2024年四川高三一模考试英语试题和解析(2024年四川高三八省联考)(2)

A. Her discovery of Hydyne. B. Her rank as an engineer.

C. Her special knowledge in fuels. D. Her sense of national pride.

27. Which of the following words can best describe Mary Sherman Morgan?

A. Caring and determined. B. Courageous and creative.

C. Intelligent but sensitive. D. Accomplished but proud.

C

Human speech contains more than 2,000 different sounds, from the common “m” and “a” to the rare clicks of some southern African languages. But why are certain sounds more common than others? A ground-breaking, five-year study shows that diet-related changes in human bite led to new speech sounds that are now found in half the world’s languages.

More than 30 years ago, the scholar Charles Hockett noted that speech sounds called labiodentals(唇齿), such as “f” and “v”, were more common in the languages of societies that ate softer foods. Now a team of researchers led by Damián Blasi at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, has found how and why this trend arose.

They discovered that the upper and lower front teeth of ancient human adults were aligned(对齐), making it hard to produce labiodentals, which are formed by touching the lower lip to the upper teeth. Later, our jaws changed to an overbite structure(结构), making it easier to produce such sounds.

The team showed that this change in bite was connected with the development of agriculture in the Neolithic period. Food became easier to chew at this point. The jawbone didn’t have to do as much work and so didn’t grow to be so large.

Analyses of a language database also confirmed that there was a global change in the sound of world languages after the Neolithic age, with the use of “f” and “v” increasing remarkably during the last few thousand years. These sounds are still not found in the languages of many hunter-gatherer people today.

This research overturns the popular view that all human speech sounds were present when human beings evolved around 300,000 years ago. “The set of speech sounds we use has not necessarily remained stable since the appearance of human beings, but rather the huge variety of speech sounds that we find today is the product of a complex interplay of things like biological change and cultural evolution,” said Steven Moran, a member of the research team.

28. What is the research mentioned in this article mainly about?

A. Human labiodentals. B. Speech sounds. C. Technological development. D. Human evolution.

29. Why was it difficult for ancient human adults to produce labiodentals?

A. They had fewer upper teeth than lower teeth. B. They could not open and close their lips easily.

C. Their jaws were not conveniently structured. D. Their lower front teeth were not large enough.

30. What is paragraph 5 mainly about?

A. Supporting evidence for the research results. B. Potential application of the research findings.

C. A further explanation of the research methods. D. A reasonable doubt about the research process.

31. What can we infer from Steven Moran words?

A. During the evolution of human beings, speech sounds has remained unchanged.

B. Human speech sounds changes are very complex.

C. Steven Moran views are very popular and widely accepted.

D. Great progress has been made in the study of speech sounds.

D

There is no known date for when the ancient Greeks or Romans first shared their stories about gods, monsters and heroes. But for the modern myth known as Star Wars, that date is May 25,1977, when the original movie opened in theaters and kicked off a global phenomenon that spanned films, TV shows, novels, comic books, toys, lunchboxes, bed sheets and more. Even today, Star Wars remains an enduring touchstone (检验标准) of pop culture. Critically praised or not, the movies continue to be a big hit.

And just as we know when the mythology began, we also know who invented it: writer-director George Lucas. His inspiration, he told TIME in 1977, was “all the books and films and comics that I liked when I was a child… My main reason for making it was to give young people an honest, wholesome fantasy life, the kind my generation had.”

No one could predict just how much Lucas’ creation would catch on — not even Lucas himself or the film’s star Mark Hamill, who played young hero Luke Skywalker. “I had no idea it would be as successful as it was,” Hamill said in 2017, marking the original film’s 40th anniversary. “I just thought I would be a fan of this even if I weren’t involved.”

Before Lucas created Star Wars, he had an even more ambitious goal — to blow up the ways of Old Hollywood. And he did. Star Wars introduced a new era of moviemaking, one that saw the development of amazing special effects and the tools to achieve them. After this legend, filmmakers felt free to bring their wildest ideas to life in totally realistic ways that left audiences thrilled.

Why did Star Wars become such a powerful force? Hamill credits its ability to satisfy the human need for escapism. “People value the idea of going away to some happy place,” he said, “whether it’s Oz or Narnia or Middle Earth or Hogwarts. I think it appeals to children of all ages. It doesn’t matter if you’re 6 or 60. It appeals to the optimistic young idealism that I think every person has, however buried it might be.”

32. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A. People should keep digging into the history of ancient myths.

B. More products associated with Star Wars have been created.

C. Some people’s criticism of Star Wars made it less popular than before.

D. Star Wars is more successful in the business field than in the entertainment field.

33. Why did George Lucas invent Star Wars?

A. To break the old rules and traditions of making films.

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