英语阅读课堂文资料章及练习

态度观点

Passage 1

The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, ―High school English teachers are not doing their jobs.‖ He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at a grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.

My topic is not standards nor its decline. What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.

My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies (缺陷). But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.

The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.

Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not perceived as generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar to today’s young people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not commit offenses against the language.

1.The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that ________.

A) the language of the younger generation is usually inferior to that of the older generation B) the students had a poor command of English because they didn’t work hard enough C) he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for sixteen years. D) English teachers should be held responsible for the students’ poor command of English

2. In the author’s opinion, the speaker ________.

A) gave a correct judgment of the English level of the students B) had exaggerated the language problems of the students

C) was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs D) could think and speak intelligently

3.The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is ________. A) neutral B) critical C) positive D) compromising

4. It can be concluded from the passage that ________. A) it is justifiable to include English as a school subject

B) the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at grade 9 level C) English language teaching is by no means an easy job D) language improvement needs time and effort 5. In the passage the author argues that ________.

A) it is unfair to blame the English teachers for the language deficiencies of the students B) young people would not commit offenses against the language if the teachers did their jobs

properly

C) to eliminate language deficiencies one must have sensitive eyes and ears D) to improve the standard of English requires the effort of several generations

实验型文章

Passage 2

Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to ―think and concentrate.‖ Spilich put young non-smokers, active smokers and smokers deprived (被剥夺) of cigarettes through a series of tests.

In the first test, each subject (试验对象) sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized a target letter among a grouping of 96. In this simple test, smokers, deprived smokers and non-smokers performed equally well.

The next test was more complex, requiring all to scan sequences of 20 identical letters and respond the instant one of the letters transformed into a different one. Non-smokers were faster, but under the stimulation of nicotine (尼古丁), active smokers were faster than deprived smokers.

In the third test of short-term memory, non-smokers made the fewest errors, but deprived smokers committed fewer errors than active smokers.

The fourth test required people to read a passage, then answer questions about it. Non-smokers remembered 19 percent more of the most important information than active smokers, and deprived smokers bested those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing. Active smokers tended not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important information from insignificant details.

―As our tests became more complex,‖ sums up Spilich, ―non-smokers performed better than smokers by wider and wider margins.‖ He predicts, ―smokers might performed adequately at many jobs – until they got complicated. A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if no problems arose, but if something went wrong, smoking might damage his mental capacity.‖ 1. The purpose of George Spilich’s experiments is ________. A) to find out whether smoking helps people’s mental capacity B) to show how smoking damages people’s mental capacity C) to prove that smoking affects people’s regular performance

D) to test whether smoking has a positive effect on the mental capacity of smokers 2. George Spilich’s experiment was conducted in such a way as to ________. A) compel the subjects to separate major information from minor details B) check the effectiveness of nicotine on smokers C) put the subjects through increasingly complex tests D) register the prompt responses of the subjects

3. The word ―bested‖ (line 3, paragraph 5) means ________. A) beat C) envied

B) caught up with D) made the best of

4. Which of the following statements is true?

A) Active smokers in general performed better than deprived smokers.

B) Active smokers responded more quickly than the other subjects. C) Deprived smokers gave the slowest responses to the various tasks.

D) Non-smokers were not better than other subjects in performing simple tasks. 5. We can infer from the last paragraph that ________. A) smokers should not expect to become airline pilots B) smokers may prove unequal to handling emergency cases C) no airline pilots smoke during flights

D) smoking in emergency cases causes mental illness

专升本英语阅读练习材料

Passage 1

Energy crisis

The energy crisis has been with us for a long time and will be with us for an even longer time. Whether Arab oil flows freely or not, it is clear to everyone that world industry cannot be allowed to depend on so breakable a base. The supply of oil can be shut off unexpectedly at any time, and in any case, the oil wells will all run dry in thirty years or so at the present rate of use.

New sources of energy must be found, but it is not likely to result in any situation which will ever restore that sense of cheap and plentiful energy we have had in the times past.

To make the situation worse, there is as yet no sign that any slowing of the world’s population is in sight. Although the birthrate has dropped in some nations, including the United States, the population of the world seems sure to pass six billion as the twenty-first century opens.

Taking all this into account, what might we reasonably estimate supermarkets to be like in the year 2001?

To begin with, the world food supply is going to become steadily tighter over the next thirty years — even here in the United States. By 2001, the population of the United States will be at least two hundred fifty million, and the nation will find it difficult to expand food production to fill the additional mouths. This will be particularly true since energy shortage will make it difficult to continue agriculture in the high-energy American fashion that makes it possible to combine few farmers with high yields.

It seems almost certain that by 2001 the United States will no longer be a great exporting nation and that, if necessity forces exports, it will be at the price of belt-tightening at home.

In fact, as food items will tend to decline in quality and decrease in variety, people will have to accept more ―unnatural food‖.

1. The passage is mainly concerned with _______. A) the pressing general problem in the near future B) energy crisis and new sources of energy C) population and food supply in the United States

B) that other people don’t believe

C) told in order to avoid offending someone D) told in order to take advantage of someone 2. Research suggests that women _______. A) are better at telling less serious lies than men B) generally lie far more than men do C) often make promises they intend to break D) lie at parties more often than men do

3. Researchers find that when a person tell lies _______. A) his blood pressure increases measurably B) he looks very serious

C) he tends to make some small changes in his behaviour D) he uses his unconscious mind

4. One reason people sometimes rub their noses when they tell lie is that _______. A) they wish they were somewhere else

B) the nose is sensitive to physical changes caused by lying C) they want to cover their mouths

D) they are trying to stop themselves from telling lies 5. Which of the following may best betray a liar? A) The touching of the tip of one’s nose. B) The changes of one’s behaviour. C)“The mouth cover”gesture.

D) The circumstances in which his lie is told.

Passage 5

Fighting Against Hunger

Hunger around the world can be reduced 50 percent by the end of the 1990s. That is the conclusion of scientists and others who met in Bellagio, Italy, several months ago. The people at the meeting were experts on hungers. They reported that at least five hundred million persons in the world suffer from hunger. They noted that several nations still have severe shortages of food.

But, the experts said, there is progress. For example, China and India have reduced hunger sharply in recent years, and studies have shown which methods work best at reducing hunger in other parts of the world. The experts meeting in Italy urged public officials and aid groups to take four steps to reduce hunger.

The first step is to end mass hunger of famine. They said neutral international organizations should protect civilian food supplies in areas at war. They also said nations should improve their methods of sending food to emergency locations.

The second step is to produce more food for the world’s poorest families. The best way is with more modern farming methods. The green revolution made it possible for India and other nations to greatly increase harvests, yet these farming methods are far from perfect. They do not work everywhere, and they can cause environmental damage. They also must create program that bring food directly to the very poor.

The third step is to protect mothers and young children against food shortages. The experts said mothers and young children suffer the most from hunger. Many lives can be saved by making sure they are the first to get assistance.

Finally, the experts urged efforts to overcome two serious medical problems linked to food shortages. The first is a lack of iodine. One hundred ninety million persons suffer from goiter (甲状腺肿) and other illnesses because they get too little iodine. The other problem is even more widespread. It is alack of vitamin A. Both iodine and vitamin A can be supplied.

The experts meeting in Bellagio, Italy, said taking these four steps would cut world hunger in half by the beginning of the next century.

1. The experts meeting in Italy urged public officials and aid groups to take _______ to reduce hunger. A) three steps B) five steps C) four steps D) a series of steps

2. The countries that have reduced hunger sharply in recent years include _______. A) Malaysia & India B) China & India

C) India & Singapore D) India & Thailand

3. According to the passage, the green revolution is a way to increase harvests _______. A) but it does not work everywhere B) and it works everywhere in the world C ) but it is money consuming D) and it works only in India

4. It is _______ who suffer the most, according to the report. A) mothers and children B) mothers and adults C) mothers and teenagers D) mothers and young children

5. The two serious medical problems linked to food shortages are _______. A) lack of iodine and vitamin A B) lack of vitamin C and iodine C) lack of iodine and vitamin D D) all of the above

Passage 6

Making Use of Waste

In an age when waste today means a lack tomorrow, making use of every available resource becomes more and more important. As coal is being used in greater and greater amounts to produce electricity, larger amounts of ash, by-products of coal, are produced. When coal is burned in a boiler, two kinds of ash by-products are produced: a heavy bottom ash and a fine-as-powder fly ash that is filtered and captured by precipitators. About 10 to 15 percent of the coal by-product is bottom ash which is used like sand on icy city streets and highways and also on highways as paving material. It is the fly ash, however, that is receiving the greater amount of attention. Fly ash may be used as an additive to concrete in the construction of dams, bricks, and roads, and can replace up to 20 percent of the cement used in concrete. As a by-product of burned coal, fly ash requires no additional expenditure of energy to be produced, where cement production requires

great amounts of energy.

In addition to using fly ash as a concrete, the technology is available to extract the main mineral components — aluminum, silicon, and magnetics. Today, extracting these components is a very expensive process, but the time may come when it is cheaper to extract these products from ash than to mine new supplies.

1. What can be used as a material to pave roads? A) The coal by-product. B) Additive.

C) Fine-as powder fly ash. D) Both B and C.

2. What is a by-product of burned coal? A) Aluminum, silicon, and magnetics. B) Paving material. C) Fly ash.

D) A concrete additive.

3. Fly ash can partly take the place of _______. A) paving material B) cement C)concrete

D) the coal by-product

4. According to the passage, what attracts man’s greater attention? A) Fly ash.

B) The construction of dams, bricks, and roads.

C) Extracting aluminum, silicon, and magnetics from ash. D) The available technology.

5. What can be extracted from fine-powder fly ash? A) Aluminum, silicon, and magnetics. B) Additive. C) Paving material. D) Cement.

Passage 7

Early Films

The earlier films were short, lasting only one minute or less. People could, for one cent, see simple action films of trains, fire engines, parades, crowds on city streets, and similar subjects. Soon 20-minute pictures of news items were being shown in theaters at the end of the regular stage show. Later, films used a new method (putting the beginning of one scene upon the end of the scene before) for magical effects and to tie a story together. In 1903 a film was made about a train robbery. Much of the action took place at the same time — the robbers escaping, the men meeting and planning to capture them — and the scenes moved smoothly, back and forth, from one scene to another instead of unnaturally showing each scene separately. This was the earliest successful film in which scenes were filmed at different places and times and then combined to make a logical story. A short time later, theaters showed for five cents a whole hour’s entertainment of short films — comedy, travel, and drama. These films were simple and rough, and many were vulgar. Gradually, the tastes of the audiences improved as the techniques improved.

Before 1910 actors were employed in films without their names being given, because the producers were afraid that, if an actor became well known, he might demand more money. But later it became known that a film with a popular actor in it could be sold at higher price to theater owners than could a film in which the actor was not known. Soon “movie stars”won fame wherever films were shown. By 1915 the most popular stars were earning as much as $2,000 a week, and large theaters were being built downtown in all the larger cities to show films alone. The films shown in those theaters were of several types: comedies, emphasizing speed, movement, and camera tricks; “westerns”, which showed, then as now, the American cowboy fighting on the side of law and justice; murder mysteries and crime stories, and special films on art, music, and other cultural subjects.

1. Pictures of parades shown in the first films went on for no more than _______. A) one minute B) 20 minutes C) 1 whole hour

本文来源：https://www.bwwdw.com/article/llmt.html