48．What does the passage mainly talk about?

　　　 A．Idiot savants have areas of outstanding abilities．

　　　 B．Human Beings have complicated thinking process．

　　　 C．The brains of the idiot savants are partly impaired．

　　　 D．The reasons why people have wonderful skills vary．

71．What may eventually settle the “last mile” problem?

　　　　 A．The broadband connection’s getting faster.

　　　　 B．More and more Internet users.

　　　　 C．more and more Internet connections.

　　　　 D．The rapid progress in cell phone technology.

答案：68-71　 DDCD

Passage 3

(河北省正定中学2010高三下学期第二次月考C篇)

Our brains work in complex and strange ways. There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40,000 years, but who cannot add two plus two. Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once, but they cannot read or write.

　　　 Dr．J．Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887．He called these people idiot savants. An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental impairment (损伤) , such as in autism or retardation.　 At the same time, the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills, which are unusual for most people．The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics, or having a photographic memory.

　　　 One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr．Benjamin Rush, an American doctor．His patient, Thomas Fuller, was brought to Virginia as a slave in 1724. It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds．Despite this ability, he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write．

　　　 Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s. Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words, but he played 5 ,000 musical pieces beautifully．

　　　 In the excellent movie Rain Man, made in 1988 and available on video cassette, Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise, with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly.

　　　 Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment．Yet not all brain impairment leads to savant skills．Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills. However,few people wish to participate in such experiments. There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain. The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate. Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots.

70．Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that technological advancements _____.

　　　　 A．make TV and telephone available everywhere

　　　　 B．bring great change to people’s everyday life

　　　　 C．make it possible for more people to use the Internet

　　　　 D．bring faster Internet connections to users

69．What can we know from the third paragraph?

　　　　 A．Internet connection has not been popular in most cities.

　　　　 B．Internet service providers care about rural(农村的)customers.

　　　　 C．Computer is popular in developing countries.

　　　　 D．It is hard to bring Internet access to users in remote areas.

68．The underlined part “a catch” (in Paragraph 2) probably means “_____”.

　　　　 A．a rare challenge　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　 B．a desirable plan

　　　　 C．an efficient device　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．a hidden problem

66．What is the purpose of the passage?

　　　　 A．To call on us to guard our water.

　　　　 B．To show us that no place is like home.

　　　　 C．To make us aware of the pollution around us.

　　　　 D．To argue that neither homes nor offices are safe.

答案：64. B 65. C 　66. C

Passage 2

(安徽省蚌埠市2010届高三第三次质检D篇)

In the computer age, most of us take a broadband(宽带)Internet connection for granted. Whether cable or mobile broadband, today’s connections are many times faster than those in the early days. Videos play smoothly, complex websites load quickly, and files(档案文件)download much faster than ten years ago. And the files are much bigger too.

There’s a catch, of course: You have to live near enough to a major city to get broadband Internet. If you don’t, it’s slow dial-up access for you. And for those living really far out, there may be no Internet access at all.

Technology experts often talk about the “last mile” problem, which refers to the difficulty of bringing Internet access to remote locations. In cities and suburbs(郊区), it’s relatively easy to provide access for everyone. It is much more difficult to deliver access to those living far from cities, especially in developing countries. Internet service providers, for their part, have been reluctant to provide access to sparsely (稀疏地) populated areas. The handful of Internet users they would reach wouldn’t cover the expense.

But every year, technological advancements allow of more and more Internet users. Most broadband connections today run over existing cable TV and telephone lines although these technologies aren’t available everywhere.

Some companies have delivered the Internet over standard power lines. Advancements in cheaper, more efficient fiber optics cables (光纤电缆) promise to bring extremely fast Internet connections to more users.

Still, the “last mile” problem remains hard to deal with. There will always be somewhere that doesn’t have an affordable broadband connection. But someday that might not matter. If the rapid progress in cell phone technology is any indication (迹象), it may not be too long before an Internet connection simply follows you wherever you go.

65．In Paragraph 2, the underlined sentence means that　　　 .

　　　　 A．bathing should be done with caution

　　　　 B．homes and offices should be aired often

　　　　 C．any pollution should be taken into consideration

　　　　 D．we should prevent any pollution from doing harm to us

Passage 1

(2010年海淀区一模C篇)

Apparently，we are safe neither at home nor in the business office．We use water in both places，but the research shows that chemicals added to our local water supply to kill harmful bacteria can have unwanted side effects．These chemicals can cause potential harm through drinking and in seemingly harmless activities as cleaning one’s house．They are released(set free)from water by daily actions like water running out of tap，spraying from garden pipes，or splashing in dishwashers and washing machines．As the water is moving．these chemicals are released into the air and then breathed in. Once inside our bodies, they start to affect our health.

　　　　 Does this mean we should stop bathing? No, say the scientists, but we should put all pollution into perspective. Activities at home such as the burning of coal, cooking oil, or even candles release carbon monoxide and particulates such as cigarette ashes which have been proven as harmful to health as working or living near heavy traffic. New tugs, bedding, and even clothing give off that“new smell, ”which is a sure sign of chemicals. In the office, newly applied paint, newly purchased telephones and other telecommunications equipment, and computers release polluting chemicals, too. As offices and homes often have inadequate ventilation (通风), these chemicals can build up to become health problems. Their poisonous effects are only now being slowly recognized.

　　　　 These facts suggest that, at a minimum, proper airing of newly purchased goods with an obvious chemical smell is a wise warning. Home and office windows should be opened during good weather. Even one’s car needs to be ventilated as well while in the garage.

　　　　 We need further research to understand better other potential health dangers, too. For example, the effects of overcrowding of schools (carbon dioxide build-up ), the factory work environment ( an endless list of potentially dangerous substances ), and even home heating and cooling (the air conditioner may be our enemies, not our friends) have only recently started to come to light. Until we understand the effects of our new technological environment better, we can only hope that“there is no place like home.”

64．What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

　　　　 A．The air we breathe in is harmful.

　　　　 B．The water in everyday use is unsafe.

　　　　 C．Chemicals are added to the drinking water.

　　　　 D．Chemicals are released in the running water.

75.Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?

A.Sunscreen to Prevent Skin Cancer　　　　　　 　　 B.Sunscreen to Increase Skin Cancer

C.Skin Cancer Caused by Sunscreen　　　　　　　 　　 D.Skin Cancer Caused by Freckles

答案　 72.C　 73.B　 74.D　 75.A

74.We can learn from the passage that　　　　 .

A.sunscreen users get skin cancer more often

B.the volunteers have proved the effect of sunscreen

C.the new study was based on the experiences of volunteers

D.the number of skin cancer patients is increasing in America