中考英语专题复习之外刊英语阅读理解每日一练（三）(含答案)

外刊阅读理解每日一练（三）
Day 1
Not allowed to leave (P2)
Scotland’s request for second independence vote has been rejected
苏格兰第二次独立公投诉求被驳回
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (英国最高法院) on Nov 23 said that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to hold a new referendum (全民公投) on Scottish independence without the approval (赞成) of the British government, the BBC reported.
Some in favor of independence have been disappointed (失望的) by the ruling. They believe that Scotland should take its future into its own hands. But Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), said that the independence campaign (运动) has actually been “strengthened” by the Supreme Court’s judgment. This is because Scotland could be seen to be a part of an “involuntary union (非自愿联盟)”, according to the BBC.
Why is independence back in the spotlight (聚光灯) In truth, it has never really gone away. In 2014, a referendum on Scottish independence took place. A slim majority (微弱多数) of 55 percent of voters (投票人) chose that Scotland remained part of the UK (45 percent against). Ever since this result, the SNP has looked at ways to stage another vote on the topic, now known as “indyref2”.
The Supreme Court’s judgment this time means that Sturgeon would be unable to hold a referendum without the British Prime Minister’s approval. The 2014 referendum was approved by the then UK prime minister, David Cameron.
As the SNP is usually popular at elections (选举), Sturgeon has now called for the next general election to be used as a referendum for independence. Sturgeon stated, “We must and we will find another democratic (民主的), lawful and constitutional (宪法的) means by which the Scottish people can express their will,” according to The Guardian.

Historical reason for Scottish independence
Scotland was an independent kingdom through the Middle Ages and fought wars to keep its independence from England. The two kingdoms were joined in personal union in 1603 when the Scottish King James VI became James I of England. The two kingdoms united politically (政治上) into one kingdom called Great Britain in 1707. People began to call for Scottish self-government in the 19th century.
Choose the answer:
1. What is the supreme court’s attitude toward the new referendum on Scottish independence
A. It doesn’t care about the referendum.
B. It doesn’t think the referendum should be started.
C. It doesn’t agree with the results of the referendum.
D. It supports the referendum.
2. According to Nicola Sturgeon, what will happen after the Supreme Court’s judgment
A. A new union will be created.
B. More Scottish people will feel happy about the British government.
C. Scotland will ask its First Minister for help.
D. The independence campaign will be further developed.
3. What does “indyref2” refer to
A. All referendums happening in the UK.
B. Voting started by the UK government.
C. Ways to hold a referendum within a country.
D. Another round of voting on Scottish independence.
4. According to the Supreme Court’s judgment, why can’t Sturgeon hold a referendum
A. Because Scottish people don’t want a referendum.
B. Because the situation has not changed since 2014.
C. Because she doesn’t have the British Prime Minister’s approval.
D. Because David Cameron doesn’t agree on it.
5. What will Sturgeon do in the future
A. Push the UK government to agree with the Scottish referendum.
B. Try to use the next general election to express the Scottish people’s will.
C. Change the current laws to make the referendum possible.
D. Stop Scotland from being independent.
Day 2
Picturing small worlds (P4-5)
Butterfly scales, moth eggs and the life cycle of those insects have been brought to light by Zhang through the art of photomicrography. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Zhang Yefei’s prizewinning photo of three stacked moth eggs, which won a top 20 award at the 2022 Nikon Small World Competition. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
There are many tiny wonders that human eyes can’t see. But they are just as real, or even more so. Thanks to photomicrographers (微观摄影师), the amazing small worlds have been shown to the public.
Zhang Yefei is one of the photomicrographers. In the past two years, the 41-year-old software engineer from Jiangsu has shot the eggs of hundreds of butterflies and moths (蛾). His photo of jelly-like (果冻状的) moth eggs won him a top 20 award at the 2022 Nikon Small World Competition in October. It shows a tiny tower, which is actually a stack of (一叠) moth eggs magnified (放大的) 10 times.
Looking for moth eggs is very difficult. Zhang usually takes a magnifying glass during his trips into the wild. He uses it to look for the leaves with eggs on them. The eggs are often less than a millimeter in width (宽度).
To take photos of them, Zhang uses a microscope (显微镜) as his lens as well as some special tools. But a photo can capture only a small part of the egg. To fully present an egg, he first takes around 500 to 1,000 photos. Then, he uses a computer technology to combine them in the right way. It often takes him about six hours to finish a single piece, with the longest one taking 21 hours.
Despite the challenges, photomicrography also brings Zhang surprises. While he uses LED lights to light the photos, the temperature can speed up the incubation (孵化) of the eggs. So he was able to see how a larva (幼虫) turns into a butterfly.v
“I’ll try and find out more interesting things about the small world and bring them to light,” Zhang said.

“Looking for eggs is a very difficult thing, and you must be familiar with the plants that their larvae like to eat, before trying to find their eggs on the leaves of those plants. It needs a lot of experience and knowledge accumulation.’’
Nikon Small World Competition
First started in 1975, the Nikon Small World Competition aims to show the beauty and complexity (复杂) of life as seen through the light microscope. The yearly competition is open to anyone with an interest in microscopy (显微镜学) and photography. Each photo is judged (评判) not only for its scientific technique (技艺), but also its artistry (艺术性).
This year, about 1,300 works from more than 70 countries were in the competition. Among them, Zhang Yefei’s photo stands out. He became the third Chinese photographer to win an award at the competition.

Technologies: the invention of photomicrography
In the 1870s, Joseph Woodward, a doctor from the US, invented a way of taking photos of objects seen under a microscope. Woodward’s photomicrographs were made with a room-sized tool that used sunlight as the light source. After further development, photomicrography allowed forensic (法医的) workers to make records of what they saw. The photographs could be presented as evidence (证据) in the courtroom (法庭).
Choose the answer:
1. What is a photomicrographer most likely to take pictures of
A. Worm eggs.
B. Stars.
C. A herd of elephants.
D. A basket of apples.
2. What do we know about Zhang Yefei
A. He is a full-time photomicrographer.
B. He won 20 awards in photomicrography.
C. He raised a lot of butterflies and moths.
D. He won an award for taking photos of moth eggs.
3. What is a challenge of photomicrography, according to Zhang
A. He often cannot find anything to shoot.
B. He needs to shoot lots of photos for just one object.
C. He is often disturbed by the noise in the wild.
D. His vision is often blurred because of looking at small things.
4. When Zhang saw how a larva turns into a butterfly, he felt _____.
A. angry and regretful
B. tired but excited
C. surprised and scared
D. surprised and happy
Day 3
Remembering the game of champions in the UK (P5)
Students in the UK play wall ball to keep active after lunch
壁球：英国学生喜爱的午间活动
How do you spend your after-lunch time before classes begin again Taking a nap Or playing with your friends on the playground
For students in the UK, they prefer doing sports. There are classic sports that students can choose from, like soccer, rugby (橄榄球), and tennis. But there is also the chance for students to show off their creativity (创造力) – that’s with wall ball.
The game is quite simple. In the game, the ball has to be kept off the ground for as long as possible. Without any boundary (界限) markers on the wall or floor, the stretch of two walls is the game area. Without bats or rackets (球拍), our hands would do the hitting, patting and throwing needed to keep the ball up in the air. Instead of teams, every student is on their own, judging for himself or herself when they should make a leap (跳跃) to keep the ball in play and when to give it up to another player. The rules are flexible (灵活的); sometimes a foot could be used. Although the structure (结构) is usually the same, with some sort of score recorded on the spot (在现场); other times it would turn into chaos (混乱), with limbs (肢体) wildly moving around in the air. Despite this, it is always fun.
Wall ball is the game of champions (冠军). Success at the sport means instant fame (一举成名) for the student around the school. As more and more teenagers take part in the wall ball activity, maybe the game students created could also become more popular in the future. Maybe one day it will even become a global phenomenon (全球性的现象).
Answer the questions:
1. What do UK students usually do after lunch
______________________________________________________________________
2. What is the game area of wall ball
______________________________________________________________________
3. Who created the wall ball game
______________________________________________________________________
4. What does success at a wall ball game mean
______________________________________________________________________
5. Please translate the underlined sentence.
______________________________________________________________________
Day 4
Sleeping through winter (P6)
Scientists have found the secret behind hibernation
人类冬眠开关被发现？
你想在冬眠中穿越到未来吗？
As the days are getting colder, you might wish you could magically turn into a bear and spend the winter sleeping. Actually, scientists are looking for ways to let humans hibernate (冬眠), too!
During hibernation, an animal’s heart rate (心率) and breathing slow down. They can save energy (能量) when there’s little food in the winter months.
Japanese researchers have found the secret behind hibernation – the “Q neurons (神经元)”. These neurons in animals’ brains can put them into a hibernation state. The researchers also did surgeries (手术) after turning on the mice’s “Q neurons”. It turned out that the surgeries caused less damage to the mice’s organs (器官) during their hibernation.
According to the team, humans’ “Q neurons” cannot be turned on and off as easily as the mice’s. But they are confident in copying the mice’s hibernation in humans. That means we could let people in surgery “hibernate”, causing less damage to their bodies.
In recent years, more scientists are waking up to the benefits (好处) of hibernation. For example, US scientist Katherine Grabek found that when the thirteen-lined ground squirrel (多纹黄鼠) hibernates, it cleans out harmful brain plaques (斑块) that are related to Alzheimer’s in
humans. They hope to design drugs for humans based on this finding.
Some studies in bats and marmots (土拨鼠) showed that, during hibernation, their bodies age more slowly. This also provides new ideas for making humans live longer in the future, according to New Scientist magazine.
Fun facts about animal hibernators
A bat’s heart rate drops to 25 beats per minute during hibernation – down from 400 when it’s awake. Its breathing slows so much that it might not take a breath for up to an hour!
A black bear can go without eating, drinking or going to the bathroom for 100 days. During hibernation, their wounds heal (愈合) with almost no scars or infection (感染).
Wood frogs (树蛙) freeze (冻住) like ice cubes for the winter, and jump back into life in the spring.
Lemurs (狐猴) settle in a tree for about 7 months and live off the fat in their tail, losing close to 40% of their body weight.
Choose the answer:
1. Paragraph 2 mainly talks about _____.
A. what hibernation is
B. what animals hibernate
C. where animals hibernate
D. what is needed for hibernation
2. What have Japanese researchers found
A. It’s hard to turn on the mice’s “Q neurons”.
B. Doing surgeries on mice’s “Q neurons” is difficult.
C. Doing surgeries in the hibernation state is less harmful to organs.
D. Humans don’t have “Q neurons” as mice do.
3. The examples in Paragraph 5 show that _____.
A. hibernation can be dangerous
B. animals suffer from the same illness as us
C. all animals can hibernate
D. hibernation helps reduce health risks
4. What can we infer from the last paragraph
A. People can hibernate whenever they like in the future.
B. Hibernation is a treatment for many serious diseases.
C. People may hibernate to slow down aging in the future.
D. Eating squirrel helps with high blood pressure.
5. The story is written to _____.
A. show our achievements in surgeries
B. present a new way of doing surgeries
C. share the findings on hibernation
D. introduce what hibernation is
Day 5
Cloze
When I first started looking for a pet cat, I wanted an adult cat named Miaomiao. She was a popular cat because she looked beautiful and 1 . But I didn’t bring her home in the end a family took her before I could. So the pet adoption (收养) center suggested that I take a different cat 2 . It was a kitten named Xiaohei.
But there is something special about Xiaohei, whose new name is Egon. He cannot see. This means he sometimes needs more care. By the time the center introduced him to me, he was about 4 or 5 months old. No one else 3 him.
I wasn’t sure at first. He was so 4 it would take him a long time to grow up. I wasn’t sure if I could 5 a young cat. And it might be hard to take care of a cat that can’t see. Would I be able to take care of him properly
But 6 I met him, I knew he was the cat for me. He is very clever and funny. He loves to play and run around. 7 he can’t see, he is very interested in the world around him.
He has become good at getting around my home. He knows where every table or chair is and he has no problem 8 his way around. He is naughty (淘气的) sometimes, 9 most of the time he is a good little cat. Best of all, he 10 right next to me every night. Every morning, I wake up and give him a big hug. He doesn’t have to be able to see me to know that I love him.
( )1.A. ugly B. angry C. lovely D. upset
( )2.A. once B. instead C. still D. yet
( )3. A. remembered B. wanted C. touched D. agreed
( )4.A. healthy B. easygoing C. small D. happy
( )5.A. look up B. look to C. look down D. look after
( )6.A. as often as B. as well as C. as much as D. as soon as
( )7.A. Even though B. Now that C. So that D. If only
( )8.A. building B. forgetting C. losing D. finding
( )9.A. or B. if C. and D. but
( )10. A. plays B. exercises C. watches D. sleeps
参考答案：
Day 1: BDDCB
Day 2: ADBD
Day 3: 1. Do sports.
2. The stretch of two walls is the game area.
3. The students.
4. It means the winning student will quickly become famous in the school.
5. 每个学生都是独立的，而不是以团队的形式出现。他们自己做出判断应该什么时候跳起来，把球控在场中，以及应该什么时候把球让给其他球员。
Day 4: ACDCC
Day 5: 1-5 CBBCD
6-10 DADDD