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2013年广州市5月高三英语模拟题

来源：高中英语教学交流
发布时间：2013-05-18 23:18:00
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II 阅读（共两节，满分50分）

第一节阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

The future of written English will owe more to Hollywood films than Dickens or Shakespeare, if the findings of a study into children’s writing are anything to go by. Researchers who looked at the entries to a national competition found they were increasingly using American words such as garbage, trash can, sidewalk, candy, sneakers, soda, and flashlight.

The stories, written by pupils aged 7 to 13, show how fairy cakes are referred to as cupcakes and a dinner jacket has become a tuxedo. “Smart” is now often used for “clever” and “cranky” for “irritable”.

Television also has a powerful influence on children’s work, with Lady Gaga and Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi among the famous names from TV cropping up repeatedly.

But pupils are let down by basic spelling, punctuation and grammar, according to the study by Oxford University Press （OUP）, which looked at the entries to BBC Radio Two’s “500 Words” competition.

Children struggled to correctly spell simple words such as “does” and “clothes” and often failed to use the past tense correctly, frequently writing “rised” instead of “rose” or “thinked” instead of “thought”.

Researchers also found that punctuation was underused, especially semi-colons and speech marks. Some did not know how to use capital letters. However, exclamation marks were overused. Researchers found 35,171 examples in total, with some young writers using five at a time！

Popular US fiction such as the Twilight novels and films is thought to be fueling the increasing use of American vocabulary and spelling. Meanwhile, fears that texting was corrupting children’s written work were unfounded, they said, with youngsters only using text language when they were referring to a text message.

Samantha Armstrong from OUP said: “Perhaps we are catching a glimpse of the language of the future.” Chris Evans, whose radio show runs the competition, said the results were “fascinating”, adding: “Who’d have thought that Messi and Gaga would be some of the most used names?”

26. According to the passage, which of the following is an example of British English?

A. sneakers     B. fairy cakes     C. tuxedo     D. cranky

27. Which of the following was NOT frequently found in the pupils’ stories?

A. Text message language.

B. A variety of Americanisms.

C. Overuse of exclamation marks.

D. Names of famous TV stars.

28. What can we infer from the passage?

A. Lionel Messi is now the most famous footballer in Britain.

B. American movies and books are increasingly popular in Britain.

C. The national writing competition is organised by Oxford University Press.

D. Written English is more influenced by classical literature than popular US culture.

29. The underlined phrase “unfounded” in Paragraph 7 probably means _________.

A. unbearable    B. unnoticeable

C. not found       D. not based on facts

30. The passage is intended to _________.

A. show that British children have spellings and grammar abilities

B. share the experience about how to teach written English in a correct way

C. discuss the noticeable changes and evolution of written English in Britain

D. criticize the influence of popular US culture on British children’s language use

B

Bissel is a small village of the West Sahara. It lies next to a l.5-square-kilometer oasis（绿洲）, from where three days and nights are generally required to go out of the desert. However, before Ken Levin discovered it in 1926, none of the Bissel villagers had ever walked out of the desert. Reportedly, they were not unwilling to leave this barren land. Many had previously tried but failed, always somehow finding themselves back at the oasis after several days of trying to walk out.

When interviewed by Ken Levin, an expert at the British Royal College of Sciences, the villagers explained that no matter which direction they walked it always brought them back to the village.

Why couldn’t the Bissel villagers walk out of the desert? Levin was very puzzled. He had, by himself, managed to walk north from the village and reach the nearest town in three and a half days. He decided to carry out an experiment to solve the mystery. He and a Bissel villager called Argutel, would walk out of the desert together. They prepared enough water for a half-a-month journey and two camels. But this time Ken Levin didn't bring his compass. Levin would follow Argutel.

Ten days later, they had walked for about 500 miles but were still in the desert. On the 11th morning, an oasis came into their view. They were back at Bissel. Levin now understood why the Bissel people couldn’t escape the desert. They had no knowledge of the North Star, which had for centuries provided sailors and other travelers with a point of direction. In the desert, if a person goes forward relying only on their senses, they will not be able to travel in a straight line. Rather they will travel in a very large circle and eventually track back to where they began. Levin explained to Argutel the function of the North Star and said, “As long as you rest in the daytime and walk towards the brightest star at night, you would be able to walk out of the desert.” Argutel did as he was told. Three days later, he came to the edge of the desert.

Now in the West Sahara, Bissel has become a bright pearl, where tens of thousands of tourists come every year. Argutel’s bronze statue stands in the center of the town. On its base are the words: __________________.

31. Villagers in Bissel had never walked beyond the desert because ________.

A. they had no method to find their way out

B. they were discouraged by their failures

C. they had a fear of the outside world

D. they had no desire to leave the oasis

32. Ken Levin asked Argutel to walk to the north in order to ________.

A. see how far away Bissel was to the edge of the desert

B. prove that people could walk out of the desert

C. tell people not to walk in circles

D. show Argutel was a great person

33. According to the passage, Ken Levin ________.

A. knew Argutel before he came to the village

B. came to Bissel to do experiments on behalf of his college

C. became the first man to walk out of the desert from Bissel Village

D. taught Bissel villagers knowledge of the North Star when he first arrived

34. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A. Ken Levin didn’t walk south because it would take more days

B. the use of a compass was necessary to walk out of the desert

C. tourism in Bissel has been greatly developed and improved

D. Argutel became the leader of Bissel after his return

35. Which of the following can most probably be found at the base of Argutel’s statue?

A. Two heads are better than one.

B. Where there is a will, there is a way.

C. A long journey starts with the first step.

D. A new life starts from the fixed direction.

C

Years ago, I was watching a detective show on TV where the fingerprints of a criminal are required. The hero invites the bad guy to his home and offers him a glass of water. The man takes the glass and drinks the water. After he leaves the hero dramatically brings out a handkerchief and picks up the glass. His expressions show the satisfaction at a job well done. The bad guy will soon be arrested.

At that time, I found it amazing – how can prints on a glass identify people? My dad explained that if you were to press your thumb on an inkpad and then on a sheet of white paper you will leave a smudge or print, which no one else in the world can make. The same would be true for each of your fingers. The Chinese were the first to use a fingerprint as a type of identification – it was used as a signature on important documents, although they had no way of independently matching it with the owner.

Each print is one-of-a-kind and no two people have the same characteristic. Scientists and criminologists （those who study criminal characteristics） determine the differences between fingerprints by a careful study of their curves and not by their general shape or pattern.

In 1892, an English scientist, Sir Francis Galton, published a book on using fingerprints to solve crimes. At the same time in Argentina, a police researcher Juan Vucetich was also working towards a fingerprint classification system. However, it was in 1896 that Sir Edward Henry, then serving as Inspector General of Police in India, developed the print classification system that would eventually be used globally.

Sir Edward Henry and his assistant Khan Haque discovered that all fingerprints could be systematically classified according to their general curve patterns. He divided them into three classes on the basis of their general pattern: loops （箕形纹）, whorls （斗形纹）, and arches （弓形纹）. By counting the curve between any two points in the pattern, each of the ten fingers could be classified into a particular group. Taking the group together as a unit you have a complete system of classifying fingerprints.

In June 1897, the world’s first fingerprint bureau was set up in Calcutta and in 1901, Sir Edward Henry was appointed head of Scotland Yard in London, where he applied the system. This system, called the science of fingerprint identification, is still used by police departments all over the world today with few changes.

36. The purpose of the first paragraph is to show _________.

A. how a person’s fingerprints are taken

B. how satisfied the hero was with his work

C. how careful detectives should be when working

D. how fingerprints are commonly used to solve crimes

37. Fingerprints were first used in China to _______.

A. sign documents       B. capture criminals

C. show respect             D. prove identity

38. In which country was today’s fingerprint classification system developed?

A. China         B. Scotland         C. Argentina        D. India

39. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. The fingerprint classification system has experienced great changes.

B. For more than a century, fingerprints have been applied to crime solving.

C. Henry’s fingerprint classification system was immediately accepted internationally.

D. By comparing the general shape of two fingerprints, one can easily tell their difference.

40. What is the best title for this passage?

A. Detectives and Criminals

B. Scientists and Criminologists

C. Fingerprints and Crime Solving

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