2013高考英语（昆明市）阅读理解（2）（答案）
1
I travel a lot, and I find out different “styles”(风格) of directions every time I ask “How can I get to the post office?”
Foreign tourists are often confused(困惑的) in Japan because most streets there don’t have names; in Japan, people use landmarks(地标) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, “Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop.”
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile.”
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. “How far away is the post office?” you ask. “Oh,” they answer, “it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “Yes, but how many miles away is it?” They don’t know.
It’s true that a person doesn’t know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “Sorry, I have no idea.” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “I don’t know.” People in Yucatan believe that “I don’t know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!
56. When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place, they usually ______.
A. describe the place carefully B. show him a map of the place
C. tell him the names of the streets D. refer to recognizable buildings and places
57. What is the place where people measure distance in time?
A.New York. B.Los Angeles. C.Kansas. D.Iowa.
58. People in Yucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ______.
A. in order to save time B. as a test C. so as to be polite D. for fun
59. What can we infer from the text?
A. It’s important for travelers to understand cultural differences.
B. It’s useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.
C. People have similar understandings of politeness.
D. New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.
1答案 56.D 57.B 58.C 59.A
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2
This was no ordinary class. The students who came together were all science or engineering professors at Cornell University. They had interrupted their research to accept an invitation to take part in an unusual experiment: “an interesting week of poetry”. This class was part of a study to answer the questions: Why is science difficult for many nonscience students? What can teachers learn about teaching if they take a class that is not in their field?
The students in the poetry class listened to lectures and took notes. They had reading tasks and had to write three short papers. All students noticed one thing—the importance of spoken words. In science and engineering classes, the instructors put tables and drawings on the blackboard. But in this poetry class, the instructors just talked. They didn’t write anything on the board.
The scientists and engineers noticed one similarity between science and poetry. In both subjects, students need to find layers (层次)of meaning . Some layers are simple, clear, and on the surface; other layers are deeper and more difficult. This search for different levels of meaning doesn’t happen much in undergraduate(本科)science classes, but it is important later, in graduate school. And it is always important in humanities(人文科学).
Both the poetry instructors and their students learned something about teaching from this experience. One poetry instructor, for example, now sees the importance of using informative as he teaches. Most of the scientists agreed on several points. First, humanities classes might help science students to see patterns and decide which information is important. Second, the poetry class was fun. One engineer decided, “We need to change the way we teach engineering to make it an enjoyable experience for students.”
But perhaps the most important result of the experience was this: All of the professors began to think about how they teach and how they can teach better.
49. What do we know about this unusual class?
A. The teachers did lots of writing on the board.
B. The teacher were invited to attend several lectures.
C. The students were professors from a university.
D. The students were studying science and humanities.
50. The experiment was designed to find out .
A. how to teach the students in the science class
B. whether poetry is difficult for science students
C. what to be taught in the humanities class
D. why many humanities students find science hard
51. Finding levels of meaning is .
A. important for graduate students in humanities
B. difficult for graduate students in humanities
C. common for undergraduate students in science
D. easy for undergraduate students in science
52. What did the science professors learn after the experiment?
A. They should change the way they teach.
B. A poem could be explained in clear definitions.
C. A poetry class could be more informative.
D. Their teaching was an enjoyable experience.
2. 答案 49.C 50.D 51.A 52.A
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3
We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively(被动地). We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.
We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.
Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor(谣言).
Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements are compared. Typically, the original message has changed.
That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上标记）it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know.
This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be restated as a fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.
48. According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______.
A. doing a medical experiment B. solving a math problem
C. visiting an exhibition D. doing scientific reasoning
49. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.
A. active learning B. knowledge C. communication D. passive learning
50. The author mentions the game Rumor to show that _____.
A. a message may be changed when being passed on
B. a message should be delivered in different ways
C. people may have problems with their sense of hearing
D. people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor
51. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Active learning is less important.
B. Passive learning may not be reliable.
C. Active learning occurs more frequently.
D. Passive learning is not found among scholars.
3. 答案 48.C 49.D 50.A 51.B
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4
Edward Wilson is America’s，if not the world’s，leading naturalist. In The Future of Life，he takes us on a tour of the world’s natural resources(资源).How are they used? What has been lost? What remains and is it able to continue with the present speed of use? Wilson also points out the need to understand fully the biodiversity(生物多样性) of our earth.
Wilson begins with an open letter to the pioneer in environment(环境) protection，Henry David Thorean. He compares today’s Walden Pond with that of Thorean’s day. Wilson will use such comparisons for the rest of the book. The problem is clear: man has done great damage to his home over the years. Can the earth，with human help，be made to return to biodiversity levels that will be able to support us in the future?
Biodiversity，Wilson argues，is the key to settling many problems the earth faces today. Even our agricultural crops can gain advantages from it. A mere hundred species(物种) are the basis of our food supply，of which but twenty carry the load. Wilson suggests changing this situation by looking into ten thousand species that could be made use of，which will be a way to reduce the clearing of the natural homes of plants and animals to enlarge farming areas.
At the end of the book，Wilson discusses the importance of human values in considering the environment. If you are to continue to live on the earth, you may well read and act on the ideas in this book.
72.We learn from the text that Wilson cares most about .
A.the environment for plants B.the biodiversity of our earth
C.the waste of natural resources D.the importance of human values
73.How many species are most important to our present food supply?
A.Twenty. B.Eighty. C.One hundred. D.Ten thousand.
74.Wilson suggests that one way to keep biodiversity is to .
A.learn how to farm scientifically B.build homes for some dying species
C.make it clear what to eat D.use more species for food
75.We can infer that the text is .
A.a description of natural resources B.a research report
C.a book review D.an introduction to a scientist
4. 答案 72.B 73.A 74.D 75.C
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5
Some people have the feeling that nothing can be done about their poor reading ability（能力）. They feel hopeless about it. Can you learn to read better, or must you agree that nothing can be done about it?
To be sure, people are different. You cannot to do everything as well as certain other people do. It al the students in a class tried out for basketball, some would be very good players; others would be very poor; and many would be in between. But even the very poor players can become much better players if they are guided in the right way, and with plenty of practice. It is the same with reading. Some seem to enjoy reading and to read well without any special help. Others find reading a slow and tiring job. In between, there are all degrees of reading ability.
Many experiments have shown that just about every poor reader can improve his reading ability. In these experiments, the poor readers were given tests of reading ability. After some of the causes of their poor reading were discovered, they were given special instruction and practice in reading. After a few months, another test of the same kind was given. In nearly all cases, these people had raised their reading scores.
46.With the example of basketball players, the author shows ____.
A. why certain people are poor readers B. that there are differences in people’s abilities C. why some people are good basketball players
D. that good basketball players can be good readers
47.To improve their reading ability, people should ____. A. work long and hard B. take different forms of tests C. have special help and practice D. try different reading materials
48.The experiments mentioned in the text show that ____. A. good readers seem to enjoy reading
B. almost all poor readers can make progress C. causes of poor reading are difficult to find out
D. tests help people improve their reading ability
5. 答案 46.B 47.C 48.B
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