2024高考英語二輪閱讀理解八十集之連載訓練（5）

　　閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個選項(A、B、C和D)中，選出最佳選項。One day the employees of a large company in St Louis, Missouri returned from their lunch break and were greeted with a sign on the front door. The sign said: “Yesterday the person who has been hindering (阻礙) your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral (葬禮) in the room that has been prepared in the gym.”

　　At first everyone was sad to hear that one of their colleagues had died, but after

　　while they started getting curious about who this person might be.

　　The excitement grew as the employees arrived at the gym to pay their last respects. Everyone wondered: “Who is this person that was hindering my progress? Well, at least he's no longer here.”

　　One by one the employees got closer to the coffin (棺材) and when they looked inside it they became speechless. They stood over the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul.

　　There was a mirror inside the coffin. Everyone who looked inside it could see himself. There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: “There is only one person who can set limits to your growth: it is YOU.”

　　You are the only person who can revolutionize (徹底改變) your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself.

　　Your life does not change when your family changes, when your friends change, when your boss changes, and when your company changes.

　　Your life changes when you change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life.

　　1. The writer's purpose in writing the article is to tell us that ________.

　　A. the harder we work, the more successful we will become

　　B. our work and life are closely connected with others

　　C. changing our lives is down to ourselves

　　D. we will have a better future if people do not hinder our development

　　2. People were speechless when they looked inside the coffin because ________.

　　A. there was nothing but a mirror inside

　　B. they could see their own souls inside

　　C. their closest colleague lay inside

　　D. what was inside told a great truth

　　3. Who probably wrote the sign on the front door?

　　A. The company boss.

　　B. A worker who liked to make fun of others.

　　C. The director in charge of production.

　　D. A worker who wanted to teach others a lesson.

　　4. What can we conclude from the article?

　　A. The employees went to the gym to join the funeral.

　　B. The lesson the employees learned would influence them greatly.

　　C. The employees' lives depended on the attitude of their boss.

　　D. The employees got angry after the funeral.

　　【參考答案】1—4、C D A B

　　科普知識類

　　閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，從每題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項中，選出最佳選項 。

　　In a few years, you might be able to speak Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, and English—and all at the same time. This sounds incredible, but Alex Waibel, a computer science professor at US’s Carnegie Mellon University(CMU)and Germany’s University of Karlsruhe, announced last week that it may soon be a reality. He and his team have invented software and hardware that could make it far easier for people who speak different languages to understand each other.

　　One application, called Lecture Translation, can easily translate a speech from one language into another. Current translation technologies typically limit speakers to certain topics or a limited vocabulary. Users also have to be trained how to use the programme.

　　Another prototype (雛形機)can send translations of a speech to different listeners depending on what language they speak. “It is like having a simultaneous translator right next to you but without disturbing the person next to you,”Waibel said.

　　Prefer to read? So-called Translation Glasses transcribe (轉錄) the translations on a tiny liquid-crystal (液晶) display(LCD)screen.

　　Then there’s the Muscle Translator. Electrodes capture the electrical signals from facial muscle movements made naturally when a person is mouthing words. The signals are then translated into speech. The electrodes could be replaced with wireless chips implanted in a person’s face, according to researchers.

　　During a demonstration held last Thursday in CMU’s Pittsburgh campus, a Chinese student named Sang Jun had 11 tiny electrodes attached to the muscles of his cheeks, neck and throat. Then he mouthed—without speaking aloud—a few words in Mandarin (普通話) to the audience. A few seconds later, the phrase was displayed on a computer screen and spoken out by the computer in English and Spanish: “Let me introduce our new prototype.”

　　This particular gadget (器具), when fully developed, might allow anyone to speak in any number of languages or, as Waibel put it, “to switch your mouth to a foreign language”. “The idea behind the university’s prototypes is to create‘good enough’ bridges for cross-cultural exchanges that are becoming more common in the world,”Waibel said.

　　With spontaneous (自發的) translators, foreign drivers in Germany could listen to traffic warnings on the radio, tourists in China could read all the signs and talk with local people, and leaders of different countries could have secret talks without any interpreters there.

　　1. Which of the following statements is not true?

　　A. A lecture translation can translate what you said into other languages easily.

　　B. Muscle Translators can translate what you think into speech if you just move your mouth.

　　C. There is no Muscle Translator in the world now.

　　D. The spontaneous translators will help us a lot.

　　2. What kind of equipment is NOT mentioned in this passage?

　　A. Lecture Translation.　 B. Multiple Translator.

　　C. Muscle Translator. D. Translation Prototype.

　　3. What’s the final destination of inventing the language translators?

　　A. To make cultural exchanges between different countries easier.

　　B. To help students learn foreign languages more easily.

　　C. To make people live in foreign countries more comfortably.

　　D. To help people learn more foreign languages in the future.

　　4. What can be inferred from the seventh paragraph?

　　A. The translator is so good that it can translate any language into the very language you need.

　　B. The translator is becoming more and more common in the world as a bridge.

　　C. With the help of the translator, you only need to open your mouth when you want to say something without saying the exact words at all.

　　D. The translator needs to be improved before being put into market.

　　5. Where can this passage probably be excerpted from?

　　A. A newspaper. B. A magazine on science.

　　C. A fairy tale.　D. A scientific fantasy book.

　　【參考答案】1—5、CBADB

　　閱讀下列四篇短文，從每小題后所給的A,B,C或D四個選項中，選出最佳選項。

　　A funny thing happened on the way to the communications revolution: we stopped talking to one another.

　　I was walking in the park with a friend recently, and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation.There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day and…I became invisible, absent from the conversation.

　　The telephone used to connect you to the absent.Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent.Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communications technology is a tragedy to the closeness of human interaction.With e-mail and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another.With voice mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone.If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.

　　As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets automated, the alienation(疏遠) index goes up.

　　You can't even call a person to get the phone number of another person anymore.Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.

　　I am not against modern technology.I own a cell phone, an ATM card, a voice-mail system, and an e-mail account.Giving them up isn't wise, they're a great help to us.It's some of their possible consequences that make me feel uneasy.

　　More and more, I find myself hiding behind e-mail to do a job meant for conversation, or being relieved that voice mail picked up because I didn' t really have time to talk.The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier, or at least facilitating my antisocial instincts.

　　So I've put myself on technology restriction: no instant messaging with people who live near me, no cell-phoning in the presence of friends, no letting the voice mail pick up when I'm at home.

　　1．Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

　　A.The Advance of Communications Technology

　　B.The Consequences of Modern Technology

　　C.The Story of the Communications Revolution

　　D.The Automation of Modern Communications

　　2．The sentence “Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent” means that _________.

　　A．the people sitting beside you have to go away to receive phone call

　　B．you can hardly get in touch with the people sitting beside you

　　C．modern technology makes it hard for people to have a face-to-face talk

　　D．people can now go to work without going to the office

　　．The writer feels that the use of modern communications is

　　_________.

　　A．satisfyingB．encouraging

　　C．disappointing

　　D．embarrassing

　　．The passage implies that

　　________.

　　A．modern technology is bridging people

　　B．modern technology is separating people

　　C．modern technology is developing too fast

　　D．modern technology is interrupting our communication

　　．What does the underlined word “facilitating” mean?

　　A．加深

　　B．限制C．幫助

　　D．裝備

　　【要點綜述】 本文主要論述現代技術的消極影響——現代技術的使用在疏遠人與人之間的距離。

　　1. B　主旨大意題。本文主要論述了現代技的影響。

　　. C　句意理解題。第一段作者提出：通訊革命使我們不再面對面地交談；第二段作者舉自己生活的一例來予以說明； 第三段作者感慨“Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent”，即其意應為：現在技術使人們很難有面對面的交談。故選C項。

　　. D　推理判斷題。根據第五段可知，作者并不反對現代技術，也認為它極有幫助，只是某一些結果讓他感到不安，比如第二段中他所舉的生活例子。由此判斷他會認為使用現代技術有時令人感到尷尬，故選D項。

　　. B　推理判斷題。根據第四段可推斷現代技術正在疏遠人們之間的關系，故選B項。

　　. A　詞義猜測題。畫線詞所在的這一段主要在講述現代技術對他的消極影響，因此他才決定限制自己對現代技術的使用。由此判斷畫線詞應意為“加深”，即：加重他的不愛交際的天性。故選A項。

　　科普知識類

　　閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，從每題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項中，選出最佳選項。

　　Today just as technology changed the face of industry, farms have experienced an “agricultural revolution”. On the farm of today, machines provide almost all the power.

　　One of the most important benefits will be the farm computer. A few forward-looking farmers are already using computers to help them run their farms more efficiently. The computers help them keep more accurate records so they can make better decisions on what crops to plant, how much livestock (家畜) to buy, when to sell their products, and how much profit they can expect. Many computer companies have been developing special computer programs just for farmers. Programs are being written for pig producers, grain farmers, potato farmers, and dairy farmers. In the future, farmers will be able to purchase computer programs made to their needs. Because of the growing importance of computers on the farm, students at agricultural colleges are required to take computer classes in addition to their normal agricultural courses. There can be no doubt that farmers will rely on computers even more in the future. While the old-time farms depended on horse power, and modern farms depend on machine power, farms of the future will depend on computer power.

　　Another technological advance which is still in the experimental stage is the robot, a real “mechanized hired hand”that will be able to move and, in some ways, think like a human being. Agricultural engineers believe that computer-aided robots will make shocking changes in farming before the end of the century. Unlike farmers of the present, farmers of the future will find that many day-to-day tasks will be done for them. Scientists are now developing robots that will be able to shear (修剪)sheep, drive tractors, and harvest fruit. Even complex jobs will be done by robots. For example, in order to milk their cows, farmers must first drive them into the barn, then connect them to the milking machines, watch the machines, and disconnect them when they are finished. In the future, this will all be done by robots. In addition, when the milking is completed, the robots will automatically check to make sure that the milk is pure. The complete change of the farm is far in the future, but engineers expect that some robots will be used before long.

　　1. Which sentence carried the main idea of the whole passage?

　　A. The first sentence of the third paragraph.

　　B. The first sentence of the second paragraph.

　　C. The first sentence of the first paragraph.　

　　D. The last sentence of the second paragraph.

　　2. According to the passage, computers can not help farmers decide______.　

　　A. how much money they can earn from their products

　　B. whether to plant a certain kind of crop

　　C. what livestock to raise

　　D. when to sell their products

　　3. Which of the following statements is true?

　　A. Farmers in the future will depend totally on computers.

　　B. Farmers mainly use machines on their farms at present.　

　　C. Both computers and robots have been in use on today’s farms.

　　D. Students at agricultural colleges must take computer classes because they can do nothing without the help of computers on today’s farms.

　　4. What is the best title for the whole passage?

　　A. Computer, Farmers’ Best Friend

　　B. Farmers in the Future

　　C. The Agricultural Revolution

　　D. Computers and Robots

　　【參考答案】1—4、CCBC