閱讀理解精講精煉19

　　101.

　　You've just come home, after living abroad for a few years. Since you've been away, has this country changed for the better—or for the worse?

　　If you've just arrived back in the UK after a fortnight's holiday, small changes have probably surprised you—anything from a local greengrocer suddenly being replaced by a mobile-phone shop to someone in your street moving house.

　　So how have things changed to people coming back to Britain after seven, ten or even 15 years living abroad? What changes in society can they see that the rest of us have hardly noticed—or now take for granted? To find out, we asked some people who recently returned.

　　Debi: When we left, Cheltenham, my home town, was a town of white, middle-class families—all very conservative(保守的). The town is now home to many eastern Europeans and lots of Australians, who come here mainly to work in hotels and tourism. There are even several shops only for foreigners.

　　Having been an immigrant (移民) myself, I admire people who go overseas to find a job. Maybe if I lived in an inner city where unemployment was high, I'd think differently, but I believe foreign settlers have improved this country because they're more open-minded and often work harder than the natives.

　　Christine: As we flew home over Britain, both of us remarked how green everything looked. But the differences between the place we'd left behind and the one we returned to were brought sharply into focus as soon as we landed.

　　To see policemen with guns in the airport for the first time was frightening—in Cyprus, they're very relaxed—and I got pulled over by customs officers just for taking a woolen sweater with some metal-made buttons out of my case in the arrivals hall. Everyone seemed to be on guard. Even the airport car-hire firm wanted a credit card rather than cash because they said their vehicles had been used by bank robbers.

　　But anyway, this is still a green, beautiful country. I just wish more people would appreciate what they've got.

　　51．After a short overseas holiday, people tend to ________.

　　A．notice small changes

　　B．expect small changes

　　C．welcome small changes

　　D．exaggerate small changes

　　52．How does Debi look at the foreign settlers?

　　A．Cautiously.

　　B．Positively.

　　C．Sceptically.

　　D．Critically.

　　53．When arriving at the airport in Britain, Christine was shocked by ________.

　　A．the relaxed policemen

　　B．the messy arrivals hall

　　C．the tight security

　　D．the bank robbers

　　54．Which might be the best title for the passage?

　　A．Life in Britain.

　　B．Back in Britain.

　　C．Britain in Future.

　　D．Britain in Memory.

　　【要點綜述】此篇涉及人們對家鄉變化的關注，短期離家和長期離開家鄉的人們對家鄉變化的感悟是不一樣的。

　　51．A　信息理解題。由第二段第一句…small changes have probably surprised you…可知答案。其他選項不能根據文章得出。

　　52．B　推理判斷題。由第五段中but I believe foreign settlers have improved this country because…可知B項正確。

　　53．C　信息理解題。由倒數第二段第一句…policemen with guns in the airport…及最后一句…their vehicles had been used by bank robbers. 可知C為正確答案。

　　54．B　主旨大意題。第一段即為全文的主旨段，從全文也可看出文章講的是離開家鄉一段時間再回來，人們便會感知家鄉的變化。 When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.

　　It goes like this: You can't take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks to the rail station. We'd take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the train, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn't like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom's friend was waiting to give us a ride home—our first car ride of the day.

　　The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal (多方式的). She understood that depending on cars only was a

　　failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence—the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.

　　Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just light-rail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox—and often an inadequate one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.

　　On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestrut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where's the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?

　　I'm writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn't try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.

　　55．Which was forbidden by Mom on Transportation Days?

　　A．Having a car ride.

　　B．Taking the train twice.

　　C．Buying more than one toy.

　　D．Touring the historic district.

　　56．According to the writer, what was the greatest benefit of her Transportation Days?

　　A．Building confidence in herself.

　　B．Reducing her use of private cars.

　　C．Developing her sense of direction.

　　D．Giving her knowledge about vehicles.

　　57．The underlined word “paralyzed”(in Para.5) is closest in meaning to “________”．

　　A．displayed

　　B．justified

　　C．ignored

　　D．ruined

　　58．Which means of transportation does the writer probably disapprove of?

　　A．Airplane.

　　B．Subway.

　　C．Train.

　　D．Car.

　　【要點綜述】此篇講述了作者乘車的經歷，折射出西方父母注意讓孩子從小就接觸和了解社會，從而培養孩子認識問題和解決問題的能力。

　　55．B　信息理解題。由第二段第一句It goes like this：You can't take any means of

　　transportation more than once.可知B項中twice不可以做，所以B項正確。

　　56．A　推理判斷題。由第三段中The good thing about Transportation Days is not only…She understood that depending on cars …above all, a failure of confidence…可知A為正確答案。

　　57．D　詞意猜測題。paralyze使不能正常工作，此處根據句意為“破壞，毀壞”。母親幫“我”解開其中的奧秘，否則“我”當初的嘗試會遭到破壞。由后面的幾個問句即可得出其情景意義。其他選項不符合句意。

　　58．A　信息理解題。最后一段的on an airplane, …we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all.可知A正確。

　　103.

　　How is it that siblings(兄弟姐妹) can turn out so differently? One answer is that in fact each sibling grows up in_a_different_family. The firstborn is, for a while, an only child, and therefore has a completely different experience of the parents than those born later. The next child is, for a while, the youngest, until the situation is changed by a new arrival. The mother and father themselves are changing and growing up too. One sibling might live in a stable and close family in the first few years; another might be raised in a family crisis, with a disappointed mother or an angry father.

　　Sibling competition was identified as an important shaping force as early as in 1918. But more recently, researchers have found many ways in which brothers and sisters are a lasting force in each others' lives. Dr. Annette Henderson says firstborn children pick up vocabulary more quickly than their siblings. The reason for this might be that the later children aren't getting the same one-on-one time with parents. But that doesn't mean that the younger children have problems with language development. Later-borns don't enjoy that much talking time with parents, but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters, learning entire phrases and getting an understanding of social concepts such as the difference between “I” and “me”．

　　A Cambridge University study of 140 children found that siblings created a rich world of play that helped them grow socially. Love-hate relationships were common among the children. Even those siblings who fought the most had just as much positive communication as the other sibling pairs.

　　One way children seek more attention from parents is by making themselves different from their siblings, particularly if they are close in age. Researchers have found that the first two children in a family are typically more different from each other than the second and third. Girls with brothers show their differences to a maximum degree by being more feminine than girls with sisters. A 2003 research paper studied adolescents from 185 families over two years, finding that those who changed to make themselves different from their siblings were successful in increasing the amount of warmth they gained from their parents.

　　63．The underlined part “in a different family” (in Para. 1) means

　　“________”．

　　A．in a different family environment

　　B．in a different family tradition

　　C．in different family crises

　　D．in different families

　　64．In terms of language development, later-borns ________.

　　A．get their parents' individual guidance

　　B．learn a lot from their elder siblings

　　C．experience a lot of difficulties

　　D．pick up words more quickly

　　65．What was found about fights among siblings?

　　A．Siblings hated fighting and loved playing.

　　B．Siblings in some families fought frequently.

　　C．Sibling fights led to bad sibling relationships.

　　D．Siblings learned to get on together from fights.

　　66．The word “feminine” (in Para. 4) means “________”．

　　A．having qualities of parents

　　B．having qualities of women

　　C．having defensive qualities

　　D．having extraordinary qualities

　　【要點綜述】此篇是關于同一家庭里不同子女的成長情況和兄弟姐妹之間相互影響的調查報告。從中我們可以看出即使生活在同一個家庭里，兄弟姐妹成長的環境也不盡相同，他們既有區別，又相互影響。

　　63．A　推理判斷題。由劃線部分下文可知，同一家庭里的兄弟姐妹由于成長的時空背景不盡相同，所以雖然他們生活在同一屋檐下，但家里的人文環境是在變化的，所以A正確。

　　64．B　信息理解題。根據第二段中的…but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters…可知B項正確。

　　65．D　信息理解題。由第三段最后一句可知D項正確。

　　66．B　詞意猜測題。由劃線詞的上下文可知，有兄弟的女孩比只有姐妹的女孩更有女子氣質。所以B是正確答案。

　　閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的A、B、C和D項中，選出最佳選項。

　　104.

　　“Have a nice day！” may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless expression. When my friend Maxie says “Have a nice day” with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.

　　“Have a nice day. Next！” This version of the expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone (腔調) with a fixed procedure. They_are_spoken_at_me,_not_to_me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else's is the management's attempt to increase business.

　　The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other.Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting is at an end. Sometimes the expression saves us when we don't know what to say.

　　“Oh, you just had a tooth out? I'm terribly sorry, but have a nice day. ”

　　The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says “Have a nice day” to you, you may find it heart-warming because someone you don't know has tried to be nice to you.

　　Although the use of the expression is an insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and all the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it's nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don't care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like.

　　26. How does the author understand Maxie's words?

　　A．Maxie shows her anxiety to the author.

　　B．Maxie really wishes the author a good day.

　　C．Maxie encourages the author to stay happy.

　　D．Maxie really worries about the author's security.

　　27. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?

　　A．The salesgirl is rude.

　　B．The salesgirl is bored.

　　C．The salesgirl cares about me.

　　D．The salesgirl says the words as a routine.

　　28. By saying “Have a nice day，” a stranger may ________.

　　A．try to be polite to you

　　B．express respect to you

　　C．give his blessing to you

　　D．share his pleasure with you

　　29. According to the last paragraph, people say “Have a nice day” ________.

　　A．sincerely

　　B．as thanks

　　C．as a habit

　　D．encouragingly

　　30. What is the

　　best title of the passage?

　　A．Have a Nice Day — a Social Custom

　　B．Have a Nice Day — a Pleasant Gesture

　　C．Have a Nice Day — a Heart-warming Greeting

　　D．Have a Nice Day — a Polite Ending of a Conversation

　　【要點綜述】這是一篇描述人際關系的文章。主要介紹“Have a nice day！”這一習語，它是人與人之間見面打招呼的用語。

　　26. B　細節理解題。根據第一段的I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.看出作者的朋友在祝福作者一天心情愉快。故選B。

　　27.

　　D　句義猜測題。根據本段的The words come out in the same tone with a fixed procedure.和Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else’s is the management’s attempt to increase business.猜出這是銷售人員的日常用語。故選D。

　　28.

　　A　細節理解題。根據第四段If a stranger says “Have a nice day” to you, you may find it heart-warming because someone you don’t know has tried to be nice to you.看出陌生人對你是友好的，表現出他的禮貌。故選A。