题目
题型：不详难度：来源：
Alcatraz Island is in the harbor of San Francisco, California. It is best known for being a federal prison, which was also called “The Rock.” It was once the most famous prison in America.
Alcatraz was a military prison from the late eighteen fifties until the nineteen thirties. Then it became a federal prison for the country’s worst criminals. These included murderers, bank robbers and kidnappers. One of the main reasons federal officials chose Alcatraz Island to detain these prisoners was because they thought it would be impossible for prisoners to escape.
Cold, deep and dangerous waters surround the island. Also, the distance between the island and San Francisco is too far for most humans to swim. No prisoner was ever officially reported to have successfully escaped.
However, in nineteen sixty-two, three men broke out of the prison. Each man worked very hard at night for many months to cut through the stone wall of his cell. They made false heads out of paper, paint and hair. On the night of June eleventh, the men placed the heads in their beds to make it look as if they were sleeping. Then, the prisoners escaped through the holes in their cells to get to the water. The men were never seen or heard from again. It is believed that they drowned while trying to swim to San Francisco.
The prison closed in nineteen sixty-three because of the high cost of keeping prisoners there and the need for major repairs. The last prisoners were moved to other jails.
In nineteen seventy-two, the United States Congress passed a bill creating the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Alcatraz Island and the old prison are part of this area.
Each year, more than one million people visit Alcatraz to see the prisoners’ cells and listen to stories about the jail’s history. But unlike the prisoners who once lived there, visitors can escape from the prison whenever they want and return back across the harbor to San Francisco.
小题1:The text mainly tells us________.
| A．about the history of Alcatraz Island and the prison there. |
| B．about the history of Alcatraz Island. |
| C．about a military prison. |
| D．about the subject of crime. |
| A．Because no prisoner successfully escaped from the prison. |
| B．Because Alcatraz was Alcatraz Island. |
| C．Because Alcatraz was a military prison. |
| D．Because cold, deep and dangerous waters surround the island. |
| A．tell us the three prisoners escaped the prison. |
| B．prove prisoners couldn’t successfully escape from the prison . |
| C．tell us how prisoners escaped the prison. |
| D．tell us the three prisoners could make false heads out of paper, paint and hair. |
| A．is a place of interest . |
| B．detains some prisoners. |
| C．is where the United States Congress is. |
| D．is still the most famous prison. |
答案
小题1:A
小题2:A
小题3:B
小题4:A
解析
小题1:主旨大意题。根据He wants to know about the history of Alcatraz Island and the prison that once operated there.可知这里主要回答听众的问题是关于Alcatraz Island及Alcatraz的情况，故选A。
小题2:细节理解题。根据“One of the main reasons federal officials chose Alcatraz Island to detain these prisoners was because they thought it would be impossible for prisoners to escape.”可知主要因为囚犯不容易逃出监狱，故选A。
小题3:段落结构题。根据No prisoner was ever officially reported to have successfully escaped.可知第五段主要举例来证明囚犯不容易逃出监狱这个观点，故选B。
小题4:推理判断题。根据短文Each year, more than one million people visit Alcatraz to see the prisoners’ cells and listen to stories about the jail’s history.可知这里成了人们的旅游胜地，故选A。
核心考点
试题【While we are on the subject of crime, our listener question this week comes from】；主要考察你对题材分类等知识点的理解。[详细]
举一反三
However, the celebration of Mother’s Day is not the recent thing that many believe it to be. It was the ancient Greeks who started the tradition by celebrating their annual spring festival in honor of Rhea, the mother of many gods and goddesses.
Later, in the 1600s, Mothering Sunday came to be celebrated in England. On the fourth Sunday of Lent (大斋期), children brought flowers and special fruitcakes to show their respect for their mothers. It may be the root of the modern Mother’s Day.
Thanks to the great efforts of Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis, Mother’s Day became an official festival in the US. It is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Later, many countries began to celebrate this day as Mother’s Day.
Today, Mother’s Day is an international festival honoring mothers. It is celebrated all over the world in different ways. In Western countries，the most common way is to treat mothers with breakfast in bed .Kids often allow their mothers to sleep till late in the morning while they prepare her favorite breakfast with their fathers. Some also make handmade gifts or buy beautiful carnations (康乃馨). It is the day when you acknowledge your mothers contribution in your life and pay a tribute (礼品) to her, often with flowers and gifts. It complements Father’s Day, the celebration honoring fathers.
Today, Mother’s Day is a day celebrated on various days in many places around the world.
小题1:Why do people across the world celebrate Mother’s Day?
| A．Because they want to express thanks and send best wishes to their mothers. |
| B．Because they want to express thanks and send best wishes to Rhea. |
| C．Because Mother’s Day is an official festival in the US. |
| D．Because Mother’s Day is an international festival. |
| A．Greece | B．China | C．America | D．England |
| A．Rhea is the mother of many gods and goddesses of England |
| B．many people wrongly believe Mother’s Day has a short history |
| C．in America Mother’s day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent |
| D．on Mother’s day fathers have to get up early to prepare breakfast |
| A．how to celebrate Mother’s day |
| B．what to do on Mother’s day |
| C．the historical change of Mother’s day |
| D．the meaning of Mother’s day |
The first regularly published newspaper in English was printed in Amsterdam in 1620. In 1621, an English newspaper was started in London and was published once a week. The first daily English newspaper was Daily Current, which came out in March 1702.
In 1690, Benjamin Harris printed the first American newspaper in Boston. But not long after it was first published, the government stopped the paper. In 1704, John Campbell started Boston Newspaper, the first newspaper published daily in the American Colonies. By 1760, the colonies had had more than thirty daily newspapers. There are now about 1,800 daily papers in the United States.
Today, as a group, English language newspapers have the largest circulation in the world. But the largest circulation for a newspaper is that of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. It sells more than eleven million copies every year.
小题1:The first regularly printed European newspaper was started ______.
| A．in Rome in 59 BC | B．in Germany in 1609 |
| C．in Amsterdam in 1620 | D．in England in 1621 |
| A．1702 | B．1760 | C．1620 | D．1621 |
A. The earliest daily printed newspaper was started in Rome in 59 BC.
B. The first regularly published English newspaper was printed in Boston.
C. The first daily English newspaper was printed in the American Colonies.
D. The first American newspaper was stopped before 1704.
小题4:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage_______?
A. Newspapers have the longest history in the United States.
B. One English language newspaper has the largest circulation in the world.
C. The first English newspaper was printed in Rome in 59 BC.
D. There are all kinds of newspapers all over the world today.
小题5:What is the best title of the passage_______?
| A．History of newspapers. |
| B．History of daily newspapers. |
| C．The beginning of daily newspapers. |
| D．The beginning of newspapers. |
Some of the pyramids still look as much alike as they must have been when they were built thousands of years ago. Most of the damage suffered by the others has been at the hands of men who were looking for treasure or, more often, for stones to use in modern buildings. The dry climate of Egypt has helped to keep the pyramids in good condition, and their very shape has made them less likely to fall into ruin. These are good reasons why they can still be seen today, but perhaps the most important is that they were planned to last forever.
The “Step” pyramid had to be on the west side of the Nile, the side on which the sun sets. This was for spiritual reasons. It also had to stand well above the level of the river to protect it against the regular floods. It could not be too far from the Nile, however, as the stones to build it needed to be carried in boats down the river to the nearest point. Water transport was, of course, much easier than land transport. The builders also had to find a rock base, which was not likely to crack(破裂)under the great weight of the pyramid. Finally, it had to be near the capital, or better still near the king’s palace so that he could visit it easily to personally check the progress being made on the final resting place for his body.
小题1:According to the passage, the “Step” pyramid .
| A．is unlikely to fall into ruin in the near future |
| B．was built on the sand along the Nile |
| C．is one that was built later than the true pyramids |
| D．is the most famous of the true pyramids |
| A．people have taken good care of them |
| B．it doesn’t rain often in Egypt |
| C．they were well designed |
| D．the government has protected them from damage |
| A．the regular floods |
| B．the dry climate of Egypt |
| C．people searching for gold |
| D．people in search of building materials |
| A．they believed in their god |
| B．it was difficult to find a large rock base far from the Nile |
| C．the river helped a lot in the transport of building materials |
| D．it was not easy to choose a suitable place for the pyramids |
Loewi"s experiment gives some insight into using dreams to produce creative solutions.Inhibitions (拘谨) are reduced during dreaming，which may be especially useful in solving problems that require a fresh point of view.
Being able to take advantage of dreams for problem solving is improved if you “set” yourself before retiring.Before you go to bed，try to think intently about a problem you wish to solve.Bury yourself in the problem by stating it clearly and reviewing all relevant information.Then use the suggestions listed in the previous section to catch your dreams.Although this method is not guaranteed to produce a novel solution or a new insight，it is certain to be an adventure.About half of a group of college students using the method for a week recalled a dream that helped them solve a personal problem.
小题1:The main idea of this passage is that ________.
| A．very little is really known about the meaning of dreams |
| B．it is possible to “catch” one"s dreams by planning before going to sleep |
| C．dreams can be useful in producing creative solutions to one"s problems |
| D．Loewi"s experiment helped in the study of transmision of nerve impulses |
| A．classifying types of experiments |
| B．summarizing the work of one researcher |
| C．comparing and exploring historical cases |
| D．telling in time order about one man"s research |
| A．asked someone else to do it |
| B．thought it was a bad idea |
| C．tried it out on his own |
| D．thought it was a wise idea |
| A．Loewi should not have conducted his experiment |
| B．dreaming is of very little value to most people |
| C．inhibitions may stop someone thinking of useful ideas |
| D．college students should not try out dream experiments |
注意：每个空格只填一个单词。
Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity per hour is the same in the United States as it
is in France, Spain, and Germany, and it is growing at a similar speed.
In most countries and at most times in history, as people have become richer they have chosen to work less.
In other words, they have decided to "spend" a part of their extra income on a fuller personal life. Over the last
fifty years Europeans have continued this pattern, and hours of work have fallen sharply. But this is not true in
the United States. One reason may be lower taxes in America, which increase the rewards to work. Another
may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.
Longer hours do of course increase the GDP (国内生产总值). The United States has more of its people at
work, while in France many more mothers and older workers have decided to stay at home. The overall result
is that America"s GDP per head is 40% higher than in France, even though productivity per hour is the same.
It"s not clear which of the two situations is better. It is too early to explain the different trends in happiness
over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the United States happiness has made no
progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life
balance?