西安市2014高考英語閱讀理解訓練（17）及答案閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個選項（a、b、c和d）中，選出最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。【2014高考英語哈爾濱市第三中學一?！縜“cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. gifts are easy theyre given after all. choices can be hard.” jeff bezosi got the idea to start amazon 16 years ago. i came across the fact that the internet usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. id never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. i had just turned 30 years old, and id been married for a year. i told my wife mackenzie that i wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldnt work since most start-ups dont, and i wasnt sure what to expect. mackenzie told me i should go for it. as a young boy, id been a garage inventor. id always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.i was working at a financial firm in new york city with a bunch of very smart people, and i had a brilliant boss that i much admired. i went to my boss and told him i wanted to start a company selling books on the internet. he took me on a long walk in central park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “that sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didnt already have a good job.” that logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately (最后), i decided i had to give it a shot. i didnt think id regret trying and failing. and i suspected i would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.after much consideration, i took the less safe path to follow my passion, and im proud of that choice. for all of us, in the end, we are our choices.21. what inspired the author with the idea of building an online bookstore? a. his dream of being an inventor.b. the support of his wife. c. the greatly increasing usage of the internet.d. millions of exciting titles.22. which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence?. a. the idea of not trying would keep coming to his mind and disturb him.b. he would be very excited if he tried it out.c. he would be always having a doubt if he didnt try.d. the decision to not try the online bookstore would terrify him.23. we can know from the passage that _. a. the boss thought the idea was suitable for the authorb. the author wanted someone else to try the ideac. the author might not regret if he failed the idead. the author might go back to his boss if he failed24. which of the following would be the best title for the passage? a. cleverness and kindnessb. the starting of amazonc. following my passiond. we are what we choose【參考答案】2124 cacd 較難題目特訓：介紹說明類very often when i go to look at someones garden and they complain that for some reason it does not feel right to them. what i notice is that the design quite complicated. or, sometimes there is no real design and the layout (布局) just looks messy. creating a garden without some form of design is like trying to bake a cake without a recipe. with a cake you can add together ingredients (原料) from the cupboard and fridge in the hope that the result will be a perfectly baked cake. both creating a garden and baking a cake follow outlines for getting a result. know just when to add something, when to take the mix off the heat or how much oil to use, etc. an experienced garden designer can help you create a garden best suited to you and your lifestyle, rather than impose their own ideas on you. he will listen to and help draw out your ideas. by keeping the garden design simple you and your chosen designer will have created the structure of a garden, similar to the structure of a house together with some details. a golden rule to remember is that garden design is not about choosing the right plants. dont get caught up in the idea that you have to choose the right plants for the job straight away. plant choice comes almost at the last minute in many cases, after you and your designer have created style or feeling you are wanting to have in your garden. design is about creating a constructable (可構造的) image for the garden, including form and shape, sounds, smells, even tastes and often, believe it or not, plants are never used. by keeping the design simple, especially if you are learning about design or taking on the project by yourself, you are increasing your chances of a successful design, one that matches your standard for your life. 1. what is the passage mainly about? a. designing a garden as simple as possible. b. comparing garden-designing with cake-making. c. an experienced garden designers importance. d. choosing plants for the garden. 2. why does the author use baking a cake in the passage? a. to show the basic steps of baking a cake. b. to imply how simple to design a garden. c. to state baking a cake is very complex. d. to introduce how to design a garden. 3. the underlined word “impose” in the third paragraph means. a. force b. turnc. improve d. imagine4. by keeping the garden design simple, . a. you can get details from the garden designer b. you will be successful one dayc. you can meet your standards in life d. you can match the structure of a house with that of a garden 5. what is the most important for garden design? a. creating a constructable image for the garden. b. choosing the right plants for your garden first. c. inviting an experienced garden designer. d. not rushing to choose plants for your garden. 【參考答案】13.abadd 較難題目特訓：介紹說明類garlic is one of the most common flavors in our kitchen. it not only tastes wonderful, but also its very good for your body. it is one of mother natures most precious gifts to cooks of all levels. choose garlic heads that are firm to the touch, with no scars or soft cloves (蒜瓣). if you notice dark, powdery patches under the skin, pass it up because this is an indication of a common mold which will eventually spoil the flesh. store unpeeled heads of garlic in an open container in a cool, dry place away from other foods. do not refrigerate or freeze unpeeled garlic. properly stored garlic can keep up to three months. as garlic ages, it will begin to produce green sprouts in the center of each clove. these infant green sprouts can be bitter, so throw them before using the garlic for your recipe. however, if you plant the cloves and let them grow to a height of about six inches, you can use the sprouts like chives (韭黃) in salads and such. garlic can also be purchased as peeled whole cloves, both stored in olive or vegetable oil. it is urgent that garlic in oil be stored under refrigeration to avoid potentially-deadly bacteria growth. if you use a lot of garlic and wish to cut your preparation time down, you can pre-peel and store your own in oil in the refrigerator, but the best flavor will come from freshly-peeled cloves. use garlic powder, garlic salt, and garlic juice only as a last resort. to peel a garlic clove, place it on a cutting board on its side, and gently press down quickly with the flat side of a butcher knife. the skin should then easily peel off. if you find the skin clinging desperately to the clove, congratulations! you have fresh garlic. as garlic ages, the skin is gradually dried-up, making it easier to peel. 1. the passage is mainly about. a. how to select, store and peel garlicb. what garlic tastes and smellsc. where to keep the garlicd. when to reap the garlic2. a dark patch under the skin of garlic means. a. the cloves of garlic are soft b. the garlic has been kept for longc. something wrong with the garlicd. the garlic has been cooked3. the underlined word “sprouts” means. a. new parts growing on a plantb. newly seeds growing on a plant c. parts belonging to a branching shaped. thin skin attached to garlic4. if you want to store garlic, . a. you can keep it in the refrigerator up to three monthsb. youd better keep the peeled in the refrigeratorc. you may keep frozen unpeeled garlicd. you can put garlic in vegetable oil5. which of the following is true according to the passage? a. the sprouts of garlic tastes like chives. b. garlic juice is better than the freshly-peeled. c. a cutting board is helpful for peeling garlic. d. olive oil is needed when cooking garlic. 【參考答案】14.acabc 【2014高考英語哈爾濱市第三中學一?！縝two new studies suggest that modern running shoes could increase the risk of injuries to runners. one study involved sixty-eight healthy young women and men who ran at least twenty-four kilometers a week. the runners were observed on a treadmill machine (跑步機). sometimes they wore running shoes. other times they ran barefoot (赤腳). researchers from the jkm technologies company in virginia, the university of virginia and the university of colorado did the study.they found that running shoes create more stress that could damage knees, hips and ankle joints than running barefoot. they observed that the effect was even greater than the effect reported earlier for walking in high heels.the study appeared in the official scientific journal of the american academy of physical medicine. the other study appeared in the journal nature. it compared runners in the united states and kenya. the researchers were from harvard university in massachusetts, moi university in kenya and the university of glasgow in scotland.they divided the runners into three groups. one group had always run shoeless. another group had always run with shoes. and the third group had changed to shoeless running.runners who wear shoes usually come down heel first. that puts great force on the back of the foot. but the study found that barefoot runners generally land on the front or middle of their foot. that way they ease into their landing and avoid striking their heel.harvards daniel lieberman led the study. he says the way most running shoes are designed may explain why those who wear them land on their heels. the heel of the shoe is bigger and heavier than other parts of the shoe, so it would seem more likely to come down first. also, the heel generally has thick material under it to soften landings. but the researchers do not suggest that runners immediately start running barefoot. they say it takes some training. and there can be risks, like running when your feet are too cold to feel if you get injured.the study was partly supported by vibram, which makes a kind