发布时间 : 星期四 文章2014年-2018年历年高考英语全国卷2真题更新完毕开始阅读
I first met Paul Newman in 1968, when George Roy Hill, the director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, introduced us in New York City. When the studio didn’t want me for the film - it wanted somebody as well known as Paul - he stood up for me. I don’t know how many people would have done that; they would have listened to their agents or the studio powers.
The friendship that grew out of the experience of making that film and The Sting four years later had its root in the fact that although there was an age difference, we both came from a tradition of theater and live TV. We were respectful of craft（技艺）and focused on digging into the characters we were going to play. Both of us had the qualities and virtues that are typical of American actors: humorous, aggressive, and making fun of each other - but always with an underlying affection. Those were also at the core（核心）of our relationship off the screen.
We shared the brief that if you’re fortunate enough to have success, you should put something back - he with his Newman’s Own food and his Hole in the Wall camps for kids who are seriously ill, and me with Sundance and the institute and the festival. Paul and I didn’t see each other all that regularly, but sharing that brought us together. We supported each other financially and by showing up at events.
I last saw him a few months ago. He’d been in and out of the hospital. He and I both knew what the deal was, and we didn’t talk about it. Ours was a relationship that didn’t need a lot of words.
24. Why was the studio unwilling to give the role to author at first?
A. Paul Newman wanted it. B. The studio powers didn’t like his agent. C. He wasn’t famous enough. D. The director recommended someone else. 25. Why did Paul and the author have a lasting friendship?
A. They were of the same age. B. They worked in the same theater. C. They were both good actors. D. They have similar characteristics. 26. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A. Their belief. B. Their care for children.
C. Their success. D. Their support for each other. 27. What is the author’s purpose in writing the test?
A. To show his love of films. B. To remember a friend.
C. To introduce a new movie. D. To share his acting experience.
C
Terrafugia Inc. said Monday that its new flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle-named the Transition – has two seats， four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. The Transition, which flew at 1, 400 feet for eight minutes last month, can reach around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of gas and bums 5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Around 100 people have already put down a $10, 000 deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don’t expect it to show up in too many driveways. It’s expected to cost $279, 000. And it won’t help if you’re stuck in traffic. The car needs a runway.
Inventors have been trying to make flying cars since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann,
an airline industry expert. But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has already permitted the company to use special materials to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. The Transition is now going through crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.
Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft, which are lower than those pilots of larger planes Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a requirement pilots would find relatively easy to meet.
28. What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A. The basic data of the Transition. B. The advantages of flying cars. C. The potential market for flying cars. C. The designers of the Transition. 29. Why is the Transition unlikely to show up in too many driveways?
A. It causes traffic jams. B. It is difficult to operate. C. It is very expensive. D. It bums too much fuel. 30. What is the government’s attitude to the development of the flying car?
A. Cautious B. Favorable. C. Ambiguous. D. Disapproving. 31. What is the best title for the text?
A. Flying Car at Auto Show B. The Transition’s Fist Flight C. Pilots’ Dream Coming True D. Flying Car Closer to Reality When a leafy plant is under attack ，it doesn’t sit quietly. Back in 1983, two scientists, Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin, reported that young maple trees getting bitten by insects send out a particular smell that neighboring plants can get. These chemicals come from the injured parts of the plant and seem to be an alarm. What the plants pump through the air is a mixture of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, VOCs for short.
Scientists have found that all kinds of plants give out VOCs when being attacked. It’s a plant’s way of crying out. But is anyone listening? Apparently. Because we can watch the neighbours react.
Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away. But others do double duty. They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers. Once they arrive, the tables are turned. The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.
In study after study, it appears that these chemical conversations help the neighbors. The damage is usually more serious on the first plant, but the neighbors, relatively speaking, stay safer because they heard the alarm and knew what to do.
Does this mean that plants talk to each other? Scientists don’t know. Maybe the first plant just made a cry of pain or was sending a message to its own branches, and so, in effect, was talking to itself. Perhaps the neighbors just happened to “overhear” the cry. So information was exchanged, but it wasn’t a true, intentional back and forth.
Charles Darwin, over 150 years ago, imagined a world far busier, noisier and more intimate(亲密的) than the world we can see and hear. Our senses are weak. There’s a whole lot going on.