长沙理工大学自考英语考试资料(一)(5)

三、Reading Comprehension

Passage One

The modern age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights, radios,

televisions and telephones that it is hard to imagine what lift would be like without them. When

there is a power failure, people grope about in the dark, cars hesitate in the streets because there

are no traffic lights to guide them and food spoils in silent refrigerators.

Yet, people began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries

ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for millions of years. Scientists are

discovering that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit

humanity.

All living cells send out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats, it sends out electric

pulses. They form an electrocardiogram （心电图）, which a doctor can study to determine how

well the heart is working. The brain , too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be

recorded in electroencephalogram（脑电图）. The electric currents produced by most living cells

are extremely small-often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them. But in

some animals, certain muscle cells have become so specialized in producing electricity that they

do not work as muscle cells any more. When large numbers of these cells are linked together, the

effects can be astonishing.

The electric eel-a long thin fish with slippery skin-can produce amazingly strong electricity.

It can send an electric current as high as eight hundred volts through the water in which it lives. As

many as four-fifths of all the cells in the electric eel s body are capable of producing electricity,

and the strength of the shock depends on the length of its body.

1、The phrase “grope about” (line 3, para.1) could be replaced by ____.

A、feel about B、move about C、walk away D、run away

2、When talking about power failures, the author mentions problems related to _____.

A、radios and televisions

B、cars and telephones

C、radios and telephones

D、refrigerators and traffic lights

3、The author mentions electric eels ______.

A、to warn the reader to stay away from them

B、to describe a new source of electrical power

C、as an example of electrically charged dangerous animals

D、as an example of animals capable of producing electricity

4、Electric pulses of the eel are produced by its _____.

A、skin B、heart C、brain

A、the eel s age

C、how long the eel is

Passage Two I heard parents, teachers and educators complaining that teenage children are rebelling (反叛). D、cells 5、The strength of the eel s electric shock has to do with ____. B、the eel s weight D、the water it lives in

I wish it were so. At your age you ought to be growing away from your parents. You should be

learning to stand on your own feet. But take a good look at the present rebellion. It seems that