高考英语快速阅读训练（2）
(A) (Words: 290; Time: 5')
Picture the scene: the battery on your mobile phone has run out. You can't make any calls for help and no one can contact you. You are all alone-well, not quite. Just reach into your pocket and take out a piece of sugar. Put it into the battery, wait a minute, and you are back on the phone.
Thanks to a group of American scientists, this situation could become real. Swadesh Chaud Huri and Derek Lovley have invented the "bacteria battery" powered by bacteria that eats sugar and turns it into electricity.
"This is a special organism," Lovley said. "You can harvest enough electricity to power a cell phone battery for about four hours from a spoonful of sugar."
In the past, bacteria batteries have been expensive and long-lasting. But this battery uses a more efficient bacteria that can turn 80 percent of sugar into electrical energy. This is 30 percent more than similar batteries can manage.
The bacteria battery could become as small as a household battery. It's also cheap and stable, as sugar can be taken from waste and crops.
But the sugar to electricity process is slow. It could take weeks for the bacteria to digest a cup of sugar. And it produces "greenhouse" gases which pollute the environment.
The scientists understand there's a lot more work to do. "It is still young," said Lovley. "Where we are now is where solar power was 20 or 30 years ago."
But he believe the battery could be used in scientific equipment at the bottom of the ocean. Other ideas include using sugar in the blood to run medical devices in the human body, and taking sugar from animal waste to provide energy to power homes in rural areas.
1. The underlined sentence in the passage means ________ .
A. this invention still has much to be improved
B. we've used solar power for 20 or 30 years
C. solar power is out of date
D. we produce electricity from sugar in the same way as from solar power
2. Which of the following is already a fact?
A. The bacteria battery has been invented.
B. You make calls with the electricity made from sugar in a minute.
C. The bacteria battery has been made as small as a household battery.
D. The bacteria battery has been used to run medical devices in the human body.
3. Compared with new bacteria batteries, similar batteries can turn ________ percent of sugar into electrical energy.
A. 80 B. 30 C. 50 D. 100
4. The writer writes the passage to ________ .
A. call on people to protect the environment
B. introduce a new product
C. make an ad for a new product
D. save energy
(B) (Words: 258; Time: 5')
It has been said that all Africans are born with musical talent. Because music is so important in the lives of many Africans and because so much music is performed in Africa, we probably think that all Africans are musicians. The impression is strengthened when we look at ourselves and find that we have become largely a society of musical spectators. Music is important to us, but most of us can be considered consumers rather than producers of music. We have recorders, TV, concerts and radio to meet many of our musical needs. In most situations where music is performed in our culture it's not difficult to tell the spectators from the performers, but such is often not the case in Africa. Ablan Ayipaga, a Kasena musician from northern Ghana, says that when his flute and drum group is performing, "Anybody can take part." This is true, but Kasena musicians recognize that not all people are equally able to take part in the music. Some can sing along with the drummers, but few can drum and even fewer can play the flute with the group. It's fairly common in Africa for there to be a group of expert musicians surrounded by others who join in by clapping, singing, or somehow adding to the totality of musical sound. Performances often take place in an open area (that is, not on a stage) and so the lines between the performing actors and the additional performers, active spectators and passive spectators may be difficult to draw from our point of view.
5. The difference between us and Africans, as far as music is concerned, is that ________ .
A. most of us are performers while most of them are producers of arts
B. we are musical performers and they are expert musicians
C. most of them are active spectators while most of us are passive spectators
D. we are the spectators while they are passive performers
6. The underlined word such in the passage refers to the fact that ________ .
A. music is performed with spectators joining in
B. music is performed without spectators joining in
C. people try to tell the spectators from the performers
D. people have recorders, TV, concerts and radio to meet their musical needs
7. The writer writes the passage to tell us that ________ .
A. all Africans are musicians and there fore much music is performed in Africa
B. not all Africans are born with musical talent though much music is performed in Africa
C. most Africans are able to join in the music by playing musical instruments
D. most Africans perform as well as expert musicians
8. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. All Africans are born musicians.
B. Most Africans don't do very well in playing the musical instruments along with the performers.
C. African expert musicians never perform in the open air.
D. It's difficult to tell the spectators from the performers in Africa.
9. The best title for the passage would be ________ .
A. The Importance of Music to Africans
B. Differences Between African Music and Other Music of Other Countries
C. The Relationship Between African Music and Other Music of Other Countries
D. Differences Between African Musical Performances and Ours
key:
1-4 AACB 5-9 CBBDD