初中英语中考科普类阅读理解(含答案)

2021届中考英语专题训练
科普类阅读理解+答案
Passage 1
Thousands of years ago, people didn’t know that the Earth moved. They thought the sun really did move across the sky. The Greek god Helios was said to drive the sun across the sky with his chariot (战车). But now, the way people think has changed. Nowadays, it is the sun that drives a “chariot” around the sky.
What do I mean by this? Well, quite simply, there is now a plane (or “chariot”) that is powered by the sun. It has special parts on its wings. These parts absorb power from the sun. They absorb so much power that the plane can still fly even at night. In Greek mythology (神话), Helios had to take a break at night. It seems we’re finally even more powerful than the gods themselves.
This plane is called Solar Impulse. It will fly across the US in May. This is very important for the future of the world.
Why is solar energy (太阳能) important? Well, other kinds of energy are known to cause problems. If you live in China, you’ve probably noticed the pollution. This is caused by burning coal and gas to make energy. The heat and chemicals created by burning these things give us power. But if we use power from the sun, we don’t have to burn anything and there will not be any pollution.
Solar energy is not entirely ready yet. It needs to be improved. But the best thing about it is that, unlike coal and gas. it doesn’t run out. The Solar Impulse plane could pretty much keep flying forever. Of course, the sun’s light will eventually run out too one day, but not for another 5 billion years. That’s a pretty long flight.
1. The plane Solar Impulse ______.
A. cannot fly at night B. is powered by chemicals
C. is driven by solar energy D. was made in the US
2. Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that ______.
A. using solar energy causes less pollution B. solar energy is the best kind of energy
C. creating energy by burning things causes pollution D. burning things will not be allowed in China
3. Which is the story probably taken from?
A. A science magazine. B. A history textbook.
C. A Greek myth. D. A storybook.
4. What’s the story mainly about?
A. The story of the Greek god Helios. B. How China makes use of energy.
C. The uses and advantages of solar energy. D. The disadvantages of burning coal and gas.
Passage 2
Thanks to endless photos on social media and the wealth of information on the internet, future people should have a clear picture of how we lived in the 21st century.
But Martine Rothblatt, a businesswoman from the US, wants to go a step further by digitally cloning (克隆) human minds.
These “mindclones” would have all of our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes, and be able to think just like us. Rothblatt imagines that mindclones will first begin as digital assistants in our mobile devices (安置), until they become walking, talking versions of us - but these are far from reality at the moment.
Mindcloning technology is still very young, and it might be a long time before we can send our artificial selves to school so we don’t have to sit through math class. However, scientists at Stanford University in the United States recently created a circuit (电路) board modeled on the human brain that could simulate 1 million neurons (神经元) and billions of connections in the brain.
Eventually, Rothblatt sees mindclones having their own rights as people, and even falling in love and getting married.
“Let’s say [the ex Apple CEO] Steve Jobs meets another mindclone. They fall in love. Mindclones are just people without bodies. Once the mindclones fall in love, they are going to get married. That’s what people do,” she said.
But Rothblatt’s idea that the digital versions of ourselves would have the same rights as people is not shared by everyone. Some people have argued that the mind must be embedded (嵌入) in biology for it to be considered “life”, HuffPost reported.
1. According to Rothblatt, mindclones ______.
A. will eventually become robots B. will be used in our mobile devices
C. will become reality soon D. have more rights than people
2. Which of the following best explains the underlined word “artificial” in Paragraph 4?
A. Useful. B. Man-made. C. Human-like. D. Different.
3. What is the latest development in mindcloning technology?
A. We can send our artificial selves to school.
B. People can improve their studies by using mindclones.
C. Steve Jobs and a mindclone will get married.
D. A circuit board has been modeled after a human brain.
4. What does the last paragraph mainly tell us?
A. The writer agrees with Rothblatfs idea.
B. The writer disagrees with Rothblatfs idea.
C. Not everyone agrees with Rothblatt about mindclones’ rights.
D. It’s pointless to discuss the rights of “mindclones”.
Passage 3
In your dreams, you may clearly see something or hear someone talking. But what about smells? Can you ever remember smells from your dreams?
A study published in 1896 looked at different sensory experiences in dreams. It found that visual experience mainly controls one’s dreams. It takes up about 85 percent, while auditory (听觉的) experience makes up 69 percent, and smell only 7 percent.
But why? Scientists from the University of Illinois, US, have a theory based on what is known about the brain.
In our brain, there is a special part called the cerebral cortex (大脑皮层). It is linked to our feelings. As much as two-thirds of the cerebral cortex works in vision. So vision appears often in dreams. Auditory experience is closely tied to language, and language is processed entirely in the cerebral cortex.
Smell, on the other hand, has little to do with the cerebral cortex. It connects directly to the memory and emotional systems. That is why a smell can sometimes bring back a distant memory.
Another possibility is that perhaps smell is not easily affected by our imagination. For example, close your eyes and imagine your favorite dish. What do you get? It is easy to think about what it looks like. But it is not as easy to imagine its smell.
The vision and auditory senses are part of a complex process inside the brain. But smell is a direct measurement of chemicals in the air. There is less imagination involved in smell. Therefore, smell might be less influenced by the brain activity that happens while dreaming. It is similar to taste and touch. That is why you don’t usually have the experience of taste and touch in your dreams.
1. Which experience mainly controls one’s dreams, according to the 1896 study?
A. Smell. B. Vision. C. Hearing. D. Taste and touch.
2. Which of the following is TRUE about the US scientists’ brain theory?
A. Less than half of the cerebral cortex works in vision
B. Auditory experience is not tied to language.
C. Smell has almost nothing to do with the cerebral cortex.
D. It’s difficult to imagine what things in your dreams look like.
3. According to paragraphs 6 and 7, its easier to imagine a dish’s ______.
A. look than its smell B. smell than its look C. taste than its smell D. smell than its taste
4. What is the best title for the story?
A. How does the cerebral cortex work.
B. Why can’t you smell in your dreams.
C. What experience happens most often in dreams.
D. Why can’t you remember smells from your dreams.
Passage 4
The ocean is home to tens of thousands of fish. You can see fish swimming freely in the water. But you may not know that fish cannot explore every part of the ocean.
Recent studies have found that the deepest depth a fish can swim is 8,200 meters. This is about three quarters of the depth of the deepest part of the ocean. This is because of a chemical (化学物质) in fishes’ cells that is called trimethylamine n-oxide (TMAO).
For example, if you take a ping-pong ball 10 meters underwater, the pressure turns it into a tiny piece of plastic. Most things break down after a certain depth underwater because of the high pressure.
TMAO warns fish of this danger at about 8,200 meters. If fish swim deeper, the TMAO chemical stops working and starts to damage the fishes’ brain cells.
Although there is life at the bottom of the sea. most fish live within the top 1,000 meters of the ocean. Even sharks, which are often described as the “kings of the ocean”, have never swum deeper than 4,000 meters, not even half the depth of the ocean.
Deeper down in the ocean, the most dangerous animals are the deep-sea fish. The anglerfish is one such fish. It lives about 2,000 meters deep in the ocean. There is no sunlight at this depth. But anglerfish can produce light themselves. They use this light to find food.
Below even these fish is the cusk-eel. These small fish live close to the ocean floor at a depth of 8,000 meters, far out of reach of hungry predators (猎食者).
1. TMAO ______.
A. is a chemical in the ocean B. is a kind of plastic
C. can make things break down D. can protect fish from danger
2. What does the underlined word “damage” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A. 围绕 B. 损害 C. 生成 D. 保护
3. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. Most fish live at the bottom of the ocean. B. Sharks can swim over half the depth of the ocean.
C. Anglerfish can produce light to find food. D. Cusk-eels are easily eaten by hungry predators.
4. What does the story mainly tell us?
A. How fish live at the bottom of the sea. B. How deep fish can swim in the ocean.
C. How TMAO works in fishes’ brain cells. D. How fish find food in the deep ocean.
Passage 5
Up to 45 percent of teenagers in the UK bite their nails (咬指甲), according to the BBC. Some people bite their nails not because they’re too long, but because they are driving, feeling stressed out, or just have nothing else to do.
In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association identified nail biting as a symptom (症状) of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD, 强迫症). People with this disorder may wash their hands more often than usual or have to line up their shoes in a certain way.
Although nail biting has some things in comm on with other symptoms of OCD, it is different from them in at least one way.
“In OCD, the behavior is really unwanted,” said psychiatrist Carol Mathews. People with OCD don’t want to wash their hands over and over again. There is no fun in it. They just fear that if they aren’t busy doing something, something bad might happen to them.
But nail biters enjoy this activity. “It’s rewarding. When you get the right nail, it feels good,” said Mathews. Therefore, some people argue that most nail biters do not have any kind of serious mental illness.
However, it’s still a bad habit. So what can we do to stop it? Since most people bite nails as a way of relieving (缓解) stress, finding an other way to relieve that stress could be useful, suggested Rochelle Torgerson, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in the US. For example, some people might play with a pen instead.
Nail biters feel the urge (冲动) to bite if they find a small part of the nail that is imperfect, Mathews said. So always keep your nails in good shape.
1. According to the BBC, _____ of UK teenagers bite their nails.
A. nearly a half B. two-thirds C. three-quarters D. four-fifths
2. Which of the following behaviors is a symptom of OCD?
A. Washing your hands before each meal. B. Cutting nails to make them short.
C. Lining things up in a certain way. D. Keeping your nails in good shape.
3. What does the writer try to tell us in Paragraphs 3-5?
A. The common behaviors people with OCD often show.
B. The difference between nail-biting and other OCD behaviors.
C. People with OCD enjoy doing things over and over again.
D. Nail-biters don’t have any kind of serious mental illness.
4. Which suggestion for how to stop nail-biting is mentioned in the story?
A. Biting your nails instead of playing with a pen. B. Give up nail-biting and work hard.
C. Keep your nails in good shape. D. Find another way to release your stress.
Passage 6
How much do you know about Earth - the planet that we live on? Our knowledge of Earth has been developing since ancient times.
However, many puzzles about Earth remain unsolved. LiveScience has published a list of the eight biggest mysteries about Earth. Let’s look at some of them.
Where did water come from?
When it first came into being 4.5 billion years ago, Earth was a dry rock. So where did all of our water come from? Scientists think that it might have arrived in the form of ice by an asteroid (小行星) from outer space that hit our planet. But this theory has not been confirmed (证实) because there is very little related evidence to be studied.
What’s in the core (核心)?
Scientists used to study meteorites as small examples of Earth, believing that Earth’s core was made of iron and nickel(镍). However, a later study in the 1950s proved this approach to be wrong because it found that Earth would be too light to provide gravity (重力) if its core contained only iron and nickel. Today, scientists continue to bring forward different theories, but none have been confirmed.
How was the moon born?
Scientists have found that the chemical compositions of Earth and the moon are very similar. That suggests that the moon actually came from Earth. For example, it could be a piece of Earth that separated when Earth hit another planet. It is also possible that when Earth first came into being, it spun (旋转) very fast and threw off enough molten (熔化的) rock to later form the moon.
1. What’s the main idea of the story?
A. How Earth came into being. B. Where Earth’s water came from.
C. How the moon was formed. D. Unexplained mysteries about Earth.
2. What do we know about where water may come from?
A. Earth’s water may come from ice that melted 4.5 billion years ago.
B. Earth’s water may come from a small planet that hit Earth.
C. We don’t know where water came from.
D. There is lots of evidence that tells us where water came from.
3. What does the underlined phrase “bring forward” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A. Check. B. Raise. C. Improve. D. Receive.
4. Which is TRUE according to the story?
A. Scientists used to believe Earth’s core was made of meteorites.
B. A study in the 1950s proved that Earth’s core is made of iron and nickel.
C. The moon and Earth are made of similar materials.
D. Three possibilities of where the moon came from are mentioned.
参考答案：
Passage1: CBAC
Passage2: BBDC
Passage3: BCAD
Passage4: DBCB
Passage5: ACBD
Passage6: DBBC