2016公共英語二級閲讀理解考試真題及答案

　　閲讀理解

閲讀下列短文，從每題所給的A、B、C.和D.四個選項中，選出最佳選項，並在答題卡上將該項塗黑。

　　Text 1

The first time I heard the actual London Bridge was in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, I thought it was a joke. A stupid joke at that. I mean, what sort of moron would take a perfectly good, perfectly famous bridge and move it halfway around the world to some no-name town in northwest Arizona? Back in 1962 when all this started, Lake Havasu City was nothing. A couple of shops, a couple of homes, and no tourism at all.

It turns out Robert McCulloch is the moron in question, and he wasn' t quite the moron I thought he was. His 2.45 million dollar investment( 投資 ) in the 130-year-old bridge--which the British government was selling because it was about to fall into the Thames (泰晤士河)--ended up being the investment of a lifetime. You see McCulloch was a real businessman, among other things, and his money paid off big. He turned Lake Havasu into one of the most visited tourist at- tractions in Arizona.

It took nine long years to take down the bridge, ship it brick by brick to the middle of no- where, and build it up again. When it finally did open up in 1971, it was a huge deal covered by the international press.

The bridge is now a popular tourist attraction, and there' s even a mini "English Village" at the foot of the bridge with souvenirs( 紀念品 ) and real British food so you can have a good old time.

Nowadays Lake Havasu is a busy town with a population of about 56,000 citizens and another2.5 million visitors each year. Most of that is during spring break when the town overflows with energetic boys and girls. Even MTV and the Girls Gone Wild people get in on the action. All thanks to that little bridge.

I don' t know about you, but I' m saving my pennies. When the French get sick of that Eiffel tower, I' ll be the first to put money on it. It' ll look great in my backyard.

56. The underlined word "moron" in the first paragraph means________.

A. a brave person

B. a foolish person

C. a famous person

D. a strange person

57. Why did the British government put the London Bridge up for sale?

A. It polluted the Thames.

B. It was no longer popular.

C. It was going to fall down.

D. It could bring them the needed money.

58. What was Lake Havasu City like before 19627________.

A. It was a good place for investment.

B. It was known for its English Village.

C. It was a small town with no tourism.

D. It had a population of 56,000 citizens.

the last paragraph, the author tries to be________.

A. polite

B. friendly

C. practical

D. humorous

　　參考譯文

第一次聽説真正的倫敦塔橋是在美國的亞利桑那州的哈瓦索湖城，我認為這是一個笑話。一個非常愚蠢的笑話。我的意思是一座完美絕倫的著名塔橋怎麼會從倫敦被移至有半個地球之遠的美國西北部的亞利桑那州——還是一個沒有什麼名氣的小鎮，這是多麼傻的一個人!追溯至l962年，哈瓦索湖城不名一文，當時只是一個只有幾家商店，幾户人家，根本談不上旅遊的一個小鎮。

事實證明，羅伯特·麥卡洛克在這件事情上並不是我當初所認為的那樣——是一個花了245萬美元買下了這座擁有l30年曆史的塔橋的傻子。因為當初的倫敦塔橋快要沉入泰晤士河.所以英國政府決定出售它。從這件事上，你就會發現麥卡洛克是一個真正的商人，他的投資得到巨大的回報。他把哈瓦索湖城變成了亞利桑那州的一個最有吸引力的旅遊景點之一。

拆卸倫敦塔橋用了9年的時間，隨後用船裝運每一塊磚石抵達哈瓦索湖城，倫敦塔橋在那兒重新建起，工程於1971年結束。這起事件曾被國際新聞大肆報道。

現在位於哈瓦索湖城的倫敦塔橋是一個很受歡迎的旅遊景點，在大橋的底端還有一座迷你的“英國村”，在那兒你可以買到紀念品，甚至能品嚐到地道的英國菜，你還可以度過一段懷舊的快樂時光。

如今，哈瓦索湖城已成為一座擁有5.6萬市民的繁華小鎮，每年都有250萬名遊客到此旅遊。尤其是每年春假期間，鎮中到處都是青春洋溢的年輕遊客。甚至狂野女孩的MTV也在此拍攝。所有這一切都歸功於這座倫敦塔橋。

我不瞭解你，但是我是一個節儉之人。但是如果法國人對埃菲爾鐵塔厭煩想出售的話，我會是第一個出錢買下它的人，從而使它在我的後花園裏大發光彩。

　　答案與解析

56.B【精析】語義題。題幹意為“在第一段中，加下劃線的單詞moron是什麼意思?”。根據上下文和常識，我們知道倫敦塔橋是屬於英國的，怎麼可能在美國的亞利桑那州出現呢，這是多麼傻的一個人。故B正確。

57.C【精析】細節題。題幹意為“為什麼英國政府要出售倫敦塔橋?”。根據第二段第二句中間部分表述：英國政府因為倫敦塔橋沉陷，所以出售。在文中可以找到原句。故C正確。

58.C【精析】細節題。題幹意為“1962年前哈瓦索湖城是什麼樣子的?”。根據第一段的最後一句話可以得知，當時只有幾家商店、幾户人家，沒有旅遊業。故C正確。

59.D 【精析】推理題。題千意為“最後一段作者試圖表現得________。”。根據最後一段，我們可以看出作者非常幽默，法國人不可能對菲爾鐵塔厭煩，還有個人也沒有那麼多錢去購買埃菲爾鐵塔，這一切都是作者的想象和幽默。故D正確。

　　Text 2

Studies over the past decade at the University of Utah show that hands-free cellphones are just as harmful to drivers as hand-held ones because it is the conversation, not the phone, that is distracting(分散) their attention. "Even though your eyes are looking right at something, when you are on the cellphone, you are not as likely to see it," says Professor David Strayer. "Ninety- nine percent of the time, it' s not that critical(危機的), but that 1% could be the time a child runs into the street," he adds.

Dr. Strayer' s studies have also found that talking on a cellphone is far more distracting than talking with a passenger. Listening to the radio, to music or to a book on tape also isn' t as distracting, because it doesn' t require the same level of interaction as a conversation. But even drivers may miss some details of a book on tape if their attention is focused on driving tasks. some people can train themselves to pay extra attention to things that are important--like police officers learn to search faces in crowds.

And the Utah researchers have found a rare group of "super-taskers"--about 2.5 % of the pop-ulation--who seem able to attend to more than one thing with ease.

Many more people think they can effectively do several things at the same time, but they are really turning their attention rapidly between two things and not getting the full effect of either. Clearly, it is easier to put some tasks together than others. "Not all distractions are the same," says Dr. Strayer. Things like cleaning and working out can be done automatically(自動的) while the mind is focused elsewhere. But doing homework and texting at the same time isn' t possible. Even talking and watching TV is difficult. "Just try talking with your wife while watching football. It' s impossible," jokes Dr. Strayer.

60. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A. The harm in using phones while driving.

B. The advantages of hand-held phones.

C. The danger of running in the street.

D. The causes of road accidents.

61. What does the example of police officers in Paragraph 2 show?A. Searching for faces require more attention than driving.

B. Talking to a crowd calls for a high level of attention.C. one' s attention can be easily distracted in crowds.

D. The ability to attend to two tasks can be trained.

62. "Super-taskers" can be best described as people who can________.

A. do several things effectively at the same time

B. turn their attention rapidly to two things

C. handle all difficult tasks with ease

D. pay full attention to one task

h of the following can you do while talking on the phone?

g homework.

B. Writing a letter.

C. Working out.

D. Watching TV.

　　參考譯文

在過去的十年中，猶他州大學進行的一項研究表明：司機開車時，免提電話和手拿電話對司機的危害一樣大，因為分散他們注意力的不是是否手拿手機，而是電話內容。大衞·斯特雷耶教授説：“當你接電話時，即使你的眼睛是看着某個物體的，但是你的注意力不在，所以你視若無睹。…‘也就是説，在你接電話的99%的時間裏都是不危急的，但是還有1%的時間恰好是一個孩子衝向馬路的時間。”他補充道。

斯特雷耶教授的研究還發現打電話時所分散的注意力遠遠超過和乘客講話時所分散的注意力。在開車時聽收音機、音樂或者聽磁帶評書也比不上打電話時所分散的注意力，因為這些活動不需要像打電話那樣互動。當然，司機集中精力開車時，也可能會錯過一些評書細節。有一些人通過訓練能夠分出額外的注意力在一些重要的事情上——警官們就學會了邊開車邊在人羣中尋找目標。

猶他州大學的調查者們發現了一小羣“超級任務者”——約佔人口2.5%，這類人能夠很輕鬆地把注意力放在幾件事情上。

很多人認為他們能在同一時間有效地做幾件事，實際上是他們的注意力在這幾件事情上快速轉換，而不是在每一件事情上能同時投入全部注意力。顯然，把一些任務放在一起注意比其他方法更容易。斯特雷耶教授説：“不是所有干擾都是一樣的。”當你的注意力在其他事情上時，也能自動地做像打掃衞生和鍛鍊這樣的事情。但是同時既做家庭作業和測試是不可能的。甚至邊講話邊看電視也是一件困難的事。“你只要試試在看足球比賽時和妻子講話，你就會發現這是不可能辦到。”斯特雷耶教授開玩笑説道。

　　答案與解析

60.A【精析】主旨題。題幹意為“第一段主要講什麼?”。從文章第一段第一句話可以看出，這是一句主題句，概述了第一段的內容：開車打電話是有危險的。故A正確。

61.D【精析】推理題。題幹意為“第二段中警官的例子説明什麼?”。從文章第二段最後一句話“some people can train themselves to payextra attention to things that are important--like police officers learnto search faces in crowds.”可以得知，這種能力是通過“train them—selves”獲得的。故D正確。

62.A【精析】推理題。題幹意為“ers最適合被描述成能幹什麼的人?”。從文章內容來看，在第三段“seem able to attend tomore than one thing with ease”，有能力輕鬆地把注意力放在幾件事情上的人。放A正確。

63.C【精析】推理題。題幹意為“在你講電話時能做哪件事?”。從文章最後一段的第四句可知，當你的注意力在其他事情上時，也能自動地做像打掃衞生和鍛鍊這樣的事情。故C正確。

　　Text3

Young women who take part in beauty contests(比賽) are helping to keep alive an outdated o-pinion of women : that a woman' s most important value is how she looks.

Women have been working very hard through the years to change their image (形象). They have been trying to prove that the value of a woman does not lie only in her beauty. The world is just beginning to recognize that women are as smart, wise and strong in personality as men are, and that there are qualities more important than looks when judging people. When women take part in beauty contests for top prizes, they encourage people to value them for their beauty alone. It is un- fair to say that beauty alone determines one' s worth.

Beauty contests not only encourage spectators(觀眾) to judge women by their appearance, but they encourage this idea in the contestants as well. These young women spend months losing weight to be the "right" size and learning how to dress, wear makeup, and walk just right so that some judges will consider them beautiful. I think it' s great for a woman to feel good about her appear- ance, but looks shouldn't be sought after in an extreme or unreasonable way. There are too many other, more important, things in a young woman' s life: learning, developing friendships and preparing for their future work and perhaps a family.

As long as there are beauty contests, women won't be fully recognized as well-rounded human beings.

64. According to the text, women have tried to change their image by_______.

A. proving they are as good as men

B. paying attention to their clothes

C. winning more beauty contests

D. encouraging people to value their beauty

65. What do women usually do in preparation for beauty contests?

A. Leam about their personality.

B. Do everything for their bodies.

C. Choose the right size dresses.

D. Develop friendship with spectators.

can we infer from the text?

A. Looks determine everything.

B. Wisdom carries much weight.

C. Spectators should have their voices heard.

D. Qualities other than looks are more important.

67. According to the author, beauty contests are

A. disrespectful to womenB. unpleasant to contestants

C. necessary for modem society D. helpful in improving women' s image