江苏省苏州市新草桥中学2020届高三英语12月月考试题

the expo, which is capable of reading the facial expressions of the player, and accurately calculating and predicting the pathway of the ball.

Tian Ye, who is responsible for the equipment exhibition area, added that more exhibitors are ready to take advantage of the expo, which serves as a rising platform for countries and companies to show their latest innovation results and developments, so they can establish a connection and ideally strike a deal with purchasers. It’s also the expo’s unique appeal.

In addition, the CIIE of this year is expected to introduce a large number of distinctive and high- quality foreign products to China, and further satisfy the demand of domestic consumption upgrade. By continuing to upgrade open platforms such as the CIIE, China can achieve more economic breakthroughs in the future.

58. How can we understand the CIIE is considered a significant measure? A. It promotes the development of global economy.

B. It consists of many companies from developing countries. C. It is the world’s first national exhibition focused on import. D. It has a strong influence on the development of technology. 59. How does the expo’s unique appeal benefit exhibitors? A. They can learn the way to contact purchasers. B. They can add more orders for high-quality products. C. They can present latest original products of their own. D. They can satisfy various needs of domestic consumption. 60. What would be the best title for the text? A. Shanghai Gets Set for CIIE B. CIIE Promotes Development

C. CIIE Brings in More Products D. Exhibitors Expand the Market

C

Several years ago, Jeremy Clarkson, presenter of the famous BBC television programme ‘Top Gear’, discovered that one of his guests was half German and half Irish. Immediately, he said: “That’s quite an odd combination. It’s like, ‘this

must be done absolutely perfectly… tomorrow’”.

This joke played on stereotypes (刻板印象) of the Germans as efficient and the Irish as lazy. Many people could understandably be offended by these kinds of assertions. We do not know every Irish person, so how can we then conclude that every Irish person is lazy?

I recently read on a website that Irish business people were described as being ‘generally rather casual’ and ‘more outwardly friendly than many European countries’'. German business people, on the other hand, are considered to be very direct and according to the website, they ‘do not need a personal relationship in order to do business’. Once you hear advice like this, it becomes easier to understand where jokes like the one in the first paragraph come from.

So why do some people disapprove of the kind of stereotypes as seen in Clarkson’s joke, but not batting an eyelid when it comes to generalisations. What is the difference between the two?

By definition, a stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. A cultural characteristic, on the other hand, is a pattern of behaviour that is typical of a certain group. So what does this really mean? Stereotypes are simply overstated assumptions about groups of people. Imagine if a tourist visited a small town in Switzerland and saw a number of locals playing the alphorn instrument, and then claimed that Swiss people can play the alphorn. This would be a stereotype! This is an overstated image of the Swiss which is based on one tourist’s experience.

If, however, this tourist were to say that the Swiss are very punctual, this could be seen as a cultural characteristic. This is because it is a pattern of behaviour which is very typical in Switzerland: from their transport system to their business meetings.

In this way, some people argue that generalising another culture is not just useful, but important. Politicians always have to be mindful of the cultural characteristics of different countries. By becoming aware of different cultural characteristics, they can avoid causing offence in those cultures.

However, others argue that generalising cultures will always lead to offensive stereotypes. They argue that the best thing we can do is to stop generalising cultures and start treating people as individuals.

All this raises important questions: can making generalisations about groups of people be a positive thing? Or should we always avoid making broad assumptions about different groups?

61. When he said, “It’s like, ‘this must be done absolutely perfectly… tomorrow’”, Jeremy Clarkson really meant ________.

A. the Germans will do it perfectly tomorrow while the Irish won’t B. the combination of half German and half Irish is interesting C. the characteristics of the Germans and the Irish are opposite D. the stereotypes of the Germans and the Irish are not so good 62. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? A. The Irish people are considered as lazy, direct and casual. B. The Germans are thought to be efficient, friendly and direct. C. The Swiss can play the alphorn quite well. D. It’s typical of the Swiss to be punctual.

63. Politicians think it important to generalize another culture because ________. A. they think different cultural characteristics are useful B. they don’t want to offend other people

C. cultural characteristics are better than stereotypes D. generalizing will lead to offensive stereotypes 64. The main purpose of this passage is to _________.

A. discuss whether it is good to make generalizations about groups of people B. tell us the differences between stereotypes and cultural characteristics C. illustrate the importance of making generalizations

D. show it is wrong to play jokes on stereotypes of different people

D

Changing technology stimulates (刺激) the brain and increases intelligence. But

that may only be true if the technology challenges us. In a world run by intelligent machines, our lives could get a lot simpler. Would that make us less intelligent?

After the Industrial Revolution, machines began to replace manual workers. The process played out in agriculture as well as manufacturing so that groups of agricultural workers were replaced and forced to move to cities to make a living.

When machines took away much of the manual work, people became less physically active and gained weight. The sedentary (久坐的) lifestyle contributed to a worldwide spreading of overweight and related metabolic disorders such as heart disease, secondary diabetes and kidney disease .

As our bodies rested, our brains were forced to work harder, however. It is much more difficult to drive through an overcrowded modern city than it is to move around in a small rural village, for instance. Modern jobs are also more complex and urgent and they require more education because employees need to process new information quickly. Even during our leisure time, our brains work harder due to greater availability of books and explosion of audiovisual media, for entertainment, study, music, news, and so forth.

Now in the Internet age, the amount of information grows fast along with the advance of electronic technologies. The number of people with whom we interact electronically grows by leaps and bounds thanks to the ease of use of social media like Facebook and Twitter.

All of this extra work for our brains makes us more intelligent. That helps explain why human intelligence increases steadily from generation to generation in all developed countries, a phenomenon named the Flynn Effect. Of course, there are other reasons, including improved nutrition, better medical practices that reduce brain damage, and improved sanitation and public health that reduce diseases of childhood.

In the P.G Wodehouse novels, Bertie Wooster got away with being a fool because Jeeves was there to back him up with superior brain power. Similarly, people of the future are at risk of being less intelligent because machines will do their thinking for them.

Artificial intelligence is taking over many human jobs. For instance, planes are