荥阳高中2017-1018学年上学期实验班阶段性测试（四）高二英语第二部分阅读理解（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、D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A“I am not an American,” mark twain (1835-1910) once said, “I am the American.”He had good reason to say so. A Nobel winner in literature, US playwright Eugene O’ Neill called him “the father of American literature”.Twain is someone Americans are taught to love. Older relatives, English teachers and the media often praise him. But when you actually take the time to read the adventures of Tom Sawyer, which was first published 140 years ago, you find that his work is more wonderful than you could ever have imagined.The novel describes a young boy named Tom Sawyer growing up in a small town along the Mississippi River. He explores the countryside on a riverboat with his friends, falls in love with girls, starts secret clubs and searches for treasure. Twain’s idea of childhood is magical – a time of imagination, wonder and, of course, adventure.More importantly, through the eyes of Tom Sawyer, Twain cleverly makes fun of US culture. For example, Tom hates going to church, and Twain uses Tom to make fun of religion and its old traditions. “Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the ha rder it is to get rid of it,” he writes in one chapter.Twain’s writing is full of these kinds of critical points about culture and politics. That’s why he is so loved in the US –he wasn’t afraid to state his opinions, and he did so clearly.For instance, Twain didn’t like US wars abroad. In 1900, after the US invaded the Philippines, Twain wrote in a newspaper article: “We do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines… We have gone there to conquer.”He also believed strongly in wo men’s right to vote in elections and gave a famous speech on the subject, called “Votes for Women”, in 1901.“Tom was a glittering hero once more –the pet of the old, the envy of the young,” Twain writes in Tom Sawyer. But he could just as well be describing himself.1．According to the author, after reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, you are likely to think .A. it’s not worth all the praiseB. it’s as wonderful as you expectedC .it’s better to read it with teachers D. it’s even better than you expected2．What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?A. A brief description of the novel.B. Where Twain’s idea of childhood comes from.C. How naughty and adventurous Tom Sawyer is.D. What makes Tom Sawyer’s adventures so wonderful.3．Why is Twain so loved in the US according to the article?A. He showed the truth about US wars abroad.B. He supported women’s right to vote.C. He criticized American culture and society clearly and cleverly.D. He showed readers a magical childhood that everyone would.BI was lucky enough to have a chance to study in the United States as an international student from the Ukraine when I was fourteen years old. I went to a wonderful school,West Catholic High School, for my freshman year.I remember my first day at that school as if it were yesterday. I was very nervous, and I could feel my heartbeat on the tips of my toes. My main fear was that I would not be able to express myself due to the language barrier. I was trying to have as little communication as I possibly could. And I almost succeeded, until we had to introduce ourselves in front of the class.And the moment the word “international”flew out of my mouth, i was surrounded by thirty people who were asking questions one after another. I remember some of the questions were “Where is the Ukraine? Is it a kingdom?”“Do you have McDonald’s? Does it taste thesame?”and “Say something in your language.” It turned out to be the opposite of less communication, but it was so much fun.During the first three months, I certainly experienced a bit of cultural shock. I think Americans are the nicest people I have ever met in my entire life. They always smile and say, “Hi, how are you?”One day, I noticed the students looking at me suspiciously. Finally , my classmate came up to my locker and whispered, “Is that true that you are a princess(公主)and that you came to study here so that nobody would recognize you?” At one point, I even had an image of myself wearing a gown and waving at the crowd. What ? People do have a wild imagination!During my study abroad experience, I saw a totally new world, experienced great culture, met a lot of incredible(不可思议的)people and improved my language. This trip inspired me to learn foreign languages. That is one of the reasons why I speak five different languages today.4.On the first day of school, the author was afraid that__________.A. she would be too shy to talk with others.B. she could not communicate with others well.C. she would not be able to do well in her studiesD. she would have difficulty learning a new language.5.When the author’s classmates knew she was an international student, they______________________.A. made fun of herB. prepared a special gift for herC. were eager to make friends with herD. showed interest in her country’s culture.6.What does the underlined word “suspiciously” in Para.5 probably mean?A. DoubtfullyB. ExcitedlyC. AngrilyD. Fearfully7.What can we learn from the text?A. The author decided to settle in the USA.B. The author didn’t want to make herself known.C. The author always imagined herself as a princess.D. The author got lots of benefits through studying abroad.CI like writing; I like meeting people; I like discovering new things, then telling everyone about them; and I couldn’t keep a secret if you paid me. So I became a journalist.I wrote for my school magazine, did unpaid work on my local paper, took a master’s degree, got a part-time job and then became a full-time journalist.Or at least that is what my resume would say; but the life of a journalist is more exciting than that-even if that excitement can come with pain and frustration.I have lost count of the numbers of emails I have had ignored. I have spent hours at meeting listening as hard as I could for a story-only to go home empty-handed.Once I ran around knocking on doors in a dark, dangerous-looking street in the snow to find a woman who(my editor had told me )“woke in the night to find water pouring on her head”. Somehow I found her. I took photos. I interviewed her, the building owner and the fireman. I wrote the story…then I opened the paper to find it at the back, which no name on it, only 100 words long.Strangely, though, that challenge made me want to keep going, if you do succeed, the rewards of journalism are truly great.I once wrote about an old people’s home where residents, increasing a 90-year-old blind man, were living in rooms that were full of fleas, and being told to do their own repairs. A week after the story was publish, the residents phoned me, full of joy. The managers had apologized and promised to change their ways.Journalism can be dangerous and boring , with long and unpredictable work hours. And the pay (at least in the UK) is usually terrible. B ut it’s also one of the most thrilling, rewarding jobs around. For me, there is no better career than making difference and telling the world about it. 8．What is the article mainly about?A. Getting started in a career in journalism.B. The author’s colorf ul experiences as journalist.C. How you can be a good journalist.D. Why life is easier for male journalist. 9．According to the author, her frustration in her job often comes from .A. unfair treatmentB. fruitless effortsC. misunderstandingD. dangerous and risks10．What deeply attracts the author as a journalist is that .A. she gets to see her name printedB. she earns a lot through writing fun storiesC. she can meet different people and her their storiesD. sh e can help others and bring about changes in people’s lives11．From the article we can conclude that the author .A. is not good at keeping secretsB. does not mind the challenges in her careerC. is not appreciated by her editorD. is interested in exciting and dangerous workDDo you think you would work out more if you were offered money to do so? Science has shown that money can give people motivation to work out, but perhaps not in the way that you think.According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine Journal, the best strategy isn’t offering money; it’ giving someone money, then threatening to take it away.Researchers gave 281 people the goal of walking 7,000 steps every day over 13 weeks.To motivate the people who took part to reach the goal, researchers divided them into three groups. People in the first group received $1.40(9 yuan ) each day as long as they finished 7,000 steps, the second group was only able to collect the $1.40 if they had reached 7,000 steps the day before, and the third group was given $42 at the beginning of each month and $1.40 was taken away every time someone failed to meet the goal.The third group met their daily fitness goals 50 percent more often than the other two groups, showing that people were most motivated to walk by the fear of losing money.“People are more motivated by losses than gains, and they like immediate gratification.” study author Dr Mitesh Patel, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the US, told CNN.” They want to be rewarded today, not next year or far into the future.”Our brains tend to avoid wanting to lose things more than they try to get the benefits from gaining them, Patel explained. “It makes people think like the mon ey is theirs to lose from day one.”In addition, in most programs, many participants will drop out quickly and only the motivated will stay involved, Patel said.“In ours, we were pleasantly surprised that 96 percent stayed.” he added.The study provides evidence that what matters is not only the money incentive（奖励）,but also how you think about them. This is important to how effective they are. The evidence could have a big effect on health promotion programs in the future, according to the study.“Incentives themselves are not all you need,” Stephanie Pronk, a health and wellness consultant with the Aonplc corporation, told The Wall Street Journal.” It’s really important to change up the incentive design and keep people on their toes.”12．According to Dr Mitesh Patel, the third group did better than the other two groups mostly because .A. they were satisfied with being paid immediatelyB. they did not want the money they had gained to be taken awayC. they were able to get more money than the other two groupsD. they were given money at first while the others were not13．By mentioning other similar programs, Dr Mitesh Patel intended to .A. prove that their program has been more successfulB. show that motivation mattered more in other programsC. stress that they didn’t expert the resultD. make a further comparison between these programs14．What can we infer from Stephanie Pronk’s words?A. Incentives are of little importance in the process of getting fitB. Incentives and ways in which they are given are key to fitness programsC. People should keep fit actively instead of being motivated by incentivesD. There are many ways to get people to feel motivated to work out more15．We can learn from the study that for incentives to work .A. more benefits than losses should be obvious for participantsB. direct profits should be given rather than long-term onesC. designers need to consider how people think about incentivesD. designers need to work out the right from of motivation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。