高二英语阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）第一节（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分）AEdmund Halley was an English scientist who lived over 200 years ago. He studied the observations of comets(彗星) which other scientists had made. The orbit of one particular comet was a very difficult mathematical problem. He could not figure it out. Neither could other scientists who dealt with such problems.However, Halley had a friend named Isaac Newton, who was a brilliant mathematician. Newton thought he had already worked out that problem, but he could not find the papers on which he had done it. He told Halley that the orbit of a comet had the shape of an ellipse.Now Halley set to work. He figured out the orbits of some of the comets that had been observed by scientists. He made a surprising discovery. The comets that had appeared in the years 1531, 1607 and 1682 all had the same orbit. Yet their appearances had been 75 to 76 years apart.This seemed very strange to Halley. Three different comets followed the same orbit. The more Halley thought about, the more he thought that there had not been three different comets, as people thought. He decided that they had simply seen the same comet three times. The comet had gone away and had come back again.It was an astonishing idea! Halley felt certain enough to make a prediction of what would happen in the future. He decided that this comet would appear in the year 1758. There were 53 years to go before Halley's prediction could be tested.In 1758 the comet appeared in the sky. Halley did not see it, for he had died some years before. Ever since then that comet had been called Halley's comet, in his honour.1．Halley made his discovery________．A．by doing experiments B．by means of his own careful observation C．by using the work of other scientists D．by chance2．Halley made a surprising but correct prediction in the year________．A．1704B．1705C．1706D．17073．This text in general is about________．A．Halley and other scientists B．the orbit of a cometC．Newton and Halley D．Halley and his discovery4．Which of the following is TRUE?A．Edmund Halley was an American scientist.B．Halley made his discovery by doing experiment.C．Isaac Newton was a famous mathematician.D．The orbit of a comet had the shape of a round.BRecordings of angry bees are enough to send big, tough African elephants running away, a new study says. Beehives (蜂窝)—either recorded or real—may even prevent elephants from damaging farmer’s crops.In 2002, scientist Lucy King and her team found that elephants avoid certain trees with bees living in them. Today, Lucy wants to see if African honeybees might discourage elephants from eating crops. But before she asked farmer to go to the trouble of setting up beehives on their farms, she needed to find out if the bees would scare elephants away.Lucy found a wild beehive inside a tree in northern Kenya and set up a recorder. Then she threw a stone into the beehive, which burst into life. Lucy and her assistant hid in their car until the angry bees had calmed down. Next，Lucy searched out elephant families in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya and put a speaker in a tree close to each family.From a distance, Lucy switched on the pre-recorded sound of angry bees while at the same time recording the elephants with a video camera. Half the elephant groups left the area within ten seconds. Out of a total of 17 groups, only one group ignored the sound of the angry bees. Lucy reported that all the young elephants immediately ran to their mothers to hide under them. When Lucy played the sound of a waterfall (瀑布) instead of the angry bees to many of the same elephant families, the animals were undisturbed. Even after four minutes, most of the groups stayed in one place.Lucy is now studying whether the elephants will continue to avoid the sound of angry bees after hearing it several times. She hasn’t tested enough groups yet to know, but her initial (最初的) results were promising enough to begin trials with farmers. She has now begun placing speakers in the fields to see if elephants are frightened away.5. We know from the passage that elephants may be frightened of .A. loud noisesB. some cropsC. video camerasD. angry bees6. As mentioned in the passage, Lucy .A. works by herself in AfricaB. needs to test more elephant groupsC. has stopped elephants eating cropsD. has got farmers to set up beehives on their farms7. Why did Lucy throw a stone into a wild beehive?A. To record the sound of bees.B. To make a video of elephants.C. To see if elephants would run away.D. To find out more about the behavior of bees.8. Which of the following is true according to the passage?A. Young elephants ignore African honeybees.B. Waterfalls can make elephants stay in one place.C. Elephants do not go near trees with bees living in them.D. Farmers do not allow Lucy to conduct tests in their fields.CSpending as little as $ 5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia found.Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others—even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn，” said Elizabeth Dunn，a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness，report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.“No matter how much income each person made，those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not，” Dunn said in a statement.Dunn's team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit sharing bonus of between $ 3，000 and $ 8，000. “Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro­social spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself，” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.They gave their volunteers $ 5 or $ 20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.“These findings suggest that very minor changes in spending allocations—as little as $ 5—may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day，” Dunn said.9．What is the general idea of the passage?A．The more you earn, the greater happiness you will get.B．Spending more money on yourself will make you happier.C．If you spend money on someone else, you will feel happier.D．You can spend only $ 5 a day on someone else to get happiness.10．The underlined word “boost” in the first paragraph probably means________．A．help to find B．help to bring C．help to increase D．help to get11．Dunn is ________．A．an employee in a company B．a psychologist at a universityC．a reporter in a journal D．a volunteer in the experimentDShould we allow modern buildings to be built next to older buildings in a historic area of a city? In order to answer this question, we must first examine whether people really want to preserve the historic feel of an area. Not all historical buildings are attractive. However, there may be other reasons—for example, economic (经济的) reasons—why they should be preserved. So, let us assume that historical buildings are both attractive and important to the majority of people. What should we do then if a new building is needed?In my view, new architectural styles can exist perfectly well alongside an older style. Indeed, there are many examples in my own home town of Tours where modern designs have been placed very successfully next to old buildings. As long as the building in question is pleasing and does not dominate (影响) its surroundings too much, it often improves the attractiveness of the area.It is true that there are examples of new buildings which have spoilt (破坏) the area they are in, but the same can be said of some old buildings too. Yet people still speak against new buildings in historic areas. I think this is simply because people are naturally conservative(保守的)and do not like change.Although we have to respect people’s feelings as fellow users of the buildings, I believe that it is the duty of the architect and planner to move things forward . If we always reproduced what was there before,we would all still be living in caves. Thus, I would argue against copying previous architectural styles and choose something fresh and different , even though that might be the more risky choice.12. What does the author say about historical buildings in the first paragraph?A.Some of them are not attractive.B. Most of them ate too expensive to preserve.C. They are more pleasing than modern buildings.D.They have nothing to do with the historic feel of an area.13. Which of the following is true according to the author ?A.We should reproduce the same old buildings.B.Buildings should not dominate their surroundings.C.Some old buildings have spoilt the area they are in.D.No one understands why people speak against new buildings.14. By “move things forward ” in the last paragraph , the author probably means“”A.destroy old buildingsB.put things in a different placeC. choose new architectural stylesD.respect people’s feelings for historical buildings15. What is the main purpose of the passage?A.To explain why people dislike change.B. To warn that we could end up living in caves.C.To admit how new buildings have ruined their surroundings.D. To argue that modern buildings can be built in historic areas.第二节（共5小题，每小题2分，满分10分）根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。