上海市各区2018届高三英语二模试卷分类汇编：阅读理解
A
If a diver surfaces too quickly, he may suffer the bends. Nitrogen(氦)dissolved in his blood is suddenly liberated by the reduction of pressure. The consequence, if the bubbles accumulate(累积) In a joint,, is sharp pain and a bent body—thus the name. If the bubbles form in his lungs or his brain, the consequence can be death.
Other air-breathing animals also suffer this decompression (减压) sickness if they surface too fast: whales, for example. And so, long ago, did ichthyosaurs(鱼龙).
That these ancient sea animals got the bends can be seen from their bones. If bubbles of nitrogen form inside the bone they can cut off its blood supply. This kills the cells in the bone, and consequently weakens it, sometimes to the point of collapse. Fossil bones that have caved in on themselves are thus a sign that the animal once had the bends.
Bruce Rothschild of the University of Kansas knew all this when he began a study of ichthyosaur bones to find out how widespread the problem was in the past. What he particularly wanted to investigate was how ichthyosaurs adapted to the problem of decompression over the 150 million years. To this end, he and his colleagues traveled the world's natural-history museums, looking at hundreds of ichthyosaurs from the Triassic period and from the later Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
When he started, he assumed that signs of the bends would be rarer in younger fossils, reflecting their gradual evolution of measures to deal with decompression. Instead, he was astonished to discover the opposite. More than 15% of Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosaurs had suffered the bends before they died, but not a single Triassic specimen(标本)showed evidence of that sort of injury.
If ichthyosaurs did evolve an anti-decompression means, they clearly did so quickly-and, most strangely, they lost it afterwards. But that is not what Dr. Rothschild thinks happened. He suspects it was evolution in other animals that caused the change.
Whales that suffer the bends often do so because they have surfaced to escape a predator (掠食性动物) such as a large shark. One of the features of Jurassic oceans was an abundance of large sharks and crocodiles, both of which were fond of ichthyosaur lunches. Triassic oceans, by contrast, were mercifully shark and crocodile-free. In the Triassic, then, ichthyosaurs were top of the food chain. In the Jurassic and Cretaceous, they were prey (猎物)as well as predator—and often had to make a speedy exit as a result.
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上海市各区2018届高三英语二模试卷分类汇编：阅读理解
56. Which of the following is a typical symptom of the bends?
A. A twisted body
B. A gradual decrease in blood supply. C. A sudden release of nitrogen in blood. D. A drop in blood pressure
57. The purpose of Rothschild's study is to see___.
A. how often ichthyosaurs caught the bends B. how ichthyosaurs adapted to decompression C. why ichthyosaurs bent their bodies D. when ichthyosaurs broke their bones 58. Rothschild's finding stated in Paragraph 4_____.
A. confirmed his assumption B. speeded up his research process C. disagreed with his assumption D. changed his research objectives
59. Rothschild might have concluded that ichthyosaurs_______.
A. failed to evolve an anti-decompression means B. gradually developed measures against the bends C. died out because of large sharks and crocodiles D. evolved an anti-decompression means but soon lost it
B
However wealthy we may be, we can never find enough hours in the day to do everything we want. Economics deals with this problem through the concept of opportunity cost, which simply refers to whether someone's time or money could be better spent on something else.
Every hour of our time has a value.For every hour we work at one job we could quite easily be doing another, or be sleeping or watching a film. Each of these options has a different opportunity cost-namely, what they cost us in missed opportunities.
Say you intend to watch a football match but the tickets are expensive and it will take you a couple of hours to get to and from the stadium. Why not, you might reason, watch the game from home and use the leftover money and time to have dinner with friends? This—the alternative use of your cash and time-is the opportunity cost.
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上海市各区2018届高三英语二模试卷分类汇编：阅读理解
For economists, every decision is made by knowledge of what one must forgo—in terms of money and enjoyment--in order to take it up. By knowing precisely what you are receiving and what you are missing out on, you ought to be able to make better-informed, more reasonable decisions. Consider that most famous economic rule of all: there's no such thing as a free lunch. Even if someone offers to take you out to lunch for free, the time you will spend in the restaurant still costs you something in terms of forgone opportunities.
Some people find the idea of opportunity cost extremely discouraging: imagine spending your entire life calculating whether your time would be better spent elsewhere doing something more profitable or enjoyable. Yet, in a sense it's human nature to do precisely that we assess the advantages and disadvantages of decisions all the time.
In the business world, a popular phrase is\far as possible. However, another is fast obtaining an advantage:\for time.\The biggest restriction on our resources is the number of hours we can devote to something, so we look to maximize the return we get on our investment of time. By reading this passage you are giving over a bit of your time which could be spent doing other activities, such as sleeping and eating. In return, however, this passage will help you to think like an economist, closely considering the opportunity cost of each of your decisions.
60. According to the passage, the concept of \opportunity cost\A. making more money B. taking more opportunities C. reducing missed opportunities D. weighing the choice of opportunities
61. The \leftover money and time\A spared for watching the match at home B. taken to have dinner with friends C. spent on the way to and from the match D. saved from not going to watch the match 62. What are forgone opportunities?
A. Opportunities you forget in decision-making. B. Opportunities you give up for better ones.
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上海市各区2018届高三英语二模试卷分类汇编：阅读理解
C. Opportunities you miss accidentally. D. Opportunities you make up for.
C
Of all the components of a good night‘s sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century ago, Freud stated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised (伪装的)shadows of our unconscious desires and fears: by the late 1970se neurologists had switched to thinking of them as just \—the random byproducts of the neural-repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the minds emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is \mental events can be not only influenced but actually brought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better. \Medical Center. \
The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright's clinic. Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated(产生)during the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life. we don't always think about the emotional significance of the day' s events—until, it appears, we begin to dreams.
And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over repeated bad dreams. As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream. Visualize how you would like it to end instead; the next time it occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep.
At the end of the day, there's probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping or\wake up in a panic,\says. Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people's anxiety. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feeling Sleep—or rather dream—on it and you'll feel better in the morning.
63. By saying that \dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat\in paragraph 1, the
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上海市各区2018届高三英语二模试卷分类汇编：阅读理解
researchers mean that______.
A. dreams can help us keep our mood comparatively stable B. dreams can be brought under conscious control C. dreams represent our unconscious desires and fears D. we can think logically in the dreams too
64. The negative feelings generated during the day tend to___.
A. become worse in our unconscious mind B develop into happy dreams C. persist till the time we fall asleep D show up in dreams early at night
65. Cartwright believed with much practice, we can lean to______.
A. control what dreams to dream B. sleep well without any dreams C. wake up in time to stop the bad dreams D identify what is upsetting about the dreams
66. Cartwright might advise those who sometimes have bad dreams to_____.
A. lead their life as usual B. seek professional help C. exercise conscious control D. avoid anxiety in the daytime Keys:
56-59 ABCA
60-62 DCB
63-66 ADCA
Seven【20182奉贤区】 Section B
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
A
One Friday morning, before Michael was leaving for work he told his wife that he had finally
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