阶段滚动补偿练 八

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　?、? 阅读理解

　　The power of humor and laughter is numerous. They entertain us and make us feel good. But, above all, we have discovered that humor and laughter are the best medicine. They relieve pain, reduce stress and anxiety, and are anti-aging and longevity facilitators.

　　They are extremely necessary for helping us to find and maintain a balance between life and work. However, they are slipping away from us. We have become far too serious. The only ones who still enjoy humor, laughter, fun and play to the fullest are young children. Children tend to laugh an average of 200 times a day. For adults, however, it is a totally different story.

　　In the 1950s people laughed on average 18 times a day. Today, we are lucky if we average between 4-6 times a day.

　　As a matter of fact, a recent study found that people laugh 6 more times in the presence of one person but 30 more times in a group of people. You can get a chuckle(轻声笑)from jokes you get on the Internet, but it is not the same as belly jiggling laughter(a deep laugh)you get when you interact with others.

　　Socializing with friends and relatives was much looked forward to. However, this is no longer the case. In fact, the majority of people can hardly find time, nor do they have the inclination towards socializing outside home. They turn to electronic media such as televisions, computers, the Internet, videos, CDs, and audio equipment, which can provide them with instant self-entertainment at the push of a button.

　　The workplace does not fare(进展)much better. Due to the pressures to produce more in the same or fewer hours available and to compete, for example, in a manufacturing field with cheaper labor elsewhere in the world, humor and laughter in the workplace have gradually eroded(逐渐毁坏)away.

　　I have developed a real appreciation, perhaps closer to a strong desire for the power of humor and laughter. This encouraged me to write my first book titled The Power of Humor and subsequently my second book titled Kids Say the Goggonest Things based on the natural humor, laughter, play and fun that kids experience and they freely share with parents, grandparents and teachers.

　　From writing about humor and laughter, people start to ask me to speak up for them. To date, I have developed a number of humor-laughter topics that I use in my keynote presentations. You are invited to subscribe to my free monthly e-magazine “The Humormeister’s Forum” by clicking on the Free Humor E-zine navigation button on the website.

　　【文章大意】本文主要谈论的是作者认为幽默和笑声有助于健康。人们可通过幽默论坛参与幽默话题互动从而获得更多的笑声。

　　1. According to the author, laughter is leaving us partly because______.

　　A. we treat everything in a serious way

　　B. it relieves pain, reduces stress and anxiety

　　C. we fail to maintain balance between life and work

　　D. the pace of change in our lives is becoming faster

　　【解析】选A。细节理解题。根据第二段中的We have become far too serious. 可知, 我们变得太严肃了。选项A“我们以一种严肃的方式对待事物”符合语意。

　　2. The fourth paragraph mainly tells us that______.

　　A. getting a deep laugh nowadays is difficult

　　B. we can entertain ourselves with the help of the Internet

　　C. people laugh more heartily when spending time with others

　　D. researchers have made a new discovery about the effect of laughter

　　【解析】选C。段落大意题。根据第四段可知, 人们在聊天互动中笑的次数更多, 更能发自内心地笑。选项中只有C项“人们在与其他人在一起时笑得更发自内心”相符。

　　【规律技法】可采用逆向思维法解题。先设定某一个选项正确, 然后假定按照这个选项, 本段应该怎么写, 再根据本段的关键词, 考生就可大致确定本段的结构和内容了。如果二者基本相同, 就可判断该选项正确。

　　3. The underlined word“inclination”in Paragraph 5 most probably means“______”.

　　A. destination B. tendency

　　C. attitude

　　D. approach

　　【解析】选B。词义猜测题?；卟糠炙诰渥拥木湟馐恰笆率瞪? 大多数人很难找到时间, 他们在外面也没有社交的倾向?！眛endency“倾向, 趋势”符合语境。

　　4. Which of the following articles can we most probably find in “The Humormeister’s Forum”?

　　A. The power of honesty.

　　B. Don’t be your own worst enemy.

　　C. Live life purposefully: The relationship within.

　　D. Funny Christmas stories to share with your loved ones.

　　【解析】选D。推理判断题。根据最后一句可知, 作者的文章可在幽默电子杂志上找到, 而作者主要写关于幽默和笑声, 故只有D项符合。

　　(2024·东阳三模)

　　Jennifer Lynn is turning into a master storyteller. She writes about young adults brilliantly. However, I have got to say Stay With Me wasn’t my favorite in this series, but I still really enjoyed it and I would absolutely recommend it to fans interested in the world of young adults.

　　Stay With Meis the third book in Jennifer’s Wait For You series, which features a couple that have been in previous books but have their own unique story and can be read as a standalone. I like that about this series. It’s nice to be able to pick up a book and read it, finish it and move on to the next, but the Wait For You series has the added bonus of a more deeper character connection, as they’ve appeared previously, you have more of a feel for them and you look forward to their story.

　　Stay With Me is Calla and Jax’s story. Calla has a wreck(受到严重损伤的人)of a mother, but she is finally coming to the end of college and is looking forward to a career in nursing. She has done pretty well up for herself and now it was her time to shine. Unluckily, it falls through when her mother robbed her of every penny and took her identity. Calla has to go back to her small hometown and into the arms of Jax.

　　Jax is handsome and cheerful! He is a waiter in a bar and knows Calla’s mother very well and he agrees to help Calla. He is true alpha, with a sweet side and is very protective of Calla. I loved him, but not as much as Cam, sorry Jax! And that’s why Stay with Me isn’t as good as Cam’s book, Wait for You. Don’t get me wrong. Jax is an incredibly great character, well fleshed out and I did care for him, but he just wasn’t as lovely as Cam.

　　As for Calla, I liked her character, and I liked the connection between her and Jax. I loved how he came out of his shell and showed her to love herself, despite her unsatisfactory past. There are a lot of intense moments between these two characters and they are so well written. Jennifer’s writing is addictive and she wrote the scenes between Jax and Calla beautifully. Calla has never been, what she would call boyfriend material, and so she struggles to see what Jax sees in her and she bats him off and ignores it. There’s a lot of push and pull between them, and it’s very charming. At times I did get a little annoyed with Calla, especially with her insecurity but Jax soon made up for that!

　　Overall I really enjoyed Stay with Me. Anyway, they are a wonderful pair together. Despite all the troubles that Calla was going through, their relationship seemed more realistic and was made to last.

　　【文章大意】本文主要介绍了作者自己对珍妮弗·琳恩的Stay With Me这本书的看法、评价。

　　5. Who would like to read Stay With Me most?

　　A. Adults.

　　B. Young adults.

　　C. Fans of young adults.

　　D. Parents.

　　【解析】选C。细节理解题。根据第一段最后一句. . . fans interested in the world of young adults. 可知答案为C。

　　6. The author shows a preference for Calla by______.

　　A. analyzing some plots from the book

　　B. comparing her with Jax

　　C. stating what Jax did to her

　　D. presenting her sad past

　　【解析】选A。推理判断题。根据第五段的内容可知。

　　7. The underlined expression “came out of his shell” probably means______.

　　A. fell in love with others

　　B. expressed his ideas

　　C. left his hometown

　　D. overcame the difficulties

　　【解析】选B。词义猜测题。came out of his shell字面意思为: 从他的外壳中出来, 根据上下文可知, 这里表示的是: 表达他的意见, 故选B。

　　8. The author’s overall attitude towards Stay With Me is______.

　　A. unclear B. negative

　　C. indifferent

　　D. positive

　　【解析】选D。观点态度题。根据文章总体可知, 作者是喜欢这本书的, 所以应该是正面的。

　　9. What style does the passage belong to?

　　A. An essay.

　　B. A novel.

　　C. A review.

　　D. A debate.

　　【解析】选C。推理判断题。本文主要讲述的是作者对Stay With Me这本书的看法、评价, 应为书评。

　　The other morning on the subway I sat next to an attractive young blonde woman who was reading something on her iPad. She was very well-dressed, carrying a Prada bag with tastefully applied make-up indeed; she had an unmistakable air of wealth, material success and even authority. I suspected she worked as a highly-paid Wall Street lawyer or stockbroker or something of that sort. So, I was curious to see what she was so focused on. The Wall Street Journal perhaps? The Economist?

　　Quite the contrary; rather, she was concentrating on a romance novel. Then I realized that I had known many women who love romance novels?smart, attractive, successful, “liberated”, modern females who nonetheless find some kind of deep satisfaction and thrill from those hyper-romantic, artificial and extremely unrealistic tales of handsome, manly heroes falling in love with virginal women, enduring a series of adventures, then no doubt having a happy ending.

　　These romance stories are to literature what hot dogs are to fine food. Yet, the genre(体裁)remains enormously popular. Consider some of these surprising statistics from the good folks at the Romance Writers of America(RWA):

　　*More than 9, 000 romance titles were released last year, with sales of about $1. 44 billion(more than triple the revenues generated by classic literary fiction).

　　*More than 90 percent of the market are women(okay, that’s not at all surprising).

　　*Readers are typically women between the ages 30 and 54 who are themselves involved in a romantic relationship(betraying the stereotype that only lonely women long for these tales of love and adventure).

　　*Almost 40 percent of romance book consumers have an annual income of between $50, 000 and $99, 900(placing them firmly in the middle class).

　　I had thought that romance novels accounted for a very small share of the literary market, so I was quite surprised that this part has such enormous popularity. But I must wonder why so many women?forty years after the women’s liberation movement continue to indulge in the fanciful tales?

　　I’m not sure if it represents a kind of “rejection” of the women’s liberation movement, but clearly something is missing in the lives of contemporary ladies. A romance author named Donna Hatch who focuses on the Regency period(early 19th century Britain)explained the appeal of such books this way: “Regency men were civilized and treated women with courtesy. When a lady entered the room, gentlemen stood, doffed their hats, offered an arm, bowed, and a hundred other little things I wish men still did today. But they were also very athletic; they hunted, raced, boxed, rode horses. They were manly. Strong. Noble. Honorable. And that is why I love them! ”

　　Mrs Hatch may have expressed the secret desires and attitudes of untold millions of her peers - that is, in the early 21st century, have women grown tired of the burdens and expectations that the“freedoms”they have gained give them? Is this a rejection of modern feminism? Do women long for days of old when men were masculine gentlemen and women were feminine and protected as precious treasures and regarded as possessions?

　　Perhaps most women(even the ones who get lost in romance novels)do not want to go all the way back but it is obvious, ______.

　　【文章大意】落难少女情结: 现代女性喜爱阅读言情小说的深思。

　　10. What is the function of the opening paragraph?

　　A. To summarize the whole passage.

　　B. To prove the author’s argument.

　　C. To lead in the main topic of the passage.

　　D. To raise problems that will be solved later.

　　【解析】选C。推理判断题。本文第一段讲述的是作者在地铁上的一次偶遇, 由此引出下文对“现代女性喜爱阅读言情小说”的深思。即第一段为引子, 引出文章的话题。故正确答案为C。

　　11. What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph imply?

　　A. Romance novels are satisfying and thrilling.

　　B. Romance novels are not of much “nutrition”.

　　C. Romance novels are as popular as hot dogs.

　　D. Romance novels are an essential part of contemporary life.

　　【解析】选B。句意猜测题。固定表达A is to B what C is to D的意思为: A之于B就像C之于D一样。故该句句意应为: 言情小说对于文学而言就像热狗对于好的食物一样。且根据有转折意义的下句: 但是这种体裁(言情小说)却仍然非常流行。可知, 该句应是从贬义的角度来描述言情小说, 说其没有营养, 故正确答案为B。

　　12. In the author’s opinion, what is missing in the lives of contemporary women?

　　A. Authority. 　

　　B. Dignity.

　　C. Liberty.

　　D. Care.

　　【解析】选D。推理判断题。根据倒数第三段可推知, 作者认为在当代女性的生活中逐渐消失的是关爱。

　　13. Which sentence can be put in the blank in the last paragraph?

　　A. they prefer tales of innocent romance to classics

　　B. they are unhappy with how the world has turned out

　　C. true love described in romance novels does exist in reality

　　D. romance novels provide them with an access to society

　　【解析】选B。篇章结构题。该题重在寻找关联词和关键词。该句中的连词but及选项B中的unhappy是该题的关键点。故正确答案为B。

　?、? 阅读填句

　　体裁 记叙文 话题 人物简介 词数 413

　　A. Obama’s challenges

　　B. An introduction to his family and his childhood

　　C. His wonderful performance in political life

　　D. The first Negro president of America—Obama

　　E. His education experience

　　F. An idol for people all over the world

　　1. _________

　　On November 5th, 2008, Obama defeated John McCain, becoming the first Negro president of America. Soon after that, he becomes the most heated topic of daily communication for people all over the world. Obama’s success is a typical American legend, which stimulates millions of people to go far beyond the limits of the custom’s prejudices.

　　2. _________

　　Obama was born in the Hawaii state of America in 1961. His father is a Negro from Kenya, while his mother is a white woman from America. Unluckily, they got divorced, soon after which, Obama’s mother got married again. Then, they moved to Jakarta, where Obama spent his early childhood. In order to receive better education, his mother sent Obama back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.

　　3. _________

　　On account of his mixed-blood, he was teased. Hence, he chose to take drugs to abandon himself and played truant to wander in the street. As he later said, he was a “nightmare” to all teachers and no one knew how to deal with him. In 1983, he graduated from Columbia University with literary bachelor’s degree. In 1991, he was awarded the “superior” PhD of the law by Howard University. In the following years, he worked as lawyer agent for the poor and taught constitution at Chicago University.