高二上学期英语期中考试试卷一、阅读理解（每小题2分，满分30分）1. 阅读理解Throughouthistory scientists have risked their health and their lives in their search forthe truth.SirIsaac Newton, the seventeenth century scientist, was very smart, but that didn’tstop him from doing some pret ty stupid things. In his laboratory in Cambridgehe often did the strangest experiments. Once, while testing how light passesthrough lenses , he put a long needleinto his eye, pushed it to the back, and then moved it around just to see whatwould happen. Luckily, nothing long-lasting did. On another occasion he staredat the sun for as long as he could bear, to discover what effect this would haveon his sight. Again he escaped suffering permanent damage, though he had tospend some days in a darkened room before his eyes recovered.Inthe 1750s the Swedish chemist Karl Scheele was the first person to find a wayto produce phosphorus . He in fact discoveredeight more chemical elements including chlorine ,though he didn’t get any praise for them. He was a very clever scientist, buthis one failing was a curious habit of tasting a little of every substance heworked with. This risky practice finally caught up with him, and in 1786 he wasfound dead in his laboratory surrounded by a large number of dangerouschemicals, any of which might have beenresponsible for his death.EugeneShoemaker was a respected geologist. He spent a large part of his life studyingcraters on the moon, and how they wereformed, and later did research into the comets of the planet Jupiter. In 1997he and his wife were in the Australian desert where they went every year tosearch for places where comets might have hit the earth. While driving in theTanami desert, normally one of the emptiest places in the world, anothervehicle crashed into them and Shoemaker was killed on the spot. Some of hisashes were sent to the moon aboard the LunarProspector spacecraft and left there — he is the only person who has had thishonor.（1）What did Karl Scheele like doing when performing experiments?A . Tasting chemicals.B . Staying in the empty lab.C . Experimenting in darkness.D . Working together with others.（2）What special honor was Shoemaker given after his death?A . He was buried in the Tanami desert.B . Some of his ashes were placed on the moon.C . One comet of Jupiter was named after him.D . A spacecraft carrying him traveled around Jupiter.（3）The text is mainly about three great scientists’ _____.A . special honorsB . great achievementsC . famous experimentsD . sufferings in the job2. 阅读理解More primary care doctors in a community appear to lead to improved life expectancy for people living there, though a lack of such physicians acrossU.S. could be a cause of concern for overall population health in years to come.For the study, researchers looked at physician counts per 100,000 people in a range covering 2005 to 2015 in the U. S., along with life expectancy and specific causes of death. They found that an increase of 10 primary care physicians per 100,000 population was associated with a 51. 5-day increase in life expectancy, while an increase of 10 specialty physicians per 100, 000 population increased life expectancy by 19. 2 days. An increase in primary care physicians also was associated with reductions of many deaths including heart diseases and cancers.Along with those findings, though, the study said many communities did not have primary care physicians in 2015, with the decline in supply more prominent in rural areas than their urban areas. Many believe that a well-functioning health care system requires a solid foundation of primary care, however, payment difference between primary care and technical specialties continue to dispirit the U. S. primary care physician workforce.“Higher pay and lifestyle preferences lead most students to choose non-p rimary care fields, even when their hearts say primary care,” the study said. “We must turn this trend around with practical changes in physician payment policy; no amount of superb primary care training or creative practice reform will prevent further declines in primary care physician, which will lead to worsening health for the United States.”The study’s researchers conclude that future research should focus on the “quality and cover of primary care, types of primary care physiciantraining and service offerings, and effective access rather than just supply”.（1）What does the author intend to do in Paragraph 2?A . Provide some data for the readers.B . Offer some tips on life expectancy.C . Add some background information.D . Stress the importance of primary care.（2）Which of the following best explains “prominent” underlined in Paragraph 3?A . Adequate.B . Considerate.C . Obvious.D . Reasonable.（3）What discourages young people from taking up the primary care?A . Primary care is badly paid.B . They have to work in rural areas,C . They need to face fierce competition.D . Primary care lacks superb training （4）What is the main idea of the text?A . Primary care can lengthen life.B . Primary care needs improving.C . Primary care physicians are decreasing.D . Higher pay attracts more primary care physicians.3. 阅读理解Technology offers conveniences such asopening the garage door from your car or changing the television stationwithout touching the TV.Now one American company is offering itsemployees a new convenience: a microchip implanted in their hands. Employees who have these chips can do all kinds ofthings just by waving their hands. Three Square Market is offering to implantmicrochips in all of their employees for free. Each chip costs $300 and ThreeSquare Market will pay for the chip. Employees can volunteer tohave the chipsimplanted in their hands. About 50 out of 80 employees have chosen to do so.The president of the company, his wife and their children are also gettingchips implanted in their hands.The chip is about the size of a grain ofrice. Implanting the chip only takes about a second and is said to hurt onlyvery briefly. The chips go under the skin between the thumb and forefinger.With a chip in the hand, a person can enter the office building, buy food, signinto computers and more, simply by waving that hand near a scanner. The chipswill be also used to identify employees. Employees who want convenience, but donot want to have a microchip implanted under their skin, can wear a wristband or a ring with a chip instead. They can perform the same taskswith a wave of their hands as if they had an implanted chip.Three Square Market is the first company inthe United States to offer to implant chips in its employees. Epicenter, acompany in Sweden, has been implanting chips in its employees for a while.Three Square Market says the chip cannottrack the employees. The company says scanners can read the chips only whenthey are within a few inches of them. “The chips protect againstidentity theft, similar to credit cards.” The U.S. Food and DrugAdministration approved the chips back in 2004, so they should be safe forhumans, according to the company.In the future, people with the chips may beable to do more with them, even outside the office. Todd Westby is ChiefExecutive Officer of Three Square Market. He sa ys, “Eventually, thistechnology will become standardizedallowing you to use this as your passport,public transit, all purchasing opportunities, etc.”（1）What is the third paragraph mainly about?A . The substitutes of the chips.B . The advantages of the chips.C . The places to implant the chips.D . The potential risks of implanting the chips.（2）What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 5 refer to?A . the handsB . the employeesC . the credit cardsD . the scanners（3）We can infer that ________.A . the chips are very popular among the employeesB . the chips have magic powersC . the price of the chips is reasonableD . most people suspect the application of the chips（4）Which of the following best describes Todd Westby’ s attitude towards the chips?A . Defensive.B . Disappointing.C . Optimistic.D . Casual.4. 阅读理解Ever walked to the shops only to find, oncethere, you’ve completely forgotten what you went for? Or struggled to rememberthe name of an old friend? For years we’ve accepted that a forgetful brain isas much a part of aging as wrinkles and gray hair. But now a new book suggeststhat we’ve got it all wrong.According to The Secret Life of theGrown-up Brain, by science writer Barbara Strauch, when it comes to theimportant things, our brains actually get better with age. In fact, she arguesthat some studies have found that our brainhits its peak between our 40s and60s — much later than previously thought.Furthermore,rather than losing many brain cells as we age, we keep them, and even producenew ones well into middle age. For years it’s been assumed that brain, muchlike the body, declines with age. But the longest, largest study into whathappens to people as they age suggests otherwise.This continuing research has followed 6,000people since 1956, testing them every seven years. It has found that onaverage, participants performed better on cognitive tests in their 40s and 50s than they had done in their 20s.Specifically, older people did better on tests of vocabulary, verbal memory and problem solving. Where they performedless well was number ability and perceptual speed — how fast you can push abutton when ordered. However, with more complex tasks such as problem-solvingand language, we are at our best at middle age and beyond. In short,researchers are now coming up with scientific proof that we do get wiser withage.Neuroscientists are also finding that weare happier with aging. A recent US study found older people were much betterat controlling and balancing their emotions. It is thought that when we’reyounger we need to focus more on the negative aspects of life in order to learnabout the possible dangers in the world, but as we get older we’ve learned ourlessons and are aware that we have less time left in life: therefore, itbecomes more important for us to be happy.（1）Barbara Strauch probably agrees that ______.A . the young are better at handling important thingsB . people’s brainswork best between their 40s and 60sC . aging leads to the decline of the function of the brainD . wrinkles and gray hair are the only symbols of aging （2）The continuing research has found older people perform better on ______.A . perceptual speedB . number abilityC . vocabulary testsD . body balance（3）People are happier with aging because ______.A . they learn to value the time leftB . they know how to share feelingsC . they cannot focus on negative aspectsD . they do not realize the possible dangers（4）What is the main idea of the passage?A . People get happier with age.B . People get wiser with age.C . People get more forgetful with age.D . People get more self-aware with age.二、任务型阅读根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。