2020北京市朝阳区高三英语六校联考A卷及答案

2 Select the Stannah stairlift that best meets your needs.

3 Install your new stairlift in hours. Our professional technicians will work diligently to provide you with a safe lift you can rely on

? We offer rapid response scheduling and installation at no additional charge! 31. To have a Stannah stairlift installed, one needs to _________. A. order a special stairway C. remodel one’s living room

A. purchases one brand new Stannah stairlift B. publishes post-sale reviews on Trust-pilot C. pays for the Stannah model which is on sale D rents the model advertised on Boston Globe

33. Which statement is TRUE about Stannah stairlift mentioned in the advertisement? A. It can be installed easily by following instructions in the brochure. B. It offers an alternative to old people who don't want to be relocated. C. It provides fast and free repair services by professional technicians. D. It promises to regularly check on the old people who live independently.

B. ensure constant power supply D. schedule an in-home assessment

32. Jenny may use the Coupon（优惠券）to save some money only if she_________.

Agnes de Mille was a dancer and a choreographer (编舞). Early in her career, de Mille had created the choreography for a ballet called Three Virgins and a Devil. She thought it was good work, but nobody made much of it.

.B

A few years later, de Mille choreographed a ballet named Rodeo. Again, she thought her work was solid, but it resulted in little commercial fame.

Then, in 1943, de Mille choreographed Oklahoma!, a musical show that enjoyed nearly instant success. In the coming years, Oklahoma! would run for an incredible 2,212 performances, both around the nation and abroad. In 1955, the film version won an Academy Award.

But the success of Oklahoma! didn’t bring her much happiness. She thought that her work on Oklahoma! was only average compared to some of her other creations. She later said, “After the opening of Oklahoma!, I suddenly had unexpected success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I began to think that perhaps my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha.”

Martha was Martha Graham, perhaps the most influential dance choreographer of the 20th century. Although not as well-known by the general public, Graham has been compared to other creative geniuses like Picasso or Frank Lloyd Wright.

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During their conversation, de Mille told Martha Graham about her frustration. “I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be.”

Graham responded by saying:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

34. What can be learned about de Mille’s ballet named Rodeo? A. It earned her a large fortune. B. It didn’t enjoy much success. C. It made her rise to fame overnight. D. It laid a solid foundation for her career.

35. How did de Mille feel about the great success of the musical Oklahoma!? A. Relieved.

B. Ashamed.

C. Confused.

D. Proud.

36. Picasso and Frank Lloyd Wright were mentioned to suggest that Martha Graham ______. A. had been influenced greatly by them B. enjoyed the same popularity as them C. was the most influential artist in her field D. was outstanding in visual arts and architecture

37. Which of the following statements best represents Graham’s words in this passage? A. Comparing with others prevents you from maintaining uniqueness. B. Your action reveals the inner landscape, which is the soul of music. C. Choosing to be positive is going to determine how you live your life. D. You should always keep yourself open to the urges that motivate you.

C

As humanity has got richer, animals’ roles have changed. People need their services less than before. Fewer wolves and thieves meant less demand for dogs for protection; the internal combustion engine (内燃机) made horses unneeded; modern sanitation (卫生设备) kept rats in check and made cats less useful. No longer necessities, domestic animals became luxuries. Petkeeping seems to kick in when household incomes rise above roughly $5,000. It is booming.

The trend is not a new one. Archaeologists (考古学家) have found 10,000-year-old graves in which dogs and people are buried together. Some cultures — such as in Scandinavia, where dogs have long been both working dogs and companions — have kept pets for thousands of years. But these days the pet-keeping urge

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has spread even to parts of the world which have no tradition of sinking into a comfortable chair with a furry creature.

The pet business is growing even faster than pet numbers, because people are spending more and more money on them. No longer are they food-waste-recyclers, fed with the remains that fall from their masters’ tables. Pet-food shelves are full of delicacies crafted to satisfy a range of appetites, including ice cream for dogs and foods for pets that are old, diabetic or suffer from sensitive digestion; a number of Internet services offer food, tailored to the pet’s individual tastes.

In the business this is called “pet humanisation”—the tendency of pet owners to treat their pets as part of the family. This is evident in the names given to dogs, which have evolved from Fido, Rex and Spot to—in America—Bella, Lucy and Max. It is evident in the growing market for pet clothing, pet grooming and pet hotels.

People still assume that pets must be working for humanity in some way, perhaps making people healthier or less anxious. But the evidence for that is weak. Rather, new research suggests that dogs have evolved those irresistible “puppy-dog eyes” precisely to affect human emotions. It has worked. The species that once enslaved others now works very hard to pay for the care of its pets. Sentimental (多愁善感的) Americans often refer to themselves not as cat-owners but as the cat’s “mommy” or “daddy”. South Koreans go one further, describing themselves as cat “butlers”. Watch an unlucky dog-walker trailing “his” hound (猎

犬), plastic bag in hand to pick up its mess, and you have to wonder: who’s in charge now?

38. Which of the following trends is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A. People’s needs for animal services are decreasing. B. Both the pet number and the pet business are growing. C. Pets are increasingly making their owners less anxious. D. Pet foods are more various and customized than before.

39. Which of the following is referred to as evidence of “pet humanization”?

A. Human beings’ ever rising urge for pet-keeping. B. Pets’ roles as both working staff and companions. C. Pets’ inbuilt ability to affect emotions of their owners. D. The names given to pets in American families nowadays.

40. Which of the following statements is the author most likely to agree with?

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A. Some pet owners spend too much money on their pets. B. Human beings are getting much benefit from their pets. C. Pets should be treated as equals of their human masters. D. Pet-keeping is still restricted within certain parts of the world. 41. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A. Who Owns Whom

B. The Urge for Pet-keeping

D. Love Me, Love My Dog

C. The Changing Roles of Animals

D

Learning a second language is tricky at any age and it only gets tougher the longer you wait to open that dusty French book. Now, in a new study, scientists have pinpointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency in a second language seem to plummet骤然下降: 10. The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it’s “nearly impossible” for language learners to reach native-level fluency if they start learning a second tongue after 10. But that doesn’t seem to be because language skills go downhill. “It turns out you’re still learning fast. It’s just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old,” says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College.

Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children’s brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they’re better able to adapt and respond to new information. “All learning involves the brain changing,” Hartshorne says, “and children’s brains seem to be a lot more skilled at changing.”

Kids may also be more willing to try new things (and to potentially look foolish in the process) than adults are. Their comparatively new grasp on their native tongue may also be advantageous. Unlike adults, who tend to default (默认) to the rules and patterns of their first language, kids may be able to approach a new one with a blank slate (石板).

These findings may seem discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than they previously thought. Some scientists believed that the brief window closes shortly after birth, while others stretched it only to early adolescence. Compared to those estimates, 17 or 18 — when language learning ability starts to drop off — seems relatively old.

“People fared better when they learned by immersion (沉浸), rather than simply in a classroom. And moving to a place where your desired language is spoken is the best way to learn as an adult. If that’s not an

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