1、英语-阅读理解(四)及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Passage 1(总题数：1，分数：20.00)The estimates of the numbers of home-schooled children vary widely. The U.S. Department of Education estimates there are 250,000 to 350,000 home-schooled children in the country. Home-school advocate
2、s put the number much higherat about a million.Many public school advocates take a harsh attitude toward home schoolers, perceiving their actions as the ultimate slap in the face for public education and a damaging move for the children. Home schoolers harbor few kind words for public schools, charg
3、ing shortcomings that range from lack of religious perspective in the curriculum to a herdlike approach to teaching children.Yet, as public school officials realize they stand little to gain by remaining hostile to the home-school population and as home schoolers realize they can reap benefits from
4、public schools, these hard lines seem to be softening a bit. Public schools and home schoolers have moved closer to tolerance and, in some cases, even cooperation.John Marshall, an education official, says, “We are becoming relatively tolerant of home schoolers.“ The idea is, “Lets give the kids acc
5、ess to public school, so theyll see its not as terrible as theyve been told, and theyll want to come back.“Perhaps, but dont count on it, say home-school advocates. Home schoolers oppose the system because they have strong convictions that their approach to educationwhether fueled by religious enthu
6、siasm or the individual childs interests and natural paceis best.“The bulk of home schoolers just want to be left alone,“ says Enge Cannon, associate director of the National Center For Home Education. She says home schoolers choose that path for a variety of reasons, but religion plays a role 85 pe
7、rcent of the time.Professor Van Galen breaks home schoolers into two groups. Some home schoolers want their children to learn not only traditional subject matter but also “strict religious doctrine and a conservative political and social perspective. Not incidentally, they also want their children t
8、o learnboth intellectually and emotionallythat the family is the most important institution in society.“Other home schoolers contend “not so much that the schools teach heresy (异端邪说), but that schools teach whatever they teach inappropriately,“ Van Galen writes, “These parents are highly independent
9、 and strive to take responsibility for their own lives within a society that they define as bureaucratic and inefficient./（分数：20.00）(1).According to the passage, home schoolers are _.A. those who engage private teachers to provide additional education for their childrenB. those who educate their chi
10、ldren at home instead of sending them to schoolC. those who advocate combining public education with home schoolingD. those who dont go to school but are educated at home by their parents（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(2).Public schools are softening their position on home schooling because _.A. there isnt much t
11、hey can do to change the present situationB. they want to show their tolerance for different teaching systemsC. home schooling provides a new variety of education for childrenD. public schools have so many problems that they cannot offer proper education for all children（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(3).Home-sch
12、ool advocates are of the opinion that _.A. things in public schools are not so bad as has often been saidB. their tolerance of public education will attract more kids to public schoolsC. home schooling is superior and, therefore, they will not easily give inD. their increased cooperation with public
13、 schools will bring about the improvement of public education（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(4).Most home schoolers opposition to public education stems from their _.A. respect for the interests of individualsB. worry about the inefficiency of public schoolsC. concern with the cost involvedD. devotion to religion
14、（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(5).According to Van Galen some home schoolers believe that _.A. public schools take up a herdlike approach to teaching childrenB. teachers in public school are not as responsible as they should beC. public schools cannot provide an education that is good enough for their childrenD.
15、 public schools are the source of bureaucracy and inefficiency in modern society（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.三、Passage 2(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Every year television stations receive hundreds of complaints about the loudness of advertisements. However, federal rules forbid the practice of making ads louder than the pro
16、gramming. In addition, television stations always operate at the highest sound level allowed for reasons of efficiency. According to one NBC executive, no difference exists in the peak sound level of ads and programming. Given this information, why do commercials sound so loud?The sensation of sound
17、 involves a variety of factors in addition to its peak level. Advertisers are skillful at creating the impression of loudness through their expert use of such factors. One major contributor to the perceived loudness of commercials is that much less variation in sound level occurs during a commercial
18、. In regular programming the intensity of sound varies over a large range. However, sound levels in commercials tend to stay at or near peak levels.Other “tricks of the trade“ are also used. Because low-frequency sounds can mask higher frequency sounds, advertisers filter out any noises that may dro
19、wn out the primary message. In addition, the human voice has more auditory (听觉的) impact in the middle frequency ranges. Advertisers electronically vary voice sounds so that they stay within such a frequency band. Another approach is to write the script so that lots of consonants (辅音) are used, becau
20、se people are more aware of consonants than vowel (元音) sounds. Finally, advertisers try to begin commercials with sounds that are highly different from those of the programming within which the commercial is buried. Because people become adapted to the type of sounds coming from programming, a drama
21、tic change in sound quality draws viewers attention. For example, notice how many commercials begin with a cheerful song of some type.The attention-getting property of commercial can be seen by observing one-to-two-year-old children who happen to be playing around a television set. They may totally
22、ignore the programming. However, when a commercial comes on, their attention is immediately drawn to it because of its dramatic sound quality.（分数：20.00）(1).According to the passage, the maximum intensity of sound coming from a commercial _.A. does not exceed that of programsB. is greater than that o
23、f programsC. varies over a large range than that of programsD. is less than that of programs（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(2).Commercials create the sensation of loudness because _.A. TV stations always operate at the highest sound levelsB. their sound levels are kept around peak levelsC. their sound levels are
24、kept in the middle frequency rangesD. unlike regular programs their intensity of sound varies over a wide range（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(3).Many commercials begin with a cheerful song of some kind because _.A. pop songs attract viewers attentionB. it can increase their loudnessC. advertisers want to make th
25、em sound different from regular programsD. advertisers want to merge music with commercials（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(4).One of the reasons why commercials are able to attract viewers attention is that _.A. the human voices in commercials have more auditory impactB. people like cheerful songs that change dra
26、matically in sound qualityC. high-frequency sounds are used to mask sounds that drown out the primary messageD. they possess sound qualities that make the viewer feel that something unusual is happening（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(5).In the passage, the author is trying to tell us _.A. how TV ads vary vocal so
27、unds to attract attentionB. how the loudness of TV ads is overcomeC. how advertisers control the sound properties of TV adsD. how the attention-getting properties of sounds are made use of in TV ads（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.四、Passage 3(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Science is a dominant theme in our culture. Since it touch
28、es almost every facet of our life, educated people need at least some acquaintance with its structure and operation. They should also have an understanding of the subculture in which scientists live and the kinds of people they are. An understanding of general characteristics of science as well as s
29、pecific scientific concepts is easier to attain if one knows something about the things that excite and frustrate the scientists.This book is written for the intelligent student of lay person whose acquaintance with science is superficial; for the person who has been presented with science as a must
30、y storehouse of dried facts; for the person who has been presented with science as the production of gadgets; and for the person who views the scientists as some sort of magicians. The book can be used to supplement a course in any science, to accompany any course that attempts to give an understand
31、ing of the modern world, or independently of any coursesimply to provide a better understanding of science. We hope this book will lead readers to a broader perspective on scientific attitudes and a more realistic view of what science is, who scientists are, and what they do. It will give them an aw
32、areness and understanding of the relationship between science and our culture and an appreciation of the roles science may play in our culture. In addition, readers may learn to appreciate the relationship between scientific views and some of the values and philosophies that are pervasive in our cul
33、ture.We have tried to present in this book an accurate and up-to-date picture of the scientific community and the people who populated it. That population has in recent years come to comprise more and more women. This increasing role of women in the scientific subculture is not a unique incident but
34、, rather, part of the trend evident in all segments of society as more women enter traditionally male-dominated fields and make significant contribution. In discussing these changes and contribution, however, we are faced with a language that is implicitly sexist, one that uses male nouns or pronoun
35、s in referring to unspecified individuals. To offset this built-in bias, we have adopted the policy of using plural nouns and pronouns whenever possible and, when absolutely necessary, alternating he and she. This policy is far from being ideal, but it is at least an acknowledgment of the inadequacy
36、 of our language in treating haft of the human equally.We have also tried to make the book entertaining as well as informative. Our approach is usually informal. We feel, as many other scientists do, that we shouldnt take ourselves too seriously. As the reader may observe, we see science as a deligh
37、tful pastime than as a grim and dreary way to earn a living.（分数：20.00）(1).According to the passage, “scientific subculture“ means _.A. cultural groups that are formed by scientistsB. people whose knowledge of science is very limitedC. the scientific communityD. people who make good contribution to s
38、cience（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(2).We need to know something about the structure and operation of science because _.A. it is not easy to understand the things that excite and frustrate scienceB. science affects almost every aspect of our lifeC. scientists live in a specific substructureD. it is easier to un
39、derstand general characteristics of science（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(3).The book mentioned in this passage is written for readers who _.A. long for deeper understanding of scienceB. are good at producing various gadgetsC. work in a storehouse of dried factsD. are interested in popular science（分数：4.00）A.B.C.
40、D.(4).According to this passage, _.A. English is a sexist languageB. only in the scientific world is the role of women increasing rapidlyC. women are making significant contribution to eliminating the inadequacy of our languageD. male nouns or pronouns should not be used to refer to scientists（分数：4.
41、00）A.B.C.D.(5).This passage most probably is _.A. a book review B. the preface of a bookC. the post script of a book D. the concluding part of a book（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.五、Passage 4(总题数：1，分数：20.00)There are some earth phenomena you can count on, but the magnetic field, some say, is not one of them. It f
42、luctuates in strength, drifts from its axis, and every few 100,000 years undergoes a dramatic polarity reversala period when north pole becomes south pole and south pole becomes north pole. But how is the field generated, and why is it so unstable?Groundbreaking research by two French geophysicists
43、promises to shed some light on the mystery. Using 80 metres of deep sea sediment (沉淀物) core, they have obtained measurements of magnetic-field intensity that span 11 polarity reversals and four million years. The analysis reveals that intensity appears to fluctuate with a clear, well-defined rhythm.
44、 Although the strength of the magnetic field varies irregularly during the short term, there seems to be an inevitable long-term decline preceding each polarity reversal. When the poles flipa process that takes several hundred thousand yearsthe magnetic field rapidly regains its strength and the cyc
45、le is repeated.The results have caused a stir among geophysicists. The magnetic field is thought to originate from molten (熔化的) iron in the outer core, 3,000 kilometers beneath the earths surface. By studying mineral grains found in material ranging from rocks to clay articles, previous researchers
46、have already been able to identify reversals dating back 170 million years, including the most recent switch 730,000 years ago. How and why they occur, however, has been widely debated. Several theories link polarity flips to external disasters such as meteor (陨星) impacts. But Peter Olson, a geophys
47、icist at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says this is unlikely if the French researchers are right. In fact, Olson says intensity that predictably declines from one reversal to the next contradicts 90 percent of the models currently under study. If the results prove to be valid, geophysic
48、ists will have a new theory to guide them in their quest to understand the earths inner physics. It certainly points the direction for future research.（分数：20.00）(1).Which of the following titles is most appropriate to the passage?A. Polarity Reversal: A Fantastic Phenomenon of Nature.B. Measurement
49、of the Earths Magnetic-Field Intensity.C. Formation of the Two Poles of the Earth.D. A New Approach to the Study of Geophysics.（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(2).The word “flip“ most probably means “_“.A. decline B. intensify C. fluctuate D. reverse（分数：4.00）A.B.C.D.(3).What have the two French geophysicists discovered in their research?A. Some regularity in the changes of the earths magnetic field.B. Some causes of the fluctuation of the earths magnetic field.C. The origin of the earths magnetic fi
