阅读理解历来都是高考英语中篇幅最大、计分最高的题目。这一题的得分数直接影响到考生的整个卷面成绩。为了帮助大家，小编整理了一些高考英语阅读理解试题，希望能帮到大家!

　　第二部分 阅读理解 (共两节，20小题，每题2分，满分40分)

　　第一节阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。

　　A

　　“Asia’s Challenge 2020” Essay Prize

　　DESCRIPTION

　　What is the most important challenge facing Asia over the next decade? Why? What should be done about it?

　　The best answer in 3,000 words or less will win a prize of $2,500. Two runners-up will be awarded prizes of $1,000 each. These three prize winners will be invited to Singapore for an expenses-paid awards ceremony. The winning articles will be posted on Time. com.

　　PURPOSE

　　The main purpose of the essay prize is to generate fresh ideas for tackling key challenges to Asia’s continued competitiveness and development, as well as encourage young professionals to make an impact on public policy and business in Asia.

　　SELECTION CRITERIA

　　The essay will be judged according to creativity, innovation, rigor of research and writing, as well as achievability of idea. It can be focused on one or more areas relevant to Asia, such as macro-economics, business, international relations, trade and investment, education, healthcare, urban development, science and technology, and energy and the environment. The essay must be written in English. It should not have been previously published in English in a publication with broad international circulation.

　　CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS

　　The candidate authoring the essay must be under 32 years of age as of December 31, 2010. The candidate must be an Asian national.

　　SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

　　The essay should be submitted electronically to prize@ asiabusinesscouncil. Org. by August 31, 2010. Prize winners will be announced in September 2010.

　　The submission should contain the candidate’s full name, nationality, and month and year of birth. The essay should include a title and word count.

　　21. What is the main purpose of the essay prize?

　　A. To select young professionals of both ability and imagination.

　　B. To predict the prospects of Asia in the next decade.

　　C. To inspire brilliant ideas for solving problems in Asia

　　D. To issue the challenges facing Asia.

　　22. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

　　A. Articles published in local newspapers will not be accepted.

　　B. The winners of the essay prize can travel to Singapore for free.

　　C. Young people from Russia or Australia are excluded from the essay prize.

　　D. The candidate’s article can deal with several aspects of developments in Asia.

　　23. The candidate’s article should be sent ________.

　　A. by air mail B. by e-mail C. by surface mail D. by express mail

　　B

　　So hungry do some plants get that they eat flies, spiders, and even small frogs. What’s more amazing is that these plants occur naturally (in special environments) in every state. In fact, they’re found on every continent except Antarctica.

　　You’ve probably seen a Venus’ flytrap. It’s often sold in museum gift stores, department stores, and even supermarkets. A small plant, it grows 6 to 8 inches tall in a container. At the end of its stalks (茎) are specially modified leaves that act like traps. Inside each trap is a lining of tiny trigger (触发) hairs. When an insect lands on them, the trap suddenly shuts. Over the course of a week or so, the plant feeds on its catch.

　　The Venus’ flytrap is just one of more than 500 species of meat-eating plants, says Barry Meyers-Rice, the editor of the International Carnivorous ( 食肉的 ) Plant Society’s Newsletter. Note: Despite any science-fiction stories you might have read, no meat-eating plant does any danger to humans.

　　Dr. Meyers-Rice says a plant is meat-eating, only if it does all four of the following: “attract, kill, digest, and absorb”some form of insects, including flies, butterflies, and moths. Meat-eating plants look and act like other green plants---well, most of the time.

　　All green plants make sugar through a process called photosynthesis (光合作用). Plants use the sugar to make food. What makes “meat-eating” plants different is their bug-catching leaves. They need insects for one reason: nitrogen (氮). Nitrogen is a nutrient that they can’t obtain any other way. While almost all green plants on our planet get nitrogen from the soil, “meat-eating” plants can’t. They live in places where nutrients are hard or almost impossible to get from the soil because of its acidity. So they’ve come to rely on getting nitrogen from insects and small animals. In fact, nutrient-rich soil is poisonous to “meat-eating” plants. Never fertilize them! But don’t worry, either, if they never seem to catch any insects. They can survive, but they’ll grow very slowly.

　　24. According to the passage, carnivorous plants ___________.

　　A. only grow in wild field B. cannot grow on Antarctica

　　C. are as common as flies D. are rare to see

　　25. Venus’ flytrap preys on insects by ___________.

　　A. its numerous long and thin stalks

　　B. a container where it grows

　　C. the lining of tiny trigger hairs

　　D. its insect-catching leaves

　　26. We can conclude from the third paragraph that ___________.

　　A. carnivorous plants are dangerous

　　B. carnivorous plants are harmless to humans

　　C. carnivorous plants occasionally eat books

　　D. carnivorous plants are fictional

　　27. In the eyes of the author, which of the following statements is TRUE?

　　A. Carnivorous plants can grow in nutrient-poor soil.

　　B. Carnivorous plants cannot grow in acid soil.

　　C. Carnivorous plants will die if they cannot catch any insects.

　　D. Carnivorous plants can get nitrogen from nutrient-rich soil

　　C

　　In a class this past December, after I wrote some directions on the board for students about their final examination, one young woman quickly took a picture of the board using her smart phone. When I looked in her direction, she apologized, “Sorry. Was it wrong to take a picture?”

　　“I can’t read my own handwriting,” the young woman explained. “It’s best if I take a picture of your writing so I can understand the notes.”

　　That remark started a class-wide conversation about taking a picture instead of taking notes. For those in the photo-taking camp, motivations extended beyond their inability to comprehend their own handwriting. Some took pictures of notes because they knew their phone was a safe place to store material. They might lose paper, they reasoned, but they wouldn’t lose their phones. Some took photos because they wanted to record exactly the manner in which I had noted information on the board. Others told me that during class they liked to be able to listen to the discussion attentively.

　　Yet the use of cameras as note takers, though it may be convenient, does raise significant questions for the classroom. Is a picture an effective replacement for the process of note-taking?

　　Instructors encourage students to take notes because the act of doing so is more than merely recording necessary information—it helps prepare the way for understanding. Encouraging students to take notes may be an old-fashioned instructional method, but just because a method has a long history doesn’t mean it’s out of date. Writing things down engages a student’s brain in listening, visual, and kinesthetic(触觉的) learning—a view supported by a longstanding research. The act of writing down information enables a person to begin committing it to memory, and to process and combine it, establishing the building blocks of learning new concepts.

　　Taking a picture does indeed record the information, but it deletes some of the necessary mental engagement that taking notes employs. So can the two be equally effective?

　　28. The woman apologized in the class because she_________.

　　A. took a picture of the board B. missed the teachers’ directions

　　C. had the bad handwriting

　　D. disturbed other students’ learning