2013届高三英语星级阶梯阅读练习 三星级 14 A Dear Sir, Just over six months ago, I saw an advertisement in the Morning Mail for a set of the complete works of William Shakespeare．Your company, Cosmo books Ltd , offered this set （ eight books of plays and two books of poetry） at a ‘& remarkable' price: fifteen pounds and fifty pence, including postage and packing． I had wanted a set of Shakespeare's plays and poems for some time, and these books looked particularly attractive, so I sent for them． Two weeks later, the books arrived, together with a set of works of Charles Dickens which I had not ordered．So I returned the Dickens books to you, with a cheque for fifteen pounds and fifty pence for the works of Shakespeare． Two more weeks passed． Then there arrived on my door step a second set of the works of Shakespeare, the same set of novels by Dickens and a six book set of the plays of Moliere, in French． Since I do not read French, these were of no use to me at all．However, I could not afford to post all these books back to you, so I wrote to you right away instructing you to come and collect all the books that I did not want, and asking you not to send any other books until further notice． You did not reply to that letter．Instead you sent me a bill for forty two pounds, and a set of the plays of Schiller, in German． Since then, a new set of books has arrived every two weeks, the works of Goethe, the poems of Milton, the plays of Strindberg; I hardly know what I have．The books are still all in their boxes, in the garage, and my car has to stand in the rain outside． Please send no more books, send no more bills, send no more angry letters demanding payment． Just send one large lorry and take all the books away, leaving me only with the one set of the complete works of Shakespeare for which I have paid． Yours faithfully, SIMON WALKER 56． Simon Walker's main purpose of writing the letter is to . A． show his anger to Cosmo Books Ltd． B． argue about sending him books he had not ordered C． advise readers not to order books from Cosmo Books Ltd． D． urge Cosmo Books Ltd． to take away the books he had not ordered 57． The advertisement that Mr．Walker saw in the Morning Mail was for . A． unlimited number of Cosmo Books B． a set of 10 books of the works of Shakespeare C． fifteen pounds and． fifty pence D． a book containing all the plays and poems of Shakespeare 58． It can be inferred that . A．Mr． Walker took some action after receiving the books he did not order B．several sets of books have been sent to Mr．Walker free of charge C．Cosmo Books have sent bills for books that they have not sent D．Mr．Walker hasn't received the books that he ordered 59． The tone（语气） of the letter is that of . A． bitterness B． respect C． annoyance D． humor B JK Rowling writes novel for adults JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, has signed a deal with Little, Brown and Company to publish her first ever novel for adults, which is set to become one of the most expected book in years． The deal means that Rowling' s long-standing relationship with Bloomsbury, the London-based publisher that launched the Harry Potter books, has come to an end, at least in terms of new works by the author． Rowling is keeping her fans guessing about the characters and plot of her new book．She only said that the new novel will be nothing like the Harry Potter series, which was sold over 30 million copies in the UK alone． She thought that with the move from children's to adult fiction, a switch to a new publisher seemed like a natural and reasonable step, She said, "Although I've enjoyed writing it every bit as much, this book will be very different from the Harry Potter series． The freedom to explore a new field is a gift t．that Harry's success has brought me． " Ian Rankin, the Edinburgh-based author whose highly-successful detective novels are also set in the city, suggested Rowling's book will be a crime novel． " Wouldn't it be funny if JK Rowling' s first novel for adults turned out to be a crime story set in Edinburgh?" he said, Industry insiders guessed that the deal is worth more than￡5 million and the new book is expected to come out later this year． A spokesman said, "JK Rowling．' s audience is vast and her position is unique． Harry Potter books were a global success and hef tans are very loyal． Children that were eight, nine, or ten when the books first came out in the 1990s are now in their 20s． Plenty of adults loved the books regardless of whether they had children, so the potential market for her is huge．" 60． What does the passage mainly tell us? A． JK Rowling has signed a deal with a new publisher． B． JK Rowling's first book for adults will be published later this year． C． JK Rowling's new book will be more successful than her Harry Potter series． D． JK Rowling has to switch to a new publisher in order to publish her new book． 61． JK Rowling's new book for adults . A． has been sold 30 million copies in the UK alone B． is poorly thought of by the London-based publisher Bloomsbury C． has nothing in common with the Harry Potter series D． is expected to bring her more money than the Harry Potter series 62． What the spokesman said in the last paragraph tells us that . A． children won't have any interest in JK Rowling's new book B． JK Rowling's fans are so loyal that they don't care what she will write C． only readers of Harry Potter series will be interested in Rowling' s new book D． Rowling's vast audience and unique position will guarantee the new book's success C In our culture, the sources of what we call a sense of "mastery"-feeling important and worthwhile-and the sources of what we call a sense of "pleasure"-finding life enjoyable-are not always identical． Women often are told, "You can't have it all． " Sometimes what the speaker really is saying is "You choose a career, so you can't expect to have closer relationships or a happy family life", or "You have a wonderful husband and children-what' s all this about wanting a career?" But women need to understand and develop both aspects of well-being if they have to feel good about themselves． Our study shows that, for women, well-being has two dimensions． One is mastery, which includes self-confidence, a sense of control over your life, and low levels of anxiety and depression．Mastery is closely related to the "doing" side of life, to work and activity．Pleasure is the other dimension, and it is composed of happiness, satisfaction and optimism．It is tied more closely to the "feeling" side of life．The two are independent of each other． Women could be high in mastery and low in pleasure, or the other way around． For example, a woman who has a good job, but whose mother has just died, might be feeling very good about herself and in control of her work life, but the pleasure side could be damaged for a time． The concepts of mastery and pleasure could help us identify the sources of well-being for women, and find solution to past mistakes．In the past, women were encouraged to look only at the feeling side of life as the source of all well-being．But we know that both mastery and pleasure are important． And mastery seems to be achieved largely through work．In our study, all the groups of employed women rated significantly higher in mastery than did women who were not employed． A woman's well-being is improved when she takes on multiple roles． At least by middle adulthood, the women who were involved in the combination of roles-marriages, motherhood, and employment-were the highest in well-being, in spite of warning about stress and strain． 63． It can be inferred from the first paragraph that . A． women can't have mastery and pleasure at the same time B． mastery and pleasure are both necessary to women C． for women, mastery is more important than pleasure D． for women, pleasure is more important than mastery 64． Which of the following can be identified as a source of "pleasure" for women? A． Freedom from anxiety． B． Regular employment． C．Multiple roles in society, D． Family life． 65． The author's attitude towards women having a career is . A． positive B． negative C． objective D． realistic 66． Which is the best title for the passage? A． The Well-Being of Career Women B． Two Aspects of Women' s Well-Being C． Sources of Mastery and Pleasure D． Multiple Roles of Women in Society D Whale Songs Catch on like Pop Music When Lady Gaga releases a catchy new single, it quickly goes around the world． Now scientists have discovered the same thing happens with the songs of another creature—the humpback whale． The mammals tunes just like people do, and the spread globally like hit singles．become fixated （迷恋）on new most popular original whale songs spread globally kike hit singles. The discovery has astonished experts who say it is the first time such a large "population-wide cultural exchange" has been seen in the animal kingdom．Male humpback whales are well-known for the loud, long and complex songs they make during the mating season． Scientists are unsure why the males sing． Some believe it is a way of advertising themselves to females, others that it allows migrating whales to stay in contact． Each song lasts for 10 to 20 minutes and the males can sing continuously for 24 hours． At any one time, all the males in a population sing the same song． But a study, published in the journal Current Biology, shows that this song changes over time and spreads around the oceans．Dr．Ellen Garland of Queensland University said, "Our findings show cultural change on a vast scale（规模）．Songs move like cultural ripples（ small low wave） from one population to another, causing all males to change their song to a new version． Researchers recorded songs from six neigh bouring populations of whales in the Pacific over a decade．They found that new versions of the Songs appear over time and always spread from west to east． It takes two years for songs that appear in the waters off Australia to be heard in French Polynesia． Dr．Garland believes that a small number of whales may migrate to other populations carrying the new songs with them, or that they are heard by passing whales． Most of the new songs contain material from last year and something new．"It would be like linking an old Beatles song with U2," she said．"Occasionally they completely throw the current song out of the window and start singing a brand new song． " The researchers suspect whales adopt new songs to make themselves distinct．Dr．Garland said, "We think this male seeking for different, new, and unusual songs is in the hope of being that little bit different and perhaps more attractive to the opposite sex．" 67． The author mentions Lady Gaga to . A． prove the popularity of her hit singles B． show whales' songs also spread globally C． emphasize humpbacks are as famous as her D． provide readers with a new way to learn her songs 68． The underlined word "release" in Paragraph l means " " A． announce B． sell C． publish D．record 69．The discovery is very astonishing to experts because it presents . A． cultural exchange on a vast scale B． the reason why male humpbacks sing C． the existence of cultural change D． the creativity of humpbacks 70．According to the passage, Dr． Garland wants to tell us . A． whales can sing continuously for 24 hours when migrating from west to east B． all female humpbacks also change their song during the mating season C． whales have their own tunes that spread around the world for a decade D． male whales adopt new songs to make themselves distinct  版权所有：高考资源网(www.ks5u.com)
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