2020-2021学年江苏省常州市武进区前黄高级中学高二（下）同步英语试卷（八）

• 1．My mother didn't set out to be a civil rights activist.In fact，she had no intention of becoming a pioneer of any sort.But because of the kind of person she was，and the times she lived through，she turned out to be both.She gave a whole group of black Alabama girls opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have had，and became a role model for all of us.
     In 1941 she bought an old Victorian house to operate as a preschool.The huge，sunny rooms and breezy porches also served as a meeting place for my mother's first Girl Scout troop.
     Though this may seem a small thing now，at the time it was a watershed （分水岭）event.Racism was a fact of life in the 1940s，and African American girls were barred from joining white troops.My mother，who was only five feet tall but could beat you on a fast-paced hike，decided it was time for a change.Her troop was the first for African Americans in Alabama.When Mama saw a need，she filled it.
     In 1950，the Girl Scouts sent a group of women-all of them white-from headquarters in New York to help my mother with an overnight training camp.The women met in a wilderness area outside Birmingham where，unknown to them，the Ku Klux Klan（3 K党）was active.It never occurred to the women，black and white，that they were violating the rules of segregation （种族隔离）by camping together.That night，my mother awoke to the sound of men's voices.She stole out of her tent and saw them，dressed in their horrible uniforms.They offered what must have been a terrifying warning：Be gone by sunrise.
     She never shared this story with me；people protected their children from some of the uglier sides of racism.But I over-heard my parents talking about it later that night and I realized there was something remarkable about Mama.I felt an obligation to give back，to seek solutions and create opportunities as she did.
     "It's not something you choose to do；it's just something you do，" she would say.And what I've found is this：In giving to others，you get as much as you give.
  
  （1）What made the author's mother an advocate for civil rights？

  
  A．Her passion and educational background.
  B．Her race and financial condition.
  C．Her personality and social background.
  D．Her occupation and religious belief.
  （2）Why does the author mention her mother's height in the third paragraph？

  
  A．To indicate her deeply-rooted sympathy for her mother.
  B．To emphasize her mother's surprising strength.
  C．To illustrate what a role model should look like.
  D．To show her mother differs from average black women.
  （3）What does the author think of her mother's meeting with the Ku Klux Klan？

  
  A．It proves to be dangerous and unworthy.
  B．It reveals the danger of racism.
  C．It violates the rules of segregation.
  D．It inspires her to be brave and caring.
  组卷：0引用：1难度：0.5

  解析

• 2．Our brain doesn't know how to be happy，or even content.It simply lacks the genetic instructions to carry out that task.It knows how to do a million other less important things，from writing a letter to maintaining our balance；from appreciating the music of Bach to smelling a rose，but if you ask the brain to be happy，it simply doesn't know how to respond.
     This is because the genetic code is only concerned with survival and reproduction，which happiness does not necessarily have anything to do with，and therefore belongs in a different realm.Nature doesn't want us to always feel content and satisfied，let alone happy，as this would lower our guard against possible threats to our survival.
     Happiness，as the Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moraes put it，is "like a feather flying in the air.It flies light，but not for very long." It is so elusive that it has also been compared to a butterfly，which "when pursued，is always just beyond your grasp，but which，if you will sit down quietly，may alight upon you，" according to 19th-century American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne.In any case，what is clear is that happiness is，at best，fleeting （飞逝的）and inconstant.
     In this blog，we will look at the myth of happiness from many perspectives and，in the process，we will touch on topics such as happy personalities，the unhappy workings of the brain，evolution，dreams，and even fairy tales.I explore all these issues in detail in my book，which shares its title with this blog.Happiness is a crucial concept.We spend all of our lives pursuing it，so it deserves a very careful analysis.
     We are determined by our biological design to experience mixed and messy emotions.But the silver lining is the knowledge that having difficult emotions doesn't represent a personal failure.The inevitable unhappiness that we all suffer from time to time is not a shortcoming that demands urgent repair.Far from it.This unhappiness is，in fact，what makes us human.
  
  （1）Why does our brain lack the genetic instructions to be happy？

  
  A．Because being happy is less important than appreciating and creating art.
  B．Because happiness has little to do with the continuation of a species.
  C．Because we tend to be more aware of the threats when we are unhappy.
  D．Because feeling good isn't one of our concerns in living a life.
  （2）What does the underlined word in paragraph 3 most probably mean？

  
  A．Difficult to achieve.
  B．Easy to expose.
  C．Unable to explain.
  D．Likely to remain.
  （3）What can we learn from the passage？

  
  A．We should make happiness our top concern no matter what.
  B．Negative emotions always require immediate attention.
  C．Social failures are more likely to be troubled by negative feelings.
  D．We should accept difficult emotions as a natural part of life.
  组卷：0引用：1难度：0.5

  解析

第二节 语法填空（共1小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

• 6．We need to lower the Green Premiums（绿色溢价）.The term（1）

  （refer） to the difference in cost between a product that involves emitting carbon and an alternative that doesn't.（2）

  （lower） these premiums is the only way to zero out emissions without making things significantly（3）

  （expensive）.There are two levers （杠杆） that governments can pull：reduce the cost of zero-carbon alternatives or charge for the hidden costs of pollution. （4）

  （ideal），any plan（5）

  （address） climate change does both.Governments must take the lead if we're going to lower the Green Premiums，but as（6）

  individual，there are things you can do to help too.You can use your purchasing power as a consumer to buy green（7）

  （alternative），（8）

  sends a signal to companies that there is a market for these products.You can also use your voice as a citizen to urge your（9）

  （elect）officials to take the steps I outlined above.The next time someone asks you（10）

  they can do to fight climate change，I hope you tell them：Do whatever you can to lower the Green Premiums.
  组卷：13引用：2难度：0.5

  解析

第四部分写作第一节（满分15分）

• 7．假如你是李华，你校上月举行了主题是"经典文学"的"读书节"活动，持续一个月。请你为校英文报写一篇报道，内容包括：1.活动目的；2.具体活动；3.活动反响。
  注意：1.写作词数应为80左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
  Reading Festival goes off with a bang!
  ________________
  组卷：1引用：1难度：0.4

  解析