2022年中考英语专题复习——阅读理解（卷三）

    31-year-old Rob from California USA was born without arms or legs. But like each of us, he has a dream and with the support of his parents and two sisters, Rob has made his dream come true.

    His interest in football began when he was 13 and a high school football coach gave him a sports shirt. "To a 13-year-old kid, it just made me excited. I felt the need to know more about the sport," Rob said. After a full understanding of it, Rob dreamed of becoming a football coach. And he made it.

    To do his job, Rob has to use a special chair he controls with his head and neck, and write by using his mouth to hold a special tool.

    Last autumn, Rob worked as head coach of the Prospect High School Junior team. Under him, the team won 8 and lost 2. It gave Rob confidence(信心) and courage. Clearly, football isn't just a sport; it is his life now.

    Me: Hello, Television Viewers! I am Aziza Bellamy, and thanks for watching. I want to especially thank you, Ms. Bertha, for agreeing to this interview on live television. It's a pleasure to meet you, the first-known trans-galactic visitor to Earth. Now, I understand that you are from a planet called Zadernol?

    Bertha: Just call me Miss Bertha or Bertha, please, but not "Ms."

    Me: Okay, sorry about that. So, you've been on Earth for about a week now. What have been your biggest disappointments or challenges so far?

    Bertha: It's not the worst planet I've ever been to. Mercury was much worse. The aliens— oops, I mean humans, have been unkind, overall. The family I'm staying with, for example, were nice at first. But now they roll their eyes whenever I open my mouth to say anything. They're not interested in any of my stories. And I think they may be trying to avoid me. Worst of all, they make me wash my own dishes and bathe myself. They're so rude.

    Me: Oh, um. . . wow. That's just.…

    Bertha: I am used to having high standards when I choose where to stay, by the way. I have stayed with royalty and presidents on other planets. And they all adored (崇拜) me and begged me not to leave. But I gave this human family a chance to host me. I mean, really, they should be grateful that I selected them, of all the people on Earth, to wash my clothes and cook my meals and entertain (款待) me.

    Me: Well, what you're saying is surprising, Bertha. Do you think it's possible that this family just wants you to pitch in a little, to be a good guest?

    Bertha: It's odd to me that you're not agreeing with me. If you were smarter, you'd agree with me. That's another thing. Everyone on Zadernol is smarter than the smartest person on Earth. Earth is below me.

    Me: You know what. Bertha? I'm starting to see why you're so unhappy here on Earth. You're just a boastful (自夸的), spoiled alien.

    In China, each year we produce about 150 million tons of city waste according to a report. Where does the waste go? People usually burn or bury (埋) it. On the other hand, we receive waste from some developed countries. We get useful materials from it. What about the useless part? Still burned or buried. But is it a proper way?

    Waste pollutes the environment, harms people's health and causes animals to die. It also gets in the way of green and sustainable development. We can't make money at the cost of the environment.

    We should leave clean water and green mountains to our next generations (一代人).

    China is getting really serious about waste now.

    We are taking less waste from developed countries. From January 2018, China started to stop 24 kinds of waste coming into our country. And more laws and rules about dealing with waste have been made. Anyone who breaks the law will be punished.

    China also tries to put waste into good use. One example is the waste electricity factories. They burn waste to make electricity in a green way. No harmful gases or water will get into the environment.

    The Chinese government is encouraging people to do waste sorting(分类). Cities like Shanghai,

    Chongqing and Beijing have their own sorting systems. More will join them soon. As President Xi Jinping said during a visit to Shanghai, waste sorting is a new fashion (时尚). More and more people are forming the habit of separating their waste.

    Li Shijin, 30, didn't expect to make a living through his voice.

    Li began to work as a company salesman in Liaoning Province in 2012. He tried to find a part-time job as a wedding host to improve his confidence.

    Around the spring festival in 2014, he started listening to audiobooks (音频书). After being a listener for two years, he decided to record himself reading books. Then, he posted his first audio book Youth Will Not Return on Qingting in 2016. It was broadcast(广播) and listened to about 20 million times.

    A year later, after he had read three audiobooks, he was signed up as a voice performer by Qingting. However, he was under great pressure (压力) when he was signed up by Qingting. "To improve my ability, I didn't sleep for more than five hours a day during that year. I had better results the following year." Also, to improve his performance, Li attended a training course at Communication University of China to learn dubbing (配音) and how to write a play in 2018. So far, he has completed nearly 30 works on Qingting.

    On the road to success, Li put a lot of effort. Many people tried to get a foothold (立足地) but failed, while he made it!

    When talking about the secret of his success, he said, "Many people have good abilities and many work very hard, but they may fail. Early birds get worms. I believe they will get chances and succeed sooner or later if they hold on to their dreams and keep on trying."

    AI(人工智能)makes our lives easier and better. Let's see the amazing AI.

    Cool driverless bus

    A bus door opens and you get on. Wait! Where is the driver? Here is a new kind of driverless bus called Apolong. It has 14 seats and doesn't need a driver. The bus follows traffic rules. It stops as soon as it sees a stop light.

    Your close friend

Hi, everyone. I'm Xiaobing, a chatbot (聊天机器人). I speak like a 17-year-old girl. If you feel lonely, you can talk with me. I'm talented at singing, writing poems and telling stories. I want to be your fiend!

    World's first AI anchor (主播)

    Hey, look! The famous Chinese anchor Qiu Hao is reporting the news for us. But, is "he" really Qiu Hao? The answer is "no". This is the world's fist Al anchor. It looks and speaks just like a real person. It can work24 hours and doesn't make any mistakes. You might se it n TV soon.

    Popular AI artist

    This beautiful painting was at an auction(拍卖)in 2020. The painting is worth about 3, 00000 yuan! But it is not a work by a famous painter, such as Vincent van Gogh. It was painted by an AI arts. Three Frenchmen created the Al artist It studied over 15, 000paintings. In this way, it learned to paint.

    A few months ago I was nominated for Governor of the great state of New York, to run against Stewart L. Woodford and John T. Hoffman. I really felt dirty to run against them for all their shameful crimes that were reported on newspapers. However, as a candidate, I had no choice.

    The next morning, as I was looking listlessly over the papers at breakfast, I came across his paragraph:

    PERJURY- Mr. Mark Twain, a candidate for Governor, was convicted of perjury by thirty-four people, in Wakawak, in 1863. He intended to rob a poor woman of her land, her only stay and support after her husband died. For Mr. Twain himself, as well as the public, he needs to clear this matter up. Will he do it?

    What a lie! I never had heard of Wakawak!

    During the rest of the time, I got a title "the Infamous Perjurer Twain" on this paper.

    Next came "Gazette", with this:

   WANTED TOKNOW -When Mfr. Twain was in Montana, his workmates lost small valuables from time to time, until at last, these things having all been found on Mr. Twain's person or in his suitcase. Will he explain this to his fellow-citizens?

    I got a new title, "Twain, the Montana Thief". But I never was in Montana in my life.

    Then another newspaper article:

    DELIRIUM TREMENSTWAIN-Mark Twain, who was to make a speech at the mass meeting of the Independents last night, didn't come to time! He argued that he had been knocked down by a runaway team and his leg broken in two places. But a certain man who was very drunk was seen to reel into Mr. Twain's hotel last night. It is his duty to prove that this person was not Mark Twain himself WHO WAS THATMAN?

    I did not drink!

    In the following weeks, I got more titles like "Delirium Tremens", "Body-Snatcher", "Filthy Corruptionist ", etc. Then one morning:

    Mr. Mark Twain sill maintains SILENCE. He dare not speak Dare he open his mouth to explain?

Before I could reply, more dirty charges poured up on me. One day they even taught nine little children of all shades of colour to rush on to the platform at a public meeting and call me Pa(father)!

    I gave up. I sent them a letter to state that I gave up, and in bitterness of spirit I signed it,

    "Truly yours, Once a decent man but now MARKTWAIN, IP. , M. T. , D. T. , B. S. and FC. "

    Hello, everyone! I'd like to tell you something about a famous scientist named Qian Xuesen. He was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province on December 11, 1911. After he graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1934, he got a chance to study in USA. After he graduated, he became a teacher as well as a researcher who studied rockets and missile theories.

    When he was 44, he returned to his motherland and the country's space research was almost a blank. In 1956, he set up the first research institute of rockets and missiles. He made such important contributions to the missile and space programs that he was honored as "The Father of China's Missiles". The Chinese people are proud of him.

    He passed away on October 31, 2009 at the age of 98, but all the Chinese will remember him forever. His devotion to his country was expressed in his saying, "My career is in China, my success is in China and my destination is in China!" When someone said he could make much more money if he stayed in the United States, he laughed and said," My family name is Qian, but I don't like qian." His spirit encourages us to love our country and devote ourselves to science.

    Stephen Hawking, one of the world's most famous scientists, believed that humans will one day have to move into space, "Once we step into space, our future should be safe," he said.

    Today, many countries are all planning to send astronauts to Earth's closest neighbor: the moon. Some of these countries want to create space stations there within the next 10 years. These stations will prepare humans to visit and later live on Mars or other earthlike planets.

    __①__ Robert Zubrin, a rocket scientist, thinks humans should colonize(殖民) space. He wants to start with Mars. Why? He thinks sending people to Mars will allow us to learn a lot of things—for example, the ability of humans to live in a very different environment. Besides, any progress we make in the fields of science, technology, medicine and health will do good to people here on Earth.

    __②__ Elon Musk, the CEO of Space X also believes we should colonize Mars. His long-term goal is to put one million people there if something bad happens to us here on Earth.

    __③__ Many people say it's too expensive. Also, most space trips are not short. A one-way trip to Mars, for example, would take at least six months. People traveling this kind of distance could face many health problems. Besides, these first people would find life especially difficult in space. On the moon's surface, for example, the sun's rays are very dangerous. People would have to stay indoors most of the time.

    __④__ No matter what different concerns there are, sending people into space seems certain. In the future, we might see cities on the moon or even new human cultures on other planets. First stop: the moon.