题型组合练(六)
(对应学生用书第179页)
Ⅰ.阅读理解
A(文化教育)
【导学号：25874095】
(2017·南京、盐城高三二模)Grant Wood's American Gothic is a painting that's puzzled generations who've stopped to wonder at the real meaning behind it.We all know it：a serious-looking couple in front of their gothic-arched wooden house—in a style called Carpenter's Gothic，for which the painting is named.
It was painted in 1930，when US artists were inspired to paint realistic scenes of rural America during the Depression in a style that became known as Regionalism.
The couple are identified either as a farmer and his wife，or as a daughter with her unsmiling and overprotective father.Wood's sister，Nan，who posed for the picture，always insisted the two were father and daughter，perhaps finding the age gap too improper.The relationship has always remained interestingly conflicting.
Unlike her elder companion's fixed stare，the woman glances off to the side.Her expression is actually difficult to determine.She looks sorrowful，or perhaps uncomfortable，though her straitlaced primness(拘谨保守的古板)is weakened by an escaping coil of hair at the back of her neck.As if holding guard against those anticipated intruders(侵入者)—probably，protecting his daughter-wife's virtue，though she doesn't seem particularly happy about it － the man holds a pitchfork in a soldier-like fashion.And that is what lends the work its uneasy(不协调的)comedy.Everything about it is an artful setup.
First of all，Nan never actually posed with the man in the picture，nor are they in any way related.Wood had spotted the house during a drive to the town of Eldon in Iowa.It immediately gave him an idea.“That idea was to find two people who，by their straitlaced characters，would be suitable for such a home，” he later explained.The couple were actually painted separately，and neither sitter was painted in front of the house.The farmer，as you might have already guessed，isn't actually a farmer，but a
certain Dr Bryon McKeeby，a wealthy dentist from Cedar Rapids，where Wood lived with his mother and sister.The couple's clothing too has been carefully handpicked by the artist.
In addition，both their faces，Nan's in particular，have been thinned and lengthened，as have the famous gothic window and roof.And，if you look carefully，you might even detect something funereal about the scene，beyond the tombstone features of the couple.It's suggested by the woman's primly buttoned black dress，and in the man's smart black overcoat.
Some thought the work mercilessly laughed at the lifestyle in the midwest.Meanwhile，some critics praised the painting as a cutting small-town satire(讽刺)．Still others saw the painting as honoring the midwest and its strong values.
Regarding the painting's comic tone，Wood himself gave contradictory accounts.“There is satire in it，” he once said，“but only as there is satire in any realistic statement.” Perhaps it is this ambiguity that has made the painting the most symbolic in US history.
【语篇解读】 文章介绍了Grant Wood的绘画作品American Gothic的艺术风格及人们对这一作品的理解。
1．What is uncertain about American Gothic? A．The identity of the models. B．The characters' relationship. C．How the painting got its name. D．Where the background house was.
B [细节理解题。根据文章第三段，尤其是结尾的“The relationship has always remained interestingly conflicting.”可知人们无法确定画中的人物关系。] 2．What indicates the woman's straitlaced primness? A．Her glancing off to the side. B．Her carefully buttoned black dress. C．The determination in her expression.
D．The escaping coil of hair at the back of her neck.
B [推理判断题。根据文章第四段中的“though her straitlaced primness(拘谨保守的古板)is weakened by an escaping coil of hair at the back of her neck”可以判断D项错误，而A和C都与straitlaced primness无关。根据第六段最后一句可知，B项中的carefully buttoned black dress最能反映出她的古板。] 3．What can be inferred from the last paragraph? A．Ambiguity is an essential part of any good painting. B．It is beyond doubt that the painting has a comic tone. C．The statement that Wood himself gave clarifies nothing. D．American Gothic is the most controversial in US history.
C [推理判断题。根据该段中的关键词contradictory(矛盾的)和ambiguity(模棱两可)可知Wood所说的话并没有澄清任何东西，所以选择C。]
B(科普知识)
(2017·南通市高三三模)Due to light pollution present everywhere—glare from too much misaimed night lighting—80% of Europe and North America no longer experiences real darkness.For anyone living near a major metropolis，a satellite image of the Milky Way(银河)seems abstract: We understand it to be a document of something true，but our understanding is purely theoretical.In 1994，after a pre-dawn earthquake cut power to most of Los Angeles，the Griffith Observatory received phone calls from frightened local people asking about “the strange sky”．What those callers were seeing were stars.
Darkness is a complicated thing to measure.In 2001，the amateur astronomer John Bortle designed a scale to help.His classifications range from “inner-city sky”(class 9)，in which the only “pleasing views seen through a telescope are the moon，the planets，and a few of the brightest star clusters(团)”，to a sky so dark “the Milky Way casts obvious shadows on the ground”(class 1)．Most North Americans and Europeans live under class 6 or 7 skies，in which the Milky Way is undetectable.In that kind of night，a person can wander outside，unfold a garden chair，open a newspaper，and read the headlines，if not the stories.
In addition to the Bortle scale，scientists often use photodiode light sensors(传感器)to measure and compare base levels of darkness.Unihedron's Sky Quality Meter
is the most popular instrument for this kind of work，partly because it is small enough to fit into your pocket and also because it connects to an online global database.According to that database，Cherry Springs State Park—an 82-acre park in remote rural Pennsylvania—presently has the second darkest score listed.
Cherry Springs is located less than 300 miles inland from the US eastern seaboard.In a region—the East Coast—that contains 36% of the total US population and is lit up every night like a backstage makeup mirror.When pinpointed on a satellite image，Cherry Springs is in the middle of an uncharacteristically dark area—insulated(隔离)，on all sides，by hundreds of thousands of acres of protected forest and sitting on top of the Allegheny Plateau，700 metres above sea level.Most of the small towns surrounding the park are situated in valleys where outdoor light is already failing.This unusual combination of factors explains，to a certain degree，how Cherry Springs became one of the darkest places in America.
【语篇解读】 本文是一篇说明文。城市里过度用光造成光污染，使人们失去机会观赏以往黑暗之中星罗棋布的夜空。黑暗度可用不同的方法进行测量。美国宾夕法尼亚州樱桃泉国家公园是四大暗夜公园之一。本文会帮助我们解开此地的暗夜之谜。
4．What did the phone calls the Griffith Observatory received reveal? A．The callers were in great fear of the severe earthquake. B．People believed that stars would bring them misfortune. C．People needed help and comfort in face of a big disaster. D．Darkness had been away from the local people for ages.
D [推理判断题。根据第一段倒数第二句“...received phone calls from frightened local people asking about ‘the strange sky’．”可知，该地地震后因断电而出现暗空，重露辉芒的星星却让人们惊慌失措。作者以此揭示当地光污染的严重性与持续性。]
5．Which classification of darkness does the writer seem to like best? A．Class 1. C．Class 7.
B．Class 3. D．Class 9.
A [推理判断题。根据第二段可知，约翰·波特尔(John Bortle)将夜空暗度分为
