高二英语竞赛试题 

高二英语竞赛试题

Cloze test

Born in America, I spoke English, not Chinese, the language of my ancestors. When I was three, my parents flashed cards with Chinese 1 at my face, but I pushed them 2 . My mom believed I would learn 3 I was ready. But the 4 never came. On a Chinese New Year’s Eve, my uncle spoke to me in Chinese, but all I could do was 5 at him, confused, scratching my head. “Still can’t speak Chinese?” He 6 me, “You can’t even buy a fish in Chinatown“Hey, this is America, not China. I’ll get some 7 with or without Chinese.” I replied and turned to my mom for 8 .

“Remember to ask for fresh fish, Xin Xian Yu,” she said, handing over a $20 bill. I 9 the words, running downstairs into the streets of Chinatown

I found the fish 10 surrounded in a sea of customers. “I’d like to buy some fresh fish,” I shouted to the fishman. But he 11 my English words and turned to serve the next customer. The laugh of the people behind increased 12 their impatience. With every 13 , the breath of the dragons（龙）on my back grew stronger---my blood boiling--- 14 me to cry out, “Xian Sheng Yu, please.” “ Very Xian Sheng,” I repeated. The crowd erupted into laughter. My face turned 15 and I ran back home 16 ,expect for the $20 bill I held tightly in my pocket.Should I laugh or cry? They’re Chinese. I’m Chinese. I should feel right at 17 Instead , I was the joke , a disgrace（丢脸）to the language. Sometimes , I laugh at my fish 18 , but , in the end .the joke is on 19 . Every laugh is a culture 20 ; every laugh is my heritage（传统）fading away.

1. A. custom 2. A. ahead 3. A. when 4. A. success 5. A. aim

B. games B. around B. before B. study B. joke

C .characters .

D. language

C. along D. aside C. unless D. until C. time D. attempt C. nod D. stare

6. A. cared about B. laughed at C. argued with D. asked after 7. A. right now B. from now C. at times D. in time

8. A. decision B. permission C. information D. preparation

D. kept

9. A. repeated B. reviewed C. spelled 10. A. farm

B. stand C. pond D. market

11. A. guessed B. forgot C. doubted D. ignored 12. A. by B. as C. with D. from 13. A. second B. effort C. desire D. movement 14. A. forcing B. allowing C. persuading D. leading 15. A. bright B. blank C. pale D. red

16. A. open-mouthed B. tongue-tied C. empty-handed D. broken-hearted 17. A. service B. home C. risk D. root 18. A. trade B. deed C. challenge

D. incident

19. A. it B. us C. me D. them 20. A. thrown B. lost

C. divided D.reflected

Reading comprehensions

A

It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.

My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I’m so glad I did.

On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all， it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(脊背) in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn’t believe it ——there aren’t any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive. The little baby whale——actually as big as our boat——was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡) and waves. ”She’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side, ”my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, some-times rising from the water right beside us to breathe——and to give us a trusting

look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day, Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea. 21. The author says “I’m so glad I did. ”(in Para. 2)because __________. A. he witnessed the whole process of fishing B. he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea C. he experienced the rescue of the whales D. he spent the weekend with his family

22. The harbour survived the storm owing to____________. A. the shape of the harbour B. the arms of the bay

C. the still water in the channel D. the long coast line

23. The mother whale failed to help her baby because__________. A. she had stayed in the polluted water for too long B. the whirlpools she had made were not big enough C. she had no other whales around to turn to for help D. the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction 24. what is the theme of the story?

A. Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness B. Fishing provides excitement for children

C. It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals D. It’s vital to protect the environment

B

For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?

Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course. the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.

In this article. I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and

parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right, It doesn’t matter what the topic is –politics. The taws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg –the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong. for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something — and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to

fight these battles forever and never make any real progress

25. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict? A. Both can continue for generations. B. Both are about where to draw the line C. Neither has any clear winner D. Neither can be put to an end

26. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean? A. The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.

B. The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict C. The teens cause their parents of misleading them

D. The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents

27. Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ________. A. give orders to the other B. know more than the other C. gain respect from the other D. get the other to behave properly

28. What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows? A. Causes for the parent –teen conflicts B. Examples of the parent –teen war. C. Solutions for the parent –teen problems D. Future of the parent-teen relationship

C

They wear the latest fashions with the most up-to-date accessories (配饰). Yet these are girls in their teens or twenties but women in their sixties and seventies. A generation which would once only wear old-fashioned clothes is now favoring the same high street looks worn by those half their age.

Professor Julia Twigg, a social policy expert, said, “Women over 75 are now shopping for clothes more frequently than they did when they were young in the 1960s. In the 1960s buying a coat for a woman was a serious matter. It was an expensive item that they would purchase only every three or four years — now you can pick one up at the supermarket whenever you wish to. Fashion is a lot cheaper and people get tired of things more quickly. ”

Professor Twigg analyzed family expending（支出）data and found that while the percentage of spending on clothes and shoes by women had stayed around the same—and 5 or 6 per cent of spending—the amount of clothes bought had risen sharply.

The professor said, “Clothes are now 70 per cent cheaper than they were in the 1960s because of the huge expansion of production in the Far East. In the 1960s Leeds was the heart of the British fashion industry and that was where most of the clothes came from, but now almost all of our clothes are sourced elsewhere. Everyone is buying more clothes but in general we are not spending more money on them. ”

Fashion designer Angela Barnard, who runs her own fashion business in London, said older women were much more affected by celebrity(名流) style than in previous years.

She said, “When people see stars such as Judi Dench and Helen Mirren looking attractive and fashionable in their sixties, they want to follow them. Older women are much more aware of celebrities. There’s also the boom in TV programmes showing people how they can change their

look, and many of my older customers do yoga to stay in shape well in their fifties. When I started my business a few years ago, my older customers tended to be very rich, but now they are what I would call ordinary women. My own mother is 61 and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would never have done ten years ago. ”

29. Professor Twigg found that, compared with the 1960s, _______. A. the price of clothes has generally fallen by 70% B. the spending on clothes has increased by 5% or 6% C. people spend 30% less than they did on clothes D. the amount of clothes bought has risen by 5% or 6%

30. What can we learn about old women in terms of fashion？ A. They are often ignored by fashion designers. B. They are now more easily influenced by stars.

C. They are regarded as pioneers in the latest fashion.

D. They are more interested in clothes because of their old age.

31. It can be concluded that old women tend to wear the latest fashions today mainly because A. they get tired of things more quickly

B. TV shows teach them how to change their look C. they are in much better shape now D. clothes are much cheaper than before

32. Which is the best possible title of the passage? A. Age Is No Barrier for Fashion Fans

B. The More Fashionable, the Less Expensive C. Unexpected Changes in Fashion

D. Boom of the British Fashion Industry

D

This brief book is aimed at high school students, but speaks to anyone learning at any stage of life.

Its formal, serious style closely matches its content, a school-masterly book on schooling. The author, W. H. Armstrong, starts with the basics: reading and writing. In his opinion, reading doesn’t just mean recognizing each word on the page; it means taking in the information, digesting it and incorporating it into oneself just as one digests a sandwich and makes it a part of him. The goal is to bring the information back to life, not just to treat it as dead facts on paper from dead trees. Reading and writing cannot be completely separated from each other; in fact, the aim of reading is to express the information you have got from the text. I’ve seen it again and again ：some-one who can’t express an idea after reading a text is just as ineffective as someone who hasn’t read it at all.

Only a third of the book remains after that discussion, which Armstrong devotes to specific tips for studying languages, math, science and history. He generally handles these topics thoroughly(透彻地) and equally, except for some weakness in the science and math sections and a bit too much passion(激情) regarding history to his students, that was a hundred times more than my history teachers ever got across. To my disappointment, in this part of the book he ignores the arts. As a matter of fact, they demand all the concentration and study that math and science do, though the study differs slightly in kind. Although it’s commonly believed that the arts can only be naturally acquired, actually, learning the arts is no more natural than learning French