2021年4月18日江苏省扬州市高中英语笔试考试真题答案解析

A

So many things can keep you from seeing your loved ones in person, from busy schedules to long distances to a rather unexpected COVID- 19. Fortunately, thanks to modern technology, the people we miss are often only a phone call or text message away. But if you’re someone who’s more prone to typed out messages than verbal ones, you may want to reconsider. A new study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, found that communication interactions that included voice, like a phone call or video chat, created stronger social bonds than communication through typing, like text messaging or email.

In the study, researchers used various experiments to judge connectedness . In one, they asked 200 people to make predictions about what it would be like to reconnect with an old friend by email or by phone and then assigned people at random to do one or the other. Although people anticipated that a phone call would be more awkward, hearing someone’s voice actually made the experience better. “People reported they did form a significantly stronger bond with their old friend on the phone compared with email, and they did not feel more awkward,” study co-author Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing at the McCombs School of Business, said in a statement. In another experiment, the researchers had strangers connect by either texting, talking over video chat, or talking using only audio. They found that both forms of voice communication—whether video or audio only—made the strangers feel significantly more connected than when they communicated by text.

Sabrina Romanoff, a Harvard trained clinical psychologist based in New York City, says people tend to text or email instead of calling because of convenience, as they see it as a controlled form of communication where they can “correspond information exactly in the way they intend without unexpected additions by the other person.”

Romanoff says that in reality, texting can make it hard to determine the true meaning behind a conversation. “A phone call is actually more convenient when considering the net effects of the message,” she explains. “Each party is more present, and therefore, able to make sense of the meaning behind the content without thinking about the endless possible meanings behind words and punctuation.”

B

For years I hadn’t known much about gardening. I grew up in the countryside but got hooked on music and drawing and put a great deal of effort into books. As a teenager, the fields beyond my home became a green barrier to the big city I so longed to be part of. I was always full of life, free from worries.

Breaking up with Josh changed everything. I felt so lost and alone. Yet I didn’t turn to gardening for recovery straight away. That summer I went to a dozen festivals, danced my way through sleepless weekends and relied on kind friends. But none of them worked for long.

Then one day I walked to the balcony, seeing sunflowers blooming brightly in the wind. They made me realize that plants always carried on. “How small my heartbreak is in the grand scheme of things,” I said to myself. I had no idea where I’d end up living, but I could rely on those cycles of growth, decay ( 衰退 ) and renewal. There was something enormously comforting in that.

Gradually, the need for green space became a habit that changed my life. When I was staying with friends, I’d hunt out parks. Within a couple of months, I’d signed up as a volunteer at a local community garden and would get there early on Sunday mornings, as if it were my own kind of church.

It’s not surprising that being outdoors and surrounding myself with nature helped me through this difficult time . Studies by the Royal College of Physicians have found that gardening can lower blood pressure, relieve anxiety and depression, boost mood, and burn calories.

Fifteen months later, I found a new home, nestled in a patch of south London woodland. I have 30 houseplants in total and my balcony blooms all year around, so it feels like both an oasis ( 绿洲 ) and somewhere to think.

Life is still sometimes frustrating. Difficult things still happen. But these days I know how to treat myself: I make sure I go outside, breathe in, look at what’s growing, and I always feel better.

C

Lung cancer. Brain tumors. Breast cancer. Every organ in your body is vulnerable to creating abnormal cells that attack your healthy tissue, but there’s one body part where cancer just doesn’t seem to be “a thing” . Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the CDC, so why do you rarely hear about heart cancer?

Heart cancer does exist—it’s just unbelievably rare. Primary heart cancer affects about 50 people in one million, says Salim Hayek, MD, a cardiologist at the University of Michigan’s Franked Cardiovascular Center.

As cells are growing and dividing, a mutation ( 变异 ) can occur, whether from genetic or environmental factors, says Steve Xydas, MD, chief of the Columbia University Division of Cardiac. Those mutated cells start rapidly growing and dividing, ignoring signals designed to tell them to die. Eventually, they can form a cancerous tumor.

Ironically, the factors that make the heart so vulnerable to disease are also thought to make it less vulnerable to cancer, says Dr. Havek. “Most heart muscle cells cannot divide and grow in number,” he says. “These are cells that are so organized and specialized in their function that they have many mechanisms and checkpoints that will not allow them to return to an earlier stage of immaturity and regenerate.” Without being able to regenerate quickly, it’s hard for the heart to repair damage from heart events—but that also doesn’t leave the door open very wide for mutations to grow into cancer.

Meanwhile, the heart also might be better protected from environmental risk factors, says Dr. Xydas. “There is less ability to expose the heart to carcinogens (致癌物), as opposed to breathing in smoke to the lungs, for instance,” he says. There are few risk factors for heart cancer, but some conditions, such as Carney complex, raise the risk of tumors.

Even then, the vast majority of heart tumors—including the ones associated with Carney complex—are benign ( 良性的 ), not cancerous. “Cancer can spread to the heart from other areas, but nearly 10 percent of fatal cancer cases have spread to the heart” , says Dr. Hayek.

D

It goes without saying that many Western wedding customs are completely different from those of Asian cultures. Some are so rooted in history that many Westerners have no idea whether they even exist.

Traditionally, June has been the most popular month for people to get married. One reason is that June 1 was the date of an ancient Roman festival celebrating the marriage of the god Jupiter and his wife Juno. Another reason will likely astonish you. Centuries ago, taking a bath was not as common as it is today. Some people took a bath only once a year, typically in May. Since June was a time most wedding guests would not be too smelly, that month was preferred.

Another wedding custom is for the bride to “wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue ”. Having something old is said to protect the newlyweds ’ future baby, while the new item shows optimism for the future . Meanwhile, something borrowed is meant to bring good luck, and something blue is a promise of being faithful. Lesser known is the fact that the bride is also supposed to have a sixpence in her shoe for prosperity (  兴  旺 ). Interestingly, in Sweden, brides are given two coins before getting married—one gold from her mother and the other silver from her father—also to put in her shoes. These fascinating customs show just how important certain wedding traditions are in Western cultures.

The concept of the “white wedding” ，in which the bride wears a white wedding dress, is a familiar one. It is thought, mistakenly though, that this is a tradition that developed in ancient times and originates from the belief of white being a symbol of purity. Actually, the custom of brides wearing this color dates back less than 200 years and is attributed to the wedding of Queen Victoria. The queen’s choice of white for her wedding was unusual for the time as other colors, especially red, were much more common.

After news of Victoria’s highly publicized wedding to Prince Albert spread, not just around the United Kingdom, but to other nations including the United States, women began following in her footsteps and wearing white dresses at their wedding ceremonies. With white being the choice of a powerful royal figure like Queen Victoria, the color became associated with wealth, nobility, and the fashion-conscious.

Due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, more than 1.5 billion children have been affected by school closures worldwide.     31     The guidance below outlines what can be done to handle online risks and promote positive online learning experiences for children.

 32     Schools should be aware that children especially the younger ones could unintentionally hurt others in their communication. And schoolyard bullying ( 欺 凌 ) among classmates may easily change into online bullying. Also school authorities need to adapt anti- bullying rules and policies for online spaces and make them clear to students and parents.

Continued access to school-based advisory services should be ensured. In the absence of the face-to-face contact with advisers, children in depression need to have safe and secret means of reaching out to advisers.     33     Thus schools should promote more helplines or online advisory platforms. Guidelines regarding digital safety should be provided for children to create a positive long-distance learning experience.     34     Specific safeguards may include wearing appropriate clothing in front of cameras, avoiding using private messaging services in teacher- student communication and not connecting to virtual classrooms from bedrooms.

Potentially harmful information and inappropriate use of data should be avoided. Increased online activity may expose children to age-inappropriate and potentially harmful content.  35     Additionally, the shift of children’s lives online may result in the added collection and processing of children’s personal data by companies. Therefore, schools should seek digital protection mechanisms to ensure only authorized individuals are able to access the online learning platforms.

When Bruce was young, he was always energetic. But at age 30, he     36     himself to taking drugs. Within months, he was reduced to sleeping under a bridge, which happened to be on the     37     of the Boston Marathon. He would watch the runners speed past, longing to take part and pull his life together.

After a lot of therapy and love, the 54-year-old man has so far     38     the marathon finish line 32 times. Without doubt, his most recent race was the most     39     . Early one morning, Bruce     40     the subway bound for the Chicago Marathon. Before long, he noticed a man who seemed to be     41     , moving from passenger to passenger, asking for spare change. His behavior     42     Bruce as “really absurd” , especially the way he glared at anyone who he felt hadn’t given him     43     .

Then at the Cumberland station, several stops before the one for the marathon, most of the passengers suddenly     44     the train, shouting that the man asking for money was, in fact,     45     and robbing people.

46     he might throw himself in danger, worried that man would hurt innocent people, Bruce rushed to the man and fought for the gun.     47     , he pinned him against the door and grabbed the gun. Then the police crowded into the train and Bruce let them     48     .

“I just happen to be at the right place at the right moment,” he says. “I’ve lived a hard life, but I believe change starts     49     yourself. It’s a great experience for an imperfect man to find the     50     way to give back.”

The discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls (《 死 海 古 卷 》),     51     (consider) to be the     52     (significance) archaeological event of the twentieth century, occurred in 1947 in Qumran, bordering on the Dead Sea.     53     (search) for a goat that had got lost, a shepherd named Muhammed walked along the sea cliffs and     54     (accident) came across a clay jar containing ancient scrolls. Then they were sold to Professor Eliezer Sukennik. He was sure that the scrolls were genuine ( 真的 ), which was the first time that a biblical ( 圣经的 ) scholar     55     (examine) the scrolls.

Ten years later, eleven more caves around the Dead Sea were found to contain tens of thousands of scroll fragments ( 碎 片 ), among     56     are the oldest known versions of the Hebrew Scriptures. Some scrolls were carefully placed, while others appeared to be thrown in a hurry.     57     is remarkable about the ancient scrolls is their age.     58     (date) from the 3rd century BC to AD 68, the scrolls are mostly written in Hebrew and include the oldest biblical texts ever found, consisting     59     passages from every book of the Hebrew Bible, with the     60     (except) of the Book of Esther.

阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Last Saturday, I was on my way to see Christine. She is my classmate and had invited me to her cabin ( 小 屋 ). It is located in an area of thick forest two miles from the highway. My phone did not work in that area and what was worse, I had no satellite guidance. Christine had drawn me a simple map but I did not recognize anything as I drove along the rough, narrow roads. There were no street lights and it was completely dark.

Suddenly a deer ran in front of my car, and I could not stop in time and hit it. As I did, my car went off the road and down a small hill. I hadn’t seen other cars either in front of me or behind me. There was no way that I could contact anyone. I was alone.

I was able to move and get out of the car but my leg was injured. The pain was horrible and I could not walk at all. No one was there. I began to worry, but my good sense warmed me to think. It was summer, so at least I would not freeze to death. Since I was not familiar with the area, maybe there would be more people coming along in the daylight. Maybe I could somehow struggle up to the road and get help. I had to wait.

Fortunately, I crawled (  爬  行 ) back in and slept in the back seat of my car. I could not be beaten by fear. Yes, I was frightened, but I was sure that someone would help me.