题目内容
The Great Wall of China, one of the greatest wonders of the world, was enlisted in the World Heritage by the UNESCO in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands and mountains, stretching about 6,700 kilometers from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2,000 years, some parts of the Great Wall are now in ruins or even entirely disappeared. However, it is still one of the most appealing attractions around the world.
No one can tell for sure when the building of the Great Wall was started, but it is popularly believed that it originated as a military fortification(要塞) against intrusion by tribes on the borders during the earlier Zhou Dynasty. Late in the Spring and Autumn Period, some states extended the defence work to prevent the attacks from other states.
It was not until the Qin Dynasty that the separate walls were connected to form a defensive system by Emperor Qin Shi Huang. After the emperor unified the country in 214 BC, he ordered the construction of the wall. It took about ten years to finish and the wall stretched from Gansu Province to Jilin Province. The wall not only served as a defence in the north but also symbolized the power of the emperor.
Further construction also experienced several dynasties. The present Great Wall in Beijing is mainly remains from the Ming Dynasty. Today, the Great Wall has become a must-see for every visitor to China. Few can help saying “Wow” when they stand on top of a beacon tower and look at this giant dragon. It has become a national pride of Chinese people.
The underlined word “appealing” probably means “______”.
A. huge B. attractive C. ordinary D. moving
In the Qin Dynasty, ______.
A. the construction of the Great Wall was finished in 204 BC
B. the emperor wanted to invade other minor states
C. the defensive system of the Great Wall was separated
D. the Great Wall began its way from Jilin Province
According to the passage, the Great Wall _______.
A. is from the west to the east
B. is as long as 6,700 miles
C. was built in several dynasties
D. was begun in the Qin Dynasties
The best title for the passage probably is _______.
A. History of the Great Wall
B. Culture of the Great Wall
C. Construction of the Great Wall
D. Projection of the Great Wall
【小题1】B
【小题2】A
【小题3】C
【小题4】A
解析:
【小题1】 根据上下文可推测，风景名胜应该是很有吸引力的，可推测appealing是attractive的意思。
【小题2】根据文章第三段可知，在秦朝，长城修筑历时十年，开始于公元前214年，完成的时间应该是公元前204年。秦始皇修筑长城主要是为了抵御外来侵略和显示国威，故B项错误；在秦朝，几段长城被连了起来，故C项错误；长城开始于甘肃而不是吉林，故D项错误。
【小题3】根据上下文可知在中国历史上， 好几个朝代都修筑过长城，故C项正确；A项长城应该是从东往西；B项长城长6700公里，而不是6700英里； D项长城开始于周朝，而不是秦朝。
【小题4】本文主要讲的是长城的历史，故最合适的标题应该是A。
备战中考寒假系列答案Gene technology to benefit people
Among all the fast growing science and technology, the research of human genes, or biological engineering as people call it, is drawing more and more attention now. Sometimes it is a hot topic discussed by people.
The greatest thing that gene technology can do is to cure serious diseases that doctors at present can almost do nothing with, such as cancer and heart disease. Every year, millions of people are murdered by these two killers. And to date, doctors have not found an effective way to cure them. But if the gene technology is applied, not only these two diseases can be cured completely, bringing happiness and more living days to the patients, but also the great amount of money people spend on curing their diseases can be saved, therefore it benefits the economy as well. In addition, human life span(寿命) can be prolonged.
Gene technology can help people to give birth to more healthy and clever children. Some families, with the English imperial(皇室) family being a good example, have hereditary(遗传的) diseases. This means their children will for sure have the family disease, which is a great trouble for these families. In the past, doctors could do nothing about hereditary diseases. But gene technology can solve this problem perfectly. The scientist just need to find the wrong gene and correct it and a healthy child will be born.
Some people are worrying that the gene research can be used to manufacture human beings in large quantities. In the past few years, scientists have succeeded in cloning a sheep; therefore these people predict that human babies would soon be cloned. But I believe cloned babies will not come out in large quantities, for most couples in the world can have babies in very normal way. Of course, the governments must take care to control gene technology.
【小题1】 What does "these two killers" in the second paragraph refer to?
| A．Gene technology and another treatment of the two diseases. |
| B．The two murderers who killed the cloned baby |
| C．The two diseases of cancer and heart disease |
| D．Hereditary diseases and cancer |
| A．How gene technology can be applied in the field of treating hereditary diseases. |
| B．Gene technology can be used to clone human babies. |
| C．Gene technology can help people to give birth of a baby. |
| D．Gene technology can help the English imperial family out |
| A．Using gene technology, people with hereditary diseases can have more living days. |
| B．Using gene technology, scientist finds the wrong gene and corrects it. |
| C．Using gene technology, human babies can be cloned. |
| D．Doctors can cure cancer and heart disease with the help of gene technology. |
| A．Expressing the writer’s idea that gene technology will benefit people |
| B．Telling people the advantages of gene technology |
| C．Telling the readers that gene technology will not benefit people |
| D．Explaining that gene technology will also do harm to the humanity |
Homeownership has let us down. For generations, Americans believed that owning a home was undoubtedly good. Our political leaders hammered home the point. Franklin Roosevelt held that a country of homeowners was “unconquerable.” Homeownership could even save babies, save children, save families and save America. A house with a lawn and a fence wasn’t just a nice place to live in or a risk-free investment; it was a way to shape a nation. No wonder leaders of all political types wanted to spend more than $100 billion a year on subsidies（补助）and tax breaks to encourage people to buy.
But the dark side of homeownership is now all too apparent: Indeed, easy lending stimulated（刺激）by the cult of homeownership may have triggered（引起）the financial crisis. Housing remains a drag on the economy. Existing-home sales in April dropped 27% from the previous month, worsening fears of a double-dip. And all that is just the obvious tale of a housing bubble and what happened when it popped. The real story is deeper and darker still.
For the better part of a century, politics, industry and culture lined up to create a fetish of the idea of buying a house. Homeownership has done plenty of good over the decades; it has provided stability to tens of millions of families. Yet by idealizing the act of buying a home, we have ignored the downsides. In the bubble years, lending standards slipped dramatically, allowing many Americans to put far too much of their income into paying for their housing. And we ignored longer-term phenomena too. Homeownership contributed to the hollowing out of cities and kept renters out of the best neighborhoods. It fed America’s overuse of energy and oil. It made it more difficult for those who had lost a job to find another. Perhaps worst of all, it helped us become casually self-deceiving: By telling ourselves that homeownership was a pathway to wealth and stable communities and better test scores, we avoided dealing with these frightening issues head-on.
Now, as the U.S. recovers from the biggest housing bust（破产）since the Great Depression, it is time to rethink how realistic our expectations of homeownership are—and how much money we want to spend chasing them. Many argue that homeownership should not be a goal pursued at all costs.
【小题1】Political leaders wanted to spend money encouraging people to buy houses because______.
| A．owning a home was undoubtedly good |
| B．homeownership could shape a country |
| C．houses could save families and America |
| D．homeownership was unconquerable |
| A．homeownership has quite a lot of bad effects |
| B．there might be another housing breakdown in the U.S. |
| C．the existing-home sales will keep decreasing in the U.S. |
| D．the result of homeownership is much worse than it appears |
| A．Americans choose to live out of urban areas |
| B．it is the way to wealth to have one’s own house |
| C．it is hard for Americans to get a home loan |
| D．homeownership has made many people out of work |
| A．Cautious. | B．Ambiguous. | C．Favorable. | D．Optimistic. |
The Winter Olympics is also called the White Olympics. At this time, many colorful stamps are published to mark the great Games. The first stamps marking the opening came out on January 25, 1932 in the United States for the 3rd White Olympics. From then on, publishing stamps during the White Olympics became a rule. During the 4th Winter Olympic Games a group of stamps were published in Germany in November 1936. The five rings of Olympics were drawn on the front of the sportswear. It was the first time that the rings appeared on the stamps of the White Olympics. In the 1950’s, the stamps of this kind became more colorful.
When the White Olympics came, the host countries(东道国) as well as the non-host countries published stamps to mark those Games. China also published four stamps in February 1980, when the Chinese sports men began to take part in the White Olympics. Japan is the only Asian country that has ever held the White Olympics. Altogether 14,500 million stamps were sold to raise money for this sports meet. Different kinds of sports were drawn on these small stamps. People can enjoy the beauty of the wonderful movements of some sportsmen.
【小题1】The White Olympics and the Winter Olympics _______.
| A．are the same thing | B．are different games |
| C．are not held in winter | D．are held in summer |
| A．after the year 1936 | B．after the 3rd White Olympics |
| C．before the 3rd White Olympics | D．before the year 1932 |
| A．every two years | B．every three years |
| C．every four years | D．every five years |
| A．Only the host countries can publish stamps to mark those Games. |
| B．Only the non-host countries can publish stamps to mark those Games. |
| C．All the countries can publish stamps to mark those Games. |
| D．Japan can’t publish stamps to mark those Games |
| A．Basketball. | B．Table tennis. | C．Football. | D．Skating. |
The Man of Many Secrets
Harry Houdini was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century．He was a man famous for his escapes—from prison cells，from wooden boxes floating in rivers，from locked tanks full of water．He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America．Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic”tricks．
0f course，his secret was not magic，or supernatural powers．It was simply strength．He had ability to move his toes as well as to move his fingers．He could move his body into almost any position he wanted．
Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17，in 1891．He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in a New York club．They called themselves the Houdini brothers．When Harry married in 1894，he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant，but for a long time they were not successful．Then Harty performed his first prison escape，in Chicago in 1898．Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison，and he invited the local newspaperman to watch．It was the publicity(名声)that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success．
Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs(手铐)and toes trained to escape from ankle chains，but his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors．Every time he went into the prison cell，Bess gave him a kiss for good luck—and a small skeleton key，which is a key that fits many locks passed quickly from her mouth to his．
Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame．He arranged to escape from the local jail of every town he visited．In the afternoon the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers．and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full．What was the result? Worldwide fame，and a name remembered today．
【小题1】According to the passage，Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on ．
| A．his magic tricks and inhuman powers | B．his special tricks and a skeleton key |
| C．his unusual ability and skeleton key | D．his inhuman talents and magic tricks |
| A．He took the key from his wife’s mouth． |
| B．His wife passed it to his hand while kissing him． |
| C．His wife gave it to him by a magic trick． |
| D．He got it in his mouth through a kiss by his wife． |
| A．when he was about 24 | B．when he was about 17 |
| C．after the year 1894 | D．before the year 1898 |
【小题1】The Information Highway ．
| A．is free from traffic accidents | B．is crowded with car drivers |
| C．offers just a few on-line services | D．appeals to a large number of users |
| A．By storing fewer files | B．By repairing the system． |
| C．By buying a better computer | D．By using a broad—band connection． |
| A．There will be a book show at Grayson Hall． |
| B．Friedman is now studying the Great Barrier Reef． |
| C．There will be a talk on global warming this week． |
| D．Friedman is a leading expert on computer science． |
| A．a poster about a lecture | B．an ad for a new book |
| C．a note to a doctor in a university | D．an introduction to a professor |