高三年级半月考试卷（ 英语 ）
第一部分 阅读理解。（共两节，满分40分） 第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，共30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项A、B、C、D中，选出最佳选项。
A
I am a person who does not like to wait．I don' t like lines, being put on hold when making a phone call, arriving at an appointment to find that my companion will be delayed and of course, I don’t like waiting rooms．
However, I realize that my agony(痛苦）will not be good for me, as an increasingly, crowded world can only mean one thing—more waiting．
Owing to this, I have taken a measure and decided to turn my disappointment to productive ends. In short, I am looking for what I call \．
These are books that contain material designed for being read in shortened words, so there is no extended story line to lose track of．Another requirement is that they be small enough to slip neatly into my back pocket．
The other day I went to the supermarket. Convinced that the rain would keep most people away, I was surprised to see that the place was crowded with shoppers. Every checkout was open—and jammed! But I could take out my pocket book and go to work．
The more the world demands that I wait, the more I learn from my waiting library. Look at these titles: One Hundred Things Every American Should Know; The Poetry of Robert Frost; Living Thoughts of Leading Thinkers; Still More Toasts. I have learned interesting and enriching things and much knowledge from these books.
On a recent visit to the general store, I placed my order at the counter along with six or seven other people. The one female employee seemed to have her hands full as she rushed about.\patient,\．
No problem. I quietly opened my dictionary of prose（散文）and poetical quotations. Perhaps the other customers regarded me as a bookish, lonely soul. But little did they realize that I was enjoying the company of Shakespeare, Thoreau, Homer and Ben Johnson. 1. According to the passage, the world ______．
A．needs to produce many materials to use B．is becoming more and more crowded C．loses tracks of story line increasingly D．is crowded with shoppers everywhere 2. How did the author overcome his agony of waiting?
A．By reading books designed to be read in shortened words． B．By arriving early for an appointment．
C．By taking measures to produce some books for readers．
D．By keeping most people away from the supermarket for some reasons．
3. Which of the following can't be carried in the author's pocket?
A．One Hundred Things Every American Should Know B．The Poetry of Robert Frost
C．Living Thoughts of Leading Thinkers D．Homer and Ben Johnson
4. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A．The author succeeded in changing his agony into fun． B．The author was a bookish and lonely soul.
C．Six or seven employees in the store were busy in rushing about． D．There were fewer customers in the supermarket on rainy days．
B
Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a \from, running around, or jumping to. Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is truth with dirt on its face, beauty with a cut on its finger, wisdom with chocolate in its hair, and the hope of the future with a snake in its pocket.
When you are busy, a boy is a trouble-maker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a wild creature bent on destroying the world and himself with it.
A boy is a mixture---he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion (消化力) of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker, but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs (拇指) on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday schools, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.
A boy is a magical creature-he is your headache but when you come home at night with only shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, \Dad!\
5. The whole passage is in a tone of _____.
A. humor and affection B. respect and harmony C. ambition and expectation D. confidence and imagination 6. Could you figure out the meaning of the underlined sentence?
A. He has altogether five fingers. B. He is slow, foolish and clumsy. C. He becomes clever and smart. D. He cuts his hand with a knife.
7. According to the writer, boys appreciate everything in the following EXCEPT _____.
A. ice cream B. comic books C. Saturday mornings D. Sunday schools
8. What does the writer feel about boys?
A. He feels curious about their noise. B. He is fed up with these creatures. C. He is amazed by their naughtiness. D. He feels unsafe staying with them.
C
Meetings don’t just eat up time in the workplace they actually make groups of people stupider, says new research.
Working in a group makes people perform worse on intelligence tests, as some group members are so anxious about doing well that they “divert” their brain towards maintaining their social status in the group.
You may joke about how committee meetings make you feel brain dead, but our findings suggest that they make you act brain dead as well, said Read Montague the study leader at Virginia Tech.
Groups of volunteers showed measurable drops in IQ when asked to perform intelligence tests socially, with the results broadcast to the group. Some people performed well in the “social” tests, but others were affected badly--- and overall, performance dropped.
Women appear to feel this pressure more than men---only three out of 13 female volunteers performed well in a social environment, with 10 out of 13 finding that their performance dropped.
The researchers used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to monitor how people’s brains responded--- and found that bad performers tended to show activity in parts of their brain that dealt with emotions and anxiety.
“We started with individuals who were matched for their IQ,” said Montague. “Yet when we placed them in small groups, ranked their performance on tasks against their peers, and broadcast the rankings, we saw dramatic drops in the ability of some study subjects to solve problems.”
“Our study highlights the unexpected and dramatic consequences even subtle social signals in group settings may have on the individual,” said lead author Keneth Kishida.
“We don’t know how much these effects are present in real-world settings. By placing an emphasis on competition, for example, are we missing a large segment of the talent pool?” 9. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage? A. Meetings make groups of people stupider. B. Meetings make you act brain dead.
C. Meetings make people perform worse on intelligence tests. D. Meetings don’t affect men’s performance in intelligence tests. 10. This passage can be classified as __________.
A. An advertisement B.a book review C. A feature story D.a science report 11. What would be the best title of the text? A. Brainstorming? More Like Brain Drain B. Brainstorming Affects People's IQ Test C. Brainstorming Makes People Brain Dead D.Brainstorming Affects Women’s Performance
D
Why doesn’t the unemployment rate ever reach zero? Economists, who generally believe that supply tends to meet demand, have long thought about this question. Even in good times, i.e. not now,