英语阅读综合作业及答案要点

英语阅读一 综合作业

I Read each of the following paragraphs and decide what the topic is. Then decide on the general statement (the main idea) the author makes about the topic. 10*3（30分）

1. What exactly is a network? In the world of computers, a network simply means two or more computers linked together in some way. This allows people in different places to communicate with each other and to share data and resources. For example, a school or an office might have a big central computer, called a server. It stores various programs and files. If someone on the network, using another computer, wants to use one of the files on the server, his or her computer would retrieve that file from the server. Topic: Main idea:

2. Forests are not just important for timber. A forest acts like a giant sponge, absorbing rainfall and preventing it from running away into rivers. It then releases the water slowly by evaporation from its leaves. This helps to stabilize the rainfall of areas downwind from the forest. Forest cover also prevents the soil being eroded (worn away) and silting up rivers and lakes. By holding back the water, the forest prevents disastrous flooding further downstream.

Topic: Main idea:

3. Whenever you hear a sound, find out where it comes from and what causes it. We make sounds by making things move to-and-fro. This to-and-fro movement is called vibration. It means moving up and down or forwards and backwards very fast. These vibrations cause the air to vibrate. This makes sound waves. Topic: Main idea:

II. Guess the meaning of the words according to the context. (20分)10*2

1. Whales are enormous animals. You can not imagine how big some whales

are.

A. huge B. funny C. strong

2. Alcohol is somewhat addictive, so be careful when you take it. Don’t take too

much.

A. poisonous B. habit-forming C. healthful

3．I usually browse through the newspapers when I have my breakfast. A. read quickly B. read seriously C. read carefully

4．There has been a boom in exports this year; the increase is tremendous

A. fall B. growth C. mistake

5．He is very lean and thus weak, compared with other girls in the class.

A. pretty B. ugly C. thin

6. Famous for her big smile, she has a cheerful disposition.

A. method B. disposal C. character

7. She is very grumpy when her tooth aches. Yesterday, her tooth ached again,

and she quarreled with her friend over a very unimportant thing. A. excited B. careful C. bad-tempered 8. With reluctance the boy went to see a doctor with his father.

A. Impatiently B. Unwillingly C. Immediately

9. The woman teacher’s melodious voice attracted the students’ attention.

A. melancholy B. interesting C. pleasant

10. Don’t judge a man by the company he keeps, sometimes he may have friends

who are very different from him.

A. organization B. business firm C. friends

III Reading Comprehension: (50分) 10*5 Passage One

How did computing machines begin and develop? The answer to this question is fairly clear. The first computing machine, in use more than 5 000 years ago, was the fingers and hands of people. But this useful and natural computing machine was not equal to keeping track of all the numbers that people needed from time to time. People needed bigger numbers than hands could show; and they needed to be able to store and remember numbers, without always keeping their fingers in certain positions. So other ideas and devices appeared.

The next idea was to use small stones or shells, seeds or beads, to count with. Then a person could talk about some large number (of chickens in a flock or sheep in a herd) as \number.

However, people found it troublesome to count only in units, one by one. So, very early, in ancient Egypt, another idea appeared. This was the idea of choosing a new unit equal to 10 of the old units. Clearly, this idea comes from the fact that a man has 10 fingers; and so a person could talk about the number 76 by referring to all the fingers of seven men and six more fingers on one more man.

In order to handle numbers in the form of a set of counted things, it is helpful to have a fixed place in which to lay them out. Such a place may be a smooth piece of ground, a flat piece of stone, or a board. It is helpful to arrange lines to mark off places－one place for units, another place for tens, a third place for tens of tens (or hundreds), and so on.

But it is not very convenient to use a board: among other reasons, often when you move the board, the counters fall off. So why not use a frame with little sticks, put holes through the counters, and string them as beads on the sticks in the frame? This simple invention makes a widely useful machine for figuring, the abacus. It is still the most common computing machine and is used all over the world.

In ancient times another really important idea was noticed－the idea of zero, the number of none, or nothing. It names a place on the board of counters that is empty of counters. Without this idea, no good computing machine can be made.

1. According to the author, the first computing machine was in use ______ years ago. (a) 500 (b) 1 000 (c) 5 000 (d) 10 000

2. In order to store and remember numbers people in earlier times might use all of the following to count with except ________ .

(a) stones or shells (b) human hands and fingers (c) seeds or beads (d) animals

3. The idea of choosing a new unit equal to 10 of the old units appeared very early in ________.

(a) India (b) Egypt (c) Britain (d) America

4.The last important idea mentioned in the passage is ________ .

(a) the invention of the abacus (b) the birth of a good computing machine (c) the idea of zero (d) the idea of tens or hundreds

5. Which of the following is a better title for the passage above? (a) The Birth of Numbers (b) The Idea of Zero

(c) The Use of the Abacus

(d) Early Computing Ideas and Devices

Passage Two

The first machine that would take in and add numbers mechanically was made by the great French mathematician and philosopher Pascal in 1643. In it were small counter wheels with gears (齿轮) that could be set at any one of ten positions: 0 to 9 . Each gear had a little tooth on its side for pushing the next counter wheel when it passed from 9 to 0.

By the end of the 1800's, there were many small desk machines that would add, subtract, multiply, and divide. These were being manufactured widely to meet business needs for handling numbers.

But figuring was still thought of as a single operation (运算) of arithmetic to be done and finished with. It was not thought of as a long list of operations, all of which could be given to a machine to carry out in the proper order. For example, suppose you wanted to find out the average (平均数) of the marks of each of 286 children in six subjects. You would have to carry out 286 additions of six numbers, divide each sum by 6, and list 286 answers. There is a great deal of repetition in this work; why not give all of it to a machine?

In the early 1800s, such a machine was thought of by Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University in England. He worked for many years on his ideas, but failed in the end because the level of engineering in his day

was not good enough.

However, Babbage's idea of an automatic computer came into being in 1944 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The men who made the computer were Professor Howard Aiken of Harvard and engineers of the International Business Machines Corporation. They put together an automatic computer that really worked, called the Harvard IBM Mark I. This was the first machine that could carry out long lists of figuring operations of a great many kinds, all in the proper order.

6. The first mechanic computing machine was born in the _______________ century. (a) fourteenth (b) fifteenth (c) sixteenth (d) seventeenth

7. The computing machine made by Pascal ______ . (a) used electricity as power

(b) had small counter wheels with gears (c) had nine positions

(d) could add large numbers very quickly

8. In the early 1800's, Professor Babbage __________ .

(a) thought that figuring was a single operation of arithmetic

(b) thought that a long list of operations could be done by a machine (c) was known as the best mathematician of his time (d) invented a machine to do computing

9. Which of the following is NOT true?

(a) The idea of an automatic computer occurred first in America

(b) Babbage failed to produce an automatic computer because of the limited level of engineering in his day.

(c) The first automatic computer was born in Britain.

(d) The Harvard IBM Mark I could do long lists of figuring operations of a great many kinds.

10. The passage above discusses ________.

(a) how Charles Babbage tried to invent a modern computer (b) the birth of the first mechanic computer (c) the development of computers

(d) the functions of computers

附答案要点 I

1. topic :( Computer networks)

Main idea:( A network links computers together and allows people to communicate.) 2. topic : ( Forest )

Main idea: ( The forest preserves water and protects the soil. ) 3. topic : ( Sound )

Main idea: ( Vibration produces sound. ) II 1-5 ABABC 6-10 CCBCC III 1-5

CDBCD 6-10 DBBCC

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