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09级2下大学英语阅读理解练习题
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Passage one
Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been working all night on the design of a
sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem: It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
Though he was tired, Howe slept badly. He turned and turned. Then he had a dream. He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle.
The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They came up towards him with their spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was a hole in the tip of each spear. The inventor awoke from the dream,
realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem. Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle. This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practised sewing machine.
Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way.
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams. So did the great physicist Albert Einstein. Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.
To know the value of dreams, you have to understand what happens when you are asleep. Even then, a part of your mind is still working. This unconscious(无意识的), but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day. It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed. It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake. However, the unconscious part acts in a special way. It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves”.
1.According to the passage, Elias Howe was________.【 C 】 A. the first person we know of who solved problems in his sleep B. much more hard-working than other inventors
C. the first person to design a sewing machine that really worked 2.The problem Howe was trying to solve was________.【 A 】
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A. how to prevent the thread from getting caught around the needle B. how to design a needle which would not break C. where to put the needle
3.Thomas Edison is spoken of because________.【 B 】 A. he also tried to invent a sewing machine B. he got some of his ideas from dreams C. he was one of Howe’s best friends
4.Dreams are sometimes called“secret messages to ourselves” because___.【 A 】 A. strange images are used to communicate ideas B. images which have no meaning are used C. we can never understand the real meaning
Passage two
The greatest recent changes have been in the lives of women. During the
twentieth century there was an unusual shortening of the time of a woman’s life spent in caring for children. A woman marrying at the end of the 19th century would
probably have been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would
expect to live a further twenty years, during which custom, chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer
children. Usually a woman’s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and is likely to take paid work until retirement at sixty. Even while she has the care of children ,her work is lightened by household appliances（家用电器）and convenience foods.
This important change in women’s way of life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’ s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age ,and though
women tend to marry younger ,more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Many more after wads, return to full or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with both husband and wife accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfaction of family life, and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money and running the home, according to the abilities and interest of each of them.
5.We are told that in an average family about 1990________.【 D 】 A. many children died before they were five B. the youngest child would be fifteen
C. seven of eight children lived to be more than five D. four or five children died when they were five
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6. When she was over fifty, the late 19th century mother________.【 D 】 A. would expect to work until she died
B. was usually expected to take up paid employment C. would be healthy enough to take up paid employment D. was unlikely to find a job even if she is now likely
7. Many girls, the passage says, are now likely to ________.【 D 】 A. marry so that they can get a job B. leave school as soon as they can
C. give up their jobs for good after they are married D. continue working until they are going to have a baby
8. According to the passage, it is now quite usual for women to ________.【 C 】 A. stay at home after leaving school B. marry men younger than themselves C. start working again later in life D. marry while still at school
Passage three
Swimming is one of those activities that can be learned early in life. Little children can learn to swim as soon as they walk. In fact, you need the same skills in walking as in swimming. However, I believe that five is the best age to learn. By five or six, a child knows fear of water, a very important thing to know. It's wise to be afraid, to recognize true danger. Young ones understand that the water can sometimes be very dangerous.
To really benefit from swimming, every swimmer should learn, as soon as possible, these four basic strokes; butterfly, backstroke, breastroke, and crawl. I feel that one of these-the breaststroke-is different from the others, since some young swimmers use this stroke naturally, without any training.
In swimming there are certain rules every swimmer should follow:
1. Never swim alone! No matter how good you are in the water, don't risk drowning by swimming alone. If you swim by yourself , with no life guards or friends with you, you may get into trouble.
2. Don't go beyond your abilities. Most swimmers know enough not to swim too far from the bank or the beach, Showing off by doing dangerous tricks is no good. Swim safely and you will continue to swim and alive.
3. Don't smoke. Swimming depends on a healthy body; good lungs are part of it.
4. Work at any activity that builds muscles.
9. Little children can learn to swim as soon as _____.【 B 】 A. they can talk B. they start walking
C. they have no fear of the water
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D. they are five or six years old
10. The author believes that fear of water is_____.【 B 】 A. stupid B. sensible C. dangerous D. not smart
11. The stroke that some young swimmers use first is_____.【 A 】 A. Picture (1) B. Picture (2) C. Picture (3) D. Picture (4)
12. According to the passage, you should not swim alone because_____.【 D 】 A. the water is too cold B. your parents would not be happy C. something in the water might attack D. you might drown
Passage four
Americans spend their free time in various ways.
America is a country of sports—of hunting, fishing and swimming, and of team sports like baseball and football. Millions of Americans watch their favorite sports on television. They also like to play in community orchestras(管弦乐队),make their own films or recordings, go camping ,visit museums, attend lectures, travel, garden, read, and join in hundreds of other activities. The people also enjoy building things for their homes, sewing their own clothes, even making their own photographs. They do these things for fun as well as for economy.
But as much as Americans enjoy their free time, the country is at the same time a\country. More than 25 million adults continue their education, chiefly by going to school in the evening, during their own free time, at their own expense. Added to the time spent on personal activities, Americans a1so devote a great amount of their time to the varied needs of their communities. Many hospitals, schools, libraries, museums, parks, community centers, and organizations that assist the poor depend on the many hours citizens devote to these activities, often without any pay. Why do they do it?
There are several answers. The idea of cooperating and sharing responsibility with one another for the benefit of all is as old as the country itself.
When the country was first founded in 1776,it was necessary for the settlers to work together to live. They had crossed dangerous seas and risked all they had in their struggle for political and religious freedom. There remains among many Americans a distrust of central government. People still prefer to do things themselves within their communities, rather than give the government more control.
Sometimes people offer their time because they wish to accomplish something for which no money is paid, to do something that will be of benefit to the entire community. It is true that some people use their leisure because they are truly interested in the work; or they are learning from the experience.
No matter what the reason is, hundreds of thousands of so called leisure hours are put into hard, unpaid work on one or another community need.
13. This passage is mainly about ________ . 【 B 】 A. why America is a country of sports B. how Americans spend their free time
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C. why America is a \
14. The writer mentions the foundation of the country in order to indicate ________.【 C 】
A. the early history of America
B. the American people's determination to live
C. the reason for Americans' willingness to cooperate and share responsibility 15.Which of the following best explains the meaning of the underlined word “leisure\【 C 】
A. work time B. energy C. spare time
16.What can we infer from the text【 A 】
A. The first settlers left their hometown for political and religious reasons. B. Many Americans don′t trust the central government.
C. American people enjoy building things for their homes just for fun.
Passage five
Personal computers and the Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time.
Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members, but new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care most about. I know this from personal experience.
E-mail makes it easy to work at home, which is where I now spend most
weekends and evenings. My working hours aren’t necessarily much shorter than they once were but I spend fewer of them at the office. This lets me share more time with my young daughter than I might have if she’d been born before electronic mail became such a practical tool.
The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends. Say you do something fun see a great movie perhaps-and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it. If you call each one, you may tire of telling the story.
With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience, and address it to all the friends you think might be interested. They can read your message when they have time, and read only as much as they want to. They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience. E-mail is also an inexpensive way stay in close touch with people who live far away. More than a few parents use E-mail to keep in touch, even daily touch, with their children off at college.
We just have to keep in mind that computers and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch. They don’t take the place of any of the old ways.
17. The purpose of this passage is to ________.【 C 】 A. explain how to use the Internet
B. describe the writer’s joy of keeping up with the latest technology C. tell the merits(价值) and usefulness of the Internet
D. introduce the reader to basic knowledge about personal computers and the Internet
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18. The use of E-mail has made it possible for the writer to ________.【 B 】 A. spend less time working
B. have more free time with his child C. work at home on weekends
D. work at a speed comfortable to him
19. According to the writer, E-mail has an obvious advantage over the telephone because the former helps one ________.【 A 】 A. reach a group of people at one time conveniently B. keep one’s communication as personal as possible C. pass on much more information than the later
D. get in touch with one’s friends faster than the later 20. The best title for this passage is ________.【 D 】 A. Computer: New Technological Advances
B. Internet: New Tool to Maintain Good Friendship C. Computers Have Made Life Easier
D. Internet: a Convenient Tool for Communication
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大学英语阅读理解练习题及答案学习资料
