2015年湖北高考英語專題限時訓(xùn)練：史地自然型閱讀理解

湖北2015年高考英語專題限時訓(xùn)練：史地自然型閱讀理解

　　湖北高考網(wǎng)整理了2015年湖北高考英語專題限時訓(xùn)練，希望對大家有幫助。

　　(一)

　　Bees add an estimated eighteen billion dollars a year to the value of American crops. They pollinate(授粉)flowers that become fruits, nuts and vegetables. But, in recent years, honeybee colonies in the United States and Europe have been shrinking. Scientists have proposed different theories to explain what is known as colony collapse disorder.

　　New research suggests that a commonly used group of insecticide(殺蟲劑) could cause bees to have a hard time finding their way back to their hive. The new research looks at the use of pesticides called neonicotinoids. They were first used in the 1990s. They are now put on the seeds of many major crops around the world. The seedlings absorb the chemicals as they grow. That means farmers do not need to spray a whole field. Instead there is a little bit of insecticide inside each plant—including the pollen(花粉) and the nectar(花蜜) that the bees want. There is not enough pesticide to kill them. But the new research in the journal Science says it may harm them anyway.

　　Researchers stuck microchips to the backs of the bees. These chips recorded the bees' movements as they came and went from their hive. The scientists fed some bees sugar water with a low dose of a neonicotinoid. The study found that these bees were about twice as likely not to return as other bees.

　　Dave Goulson at the University of Stirling in Britain worked on another study published in Science. He says the pesticides could help explain why bumblebee populations are also decreasing.

　　Bayer CropScience makes neonicotinoid pesticides. The company's spokesman Jack Boyne disputed the findings. He also notes that researchers are studying other factors that could affect the bees' population. These include parasites, diseases and stress caused by transporting beehives to farms. Some European countries have banned the pesticides. And there are growing calls to ban them in the United States as well.

　　1.The underlined word“shrinking”in Paragraph 1 most probably means “ ________”.

　　A.increasing B.decreasing

　　C.disappearing D.continuing

　　2.Why were microchips tied to the backs of the bees?

　　A.To record how much honey the bees produce.

　　B.To test how the bees react to the microchips.

　　C.To find if the insecticide affects the bees' population.

　　D.To keep track of the bees' movements.

　　3.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that________.

　　A.the pesticides have been forbidden to use in all European countries

　　B.Bayer CropScience agrees that the pesticides affect the bees' population

　　C.transporting beehives to farms can surely have an effect on bees

　　D.the use of pesticides is likely to be banned in more countries

　　4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

　　A.The relationship between pesticides and bees.

　　B.Honeybee colony collapse disorder.

　　C.New findings about the reduction of bees.

　　D.Pesticides that kill bees must be banned.

　　(二)

　　The brown widow spider became established in Southern California in early 2000 and has become part of the local spider family in urban Los Angeles and San Diego. The brown widow spider is continuing its expansion in Southern California and could possibly move northwards into Central California.

　　The brown widow is suspected to have evolved in Africa although it was first described from South America, which adds confusion as to where it might have originated. It is a tropical and subtropical spider having established populations in Hawaii, Florida, parts of Australia, South Africa and Japan. In North America, the brown widow was restricted for many decades to the Florida peninsula. However, around the year 2000, it started showing up in other Gulf Coast states. Brown widows are now known from Texas to Georgia and South Carolina.

　　The brown widow builds its web in protected sites around homes and in woody vegetation with branches. Some typical sites selected by brown widows for web building are empty containers such as buckets and nursery pots, mail boxes, entry way corners, under eaves(屋檐), storage closets and garages, undercarriages of motor vehicles that are stationary for long periods, and the undersides of outdoor furniture. They choose places that are more exposed than sites chosen by black widows and therefore appear to be at higher risk for interactions with humans as far as bites are concerned.

　　One recent study demonstrates that the brown widow spider is less poisonous than other widow species. The reason for the weaker effect of brown widow bites on humans is possibly because the brown widow does not have much poison as its larger relatives, but it is really a threat to humans as to its poison. The two major symptoms of a brown widow bite are that the bite hurts when it is given and it leaves a red mark. These two symptoms are not much different from the bite of normal household spiders.

　　There is no specific information regarding the control of brown widows by farm chemicals. Most current advice is what is used for controlling spiders in general. Therefore, most commercially available farm chemicals should work on brown widows. Avoiding a mess of the house and the garage should reduce nest sites for them. Also, one should store garage items in plastic bags where there might be interactions with spiders. These items include rarely worn garments such as gardening clothes and gloves, recreational items like sports equipment(i.e., baseball gloves) and other items where spiders can crawl up into holes where fingers can be inserted.

　　5.The author wrote this article to ________.

　　A.announce the result of a research on spiders

　　B.introduce the ways to get rid of the spiders

　　C.report a new finding of the widow species

　　D.warn readers against the brown widow

　　6.From the passage we can conclude that ________.

　　A.brown widows are spreading northwards

　　B.the brown widow originated from Africa

　　C.brown widows now can be found in all countries

　　D.there used to be no brown widows in North America

　　7.The third paragraph is mainly about ________.

　　A.the brown widow's web building

　　B.the characteristics of the brown widow

　　C.the habitat preferences of the brown widow

　　D.the brown widow's threat to human beings

　　8.It can be inferred that ________.

　　A.brown widows can be killed with any farm chemical

　　B.at present people can only control brown widow spiders

　　C.the brown widow has more poison than the black widow

　　D.victims bitten by the brown widow needn't see the doctor

　　(三)

　　A famous building in New York City is turning 100 years old this month. A year­long celebration is planned for Grand Central Terminal, which is usually called Grand Central Station.

　　The huge building has not changed much since it opened in February, 1913. About 750,000 people pass through Grand Central every day, making it the sixth most­visited place in the world. Some just come to look at it, and others come to visit the stores. But most are there to catch the trains that enter and leave from the station. With 67 underground train tracks, it is the largest train station in the world.

　　The main part of the building has large, arched windows, a jewelled four­sided clock and ticket windows. Grand Central has been seen in many movies through the years. Having worked for the transit authority at Grand Central for 30 years and never having lost interest in the building, Dan Brucker is with the New York City Transit Authority, which operates the station.“Grand Central is the kind of temple, cathedral that shows the magnificence of rail transportation, and the kind that God would have built if he'd had the money.”

　　This is the beginning of 20th century architecture. The ceiling overhead, with its famous mural of the stars, is one of Grand Central Terminal's most famous features. However, eagle­eyed visitors will notice that the zodiac(黃道帶) on the ceiling is depicted backwards. Some have assumed that this was a mistake by the artist, Paul Helleu. The real reason, according to official documents, is that the painter was inspired by a medieval(中世紀(jì)的) painting that showed the heavens as they would have been seen from outside the celestial sphere(天球).

　　Justin Ferate, a historian, has been giving tours of Grand Central Station for 30 years. He says the station was designed to make travel a pleasure.

　　“You know that you're a traveller, that you're going off on a great adventure, and that you're going to follow your stars and find your dream. You're also going to find your train where it's supposed to be—which is one of the brilliant parts of the design of the building.”

　　Justin Ferate likes to show how the building was designed for large numbers of people.

　　“Why people don't run into each other in Grand Central is simple: each block of stone in Grand Central is the length of your leg. Each block of stone in Grand Central is the length of your arm. Each block of stone is a different colour, so it's a checkerboard, based on you.”

　　A ten­year­long fight against a plan to build a huge office building over Grand Central in 1968 helped create the modern preservation movement. Now, no one would think of changing the beauty of the station.

　　9.The main purpose of the passage is to ________.

　　A.announce to people that a celebration is planned for Grand Central

　　B.encourage people to go to visit Grand Central

　　C.introduce to people the architectural feature of the building of Grand Central Station

　　D.tell people the important role Grand Central played in history

　　10.What can we learn about Grand Central Station?

　　A.It receives about 750,000 passengers every day.

　　B.Despite its long history, it almost remains what it was.

　　C.With a huge office building over it, it has become more beautiful.

　　D.It is under the charge of Dan Brucker.

　　11.According to the passage, what impresses Justin Ferate most is ________.

　　A.the long history of the building

　　B.the mystery of the building

　　C.the ceiling of the building

　　D.the way the building was designed

　　12.What Dan Brucker said showed the________ of Grand Central.

　　A.importance B.grandness

　　C.perfectness D.value

　　(一)

　　【文章大意】 本文是一篇科普說明文。最新研究表明殺蟲劑的使用是導(dǎo)致蜜蜂數(shù)量減少的罪魁禍?zhǔn)住?/p>

　　1.B　詞義猜測題。根據(jù)本句中轉(zhuǎn)折連詞But和下文的colony collapse disorder可知，蜜蜂對美國的農(nóng)作物有重要作用，但是最近幾年蜜蜂蜂群數(shù)量一直在下降，故選B項。

　　2.C　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段中的“These chips recorded the bees' movements as they came and went from their hive.”可推知，這樣做的主要目的是記錄蜜蜂往返于蜂房的活動規(guī)律，從而進(jìn)一步推斷殺蟲劑是否影響其活動規(guī)律，影響其數(shù)量。故選C項。

　　3.D　推理判斷題。根據(jù)最后一段的內(nèi)容可知，歐洲一些國家已經(jīng)禁止使用殺蟲劑，美國禁用殺蟲劑的呼聲也越來越高，因此可推知可能會有更多的國家禁用殺蟲劑。故選D項。

　　4.C　主旨大意題。本文是一篇科普說明文，主要說的是最新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)蜜蜂蜂群近年數(shù)量下降，故選C項。

　　(二)

　　【文章大意】 一種褐色的毒蜘蛛正在美國蔓延，其危害不容忽視。更糟糕的是，目前還沒有消滅它的方法，只能盡力進(jìn)行控制和預(yù)防。

　　5.D　作者意圖題。文章從這種蜘蛛的淵源談起，預(yù)測了它的蔓延范圍，進(jìn)而介紹了它的生活習(xí)性、危害以及控制方法，所以作者意在警告讀者當(dāng)心這種蜘蛛，故選D項。

　　6.A　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段最后一句可知，它們可能會朝北方蔓延，故選A項。

　　7.C　段落大意題。本段指出了這種蜘蛛經(jīng)常選擇的織網(wǎng)的地方，即主要介紹了這種蜘蛛的棲息偏好，故選C項。

　　8.B　推理判斷題。最后一段提到還沒有掌握控制這種蜘蛛應(yīng)當(dāng)使用的化學(xué)藥品的具體信息，目前的建議是采用控制蜘蛛的一般方法，并提供了一些預(yù)防措施，由此可推斷目前人們只能控制它們，故選B項。

　　(三)

　　【文章大意】 本文重點介紹了紐約大中央車站的建筑風(fēng)格。

　　9.C　寫作意圖題。通讀全文可知，文章從第三段開始都在介紹大中央車站的建筑特點，故選C項。

　　10.B　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第二段中的“The huge building has not changed much since it opened in February,1913.”可知，盡管歷史悠久，但大中央車站幾乎保持原來的模樣，故選B項。

　　11.D　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第五段和第七、八段內(nèi)容可知，令Justin Ferate印象最深刻的是大中央車站的設(shè)計，故選D項。

　　12.B　推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章第三段中的“‘Grand Central is the kind of…he'd had the money.’”可推出，Dan Brucker的話主要為了表明大中央車站的壯觀，故選B項。