階段滾動補償練 八

　　限時40分鐘

　?、? 閱讀理解

　　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(輕聲笑)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(進展)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(逐漸毀壞)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】本文主要談論的是作者認為幽默和笑聲有助于健康。人們可通過幽默論壇參與幽默話題互動從而獲得更多的笑聲。

　　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】選A。細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段中的We have become far too serious. 可知, 我們變得太嚴肅了。選項A“我們以一種嚴肅的方式對待事物”符合語意。

　　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】選C。段落大意題。根據(jù)第四段可知, 人們在聊天互動中笑的次數(shù)更多, 更能發(fā)自內(nèi)心地笑。選項中只有C項“人們在與其他人在一起時笑得更發(fā)自內(nèi)心”相符。

　　【規(guī)律技法】可采用逆向思維法解題。先設(shè)定某一個選項正確, 然后假定按照這個選項, 本段應該怎么寫, 再根據(jù)本段的關(guān)鍵詞, 考生就可大致確定本段的結(jié)構(gòu)和內(nèi)容了。如果二者基本相同, 就可判斷該選項正確。

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

　　A. destination B. tendency

　　C. attitude

　　D. approach

　　【解析】選B。詞義猜測題。畫線部分所在句子的句意是“事實上, 大多數(shù)人很難找到時間, 他們在外面也沒有社交的傾向。”tendency“傾向, 趨勢”符合語境。

　　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】選D。推理判斷題。根據(jù)最后一句可知, 作者的文章可在幽默電子雜志上找到, 而作者主要寫關(guān)于幽默和笑聲, 故只有D項符合。

　　(2024·東陽三模)

　　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(受到嚴重損傷的人)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】本文主要介紹了作者自己對珍妮弗·琳恩的Stay With Me這本書的看法、評價。

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

　　A. Adults.

　　B. Young adults.

　　C. Fans of young adults.

　　D. Parents.

　　【解析】選C。細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段最后一句. . . fans interested in the world of young adults. 可知答案為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】選A。推理判斷題。根據(jù)第五段的內(nèi)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】選B。詞義猜測題。came out of his shell字面意思為: 從他的外殼中出來, 根據(jù)上下文可知, 這里表示的是: 表達他的意見, 故選B。

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

　　A. unclear B. negative

　　C. indifferent

　　D. positive

　　【解析】選D。觀點態(tài)度題。根據(jù)文章總體可知, 作者是喜歡這本書的, 所以應該是正面的。

　　9. What style does the passage belong to?

　　A. An essay.

　　B. A novel.

　　C. A review.

　　D. A debate.

　　【解析】選C。推理判斷題。本文主要講述的是作者對Stay With Me這本書的看法、評價, 應為書評。

　　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, “l(fā)iberated”, 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(體裁)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】落難少女情結(jié): 現(xiàn)代女性喜愛閱讀言情小說的深思。

　　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】選C。推理判斷題。本文第一段講述的是作者在地鐵上的一次偶遇, 由此引出下文對“現(xiàn)代女性喜愛閱讀言情小說”的深思。即第一段為引子, 引出文章的話題。故正確答案為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】選B。句意猜測題。固定表達A is to B what C is to D的意思為: A之于B就像C之于D一樣。故該句句意應為: 言情小說對于文學而言就像熱狗對于好的食物一樣。且根據(jù)有轉(zhuǎn)折意義的下句: 但是這種體裁(言情小說)卻仍然非常流行?？芍? 該句應是從貶義的角度來描述言情小說, 說其沒有營養(yǎng), 故正確答案為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】選D。推理判斷題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第三段可推知, 作者認為在當代女性的生活中逐漸消失的是關(guān)愛。

　　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】選B。篇章結(jié)構(gòu)題。該題重在尋找關(guān)聯(lián)詞和關(guān)鍵詞。該句中的連詞but及選項B中的unhappy是該題的關(guān)鍵點。故正確答案為B。

　　Ⅱ. 閱讀填句

　　體裁 記敘文 話題 人物簡介 詞數(shù) 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.