E

People talk about energy everywhere．Green energy, for example．Then, energy independence．It has a nice ring to it．Doesn' t it? If you think so, you' re not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession（經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退）．

"Energy independence" and its rhetorical （修辭的） companion "energy security" are, however, unreliable concepts that are rarely thought through．What is it that we want independence from, exactly?

Most people would probably say that they want to be independent from imported oil．But there are reasons that we buy all that oil from elsewhere．

The first reason is that we need it to keep our economy running．Yes, there is a trickle （ 涓涓細(xì)流） ）of biofuel （ 生物燃料 ）available, and more may become available, but most biofuels cause economic waste and environmental destruction．

Second, Americans have basically decided that they don't really want to produce all their own oil．They value the environmental quality they preserve over their oil imports from abroad．Vast areas of the United States are off-limits to oil exploration and production in the name of environmental protection．To what extent are Americans really willing to tolerate the environmental influence of domestic（國內(nèi)的） energy production in order to cut back imports?

Third, there are benefits to trade．It allows for eoonomic efficiency, and when we buy things from places that have lower production costs t1i;m we do, we benefit．And although you don't read about this much, the United States is also a large exporter of oil products, selling about 2 million barrels of petroleum products per day to about 90 countries．

There is no question that the United States imports a great deal of energy and, in fact, relies on that steady flow to keep its economy stable．When that flow is interrupted, we feel the pain in short supplies and higher prices．At the same time, we get massive economic benefits when we buy the most affordable energy on the world market and when we engage in energy trade around the world．

1.What does the author say about energy independence for America?

A．It sounds very attractive．

B．It ensures national security．

C．It will bring oil prices down．

D．It will protect the environment．

2.Why does America rely heavily on oil imports?

A．It wants to expand its storage of raw oil．

B．Its own oil reserves are quickly running out．

C．Its own oil production falls short of demand．

D．It wants to keep its own environment untouched．

3.What does the author say about oil trade?

A．It improves economic efficiency．

B．It makes for economic recession．

C．It brings benefit only to the sellers．

D．It saves the cost of oil exploration．

4.What is the author' s purpose in writing the passage?

A．To explain the increase of international oil trade．

B．To raise Americans' awareness of the energy crisis．

C．To argue for America' s dependence on oil imports．

D．To stress the importance of energy protection．

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科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆湖北松滋第一中學(xué)高二下學(xué)期6月月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

“You are going abroad and will live there? Oh, wonderful! You are so lucky.”

Perhaps your family and friends said similar things to you when you left home. But is it true all the time? Is your life in the new country always wonderful and exciting?

Specialists say that it isn’t that easy to get used to life in a new culture. “Culture shock” (沖擊) is the term specialists use when talking about the feelings that people have in a new environment. “There are three stages of culture shock,” say the specialists. In the first stage, the newcomers like their new environment. Then, when the fresh experience dies, they begin to hate the city, the country, the people, and everything else. In the last stage, the newcomers adapt to their surroundings and finally enjoy their life there.

Culture shock arises from many obvious factors. The weather may be unpleasant. The customs may be different. The public service systems such as the telephone, post office, or transportation may be difficult to work out. Even the simplest things become headaches. Still worse, the language may be difficult.

Who feels culture shock? Everyone does in this way or that. But culture shock surprises most people. Very often the people having the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their home countries and were successful in their community. Coming to a new country, these people find they do not have the same established positions. They find themselves without a role, almost without an identity. They have to build a new self?image.

Culture shock leads to a feeling of disorientation (迷惘). This feeling may be homesickness. When homesick, people feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the strange environment, and create and escape inside their room for a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to make the person familiar with the culture. Getting to know the new environment and gaining experience are the long term solutions to the problem of culture shock.

1.When people move to a new country, they ________.

A. find their new life always wonderful and exciting.

B. dislike the new surroundings from the beginning.

C. quickly get accustomed to the new culture there.

D. will get used to the new life with certain difficulty.

2.Based on the passage, which of the following results from culture shock?

A. weather conditions and customs

B. public service and transportation

C. feeling homesick and disoriented

D. language communication issues

3.According to the passage, the more successful you are at home, ________.

A. the fewer difficulties you will meet with abroad

B. the more problems you may have to face abroad

C. the greater success you are likely to make abroad

D. the less homesick you will eventually feel abroad

4.Which of the following statements is correct according to the passage?

A. Cultural shock affects and surprises those who live in a new culture.

B. A new culture makes everything difficult except the simplest things.

C. Since culture shock is painful, we can never get over it completely.

D. Escaping by staying inside does solve the problem of culture shock.

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科目：高中英語 來源：2014-2015學(xué)年北京市東城區(qū)普通校高三11月聯(lián)考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：單項(xiàng)填空

_____in the sports world，a sportsman needs to train constantly to keep himself in best condition．

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—Do you think he is the only person for the job?

—I’m not quite sure but he’ll prove_______ to the task.

A. equal B. essential

C. special D. superior

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E

Speaking two languages can actually help offset(抵消) some effects of aging on the brain, a new study has found,

Researchers tested how long it took participants to switch from one cognitive(認(rèn)知的) task to another, something that-s known to take longer for older adults, said lead researcher, Brian Gold, a neuroscientist at the University of Kentucky.

Gold’s team compared task-switching speeds for younger and older adults, knowing they would find slower speeds in the older population because of previous studies. However, they found that older adults who spoke two languages were able to switch mental activities faster than those didn’t . The study only looked at life long bilinguals(會說兩種語言的人) defined in study as people speaking a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old.

Gold and his team asked 30 people, either bilingual or monolingual(只僮一種語言 人) , to have a series of tests. They found that bilingual people were not only able to switch tasks faster they had different brain activity than their monolingual peers.

Kristina called bilingualism "a beautiful natural experiment”, because people grow up speaking two languages,and studies have shown that they get certain cognitive benefits from switching between languages and determining which to respond with based on what's going on around them.

Gold said he grew up in Montreal, where he spoke French at school and English at home, prompting relatives to question whether his French language immersion would somehow hinder his ability to learn English.

"Until very recently, learning a second language in childhood was thought of as dangerous," he said. "Actually, it's beneficial. "

1.What-s the main idea of the passage?

A. Researchers found that speaking two languages is important.

B. Researchers found that bilingual people respond slowly.

C. Researchers found that bilingual people can slow down the speed or aging on the brain and respond fast.

D. Researchers found that bilingual people are great.

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Older bilinguals can-t respond faster in mind.

B. Older adults speaking a second language daily since they were at least 10 years old can respond faster than those who don't

C. Young bilinguals can respond faster in mind than those monolinguals.

D. Bilingual children respond slower in mind than those monolinguals.

3.Kristina called bilingualism "a beautif'ul natural experiment" because

A. people grow up, benefiting from speaking two languages

B. people speaking two languages are natural

C. people speaking two languages are beautiful

D. people speaking two languages like the experiment

4.We can learn from the last paragraph that learning a second language in childhood is________

A. dangerous to children

B. not beneficial to children

C.dangerous but beneficial to children

D. not dangerous but beneficial to children

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科目：高中英語 來源：2014-2015學(xué)年安徽省江淮名校高三第二次聯(lián)考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：單項(xiàng)填空

—What bad luck! I had a cut in salary yesterday．

—____．I warned you not to be late again and again but you ignored it．

A．You asked for it

B．Never mind

C．Take it easy

D．By all means

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To Friend or Not To Friend

We all love our parents and turn to them when we’re in need, but would you like them to hear the conversations you have with your friends on the school playground or lunch queue? Social networking sites have become extensions of the school hallways, so would you add your parents as “friends” and allow them to view your online activities and conversations with friends?

In the past the generation gap included a technology gap, where children were up to date with latest technology and parents were left behind, content to continue their day to day lives as they always had because they had no need to know more about technology. However, more and more parents are beginning to realize just how important social networks are in their lives. This realization has given many parents the motivation to education themselves about social networking sites.

These days many people are attracted to social networking sites because they can choose who they have around them; there’s also a certain amount of control over privacy that we don’t get in real life. Sometimes we feel that privacy is violated when we must accept a “friend” request from a parent or family member.

It’s a difficult choice whether or not to allow a parent to become a part of our online lives. On the one hand we don’t want to “reject” their request because that might hurt their feelings or make them feel you have something to hide. On the other hand if you do accept, then you could have a sense of being watched and no longer feel free to comment or communicate the way you did before.

A recent survey suggested that parents shouldn’t take it personally if their child ignores their request, “When a teen ignores a parent’s friend request, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are hiding something, but it could mean that this is one part of their life where they want to be independent.”

Perhaps talking with parents and giving explanations would help soften the blow if you do choose not to add them to your friends list.

1.From Paragraph 2, we learn that _______.

A. parents feel secure about their privacy online

B. social networks successfully fill the generation gap

C. parents have realized the importance of social networks

D. social networks offer a platform for parents to communicate

2.Teenagers may refuse a parent’s friend request because _______.

A. they hide something from their parents

B. they are unwilling to be watched by parents

C. their parents tend to fall behind in technology

D. their parents make negative comments on them

3.The passage is mainly about _______.

A. privacy online

B. social networks

C. the generation gap

D. parents’ friend requests

4.The passage is written mainly for _______.

A. parents B. teenagers

C. teachers D. researchers

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E

Manners nowadays in big cities like London are particularly non-existent. It’s nothing for a big, strong schoolboy to elbow an elderly woman aside in the dash for the last remaining seat on the tube or bus, much less stand up and offer his seat to her.

This question of giving up seats in public transport is much argued by young men, who say that, since women have claimed equality, they no longer deserve to be treated with courtesy(謙恭有禮) and that those who go out to work should take their turn in the rat race like anyone else. Women have never claimed to be physically as strong as men. Even if it’s not agreed, however, that young men should stand up for older women, the fact remains that courtesy should be shown to the old, the sick and the burdened. Are we really so lost to all ideals of unselfishness that we can sit there indifferently reading the paper or a book, saying to ourselves “ First come, first served”, while a gray-haired woman, a mother with a young child or a cripple stands? Yet this is too often seen.

Older people, tired and easy annoyed from a day’s work, aren’t angels, either—far from it. Many a brisk argument or an insulting quarrel breaks out as the weary queues push and shove each other to get on buses and tubes. One cannot commend(推崇) this, of course, but one does feel there is just a little more excuse.

If cities are to remain pleasant places to live in at all, however, it seems necessary, not only that communication in transport should be improved, but also that communication between human beings should be kept smooth and polite. Shop assistant won’t bother to assist, taxi drivers growl at each other as they dash dangerously round corners, bus conductors pull the bell before their desperate passengers have had time to get on or off the bus, and so on. It seems to us that it’s up to the young and strong to do their small part to stop such deterioration (惡化).

1.What is the writer’s opinion concerning courteous manners towards women?

A. They no longer need to be treated differently from men.

B. Young men should give up their seats to young women.

C. “Lady first” should universally practiced.

D. Special consideration ought to be shown to them in some cases.

2.What does “ the rat race” in paragraph 2 probably mean in the passage?

A. A race that involves many people

B. A well-paid job

C. A fierce competition

D. A race for rats

3.According to the passage, communication between human beings would not be smoother unless ____.

A. people become more considerate towards each other

B. people are not so tired and easily annoyed

C. women are treated with more courtesy

D. public transport is improved

4.The main purpose of the passage is to ______.

A. call on people in big cities to pay more attention to politeness

B. blame the schoolboy’s rude behavior towards elderly women on tube or bus

C. criticize the fast pace of life in most of the big cities

D. tell young men to give their seats to elderly people and women

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科目：高中英語 來源：2014-2015學(xué)年遼寧省沈陽市高三10月月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

B

“Have you ever been out on a boat and felt it lifted up by a wave? Or have you jumped in the water and felt the rush of energy as waves came over you?” asked Jamie Taylor of the Wave Energy Group at the University of Edinburgh. “There is certainly a lot of energy in waves,” he said. Scientists are working to use that energy to make electricity. Most waves are created when winds blow across the ocean. “The wind starts out by making little ripples(漣漪), but if they keep on blowing, those ripples get bigger and bigger and turn into waves,” Taylor said. “Waves are one of nature’s ways of picking up energy and then sending it off on a journey.” When waves come toward the shore, people can set up dams to block the water and send it through a large wheel called a turbine（渦輪機(jī)）. The turbine can then power an electrical generator to produce electricity.

“The resource is huge,” said Janet Swain of the World Watch Institute. “We will never run out of wave power.” Besides, wave energy does not create the same pollution as other energy sources, such as oil or coal. Oceans cover three quarters of the Earth’s surface—that would make wave power seem ideal for creating energy throughout the world, though there are some weak points yet to overcome.

Swain said that wave power still costs too much money. She also said that its effects on sea animals are still unknown. What is more, wave power could affect fishing and boat traffic. Traditional sources of energy like oil and gas may someday run out. “Demand for energy to power our TVs and computers, drive our cars, and heat and cool our homes is rising rapidly throughout the world,” Swain said. In the future when you turn on a light, an ocean wave could be providing the electricity!

1.The writer uses the two questions at the beginning of the passage to .

A. test the readers’ knowledge about waves

B. draw the readers’ attention to the topic

C. show Jamie Taylor’s importance

D. invite the readers to answer them

2.The underlined phrase “picking up” is closest in meaning to .

A. starting again B. speeding up

C. improving D. gathering

3.We can make better use of wave energy if we .

A. shorten its journey to thousands of homes

B. build more small power stations on the oceans

C. reduce the cost of turning it into electric power

D. quicken the steps of producing electricity

4.It can be inferred that someday we might not worry about .

A. our power supply

B. our boat traffic

C. air pollution

D. our supply of sea fish

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