In the 19th century, Americans from the eastern states moved out west to settle in the rich new lands along the Pacific Coast. The most difficult part of their trip was crossing “the Great American Desert” in the western part of the United States by horse and wagon.
The western desert can be very dangerous. There is little water and there are few trees. But the desert also has scenery of great beauty. Tall towers of red and yellow stone rise sharply from the flat, sandy valley floor. The scene has been photographed many times and appears in movies and on TV.
In Arizona, man-made dams across the Colorado River have made two large lakes in the middle of the dry desert country. At Lake Powell, the red stone arch of Rainbow Bridge rises high above the blue lake.
There are few roads. Many areas of Lake Powell’s shore can only be reached by boat or on foot. But hikers in this empty desert land sometimes find very old native American pictures, painted on the rocks.
In Death Valley, California, the summer temperature rises to 130°F—165°F. There is less than inches of rain each year. Death Valley is the lowest place in America---925 metres below sea level. In the 1800s, many travelers died when they tried to cross this waterless valley in the terrible heat.
Although the desert is dry and seems empty, there is plenty of life if you look closely. Snakes and rats have learned how to live in the desert heat. They live underground and come out at night, when it is cool. Plants such as cacti need very little water. When it does rain in the desert (sometimes only once or twice a year), plants grow quickly, and flowers open in a single day. For a short time, the desert is covered with brilliant (very bright) colours.
1.In the 19th century, Americans moved from east to west because they .
A．enjoyed the trip B．wanted to make their home there
C．wanted to find new grassland there D．had no water to drink
2.From this passage. we can conclude that .
A．the western desert is a good place for people to live in
B．there is little water but there are many trees in the desert
C．the desert is dangerous but it is full of beauty
D．till now, people know little about the desert
3.In the 1800s, many travelers died in Death Valley because of .
A．illness B．high temperature
C．cold weather D．poisonous water
4.In the desert, animals will die .
A．if they move about B．if they can’t make holes underground
C．if they come out at night D．if they drink much water
華東師大版一課一練系列答案科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
London--A morning train rides away, across the channel. English kids discuss the Liverpool's football team in a Paris pub.
Some Parisians have started to travel to work in London.
In the 19th century, Charles Dickens compared the two cities, London and Paris, in A Tale of Two Cities. These days, it might be A tale of One City.
As there are few jobs at home over recent years, perhaps 250,000 Frenchmen moved across the channel. With an undersea tunnel, they could travel between cities in three hours. The European Union freed them from immigration and customs.
Paris, rich in beauty, is more stylish. But London feels more full of life, and more fun until the pubs shut down.
“For me, the difference is that London is real, alive,” said Trevor Wheeler, a financial expert.
Chantal Jaouen, a professional designer, agrees. “I am French, but I’ll stay in London,” she said.
There is, of course, the other view. Julie Lenoux is a student who moved to London two years ago. “I think people laugh more in Paris,” she said.
“Both cities have changed beyond recognition,” said Larry Collins, an author and sometimes a Londoner. Like most people who know both cities well, he finds the two now fit together comfortably. “I first fell in love with Paris in the 1950s. Things are so much more ordered, and life is better.”
But certainly not cheaper. In some parts of London, rents can be twice those on Avenue Foch in Paris.
Deciding between London and Paris requires a lifestyle choice. Like Daphne Benoit, a French journalism student with perfect English, many young people are happy to be close enough so they don’t have to choose. “I love Paris, my little neighborhood, the way I can walk around a centre, but life is too organized,” she said. “In London, you can be whoever you want. No one cares.”
It can be inferred that ___________.
A．Paris and London are the two biggest cities in the world
B．In the 19th century, Dickens told his stories in the two cities
C．London and Paris used to be separated
D．Liverpool is a big city in France
According to this passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A．People feel it difficult to find a job in Paris.
B．People can't travel to London without a passport.
C．Living in France is more expensive than in London.
D．People can find any job in London.
The underlined phrase in Para9 most probably means “_____________”
A. beyond one’s imagination
B. so much that people don’t know them well again
C. so little that people still know them well
D. to people’s satisfaction
What’s the meaning of the last two sentences?
A．People can do everything in London.
B．People will feel lonely in London.
C．People in London enjoy living in different ways.
D．People in London enjoy a lawless life.
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科目：高中英語 來源：2011-2012學年貴州省晴隆民族中學高二5月月考英語試卷（帶解析） 題型：閱讀理解
Between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago, some humans discontinued their wandering hunting and gathering and settled down to farm. Grain was the first domesticated crop that started that farming process.
The oldest proven records of brewing are about 6,000 years old and refer to the Sumerians. Sumeria lay between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers including Southern Mesopotamia. It is said that the Sumerians discovered the fermentation (發酵) process by chance. No one knows today exactly how this occurred, but it could be that a piece of bread or grain became wet and a short time later, it began to ferment.
The Sumerians were able to repeat this process and are assumed to be the first civilized culture to brew beer. They had discovered a “divine drink” which certainly was a gift from the gods. The word beer comes from the Latin word bibere, meaning “to drink”, and the Spanish word cerveza originates from the Greek goddess of agriculture, Ceres.
A vitamin-rich porridge, used daily, beer is reported to have increased health and longevity and reduced disease and malnutrition (營養不良). The self-medicating properties of alcohol-rich beer also eased the tensions and stresses of daily living in a hostile world. The use of yeast (酵母) was not yet known at that time. The success of the fermentation process was left to chance, as the brewers unknowingly relied on yeast particles in the air.
Considerable scientific research took place in breweries (釀酒廠) in the 19th century. A famous work from 1876 by Louis Pasteur was Studies Concerning Beer where he revealed his knowledge of micro-organisms. By establishing that yeast is a living microorganism, Pasteur opened the gates for accurately controlling the conversion (轉換) of sugar to alcohol.
Another discovery in beer brewing was the work of Christian Hansen, a Danish scientist, who successfully isolated a single yeast cell and induced it to reproduce on an artificial culture medium. With the resulting yeast multiplication (繁殖) methods, the purity of the fermenting process has been improved.
【小題1】According to the passage, who was the first to brew beer?
| A．The Greeks. | B．Christian Hansen. |
| C．Louis Pasteur. | D．The Sumerians. |
| A．the function of micro-organisms |
| B．the success of the fermentation process |
| C．two scientific discoveries about brewing |
| D．the results of yeast multiplication methods |
| A．Grain was the first crop used to brew beer. |
| B．There are some yeast particles in the air. |
| C．The word “beer” originates from Latin. |
| D．Modern beer contains more alcoholic. |
| A．The beer culture. | B．The history of beer. |
| C．The earliest brewery. | D．Methods of brewing beer. |
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科目：高中英語 來源：重慶市萬州區2010屆高三下學期第二次學業質量調研抽測英語試卷 題型：閱讀理解
E
In 1789 the US. government passed a law which said that the land of the American Indians could never be taken from them without their agreement. One hundred years later, however, the Indians only had a very small part of the land that originally belonged to them. How did this great injustice occur?
After 1812 white settlers began to move west across North America. At first, the settlers and the Indians lived in peace. However, the number of settlers increased greatly every year, and slowly the Indians began to see the white settlers as a danger to their survival. To feed themselves, the settlers killed more and more wild animals. The Indians, who depended on these animals for food, had to struggle against starvation. The settlers also brought with them many diseases which were common in white society, but which were new for the Indians. Great numbers of Indians became sick and died. Between 1843 and 1854 the Indian population in one area of the country went down from 100,000 to 30,000.
More land was needed for the increasing number of white settlers. In Washington, the old respect for the rights of the Indians disappeared. The old promises to the Indians were broken; the government began to move groups of Indians from their original homelands to other poorer parts of the country. Some Indians reacted angrily and violently to this treatment. They began to attack white settlers, and the Indian war began. For 30 years, until the late 1880s, different groups of Indians fought against the injustices of the white man. They had a few famous successes, but the result of the struggle was never in doubt. There were too many white soldiers, and they were too powerful. Many Indians were killed; the survivors were moved from their homelands to different areas of the country. It was a terrible chapter in the history of a country that promised freedom and equality to everyone.
72．It can be inferred from the passage that______.
A．in the US there were many laws that provided to the rights of American Indians
B．the law which was passed in 1789 by the US government was not successfully carried out
C．in the 19th century no injustices were done against the Indians by the US government
D．the majority of white settlers were openly opposed to the law passed in 1789
73．According to the passage which of the following is true?
A．The Indians believed that killing too many wild animals had disturbed the balance of nature.
B．The government began to have a better understanding of the Indians in the 1850s.
C．Between 1843 and 1854 about 70,000 Indians were killed in the battle.
D．The whites carried serious diseases into where the Indians lived.
74．It is implied in the passage that______.
A．the Indians had many great successes in the Indians war
B．the Indians had no doubt that they would win the war
C．after the war the Indians stayed where they were before
D．the Indians were too weak to win the struggle
75．The last sentence of the passage______.
A．serves as the author's comment on the historical event described above
B．gives the reader the impression that injustice is everywhere in the US
C．makes a conclusion that such events talked above will never happen again
D．brings about the topic that how the US government will deal with the problem
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科目：高中英語 來源：2013屆度廣東省連州市高一上學期期中考試英語題 題型：閱讀理解
Perhaps the most wonderful building put up in the 19th century was the Crystal Palace（水晶宮）which was built in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was different from all the other buildings in the world, for it was made of iron and glass. It was one of the biggest buildings of all the time and a lot of people from many countries came to see it. Plenty of goods were sent to the exhibition from all parts of the world. There was also a great deal of machinery on show. Though in those days, traveling was not as easy as it is today, steamboats carried thousands of visitors across the Channel from Europe. On arriving in England, they were taken to the Crystal Palace by train. There were six million visitors in all, and the money from the exhibition was used to build museums and colleges. Later, the Crystal Palace was moved to the South London. It remained one of the most famous buildings in the world until it was burnt down in 1936.
1.The Crystal Palace was built up_________.
A. in the 1950s B. in the 1990s
C. shortly before 1851 D. after 1851
2.People from many countries came to the Crystal Palace mainly to______.
A. buy goods B. visit an exhibition
C. travel D. enjoy the Crystal Palace itself
3.What happened to the Crystal Palace in 1936?
A. It caught a terrible fire.
B. It disappeared suddenly.
C. It was moved away to the south of London.
D. It was rebuilt.
4.The writer__________.
A. thought the Crystal Palace very useful
B. thought highly of the Crystal Palace
C. wanted the Crystal Palace to be rebuilt
D. was one of the visitors who had visited the Crystal Palace
5.The Crystal Palace was famous to all because__________.
A. it was the biggest building in the world then.
B. it was made of iron and glass.
C. so many visitors had been there.
D. it was burnt down at last.
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科目：高中英語 來源：2012屆廣西柳州高中高二下學期期末考試英語題 題型：閱讀理解
In the United States 84 colleges now accept just women. Most of them were established in the 19th century; they were designed to offer women the education they could not receive anywhere else. At that time major universities and colleges accepted only men. In the past 20 years many young women have chosen to study at colleges that accept both men and women. As a result some women’s colleges decided to accept men students too. Others, however, refused to change. Now these schools are popular again
The president of Trinity College in Washington, D. C. said that by the end of the 1980s women began to recognize that studying at the same school with men did not mean women were having an equal chance to learn. The president of Smith College in Massachusetts says a women’s college permits women to choose classes and activities freely. For example, she says that in a women’s college a higher percentage of students studies mathematics than in a college with both men and women.
Educational experts say men students in the United States usually speak in class more than women students do. In a women’s college, women feel free to say what they think. Women’s schools also bring out leadership capabilities in many women. Women are represented everywhere. For example, at a women’s college every governing office is held by a woman. Recent studies reportedly show this leadership continues after college. The studies show that American women who went to women’s colleges are more likely to hold successful jobs later in life.
1.Some women’s colleges decided to accept men students because_______.
A. teaching women is more difficult than teaching men
B. many young women chose to study at colleges with both men and women
C. study with men is more challenged.
D. women and men can have equal chances of competition.
2.From the passage we know that_______.
A. more and more women’s colleges are being established now
B. more and more women like to study in colleges with both men and women
C. there are more women’s colleges than colleges with both men and women in the USA
D. it is better for American women to study in women’s colleges
3.According to this passage, if a woman wants to hold successful jobs, she’d better_______.
A. study in colleges with both men and women
B. study in Trinity College
C. learn from the president of Smith College
D. study in women’s colleges
4.Most of women’s colleges were established_______.
A. to give women the education they could not receive anywhere else.
B. to separate women from men.
C. to offer women special chances for work.
D. to help women have more study opportunities.
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