swims 50 meters. This continues until everyone on the team has completed a lap.

It wasn’t exactly a meet, because it would involve only team members. But Elizabeth thought it was. I told Elizabeth I really wanted her to go. She fought back angrily but finally agreed.

When the day for the T-shirt relay arrived, Elizabeth was nervous. She was chosen to swim the anchor leg (最后一棒).By the last leg, Elizabeth’s team had built up a narrow lead. Then it was Elizabeth’s turn to swim.

Approaching the halfway mark, she was still in the lead.