精英家教网 > 高中英语 > 题目详情

阅读理解

  British potato farmers were angry and wanted the expression “couch potato” to be taken out of the dictionary because it harmed the vegetable's image.

  The British Potato Council wants the Oxford English Dictionary to replace the expression with the term “couch slouch”, with protests being outside Parliament in London and the offices of Oxford University Press.

  Kathryn Race, head of marketing at the Council, which represents some 4,000 planters and processors, said the group had complained in writing to the OED but had yet to receive a response.

  “We are trying to get rid of the image that potatoes are bad for you,” she said on Monday.

  “The potato has had its knocks in the past.Of course it is not the Oxford English Dictionary's fault but we want to use another term instead of “couch potato” because potatoes are naturally healthy.”

  The OED says that “couch potato” began as American slang, meaning “a person who spends his or her leisure time sitting around, especially watching television or video tapes.”

  The Potato Council says its campaign is backed by dieticians(饮食学家)who say the vegetable is low in fat and high in vitamin C.

  Supporting the campaign, famous cook Antony Worrall Thompson said the vegetable was one of Britain's favorite foods.

  “Not only are they healthy, they are also convenient and yummy(美味).Life without potato is like a sandwich without a filling,” he said.

  John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, said the dictionary first included the term “couch potato” in 1993 and said “dictionaries just reflect the words that society uses.”

  Simpson said words were never taken out of the full-length dictionary, which includes some 650,000 words in 20 volumes.

  But little-used words can be removed from the smaller dictionaries to make way for newer ones.

  “If society stops using words then they get taken out of the smaller dictionaries,” he added.

  The first known recorded use of the expression “couch potato” was in an article in Los Angeles Times, in 1979, Simpson said.

  Nigel Evans, a member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley in Lancashire, has made a motion in support of the campaign, highlighting the nutritional value of the British potato.

(1)

British potato farmers wanted to ________.

[  ]

A.

advertise their produces

B.

call for a higher price for their potatoes

C.

remove the expression “couch potato” from the dictionary

D.

let people know how important the potato is in people's lives

(2)

The farmers think that ________.

[  ]

A.

potatoes have had a bad image

B.

Potatoes are good for people by nature

C.

potatoes sometimes do harm to people

D.

it's the dictionary's fault to use the expression “couch potato”

(3)

John Simpson thinks that ________.

[  ]

A.

the expression can be taken out of every kind of dictionary

B.

dictionaries do not necessarily reflect the words the society uses

C.

little-used words can remain in the smaller dictionaries

D.

it is impossible for them to take the expression out of the dictionary

(4)

What is wrong with the expression “couch potato” according to the farmers in this passage?

[  ]

A.

It is connected with unfavorable meaning.

B.

Potato should be used in the expression.

C.

It is borrowed from America English.

D.

It refers to a kind of person.

答案:1.C;2.B;3.D;4.A;
练习册系列答案
相关习题

科目:高中英语 来源:黄冈重点作业 高一英语(下) 题型:050

阅读理解:

  

Meaningful Colours

  

  Mary did not understand such sentences as “She is blue Today”, “You are yellow”,“He has a green thumb (大拇指)”,“He has told a little white lie”and so on. And she went to her teacher for help.

  Mary : Mrs Smith, there is a colour in each of these sentences. What do they mean?

  Mrs Smith : In everyday English, Mary, blue sometimes means sad. Yellowafraid. A person with a green thumbgrows plants well. And a white lie is not a bad one.

  Mary : Would you give me an example for “a white lie”?

  Mrs Smith: Certainly. Now I give you some cake. In fact you don't like it, but you won't say it. Instead, you say, “No, thanks. I'm not hungry.”That's a white lie.

  Mary: Oh, I see. Thank you very much.

1.Sometimes “yellow”means “afraid” in ________ English.

[  ]

A.correct
B.usual
C.spoken
D.written

2.The farmer doesn't have a green thumb, that is to say ________.

[  ]

A.he is not good at planting
B.all his plants grow well
C.he should have a green thumb
D.he can't grow well like plants

3.John is ________ go to out alone at night. He's yellow!

[  ]

A.afraid
B.brave
C.fear
D.frightening

4.Mary didn't want to tell me ________ of her serious illness.

[  ]She told me a white lie.

A.the cause
B.the reason
C.the truth
D.the news

5.If you fail to pass the exams, you'll be ________.

[  ]

A.yellow
B.blue
C.white
D.green

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英语 来源:黄冈重点作业 高一英语(下) 题型:050

阅读理解:

  In Europe, men do not usually wear skirts. But the Scottish national clothing for men is a kind of skirt. It is called a kilt. The Scottish like to be different. They are also proud of their country and its history, and they feel that the kilt is part of that history. That's why the men still wear kilts at traditional (传统的) dances and on national holidays. They believe they are wearing the same clothes that Scottish men always used to wear.

  That's what they believe. However, kilts are not really so old. Before 1730, Scottish men wore a long shirt and blanket around their shoulders. These clothes got in the way when the men started to work in factories. So, in 1730 a factory owner changed the blanket into a skirt; the kilt. That's how the first kilt was made.

  Then, in the late 1700s Scottish soldiers in the British Army began to wear kilts. One reason for this was national sentiment ( = feelings) . The Scottish soldiers wanted to be different from the English soldiers. The British Army probably had a different reason. A Scottish soldier in a kilt was always easy to find! The Scottish soldier fought very hard and became famous. The kilt was part of the fame, and in the early 1800s men all around Scotland began to wear kilts.

  These kilts had colorful stripes (条纹) going up and down and across. In the 1700s and early 1800s, the color of the stripes had no special meaning. Men sometimes owned kilts in several different colors. But later the colors became important to the Scottish families. By about 1850, most families had special colors for their kilts. For example, men from the Campbell family had kilts with green, yellow and blue stripes. Scottish people often believe that the colors of the kilts are part of their family history. In fact, each family just chose the color they liked best.

  This is not the story you will hear today if you are in Scotland. Most Scottish people still believe that kilts are as old as Scotland and that the colors are as old as the Scottish families. Sometimes feelings are stronger than facts!

1.This text is mainly about ________.

A.soldiers' clothes in Britain
B.the history of Scotland
C.a special kind of skirt
D.Scottish families

2.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A.The English soldiers were the first to wear kilts.

B.It was hard then to tell the Scottish soldiers from the English ones apart from the clothes.

C.Colors were specially designed in the first kilts.

D.The factory owner made the first kilt from long shirts to make his workers different from others.

3.Scottish soldiers were dressed in kilts partly because of ________.

A.the colors
B.the weather
C.national sentiment
D.the design

4.The colors of the kilts are ________.

[  ]

A.not part of the Scottish family history

B.older than the Scottish family history

C.for the Campbell family only

D.mainly green, yellow and blue

5.From the last paragraph we can infer that ________.

[  ]

A.the European people are full of strong feelings

B.there are no stories about kilts in Scotland today

C.the British like to do things on feelings, not on facts

D.the Scottish prefer to keep their tradition rather than believe the fact

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英语 来源:101网校同步练习 高二英语 人民教育出版社(新课标A 2002-3年初审通过) 人教版 题型:050

阅读理解:

  Suppose we built a robot(机器人)to explore the planet Mars.We provide the robot with seeing detectors(探测器)to keep it away from danger.It is powered entirely by the sun.Should we program the robot to be equally active at all times?No.The robot would be using up energy at a time when it was not receiving any.So we would probably program it to stop its activity at night and to wake up at dawn the next morning.

  According to the evolutionary(进化的)theory of sleep, evolution equipped us with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking for the same reason.The theory does not deny(否认)that sleep provides some important restorative functions(恢复功能).It merely says that evolution has programmed us to perform those functions at a time when activity would be inefficient and possibly dangerous.However, sleep protects us only from the sort of trouble we might walk into; it does not protect us from trouble that comes looking for us.So we sleep well when we are in a familiar, safe place, but we sleep lightly, if at all, when we fear that bears will nose into the tent.

  The evolutionary theory explains the differences in sleep among creatures.Why do eats, for instance, sleep so much, while horses sleep so little?Surely cats do not need five times as much repair and restoration as horses do.But cats can afford to have long periods of inactivity because they spend little time eating and are unlikely to be attacked while they sleep.Horses must spend almost all their waking hours eating, because what they eat is very low in energy value.Moreover, they cannot afford to sleep too long or too deeply, because their survival(生存)depends on their ability to run away from attackers.

(1)

The author uses the example of the robot in space exploration to tell us ________.

[  ]

A.

the differences between robots and men

B.

the reason why men need to sleep

C.

about the need for robots to save power

D.

about the danger of men working at night

(2)

Evolution has programmed man to sleep at night chiefly to help him ________.

[  ]

A.

keep up a regular pattern of life

B.

prevent trouble that comes looking for him

C.

avoid danger and inefficient labour

D.

restore his bodily functions

(3)

According to the author, we cannot sleep well when we ________.

[  ]

A.

are worrying about our safety

B.

are overworked

C.

are in a tent

D.

are away from home

(4)

Cats sleep much more than horses do partly because cats ________.

[  ]

A.

need more time for restoration

B.

are unlikely to be attackers

C.

axe more active than homes when they are awake

D.

spend less time eating to get enough energy

(5)

Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

[  ]

A.

Evolution has equipped all creatures with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking.

B.

The study of sleep is an important part of the evolutionary theory.

C.

Sleeping patterns must be taken into consideration in the designing of robots.

D.

The sleeping pattern of a living creature is determined by the food it eats.

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英语 来源:101网校同步练习 高三英语 人民教育出版社(新课标A 2002-3年初审) 人教版 题型:050

阅读理解:

  Several years ago, my parents, my wife, my son and I ate at one of those restaurants where the menu is written on a blackboard.After a wonderful dinner, the waiter set the check in the middle of the table.That’s when it happened:my father did not reach for the check.

  Conversation continued.Finally I realized that I should pick up the check!After hundreds of restaurant meals with my parents, after a lifetime of thinking of my father as the one with dollars, it had all changed.I reached for the check, and my view of myself suddenly changed.I was an adult.I was no longer a kid.

  Some people mark off(区分)their lives in years, I measure mine in small events.I didn’t become a young man at a particular age, like 16, but rather when a kid who wandered in the streets called me “mister.” These events in my life are called “milestones”(里程碑)

  There have been other milestones.The cops(policemen)of my youth always seemed big, even huge, and of course they were older than I was.Then one day they were suddenly realized that all the football players in the game I was watching were younger than I was.They were just big kids.With that milestone gone was the dream that someday, maybe I, too, could be a football player.Without ever having reached the hill, I was over it.

  I never thought that I would fall asleep in front of the TV set as my father did.Now it’s what I do best.I never thought that I would go to the beach and not swim, yet I spent all of August at the shore and never once went into the ocean.I never thought that I would appreciate opera, but now the combination of voice and orchestra attract me.I never thought that I would prefer to stay home in the evenings, but now I find myself passing up parties.I used to think that people who watched birds were strange, but this summer I fond myself watching them, and maybe I’ll get a book on the subject.I feel a strong desire for a religious belief that I never thought I’d want, feel close to my ancestors(祖先)long gone, and echo my father in arguments with my son.I still lose…

  One day I bought a house.One day-what a day!–I became a father, and not too long after that I picked up the check for my own father.I thought then it was a milestone for me.One day, when I was a little older, I realized it was one for him, too, another milestone.

(1)

The tone established in the passage is one of ________.

[  ]

A.

sad regret

B.

amusement

C.

happiness

D.

deep feeling

(2)

The author mentions the event in the restaurant because ________.

[  ]

A.

that was one of his milestone

B.

he paid the bill but he didn’t want to

C.

he became a father with dollars

D.

that was the last restaurant meal with his parents

(3)

“Then they were suddenly neither.” Suggests that ________.

[  ]

A.

suddenly they became older than I was

B.

suddenly I knew that they was neither bigger nor older than I was

C.

suddenly I realized that I made mistake

D.

suddenly I found myself no longer a kid

(4)

Which of the following best expresses the author’s thinking?

[  ]

A.

One day is worth two tomorrow

B.

To save time is to length life

C.

When an opportunity is lost, it never comes back to you

D.

Time and tide wait for no man

查看答案和解析>>

科目:高中英语 来源:101网校同步练习 高二英语 人民教育出版社(新课标A 2002-3年初审通过) 人教版 题型:050

阅读理解:

  It was at least two months before Christmas when nine-year-old Almie Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bicycle.As Christmas drew near, her desire for a bicycle seemed to fade, or so we thought.We bought the latest rages.Baby-Sitter’s Club dolls, and a doll house.Then, much to our surprise, on December 23rd, she said that she “really wanted a bike more than anything else.”

  It was just too late, what will all the details of preparing Christmas dinner and buying last-minute gifts, to take the time to select the “right bike” for our little girl.So here we were-Christmas Eve around 9∶00 p. m., with Almie and her six-year-old brother, Dylan, nested snug in their beds.Now we could only think of the bicycle and the disappointment of our child.“What if the bicycle out of clay(a kind of earth)and write a note that she could trade the clay model in for a real bike?” her dad asked.“This is an expensive item and she is ‘such a big girl,’ and it would be much better for her to pick it out.”So he spent the next four hours painstakingly working with clay to make a tiny bike.

  On Christmas morning, we were excited for Almie to open the little heart-shaped package with the beautiful red and white clay bike and the note.Finally, she opened it and read the note aloud.“Does this mean that I trade in this bike that Daddy made me for a real one?”Beaming, I said,“Yes.”Almie had tears in her eyes when she replied,“I could never trade in this beautiful bicycle that Daddy made me.I’d rather keep this than get a real bike.”At that moment, we would have moved heaven and earth to buy every bicycle on the planet!

(1)

Which is the right time order of the following events?

a.The girl asked for a new bike

b.The girl opened the little heart-shaped package

c.The parents bought the girl a modern and popular doll.

d.The father made the girl a bike with clay.

e.The girl would rather keep the clay bike than get a real one.

[  ]

A.

b, c, e ,d

B.

a, c, d, b, e

C.

a, c, b, d, e

D.

a, b, d, c, e

(2)

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

[  ]

A.

The parents wanted the girl to have the clay bike forever.

B.

Tears were in the girl’s eyes because she didn’t like the present at all.

C.

The girl never lost her desire for a bike.

D.

The parents paid little attention to the daughter’s desire for a bike.

(3)

Why did Dad make the clay bicycle?

[  ]

A.

Because he wanted to buy a real one, but he had no money.

B.

Because he didn’t want to disappoint his daughter.

C.

Because he thought his daughter would like it.

D.

Because he wanted to give his daughter a surprise.

(4)

What can be inferred from the last sentence of the text?

[  ]

A.

The parents were happy and encouraged.

B.

The parents felt comfortable and relaxed.

C.

The parents were moved and felt proud of the girl.

D.

The parents felt disappointed and sorry for the girl.

查看答案和解析>>

同步练习册答案