【2014·新课标全国卷Ⅰ 】阅读理解A

The Cambridge Science Festival Curiosity Challenge

Dare to Take the Curiosity Challenge!

The Cambridge Science Festival (CSF) is pleased to inform you of the sixth annual Curiosity Challenge.The challenge invites, even dares school students between the ages of 5 and 14 to create artwork or a piece of writing that shows their curiosity and how it inspires them to explore their world.

Students are being dared to draw a picture, write an article, take a photo or write a poem that shows what they are curious about.To enter the challenge, all artwork or pieces of writing should be sent to the Cambridge Science Festival, MIT Museum, 265 Mass Avenue Cambridge 02139 by Friday, February 8th.

Students who enter the Curiosity Challenge and are selected as winners will be honored at a special ceremony during the CSF on Sunday, April 21st.Guest speaker will also present prizes to the students.Winning entries will be published in a book.Student entries will be exhibited and prizes will be given.Families of those who take part in will be included in the celebration and brunch will be served.

Between March 10th and March 15th, each winner will be given the specifics of the closing ceremony and the Curiosity Challenge celebration.The program guidelines and other related information are available at: http：//cambridgesciencefestival.org.

【试题分析】　剑桥科技节举办“好奇心大挑战”活动。本文介绍了该项活动的具体内容、奖励授予及活动时间等。

1.Who can take part in the Curiosity Challenge?

A.School students.

B.Cambridge locals.

C.CSF winners.

D.MIT artists.

解析：细节理解题。根据第一段第二句“The challenge invites，even dares school students between the ages of 5 and 14 to create artwork or a piece of writing...”可知，是学校学生参加该项活动。

答案：A

2.When will the prize­giving ceremony be held?

A.On February 8th.

B.On March 10th

C.On March 15th.

D.On April 21st.

解析：细节理解题。根据第三段第一句“...at a special ceremony during the CSF on Sunday，April 21st.”可知，授奖仪式是在四月二十一日举行。

答案：D

3. What type of writing is this text?

A.An exhibition guide.

B.An art show review.

C.An announcement.

D.An official report.

解析：推理判断题。根据本文所给的标题及活动内容的介绍，包括具体活动内容、授奖情况及活动日期等可以推知，本文是一篇通知。

答案：C

阅读理解。阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。

In business, there is a speed difference: It's the difference between how important a firms leaders say speed is to their competitive () strategy(策略)and how fast the company actually moves. The difference is important regardless of industry and company size .Companies fearful of losing their competitive advantage spend much time and money looking for ways to pick up the speed.

In our study of 343 businesses, the companies that choose to go, go, go to try to gain an edge ended up with lower sales and operating incomes than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on the right track, What’s more, the firms that “slowed down to speed up “improved their top and bottom lines, averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating incomes over a three-year period.

How did they disobey the laws of business physics, taking more time than competitors yet performing better? They thought differently about what “slower” and “faster” mean. Firms sometimes fail to understand the difference between operation speed (moving quickly )and strategic speed (reducing the time it takes to deliver value ).Simply increasing the speed of production, for example ,may be one way to try to reduce the speed difference .But that often leads to reduced value over time, in the form of lower-quality products and services.

In our study, higher-performing companies with strategic speed always made changes when necessary. They became more open to ideas and discussion. They encouraged new ways of thinking. And they allowed time to look back and learn. By contrast (相比而言), performance suffered at firms that moved fast all the time, paid too much attention to improving efficiency, stuck to tested methods, didn’t develop team spirit among their employees, and had little time thinking about changes.

Strategic speed serves as a kind of leadership. Teams that regularly take time to get things right, rather than plough ahead full bore , are more successful in meeting their business goals . That kind of strategy must come from the top.

( ) 1. What does the underlined part “gain an edge” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A. Increase the speed. B. Get an advantage. C. Reach the limit. D. Set a goal.

( ) 2. The underlined part “the laws of business physics” in Paragraph 3 means ___________.

A. spending more time and performing worse.

B. spending more time and performing better

C. spending less time and performing worse

D. spending less time and performing better

( ) 3. What can we learn from the text?

A. how fast a firm moves depends on how big it is.

B. how competitive a firm is depends on what it produces.

C. Firms guided by strategic speed take time to make necessary changes.

D. Firms guided by operational speed take time to develop necessary team spirit.

( ) 4. Which could be the best title for the text?

A. Improve quality? Serve better. B. Deliver value? Plough ahead.

C. Reduce time? Move faster. D. Need speed? Slow down.

【参考答案】1---4、BDCD

阅读理解。阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。The way we do things round here

Some years ago，I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started，“Dear John，I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us.” That “quite” saddened me. I thought he was saying “we're kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else.”Then I discovered that in American English “quite” sometimes means “very”， while in British English it means “fairly”.

So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don't just mean the words people speak. It is body language，dress，manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures (文化).

Some of these differences may be only on the surface—dress，food and hours of work—while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate (气候)，while getting on with business.

Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite;the service is better;you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However，other differences can be troubling, like punctuality (准时). If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the American Midwest，an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word “late” because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.

本文介绍了作者所感受到的文化差异。

. The author was unhappy as mentioned in Paragraph 1 because he thought ________.

A. the American bank didn't think much of him

B. the American bank might hire another person

C. it's difficult to get used to American culture

D. it's easy to misunderstand Americans

答案：A。推理判断题。由第一段中“That “quite” saddened me”.可以推断出作者认为这家美国银行不重视他。

2.The underlined word “highlights” in Paragraph 2 probably means ________.

A. encourages B. helps to narrow

C. increases D. draws attention to

答案：D。词义猜测题。由下文可知人们做事情的方式引起了作者对文化差异的关注。

.According to the author，what should we do with most cultural differences?

A. Ask the native people for help.B. Understand and accept them.

C. Do things in our own way. D. Do in­depth research.

答案：B。细节理解题。由第三段最后一句可知我们要习惯文化差异并接受存在的文化差异。

.When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are________.

A. Italians B. Germans

C. Greeks D. the British

答案：B。细节理解题。由最后一段“If you invite people...on time in Germany...”可知B项正确。