1、- 1 - 姓名： 学号： 备战 2021 届高考英语之阅读理解专项练习二 注：本次专项练习难度较大，适合同学们拔高训练，所以同学们请务必要重视！ ！ ！注：本次专项练习难度较大，适合同学们拔高训练，所以同学们请务必要重视！ ！ ！ A Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies （加密货币）have been all over the news lately. Apparently, the idea of money thats not tied to a specific bankor a specific countryis appeali
2、ng to many. But its worth remembering that the banking system that we now all live with is just that： A modern invention. Not so long ago, money was almost always created and used locally, and bartering was common. （In fact, it still is common among many online local networks, like the Buy Nothing P
3、roject.）. In the past, moneys makeup varied from place to place, depending on what was considered valuable there. So while some of the worlds first coins were made from a naturally occurring hybrid of gold and silver called electrum （银金矿） ， objects other than coins have served as currency, including
4、 beads, ivory, livestock, and cowrie shells. In West Africa, bracelets of bronze or copper were used as cash, especially if the transaction was associated with the slave trade there. Throughout the colonial period, tobacco was used to replace coins or paper bills in Virginia, Maryland and North Caro
5、lina, even though it was used elsewhere in the colonies and extensively throughout Europe and the U. K. Today, on an island in the Pacific, a specific type of shell still serves as currencyand some people there are even hoarding（贮存）it, just like Bitcoin moguls, convinced that one day, it will make t
6、hem wealthy beyond imagination. On Malaita, the most-populated island thats part of the Solomon Islands, shells are accepted at most places in exchange for goods. How much tuna（金枪鱼）you can get for your shells depends on their color and shape, Mary Bruno, a shop owner from the small town of Auki, on
7、Malaita, told Vice. One strip of darker shells might get you about two cans of smaller tuna, but the red ones are worth more. For the red ones, one strip might get enough tuna to feed a big family for a long time. Just like a mint that creates coins, theres only one place on the island where the she
8、lls, which are polished and strung together to form 3-foot-long ropes, are made. The strips of red, white, and black shells all come from Langa Langa Lagoon, where artificial islands were long-ago built by locals to escape from the island-dwelling cannibals. Once marooned（困住）out on their islands, lo
9、cals needed a currency to use among themselves, and so the shell currency was born. Using shells for money was common throughout the Pacific islands as late as the early 1900s, but Malaita is unique in that they are still used today. And just like cryptocurrencies, there are those who think the isla
10、nders are smart to invest in this type of money, which is reported to have risen in value over the last three decades. It might seem strange to hoard a bunch of processed, strung-together shells, but what is a pile of dollars? Just a specially printed piece of paper and hemp that weve assigned value
11、 toand probably less durable over time than those shells. - 2 - 1According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE? AMoney was created and was widely used in the world. BTobacco was used as coins or paper bills in American in the past. CThe ingredients of worlds first coins may be the combina
12、tion of gold and silver. DUsing shells for money has been out of date in the world. 2The word mint in paragraph 5 is closest in the meaning to . Aa kind of money that can exchange Bthe leaves of a mint plant used fresh or candied Ca place to produce and polish shells Da factory that produces currenc
13、y 3Whats opinion of the author towards shells for money? AReasonable. BImaginary. CConvenient. DInventive. 4Which of the following might be the best title of the passage? AThe History of Bitcoin BShells Still Money CThe Currency Is of Great Use DSome Shells B What do you do with old stuff? That dres
14、s you bought for a party three years ago, for example. You wore it once and put it away somewhere. So, what to do? In the UK, we might take it to a charity shop. The first charity shops appeared in Britain in the 19th century. The Salvation Army was one of the first to run a second-hand clothing sho
15、p to provide the needy with affordable clothes. This was followed by charities such as the British Red Cross, who also relieved hardship and raised money for the war effort during World War Two. In 1947, Oxfam opened a charity shop in High Street, Oxford, which is the modem form we know today. These
16、 days, charily shops are a common sight with around 11,200 shops across the UK, according to the survey conducted by the Charity Retail Association. During business hours the public can donate their unwanted items to a charity shop clothes, books, electronics, furniture. These items are checked for
17、wear and - 3 - tear and if found still serviceable, priced up to be sold at a heavily discounted price. For many, this is a win-win situation. To the charity, it means a valuable source of income. To the consumer, it provides the opportunity to buy, often extremely cheaply, items and clothes. To the
18、 donator, it may help to assuage consumer guilt. “You can make a pretty good case to yourself that you are doing good, because what you are doing is going towards a charitable cause and you are saving stuff from landfill(垃圾堆),” Clare Press, fashion journalist and sustainable style advocate, tells th
19、e Guardian. There are sometimes hidden treasures for the buyers, too. Take a screen print for example. It was bought for 99p and later found to be by English artist Ben Nicholson. It was sold for 4, 200. So next time you need to rid yourself of something, spare a thought for the charity shopafter al
20、l, charity begins at home! 5The text is mainly written to_. Acomment on the benefits of charity shops Banalyze the popularity of the UK charities Clist the names of the first UK charity shops Doffer an introduction of UK charity shops 6What does the underlined word “assuage” in Paragraph 3 probably
21、mean? AEase. BAdd. CMix. DIncrease. 7What does the author advise people to do in the last paragraph? AGet rid of unwanted items. BStart charity from daily life. CBe environmentally friendly. DMake a difference for the future. C It sounds like science fiction, but the worlds first floating dairy farm
22、(奶牛场 )the brainchild of Dutch company Beladon, will become a reality. Though the project has been in the works for years, the farm only recently got the green light for construction. This summer, a 900-ton platform was pulled to its current position in Rotterdams harbor. It will soon be a multi-leve
23、l home to 40 cows. According to Peter, owner of Beladon, animal welfare was important when they were designing the farm. The finished farm will feature a “cow gardenon the top floor, with artificial trees and bushes to offer shade. A team of robots will be hired，collecting about 800 liters of milk p
24、er day. The milk will then be processed on the floor below and sold locally. In their free time. however, cows can walk a ramp(斜坡) to reach the firm ground on the bank.Tasty - 4 - waste from the city-cut grass, potato skins, etc.- will be their main food source And waste from the farm will be used a
25、s fertilizer throughout Rotterdam. The building will attract many visitors, but the real focus is food security. Getting cows on the water is a great step towards creating healthier cities. The idea first came in 2012, while Peter was in New York. When Hurricane Sandy hit, he watched the citys trans
26、portation paralyzed (瘫痪的)as Manhattans roads were filled with water. Trucks for food distribution couldnt move anymore.After two days. there was no fresh food in the stores, Then Peter had a thought: To create a climate-adaptive method of producing fresh, local food, why not harvest right on the wat
27、er?You going up and down with the tide, and you dont need the transport. Though its just one small farm the project can serve as a model for cities across the globe. A building on the water is transportable, so you can move it when necessary. 8What do we know about the dairy farm? AIt is meant to se
28、rve local citizens. BIt is out of the question. CIt is located in the deep sea. DIt is owned by the government. 9How is the life of the cows on the dairy farm? AThey feed on the plants grown on the farm. BThey have access to the real land. CThey can wander in the real garden DTheir waste can be full
29、y used aboard. 10What is the main purpose of Beladon in building the farm? ATo improve the local environment. BTo add a new scenic spot. CTo help ensure food supply. DTo reduce pressure on transport. D Boston wants to be smarter. The city has taken advantage of technologies to become more responsive
30、 to its residents needs. But technology alone is not sufficient to make todays cities liveable. Boston has discovered that it also needs to reach the old-fashioned low-tech community and integrate that technology with city life. Kris Carter rolled out Bostons smart city program in 2014. It started w
31、ith an App that residents could download to report locations where sidewalks needed repair. The city sorted out those reports and ranked them in a - 5 - database, which repair crews used to prioritize their work. The system worked beautifully, except for one problem: most of the alerts(警报) came from
32、 wealthier neighborhoods, where the concentration of smartphone - equipped residents was highest. The complaints from the App didnt always correlate with the greatest community need for repairs, explains Carter. Carters group has moved away from the model common to many smart city initiatives of let
33、ting tech-savvy(精 通技术的）residents drive the process. Instead, they run meetings to find out what problems people in different neighborhoods care about solving. When it came to sidewalks, Boston introduced a second method of collecting repair tips, hiring people to get out and walk the citys 1,700 mil
34、es of sidewalks to take notes on their condition. Whether using low-tech or high-tech approaches, says Carter, to stay smart, a city needs to continually reassess its options to spot opportunities to improve residents lives. Take the sidewalk repair program, walking on the streets was proved a usefu
35、l, if inefficient way to prioritize repair needs. But last year the group found that walkers mobile phones could be tracked as they moved along the streets, and that data could be analyzed to identify sidewalk routes which are most often used by neighborhoods. “Combined with our other sidewalk infor
36、mation, that gave us an even better way to predict where faster repairs would do the most good, says Carter,Were really always looking for whatever mix of approaches best solves the problem. 11What is the first paragraph mainly about? AThe citizens life. BThe citys reputation. CThe citys management.
37、 DThe benefits of technology. 12What problem did Kris Carters team meet when carrying out their program? AThey faced many technical obstacles. BThey couldnt serve all residents well. CThey were not supported by residents. DThey were annoyed by being short-staffed. 13Which of the following might Kris
38、 Carter most agree with? AMaximizing the benefits of technology. BMixing approaches for solving problems. CGiving full play to the power of residents. DLetting tech companies be a leading role. - 6 - 14What can be a suitable title for the text? AA Smart City: More Than Just Tech BA City with Intelli
39、gent Facilities CJoint-effort in City Construction DThe Modernization of a City E The next time a giant Big Mac or Coke flashes into your mind when youre walking home from the pub, you may not simply have the snacks. A British hi-tech company has created a new advertising system that uses lasers (激光
40、) to project images up to 200 metres tall from the sides of tall buildings, enabling advertisers to reach people from virtual billboards in the sky. Passers-by will see each image for only between one tenth and quarter of a second, as their eyes catch the light from certain angles. Advertising agenc
41、ies and big businesses have already signalled their interest, but Skyline campaigners have branded the technology “greedy” and said that it could fill our skies with showy and tasteless brands. The Echo system uses a high laser projector to bounce light off a narrow reflective strip fixed to the sid
42、e of a building, visible up to 1km away. This creates large-scale images that are captured briefly in the viewers eye as a result of the “persistence of vision” effect: the same effect that leaves an imprint (印记) of a light source on your vision after youve turned away. Daniel Siden, the technologys
43、 inventor, explained: People often think this could be subversive, but its actually less invasive and more fun than traditional advertising. Mr.Siden said that the system was safe because of the distance between the projector and passers-by. And images would be above the line of sight of drivers and
44、 cyclists and below the field of vision of airline pilot. The images have been tested and shown not to cause epileptic seizures (癫痫发作). Because it uses only one strip of reflected light, the system needs a small amount of the power, about one-twentieth of a standard 96-sheet digital outdoor display
45、for an image of the same height. Still, some Skyline campaigners dislike the technology and believe it delivers subliminal advertising (隐形广 告). Barbara Weiss of the Skyline Campaign, said: “Its actually offensive. Londons latest tall buildings are not particularly well-built or well designed, but un
46、fortunately people are forced to look at them. Adding stupid advertising thats invasive in its nature will only make it worse.” 15Why does the writer use the example of Big Mac, Coke in paragraph 1? ABecause he attempts to promote these products to potential consumers. - 7 - BBecause he wants to int
47、roduce a new advertising technology to readers. CBecause he studies the association between products and images in advertising. DBecause he tries to illustrate the effectiveness of flashing images of advertised goods. 16Which of the following statements about the Echo system is true according to the
48、 passage? APedestrians can see the flashing images from specific angles. BIts a new system developed by an advertising agency. CThe image will no longer exist in vision after youve turned away. DThe system consists of a laser projector, a reflective strip and a physical billboard. 17The underlined w
49、ord “subversive” in paragraph 5 probably means _. Asubconscious Bdamaging Charmless Dimaginative 18Which party is likely to set obstacles to the application of the Echo system? AEnvironmentalists worried about energy consumption. BDrivers, cyclists and pilots whose sight might be affected. CThe Skyline Campaign regarding the technology as flashy. DThe patients who suffer from epileptic seizures. F During those barren winter months, with windows overlooking long-dead gardens, leafless trees, and lawns that seem to have an ashy look about them, nothing calms the uneasy nerves more t
