河南省南阳市宛城区南阳市第一中学校2022-2023学年高三上学期12月月考英语试题

南阳一中2023届高三第三次阶段性考试

英语试题

第一部分  听力（略）

第二部分  阅读理解（共两节，每小题2分，满分40分）

第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出最佳选项

A

Do flying cars only exist in dreams of a far-off future? Well, the future may be closer than you think. Let’s take a look at some modes of transport that we could be using in the future.

Flying taxi

Slovakian engineering company AeroMobil has designed the world’s first 4-seater flying taxi. AeroMobil’s AM Next is a hybrid(混合物) —half supercar, half lightweight aircraft. It’s able to transform between the two modes of transport in fewer than 3 minutes as its wings move into the appropriate positions. It is expected to be released in 2027 and will be able to fly a distance of up to 500 miles (about 800 kilometers) between major cities.

Gyroscopic transport

Gyroscopic transport is a revolutionary new mode of transport that is being planned. It is the use of large pods supported by flexible legs that transport passengers over existing roads. These legs can adjust their length according to traffic demands and to allow passengers to board. One of the best elements of this mode of transport is that it can operate over existing infrastructure(基础设施) .

Hyperloop

Hyperloop has created a lot of excitement recently and received backing from many influential people in the tech world. Elon Musk, CEO of Space X, is one of the main advocates of the hyperloop. He has argued it could ease traffic in Los Angeles, US. The hyperloop is a high-speed public transportation system in which passengers travel in autonomous electric pods at about 965 kilometers per hour. Virgin Hyperloop, a US transport technology company, conducted its first human trials of a hyperloop system in November 2020.

1. What do we know about AeroMobil’s AM Next?

A. It will be the world’s first flying car.

B. It could be in use in just 2 years’ time.

C It can fly a maximum of 800 miles each trip.

D. It can switch between modes within 3 minutes.

2. What is an advantage of gyroscopic transport?

A. It can travel either above or below ground.

B. It can travel independent of traffic flow on the roads.

C. It’s quicker and cheaper to build than other vehicles.

D. It can hold more passengers than other forms of transport.

3. What is Elon Musk’s attitude toward the hyperloop?

A. Doubtful. B. Worried. C. Critical. D. Positive.

B

Timothy is a 5-year-old boy with autism(自闭症). In October of 2018, doctors told his parents that he suffered  brain tumor(肿瘤).

Two thieves who specialized in stealing packages from people’s front gates had no idea that one of those packages contained a WWE wrestling belt belonging to Timothy. At the time, the belt was on the front gate of Sergio Moriers’s house, whose job was decorating stuff. “Timothy’s father doesn’t make a lot of money. But he wanted to give his son an amazing gift, and I told him I would do everything for free. I said, ‘Just ship it over and I’ll do everything you want on the belt, and he’ll have the belt of a lifetime.’” He said.

When the belt was taken, Sergio was extremely disturbed, “I want them to know they took hope from a 5-year-old boy who is looking forward to that item coming back to him… You stole that from him. You broke a child’s heart.” Timothy’s father shared what that belt meant to his son, “Timothy would not go anywhere without that belt… Most kids have balls, while he had a belt.” All hope was lost.

Then something unexpected happened. “I saw two women appeared at the gate. They put down the bag there. My guard went over and I realized what was happening. That bag contained the stolen wrestling belt,” Sergio said. The two women apologized to Sergio. They said that they were thrown out of a friend’s apartment after the friend saw the news report of the theft on TV. In fact, they were trying to kick a drug habit. They cried with guilt and shame.

Seeing the returned belt, Timothy’s father said, “It’s one of those things you always hear about, those crazy stories about people, but you never think it’ll happen to yourself. I’m still taken aback, to be honest.”

4. What was Sergio’s original intention?

A. To buy the boy a wonderful gift.

B. To beautify the boy’s belt for free.

C. To help the boy win a competition.

D. To earn money from decorating the belt.

5. What can be known about the thieves?

A. They were addicted to drug.

B. They were caught by the police.

C. Their friend reported them on TV.

D. They were punished by the guard.

6 What did Timothy’s father mean at the end of the story?

A. He was annoyed about crazy stories.

B. He felt he was cheated by the thieves.

C. He was astonished at the returned belt.

D. He couldn’t believe his stuff was stolen.

7. What is the best title for the text?

A. A Sick Boy Wins a Wrestling Belt

B. Caring People Show Love for a Kid

C. An Immoral Act of Theft Is Revealed

D. Thieves Return Wrestling Belt to the Sick Boy

C

A 2020 study in the journal Science concluded that marine heat waves have increased more than 20-fold as a result of climate warming. The authors found that in the first decade after satellites began recording ocean temperatures (i.e., after 1981), there were 27 large marine heat waves, with an average duration of 32 days and an average peak temperature anomaly of 8.5°F; in the 2010s, there were 172, which lasted 48 days on average with an average peak temperature almost 10°F above normal.

Much remains unclear about marine heat waves. For example, explains Nicholas Bond, research scientist at the University of Washington and Washington’s state climatologist, there is the question of why so many persist for weeks or months. “There must be something else going on that helps maintain them,” he says. He notes that one explanation is that as the ocean surface warms, it radiates heat into the atmosphere that prevents cloud cover from forming, exposing the seawater to increased sunlight and further warming.

However, enough is known about marine heat waves for scientists to be gravely concerned about their potential impacts. Of special note is the fact that those impacts can last long after the heat waves have disappeared. After three years of the Blob, the waters of the northeastern Pacific began to cool in 2016; but years later, scientists are still determining the extent to which the region’s ecosystem is likely to return fully to its pre-Blob status. Similarly, notes Scannell, who is a data scientist with Jupiter Intelligence, Inc., following the 2010-11 Western Australia event, “lots of kelp(巨藻) forests died, and it takes literally decades for those ecosystems to bounce back”.