2018-2019学年高三上学期期中英语试卷

　　一、语法填空

　　Recently, I flew to Las Vegas to attend a meeting. As we were about to arrive, the pilot announced with apology that there would be a slight delay before setting down. High desert winds had forced the airport to close all but one runway. He said that we would be circling the city for a few minutes waiting to land. We were also told to remain in our seats meanwhile with our seat belts 1. (fasten) because there might be a few bumps. Well, that few minutes turned into about forty-five minutes, including a ride that would make a roller coaster 2. (pale) by comparison.

　　The movement was so sudden 3. several passengers felt sick and had to use airsickness bags. 4. you might guess, that’s not good thing to happen in a narrow space because it only serves to increase the discomfort of the situation.

　　About twenty minutes into the adventure, the entire airplane became very quiet. There was now a sense of anxiety and fear that could be distinctly noticed. Every passenger simply held on for dear life…5. one. A baby was having a good time! With each bump of the aircraft, he 6. let out a giggle of happiness. As I observed this, I realized that he didn’t know he was supposed to be afraid and worried about his safety. He 7. thought about the past nor about the future. Those are 8. we grown-ups have learned from experience. He was enjoying the ride because he 9. (not teach) to fear it. 10. (understand) this, I took a deep breath and sat back into my seat, pretending I was really on a roller coaster. I smiled for the rest of the flight. I even managed to giggle once or twice, which is much to the chagrin of the man sitting next to me holding the airsickness bag.

　　二、完形填空

　　Sign has become a scientific hot button. Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are ______ —a speech of the hand. They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and ______ language, and throw new light on an old scientific ______: whether language, ______ with grammar, is something that we are born with, or whether it is a ______ behavior. The current interest in sign language has roots in the ______ work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet University in Washington, D. C., the world’s only liberal arts university for deaf people.

　　When Bill Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English, the school enrolled him in a course in signing. But Stokoe noticed something ______; among themselves, students signed differently from his classroom teacher.

　　Stokoe had been taught a sort of gestural ______, each movement of the hands representing a word in English. At the time, American Sign Language (ASL) was thought to be no more than a form of pidgin English (混杂英语). But Stokoe believed the “hand ______” his students used looked richer. He wondered: Might deaf people actually have a genuine language And could that language be ______ any other on Earth It was 1955, when even deaf people ___________ their signing as “substandard”. Stokoe’s idea was academic heresy – a belief contrary to what was generally accepted.

　　It is 37 years later. Stokoe—now devoting his time to writing and editing books and journals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf culture—is having lunch at a cafe near the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a(n) ______. For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages ______ English, French and Japanese. They assumed language must be based on speech, the modulation (调节) of sound. But sign language is based on the movement of hands, the modulation of ______. “What I said,” Stokoe explains, “is that language is not mouth stuff(素材)—it’s ______ stuff.”

　　1.A.uniqueB.neutralC.inexactD.vague

　　2.A.variesB.appliesC.interrelatesD.understands

　　3.A.argumentB.definitionC.conclusionD.statement

　　4.A.familiarB.completeC.changeableD.comparative

　　5.A.adoptedB.inheritedC.introducedD.learned

　　6.A.pioneeringB.concludingC.proceedingD.imitating

　　7.A.casualB.oddC.wittyD.tricky

　　8.A.clueB.fileC.codeD.digit

　　9.A.talkB.gossipC.clapD.shake

　　10.A.characteristic ofB.different fromC.equal toD.worthy of

　　11.A.contributedB.signifiedC.justifiedD.dismissed

　　12.A.evolutionB.procedureC.revolutionD.presentation

　　13.A.withB.amongC.asD.like

　　14.A.spaceB.rhythmC.volumeD.rate

　　15.A.cultureB.brainC.muscleD.heart

　　三、阅读理解

　　One picture in the Wonder Book of knowledge I had as a little boy showed a man reading a book while floating in the Dead Sea. What a miracle! How would it feel to lie back in water so thick with salt that it was impossible to sink

　　Fed by the Jordan River and smaller streams, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the earth’s surface, and its water is ten times saltier than the Mediterranean. With evaporation its only outlet, salt and other minerals become super-concentrated.

　　Earlier this year, I drove down the long, steep hill to realize my dream. The shoreline was a broad area of bare salt-mud, but the water edge was far out of sight. Had somebody pulled the Dead Sea’s plug I wondered. Eli Dior, an Israeli official, explained the problem: “The Dead Sea is drying up. Every year, the surface drops about one meter, and as the water level falls, shadow areas are left high and dry.”

　　Over the last half-century, the five neighboring countries have collectively diverted nearly all the water flowing into the Dead Sea to meet human and agriculture needs. Result: the Dead Sea is being emptied.

　　With population in the region set to double at least in the next 50 years, there is little hope of restoring the water being diverted for human consumption. No country has a drop to spare for the Dead Sea, where they know it will just evaporate. To dream of opening the dams and restoring natural balance is plainly unrealistic.

　　Yet one ambitious high-tech dream may turn out to be not only the salvation of the Dead Sea but also a ticket to peace around its shores. The “Red-Dead” is a proposed $5 billion project to bring sea water some 240 kilometers by pipeline and canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The Red-Dead may be the only solution, but even if the project is carried out successfully, the Dead Sea will be 10 to 20 meters lower than now and two thirds of its current size.

　　Whatever the future holds, the Dead Sea’s magical mix of sun, mud, sea and salt will surely survive. Many might complain that the Dead Sea is half empty—but for me the Dead sea will always be half full.

　　1.What’s the passage mainly about

　　A.Dead Sea – miracle of the world.