备战2023年中考英语专题复习—— 阅读理解（说明文）

How to Look After Your Cat

Introduction

The first step to becoming a good cat owner is to choose the right kind of cat. It is how a cat behaves that is the most important, not what she looks like or how old she is. She is going to be your best friend. You will spend a lot of time playing together. But remember you need to look after her every day. Not just to start with, but for all her life.

Understanding your pet

By watching your cat closely, you will learn her special way of talking. From the movement of her tail or ears, you will see if she is happy or sad. And you will soon understand what she is saying when she miaows.

Caring for your pet

You will only be your cat's best friend if you care for her properly. You will need to make sure that she eats the right foods, always has water, and can get plenty of exercise every day. You will also have to bathe her often and spend some time training her.

Everybody enjoys actsof kindness. But can you explain why? Some people think kindness is somethingout of love and care, while others believe it is just a tool that we use tobecome more popular. But research shows that being kind can activate（激活）an area of the brain called Striatum. Research also shows thatkindness improves people's mood（情绪）. But why and howdoes it happen? Here are a number of different ways.

Being kind can makesomeone smile. If you see yourself smile in a situation, people around may besmiling, too. This is specially true for your close friends and family. A kindact makes someone who is sad feel better. Itcan also make ourselves feel good. So why not set off that chain（链条）of good feelings to people around?

Secondly, being kindstarts or develops a social connection with others. Kind acts like buyingsomeone a present make friendships stronger. Research has shown that spendingmoney on others may help you get a stronger feeling of happiness than spendingit on yourself. Similarly, charities（慈善）also open up new circles of people to connect with someone on the other side ofthe world.

In another recentresearch, even children in their first year of secondary school know how beingkind makes them feel happy. If one person is kind, he or she makes others inthe group kind. It also lifts everyone's spirits. Imagine that you make cakesfor the office and it makes others do it each month. Then you're getting cakesa lot more days than providing them.

The story doesn't endhere. Being kind may improve your mood, but research has also shown that if you'rein a good mood, you can act much more kindly. This makes it a wonderful two-wayrelationship,doesn't it?

Good photographers are like reporters. They record people's lives with cameras. They are also like artists or writers. Their photos can make people think or feel something.

Smartphones are getting boring. The new models are either a bit faster or have better cameras, but they are basically no different from the ones already in our pockets. This is why scientists are hoping, and working for something new, something that will change our lives just as greatly as smartphones do. At the moment, the next invention might be smart glasses.

Just imagine. Instead of having to pick up your phone and look at the screen, all of the information you need simply appears just in front of you, in your glasses. Satellite navigation (导航) directions would appear right there on the road. And your smart glasses could guide you to the right shelf in the supermarket!

Smart glasses could also be used in industry. They could show engineers the instructions they need to fix things more quickly. A doctor could carry out a difficult operation, guided in real time by someone on the other side of the world.

This may sound impossible. But most of the technologies to invent them are already there. For example, one key technology is called AR, which can make digital 3D objects appear as if they are part of the real world. We've used it a lot on our video calls. Similarly, huge progress has been made in spatial audio. This is when a sound is made to give it a sense of place, like what you hear in an empty room. Some high-end earphones can already do that. Future glasses will of course need to recognize your voice to do tasks. This technology has been widely used in our daily life.

So, why aren't we all wearing smart glasses yet? So far, no one has invented a good way to send images (映像) of our world onto glasses. However, with the rapid development of technology, smart glasses could arrive much sooner than we think.

We use elevators（电梯） all the time, but try and imagine life without them. Tall buildings wouldn't be possible without the elevator. It's convenient and safe, but did you know that long-ago people were afraid of using elevators?

People had been using ropes to move things for thousands of years before the modern elevator. The ancient Romans moved heavy things by using rope. Then in 1743, the French king had a" flying chair". His men lifted the king up to the second floor by using ropes. Although elevators had been improving over time, people were afraid to use them. People liked the idea of an elevator, but they believed it might suddenly fall.

In 1853, Elisha Otis is the inventor（发明者） of the modern elevator. He made safety brakes（刹车） to stop the elevator from falling. Otis had been thinking about people's fear of elevators. He decided to do an elevator act at a show in 1854. Otis stood on his elevator and cut the rope that was holding it. The elevator fell, but the safety brakes suddenly stopped it. How amazing! Three years later, customers at a store in New York could travel to the fifth floor by using an Otis elevator.

The next step was to improve the elevator ride. People had been feeling afraid about using elevators because they were small and noisy In the 1920s, elevators started playing relaxing music cover up other sounds. Then there was a great idea to put mirrors in elevators. People could check their hair and faces instead of fearing the elevator. They made the elevator seem bigger and quicker.

These days, elevators aren't scary. Elevators are getting faster, and office buildings, apartments and hotels are getting higher. You can find Otis elevators in most cities around the world. Remember to enjoy your ride in the elevator when you're going up to the thirty-fifth floor!

"All right then—just one more piece…"Words every girl has said when they are faced with the delicious cheesecake. Of course, many of us know we may eat the whole thing in the end.

It isn't just girls. Most of us find it hard to say "no" to something attractive. However, scientists now say that willpower（意志力） is very important for success and a happy life. Scientists in different countries have been studying the influence of willpower on people's lives for a long time. In one study, scientists told young children that they could either have one candy now, or two candies in 15 minutes. Waiting of course needed more willpower. Scientists then continued studying the children as they grew up. They wanted to see if some children always had stronger willpower. They also wanted to see how having stronger willpower influenced their lives.

Years later, scientists found that the children who had waited for two candies were all healthier, happier and richer adults. But there is hope, Roy F Baumeister, an American expert told us that we can train our willpower just like we train our muscles（肌肉）. Even a little practice can make our self-control stronger.

You could start by making yourself stand up straight, speaking in complete sentences, or using a computer mouse with the other hand. Scientists have found that people who are able to change little habits perform much better in willpower tests.

Like muscles, willpower can" get tired". Don't try to do too many things at the same time, or when you don't have enough energy, for example, when you are ill. If you already feel tired, you can try to recharge（恢复） your willpower with a good night's sleep and by eating well.

Have you ever heard about the Taj Mahal in India? It is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. The king Shah Jahan began to build it for his dead wife Mumtaz Mahal in 1632. They got married in 1612 and had 14 children.

The Taj Mahal lies on the bank of the Yamuna River. Shah Jahan loved his wife so much that he wanted it to be perfect. Shah Jahan brought together over 20, 000 workmen to work on the building, and it took about twenty﹣two years to finish it.

The building rests on a platform of red sandstone. Four thin white towers rise from the corners of the platform. A large dome rises from the center of the in the building. Around the large dome there are four smaller domes. In the center of the building is a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal. Next to her tomb is the tomb for Shah Jahan. But there's nobody in the tombs. Their bodies lie under the building. A beautiful garden with green trees is around the Taj Mahal. Every year thousands of tourists visit the building.

There are over 800 boarding（寄宿）schools in the UK with students from home and foreign countries. Boarding schools started hundreds of years ago in the country. But the earliest boarding schools were set up for white, rich boys only. Now both boys and girls can go to boarding schools from the age of 7 to 18.

In the UK, boarding schools have three terms in a school year, with about 13 weeks in each term. Students study and live together. They can't go outside if they are not allowed to. In some schools, each student has his or her subject plan. Besides the usual classrooms and labs, the boarding schools have lots of other facilities for their students, including music rooms, boats, swimming pools, cinemas and theaters. Most boarding schools have a"light out" time. So when it's time to go to bed, all the lights in the bedrooms are turned off. There are house﹣masters to take care of students all the time, especially after school hours.

Nearly all students at boarding schools wear school uniform. Boys usually wear a shirt and a tie, and girls wear a white blouse, sometimes also a tie and a skirt. As students get older, the rules become less strict. In the UK, boarding schools provide students with delicious food. They can choose to have a full English breakfast or simply bread. For lunch and supper, they can choose a meal with or without meat. And there is always self﹣service for salad and dessert. Students can also make themselves something to eat at any time in a kitchen, or drink tea or have a snack between meals.

Migratory birds fly to different places during different seasons. This is bird migration. Birds in migration may fly day and night for months at a time. During this long journey, when and how do they sleep?

In 2016, some scientists studied a group of frigate birds during a ten-day flight. They recorded these birds' brain activities. Their findings made headlines-frigate birds can sleep while they are flying!

According to this study, these birds take two types of in-flight naps. The first is called Rapid Eye Movement （REM）sleep. It is the deepest stage of sleep. For humans, REM sleep can last for several minutes. For flying birds, however, REM sleep lasts for only a few seconds. Even so, REM sleep is still very important for proper brain functioning.

The other type of nap frigate birds take is Non-Rapid Eye Movement （NREM） sleep. During NREM sleep, the birds put only half of their brain to sleep, while the other half stays awake. The eyes of these birds are connected to the waking part of their brain. In other words, they sleep with their eyes open. They do this to stay away from dangers, and many birds do this even when they aren't migrating.

Even though frigate birds sleep during the flight, they prefer to stay awake most of the time, spending less than 3% of their time sleeping. Once they reach land, they recover their lost sleep, spending almost half their time dozing.

However, not all migratory birds sleep in this way. Many make occasional pit stops on their way to get a good rest before the next leg of their journey. Some stay completely awake during the whole journey. The Alpine Swift, for example, can fly for almost 200 days continuously. There is still little evidence of these birds sleeping during their long journeys.

The sleeping habits of birds differ from species to species. This makes the study of migratory birds very exciting for scientists. In the future, we may learn more amazing things about these animals.

It is a pity that deaf people, or those who have hearing problems, can't enjoy music. But now a vibrating suit（振动的套装）brings them hope-it can allow them to "feel" music through their body， rather than hear it.

The special suit is able to change music into some vibrating pulses（节拍）. And the users can choose different levels.

Chase Burton, 33, a deaf film-maker from Texas, US, has been testing out the suit for four years. He understands that a deaf person's experience with music is very different. "When I was a kid, I'd lie on the floor so I could feel the vibrations from my brother's music playing. " Burton told CNN. Now when he wears the vibrating suit, he says the sound hits different parts of his body. "Maybe it will shake me strongly in my knees first. And then I'll start tofeel the vibrations in my back. And then I'll feel some pulsations. "Burton said.

The designers have been working on helping a large number of deaf people to have a chance of a musical experience. In 2016, some prototype suits were tested at a Lady Gaga concert in the US. The suit was also tested at a different concert in Las Vegas in 2019.  It was given to 150 audiences（听众）at the concert，where half the audience members were deaf and half could hear. At the same time, the company has been improving the technology and planned to put it into the market soon. And the final goal of the company is to make the technology available to all.

"We truly think anything that has an audio element（元素）can also have a vibrational experience connected with it as well. "The company's talent and business development director, Jordan Richardson, told CNN.