For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes (音調(diào)). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music set them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn’t involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (診斷). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say, ‘No thanks, I’m amusic,’” says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”                                                                                                                       (335 words)
小題1:Which of the following is true of amusics?
A．Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them.
B．They love places where they are likely to hear music.
C．They can easily tell two different songs apart.
D．Their situation is well understood by musicians.
小題2:According to paragraph 3, a person with “defective hearing” is probably one who __________.
A．dislikes listening to speeches
B．can hear anything nonmusical
C．has a hearing problem
D．lacks a complex hearing system
小題3:In the last paragraph, Margaret expressed her wish that __________.
A．her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier
B．she were seventeen years old rather than seventy
C．her problem could be easily explained
D．she were able to meet other amusics
小題4:What is the passage mainly concerned with?
A．Amusics’ strange behaviours.
B．Some people’s inability to enjoy music.
C．Musical talent and brain structure.
D．Identification and treatment of amusics.

小題1:A
小題2:C
小題3:A
小題4:B

【文章大意】文章講述的是世界上有一群天生不喜歡聽音樂的人，被稱之為amusic，這些人聽力上沒有任何問題，只是不喜歡聽音樂，也無(wú)法欣賞音樂。很多人在之前都因此而苦惱，現(xiàn)在有了科學(xué)的解釋，他們可以擺脫那種尷尬、不自在的處境了。
小題1:根據(jù)第一段“For some people, music is no fun at all”可知，A項(xiàng)正確，意為，“對(duì)于某些人來(lái)說，聽音樂并不是開心的事情”和A項(xiàng)的聽音樂對(duì)他們來(lái)說遠(yuǎn)非是愉快的相同。因此，B項(xiàng)也是錯(cuò)誤的。根據(jù)第一段的“People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes (音調(diào)). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. ”可知，CD兩項(xiàng)錯(cuò)誤。
小題2:該段前兩句講的是不愛聽音樂的人和喜歡聽音樂的人是不同的，他們之間的區(qū)別很復(fù)雜，但是那have no problems understanding ordinary speech. ”又講到了這些不愛聽音樂的人在理解其他非音樂的聲音或者演講的時(shí)候是沒有問題的，目的是為了強(qiáng)調(diào)他們是正常的，沒有什么缺陷的，因此defective hearing指的是C項(xiàng)的a hearing problem,即聽覺有問題。句意為，他們之間的區(qū)別是很負(fù)責(zé)的，但并不包括聽覺有問題這種情況。
小題3:I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.意為，我希望我在十七歲的時(shí)候就學(xué)會(huì)了這樣說（指的是No thanks, I’m amusic這句，意為，謝謝你，我是一個(gè)不喜歡聽音樂的人），而不是到了七十歲才學(xué)會(huì)。從最后一段我們知道，their condition is finally diagnosed (診斷)他們的這種狀況終于最后確診了，他們都屬于amusic，但是這來(lái)的太遲了，對(duì)于Margaret來(lái)說，因?yàn)橹八偸荕argaret felt embarrassed about her problem感到很尷尬，因此她希望她年輕的時(shí)候，就可以有現(xiàn)在這樣的診斷。
小題4:全文主要講述的是不喜愛聽音樂的一類人，被稱之為amusic，他們之前都沒有得到統(tǒng)一的診斷或者認(rèn)識(shí)，直到現(xiàn)在。因此選擇B項(xiàng)，Some people’s inability to enjoy music意為，一些人無(wú)法欣賞音樂。A項(xiàng)，錯(cuò)在strange behaviors，文章只是說他們不喜歡有音樂的地方，并沒有講到他們其他的一些奇怪的舉動(dòng)。C項(xiàng)Musical talent and brain structure音樂天賦和大腦構(gòu)造，明顯與文章大意不符。D項(xiàng)中錯(cuò)在treatment，意為治療，文章并沒有講到如何幫助這些人治療他們的問題。因此排除D。
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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A．Piranhas are the most dangerous animals.
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B．terrify and capture the enemy by making much noise
C．move around to search for delicious food
D．give off harmful gas to kill the targets
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A．no animals can survive the poison of the golden poison frog
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

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D．Children got hurt in traffic accidents on the way to school.
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B．Colombia Develops a New Way to Reduce Deaths
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When the wind is from the west
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B．lacking in liveliness
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D．To prove the vastness of the sea.
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Bruce Rothschild of the University of Kansas knew all this when he began a study of ichthyosaur bones to find out how widespread the problem was in the past. What he particularly wanted to investigate was how ichthyosaurs adapted to the problem of decompression over the 150 million years. To this end, he and his colleagues traveled the world’s natural-history museums, looking at hundreds of ichthyosaurs from the Triassic period and from the later Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
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小題1:Which of the following is a typical symptom of the bends?
A．A twisted body.
B．A gradual decrease in blood supply.
C．A sudden release of nitrogen in blood.
D．A drop in blood pressure.
小題2:The purpose of Rothschild’s study is to see ______.
A．how often ichthyosaurs caught the bends
B．how ichthyosaurs adapted to decompression
C．why ichthyosaurs bent their bodies
D．when ichthyosaurs broke their bones
小題3:Rothschild’s finding stated in Paragraph 4 ______.
A．confirmed his assumptionB．speeded up his research process
C．disagreed with his assumptionD．changed his research objectives
小題4:Rothschild might have concluded that ichthyosaurs ______.
A．failed to evolve an anti-decompression means
B．gradually developed measures against the bends
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Pay Attention to the Organization of an Article.
Check Your Understanding.
Lightning Speed Exercise
Set Aside Time Each Day.
Check Your Progress through Pacing
Speed up When Necessary.
小題1:______
Most of us can find 15 minutes or half an hour each day for some specific regular activity. For example, one famous surgeon always made it a rule to spend at least 15 minutes on general reading before he went to sleep each day. Whether he went to bed at 10 p.m. or 2:30 a.m. made no difference.
小題2:______
Nearly all ‘speed reading’ courses have a ‘pacing’ element---some timing device which lets the students know how many words a minutes he is reading. You can do this simply by looking at your watch every 5 or 10 minutes and noting down the page number you have reached.
小題3:______
Obviously there is little point in increasing your reading speed if you do not understand what you are reading. If you find you have lost the thread of the story, or you can’t remember clearly the details of what was said, re-read the section or chapter.
小題4:______
Take four or five pages of an interesting book you happen to be reading at the time. Read them as fast as you possibly can. Do not bother about whether you understand or not. After a ‘lightning speed’ of reading, you will usually find that your ‘normal’ speed has increased.
小題5:______
Most paragraphs in an article have a ‘topic sentence’ which expresses the central ideas. The opening paragraph often suggests the general direction and content of the piece, while paragraphs that follow expand or support the first. The closing paragraph often summarizes the very essence(實(shí)質(zhì)) of what has been said.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


HIGHFIELD COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL
SCHOOL REPORT
Form Teacher: G. Baker            Pupil’s Name:  Simon Watkins
Term:        Summer 2012   Form:        Ⅳ B
Subject
Exam
Class work
Comments
English
59
61
Simon has reached a satisfactory standard but now needs to apply himself with more determination.
Mathematics
77
85
Sound work and progress throughout the year. Well done!
History
46
53
A disappointing exam result. He is unable to give attention to this subject for long.
Chemistry
78
85
His obvious ability in the subject was not fully reflected in his exam work, but I have high hopes for him nevertheless.
Physics
86
94
An excellent term’s performance. He goes from strength to strength. A born scientist, I feel.
Biology
57
60
This time next year he will be taking the “0” exam. He needs to concentrate on the work, not on class conversation.
French
41
46
Clearly he didn’t bother to revise. His general attitude is far too casual.
Physical
Education
/
31
Weak. It’s time he exercised his body more and his voice less. He should try to work with a team.
FORM TEACHER’S REMARKS                     HEADMASTER
Basically satisfactory work and progress              I shall be keeping an eye on though he will now have realized, I hope, that         his progress in his weaker    in certain subject areas he needs to make               subjects though his
speedy progress.                           success in the sciences is improvement.
小題1:According to the comments of the Physical Education teacher, Simon_______.
A．is too talkative in the class
B．likes to work with his classmates
C．doesn’t exercise his body at the right time
D．becomes weak because he doesn’t exercise at all
小題2:Which of Simon’s subjects will attract the headmaster’s attention in future?
A．Biology and Maths. B．History and French.
C．English and Chemistry.D．Physics and Physical Education.
小題3:Which of the following statements best describes Simon?
A．He has made great progress in language classes.
B．His potential has been fully reflected in science classes.
C．His grade in maths makes him a born scientist.
D．He needs to improve his attitude on certain subjects.
小題4: Based on the school report, which of the following statements is true?
A．Simon didn’t bother his teacher to revise French.
B．Basically, Simon did a good job in science.
C．Simon is a determined learner in English.
D．Simon is able to pay attention to history for long.

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Half of the world’s population is affected by Asian monsoons (季風(fēng)), but monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a 700-year record of the rainy seasons, which is expected to provide guidance for experts making weather predictions.
Every year, moist (潮濕的) air masses，known as monsoon，produce large amounts of rainfall in India, East Asia, Northern Australia and East Africa. All this wet air is pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.
According to Edward Cook, a weather expert at Columbia University in New York, the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. In addition, climate records for the area are too recent and not detailed enough to be of much use. Therefore, he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years traveling across Asia, looking for trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings（年輪）, or circles, inside thousands of ancient trees in more than 300 places.
Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document they are calling a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the 1300s.
Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry weather. “If the monsoon basically fails or is a very weak one, the trees affected by monsoons at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the chronology（大事年表） that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability.” With all this information, researchers say they can begin to improve computer climate models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.
“There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy, it can cause extensive flooding.” said Eugene Wahl, a scientist with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So, to get a sense of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for climate science.”
小題1:What’s the passage mainly about？
A．The effects of Asian monsoons.B．The necessity of weather forecast.
C．The achievements of Edward cook.D．A breakthrough in monsoon prediction.
小題2:It is difficult for experts to predict Asian monsoons because _______.
A．it is hard to keep long-term climate records.
B．they are formed under complex climate systems.
C．they influence many nations.
D．there is heavy rainfall in Asia.
小題3:What can be inferred from the passage?
A．Long and detailed climate records can offer useful information for monsoon research.
B．The Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas has a monsoon record for about 1,300 years.
C．The trees affected by monsoon grow fast if the monsoon is weak.
D．The rainfall might be low although the monsoon is strong in monsoon-affected areas.
小題4:According to Professor Cook, the rings of the trees _______.
A．determine the regional climate.
B．have a great influence on the regional climate.
C．offer people information about the regional climate.
D．reflect all kinds of regional climate information.
小題5:What do we know about the research according to Eugene Wahl?
A．It is a great achievement in climate science.
B．It should include information about human life in the past.
C．It has analysed moisture models world wide,
D．It will help people prevent droughts and floods.
小題6:Which of the following best describes the tone of this passage?
A．Matter-of –factB．PessimisticC．HumorousD．Friendly.

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