2016年资阳一诊英语试题及答案(2)

In the years that followed, I wrote tales non-stop and read them to Sally at bedtime. The Corn Dolly was based on a child who was always complaining; The Silly King was just a silly story Sally loved; I wrote The Witch and the Rainbow Cat for Sally because of her enormous  appetite for stories about witches while Dr Bonocolus’s Devil is a new version of the Faust legend．
Nifobobinus, however, was different. I wrote this book when Sally was older and took up all things girls have to do — who’s friends with who, who stuck a sticker on the back of whose boyfriend, or whatever thing she felt funny.
Nicobobinus, the boy who could do anything, came out of my desire for a more innocent world. He lived a 1ong time ago, in a city called Venice. Only his best friend, Rosie, knew he could, and nobody took any notice of anything Rosie said, because she was always having wild ideas anyway.
Nicobobinus was so different that it turned out to be an instant hit. The Times called me “an author setting out to rival the classic fairytales”. I asked Sally what she thought of Nicobobinus. She said it was her favourite.
24. What led the writer to start writing fairy tales for her daughter?
A. The frightening ends of past fairy tales.
B. His daughter’s strong interest in fairy tales.
C. His desire to let his daughter know more stories.
D. His attempt to fill his daughter’s bedtime with something.
25. We can infer from the third paragraph that the writer _____.
A. was a very productive fairy tale writer
B. based all his stories on some old legends
C. never described witches in his fairy tales
D. created his stories out of his own interest
26. When creating Nicobobinus, the first thing the writer considered was _____.
A. the changes of his daughter’s interests
B. what story the publisher wanted to get
C. ways to keep his daughter Sally innocent
D. the difference of the story from other stories
27. The underlined word “rival” in the last paragraph can be replaced by _____.
A. follow B. explore C. challenge D. recommend
C
Your car is a necessary part of your life. You use it every day. Of course, you want to hold on to it so you make sure it has the latest alarm and immobilizer. But despite all these, cars like yours are still stolen every day. In fact, in this country, one car is stolen almost every minute! And if your car is stolen, you only have a 50:50 chance of seeing it again.
Each year, car crime costs nearly £3 billion. Of course, if you’re insured, you won’t lose out, or will you? Firstly, you will have to pay extra insurance later on, and then you may not be offered the full amount by the agent. You will probably have to hire a car and you will also lose the value of the contents and accessories (配件) in the car.
Now comes the solution. An RAC Trackstar system, hidden in one of 47 possible secret locations in your car, is the key of our system. If your car is stolen, radio signals are sent at twenty-second intervals from the car to the RAC Trackstar National Control Center via a satellite network. Then a computer gives the vehicle’s exact location, speed and direction.
The RAC Trackstar National Control Center, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, will immediately inform the police in the area where the car is located. Because the police receive information every twenty seconds, they will always know the vehicle’s location. Once the thief has been arrested, your car will be returned to you.
RAC Trackstar is unique in being able to provide the National Control Center with details of the exact location of your car, its speed and direction. And speed is the key to successful recovery of a stolen vehicle. RAC Trackstar Control will immediately tell the police if you report your car stolen and under the 24-hour Guardian Option. It will also tell you if your car has been stolen. RAC Trackstar’s constant updates mean the police are kept informed of the car’s location. All these greatly improve your chances of seeing your car again.
28. If your car is stolen, you will have to ______. 
A. hire a new car B. pay more insurance
C. buy a RAC Trackstar system D. inform the National Control Center
29. The Trackstar system can tell the police ______.
A. how the car is stolen B. who the thief is
C. what brand the car is D. where the car is
30. The underlined word “It” in the last paragraph refers to ______.
A. the local police station B. the Guardian Option
C. the insurance company D. the RAC Trackstar Control
31. According to the passage, people with RAC Trackstar ______.
A. automatically find directions
B. seldom get their vehicles damaged
C. have less chance of being in an accident
D. are more likely to get the stolen cars back
D
Ever walked to the shops only to find, once there, you’ve completely forgotten what you went for? Or struggled to remember the name of an old friend? For years we’ve accepted that a forgetful brain is as much a part of aging as wrinkles and gray hair. But now a new book suggests that we’ve got it all wrong.
According to The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain, by science writer Barbara Strauch, when it comes to the important things, our brains actually get better with age. In fact, she argues that some studies have found that our brain hits its peak between our 40s and 60s — much later than previously thought.
Furthermore, rather than losing many brain cells as we age, we keep them, and even produce new ones well into middle age. For years it’s been assumed that brain, much like the body, declines with age. But the longest, largest study into what happens to people as they age suggests otherwise.
This continuing research has followed 6,000 people since 1956, testing them every seven years. It has found that on average, participants performed better on cognitive (认知的) tests in their 40s and 50s than they had done in their 20s. Specifically, older people did better on tests of vocabulary, verbal memory (how many words you can remember) and problem solving. Where they performed less well was number ability and perceptual speed — how fast you can push a button when ordered. However, with more complex tasks such as problem-solving and language, we are at our best at middle age and beyond. In short, researchers are now coming up with scientific proof that we do get wiser with age.