备考2020年高考英语二轮专题复习：阅读理解（真题）

A

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
		1000 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10028 211-535-7710 www.metmuseum.org Entrances Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street Hours Open 7 days a week. Sunday-Thursday 10:00-17:30 Friday and Saturday 10:00-21:00 Closed Thanksgiving Day, December 25, January 1,and the first Monday in May.
Admission $25.00 recommended for adults, $12.00 recommended for students, includes the Main Building and The Cloisters(回廊）on the same day; free for children under 12 with an adult. Free with Admission All special exhibitions, as well as films, lectures, guided tours, concerts, gallery talks, and family/children's programs are free with admission. Ask about today's activities at the Great Hall Information Desk.
	The Cloisters Museum and Gardens     The Cloisters museum and gardens is a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of Europe in the Middle Ages. The extensive collection consists of masterworks in sculpture, colored glass, and precious objects from Europe dating from about the 9th to the 15th century.
Hours: Open 7 days a week. March-October10:00-17:15 November-February 10:00-16:45 Closed Thanksgiving Day, December 25, and January 1.

B

    In the 1760s, Mathurin Roze opened a series of shops that boasted(享有）a special meat soup called consomme. Although the main attraction was the soup, Roze's chain shops also set a new standard for dining out, which helped to establish Roze as the inventor of the modern restaurant.

    Today, scholars have generated large amounts of instructive research about restaurants. Take visual hints that influence what we eat: diners served themselves about 20 percent more pasta(意大利面食）when their plates matched their food.  When a dark-colored cake was served on a black plate rather than a white one, customers recognized it as sweeter and more tasty.

    Lighting matters, too. When Berlin restaurant customers ate in darkness, they couldn't tell how much they'd had: those given extra-large shares ate more than everyone else, but were none the wiser—they didn't feel fuller, and they were just as ready for dessert.

    Time is money, but that principle means different things for different types of restaurants. Unlike fast-food places, fine dining shops prefer customers to stay longer and spend. One way to encourage customers to stay and order that extra round: put on some Mozart(莫扎特）.When classical, rather than pop, music was playing, diners spent more. Fast music hurried diners out. Particular scents also have an effect: diners who got the scent of lavender(薰衣草）stayed longer and spent more than those who smelled lemon, or no scent.

    Meanwhile, things that you might expect to discourage spending—"bad" tables, crowding, high prices — don't necessarily. Diners at bad tables — next to the kitchen door, say — spent nearly as much as others but soon fled. It can be concluded that restaurant keepers need not "be overly concerned about 'bad' tables," given that they're profitable. As for crowds, a Hong Kong study found that they increased a restaurant's reputation, suggesting great food at fair prices. And doubling a buffet's price led customers to say that its pizza was 11 percent tastier.

D

    Children as young as ten are becoming dependent on social media for their sense of self-worth, a major study warned.

    It found many youngsters(少年）now measure their status by how much public approval they get online, often through "like". Some change their behavior in real life to improve their image on the web.

    The report into youngsters aged from 8 to 12 was carried out by Children's Commissioner (专员）Anne Longfield. She said social media firms were exposing children to major emotional risks, with some youngsters starting secondary school ill-equipped to cope with the tremendous pressure they faced online.

    Some social apps were popular among the children even though they supposedly require users to be at least 13.The youngsters admitted planning trips around potential photo-opportunities and then messaging friends—and friends of friends — to demand "likes" for their online posts.

    The report found that youngsters felt their friendships could be at risk if they did not respond to social media posts quickly, and around the clock.

    Children aged 8 to 10 were "starting to feel happy" when others liked their posts. However, those in the 10 to 12 age group were "concerned with how many people like their posts", suggesting a "need" for social recognition that gets stronger the older they become.

    Miss Longfield warned that a generation of children risked growing up "worried about their appearance and image as a result of the unrealistic lifestyles they follow on platforms, and increasingly anxious about switching off due to the constant demands of social media.

    She said: "Children are using social media with family and friends and to play games when they are in primary school. But what starts as fun usage of apps turns into tremendous pressure in real social media interaction at secondary school."

    As their world expanded, she said, children compared themselves to others online in a way that was "hugely damaging in terms of their self-identity, in terms of their confidence, but also in terms of their ability to develop themselves".

    Miss Longfield added: "Then there is this push to connect—if you go offline, will you miss something, will you miss out, will you show that you don't care about those people you are following, all of those come together in a huge way at once."

    "For children it is very, very difficult to cope with emotionally." The Children's Commissioner for England's study—life in Likes—found that children as young as 8 were using social media platforms largely for play.

    However, the research—involving eight groups of 32 children aged 8 to 12—suggested that as they headed toward their teens, they became increasingly anxious online.

    By the time they started secondary school—at age 11—children were already far more aware of their image online and felt under huge pressure to ensure their posts were popular, the report found.

    However, they still did not know how to cope with mean-spirited jokes, or the sense of incompetence they might feel if they compared themselves to celebrities(名人）or more brilliant friends online. The report said they also faced pressure to respond to messages at all hours of the day—especially at secondary school when more youngsters have mobile phones.

    The Children's Commissioner said schools and parents must now do more to prepare children for the emotional minefield(雷区）they faced online. And she said social media companies must also "take more responsibility". They should either monitor their websites better so that children do not sign up too early, or they should adjust their websites to the needs of younger users.

    Javed Khan, of children's charity Bamardo's, said: "It's vital that new compulsory age-appropriate relationship and sex education lessons in England should help equip children to deal with the growing demands of social media.

    "It's also hugely important for parents to know which apps their children are using."

Need a Job This Summer?

    The provincial government and its partners offer many programs to help students find summer jobs. The deadlines and what you need to apply depend on the program.

    Not a student? Go to the government website to learn about programs and online tools available to help people under 30 build skills, find a job or start businesses all year round.

    Jobs for Youth

    If you are a teenager living in certain parts of the province, you could be eligible(符合条件)for this program. Which provides eight weeks of paid employment along with training.

    Who is eligible: Youth 15-18 years old in select communities(社区).

    Summer Company

    Summer Company provides students with hands-on business training and awards of up to $3,000 to start and run their own summer businesses.

    Who is eligible: Students aged 15-29, returning to school in the fall.

    Stewardship Youth Ranger Program

    You could apply to be a Stewardship Youth Ranger and work on local natural resource management projects for eight weeks this summer.

    Who is eligible: Students aged 16 or 17 at time of hire, but not turning 18 before December 31 this year.

    Summer Employment Opportunities(机会)

    Through the Summer Employment Opportunities program, students are hired each year in a variety of summer positions across the Provincial Public Service, its related agencies and community groups.

    Who is eligible: Students aged 15 or older. Some positions require students to be 15 to 24 or up to 29 for persons with a disability.

    For Canaan Elementary's second grade in Patchogue, N.Y., today is speech day, and right now it's Chris Palaez's turn. The 8-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.

    But he's, nervous. "I'm here to tell you today why you should … should…"Chris trips on the "-ld," a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas Whaley, is next to him, whispering support."…Vote for …me …"Except for some stumbles, Chris is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Whaley invites the rest of the class to praise him.

    A son of immigrants, Chris stared learning English a little over three years ago. Whaley recalls(回想起)how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Chris would excuse himself to go to the bathroom.

    Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great teacher who lets you make mistakes. "It takes a lot for any student," Whaley explains, "especially for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, 'I don't know, but I want to know.'"

    Whaley got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer broke his heart. Whaley says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in public. He wants these kids to learn to boast(夸耀)about themselves.

    "Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities," Whaley says, "is very difficult for a child who came into the classroom not feeling confident."

    As data and identity theft becomes more and more common, the market is growing for biometric(生物测量)technologies—like fingerprint scans—to keep others out of private e-spaces. At present, these technologies are still expensive, though.

    Researchers from Georgia Tech say that they have come up with a low-cost device(装置)that gets around this problem: a smart keyboard. This smart keyboard precisely measures the cadence(节奏)with which one types and the pressure fingers apply to each key. The keyboard could offer a strong layer of security by analyzing things like the force of a user's typing and the time between key presses. These patterns are unique to each person. Thus, the keyboard can determine people's identities, and by extension, whether they should be given access to the computer it's connected to—regardless of whether someone gets the password right.

    It also doesn't require a new type of technology that people aren't already familiar with. Everybody uses a keyboard and everybody types differently.

    In a study describing the technology, the researchers had 100 volunteers type the word "touch" four times using the smart keyboard. Data collected from the device could be used to recognize different participants based on how they typed, with very low error rates. The researchers say that the keyboard should be pretty straightforward to commercialize and is mostly made of inexpensive, plastic-like parts. The team hopes to make it to market in the near future.

    During the rosy years of elementary school(小学), I enjoyed sharing my dolls and jokes, which allowed me to keep my high social status. I was the queen of the playground. Then came my tweens and teens, and mean girls and cool kids. They rose in the ranks not by being friendly but by smoking cigarettes, breaking rules and playing jokes on others, among whom I soon found myself.

    Popularity is a well-explored subject in social psychology. Mitch Prinstein, a professor of clinical psychology sorts the popular into two categories: the likable and the status seekers. The likables' plays-well-with-others qualities strengthen schoolyard friendships, jump-start interpersonal skills and, when tapped early, are employed ever after in life and work. Then there's the kind of popularity that appears in adolescence: status born of power and even dishonorable behavior.

    Enviable as the cool kids may have seemed, Dr. Prinstein's studies show unpleasant consequences. Those who were highest in status in high school, as well as those least liked in elementary school, are "most likely to engage(从事)in dangerous and risky behavior."

    In one study, Dr. Prinstein examined the two types of popularity in 235 adolescents, scoring the least liked, the most liked and the highest in status based on student surveys(调查研究). "We found that the least well-liked teens had become more aggressive over time toward their classmates. But so had those who were high in status. It clearly showed that while likability can lead to healthy adjustment, high status has just the opposite effect on us."

    Dr. Prinstein has also found that the qualities that made the neighbors want you on a play date-sharing, kindness, openness — carry over to later years and make you better able to relate and connect with others.

    In analyzing his and other research, Dr. Prinstein came to another conclusion: Not only is likability related to positive life outcomes, but it is also responsible for those outcomes, too. "Being liked creates opportunities for learning and for new kinds of life experiences that help somebody gain an advantage," he said.

My Favourite Books

    Jo Usmar is a writer for Cosmopolitan and co-author of the This Book Will series（系列）of lifestyle books. Here she picks her top reads.

    Matilda

    Roald Dahl

    I once wrote a paper on the influence of fairy tales on Roald Dahl's writing and it gave me a new appreciation for his strange and delightful words. Matilda's battles with her cruel parents and the bossy headmisres, Miss Trunchbull, are equally funny and frightening, but they're also aspirational.

    After Dark

    Haruki Murakami

    It's about two sisters-Eri, a model who either won't or can't stop sleeping, and Mari, a young student. In trying to connect to her sister. Mari starts changing her life and discovers a world of diverse "night people" who are hiding secrets.

    Gone Girl

    Gillian Fynn

    There was a bit of me that didn't want to love this when everyone else on the planet did but the horror story is brilliant. There's tension and anxiety from the beginning as Nick and Amy battle for your trust. It's a real whodunit and the frustration when you realise what's going on is horribly enjoyable

    The Stand

    Stephen King

    This is an excellent fantasy novel from one of the best storytellers around. After a serious flu outbreak wipes out 99.4% of the world's population, a battle unfolds between good and evil among those let. Randall Flagg is one of the scariest characters ever.

    “You can use me as a last resort（选择）, and if nobody else volunteers, then I will do it.” This was an actual reply from a parent after I put out a request for volunteers for my kids lacrosse（长曲棍球）club.

    I guess that there's probably some demanding work schedule, or social anxiety around stepping up to help for an unknown sport. She may just need a little persuading. So I try again and tug at the heartstrings. I mention the single parent with four kids running the show and I talk about the dad coaching a team that his kids aren't even on … At this point the unwilling parent speaks up,“Alright. Yes, I'll do it.”

    I'm secretly relieved because I know there's real power in sharing volunteer responsibilities among many. The unwilling parent organizes the meal schedule, sends out emails, and collects money for end-of-season gifts. Somewhere along the way, the same parent ends up becoming an invaluable member of the team. The coach is able to focus on the kids while the other parents are relieved to be off the hook for another season. Handing out sliced oranges to bloodthirsty kids can be as exciting as watching your own kid score a goal.

    Still, most of us volunteers breathe a sigh of relief when the season comes to a close. That relief is coupled with a deep understanding of why the same people keep coming back for more: Connecting to the community（社区）as you freely give your time, money, skills, or services provides a real joy. Volunteering just feels so good.

    In that sense, I'm pretty sure volunteering is more of a selfish act than I'd freely like to admit. However, if others benefit in the process, and I get some reward too, does it really matter where my motivation lies?

    Marian Bechtel sits at West Palm Beach's Bar Louie counter by herself, quietly reading her e-book as she waits for her salad. What is she reading? None of your business! Lunch is Bechtel's "me" time. And like more Americans, she's not alone.

    A new report found 46 percent of meals are eaten alone in America. More than half（53 percent）have breakfast alone and nearly half（46 percent）have lunch by themselves. Only at dinnertime are we eating together anymore, 74 percent, according to statistics from the report.

    "I prefer to go out and be out. Alone, but together, you know？"Bechtel said, looking up from her book. Bechtel, who works in downtown West Palm Beach, has lunch with coworkers sometimes, but like many of us, too often works through lunch at her desk. A lunchtime escape allows her to keep a boss from tapping her on the shoulder. She returns to work feeling energized. "Today, I just wanted some time to myself, "she said.
    Just two seats over, Andrew Mazoleny, a local videographer, is finishing his lunch at the bar. He likes that he can sit and check his phone in peace or chat up the barkeeper with whom he's on a first-name basis if he wants to have a little interaction（交流）. "I reflect on how my day's gone and think about the rest of the week," he said. "It's a chance for self-reflection, You return to work recharged and with a plan."

    That freedom to choose is one reason more people like to eat alone. There was a time when people may have felt awkward about asking for a table for one, but those days are over. Now, we have our smartphones to keep us company at the table. "It doesn't feel as alone as it may have before al the advances in technology," said Laurie Demerit, whose company provided the statistics for the report.