题目内容
Watching some children trying to catch butterflies one hot August afternoon, I was reminded of an incident in my own childhood.When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening at dusk the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. There isn’t a musical instrument made by man that can produce a more beautiful sound than the song of the mockingbird.
I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.
I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, in its fright at being captured, the bird fluttered about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.
I had left the cage out on our back porch, and on the second day of the bird’s captivity my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I how to feed her baby.
The following morning when I went to see how my captive was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken excellent care of my little bird, or so I thought.
Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time, hearing me crying over the death of my bird, explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries. She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in captivity.”
Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.
【小题1】Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?
A.He had just got a new cage. | B.He liked its beautiful feather. |
C.He wanted it to sing for him. | D.He wanted a pet for a companion. |
A.was frightened to death | B.ate the poisonous food its mother gave it |
C.refused to eat anything | D.drank the poisonous water by mistake |
A.a religious person | B.a kind person |
C.a schoolmaster | D.an expert in birds |
A.Freedom is very valuable to all creatures. |
B.All birds put in a cage won’t live long. |
C.You should keep the birds from their mother. |
D.Be careful about food you give to baby birds. |
【小题1】C
【小题2】B
【小题3】D
【小题4】A
解析试题分析:本文叙述了作者在小的时候由于想抓住一只鸟来为他唱歌,于是就抓住了一只知更鸟,把它放在笼子里,结果鸟的母亲给小鸟吃了有毒的果实不久那只小鸟就死了,作者很伤心,后来从鸟类专家那里了解到小鸟认为没有了自由还不如死,从此以后作者再也不敢抓小鸟了。
【小题1】细节理解题。根据I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.作者想让知更鸟为他唱歌,故选C。
【小题2】细节理解题。根据A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries.小鸟吃了母亲带给它的有毒的果实,故选B。
【小题3】细节理解题。根据ornithologist鸟类专家,故选D。
【小题4】推理判断题。根据All living creatures have a right to live free.自由是非常重要的,故选A。
考点:故事类短文阅读。
点评:细节理解题可以用“重现”的方法来解答。所谓“重现”,就是指某一个单词或短语的同义、反义、上下义、同根词或原词在文中重复出现的现象。这种方法常用于解答完形填空,但用来解答阅读理解细节题也同样管用。细节理解题的重现指的是:正确答案选项语句中的单词或短语与阅读材料中的单词或短语构成一种重复出现的关系。它同样可以分为:同义、反义、上下义、同根词或原词。
Today's Britain is full of TV shows like Fame Academy, which claim to offer young hopefuls an instant passport to fame and riches. But a very different kind of academy may provide a new generation of Brits with a slower, steadier path to wealth.
A 'pig academy' in the east of England is aiming to train up new pig farmers to help promote local agriculture and meet the UK's growing demand for pork. Last year consumption of pork products increased by 6,000 tonnes. But British farmers have not benefited from this rise in demand. A combination of increasing feed prices, competition from cheaper imports and an outbreak of foot and mouth disease have all eaten into their profits. Pig numbers in the UK have actually almost halved in the last decade.
Now, Fresh Start Pig Academy in Lincolnshire is launching a course which intends to redress (修复) the balance. They say pig husbandry (养猪业) is a growth industry and newcomers are welcome. For those of you who fancy getting your hands dirty, the course will teach you everything you need to know, from keeping pigs healthy to raising the capital needed to start up.
Pig farmer Anne Longthorp followed her father into the industry and believes that farming pigs is very rewarding work: "They're great, curious animals to work with. Just watching their behaviour – it's really interesting work. There is a lot more to pig farming than people give us credit for. It's very scientific."
So, while most of Britain's young people may continue to dream of overnight stardom, others will hope a more traditional career will help them bring home the bacon.
【小题1】The second paragraph is mainly about the pig academy come into being.
A.why | B.how | C.when | D.where |
A.growing demand for pork |
B.increasing feed prices |
C.competition from cheaper imports |
D.outbreak of foot and mouth disease |
A.lead the youth to riches faster than the Fame Academy |
B.provide geilivable help for whoever attends the course |
C.be more popular with young people than other academies |
D.make some young people overnight star |
A.making your hands dirty by raising pigs |
B.taking up the job as a pig farmer |
C.avoiding the pig bed dirty to keep them fit |
D.collecting enough money to raise pigs |
A.Anne Longthorp loves the job of farming pigs. |
B.Anne Longthorp’s family all like raising pigs.[来源:Z*xx*k.Com] |
C.Most young people in Britain will like the career of farming pigs. |
D.People who farm pigs are allowed to bring home many bacons. |
Kenya wants to organize a major international conference to discuss how to fight piracy(海盗) off the coast of Somalia. The conference may also deal with ways to rescue Somalia from seventeen years of civil war. More than forty percent of its people depend on food aid.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula says the world cannot end piracy and civil war without dealing with Somalia’s political problems.
Somali pirates operate in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. The Gulf of Aden connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean by way of the Suez Canal. The pirates have fast boats, modern weapons and equipment like satellite phones and global positioning systems.
Pirates hijacked the Sirius Star off the coast of Kenya and moved it to waters off Somalia.
The tanker Sirius Star, at three hundred thirty meters long, is the biggest ship ever known to have been captured by pirates. It also happened farther south than most attacks, and farther out at sea ---- more than eight hundred kilometers from land.
The ship was headed for the United States with two million karrels of oil, worth an estimated one hundred million dollars. A Saudi Arabian company owns the tanker. The pirates have reportedly demanded twenty-five million dollars in negotiations to release the ship and its crew of twenty-five.
Somali pirates generally do not steal goods or kill hostages. They are believed to be holding seventeen ships with about three hundred crew members. Among the ships is a Ukrainian vessel hijacked(劫持) in September with a load of military weapons including tanks.
The increase in piracy is raising the cost of insuring ships. Also, oil from the Middle East and exports from East Asia could take longer to arrive.
Some of the world’s heaviest shipping traffic passes the Somali coast. But major shipping companies have begun to consider new routes. One of the world’s biggest shippers, A.P, Moeller Maersk, says it will avoid the Gulf of Aden. A move away from the Suez Canal could hurt Egypt’s economy.
American and other foreign navy ships are now watching for pirates. This week the Indian Navy destroyed a heavily armed “mother ship” in the Gulf of Aden. But the area to protect covers more than one hundred sixty million square kilometers.
【小题1】 According to the passage, which of the following is the key to solving the piracy in Somalia?
A.Providing lots of money. | B.Ending Civil war. |
C.Supplying enough food. | D.Handling Somalia’s political problems. |
A.they demand money | B.they hold the ships with crew |
C.they kill some of the hostages | D.they hijack ships with military weapons |
A.The cost of ship transport is decreasing. |
B.The routes of some ships might change. |
C.Nothing has been done to fight against the piracy. |
D.The Suez Canal is of no importance to Egypt’s economy. |
I live in Hollywood. You may think people in such an attractive, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.
Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more abiding emotion.
Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.
I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to glamorous parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells “happiness”.
But in memoir(回忆录) after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children and profound loneliness.
The way people stick to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually reduces their chances of ever obtaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in fact, the opposite is true: More times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very endeavors that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, civic or charitable work, and self-improvement.
【小题1】What does the author want to tell us? He wants to tell us .
A.he lives in Hollywood, so he feels not happy |
B.the true meaning of happiness |
C.in fact, famous people are not very happy |
D.happiness is not equal to fun |
A.Happiness just means having fun. | B.Happiness is not equal to fun. |
C.Happiness means doing what you like. | D.Happiness means being rich. |
A.compare | B.think |
C.similar or connected | D.match |
A.amusement park can bring us happiness |
B.fun will bring some happiness to us |
C.pain will bring us happiness |
D.efforts can bring us happiness |