2014年高考英语模拟试题(三)第Ⅰ卷第一部分听力（略）第二部分阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

AIts a name that needs no addresses. Everyone knows Santa Claus lives at the North Pole.So letters sent to Santa Claus find their way to the small town of North Pole deep in Alaska，including those simply addressed to Santa. Last year，120，000 letters arrived from 26 countries，not including the thousands with no return addresses.Those who have return addresses usually get a reply and a North Pole postmark that has delighted children all over the world for decades. They feel happy to receive Santas reply.Letters arrive all the year round in the town of 1，600，where streets have names such as Santa Claus Lane and Kris Kringle Drive. Around Thanksgiving，they start pouring in bythe thousands each day as Christmas approaches. Even letters without stamps get through，an exception for the U.S. Postal Service.“This is special because it has Santas name on it，”said Debra Cornelius，a supervisor at the main post office in nearby Fairbanks，where the letters are kept during the holiday.Gabby Gaborik is among several dozen volunteers who are busy sending off replies to children who sent return addresses.In his 10 years as a volunteer，Gaborik has seen every kind of wish. There are children who want the latest toys they see on TV. There are children who ask for miracles，some wanting their mother back for Christmas or their father back from Iraq，even though he died there.Replies get a North Pole postmark，including a halfmoon drawing of Santas face. Even late letters get a reply. Gaborik said，“It says something like ‘Thanks for writing. Santas been really busy，anything the children might want to hear.”21. Letters written to Santa Claus without an address can arrive at the North Pole because .A. all letters without an address are sent thereB. people believe that Santa Claus lives thereC. this kind of letter is sent with a special postmarkD. streets named Santa Claus Lane can be found there22. We can know from the text that .A. letters written to Santa Claus are sent freeB. Santa Claus replies to children always arrive at ChristmasC. therere thousands of letters sent to Santa Claus every monthD. many people write to children for Santa Claus asking for no pay 29. Whats the purpose of the Sapling Project？A. To beautify the city.B. To educate the children.C. To solve the noise problem.D. To benefit the next generation.30. The Sapling Project is special in .A. its types of treesB. its planting placesC. planting trees to save forestsD. getting country people involved31. What can we know about the Sapling Project？A. Few people have joined it.B. It has a history of two years.C. It charges people a little money for the saplings.D. Participants are responsible to care for the saplings.DNot all research begins with a plan. Some studies begin by accident. Meredith Schafer says that is what happened with her and Cynthia Sagers. Cynthia Sagers is a biology professor at the University of Arkansas. Meredith Schafer is a graduate student.They were traveling in the state of North Dakota on a project. They noticed pretty yellow flowers. They recognized them as canola. Farmers grow canola for seeds to make cooking oil. Canola is also used for animal feed and biofuel.But the canola plants they saw were not growing in farm fields. They were growing along the road. The researchers decided to test the plants. They had brought along special testing papers for the project they were working on. They broke up some of the leaves in water and added the test paper.The results showed that the weedy canola plants contained genetic （基因的）changes. If a plant is genetically modified，that means its genes have been changed to produce desired qualities，which may have higher economical value.This summer，the researchers from Arkansas went back to North Dakota. This time they went on a road trip to find canola. They traveled more than 5，000 kilometers. They stopped aboutevery eight kilometers to count plants and take samples to test in their vehicle. What they found，they say，was the first discovery in the United States of wild canola plants with modified genes.Meredith Schafer presented the findings at a recent meeting of the Ecological Society of America.The scientists found canola plants in almost half of the places they investigated. They tested a total of 288 plants. They found that 80% of those plants contained genes from genetically engineered canola.Some crop plants are modified to resist damage from the chemicals that farmers spray to kill weeds. There are two proteins that can give canola the ability to resist two commonly used weed killers. One protein gives resistance against glyphosate（草甘膦）. The other protein gives resistance against glufosinate（草铵膦）. Two of the plants growing in the wild showed resistance to both kinds of weed killers. Professor Sagers says canola varieties with these genetic qualities have not been released on the market. This suggests the result of wild populations reproducing on their own.32. What was the purpose of Cynthia Sagers and Meredith Schafer traveling in North Dakota？A. To carry out a project on canola plants.B. To work on a project we dont know.C. To make a research on genetic changes.D. To present their findings at a meeting.33. In what way do the wild canola plants differ from those growing in farm fields？A. They have naturally modified genes.B. They produce more cooking oil.C. They are more easily damaged.D. They are able to kill weeds.34. Which of the following is NOT true？A. All researches do not begin with plans.B. Some discoveries were made by chance.C. Modified genes were invented by biologists.D. Most weedy canola contained genetic changes.35. We can infer from the passage that .A. farmers grow canola for seeds to make cooking oilB. some plants are genetically modified to adapt to surroundingsC. farmers have begun to grow genetically modified canolaD.those wild plants contained genes from genetically engineered canola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。