金山区2016届高三上学期期末考试英语期末(一模)试卷

金山区2015学年第一学期期末考试

高三英语试卷 I. Listening Comprehension

II. II. Grammar and Vocabulary

Section A

( A )

Playing a violin with three strings

On Nov.18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert. The audience sat quietly while he made his way across the stage to his chair and began his play. But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. We thought that he would have to stop the concert. (25) ________ everyone’s expectation, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled (26) ________ conductor to begin again.

The orchestra began and he played with such passion and such power and such purity

(27) ________ they had never heard before.

Of course, anyone knows that no one (28) ________ play a harmonious work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, (29) ________ that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that. When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. He smiled, wiped the sweat from his brow and then he said in a quiet, sacred tone, ―You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with (30) ________ you have left.‖

This powerful line has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the definition of life –not just for artists but for all of us.

He has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, but all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, he finds himself with only three strings; so it is with three strings

(31) ________ he makes music, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more memorable than any that (32) ________ (make) before.

( B )

Emoji — a small digital image or icon used to express an idea, emotion, etc. in electronic communications, are everywhere. The little illustrated characters that are on Smartphone keyboards (33) ________ (take) over the world now. There are shoes with emoji on them, pants with emoji on them, emoji stickers, emoji yoga, and the list goes on and on with no sign of ending. As emoji spreads into our culture, I’ve actually heard the following question：Is emoji moving to replace the written word in communication?

To find out, I communicated by iMessage using only emoji for five days. That meant

(34) ________ ________ someone sent me a text or I wanted to send a text, I could only use the popular tiny picture characters (35) ________ (respond) to or start a conversation.

I wasn’t allowed to cheat by moving the conversation to Facebook or Twitter, etc., but I could send a phone emoji to indicate to the recipient of my texts that they should call me instead; I could not encourage the phone call myself. I wanted to see if it was (36) ________ (easy) than I expected it to be, yes, but I also wanted to see if I could influence (37) ________ I was

communicating with to overthrow their use of text and start using emoji while talking to me.

(38) ________ (communicate) with emoji was a way more difficult than I expected. There were people who were annoyed with me. There were people who gave up after a few back-and –forths. There were missed messages, (39) ________ (mix) messages, and messed up plans. There were people who immediately just called my phone to get the conversation (40) ________ (move) faster. And there was my mother who doesn’t have an iPhone and texts me often.

Section B

morning, and it’s even worse when there’s (41) ________ no reason for it. There’s a lot of interesting science behind traffic, though, and while understanding it might not make sitting in it any better, it can teach you how to avoid some of the mistakes we all make behind the wheel.

1. The way we merge (合并) causes problems

Whether you’re merging from the left or the right, (42) ________ are good that you’re doing it wrong and causing all sorts of problems. When most people see that they need to merge, their first (43) ________ is to do it right away. They brake, slow down, speed up, and change lanes in between oncoming traffic. According to the Minnesota department of Transportation, that’s completely wrong. Sudden (44) ________ causes traffic to back up, a problem that’s made worse by sudden lane changes and other cars braking to (45) ________ the merging traffic.

So what should you do? Exactly what you probably blame drivers for doing: waiting until the last minute. If you do that, traffic will fall into a more natural pattern called a ―zipper merge‖, meaning there are no surprises, no sudden braking, and a smoother transition from one lane to another, which cuts down on backups. This does, of course, rely on other drivers to let you in at the last minute and be polite enough not to cut you off, which causes all sorts of other problems.

2. You are causing the traffic Jams you hate

Traffic jams have long been chalked up to (取决于) the (46) ________ of traffic on the roads, but it turns out that even heavy traffic can (47) ________ smoothly if people maintain a (48) ________ speed. The problem is that we can’t. Researchers have found that just one person even slightly stepping on their brakes can have a terrible effect on the traffic around them.

On even (49) ________ busy road, it can be only a few minutes for traffic to a complete halt behind someone who (50) ________ their brakes to let another driver merge. The standstill usually occurs several minutes after the braking, well after the person that causes the problem in the first place has gone on his way.

III. Reading Comprehension

Section A

Corporate scandals (丑闻), like political scandals, start with shocking revelation and then move inevitably into who-knew-what stage. This is where executives can start reestablishing th …… 此处隐藏：5964字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……